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COPD and "COPD-like" illnesses can be greatly helped by quitting. I started smoking as a junior in H.S. and continued through grad school. I would get bronchitis every single winter - I just thought that was somehow automatic, like getting a cold. The winter after quitting, no bronchitis! Even at that young of an age and a relatively short time smoking was having a real negative impact - yet stopping almost immediately gave an improvement - there is hope for us all!
My DH smoked for 20 years, had a lung operation, not caused from the smoking, has not smoked for 20 years, but still has mild COPD. Thankfully, it does not affect him much, but I'd hate to think what shape he'd be in if he had not quit.
Day 3 without a cig and I want to tear my own arm off and destroy everything in sight with it. Grrr. I'm using the patch but stuck inside due to icy weather and I am not a happy camper. I keep telling myself it will get better, the cravings will go away, I'm doing something good for myself, blah, blah, blah, but it doesn't stop the self amputation or smoking urge. It sure doesn't help that my wife and I stopped at the same time and she is just as grouchy because she isn't using her nicotine substitute consistently (she doesn't like the taste of the nicotine lozenges and can't use the patches), so we're alternating biting each other's heads off and avoiding each other. Whoever said couples quitting at the same time to support each other must have been divorced I've stopped long term successfully twice before, but this time seems so much harder. End rant.
You need to find a substitute that makes you happy. Something not fattening, or you'll be grouchier from gaining weight. Clearly the patch isn't working for you that well. Nicotine gum, so that YOU control the nicotine?
A hard sucker at home that lasts? (sugar gives you a high) Exercise works off frustration....even mild exercise like walking.
Don't go shopping! I made a couple of really bad impulse buys when I quit smoking!!!
COPD and "COPD-like" illnesses can be greatly helped by quitting. I started smoking as a junior in H.S. and continued through grad school. I would get bronchitis every single winter - I just thought that was somehow automatic, like getting a cold. The winter after quitting, no bronchitis! Even at that young of an age and a relatively short time smoking was having a real negative impact - yet stopping almost immediately gave an improvement - there is hope for us all!
My coworker has winter bronchitis from smoking. She's young, only in her 20s, but her lungs don't handle smoking well at all. She sounds terrible. She has tried to stop many times and quits for a little while, only to pick it back up again
Congratulations on your success. And it's wonderful that your COPD is already improving. I hope it continues to get better. As for the lozenges, that's what my wife told me about them. She said the lozenges tasted so gross they made her gag. And she can't use the patch because she seems to have some allergy to the adhesive. The last time she used it it left the marks from the patch on her for months and itched like crazy. We thought it would never go away.
DAY 5: So far, so good for us. I noticed after day three it got a lot easier for me and it has. Not that I'm completely over it, but the bad mood is significantly reduced and I think about it less. I stopped for 6 years last time, so I hope it will be permanent this time. But diehard smokers shouldn't fall into that "just one cig will by OK" mindset, even 50 years after they quit, IMO, so I should always remember that. Plus you notice advantages in your life right away. My wife says her mood is better too. She will continue to go cold turkey due to the issues with her methods. I heard about the book Allen Carr's Easyway to Stop Smoking and ordered it. I don't know if anyone else has heard of it, but it's supposed to be a very effective cold turkey method, and even if it isn't, it is a very lighthearted and funny book, which we can definitely use now.
Those lozenges ARE bad! One of the side affects is hiccups too. I got 'em every time so it was hard to do one at work. I tried to take one about 1/2 hour before my break so I wouldn't be 'tempted' but I couldn't deal with any of it. Also, the directions said nothing to eat or drink 15 min. prior, or while it's dissolving or for 15 min. after! Well, my coffee is ready when I get out of bed and I'll be darned if I'm going to wait 45 minutes! lol I am happy that I've not had any of the 'possible side affects' with the patch. I read all the directions before I embark on anything like this and so far, so good. I have had more dreams lately, or maybe I just remember that I DID dream where I usually don't. I still forget whatever they were about within 15 min. of waking up.
Glad to hear you are both doing better. Hats off to your wife for going cold turkey. I think that takes a whole lot more will power. Best of luck to both of you!!
Day 3 without a cig and I want to tear my own arm off and destroy everything in sight with it. Grrr. I'm using the patch but stuck inside due to icy weather and I am not a happy camper. I keep telling myself it will get better, the cravings will go away, I'm doing something good for myself, blah, blah, blah, but it doesn't stop the self amputation or smoking urge. It sure doesn't help that my wife and I stopped at the same time and she is just as grouchy because she isn't using her nicotine substitute consistently (she doesn't like the taste of the nicotine lozenges and can't use the patches), so we're alternating biting each other's heads off and avoiding each other. Whoever said couples quitting at the same time to support each other must have been divorced I've stopped long term successfully twice before, but this time seems so much harder. End rant.
lol. its definitely hard... one of the things that stops me from starting again, is the idea of having to quit again lol Although I did quit cold turkey.... no patches etc.
its definitely hard... one of the things that stops me from starting again, is the idea of having to quit again
That's the ONLY reason I was able to continue: knowing how hard it would be to quit smoking again.
You really have to take it one day at a time. (If I'd thought all those years ago that I could never have another cigarette, I would NEVER have made it.)
One thing smokers dont realize is how much they reek of cigarette smoke,its on their body,in their cloths,in their car,their house stinks like an ashtray.i feel a little embarrassed at all the people i subjected to the stench of cigarette smoke over my lifetime.What a disgusting habit.
Same here, Jambo!
I used to make a great effort to be a "polite smoker" - I'd walk away from groups of people and try to blow the smoke away from them.
Not too long ago, a young woman was smoking outside a store, I actually smelled it before I saw her, she was standing in an alley, blowing her smoke the other way. But yet, it reeked.
Like me before her, she was making an effort to be polite, but there is so such thing, is there?
Same here, Jambo!
I used to make a great effort to be a "polite smoker" - I'd walk away from groups of people and try to blow the smoke away from them.
Me too - I had a lot of shame as a smoker and felt like I was basically a junkie. That helped me quit. In my current house, I wasn't really able to smoke outside anywhere without 1) my neighbors seeing me and thinking I'm gross and 2) the smoke wafting toward houses on either side.
Both of those things really helped my brain flip over to the "life as a nonsmoker is better" side.
I'm relieved to be free of the desperation to find a smoking spot that used to control me. There was a time in my early 20s, many years ago, that I couldn't imagine not smoking even for a half hour period. Ugh.
I recently went to Paris where there were smokers everywhere, and I had to deal with a bit of withdrawal when I came back merely because I inhaled so much second hand smoke! I tried to avoid it but couldn't completely.
Spend a day or a week reading and re-reading the information there. You'll discover that the only way to quit is to quit cold turkey and never take a puff again.
Good luck on your journey and best wishes to you and yours!
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I've stopped long term successfully twice before, but this time seems so much harder. End rant.
