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Location: Lots of sun and palm trees with occasional hurricane :)
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I stopped smoking on November 12, 2007 using the Chantix. I couldn't believe how "easy" it seemed to be after 40 years of smoking and having tried every other trick in the book except cold turkey. I took the Chantix for 2 months and about a week or so. I kept forgetting it at that point and decided to stop all together instead of going for the full 3 months I had been told would guarantee success.
For some reason I started to get really, really, *itchy, nasty, pissed off all the time, discontented with everything, blaming everybody else over nothing stuff, etc. L O N G I N G for that great cigarette, a nice longggggg drag would fix everything. But I didn't do it. I could not undo what I had accomplished so far. I had never been able to go for even a whole day without a cigarette.
I've noticed that for the last couple of weeks, I'm beginning to feel "good" again, mentally. I've been busy planning a vacation to Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon and almost don't even think about the cigarette anymore although if I pass someone who is smoking I do take a good long whiff of the smell. I love it.
Like one of the posters here did, I have typed my time away here on CD and another poster started a quit smoking thread for me which I swear got me to this point. I was accountable to a whole bunch of people who were following my progress daily. It was heaven sent support.
I can't wait to celebrate 6 months of non-smoking.
Getting out and exercising really helped lift my mood when I stopped smoking too. Exercise releases serotonin (a feel-good chemical) from your brain....
I am stepping down by one cig a day until I quit on May 3rd. I will try the patch, I cant chew gum, and Chantix I heard is good and works, but it costs too much for me, so I have to do this with more will-power than I have ever expressed to it before. I am afraid of the frusteration of the withdraw, so should I put on a staright jacket and hide out in a cave while I have a temper tantrum? I watched a friend become like jekle and hyde, he was so mean for 3 months, I didnt even like him anymore, I dont want to be like that. (nor do I want to jump to another vice). I have not known what it is like to be a non smoker. I made it to 5 oclock one day, before I stomped my feet and caved in. I have to do this, I sure need to be smoke free for the rest of my life. I wish you all the best, and if you have advice for me, bring it up, I will appreciate it.
I'm doing the chantix ( on 6 weeks now!) It really doesn't cost any more in a month than buying a pack of cigs everyday. $124.00 at CVS Pharmacy for 4 weeks worth. 1 pack of cigs at $3.60 x 30 days= $108.00 . The cost is so close and so much more benificial. Good luck in what ever method you choose. I know chantix works...been smoking 35 years and this is the only time I've ever tried to quit. Both my DH and myself are pleasantly surprised at how smooth this is working for us.
I quit on April 1st. I made myself a promise, when i turn 40 i'll have to start a new, healthier life.
I smoked for over 20 years, and i quit cold turkey. I joined gym and go there every day now. This along keeps me from smoking.
Smoking is not just nicotine addiction, it's a boredom substitute. If you keep yourself busy, you will stay away from cigarettes..
This was my routine before:
Get up in the morning, make coffee, smoke cigarette, go to work, make more coffee, smoke more cigarettes, go home, make more coffee, smoke, walk dogs, eat, smoke go to bed.....
This is my routine now:
Get up, make coffee, walk dogs, go to work. Make coffee, have lunch, go home. Make dinner, go to gym, come home, eat, walk dogs, go to sleep.
On weekends, i can't stand not to do anything, before, i could spend all day on the couch, with coffee and cigarettes. Now, i have to keep myself occupied, gym, walking dogs, going to the beach, cleaning the house, etc. I found things i should have been doing before, instead of smoking.
Give yourself a favor and try to stay busy, that's probably will be your best bet.
It was kind of tough first 3 days, but it got easier.... I hope to stay smoke free for the rest of my life.
I am stepping down by one cig a day until I quit on May 3rd. I will try the patch, I cant chew gum, and Chantix I heard is good and works, but it costs too much for me, so I have to do this with more will-power than I have ever expressed to it before. I am afraid of the frusteration of the withdraw, so should I put on a staright jacket and hide out in a cave while I have a temper tantrum? I watched a friend become like jekle and hyde, he was so mean for 3 months, I didnt even like him anymore, I dont want to be like that. (nor do I want to jump to another vice). I have not known what it is like to be a non smoker. I made it to 5 oclock one day, before I stomped my feet and caved in. I have to do this, I sure need to be smoke free for the rest of my life. I wish you all the best, and if you have advice for me, bring it up, I will appreciate it.
I think your friend was really pushing it by being mean for three months. Quitting smoking is hard, but it doesn't lead to a complete loss of self control. You can feel irritable but choose not to act that way. When people close to me quit smoking I give them a lot of emotional leeway for a couple weeks, after that the physical addiction has been worked through and they need to act human again.
I didn't jump to another vice, I started carrying water around everywhere and drinking that instead of smoking. In time the desire to smoke goes away. I cannot stand smoke anymore, I hate having my hair smell, and I wonder how I didn't realize that everyone around me could smell me when I smoked, and many people find it disgusting. Giving it up created major improvement in my life.
Thank you, I do appreciate knowing you have experienced the things you know I will be facing, and offer me supportive ways to stay free of it once I break the chain of bad habit. I am 5 cig's shorter per day now than my norm. I am making lists all the time now, recognising whats wrong with me that I kept doing something so stupid for so long. Rather than beat myself up anymore, I have to instill the possitives of what will improve in my life when I finally put down the last cigarette and start living. It's still hard, I seem to want to keep kicking myself but I know the picture I paint inside my mind, is how it will come out, so if I dream a healthy, happy life, then I shall have one! I think I spent most of my smoking life in a resentment state of mind, for me, I used it as a relief for pain and frusteration, but I was in denial of how it had the opposite effect on me. I started in the earley 70's at a young and rebellious age. It was legal at my age to buy and smoke them. I am glad it is harder to start at such an impressionable age. I am glad there is more consideration made for the health of those around me. I am glad I have to realise all the excuses I made for continuing such a rotten habit. Wakeup call! Welcome to life 101!
Location: Lots of sun and palm trees with occasional hurricane :)
8,293 posts, read 16,159,358 times
Reputation: 7018
Quote:
Originally Posted by OrionsAngel
Thank you, I do appreciate knowing you have experienced the things you know I will be facing, and offer me supportive ways to stay free of it once I break the chain of bad habit. I am 5 cig's shorter per day now than my norm. I am making lists all the time now, recognising whats wrong with me that I kept doing something so stupid for so long. Rather than beat myself up anymore, I have to instill the possitives of what will improve in my life when I finally put down the last cigarette and start living. It's still hard, I seem to want to keep kicking myself but I know the picture I paint inside my mind, is how it will come out, so if I dream a healthy, happy life, then I shall have one! I think I spent most of my smoking life in a resentment state of mind, for me, I used it as a relief for pain and frusteration, but I was in denial of how it had the opposite effect on me. I started in the earley 70's at a young and rebellious age. It was legal at my age to buy and smoke them. I am glad it is harder to start at such an impressionable age. I am glad there is more consideration made for the health of those around me. I am glad I have to realise all the excuses I made for continuing such a rotten habit. Wakeup call! Welcome to life 101!
Orions don't beat yourself up. Smoking is a very, very, heavy addiction. It's actually the worse one even compared to heroin or cocaine.
We smokers will smoke no matter what. Tracheotomy patients will have a stick coming out of their trach tubes. Dying lung cancer patients' last breath will be from a cigarette. It's very bad and not much else matters.
When you decide you want to quit, you may try to several times. Most quitters have to try 5, 6, 7 times before the last successful one.
The day will come when it's the right time for you to quit, any which way you can. By exercise, gum, pills, hypnosis, cold turkey - whatever works for you is THE way to go.
Did you read/hear recently about the Genetics of smoking????? Some of us are built differently and react differently and for some it's harder than others and, honestly, a lot of it IS mental.
I smoked for 40 years, one pack a day, every day. I really started smoking when I was around 6 or 7 lighting cigarettes for other people. I don't dislike smokers, I don't dislike smoke and I understand the addiction and also know the results, although not 100% of smokers have adverse effects. Just like some non-smokers also have lung disease, heart disease, etc. It's just odds and genetics.
It's also true that you will find yourself with a lot of time on your hands once you stop smoking and all of a sudden you'll come out of the fog and see just how much there is to do, about everything.
A couple of websites have suggested picking a date to quit, but advice from a psycologist was for me to allow room for readyness. I have eye surgery May 13, and it has been suggested to wait to start the withdrawl process until the eye has a normal environment to heal, then knowing the withdrawl effects wont interfere with what is normal, may keep me more calm for the stability of the eye. They say the smoking may be the cause of the cataract at my age. (I protest that I am not old enough for cataracts!) Sure took me for a loop. My psycologist suggested that I create a quit environment "for the merry month of May" what do you think?
Location: Lots of sun and palm trees with occasional hurricane :)
8,293 posts, read 16,159,358 times
Reputation: 7018
Quote:
Originally Posted by OrionsAngel
A couple of websites have suggested picking a date to quit, but advice from a psycologist was for me to allow room for readyness. I have eye surgery May 13, and it has been suggested to wait to start the withdrawl process until the eye has a normal environment to heal, then knowing the withdrawl effects wont interfere with what is normal, may keep me more calm for the stability of the eye. They say the smoking may be the cause of the cataract at my age. (I protest that I am not old enough for cataracts!) Sure took me for a loop. My psycologist suggested that I create a quit environment "for the merry month of May" what do you think?
Well, I don't know about that psychologist.
Smoking interferes with any kind of healing. It slows up the process. If you're going to have surgery, your best bet is to NOT be smoking.
The doctors will not like the fact that you smoke.
Cataract is a very quick and easy procedure to do these days and you know what they say? "smoke gets in your eyes". Do you know that song? I do. I AM old enough. LOLLLL.
The big eye problem with smoking is that it CAN cause macular degeneration, not cataract necessarily..
If you're gonna quit it is going to be stressful, surgery or not. If you take the Chantix, it is not the best thing to take if you're going to have surgery. I think it may have adverse effects with bleeding issues.
I would love to not be smoking if I'm going to have surgery, just because it's going to be very hard to not have a cigarette while you're waiting in the prep room and afterwards in recovery. That would be the most anxiety producing situation for me. So either keep smoking until your vision is good and you've healed completely, or stop NOW so you have some time.
I had a procedure last week, under general. I had never been intubated (got a short tube only) but I gave thanks every minute that I was not smoking any more. I didn't want a cigarette, I didn't need a cigarette, the hours didn't matter, the type of anesthesia or IV meds or anything didn't matter. You know, just for this alone, it's worth quitting.
I can tell you this now, in retrospect. Nobody would have convinced me of any of that when I was still smoking. that was my first priority, over anything else.
The cataract is not going to get any better or worse at this point.
BTW... you don't have to be 65 or over to have cataracts. It can be steroid induced, it can be trauma induced, it can be genetic, it can be due to other conditions, it can be because you didn't wear sunglasses when you were out in the sun (think sailing).
How old are you? I'm 56 and I have early, early, very early lens changes (read cataract) in one eye. No big deal. Something funny. People are almost wishing for cataracts now a days so that you don't need to wear glasses. And now with all the presbyopic intraocular lenses and stuff, I need to hurry up and get both eyes done! Good luck.
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