Quitting Smoking Day Four.

[brewens]

I's like the junkie laying on the bathroom floor convulsing faze equivalent to me. It's like I have the chills a little along with the withdrawls. I doesn't help that a cold snap started right when I quit.

I'm trying to stay up until at least seven. Bed sounds so good! I know I'll be nice and warm buried under two wool blankets and a comforter. My kitty Silver will no doubt join me. She likes under the covers for a while, as long as she can stick her nose out to breathe.

I quit awhile back and my backslide didn't last long. Before when I did that, I was back to smoking for quite awhile. I almost talked myself out of blowing it last time even though I was drinking. That's where I screwed up. I don't even usually drink. I should resolve to not even drink one freakin' beer until I'm off the tobacco for a full year. I actually liked a variety, cigarettes, cigars and a pipe occasionally. I attempted the "Uncle Buck" plan once and that only made me really like cigars and pipes.

No quitting aids or drugs at all. Making it through the withdrawls has never been a problem really. It's down the road a ways when I think I'm in the clear and something sets off the urge. I gotta just talk myself out of it when that hits me.

[CurtEastPoint]

1. you will make it. I did. It's been a year for me after smoking for 40 years

I used cinnamon toothpicks to kill the urges. good luck!

[arcane1]

2. Drinking and socializing in a new town got me back into it after a 5 year hiatus

I'm totally impressed that you're doing the cold-turkey! That worked for me the first time, but I had to resort to the gum when I quit for good. Though I suppose there was withdrawl from the gum, but at least that wasn't tied to a physical activity at that point.

But that little devil on the shoulder, I think, never really goes away. It waits for weakness, but it CAN be ignored.

You can do it!!!

[cbayer]

3. Yeah you!!!!

Do it! You are a hero. You are missing nothing, except that ball and chain around your neck.

If you smoked right now, you would feel better…… for about 45 minutes.

Open your windows and breath in that cold air. You are a non-smoker. You are not a slave of those who are in the business of selling you an addiction.

Withdrawal is not that bad. You slept about 8 hours a night before quitting , didn't you. Did horrible withdrawal wake you in the middle of the night? Did you have to get up every 45 minutes to stop the withdrawal?

Of course not. The wrenching withdrawal which has been pushed by those invested in keeping you addicted is a myth. It's not that bad.

Go curl up with your kittie. You are a non-smoker. You have lost nothing. Not a single thing.

See other people around you. They drink but they don't have to smoke. And they look like they are having a fine time. It's not alcohol that is the problem, it's nicotine.

Good for you for no nicotine substitutes. You don't need nicotine. You will be fine without it. It does nothing for you, absolutely nothing.

Except keep you out of withdrawal for another 45 minutes.

You are a non-smoker. Celebrate.



signed,

cbayer
a 1 to 2 pack a day smoker for over 45 years who quit completely 4 ½ months ago and is deliriously happy about being a non-smoker.

[Lulu KC]

4. Good for you! You're over a hump.

The actual nicotine is mostly out of your system. Take a bunch of vitamin C for a flush for a few days. And drink a ton of water. Get it all out. Crying helps, too! And lots of sleep. And the movies, where you can't smoke.
Then you just have the behavioral part, which is so hard. And emotions come up that you'd forgotten about. Like anger. But you can do it, and you'll feel so much better, you won't smell bad, you'll have more money, you'll have more energy, it's the best thing you can do for yourself!
Visualize clean pink lungs.

And if you fall, just get back up as soon as you can. It took many, many attempts before I figured out all my triggers and knew how to beat them.

From a former two-pack a day smoker who quit 24 years ago! I LOVED smoking. And I'm so glad I don't do it any more.

[TreasonousBastard]

5. 3 packs a day for over 30 years and now...

I save 30 bucks a day and don't have to run outside to light up, or risk a wreck when a butt lands in my lap while driving.

I no longer have those little holes in my clothes, and my cats aren't coughing. I'm not coughing either.

Stick with it-- it ain't easy, but a lot of things worthwhile ain't easy.

[brewens]

7. Now I have never understood how anyone had enough time in a day to smoke three packs?

I actually do kind of know though. I've seen many different types of smokers. The bartender that always had a cigarette going, maybe one at each end of the bar on occasion. A painter buddy of mine, always with a cigarette dangling while he worked. I'd say they never actually smoked all of their cigarette like I did. I was never one to habitually be smoking all the time and almost never when I drove. My pack-a-day of strong ones, the way I smoked them, may have been very close to another persons two packs in reality. I always stopped and took the time to really smoke all of one, almost never finding one burned out in an ashtray.

As a teenager one day, home alone, I actually resolved to see just what it was like to smoke a whole pack in one day. I was still at the stage of thinking it was cool and envious of adults that could smoke whenever they wanted. I knew a pack-a-day was pretty normal and was going to find out what it was like. At a stage of maybe four or five a day at 15 or so, that was quite a leap. It was actually kind of a chore. I never got to a pack-a-day until I was an adult and out of the house on my own and never went over that limit. Most days it was under a whole pack.

It is really a shame that they are so bad for us. Were they cheap still and only minimally risky, I'd say you'd be crazy to not smoke them. Risk is the wrong word though. Anyone that smoked for even a few years knows, even if they deny it. The first time I got caught by my mom was smoking a cigar. The best thing she could have done then was to lecture me about ever smoking cigarettes but have given me permission to smoke cigars! If that would have worked, I'd be better off today. The difference between inhaling smoking cigarettes and just puffing on cigars is huge. Probably close to the difference in smoking pot to firing up heroine.

[applegrove]

6. You can do it! I quit. Stuck to it and aftet

afew months I no longer had any cravings.

[cbayer]

8. Just checking in to see how you are doing.

[brewens]

9. I sold my stash of premium cigars, humidors and coolerdor for $800 bucks to

a chiroprachter in eastern Washington state. The stock was fairly depleted, I hadn't bought any boxes of expensive cigars in some time but he still got a good deal. The coolerdor with its humidifier was worth a couple hundred all by itself. Then he also got some fine cigars, some over ten years old that I had held back saving for special occasions. Most of a box of Monte Cristo White Toro's worth a couple hundred. The temptation of those alone calling to me may have done me in! Also a few Cubans that though grossly overrated (definitely excellent but not worth what I paid) sealed the deal. I guesstimate he would have had to pay two large for all that if he went out online to buy what he got.

[cbayer]

10. Woohoo! $800 PLUS all the money you haven't spent on cigs.

You ought to treat yourself to something special.

Celebrate! Celebrate every day as a non-smoker.

A friend recently left a pack of cigs here. I think he unconsciously wanted me to smoke. I picked them up and had a chuckle, then just left them where they were..

[brewens]

11. I dodged the bullett I knew would come. It really started out with the urge to have a few drinks.

I haven't been drinking because I know what can happen. Get a little loose and start thinking about smoking and I'd be walking to the store to buy a couple packs and probably even more beverages!

Considering whether I could handle a few drinks and not break down and smoke got me thinking, why not go for it and do it up right? Get a fifth of vodka and some juices and a couple packs! Get drunk and smoke both Friday and Saturday, then back off the shit again! I'd be so disgusted and feel like shit anyway that it would probably work this time. I actually kind of think I could have pulled it off too but talked myself down.

The same kind of thing has got me before. Once I smoke a few, it's like I never quit. Then it's, oh well, I fucked up, may as well enjoy it again for awhile and get good and ready to quit again. That can be a few years! Just thinking about it actually brought back kind of a flashback nicotine withdrawl! It's been since the first week last November, but it felt like I had just quit for a day or two and was really jonesing for a cigarette!

After talking myself down, I drove right be my old favorite tobacco and beverage dealer on my way home. I had a great feeling the rest of the way and decided to make myself a batch of homemade chicken noodle soup. It was great! Gonna watch a movie before I go to bed.

Once I blow it, I blow it. I came close but I guess experience bailed me out. Had I got home with alcohol and cigarettes, there is no doubt I would have proceeded to smoke and get a good buzz. I kind of knew how that would go though. What seemed when thnking about it would be a wonderful feeling, would be dissapointing. Then I'd be kind of disgusted with myself but decide to make the most of it. I would have been wishing the whole rest of the weekend I hadn't done it, then regretted it for however long it took me to get back off the shit again.

[brewens]

12. I felt great this morning. Just thinking about almost blowing three months of not smoking

gives me the chills. I'd feel like shit and probably only be looking foreward to more drinking and smoking tonight with possibly intending to go clean again on Sunday and start all over. That would have really sucked. I'd also be something like $30 poorer.

I have $65 in cash on me right now. That came from a sale from the sideline business my girlfriend and I run. Most sales are at shows or off the web site but locals know to call me up or ask for stuff when they see me. I the past, cash like that would go pretty fast. Even reasonable drinking along with smoking, will drain that kind of money real quick. I was pretty used to usually having little or no cash on me. These days when a sale or two falls out of the sky and I handle it in person, I can end up needing to go make a deposit. Before November, that $65 would have been down to about $20 just on cigarettes and one night of drinking.

I can't imagine what some people I know must spend. Guys that go through two packs a day and drink almost every day? That has to be something like eight or nine hundred bucks a month! Want a big freakin' tax cut? Stop that shit!

I will remain firmly opposed to those type sin taxes though, even now that I am on the other side. I can't see making something that people are addicted to, even harder on them to afford. On the average it's more lower income people still smoking and drinking heavily. If something is worth taxpayer funding, we should all pay our fair share, not just stick it to the other guy because we can.

[cbayer]

13. You are tremendous! Congratulations.

You got through a major hurdle and that just makes your stronger. Every time I think of picking one up, I understand, like you, that that would be the end. I would enjoy it for …… about 45 minutes, then I would want another one.

It's been just over 7 months for me and I feel really proud of myself and pretty confident at this point.

Keep up the good work. You deserve it!

[CWV]

14. 6 years +

I quit 6 years ago and haven't looked back. At first it was hard but now I can't stand the smell of them. Life would be so much better if I didn't have to breathe other peoples smoke.