Brighid Moon wrote:Day five without a cigarette! Using the lozenges, cutting them in 1/4s and sucking a bit at a time when it gets really bad. Getting over the smoking part before dealing with the nicotine part, which I suspect will be much easier. Considering the amount of stress I've been undergoing recently, and still am, and as emotional and angered as I've been lately, I think five days is pretty good! I'm pretty stubborn.

Hi there

. I'm new here, but I had to read these posts on smoking and you have my total sympathy. I am an off and on smoker and have been for 27 years. I have quit before for 2 years, and the last time I quit was a year ago and it was for 6 months. Smoking is one of the biggest addictions there is. I agree that the most important thing in quitting is to evaluate you health, and where you will be down the road if you don't quit. It is scarey and grim. Smoking absorbs you and becomes like your best friend. Its there when your sad, when your happy and when you just need comfort. A friend of mine is a Dr. and he use to take me to his seminars on quitting smoking and use me as a testimonial. From my own experiences (and I am very passionate about it) I have learned that when you stop smoking most people need to make lifestyle changes as well. I know I have to find things to fill that voided feeling. Because smoking becomes such a pattern. You need it when you wake up, with your coffee, after you eat, when you come out of the store, and on and on. So, finding things to replace those needs helps a lot. And, one thing that I done .... and I had to commit this to myself was to exercise. I started out walking every day, then progressed into a small jog from mailbox to mailbox, and then I began to run ... I ran my 1st 5k and done it in 23 minutes. That was one of the proudest days of my life I think. It might not sound like much to some ... but for someone who smoked as long and as heavy as I did, it was quite an accomplishment. Drinking water helps clear out the toxins too. I tryed all of the medications ... pffffffffffft! Joke for me. They just made me a little nuttier

. I chewed so much of the gum one time that it literally tore my asophygus up and put a nasty little cyst in my throat that I had to have removed. The only thing that I tryed and I swear by it is the patch. Which aren't near as bad for you as the ciggarettes. Those things are a gift to me. I don't even think about smoking. I plan to practice what I preach and am going to quit again this spring. I feel so much better and am so much happier when I don't smoke. I have been smoking now for a year .... way too long. I can't really exercise or anything when I smoke, its hard and it feels hypocritical. I know what you are going through though, it is tuff, but you have the determination to do it!!

Good luck hon, and keep your chin up and and be proud of yourself!!! Thats so important I think. Because it is something to be really proud of. I could kick myself for starting again, and letting myself slip so far away from where I once was. One problem that really taunts me is that my husband and most everyone around me smokes. That makes it a whole lot harder to stop. I know I can get back to where I was though. I definately know I need to especially with this stupid "Pausin" thing going on right now. Carissa