How...

[Shelby]

Just remember......you're not 'missing' anything, and nothing bad will happen if you don't smoke.

[minniepauz]

Five days is HUGE!! Way to go! So much is psychological and you know what works best for you, but try talking to yourself as if you were a non-smoker--which you ARE!! As a nonsmoker, you are not craving cigarettes or nicotine (it's out of your body already anyway). You're just a nonsmoking person who is changing a few habits that were not doing you any good. As a nonsmoker you are reducing your health risks AND you're saving a bunch of money!! Just keep thinking about all the good things about not smoking....it really helps.

[SuperNanaMom46]

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

[Shelby]

Carissa, you should definitely read Allan Carr's Easy Way to Stop Smoking. You have the same problem that I did -- you feel you need to fill a 'void' left by not smoking, that you're missing something. Once you come to believe there is no 'void,' and that you're not missing anything by not smoking, you will no longer fill a need to fill it. Then you will be truly free of it, like you never started.

[minniepauz]

Here's a video of Ashton Kushnar talking about Carr's book. http://www.allencarrusa.com/HiddenPages ... fault.aspx (that 's my maiden name, wonder if we're related? ) I couldn't afford to buy anything to help me quit except the lozenges that helped for about 2 days, but then I realized, you DO have to WANT to quit. If you're truly ready, it's not as hard as you thought it would be. I kept telling myself that quitting wasn't nearly as hard as if I had throat cancer or emphysema!!!!

[Brighid Moon]

Thank you SuperNanaMom46, and everyone else! I'm now on my second week heading into my third and still not smoking. Sometimes its a bit rougher than others, but honestly the hardest thing is the psychological (like you said!) - I'm using cinnamon sticks to replace the "habit" of holding/sucking/playing/etc. that I did with the ciggies and it really works well for me. No medicines or anything else to help (I was allergic to the magnesium in the lozenges!) but the nicotine is long gone, so I know it's only my brain searching for it. I gave up drugs sixteen years ago - this is no different, just a bit harder is all. LOL I really appreciate all of your support, everyone! And thank you Dee for the link! And you're right too, it's the emphysema that scares the living hell out of me, and lung cancer and PE. I'm too vain to live with a tank!