Stopped smoking!

[minniepauz]

Only 2 more days and I've been a quitter for 9 months! That sure went faster than my 3 pregnancies! I still feel a tiny twinge once in awhile...not really an urge or anything, just maybe a thought like "this is probably when I'd light a cigarette...", but I'm not a smoker anymore so it's just a fleeting thing.

Do I miss smoking? Sometimes I think I do. Not enough to ever do it again and I don't think I'd ever "enjoy" one again. I'd be too afraid of getting hooked again. I find that I don't have the patience with smokers that I thought I'd have. I don't say anything but I'm very irritated with everything about smoking.....the time wasted, the smell, the cost and even the dependance.

I'm thinking of designing a series of cartoons using Minnie to encourage women to stop for their health..... maybe I can get some organization to fund this type of campaign.

How are you all doing with your efforts? What do you need to hear, to see that will help you? Let me know.....talk about it.

[parts2you]

wow minnie....so are you still an ex smoker??? i just read all the threads and cant believe you made it to nine months. how much did you smoke?
i have tried a couple times in the past few years,and i am getting nearer to trying again.
one question i have about the lozengers....with the patch,i got those vivid dreams....does this happen with the lozengers?
my weight has finally stablized after two years or so of it being so unpredictable.and where im at now,it seems it has shifted---for the good-which has given me incentive to start at the new gym that has opened around the corner from me.
i also am finally just about recovered from my last disappointing relationship,so with everything i am determined to look good,feel good,and be healthy.
besides the health issues i am getting really sick of the money i am wasting that i could be using elsewhere.......i just got to make up my mind once and for all. when i do i will be checking in here,so please keep it going.

[minniepauz]

Actually, Jan 1 was 10 months as a non-smoker!! I can hardly believe it myself! I smoked for 43 years and smoked an average of a pack and a half a day.

I don't recall any dreams when taking the lozenges, but I didn't even take them that long. Once I found out that the nicotine leaves your body after 72 hours, I decided not to put anymore in my body. I had finally realized that I was stronger than my habit and was able to talk myself out of having a cigarette. Yes I WANTED a cigarette for quite awhile, but I figured that wasn't nearly as hard as it would be if I got emphysema or cancer. I just wasn't willing to risk it any longer....you have to decide if you are willing to risk it, plus pay the price in both $$$ and your health.

It feels sooooooooo good to be a non-smoker and I save about $150 mo. The main thing is that we have to stop fooling ourselves and use common sense about the consequences of smoking. I can't stand the smell anymore and have apologized to everyone in my life for having to put up with me stinking like that (even though I didn't smoke around them).

Just do it!! Get the lozenges (if that's how you're going to start) and gather all the information you can....get photos of diseased lungs, http://www.lungcancer.org/patients/lc_1 ... _main.htm# imagine yourself having to carry an oxygen tank everywhere....do whatever you have to to be REALISTIC instead of continuing to lie to yourself. There are support forums online and my other really helpful tip.... LifeSavers sugar free Sorbet candies!! Let me know how you're doing, ok? I'll even call you if you want..... let me know!

[Jebora]

Tomorrow, Feb 7th 2006, I have my first appointment with a hypnotist to help me quit smoking. I've known others who have been to this woman and it worked for them....so now it's my turn. And boy, AM I SCARED!!!! I want to quit because I want my energy and my life back....but I am having moments of thinking "what will I do, if I'm not smoking??"
Stupid, I know!! But that's the way it is.
I am 53, and have smoked for 36 years.
I'll be back to let you know how it goes.............
Fran

[minniepauz]

All my best to you, Fran!!! Please don't worry about what you will do when you're not smoking. Even if you're doing nothing, you'll be allowing your lungs to repair themselves and you'll be adding time to your life! Just think of the alternative..... if you die early, your kids and grandkids and friends will suffer. That's one thing that gave me the courage to quit.... and I also thought about what if I LIVED, but with either emphysema or cancer? They would be burdened with taking care of me!

What helped the most was to tell myself that I was stronger than the urge to smoke! Plus I sucked on a lot of sugarless candies!

You can do it! If the hypnotism doesn't help, try accupuncture. I think it has a better success rate. Anyway, don't quit trying to quit!!

[Lindy]

I quit smoking 1 year ago and it was the best thing I ever did. Yes, it was hard but definitely worth it. People ask if I miss it and truthfully there are times when I really do still have a craving but not enough to make me want to start again. I also found I had all this extra time in my day which had been taken up puffing on my cigarettes. I have gotten so many things done that I normally wouldn't have had time for. I was concerned about gaining weight but as my husband put it, he'd rather have me a healthy non-smoker even if it meant I was a little heavier. I did gain a little weight but I think some of that is from peri too. Good luck to everyone, you can do it.

[minniepauz]

Thanks for your input, Linndi, and CONGRATULATIONS!! Yes, it was "hard" to quit.....just like it's hard to change any bad habit, but I've said it many times, it's not as hard as it would be to deal with lung cancer or emphysema! God, if there was any way to experience something in the future without really suffering, THAT would convince people not to take these risks that we take..... it's like drunk driving in a way. None of us wants to hurt or kill ourselves (or someone else), but almost all of us have driven after drinking at least once.

[lynndi]

I quit on super bowl sunday this year cold turkey and yes it is very hard, I only use regular chewing gum when I think I need to light up. My family has been very suportive and hearing all your great reports is keeping me on track.

I also keep reminding myself how sick I was over the holiday season when I could not ejoy anything because I was so sick I could not get out of bed.


Hugs to all

[scbikrchick]

I hope this works. My very first post on this forum so here goes. I quit smoking 26 months ago after a 28 year addiction and can I tell ya, it was rough. So many ups and downs, unresolved feelings that were once masked by the effects of nicotine that were suddenly, there, in my face. I still have thoughts of smoking but just fleeting junkie thoughts. The longer I deny them, the quiter they become. On to the other half of my life.

[DayDreamer]

Well I made it!!!


A year ago today I gave up smoking

I have survived and I'm determined not to give in to any 'fleeting' thoughts of smoking when I'm stressed out! Never made any difference to what was stressing me anyway.

Onward to my next year of no smoking

Congratulations to all of you that have managed it too.

[minniepauz]

FANTASTIC, DayDreamer!!!! It's a great feeling of accomplishment to reach that year mark, isn't it? I know there's lots of people who quit for years and then go back, but I just can't imagine ever smoking again! I'm at almost 14 mo. myself.

Now here's a twisted question....supposedly my psoriasis has been active because of stress. Considering that I've had LOTS of stress throughout my 58 years and never once had an outbreak of psoriasis, was it somehow the SMOKING that kept me from breaking out? I ask this because the psoriasis only came out after I quit smoking (approx. 7 mo after I quit). It's already bad enough that many smokers don't want to quit because they will gain weight (which I did too), but if it gets out that smoking really does control our stress....many more will feel they have a good excuse not to quit.

[DayDreamer]

It's a riddle Dee,


Consider this...........tobacco is a plant, ..........we smoke the plant (herbal)
we feel better (real or imagined.)..........some plants have phytoestrogens

Has tobacco been scientifically researched for the menopausal woman........

I would think NOT. Is that why we gain weight as well ( a drop in phytoESTROGEN)..........Why my teeth have deteriorated rapidly in the last 6 months ( a drop in phytoESTROGEN)...........Stress relieving phytoESTROGEN removed.....(your psoriasis!)..........

HA HA HA HA HA....................I'd better STOP this before I start EXTOLLING the virtues of smoking as the new HRT and ruining the efforts of so many women trying to find reasons to give up and stop ruining their lungs!!!!

Makes you wonder though

[colopam]

Just had a vey good customer (early 40's) she told me she had just been diagnosed as having emphysema, not really a heavy smoker but she stopped on the spot. Don't like throwing a scare into anyone but here she is a beautiful, "healthy", in shape woman who went in for a pregnancy test (negative) and came out with an emphysema diagnosis.

Hugs to All! Pam

[DayDreamer]

Don't worry Pam, I wasn't REALLY extolling the virtues of smoking....LOL Just answering Dee's query above!!!

I hope nobody took anything I said out of context, if they did I apologise.

I packed up smoking a year ago myself (yesterday).

[colopam]

Daydreamer
Nope never crossed my mind. I really care about this young lady and really hope she does well and ANYTHING that will help ANYONE to stop I'd do. Really I don't know how the "original" not altered tobacco would stack up to today's genetically altered, enhanced and chemically altered "herb". Makes you wonder, huh?

HUgs Pam

PS Congrats on quitting yourself!!!! It's one of the toughest things and I hold you in the HIGHEST regard along with our other quitters and trying to quit (ers).