smoking

[mee]

Originally Posted by greymare

they either will smoke or not...........

true

[China Cat Sunflower]

Today I have seven days smoke free in. I'm kinda celebrating, it's been a helluva week. The Chantix helps a lot with the nicotine withdrawal symptoms, but it messes with my stomach and I'm having a hard time sleeping. I can feel the monkey slowly retracting his claws from my back!

Chris

[wil]

Originally Posted by China Cat Sunflower

Today I have seven days smoke free in. I'm kinda celebrating, it's been a helluva week. The Chantix helps a lot with the nicotine withdrawal symptoms, but it messes with my stomach and I'm having a hard time sleeping. I can feel the monkey slowly retracting his claws from my back!

Chris

Congrats dude!! I know it isn't easy. I am glad you are doing it. I see kids who start today and I think it a shame, I know it is a tough habit and hard to break. What breaks my heart is my kids only have my mom as a grandma, all three other grandparents were gone before they were walking due to smoking, both the grandparents and the grandkids missed out on a wonderful experience.

[China Cat Sunflower]

Thanks Wil!

Chris

[China Cat Sunflower]

Woohoo!!! I made it another week! I still have a one week supply of the pills left but I'm going off them. The nicotine withdrawals seem to be over, so now it's just dealing with the habit. Pills aren't going to help me with that. One more week and I start to make save nearly $150.00 a month from not smoking. The Chantix cost $125.00 for the beginning month's supply so I didn't save much this month.

Chris

[wil]

Originally Posted by China Cat Sunflower

now it's just dealing with the habit. Pills aren't going to help me with that.

Had a friend who bought a big bottle of vit c and then put them in a box in his pocket. Every time he felt the 'habit' issues he reached in his pocket took out a vit c pill and popped it in his mouth. The actions replaced the other actions and the c irritated his throat as he kept it in his mouth a while prior to swallowing.

[wil]

And congrats again, proud of you and behind ya!

[greymare]

good on ya, chris.

[juantoo3]

Way to go, Chris! Congrats and keep up the good work.

I'm jonesin' pretty bad from time to time myself, just went cold turkey about 3 months or so ago. I've tried several times, and til now I've managed to pick 'em back up again. I kept it down to 2 or 3 a day (smoking "roll yer owns") a pack would last more than a week. But I couldn't quit that last 1 or 2. Been forcing myself, but it's really difficult. The biggest help is not being around others who smoke. The downside is I miss their company.

Don't know if its for the better or not, but I made a conscious choice this time not to keep any knid of score. I don't remember what day I quit, I can't tell you exactly how long its been, but its over two months now I am pretty sure. Been stressing at work, eating like a horse and bloating up out of all of my britches (literally had to get them resized). But I keep telling myself the benefits outweigh the short term hassles.

I sure hope so.

Do the joneses ever go away?

[Paladin]

Yes Juan, the jones does go away, at least the physical craving does. The psychological craving does take a bit longer and might require a bit of cognitive reframing. When I quit, the cravings got weaker and weaker after a month. By the time two months had gone by I knew it was going better all the time. This is where some some inner work has to be done to deal with the absence of something that gave some pleasure and comfort comes in.

The comfort and pleasure were ultimately a lie, and I had to remember that. Also the the cravings are nothing more than a false appetite, nothing real is being threatened by not smoking although the mind would have us believe so.
Once when the cravings were bad I opened myself up to them, instead of resisting the craving I allowed myself to feel them as fully as I could.
"Go ahead do your worst!" I cried inwardly " I know who you are you son of a bitch and you are nothing!"

Sound dramatic? Yeah I guess, but by looking at my craving head on, and allowing myself to feel it fully without turning aside I found that they disappear like the mist they are made of.

I also wrote about it too. In a paper I thought of as my "first step" work. Of course this might not be for you, since it is a twelve step thing.
Then again, these methods did help me stop using drugs and alcohol too.

[juantoo3]

Thanks for that Paladin. Alcohol isn't an issue, at least not so far. I drink only occasionally, although I have taken a liking for a single nightly brewski. I am concerned about prescription and over-the-counter meds, with my advancing arthritis I have turned increasingly to OTC pain meds. I also seem to be developing allergies in the last couple of years, I have struggled relentlessly with clogged sinus for about the last year, and little I do with OTC seems to help. Already been the herbal route with even less relief. I am at my wits end, just teetering on the edge of going to the doc for pharmaceuticals, against all my better judgment.

It's hell to get old.

[China Cat Sunflower]

So far I've eaten New Jersey and one of the smaller Hawaiian islands! Eat, eat, eat- that's what I do. I don't even want a cigarette. I just don't know what to do with myself in all those little moments that used to be my smoke breaks.

Chris

[juantoo3]

Originally Posted by China Cat Sunflower

So far I've eaten New Jersey and one of the smaller Hawaiian islands! Eat, eat, eat- that's what I do. I don't even want a cigarette. I just don't know what to do with myself in all those little moments that used to be my smoke breaks.

Chris

Good for you Chris! New Jersey needs to be eaten.

[Paladin]

Jeez Chris, you don't know where thats been... ewww

The mornings used to be one of my "trigger" times so I had to reframe it entirely. Where I used to go outside with a coffee and a smoke on the back porch, I started to go out with just a coffee on the front porch to watch the sunrise and to enjoy how the breath felt going in my lungs and how it felt breathing back out.

Other times were harder though like being in traffic in my work van going to and from a call. I went through a lot of cheetos

[Faithfulservant]

Ive been 2 years smoke free since march 7.. The thing is I've done that twice now because I quit when I was pregnant with my two kids...

Please take this advice... never ever be fooled into thinking its ok to have ONE cigarette. Your brain will try to talk you into it.. basically giving yourself permission.. even after 2 years of barely even thinking about smoking anymore... I started smoking again that started out of as a curiousity at what it would be like and those situations started out social... that is probably the hardest is standing around a group of smokers having good conversation.

Always ALWAYS be on guard... you can never ever ever smoke again you have to make that a fact. Not even one single drag... ever.

Another thing that helps is the one day at a time.. before you know it you are at your 2 year mark and you wont even remember what its like to smoke... but trust me if you fall off the wagon it probably takes 2-3 smokes to remember EVERYTHING.

after a few months you will start smelling smoke on everyone... start telling yourself how bad it stinks and it will.

I think the biggest motivator to me this time was how much I enjoyed not paying the huge taxes on them .... I will never ever pay that much to smoke.. its crazy these days. I have so much more fun and more TIME! now.

anyways!! congrats you both!!