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Twinkie
Member
09-24-2002
| Thursday, March 01, 2007 - 12:14 am
Well, now that its Thursday where I am I can say I've been smoke-free for a week. And Slothk, I agree. Hardest thing I've ever done. Quitting drinking was oh so easy compared to this. I can't do anything without thinking "okay, now I can go sit down and have a smoke." I hope that part goes away soon cause its driving me crazy and that's a real short trip these days. On the up side, I'm getting more kisses from my DH! No cig breathe! YAAAAAA
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Llkoolaid
Member
08-01-2001
| Thursday, March 01, 2007 - 6:58 am
I don't want to scare you but I had a rough time yesterday, now maybe it is just me because I don't know how many times I have quit and hit this mark and had a cigarette. Well all day yesterday I wanted one, and the same old crap, I had myself almost convinced I could deal with one, that it would be differant this time. OMG I was cranky, but I finally got through it. I was trying my hardest to justify an excuse for smoking, I literally had to tell myself out loud what I was doing. Holy crap. Thankfully these days are rare and it wasn't really a day, just a couple of hours after supper. Anyway, all done and I made it. Well I had craving off and on through the day but after supper was like week one.
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Slothkitten
Member
09-16-2003
| Thursday, March 01, 2007 - 7:50 am
Way to kick it to the curb, LL !! ( I feel your pain, groan ). Day 8
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Juju2bigdog
Member
10-27-2000
| Thursday, March 01, 2007 - 8:00 am
Awwww, poor LL. BUT, you made it through the day!!! Maybe you need to get a tattoo? "There is no such thing as just one cigarette." Yep, you have been through this before and failed then. This time you succeeded. I am very proud of you. I feel kinda like you are my kid and yesterday you almost joined a gang, but you didn't. LOL. One smoke away from a pack a day. Yay!!!
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Babyruth
Member
07-19-2001
| Thursday, March 01, 2007 - 8:04 am
YAY, LL for beating down the sneak-attack urge monster!!!!! You've just exponentially increased your own strength! WOOHOO!!!!!!!!! I remember those monsters. I'd be bopping along just fine without any bad urges for weeks and then when my guard was down, WHAMMO! the monster would attack out of nowhere, grab me by the ankles and try to knock me over. The trick is to stay on your feet, keep dancing, and stomp the shit out of the nasty deadly monster. CONGRATS to LL, Nick, Slothkitten and Twinkie-poo! Way to go!!
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Twinkie
Member
09-24-2002
| Thursday, March 01, 2007 - 8:45 am
The most amazing thing has happened. I can smell every little thing! Mind you I have a sinus infection and my nose is constantly either stuffed up or runny, but I can smell everything. What's especially nice is I washed my hair yesterday and today it still smells like my conditioner and not like cigarettes. As hard as this is I think that alone may keep me from slipping. Way to go, LL! You beat it once more!
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Llkoolaid
Member
08-01-2001
| Thursday, March 01, 2007 - 9:55 am
Just wait Twinkie, very soon, you will know what food really tastes like again.
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Twinkie
Member
09-24-2002
| Thursday, March 01, 2007 - 10:56 am
LL, I can't wait for that! Check out my RN post of a few minutes ago. I'm so proud.
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Retired
Member
07-11-2001
| Thursday, March 01, 2007 - 12:57 pm
Yay LL for not giving in! Yay Twinkie and Slothkitten and Nick and everyone else for doing as well as you are!!!
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Mizinvanccouver
Member
02-22-2003
| Thursday, March 01, 2007 - 3:08 pm
I quit smoking at the beginning of Sept 2005, so a year and 6 months nearly now. That's the longest I have quit ever and it was my 8th and final try. It is very difficult and many times I fell off and was "just smoking around my smoking friends" or "just smoking when I would have an alcoholic beverage" (started drinking way more! lol) I've given myself every excuse. What worked for me was brain washing myself and to keep reminding myself why I was quiting and all the bad things about smoking. Each time I quit I broke a habit linked with it or changed it. For example I used to have coffee and a cigarette for breakfast and now instead I have starte to actually 'eat' breakfast. I stopped drinking coffee for a while because I associated that with coffee. I would take 'smoke breaks' but instead occupy myself with something else. Reward myself for the money I was saving by buying myself a bouquet of flowers once a week, still WAY cheaper than smoking! Reward myself by buying organic foods and putting 'good' things into my body instead. In case you're wondering, I smoked from the age of 14 years old and I'm now 34. Just thought I would share...have a nice day!
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Slothkitten
Member
09-16-2003
| Thursday, March 01, 2007 - 4:22 pm
Thanks so much for sharing Mizinvanccouver ( may I call you Miz, lol ). A year and 6 months . . . Yatzee ! You should feel so good about yourself. Great tips , too.
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Mizinvanccouver
Member
02-22-2003
| Thursday, March 01, 2007 - 4:38 pm
Of course you can call me Miz! lol I hope the tips help. Every time you quit smoking it becomes easier. Just keep trying. I really gross myself out now with smoking; smells bad, causes receding gum lines, causes wrinkles, tongue cancer, lung cancer, hangs onto your clothes and stinks, as someone else mentioned you can smell more and taste more, cost too much money, why pay to poison ourselves? How ridiculous is that? We're paying to hurt/kill ourselves!!! During your 'smoke break' go for a walk or treat yourself to something. Jot an email. Deep breathes, eat celery-fiercely! Crunch LOUD! As you're quiting try a cleanse or buy some detoxification vitamins to help you along the way. Tell lots of people you're quiting, that way you'll have more people asking you how it's going. I'll come back with some more as I go... Oh ya, keep your hands busy, silly putty worked well for me, crosswords adn suduko.
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Monkey
Member
09-10-2006
| Friday, March 02, 2007 - 2:34 am
Haven't checked out this thread before but my good buddy Slothkitten is quitting and wanted to show my support for her.
Congrats to all the quitters Slothkitten, I love you lots and believe in you. You can do this
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Slothkitten
Member
09-16-2003
| Friday, March 02, 2007 - 9:48 am
Miz, thank's for the inspiration, love the fierce celery crunch maneuver, ha ! Monkey, love you too and thank's so much for your support Day 9 . . . feels like so much longer . . My sense of smell has always been right sharp, but I swear it's even more acute the last couple of days . . . my mouth feels raw from all the hundreds of jolly ranchers ( but felt sore from the hundreds of thousands of cigs ! ) and at least I have candy breath instead of ciggie breath. Thank's to all of you in this thread for all your cheers and support . . you are wonderful. YAY QUITTERS !!!
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Twinkie
Member
09-24-2002
| Friday, March 02, 2007 - 10:30 am
The mornings are getting easier. Now I just do my shot and go back to bed and watch TV and in 30 minutes do the other shot and eat a banana. That's my new daily ritual and its working. Each day gets a little bit easier overall. I still haven't told anybody I quit outside of here. I want to have at least a couple of weeks under my belt first.
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Retired
Member
07-11-2001
| Friday, March 02, 2007 - 10:58 am
Yay to the quitters! Think I read somewhere that it takes 21 days to break a habit (not necessarily smoking) but other habits which includes the things you do that are associated with smoking. So it's great you new quitters are changing your rituals. I found I had to give up coffee but it's no biggie now once I got over the caffeine withdrawal too. 
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Mizinvanccouver
Member
02-22-2003
| Friday, March 02, 2007 - 11:51 am
Luckily I didn't go through caffeine withdrawal. You're absolutely right Retired that it's about changing your habits. Twinkie--The reason you need to tell people you're quiting is so that you don't have an 'out'. Then you'll have a little bit of 'shame' if you do fall off the wagon BUT those people you told will support you and encourage you to try quitting again.When I first started quitting smoking, I didn't tell anyone either because I was afraid I couldn't do it and then everyone would ask me about it. The thing is you need to go into this as KNOWING YOU WILL (ARE) QUITTING FOREVER, no ifs ands or buts about it. I wish I had known that then but I don't think I was truly ready to quit or I wouldn't have worried so much about not being able to do it. You WILL do it when you're ready but I did find it helpful to tell people as then they kept me in check. Just another thought but I had alot of smoker friends and ended up only talking to them on the phone because being around the smoke was too tempting. It made me depressed but then I started to make some new friends who don't smoke and now that I have a better handle on not smoking I can be around my smoker friends again without the temptation. Actually when I see and smell them smoking it reinforces why I quit. You're really a 'slave' to the substance which is a horrible thing.
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Retired
Member
07-11-2001
| Friday, March 02, 2007 - 11:58 am
When I quit, I told one of my doctors after 3 days. When I saw how happy and encouraging he was I started telling others. Like Miz said, the more people you tell, the more support you have. I actually was the last hold out of my friends so have no problems there. I had stopped smoking at work, in the car and out. I did my smoking at home. People kept telling me if I could go without a cig for 12 hrs. or more, why didn't I quit. Always said when I retired I would try. But I found myself smoking twice as much since I was home more. After 2 yrs. of that, coughing my brains out, being short of breath, spending too much money, etc. I said enough is enough and quit cold turkey and have not looked back.

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Mizinvanccouver
Member
02-22-2003
| Friday, March 02, 2007 - 12:05 pm
Good for you Retired! How long has it been now? Another thing to mention and please don't be discouraged but I want you to know you're not alone...I still on the 'odd' occassion think about having a cigarette. Cigarettes were my friend, they never let me down. They were always there to comfort me in no way anyone else could. However, now I know that ya, they could comfort me in a way no one else could but they were also slowly killing me in a way no one else could. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that I think that tobacco addiction is alot like alcohol addiction in the sense that once you're an alcoholic you're always an alcoholic whether drinking or not. Same with smoking, once a smoker, always a smoker and the temptation may come to test you in the future so be ready for it. Stay strong and keep reminding yourself that you ARE worth living and cherishing your body and what you put into it. I found writing very therapeutic too. I would write down my feelings at the time of the craving and write down why I shouldn't have a cigarette and then drink a big glass of water or juice. Usually it would pass. STay strong, you're doing GREAT!!
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Twinkie
Member
09-24-2002
| Friday, March 02, 2007 - 12:17 pm
Miz, I think that's kind of a defeatist attitude that I need to tell people in case I slip. I have no intention of slipping in the first place and if I did I'd have to face my hubby.
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Mizinvanccouver
Member
02-22-2003
| Friday, March 02, 2007 - 1:20 pm
That's excellent Twinkie! I'm glad you have your hubby to support you. That's exactly why I said it is good to tell others so that you don't have a 'defeatist attitude'. Not trying to make this difficult, just sharing what things worked for me and what things I might do differently if I had to quit again, which I will not be. I'm curious then as to why you want to wait a few weeks to have it 'under your belt' to tell anyone except on here?
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Twinkie
Member
09-24-2002
| Friday, March 02, 2007 - 1:48 pm
Because of THEIR reaction if they only hear 1 week.
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Mizinvanccouver
Member
02-22-2003
| Friday, March 02, 2007 - 4:00 pm
Well I'm proud whether 1 day or even 1 hour of anyone quitting smoking and I would hope all others would be that way to you too. In my experience I had only positive responses once I told them and it was at the beginning. They understood more my moodiness. lol To each their own, whatever makes you the most comfortable Twinkie. I'm proud of you (and anyone!) for taking on such a hard task as quitting smoking. I know how difficult it was for me.
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Chiliwilli
Member
09-04-2006
| Friday, March 02, 2007 - 4:47 pm
Because of THEIR reaction if they only hear 1 week. I found a lot of people to be non-supportive, especially if they smoked and were used to taking smoke breaks with you. Even the supportive ones were annoying in that they were constantly checking on your progress which kept it up front in your mind. Only you know the people you are surrounded by and whether to tell them or not and what kind of support you can expect. Some may surprise you one way or the other. It's been almost 12 years for me and I have never had a craving for a cigarette once but then the smell of someone else's cigarette doesn't bother me either. Twinkie and the rest of you quitters keep up the good work! You're doing great and I'm cheering for you!

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Mizinvanccouver
Member
02-22-2003
| Friday, March 02, 2007 - 5:28 pm
Well the smokers are jealous because they want to quit themselves. I didn't find they weren't supportive, more I just missed them on breaks because they would be outside smoking. Later, once I could be around smokers and it wasn't so tempting I could stand outside with them but that took a long time for me. I suppose you're right about 'who' you should tell and that all may not be supportive. Some people are just meanies whether you're dieting or anything to improve yourself. lol I've been fortunate in my life to have positive people around me for the most part. I did have one smoker hide cigarettes around my house though. They thought it would help so that I wouldn't buy a whole pack. It infuriated me. lol
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