Archive through January 20, 2003
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Who wants to quit smoking with me? (ARCHIVE):
Archive through January 20, 2003
Fruitbat | Monday, January 20, 2003 - 06:21 am     Yes, that is clear! Thanks. It said shipping could take 3 weeks but that is good. I don't want to stop on our vacation. The nature of the trip is not the best of circumstances for me. I know I may be cranky or edgy so a car trip with my husband is not ideal. I have to be able to take a walk or remove myself should this occur. The timing is right. Did anyone here quit and not gain weight? I quit once years ago for 5 years and did not but I was younger and that may have played a part. |
Llkoolaid | Monday, January 20, 2003 - 06:23 am     Sia, the book is available in Canada. It is carried by Chapters. You can also get it at Coles. For those that don't know Chapters and Coles are book store chains. They have a website, my husband found it, I want to get a copy for my mother. I imagine if you just look for "Chapters" you will find it, if you don't I find it for you. You can order online from Chapters, so hopefully we will soon have a copy on its way to you. |
Llkoolaid | Monday, January 20, 2003 - 06:30 am     I didn't gain weight when I quit Fruitbat, I drank tons of water instead of picking at food. Now that I have read the book, I realize that I just didn't have to do anything, just not smoke. It is as simple as that. |
Fruitbat | Monday, January 20, 2003 - 07:21 am     Oh that is good to hear. I was concered about a metabolic change. I have control over eating or not. Whooooo Hooooooooo! I am ready. |
Rissa | Monday, January 20, 2003 - 07:38 am     Grooch. I am no expert but this is my understanding. Once you have smoked for awhile your heart-rate is increased in between smokes and lowered when you have a cig. That's why people say it's relaxing or have a smoke as a reaction to stress. It isn't really calming you down, what it is it that the increased heart-rate is actually a withdrawal symptom which obviously lighting up stops. Smoking also slows down or reduces the amount of food which is absorbed by your intestines (which is one of the reasons it is a diet alternative... that and you can't eat while puffing). FRUITBAT!! This part is for you. LOL This is why people gain weight when quitting, your intestines clear up and more food makes it into your blood system, rather then passing on through. Your appetite also increases because you will be more aware of your hunger triggers plus you are figgety. LOL LLkoolaid's water idea is a great one but keep in mind that the consensus is that quitting smoking equals 5 pounds. If you are expecting it, then you don't beat yourself up about it... there will always be time to handle the weight issue AFTER. No need to put two demons on your back at the same time. I also found that being sleepy was a MAJOR withdrawal symptom for me and I just went with it. Was in bed by 8. LOL That's 3 hours not spent in front of tv or computer arguing with myself about having a smoke or hunting down pringles. LOL |
Fruitbat | Monday, January 20, 2003 - 08:02 am     Thanks Rissa. I certainly get it that some extra weight is preferable to smoking. The issue with me could be going back to smoking if I see the scale go up. I know myself well and I have to cut way back on food and expend more energy during this time to avoid this. |
Dahli | Monday, January 20, 2003 - 08:11 am     LOL Bat, who ELSE would control it?... you big silly! |
Rissa | Monday, January 20, 2003 - 08:18 am     Hubby is home today, sleeping off a non-stop drive from Ontario to Alberta (that's 36 hours btw plus 8 spent in St. Paul, Minn. waiting for shop to open after tire blew), so I am hiding in my office and trying not to wake him. LOL Forgive me my ranting, going hunting for answers for Grooch and Fruitbat: >>>>The benefits of quitting are clear. Just 20 minutes after your last cigarette, your blood pressure and heart rate start to return to normal. After only a day, the risk of a heart attack begins to diminish, the lung association says. >>> >>>"Typical physical symptoms following cessation or reduction of nicotine intake include craving for nicotine, irritability, frustration or anger, anxiety, tension, difficulty concentrating, restlessness, sleep disturbances, decreased heart rate, and increased appetite or weight gain. Not all symptoms necessarily occur in any one individual.>>> Sounds bad but the good news is that in around 72 hours your blood will be completely cleared of nicotene, that is when the physical symptoms have peaked and begin to wane. Eww, while searching I came across this page: COURT CASE, it's too long to post but if you search down for 'weight gains' you will find a very interesting paragraph released from a Phillips/Morris study done way back in 1971. Actually everything from that point down is interesting. LOL |
Rissa | Monday, January 20, 2003 - 08:21 am     I am with ya Fruitbat. The scale is the reason I went back to smoking so many times too. Finally just gave up on it, as quitting was adding 5 pounds but restarting only losing me 2. LOL |
Dahli | Monday, January 20, 2003 - 08:42 am     Oh my gawd - Rissa that gave me the shivers, it's amazing the evil among us ain't it... |
Fruitbat | Monday, January 20, 2003 - 09:02 am     Dahli, I meant that I can control what I eat but have NO control on how my intestines work or a metabolic shift. |
Webkitty | Monday, January 20, 2003 - 09:27 am     I am ready to quit too. Like Fruitbat, I will wait until after the Key Largo get together, I would just be setting myself up to fail if I tried now. That book sounds interesting, but I have had success with the gum in the past. I used it for about a week until the physical cravings stop, then I am ok. Maybe its just all in my head that the gum works because I want it to. I don't want to muddy the waters by reading a book that says I will fail with the gum method, but I am open to anything. I didn't start smoking until later in life, and then in starts and stops. I never considered myself a "smoker" until recently. I am. My big problem is that I always go back to it because my husband smokes and its really hard to be around that when trying to quit. He has always been gracious enough to "pretend" he's quitting too, so I can get past that first week, but I know he smokes when he's out of the house because I can smell it on him. Gradually, he will start smoking at home again, he confines it to one room, and I resist as long as I can, but its there, does anyone understand this? One time, I was able to do it for a whole year, I felt great but started up again on 9/11. I know, no excuse is a good one, but I had extenuating circumstances that day and the cigs were right there. I haven't stopped since. For me, its 99% addiction. I don't want to smoke, I really don't get that much pleasure out of it. Also, I tend to eat MORE when I'm smoking. It gives me heartburn and I feel the need to eat to get rid of it. One thing that helped was getting out of the house to the gym first thing in the day and exercizing vigorously. I would start to lose weight from that and I didn't want to start smoking again and get the heartburn and eat. Then, in a moment of weakness I would pick up one of my husbands cigs and it was all over, once again. He would always say, hey! you don't smoke! Give me that! You told me not to let you smoke! lol. (sometimes this works but mostly not) How does someone stop when there is a smoker in the house? Does this book address this issue? This is my biggest problem. I think it makes it harder. He keeps saying he will quit for good one day, but I'm tired of waiting. PS: He has agreed to quit with me when I get back from Key Largo, because it alarms him that I smoke, but I know he won't really give it the same effort I will. (this sounds very screwy to me as I type this! lol) |
Babyruth | Monday, January 20, 2003 - 09:40 am     A cardiologist I used to work with once told me an average person could gain up to 75 pounds after quitting smoking and STILL be improving their cardiovascular health by quitting. I quit my 15 year, one-pack-per-day jail sentence 15 years ago, and gained 10 pounds in the 2 months right afterwards. My problem was that my favorite smoke was after a meal. Once I didn't have that anymore, I prolonged the meal to avoid the pangs...haha... and thus ate more. I shook that by adding a regular exercise regimen (walking) and paying more attention to what I was doing at mealtimes. I also drank more water. Walking felt good and made me feel healthy, and motivated me to maintain my new non-smoking status. I kept a particular stop-smoking pamphlet in my purse at all times and it became my talisman. When I wanted a smoke, I would pull out that booklet instead and say nope nope nope to myself til the urge passed. Somehow, it all finally worked for me. I feel confident that you all will be successful in your efforts, too! |
Babyruth | Monday, January 20, 2003 - 10:13 am     Webkitty, I was married to a smoker when I quit, plus I was working fulltime with only one other person and he was a chainsmoker. I was around smokers 24/7, it seemed. I asked them both to not smoke indoors anymore and they both agreed. I asked they not leave their cigarette packs lying around and they complied. I requested we sit in non-smoking areas when out to dinner, etc. They both wanted to quit someday too, and had no problem supporting my efforts. The rest was up to me. Every time I had the urge, I chose to deep breathe, drink water, whatever it took to get past it and remind myself I was now a non-smoker. Gradually the urges lessened and I felt my own power increase. As for the heartburn, I had that too, and it decreased significantly when I quit smoking. |
Webkitty | Monday, January 20, 2003 - 10:44 am     Babyruth, that is one accomplishment, I have to hand it to you My husband has conceeded to not to smoke in restaurants and has agreed to step outside for a cig, but somehow always ends up smoking back inside, ummmmm, lol. He's a great guy so hopefully this will all work out in the end. Fruitbat, I am interested to hear what you think about the book after you get a chance to read it. We are coming from the same place right now, still smoking but intending to quit. Since the gum has helped you too in the past, I would like to know how the book conflicts with this. I just feel like I need the gum, but like I said, I'm willing to try another way. This book seems to have helped many here. |
Dahli | Monday, January 20, 2003 - 11:19 am     Webkitty, the point he makes about the gum is the same one you have just made, it doesn't work very well ...the fact that you're still a smoker speaks to that, so even if subsituting one form of the drug for another works in the short term it's the long term forever we're talkin' here... Eliminating the mental addiction to nicotine is what this method does, and when that happens the body is only too happy to follow. The best way I could explain what the reaction is to people who smoke around you once this clicks is a little like this - if they were lying on the driveway sucking on the exhaust pipe of their car - would you say mmm yummy I think I'll go start MY car! (Believe me you just don't want it anymore.) It is also combined with a little bit of sadness, when I watch my mom hunch over a match to get it going to get her fix or see anyone for that matter standing outside in the wind or cold pulling poison into their bodies with all their breath it's like the feeling watching a drunk suck on the last of the bottle or a drug addict plunge the syringe in - extreme distaste, pity and sadness. |
Denecee | Monday, January 20, 2003 - 11:37 am     Just checking in. It feels so good not to smoke. I have noticed that I have alot more time on my hands so I go for more walks and think about how good it feels not to be smoking. I was kind of a closet smoker, in that I would not smoke in public or around my kids, so I spent quite a bit of time out in the garage. The garage is a dark cold place, scary! I don't stink! My hair smells good! Yipeee! |
Ginger1218 | Monday, January 20, 2003 - 11:44 am     I am sure some people will disagree with this, but what the heck. I smoked 3 1/2 packs a day for almost 29 years. I started when I was 12. I was a rabid smoker. I enjoyed it, loved it. I would not go anywhere where I could not smoke. I even sneaked cigarettes in movie theaters and on the subway. Needless to say, I was a sick addict. Then about 9 years ago, I developed polyps on my vocal chords. (Non cancerous thank God), but for some reason the doctor scared me. I had been told all kinds of things for years, but I didn't care. This doctor scared me. So, I had the first surgery and stopped smoking cold turkey on the morning of the surgery. (I had another surgery 3 months later). I did not smoke for 11 months. Then I was having mad cravings, so I decided in advance that on New Year's Eve, I was going to have one cigarette. (HA) I waited till midnight and had the cigarette. I almost cried, it was so good. By the next day, I was smoking 3 packs again. I continued to smoke for 4 months, and then I started to feel all the effects that had stopped when I stopped. My throat started to act up, and the coughing started, and I got 3 colds in 4 months. I just said I can't do this anymore, and on a Tuesday night smoked the last of my cigarettes, I timed it so that I had none left when I woke up Wednesday. The fist 2 days were a little rough, but, by the end of the week, I was playing poker with 8 heavy smokers. On May 24th it will be 8 years. Ok, now how did I do it? All I can say is that I think I self hypnotized myself. I realized that it is all a matter of focus. If I got an urge, I took a deep breath and it went away. I actually enjoy the smell of it, so it does not bother me, my boyfriend smokes, my friends smoke, and I refuse to tell anyone they cannot smoke. I lived with that harassment for years. If you constantly think about it, you will fail. You need to put focus elsewhere and it really works. I had tried everything for years. Accupuncture, patches, hypnotists, gum, etc. I think they are all useless. It is in your power to do it. Nothing else. Also, as said above, the physical part is only 3 days, after that it is out of your system and becomes psychological. Don't get me wrong, I am still an addict and if I took one drag, I would be smoking 3 packs. I recognize this. I also say, that if I found out I was dying and the world was ending all I would want is a cigarette. But life without smoking is so much easier. First of all it is so much cheaper. NY prices are $7 a pack. You cannot smoke anywhere here. It is like a Nazi state. So, I don't have that aggravation. Also, I used to get colds constantly. Since I stopped I have not had a cold in almost 5 years. Ok, I will stop ranting now. If anybody ever needs help or support, please let me know, either by email or my folder. I will gladly help anyone who needs it. It is so much easier than you think if you do it right. |
Dahli | Monday, January 20, 2003 - 12:27 pm     Wow Ginger, you've said it well, and the truth is the monster does come roaring back to life with just one. Congrats! |
Northstar | Monday, January 20, 2003 - 12:39 pm     Ginger, you may be seeing notes from me in about 2 months!! |
Tashakinz | Monday, January 20, 2003 - 12:46 pm     An addict's diary - day 9 Day 7 Well, let me tell you about the neighbor. He pissed me off so much Saturday night I invited him to leave my house. You don't say "want a cigarette? Have a cigarette." to someone who's quit. I don't care if you're just trying to get their goat. If you can't be supportive, then leave. Hubby agreed with my motive, but thought I was a little harsh in inviting him to leave. Have I mentioned what an absolute idiot this guy is??? He makes me want to move. All of this was after my scale told me I'd gained 2 lbs. in 7 days even though I've strictly stuck to my diet and not cheated at all.... Day 8 was a good day. Only thought about lighting up 3 dozen or so times. Even managed to sit at the computer for a few minutes. (One of my big smoking hangouts - so been avoiding it). Day 9 - Today has been a bad day. Work has been stressful. I keep telling myself that I need to find a new way to deal with my stress besides a)smoking and b)hitting someone/thing. I need to restart TaeBo. I've added 30 rows to the blanket I'm crocheting. At this rate it will be done in a month. lol How is everyone else doing?? |
Denecee | Monday, January 20, 2003 - 01:49 pm     Tash, today is day 20 for me and I have to admit that I have not been the easiest person to live with. My family says they would rather put up with me like this for as long as it takes than for me to start smoking again. Your neighbor guy sounds like an absolute jerk. Keep on posting! We can do this! |
Dahli | Monday, January 20, 2003 - 02:21 pm     YAY!!!Denecee - you are doing great and yay for your brilliant family too! |
Lumbele | Monday, January 20, 2003 - 02:31 pm     Holy smokes (pardon the pun)! This thread has never archived this quickly since I have joined. You go away for the weekend and when you come back there are a few new nicotine buddies. Welcome! The more the merrier. At the moment I don't have enough time to read every post thoroughly, but I noticed that everyone is hunting down THE BOOK. The exact title is "Only Way to Stop Smoking Permanently" by Allen Carr and is still available at Amazon.ca, "usually ships within 24 hours" $CDN 16.99 (which is not bad for you Yanks since your buck goes a lot further up here). My new specs are now on my nose, so hopefully I will find the time to stick my nose in it tonight. If it is decided to start typing it here, I will help, too, but the copyright issue really should be clarified first. Neil has had enough trouble already in that department, we wouldn't want to give him another headache, right? Tasha, to anwer your "how-goes-it?" - Slowly! Good thing they make the crochet hooks in plastic now, a metal one would be glowing by now. But the fingernails are still dug into the waggon's back rail. I am determined not to give up. Sooner or later.... |
Juju2bigdog | Monday, January 20, 2003 - 02:34 pm     Yay Ginger, Yay Denecee, Yay Tash!!! Denecee and Tash, keep up the good fight. It really does get easier most every day. You just have a bad day, as you have seen, every now and then. But both of you should almost be over the very worst days by now. Webkitty, let us know if you decide to go for it, IF you want to. I think you should just blithely go along with a belief that the hubby is really quitting. If he backslides, be as firm as you can about not having smoking in the house anymore. Tash, I agree the neighbor was a super jerk, and he is lucky you did not kick his sorry butt all the way up the street and back down the other side instead of just throwing him out. He is a loser. Lose him. Edit: Oops. Lumbele was posting at the same time as me. Yay Lumbele!!! |
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