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Archive through January 04, 2004

The TVClubHouse: Archives: 2004 January - Arpil: Who wants to quit smoking with me? (ARCHIVES): Archive through January 04, 2004 users admin

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Tabbyking

Wednesday, December 31, 2003 - 8:50 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Ll, glad i didn't read all this back when you typed it. it makes me angry enough now and that's seeing that things have improved some since then. good thing this is my 4th new year's without smoking, cause i almost wanted one!
my son was doing the 'don't wanna go back to school' thing. he doesn't mind the school itself, hard as its engineering program is, but he wants to live in a huge, bustling city. this from a kid who spends 90% of his time alone in his room when he is home, LOL. he doesn't want to deal with the millions of people in a large city, he just wants them around him...he can't afford to live in a large, bustling city unless he graduates college and gets a good job which will let him afford to live in a large, bustling city...
well, we sat down and asked him what he thought would happen if he came home and went to community college parttime while trying to work fulltime. and if he knew just how long it would take to complete his engineering degree starting the community college way, when he has everything paid for now and his only job is to study and get passing grades?!
he just turned 18 and guess what? all his military priviledges from dh being retired military are done. he no longer would have our medical, dental and vision coverage through my husband's current job or tricare from the military. just his allergy and acne meds would cost him 300 dollars a month, plus he would need to pick up some medical coverage somewhere. i reminded him how his broken collar bone e.r. visit would have cost us over 1k if we hadn't had insurance. and his 7 stitches would have cost us 784 dollars had we not had insurance. he had never thought what advantages being a fulltime student gave him, other than an education. he wouldn't have a pot to piss in if he had to earn money to pay for part of an apartment, his medical insurance, his tuition, his car insurance, his food, phone, utilities, etc....
i think school is looking a little more 'acceptable' now.
i was wondering if you had the same thing with your daughter being of legal adult age, as far as medical and other coverages; most of them only cover kids past the age of 18 if they are in school full time.
anyway, i know this doesn't have to do with quitting smoking, but that's what i like about the tvch board. we don't have to stay completely on target and tangents are okay sometimes!
happy new years to all of you and extra big hugs to Llkool and her family.

Llkoolaid

Thursday, January 01, 2004 - 1:15 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
My daughter is still covered for dental, medication and eye, and private hospital rooms, ambulance under my husband until she is 24 and 27 if she is still in school. Great coverage plus being Canadian all hospital costs are free so we don't have to worry about that. She is kicking her butt for what she did but has a full time job now and is going back to school in the fall.

She too is kind of a loner but wanted the city life, guess what she has found out that isn't quite as great as she thought it would be. The problem is she wasted her first year, when she should have been going out and making friends, finding out about herself she was holed up in a dumpy apartment playing housewife to loser boy. As angry as I was and still am, I think she learned a very valuable lesson. Hopefully you get through to your son, she wouldn't listen to us, thought she knew it all. Oh well now she knows a little more.

Tabbyking

Thursday, January 01, 2004 - 2:12 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
you know what they say about kids?
"it's a good thing they leave home at 18, while they still 'know it all'" LOL
in most of the u.s., a kid is only fully-covered under their parents' insurance until 18; 23 if they are a full-time student. i had forgotten you were in canada! just basic insurance for my son would probably cost 200-300/month and he would still have co-pays for medical visits and prescriptions. he would have to pay his own renter's insurance (our homeowner's covers his dorm room--and he will see on saturday if the earthquake damaged anything of his. friends who live 10 miles from my son's school told us they had nothing left on the walls or shelves and they have 4 plates and 7 glasses to use that weren't destroyed!)
if my son truly absorbs what we are doing for him, he will have to settle in and get through school. it's not easy to be a 'grown ass man' if you really have to support yourself!
okay, since this is a quit smoking thread, i will add a smoking line. i am in my 4th year of being a non-smoker!

Sc00pgrl

Thursday, January 01, 2004 - 3:11 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Hey everyone...
I came here awhile ago when I set my quit date. I just wanted to let everyone know that well.... it's the big day and I'm still living lol. It's 4:45 pm here and I have been doing really good so far, but I know it's early yet. But I feel so positive about it all. I'm wearing my patch and have suckers, straws, gum and lots of water and have been cleaning like a mad woman! My husband has been going outside to smoke and both my children are being supportive. So that all helps allot. If anyone has any suggestions, please feel free to help a girl out lol. I'll check back in and let you all know how i'm doing. Thanks again everyone for your kind words when I first set my date many months ago.

Juju2bigdog

Thursday, January 01, 2004 - 3:37 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Yay, Sc00pgrl !!!

Everybody's gotta start somewhere. It's the first day of the rest of your life, which will now be longer, thanks to you taking control. You can have your great grandchildren thank you in, oh, 47 years or so.

Tabbyking, congratulations on 47 years.

Halfunit

Friday, January 02, 2004 - 8:53 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
For Tess:

958 ½ hours!
I am closing in on that 1,000 hour mark! I will hit it on Sunday.


Hope all is well with everyone, and I've said it before:

I think this is a GREAT rant thread!!! Rant away, dear friends!

Sc00p - how are you doing? My advice to you: count in hours, rotfl!


Maris

Friday, January 02, 2004 - 11:17 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Good Luck Scoop.

Babyruth

Friday, January 02, 2004 - 12:05 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Woo Hoo, Halfunit!!! :) Congrats on your many hours (and new life!) of clean breathing!

Woo Hoo, Sc00pgrl! You can do it!! :)

Tabbyking

Friday, January 02, 2004 - 12:09 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
i am proud of my 4 years, but if i had 47 years, i would have had to start and quit by age two :)

you go, new quitters!!! one day at a time. sometimes one hour at a time. i almost never think of it now for days or weeks at a time, and if i have a dream where i smoked, i wake up mad at myself and then realize it was in a dream LOL
and, yes, when i smoke in the dreams, i get the same nausea i would in real life!

Juju2bigdog

Friday, January 02, 2004 - 1:57 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Tabbyking, I did read that wrong. I thought you were saying you were 47 and had never smoked, just so you could stay on topic. LOL.

Sc00ts, hope you are doing okay. Since you have not been back, you are worrying us. On the other hand, if you slipped, just come back and start over. Sometimes you have to do that.

Way to go, Halfunit!!!!!! Yay!!!

Sillycalimomma

Friday, January 02, 2004 - 3:31 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Just wanted to give a WOOHOO to all you who are brave enough to quit! I used to smoke a pack and a half a day-quit about 2 and a half years ago. It helps that I am a Stay at home mom now though (those "breaks" while working were what kept me going) It was a hard process and a slow process and I have to admit that every now and then I do smoke a cigarette....I have not bought a pack though in over 2 years and only in social situations or long drives or a very stressful day find myself bumming a smoke off of a friend.
If you find yourself doing that just remember that it is okay! It does not mean that you failed at quiting and so "why not" pick it up again......
GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!!!IT IS SO IMPORTANT!!!

Maris

Friday, January 02, 2004 - 4:25 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Silly, I am sorry I have to disagree with that. I dont think anyone should go down that street of having one cigarette. You are one of those rare people who have the ability to pick up a cigarette and it means nothing. I quit two years ago and there is no doubt in my mind if I bummed a cigarette off someone, I would be smoking a pack a day within a week.

My advise to anyone is NEVER pick up a cigarette again.

Sillycalimomma

Friday, January 02, 2004 - 4:59 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
I wasn't trying to imply that someone who has quit smoking should feed into a craving to have a smoke every now and then. I smoked a pack and a half a day for nearly five years when I tried to quit cold turkey. In the past 2 and a half years since then I have had moments where I personally found myself weak to the cravings and had a smoke, a drag or whatever.I always felt bad for doing it and upset with myself because I had come so far. All I am trying to say here is that if you find yourself in the same boat don't be too hard on yourself and DON'T start up again just because you had a slip.

Maris

Friday, January 02, 2004 - 5:16 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
I agree. I am very much of the pick yourself up, dust yourself off and start all over again view.

I was just saying that for some people, picking up that one cigarette can be a downward spiral to step one.

Sc00pgrl

Saturday, January 03, 2004 - 1:48 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Ok I just got through with my 2nd full day! Yay!!!
I say the patches are a God sent for me. Now what will help me get off the patches lol! I went out today with my dh and noticed that I could walk up beside someone and tell the people who smoked from the people who didn't. I found it so strange, cause I never noticed before. LOL I always thought that if ya popped a mint or sprayed something that it would cover it... no way, not after i witnessed it myself. My sense of smell has gotten so strong. Anyone else do this? And I eat all the time, gonna be as big as the house.
btw... I'm the type of person that could never pick one up again. Or that would be it.
Thanks everyone for your support. ;-)

Wargod

Saturday, January 03, 2004 - 2:18 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
WTG, Scoop!!!! You guys are all doing a great job! Everytime I see someone here that is quitting, I get so excited for ya'll. Keep up the great work everyone!

Scoop, isn't it amazing how fast your sense of smell comes back after you quit? When I smoked, I never noticed the smell, then once I quit, it got to the point that sometimes walking by someone with the smell or into a room where someone had been smoking would make me ill.

I'm also the type of person who could never pick up a cigarette again. I quit several times, and always it was one cigarette that made me a smoker again. That's something that I really don't sit around and think about now, but it's also never far from my mind...I'm just one cigarette away from being a smoker and I don't think that will ever change.

Juju2bigdog

Saturday, January 03, 2004 - 12:34 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Sc00pgrl, I am so glad you have made it so far. Don't worry about getting off the patches. For some reason, it is VERY easy to discontinue the patches and not have withdrawal. Not YET though. Not for quite a while. Do the step-down stages. You will know when the time is right, and you won't even miss it. Don't worry about getting addicted to the patches. Well, at least, it didn't happen to me, and I have not heard of it from other people.

Yep, the sense of smell and taste return pretty quick. Isn't it just amazing what you have been missing? I remember a char-grilled hamburger in a mall food court of all places. I didn't know hamburgers tasted that good.

Yay Sc00pgrl!!!

Bronxie

Saturday, January 03, 2004 - 6:19 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
If anyone feels like lighting up...go see "21 Grams". With Sean Penn portraying the smoker who had one too many.

Denecee

Saturday, January 03, 2004 - 11:27 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Congrats to all the non-smokers!! Including myself as I have 1 yr and 3 days of smoke freeness.

Juju2bigdog

Sunday, January 04, 2004 - 12:21 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Dang, way to go, Denecee!!!! It seems like just yesterday that you quit.

Llkoolaid

Sunday, January 04, 2004 - 9:41 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Silly, you are right don't beat yourself up.

Maris you are righter( is that a word) lol. Don't dare have that puff, that one cigarette, for 99% of us that is the first step to smoking a pack a day again. Believe me that is what got me over and over and over again. You would think I would learn wouldn't you but that is what did it everytime.

Broxie, negative images do not help a person quit smoking. We have all seen pictures of rotten lungs, ugly teeth, people on breathing machines, we all know what it does to us and yet seeing all these things doesn't make us quit it just makes us more upset with ourselves, more anxious and we beat ourselves up a little more. Better to think of the person with the strong heathy lungs and body and aspire to be that than think of the dying person and get yourself down.
I can't say it enough, POSITIVE ATTITUDE. All you new quitters have to think of the positives, it is a battle of wills that you are taking and you have to be positive.

Think: I AM WORTH IT
I CAN DO IT
I WILL DO IT
I AM PROUD OF MYSELF

SCOOPGIRL congratulations on joining us. We welcome you and will be here to cheer you on. Feel proud of yourself that you are a non-smoker and starting the year of caring about yourself. Brag about it, rant about it, do what ever you want, just remember that we will be here when you are feeling high or low and we are all proud of you for taking this step.

Sc00pgrl

Sunday, January 04, 2004 - 4:22 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Just checking in and still doing good. I beginning to think that this is way to easy and somethings not right. I guess it's the patches helping with the cravings. I think I will try and go on to step 2 in about 3 days and see how that is. Does anyone know if it don't work right can I go back to step 1? I think I will be alright but just want to make sure. Thanks again everyone

Llkoolaid

Sunday, January 04, 2004 - 4:45 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Scoopgrl, please if you are using the patches follow the directions, don't step down until it tells you to. If it works don't fix it as they say, just be thankful that it is so easy. I know you are feeling so excited that you have this beat but take it easy, enjoy how great you are doing. I am certainly no expert but I think I would at least finish this package and then when you buy the next try stepping down. But if you feel you can do it don't throw out the old ones until you are sure.

Isn't it great how good you feel. I am so happy for you, you ARE going to do it.

Juju2bigdog

Sunday, January 04, 2004 - 8:22 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Sc00pgrl, agree with LL, you should follow the directions. You are only at day 3. Unless you were a very light smoker and started with too strong a patch in the first place, 3 days would be too early. It has been a real long time since I was on the patch, but I think it might have been a 90 day program then, like 30 days at each phase. Anyway, just roughly follow the guidelines they give you and you won't go too far wrong.

Bronxie, I also agree that negative imaging does not work. It could make you smoke more out of anxiety, lol.

Tabbyking

Sunday, January 04, 2004 - 11:21 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
oh my God, but the patches made me sicker than a dog! on day 2, i thought i was going to die and the worst part was, i wanted to. i could barely rip it off and crawl upstairs to my bed to die!
after that, it was much easier to quit on my own. the patches made me so sick, the last thing on my mind was a cigarette! i was thinking more along the lines of who would find my body! it took several hours for the nicotine to wear off after i removed the patch.
if the patch works for you, that's great!
the only thing that worked for me was to just quit. not one here, not setting this day or that and extending it. there will always be a stressful situation, or people around you who smoke, or a perfect glass of wine or cup of coffee that just screams for an accompanying smoke...just quitting. that's all that worked for me, and it's been more than 4 years.