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Archive through April 12, 2004

The TVClubHouse: Archives: 2004 January - Arpil: Who wants to quit smoking with me? (ARCHIVES): Archive through April 12, 2004 users admin

Author Message
Wargod
Member

07-16-2001

Saturday, April 10, 2004 - 5:55 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Cassie, one of the things that helped me quit was thinking of the inconvience.

Having to stand outside for a smoke at work and home was a big one for me since I loathe any weather thats not perfect. Everytime I wanted a cigarette, I'd remember the night I stood outside freezing my ass off while it snowed so that I could smoke.

I stopped buying extra packs. Only bought one at a time so that when I was out of cigarettes, I had to get out and go to the store. Sometimes that was a huge pain in the neck, but it helped to cut back.

I'd pay attention to the price too. When I quit they were up around $4.50 a pack. When you're going to the store every day and dropping that much money, you start to realize how much they are costing you!

By the time I quit, I was so fed up with all of it. I had to go outside to smoke, I was paying a fortune for a gross habit, I had to get up and in the shower on my day off to go get cigarettes because I was out. I was rushing through meals so I could run outside, hated to go out because you couldn't smoke anywhere. When I finally sat down and listed the reasons I had to quit and considered all the inconvienences I was going through, I was ready to quit.

And this may be a bit ahead of you right now, but it also helped me to write out a list of things that I could do when I was having a craving. Washing walls, cleaning closets, etc. I had the cleanest house the first few months or so, lol, but it really did help to know I had something to do. Craving would hit and I'd run for the list. By the time I was done with whatever I'd decided to tackle, the craving would be gone.

Good luck to you Cassie! We are here to listen and offer encouragement whenever you need it, and we've all been there. We know what you're going through and that this is not something that is easy!

Cassie
Member

07-15-2000

Saturday, April 10, 2004 - 6:33 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Hi everyone and thanks for writing :-) Well, I'm getting through my first day. (A few hours more and I'll be there.) I have slept on and off a lot today...I think the medicines and all the trauma of the last few days has really knocked the stuffing out of me. The asthma is much better today. A little wheezing, but my lungs still feel very sore and tight when I cough (or even just breathe.) I have had cravings today but so far, got by them. It really helps to know the cravings last on average 3 minutes. (What they forget to tell you is how they can come back-to-back, no? LOL)
Wargod, yes, that's another good point you make about always having to go outside for a smoke and especially at work, where I feel very stigmatized for being a smoker. The money part of smoking doesn't bother me at all, so I can't use that as an incentive, but the inconvenience and control-over aspects of it certainly work. Thank you all for your encouragement--I really do appreciate it and will keep you posted.

Serate
Member

08-21-2001

Saturday, April 10, 2004 - 7:12 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
WAY TO GO CASSIE!
I tried to post 3 or 4 times last night but each post brought me to tears. The situation you described on Thursday is so much like my mom's was. I also didn't want to sound preachy or like what my dad calls a Nicotine Nazi.
Keep up the good work! Take it a day at a time, an hour at a time, a minute at a time, any way you have to to get through with out smoking. You can do it!

Cassie
Member

07-15-2000

Saturday, April 10, 2004 - 7:33 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Thank Serate. I appreciate your thoughfulness. It sounds like your mother had a very hard time and I'm sorry to hear that. I hope all is well now, and I will keep your advice in mind over the next few days...small steps.

Landi
Member

07-29-2002

Saturday, April 10, 2004 - 7:45 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
okay dear friends... what do i do? my dd told me that my dh smoked the other day. he had quit. do i confront him? do i b!tch at him. do i buy him new patches???? WHAT DO I DO? i've been so good not smoking because him quitting was what gave me the strength to not smoke. i do NOT want to smell it, don't want to see it. NOTHING

i feel like i've become the nicotine nazi myself.


Cassie
Member

07-15-2000

Saturday, April 10, 2004 - 7:58 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Awww, Landi. Tough one. Perhaps it was just one slip and he hasn't started again. Maybe you could just "casually" mention it and see if he wants to talk about it with you. I hope it turns out to be just a small set-back for him and nothing more permanent.

Landi
Member

07-29-2002

Saturday, April 10, 2004 - 8:10 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
me too. he was doing so well. i had my suspicions the other day, but was giving him the benefit of the doubt. i'll try and be calm. i don't want to be critical. though i do WANT TO RIP HIS HEAD OFF! hehehehhe actually, i know... be patient... calm... i got lucky this time on quitting. i finally passed the point where i hate it so much that i could never go back. i gotta be supportive. it was his first time quitting.

Serate
Member

08-21-2001

Saturday, April 10, 2004 - 8:50 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
landi I went through this with both my mom and dad. With both I just kept quiet. I figured both were smoking less than if they smoked in the open and that was better than nothing.

Being a nonsmoker I could always tell when they snuck. [is snuck a word?] My dad did it first [mom and brother smokes]. I guess he thought if he did it in the bathroom nobody would realize it because of the other two smoking. I did, talked to both my mom and brother but not him. Finally he just started again. He broke his leg 10/2001 and never smoked again. Said it was either an act of God or the morphine they had him on.

I made my mom promise me to never EVER sneak. If she wanted to smoke that bad, or my dad even, to just do it. She'd had really bad asthma since her late 20's. In 1996 they put her on oxygen at night and if she needed in the day. She "quit" smoking [meaning we never saw her smoke but new she did]. 6 months later she landed in the hospital again. Told her nobody could smoke around her or in the house. She told my dad and brother they couldn't smoke around her. My brother kinda laid into her about it not being just him and dad. She quit for good on August 26, 1998 her 59th birthday. She was in the hospital again, not to get out again until November 98 when they sent her home to die. Tomorrow marks a year since they sent her home to die again. Her new doctor said she wouldn't make it to Memorial day [2003]. It's one day at a time, one breath at a time for her. There's been alot of pain in the past 5 1/2 years; even more tears. She hasn't seen her doctor since May of last year, thanks to hospice. They take care of her meds and the doctor writes the scripts for what she needs.

My brother is 41. He's smoked since he was 14. He had a heart attack at age 35, and a stroke last April. He still smokes.

I'm not a Nicotine Nazi. I think smoking is bad for your health, but then so is being overweight like me. I don't judge smokers. I don't agree with anti-smoking commercials on TV. Being a non-smoker I can't understand how my dad and brother could continue to smoke when they saw what it did to my mom. Praise the Lord April 6 marked the 4th anniversery of my fiance's last smoke.

I'm sorry if I'm being preachy. I'm sorry if I hijacked this thread. But if my mom's story could help even ONE person quit smoking I'd be thanking God that the pain and suffering she has gone through, the heartbreak I've gone through wathing my mom go from an extremely active happy person to a frail bedridden person who is always in pain and struggling for breath, had a purpose.

Again I'm sorry if I'm out of line posting here. I just hope all who wish to quit smoking are able to. God Bless.


Juju2bigdog
Member

10-27-2000

Saturday, April 10, 2004 - 9:43 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
It's okay, Serate. It's a terrible story but one you probably needed to tell.

{{Serate}}

Yay Cassie! If you have take it minute by minute, then that is what you need to do. The only one who can possibly do this for you is YOU! And you have to want it. You have to really, really want it. If you want it, then there is no doubt you can do it, one way or the other.

Rupertbear
Member

09-19-2003

Sunday, April 11, 2004 - 8:17 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Serate ((((hugs)))), that was a very selfless & painful thing you did, recounting your family history.

You are a very sweet person to offer inspiration this way.

Starfire
Member

02-12-2003

Sunday, April 11, 2004 - 8:28 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Just want to say keep up the good work of becomming non-smokers everybodyI have been a non-smoker for 2 yrs this past Dec. Take it on day at a time.

Cassie
Member

07-15-2000

Sunday, April 11, 2004 - 10:43 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Serate, thank you for posting your mother's story. And please know that you have inspired me today. Thank you.

Cassie
Member

07-15-2000

Monday, April 12, 2004 - 5:41 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Well, made it through 48 hours!! Today feels much worse than Day 1, :-(

Starfire
Member

02-12-2003

Monday, April 12, 2004 - 6:43 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Way to go Cassie keep up the good job. It will get easier, trust me. Its hard to give up a old friend. They say that is why it is harder for women than men. We use smoking for many reasons. Weight control, stress reliver etc. I am ashamed to admit I smoked almost 3 pks a day. I was sooooooo adicted.

Halfunit
Member

09-02-2001

Monday, April 12, 2004 - 7:36 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Count hours! Every 2 hours! Every 12 hours!

In the beginning, it really helped me - I was a hour posting fool.

I can now say that it has been:

12,175,200 seconds - which is
202,920 minutes - which is
3,382 hours - which is
141 days - which is
20 weeks and a day - which is
5 months and a day!

( I haven't had a lozenge or piece of gum since last Thursday - looks like I'm done! )

You will get there Cassie! How many minutes has it been so far?


Cassie
Member

07-15-2000

Monday, April 12, 2004 - 7:41 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
LOL, Half. Don't know and don't care :-) I just want today to end and it's only 10:23 AM!!! I'm counting on this thing getting easier after 72 hours.

Wargod
Member

07-16-2001

Monday, April 12, 2004 - 10:10 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Woo hoo Cassie, you're doing great! It'll start to get a little easier every day. And when it's tough, come in here and vent. Sometimes just writing about how you're feeling really helps to get through it.

Juju2bigdog
Member

10-27-2000

Monday, April 12, 2004 - 1:14 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Hang in there, Cassie. This may be the hardest thing you will ever do, but you CAN do it. You are not going to die from lack of smoking (actually, just the opposite), but the beast of addiction will try its best to make you think so. Miserable as you may be, all you have to do to win is hang on.

Heh, Halfunit was cuter'n snot posting those hours all the time.

Yay Cassie!

Cassie
Member

07-15-2000

Monday, April 12, 2004 - 1:32 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Thanks Half, Wargod and Juju.

I started Wellbutrin XR yesterday and today I've been very strung out and shaky. Anyone else use Wellbutrin and have these side effects? Also, very restless sleep last night. Hmmm...it's hard to say if it's the withdrawal or the drugs. Anyway, still hanging in. (As soon as I hit 72 hours Half, I'll post in hours.) One question for anybody who has quit: At what point were you when you REALLY felt you had quit and would not go back? When you knew for sure that you would not lapse back by just having one...

Rupertbear
Member

09-19-2003

Monday, April 12, 2004 - 1:34 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Go Cassie, Go!!!

Keep up the good work & don't let the last 64 hours be for naught.

You can do it girl & we're all so proud of you :-)



Wargod
Member

07-16-2001

Monday, April 12, 2004 - 1:53 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Sorry Cassie, I don't know anything about Wellbutrin. I do remember insomnia was pretty common during the first few days or so and a headache that wouldn't stop. I hope someone here can answer your question about Wellbutrin.

For me (and I know everyone is different so I can only speak for myself,) never. If I have one, I go back to being a smoker. This is the second time I'd quit that I acually made it past the first few days. About three years after the first time, we were at a party having a good time, someone handed me a cigarette and that was it. I kicked myself alot over the next few years about it because not only had I started up again, but I knew that I'd have to go through the hell of quitting again.

I think I will always consider myself a smoker, the difference between now and a couple of years ago though is that I quit. I know I can't stop quitting.

The first time I really realized I was winning the battle was about four months into quitting. One day I realized I'd gone a week or so without thinking of smoking, hadn't gotten that little pang of jealousy when I saw someone buying a pack, and wasn't getting instant cravings as soon as I caught a wiff of smoke. I thought, "wow, I have this beat, but don't give up for a second because that's all it'd take."



Cassie
Member

07-15-2000

Monday, April 12, 2004 - 2:03 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
I think that's excellent advice, Wargod (and very honest!) I've had people tell me that by week 6, they knew for sure they'd never smoke again (and haven't). I've quit twice before for 3 months each time and have never reached that point of being "certain" I wouldn't smoke again. Although the cravings were very thinned out by the 3-month point, once I had one, it would be very strong and seemed to kick in a wave of them lasting on and off for several days at a time. I'll have to be very careful of that this time and be ready for it.

Maris
Member

03-28-2002

Monday, April 12, 2004 - 6:38 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Cassie I stopped smoking over two years ago. I am absolutely convinced if I pick up one cigarette or even take one puff, I would be smoking a pack a day in a week. I can never touch a cigarette.

Urgrace
Member

08-19-2000

Monday, April 12, 2004 - 6:42 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Hope all of you are still hanging in there! Looks like we've got anothe newbie. Good luck and keep at it Cassie!

Thursday is my 13 month mark! I won't be here to post so Y'all Remember Me Okay? I'm going to be in 'enemy' territory next week amongst the casino smokers and it won't be easy.

Serate
Member

08-21-2001

Monday, April 12, 2004 - 7:00 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Cassie my fiance' took Wellbutrin. He said it took about a week or so for his body to get used to the medicine and to get over the jitters. For the first 4 days he took one in the morning, then after that he took one in the morning and one in the afternoon. The doctor told him NOT to take it after 4pm. The times he forgot and took it around 6 he did have problems going to sleep.

Keep up the good work. I know you can do it!