Just joined tonight. I have been a member of the QUITNET since Oct 2001 and quit smoking on November 18, 2001. I hope to be able to help as many people quit or stay quit as possible. Call on me for help at anytime.
Community
Community
Just joined tonight. I have been a member of the QUITNET since Oct 2001 and quit smoking on November 18, 2001. I hope to be able to help as many people quit or stay quit as possible. Call on me for help at anytime.
Welcome!
We can always use elder wisdom around here!!!
Wow. Some of you who have come from QuitNet have the most amazing longevity of quits. This site only came to fruition in 2008, so you've been offering support at least 7 years prior. I mean you guys are awesome! We look forward to your quit wisdom and support here on EX. I hope you and your Netters (what I fondly have termed ya'll), will stick around and continue to offer the kind of support you did on QuitNet. Obviously you care as much as we do here about helping people find Freedom from this addiction. And as a 13 year quitter myself, I have no doubt that we all share the same wisdom of experience. Even as our approaches to quitting may be different. Glad you've joined us. Hope you stick around. Just added you to our ELDER'S LIST Welcome.
Welcome and congratulations on your 18 year quit.
Terry
Dayupper I hope you make it back on the site. I see your email address might be invalid. Go to Edit Profile: BecomeAnEX and check it out to confirm it is correct if you get logged back in. If anyone from QuitNet knows him you might want to message him on there as well. You can also reach me at communityadmin@becomeanex.org
Mark
EX Community Manager
Hello my name is Jimmy Johnson and I was just told by the doctor in the emergency room that I have bronchitis and I needed to stop smoking today.
Hey Jimmy! You can do this. I am recovering from bronchitis, a sinus infection and the flu and am quit 15 days now. Just know that your lungs just can't take smoking anymore. I just think of myself lugging around an oxygen tank and that helps me get through the craves! Good luck! The site will help you so much!! Laura 15 DOF
CONGRATS 18 YEARS
Quit
On Mon, Nov 18, 2019, 5:45 PM indingrl.01.06.2011 <
Welcome to our community!
You will get over that bronchitis so much more quickly without smoking. Just be sure that when you start to feel better, you have tools ready to help you remain quit.
The important thing you can do right now is to educate yourself on what nicotine does to your body and mind. To that end, I highly recommend Allen Carr's “The Easy Way to Stop Smoking.” This is an easy and entertaining read. You can search for it online or at your local library. If you do nothing else, please do give this a read. It made a world of difference in how I thought about smoking, and that was instrumental in my successful quit, I think.
You should also read the posts here and perhaps go to the pages of folks who you think might be helpful. You might visit whyquit.com, quitsmoking.com and livewell.com for the good information contained there. @https://excommunity.becomeanex.org/groups/best-of-ex has lots of blogs written by members of this site with their experiences and guidance. Here is a video to inform you further about nicotine addiction: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpWMgPHn0Lo&feature=youtu.be.
After you have completed the recommended reading, it will be time to make an informed choice of the quit aid, if any, you will use. If you go that route, I personally recommend the aids that don't let the addict control the dose such as the available prescription drugs or the patch. If used properly, gum, lozenges and inhalers are fine, but they need to be used only as a last resort after you have tried to delay and distract. I have seen folks become addicted to them if they substitute them for every cigarette they used to smoke - just trading one addiction for another. You need to start out with a plan to reduce use of them over time - which the patch does by decreasing the dose contained in them.. For the gum, you can start by cutting each piece in half, then in quarters, then sub regular gum of the same flavor in between, adding more and more regular gum. For the lozenge, you need to start subbing a mint in between to begin, increasing the number of them over time. I do not recommend the e-cigarette for four reasons: 1) the vapor has been compared to the polluted air in Bejing on a bad day, 2) they just provide another nicotine delivery system while continuing the hand to mouth smoking motion, 3) the batteries can spontaneously catch on fire and 4) you can become addicted to that and it has not yet been proven safe .
The idea is to change up your routines so the smoking associations are reduced. Drink your coffee with your OTHER hand in a place different from when you smoked. Maybe switch to tea for a bit. If you always had that first smoke with your coffee, try putting your tennies on right out of bed, going for a quick walk, then taking your shower and THEN your coffee! Rearrange the furniture in the areas you used to smoke so the view is different. Buy your gas at a different station. Take a different route to work. Take a quick walk at break time where the smokers AREN'T.
You need to distract yourself through any craves. You can take a bite out of a lemon (yup - rind and all), put your head in the freezer and take a deep breath of cold air, do a few jumping jacks, go for a brisk walk or march in place, play a computer game. Keep a cold bottle of water with you from which to sip. Don't let that smoking thought rattle around in your brain unchallenged. Sometimes you need to quit a minute or an hour at a time. You will need to be disciplined in the early days to distract yourself when a crave hits. Get busy! Here is a link to a list of things to do instead of smoke if you need some fresh ideas:
https://excommunity.becomeanex.org/blogs/Youngatheart.7.4.12-blog/2013/02/25/100-things-to-do-instead-of-smoke
The conversation in your head in response to the "I want a cigarette" thought needs to be, "Well, since I have decided not to do that anymore, what shall I do instead for the three minutes this crave will last?" Then DO it. You will need to put some effort into this in the early days, but it gets easier and easier to do.
Stay close to us here and ask questions when you have them and for support when you need it. We will be with you every step of the way!
Nancy
Welcome to EX!
There is a gathering in QuitNet of others who've joined us from over there.
Mark
EX Community Manager