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Give and get support around quitting

Gwenivere
Member

Heck week

I am now going into day 10 without a cigarette.  It feels like it is getting harder because I don’t feel much better.  I realize using NRT will prolong things.  Right now it’s hitting my digestion with a vengeance.  Don’t want to eat because I either feel too full or it’s painful races to the bathroom that don’t help.  I feel clumsy and the brain fog won’t lift.  I know it’s early in this journey.  Just so tired of waking up knowing it’s another day to battle on.  Winding up in the ER twice last week didn’t help my enthusiasm.  Where did you find motivation when you had no time to prepare?  I was forced into a cold quit in my hospital stay in August and then cut way down on cigs after release (my fault as I blew that window) til taking the plunge to end them. I know there’s no miracle answer, but maybe in another week I’ll find some relief?  I read so many felt better after a week.  That’s certainly not me.  I’m still as grumpy as ever.  I’ve got a sore throat now and hoping I’m not getting sick.  That’s the last thing I need with my COPD and hospital stay before.  

Ran into an interesting fact while perusing around.....smoking ramps up our energy use about 200 or more calories per day.  I’ve gained a couple pounds in the last month.  Guess it’s best to pass on the M&M's for a bit.  I buy raw baby carrots for my dogs and never ate them.   Not too bad actually.  

18 Replies
Barbscloud
Member

Congrats on entering the double digit club.  Everyone's different, but it can take awhile before you feel better.  Don't forget it's not just the nicotine, it's the 1,000's of other chemicals in cigarettes that you've eliminated from your body.  I'm sure you've read already, they can mask physical and emotional issues.

You're doing great.   This is part of the journey.

Barb

273 DOF

YoungAtHeart
Member

Yoda:  "Patience you must have, my young padawan."

You are still early in your quit.  The first couple of weeks are the most difficult.  Your body is going through a lot of changes - it is adjusting to life without a chemical it has used for years.  It affected your mind, your energy, your digestion, your disposition.  You used it to help with loneliness, anger, hunger, tiredness, and on and on and on.  It takes awhile to readjust. 

Give it time!

Nancy

Bree19
Member

Maybe if you can NOT look at it as "a battle"?

I did that battle thing but after about 2 weeks, the fight just went right out of me.   I lost the will to quit, to cook, to care... I was so close to just lighting up (well...leaving the house, driving to the shop, standing in the queue, paying, opening the pack, taking out 'just one', using the car lighter and taking that first drag - so many opportunities to stop myself).

Luckily for my lungs, there was no car available to drive to the shop so I had to continute chewing on my straw and finding a distraction for the time being. 

When I woke up the next day I was incredibly proud of myself that, even when the cars came home, I didn't cave and go buy cigs.  I still was irritable and awful for anyone else to be around, but I had been strong enough to withstand the temptation without a constant argument in my head.   For the first time I had the thought:  "I can do this".

Hugs and blessings

Bree

I have to agree with Bree19‌. I know it's a hard thing to do but in the morning we have a clean canvas to work with. I always found that the thoughts that I got out of bed with would determine my attitude for the rest of the day. And I realized that first thing in the morning, those thoughts can be changed before we ever get out of bed to either face the day or dread the day. 

 Sometimes a smile to ourselves or remembering a pleasant place that we once visited is enough to change the outlook for the day. The hard part is making it a habit to assess how you feel in the morning first thing. I've gotten quite good at it and still use this method every morning.

 But other than that, the journey does get easier. I think what happens after the first week is that we kind of lose patience with ourselves and our quits. We expect the first week to be a battle and fight our way through that and then the second week comes a long and we're still fighting. We get tired of it because it feels so endless. 

 In some cases, we still haven't embraced the fact that we're quitting and still feel a loss, and because of this we keep fighting ourselves. For some it takes time to accept freedom and to embrace the positive in what we're doing. For others it comes more quickly. Either way it does happen. Keep fighting! You've come to far to turn back now! 

ONWARD TO FREEDOM!!!

Chuck 

maryfreecig
Member

     I wasn't a part of Ex when I first quit--and I felt a lot of distress early on. I found it hard to unlove my former smoking. I suppose a part of me has always believed in a higher power--something larger than myself and so with that part of me still intact, when I faced especially low points, I felt I had to do what was right--it was a struggle. Otherwise I used youtube a lot and listened to quit stories, watched comedies (slap stick often), read books that interested me, watched true survival stories (surviving at sea for three months had to be psychologically challenging--so I watched this kind of story in order to put my own struggle into perspective.)

   Quitters feeling better after one week? That's really rare. This dependency is physical, mental and spiritual--and the recover takes place in the physical, mental and spiritual one day at a time.  It takes work and support. You are doing both and now you have 10!!! Way to go!

anaussiemom
Member

Not one day has been easy on my end.  It helps having a hubby around last few days.  Tomorrow, I will be on my own facing it alone.   Lots to do around here.  Animals help a lil". It is hard as hell!  Congratulate yourself every moment you get thru !   You are your own true comfort.  Baths, exercise   in place, weights, fiddle with a stick , straw, rock, breathes, meditate with you tube vids.  You tube is awesome for quick resources,   Hum, music, pray 150x a day, sooth your self...in any way you can.  

I want to smoke right now!  Hell no won't do it!  Enough toxic crap, no more!  It is only 6 or close  to 7 days I guess for me.  48, yuk yrs of tobacco sticks" that taste like shit! 


You sooth your thoughts, your body, your mind.  It is an addiction that can be concurred !!Gwenivere

Gwenivere  Hugs Lady!

Gwenivere
Member

What I meant about feeling a little better was the accounts of feeling a little better breathing, smells coming back, some people feeling a deeper will to fight this.  I haven’t experienced anything  truly positive yet beyond not feeling I want to light up, and I know that is a biggie.  It’s the emotional/psychological struggle.  I really can’t explain it.  The thought of several more weeks of this, especially thru the holidays when I will be totally alone, is daunting to say the least.  I wish I had someone here to b*tch at.  I know I can here, but it’s not the same.    

Great going Bree!  

YoungAtHeart
Member

How about keeping a journal?  Write your frustration down.(and you can use as man cuss words as you want)....but always end each day with a list of three things for which you are grateful...helps to keep it all in perspective!

Like youngatheart said, why not keep a journal? It was an invaluable tool for me, and I still refer to it to this day because I learned so much when I quit that is useful in a life of freedom as well. Some of the changes we have to make to quit, though hard at first are incredibly valuable for the future. 

 Heck, I wish I could be there just so you DID have someone to b*tch at! As for all of those things like better smell, food tasting better etc., I didn't get those right away either. But eventually I did. It's really hard at first because we can't always see the benefits of what we're doing right away. Sometimes we have to just believe that it's there and the reality is that it is!! It just takes time to get there.

 And you're right! It s a big deal that you don't feel the need to smoke anymore. There's the progress you were looking for right there! And it took me a while to feel like I was breathing better also. Sometimes things take a little longer than we want them to, but all of those things will happen! You're doing amazing things in a really tough time in your life and you know what? 

 Forget that you're not happy with this right now and pat yourself on the back for what you have achieved which in reality is monumental if you stop to think about it. As I've said before, freedom doesn't come as a thunderclap but rather, it happens gradually. Another reason it's hard to stay quit at first. You have to be as committed to freedom as you used to be committed to smoking.

 In actuality, you're doing really well and again I want to congratulate you for that. I just want to figure out how you get through the holidays safely because that really is going to be a big test for you. Perhaps you'll have a eureka moment about that. They do happen along the way in a quit.

 Again, you're doing fantastic even if you can't see it yet. 

ONWARD TO FREEDOM!!!

Chuck