cancel
Showing results for 
Show  only  | Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Give and get support around quitting

chuck03104
Member

In what ways has your health personally improved since you quit smoking?

I've been smoke free for over 150 days but, I haven't noticed any positive changes. I never coughed up brown or black flem. I always ran and smoked while in the Air Force for 20 years. I only change I experienced is my daily glucose numbers rose after I quit and they should remain higher than normal for up to three years from what I have read. I have had to inject more insulin and have gained 40 pounds in six weeks due to the increase of insulin at each meal and when I inject the long acting insulin twice a day. I do not see a valid benefit to quitting after being smoke free over 150 days.

0 Kudos
16 Replies
dwwms
Member

I have only been smoke free for 34 days and I've noticed 2 measurable benefits already. My oxygen level went from 94% to 99% within the first 3 weeks and I've already noticed that when I walk and hike uphills (I live in the mountains), I do not get out of breath as quickly nor does it take as long to recover as it did. I expect this to improve the longer I remain smoke free.

I never had the coughing associated with smoking though I must admit I have developed a mild cough now as my lungs begin to heal themselves. I could go into a long list of the medical reasons and benefits but I am sure you have seen those. Among those is the fact that quitting smoking lowers blood sugar levels unless you are diabetic, then it can have the opposite effect. Smoking does contribute to diabetes.

It sounds you need to talk to your doctor about what you need to do short of smoking again.

YoungAtHeart
Member

Methinks you are coming up with an excuse to start smoking again?  Isn't your taste and smell better, don't you have some extra $$ in your pocket?  Aren't you less out of breath than when you smoked?  Didn't your health insurance rates lessen?  Don't you enjoy smelling like your shampoo and not a dirty ashtray?  Aren't you enjoying the extra time in your day now that you aren't wasting it smoking?

Now would be the time to start in on the weight gain.  Start slowly - with walking.  Take just a 15 minute stroll to begin, then increase the time and effort gradually.

You have increased your life expectancy - now go enjoy it!

Nancy

Where do I begin???

Smell better

Look better

No more headaches everyday

Not short of breath

Brighter smile

Whiter teeth

Whiter finger nails

Not stuffed up anymore

cleaner house

cleaner car

more money

heart doesn't race like crazy anymore

sleep better

i don't leave family parties early ( I was a closet smoker)

wouldnt have met my boyfriend ( he wouldn't date a smoker)

more relaxed

less stressed

less anxious

I could go on and on 

MarilynH
Member

I can now laugh without nearly choking on my laughter, I'm not in a fog anymore, I can actually feel my emotions instead of sucking on the nicotine poison and I'm sure there's so much more and I'm hoping after 40 yrs of smoking that now since quitting I'll have a much better quality of living, come on chuck03104 hang onto the best gift that you'll ever give yourself which is the gift of LIFE, alot of the benefits of quitting we may not see right now but I'm sure that our health will definitely benefit from quitting smoking. 

Sootie
Member

Health= 1)I get way less colds than I did when smoking and when I do get the sniffles....they really are just that....no more deep, hacking coughs that had everyone looking at me. 2)My teeth are definitely whiter and my dentist says my gums are in excellent shape.....this was not the case while I was a smoker. 3) I am one of the lucky people (so far) who does not have COPD or any other smoking related illness.....as yet. I am SURE had I smoked for 8 more years I would have had some health issue. And who knows what issues got "turned around" because I quit. I've lost two very close friends I made on EX to smoking related diseases. I miss them every day. I know they were happy for the years they had as non smokers.....years of freedom.

Social= 1) I no longer have to be ashamed in front of my children that I am a smoker 2) I now have a grandchild and I am so happy she never knew me as a smoker 3) I just returned from a conference and was thinking how GREAT it was not to have to find a "hiding place" at the conference to smoke and/or to worry about if my clothes smelled of smoke in the completely no smoking surroundings 4) Fantastic friends made on EX

Wealth= 1) After the first year of quitting smoking, I bought an entirely new living room 2) I can now easily fly to Colorado to see my daughter or pay for her to come here and pay for it outright several times a year

Best of all, I am no longer an addict. Nothing controls me except for me.

Worth it? No doubt in my mind. 

elvan
Member

chuck03104  I don't have to see people staring at me like I am foolish, I don't have to rush around to have a cigarette before or after whatever it is I want to do, I am significantly more relaxed, I am proud of myself, I have learned a great deal about myself since I quit and it is all positive, I am much stronger than I ever knew.  I am less short of breath than I was, I am, hopefully, going to be around longer because I am no longer slowly committing suicide and asking those who love me to watch.  I am growing emotionally and I am learning to deal with my emotions without numbing myself with nicotine.

I think you are coming up with reasons to throw your quit away.  Did you do any preparation before you quit?  Did you educate yourself about nicotine addiction?  Did you make a plan for how you would deal with craves?  Did you quit for a reason?  If you are already an insulin dependent diabetic, don't you have enough risk factors for a premature death?  Just asking.  

By the way, welcome to EX,

Ellen

freeneasy
Member

I go to the gym lift weights and do cardio which would be tough had I not quit. My mouth and gums are healthier got a dental implant which my periodontist would not do if I was still smoking. I don't have the worry and anxiety I had about my health that I had as a smoker because I know quitting smoking is probably the single best thing you can do for your health.

Sootie
Member

Hello Again Chuck----sorry---did not realize you were new. WELCOME TO EX! Stick around and I think you'll find enough reasons to stay quit to fill several books.

0 Kudos
Giulia
Member

It didn't and doesn't matter to me how I may or may not feel differently because I quit.  I did't quit because I was feeling poorly.   I quit so I wouldn't get some smoking related disease.  So far, so good.  Well, except for a diagnosis of mild COPD, but that hasn't yet affected my life noticeably.   I noticed very few large physical changes when I quit.  Wasn't able to leap tall buildings all of a sudden.  Didn't cough up anything, no clearing of lungs that other's have spoken of.  Didn't have a lack of wind, and didn't seem to gain any.  (Smoked a pack and  a half a day and ran three miles a couple of times a week in my 20's and 30s.)  Just found that there wasn't a string of phlegm down my throat every morning.  But one big change was in how much better I was able to smell things.  My nose it seems as keen as a dog's.  I can pick up amazingly different scents in the day that I was never aware of before.  

You do not see a valid benefit of quitting after 150 days.  But I'll bet your internal organs recognize the benefits.   Despite the glucose numbers.     Have you talked to a doctor about it?  Have you tried increasing the amount of exercise you get in a day?  Have you tried altering your diet?  What were some of the "valid benefits" that you thought you'd be awarded by quitting?  Do you believe that going back to smoking and throwing away all your hard-earned smoke-free days is going to make you happier and feel better?  Do you not believe the veracity of the health benefits that have been spoken of by the entire medical profession?  Could this simply be your addictive mind creating a loophole to wiggle out of your commitment?  

Stick with it Chuck.  Just stick with it.  Please.  (Here's an example of what one person noticed after they quit:  /blogs/Jennifer_Quit_05-01-14-blog/2017/04/25/benefits?sr=inbox&ru=29258 )