Welcome to the EX Community and Congratulations on making the decision to quit smoking. One day at a time is all you can do. I do hope you will rest. I suffered with insomnia my first few months but I felt like any means necessary to quit smoking. You have come to the right place for support. I believe that education is the key to successfully quit. I can not say it enough. It was suggested to me to read to read Allen Carr's Easyway to Quit Smoking which can be found on pdf on the web. it is an easy read which I found very helpful. Another good site to get info is www.whyquit.com. There are several articles to read. Nicotine 101 and Freedom From Nicotine My Journey Home. Quitting takes planning and preparation go to EX Plan | BecomeAnEX to decide how you are going to go about quitting. To get help on navigating the site go to. Community Help. Make quitting smoking your number one priority. Start by getting rid of anything associated with smoking such as ashtrays, lighters, etc. You can do this if you make up your mind that you can. Relearning your thinking that you do not have to smoke is a good beginning. For a while, you will think about smoking but that does not mean you have to act on it. You can talk yourself out of smoking. No matter what never ever take another puff. NOPE. One day at Take smoking off the table as an option and do something different. 101 Things to Do Instead of Smoke
You get through these first days a day at a time (sometimes an hour at a time). Just get through them the best that you can. It isn't easy - but it IS doable.
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.
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-instea... 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!
Glad you made the decision to quit smoking. We are in this journey together. Please be sure to take the advice of those above me and read and do the work. Keep close to the support site to encourage other quitters and to get any and all help...~ Colleen 265 DOF
I heard a story from one of my friends about someone he knew that was an opioid addict, heroin I believe. My friend asked this man, "how did you quit heroin? Wasn't it incredibly hard?" He replied "It wasn't hard! All I had to do was agree that I would have a really bad flu for 2 or 3 weeks, and then I was okay."
If you realize that you really, really need to quit and you're not "trying it out" like I've done before, you can agree to be extremely nervous, sleepless and stressed for a week or two, and then your health can go back to being amazing. Is it worth it? I can't tell you that!
Hi and welcome. Your at a good place and we are glad to have you. When you have trouble sleeping , which is normal at first, by the way, come here and read blogs. You will learn so many helpful things. Congrats on your quit!
Welcome to the community you've made the best decision that you'll ever make in your lifetime and it's definetly the best gift that any of us will ever give ourselves which is the gift of LIFE, it's definetly not easy in those early days and weeks by any stretch of the imagination BUT it's absolutely Doable and totally worth it ,stay close because we're all here to help you in any way we can.
You chose to quit. Smart decision. Yes you can make it through the weird moments one hour at a time. Not to worry, you will get to your better place. Welcome to Ex.
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