One thing that I love about this site, is it seems that you don't get forgotten in the daily ru

[raychel]

One thing that I love about this site, is it seems that you don't get forgotten in the daily rush of things!

I haven't been around much, but each day I have been fighting the good fight.

I have been thrown into a bit of depression. Okay, a big depression. I know a lot of people experience this earlier on in their quits, maybe mine came later or maybe it is something else, I don't know.

Because of the later set in depression, I have been thinking about cigarettes a lot longer it seems than I thought I would be at this point.

If you google quitting smoking and depression, you will find the two linked, over and over again. Although I must say that that should not be a deterrent for anybody to stop smoking. After all I figure I would be a hell of a lot more depressed finding out I had cancer or something from something I willingly inflicted on myself... it is always important to remember the BIGGER picture.

I've had a terrible time with sleep. I don't know if this is from depression.. if depression is causing insomnia...or insomnia is causing depression... or having quit is some cause for the insomnia which is linked to depression or what! Oh so confusing!

My depression is not coming from missing smoking or grieving the loss of a 'friend'..the cigarette.

I'm working on it... trying my best. In various ways from attempting to get in at least an hour of exercise daily, eating better, dealing with emotions, doing fun things, ect.

I hope it will pass soon. I KNOW it will pass soon. I want to know who I am underneath this w/o smoking to temporarily 'mend' it.

[tami2]

You're so right Cliff. Raychel you may not think you are depressed because of quitting smoking but just think about all the changes your body and especially your brain have been going through. Nicotine affects the serotonin and other chemicals in our brain. That's why we get what we get out of smoking in the first place. It calms us down or gives us a boost, whatever is needed at the time. No wonder we get addicted to it, too bad it's so poisonous huh! I know what you mean by wanting to find out who you are underneath without all the layers of behaviors or substances i use to cover it up.
Actually one time years ago I was going through a very bad depression. One of the reasons I was so down on myself was because of my failure to quit smoking. I asked my doctor to give me something to help me quit and he said that he did not want me to try to quit right then while I was so depressed. He said that nicotine has an antipressant effect and that he didn't want me to quit until I was feeling better because this would just make it worse.
Sounds like you're really being smart about this and trying to hang in there with exercise, eating right, etc. I'm sure it will pass when your brain finally adjusts to doing what it's supposed to do without nicotine. Lack of sleep is probably what is making you feel so bad. Try this natural remedy, it really works for me. Buy some MELATONIN from Wal-Mart from the vitamin section. It is not like a sleeping pill and is something that your brain makes already. I use it probably 2 or 3 times a week and my doctor said it is completely safe. See what works for you, but I take 2 or 3 and then if that doesn't work I take 2 or 3 more. You can also take it if you wake up at 3:00 am and can't get back to sleep, it will not make you drowsy the next morning no matter what time you take it. I keep it in the drawer by my bed so I don't get woke up more having to go out into the kitchen. Also, I keep a book on CD beside my bed with headphones and that helps tremendously with my being able to get to sleep. This way I'm listening to the story and not TRYING to go to sleep. I also do it if I wake up in the middle of the night. I don't let myself go more than 5 or 10 minutes before I take the melatonin or turn on the cd because the longer I stay awake the harder it is to get back to sleep. You just keep on doing what you're doing and things will get better. Also, try to remember how depressed you're really going to be if you start smoking again after you've come this far!