i am scared to death....

[addyk]

i am new to this site and have smoked for atleast 15 years and have never tried to quit before. i have set my quit date for this coming monday and i read everyones stories and see things like this is the 15th time i've tried to quit and honestly it sounds pretty scary.  I truly want to quit for lots of reasons but i'm afraid that i am not going to be successful.  so any hints tips or ideas are all welcome

[laney4]

Seems to me you are 'preparing' so that should be a good step one.

You mention 'lots of reasons' to quit and I hope the first one on that list is your health and yourself.  It is time to be selfish.  I also suggest a detox program the day before, day of and at least day after, lots of fruits and water.  Stay away from heavy foods.  You can even go to healthfood store for a 3 day detox product, cleaning lungs, etc.  On the day, have sugarless gum of your choice on hand.  Be in a safe environment with low stress level, wherever that is for you.  Don't plan activities for the 1st 3 days.  Log on to Ex and share and vent.

Keep us posted and

[travelingman.rick]

Great advice Laney! From my own experience I did try to quit several times over the years. I usually fell off the wagon around day 3 to day 5. Sometimes I got back on the wagon and up to now I never stayed quit. The longest I managed to go was around 6 months but I cheated regularly because I just could not give up giving into the urge. This time I am resolved that I will not smoke one more cigarette ever. If I do I know I will fall of the wagon completely. We are addicts, we have to admit that to ourselves and we have to be strong and fight those urges when they come. Try everthing you can, and when one thing does not work continue coming back here to find other things to try. Remember you spent a long time smoking and you have to be prepared to relearn how to live life as a nonsmoker.

Good luck with your quit date and never give up quitting.

[coldturkey]

I don't know how old you are, but I have been smoking for 40+ yrs. Gigs are a drug and you are an addict. My quit date is 1/31/10 I too have tried several times to quit and failed. But this time I feel more positive about quitting. After you quit don't buy any cigs bum of people they will get tired of this and start to tell you to buy your own. If this fails and you do buy your own and open the pack and light that butt gtake a drag and let it out with that great feeling of relaxation (these are really just the transmitters in your brain) then you get that guuilty feeling STOP don't think of the failing think about your new quuit date. Use and follow all of the tools on this site. When you do quit take the money you would have spent on gigs in a jar for a month then multiply that times 12 times how many years you want to live. With this money you'll be able to help put your grandchildren through college. Good Luck

[Breakinchains]

"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

Theodore Roosevelt (I think)

Message; Do not let fear stop you from achieving your desired  goals. YOU CAN DO IT!

[addyk]

wow! what a great response from everyone. Thanks for the encouragement. I think that is something that i need most..my lots of reasons for quiting include mostly health reasons. not of only my own but also of my mothers. she has smoked for 40+ years prolly, has enphysema and copd and still frickin smokes...it is literally killing her and i am sitting here watching.  every winter she usually gets pnuemonia and is always on some type of steroid or antibiotic to clear up just a common cold before it turns into pnuemonia. I DO NOT WANT THIS TO HAPPEN TO ME!! I am 31 years old and have 2 beautiful sons ages 10 and 4. when i am 63 (like my mother) i want to be able to be active in their lives as well as possibly any grandchildren i may have by then...thinking about grandchildren this soon is nuts but i want to be here and healthy if i do get lucky enough to have any..lol...

I also want to quit because of my own health reasons. I have a genetic bone disease in which my bones are fragile and break easily I have had many broken bones but recently had a 9 year relief without any breaks until August of this year when i crushed my elbow in a fall at work. I had to have a plate put in my arm and eventhough the doctor was a workers comp doctor when he asked if i smoked and i said yes, he liked to went thru the roof.  He said to me that a person with my condition shouldnt smoke because i am just taking away from the bone strength i can have ( what little that may be) and that i am just totally depriving myself from being healthy.  This was the 2nd eye opener for me.  I never thought about smoking in that way, I was always aware of lung cancer but never really thought about the other effects smoking has on the body. 

I want to quit for my children as well.  They hate cigarette smoke and are always asking why i smoke and i dont have a justifiable reason for why, or any answer if feel like is a good enough answer..if that makes sense.  Because essentially there is no good reason to smoke for me or for anyone.  I do not want my children to be smokers so i hope that if i can quit now maybe the fact that they have lived most their life in a smoke-free home will prevent them from ever trying it...lord knows i wish i never tried it..

tomorrow is the big day...i am going to use the patch though. i just dont think i have the will power to cut it cold turkey.  I have already cleaned out all my ashtrays except 1 that i'm using for the rest of today and gotten rid of all my lighters except 1 because i do like candles and hope that in the future it will be my "candle lighter" and not my "cigarette lighter."  Keep up the great support cause i got a feeling im going to need it....thanks...have a good day...