48 years of poison

[kate17]

I'm quitting on my birthday, June 19th. I've be poisoning myself for 48 years. Mercifully, I don't have a raspy voice nor do I have a smoker's cough. So, my birthday present to myself is I QUIT!!!!

[sharon48]

OMG...I did the same thing when I turned 60 on Feb 8th...I vowed I was going to stop after 40 years of smoking...It has been over 4 months now and I am using nicorette...all my friends smoke and my significant other also and he isnt about to quit...but he confines his smoking to one room upstairs with the door shut most of the time. Hopefully this will end also...but for now I find it is better than what it was. You will be surprised how much of your belongings smell like cigarettes...like your closet, etc. I am so happy to hear you set a quit date and I know you will feel much better even though you dont have the smoker's cough, etc. I did not have that either, but my breathing is better and I can do more things without stopping to gasp for air.

Congratulations!

Sharon

[kate17]

Sharon, thanks so much for your note. Tomorrow is my birthday and cold turkey quit day. None of my family smokes, none of my friends smoke, I smoke alone unknown to them. How deceitful! If you can do it then I will. I will make your my inspiration. May I send you a note from time to time?

Kathleen

[sharon48]

Absoluely! Write me whenever you want...It is so good to have online buddies like you in the same situation as I am...Nicorette has really helped me...I am still chewing away, but it is better than smoking. I know some people who have stopped smoking for 5 years and they still chew the gum. When I really want a cigarette I chew the nicorette...it has helped me...aslo it is a substitute for eating all the time...lol. I will light a candle for you tomorrow...I know you can do it...it is mind over matter. Let us NOT allow the cancer stick to rule our lives. Good Luck Kathleen. Let me know how it goes...after the first three or four days you will get over the jitters...then it is purely a mental thing....

[zen-blondism]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!
Wow. What an amazing gift to yourself!
I am day one on Chantix. My quit date is june 26th. I am already working every tool I can think of. Just wanted to relate to the deciet part of your addiction. 3 years ago I ran a women's fitness center in an extremely small town in Hawaii. Nobody smokes there and everyone knows you. I would drive out the ocean where most people go for fresh air and fill my lungs until I was almost sick every morning and then try not be unbearable all day until I could get home and have a glass of wine and smoke. Then I would fill my condo with air freshener and go to sleep breathing that mess in. I felt like the biggest fraud in the world. Here I was helping all of theses women change thier lives and didn't have what it took to change my own. Yikes!
I truly feel like the me who started smoking at 13 to fit in no longer exists. So I am kicking the habit for her. Sometimes it's easier to be a hero for someone else than for ourselves.
Anyway...blah blah blah. Have a Magnificent Birthday...and congratulations!
Peace

[kate17]

What a pair! I'm a regular in my gym, RiverDanced until seven years ago. Tip-top shape however the sneaky-smoker was always present, just waiting to be alone to have another puff. Thanks so much for your note. Day one and the going is rough.

[zen-blondism]

Hang in there .... my morning was absolute frustration until I decided to quit fuming and come up to my office and see what was going on here. Best decission I could have made. I have never been one for chat groups and would have never considered on-line support but, I gotta tell you I feel a hundred times better already. I might even let my Husband, Son , and dogs live another day.
=P
We have a heavy bag in the garage I might have to beat it up at some point. What kind of hobbies do they have where you get to smash stuff???
It might be worth checking out.
Peace.

[kate17]

I'm persisting - thanks. So, you take Chantix and continue smoking until a specified date then quit? Are you having side-effects from the Chantix? I'm not using any smoke-quit aids. Like you, I'm not one for 'chat' or support groups. I've found however that your kick-butt notes are really encouraging. Hey, watch out for that fuming, it can mess with your blood pressure. Smash-stuff hobbies? We could hire ourselves out to beat the bejaysus out of lying husbands.

[zen-blondism]

Ha! That's good.
Yeah the Chantix program allows you to smoke for the first week while it builds in your system. I had a little dizziness the first morning cuz i did'nt eat. I took it with milk this morning and was fine.
It's only day two so nothing major to report yet. my quit date is the 26th.
I'll keep you posted.

[kate17]

KB, I bombed after a few days posion-free, crawled under a rock, and surfaced recently to start over. Thanks for noticing my absence.