Welcome to EX. Please pay attention to everything that YoungAtHeart has shared with you. I believe that the most important parts of quitting are education about the addiction so you recognize how it is controlling you and that part of your recovery will be learning to feel your feelings and not stuff them, a second, but equally important part of your recovery is support from people who understand nicotine addiction and that would be the people on this site. The third part is all you, it is your commitment to go forward without something that is making you believe that you cannot live without it. You CAN...
Quitting smoking is the best thing you can do for yourself and it is the nicotine addiction that is telling you that stopping will put more stress on you when actually, smoking is INCREASING your stress and not relieving it. No one with any heart issues should smoke...you put yourself at higher risk. I understand the hip pain...I have a husband who was diagnosed with avascular necrosis and had a hip replacement when he was 37, he is now 67 and suffers from intense, chronic pain probably because he needs a NEW replacement. He had a massive heart attack in January of 2018 and had triple bypass, he is on a slew of cardiac meds and he had a metal stent put in January of 2019 because of another blockage. He is supposed to be exercising regularly because that will help with hypertension and will help the heart to increase blood flow. Because of his hip pain, he has a lot of difficulty exercising, however, I believe that there are many exercises that would not increase the pain because they would build muscles around the site. I have rheumatoid arthritis, need bilateral shoulder replacements, and have degenerative disc disease that is so severe that my spine curves and rotates inward. In addition to that...BECAUSE I smoked, I have COPD and I had the upper lobes of both of my lungs removed because they were so damaged. I struggle to breathe every day...I have to sleep with oxygen on, the pain is constant BUT, I work out five days a week. I use a stationary, recumbent bike, I had to work my way up to 10 miles a day, that takes me about an hour, three days a week, I lift free weights...nothing of any significant weight because I am not able to lift much but I do lots of repetitions, I also do leg lifts while I am standing and I do exercises to strengthen my back. It hurt like crazy when I started this after I had my lung surgery but I have always worked out regularly so that helped. I think the best thing you could possibly do would be to work out in a pool. I do that in the summer, I cannot do it in the winter because I cannot breathe with chlorine in a pool in an enclosed space. I DO find that it is MUCH easier to work out in water than on land...being in the water displaces 2/3 of your body weight so you can do things much more easily.
Bottom line, my friend, you need to quit smoking, you need to get out of that garage unless you convert it into a gym. You are way too young to surrender...
Ellen
