Your Smoking Story

[SimplySheri]

Everyone has one.  Some struggle, some find it easier, some are middle ground. Quitters are quirky, shaky, serious, hilarious, lost, intelligent. 

When I quit, I asked my kids to tell me I smelled pretty each and every day for a month.  I wore two different colored shoes to work and never noticed until a co-worker pointed it out.  I ate butterscotch candy when I drank coffee.  I walked a lot, I yoga'd a lot.  I learned I like being positive.  I took control of how I felt.  It was a good quit

So I would love to hear your quitting story!! What was it that pushed you into quitting?  What keeps your quit going?  How do you manage things?  What's hard?  What's easy?  Who are you?????  I hope you share with us.  Your story is important....you are important!!  And what you have to say matters    

So, what's your story?

[minihorses]

You're very welcome.

[PastTense]

I quit smoking waaaayyyy back in 1998 and was quit for two solid years.  I made the mistake of having "just one".  You already know what happened next.  I started smoking again, but always with the intent to quit.  I probably started 100 quits, but eventually started smoking again - only now I was a closet smoker.  Because if I don't let anyone actually see me smoke, nobody will know.  (Smoking must make you delusional because I thought people lost all sense of smell.)

I started dating my now-husband in 2010.  He knew I smoked but I told him I was quitting and he beleived me.  Here it is, NINE years later and I am finally taking my quit seriously.

My actual quit date was March 1st.  I had trouble with the acual quitting part of the quit.  My sister passed away in April.  She had many health problems that were all exacerbated by smoking.  That was motivation to take my quit more seriously.  I still see quitting as a journey and I am still on the path putting one foot in front of the other.

PT

[SimplySheri]

PastTense‌, you are so right that quitting is a journey!!  And all of us simply put one foot in front of the other until we learned to run with it   I'm sorry to hear that your sister passed away. Loss is never easy and can make quitting harder.  Glad to see that it motivated you!  You know how to quit and now you know there is no thing as "just one".  Glad you are here!!!  Thank you for sharing and if you need help with your journey, just ask.

Sheri

[JonesCarpeDiem]

My quit is basically my modus operandi for life.

Figure it out and do it.

[SimplySheri]

Simple and effective   I like it.

[MarilynH]

I honestly never thought I'd ever quit smoking I knew that smoking caused a number of smoking related illnesses including copd and cancer I'd also had been to several funerals where the subject came up that maybe if this person quit smoking maybe they'd still be around plus I always thought I was fine and it wasn't until I was diagnosed with mild copd that I realized that I wasn't invincible and my desire to live a Smokefree Life was so much stronger than continuing to slowly kill myself so I found this site and like most people I struggled and had many horrid cravings and moodswings and lack of sleep BUT thankfully everyone here at Ex helped me through some horrific rough patches plus with all of the reading that was suggested and the mantras that I learned here I knew that I'd make it through to that good place and I did. 

SimplySheri‌ ♥

[SimplySheri]

From Day 1, you've been an inspiration and a joy, Marilyn!!!  There is nothing like honesty and openness to draw people in and make them feel like they, too, can quit.  I'm so honored to know you!!?  And I'm humbled by your generosity and kindness.

[MarilynH]

Thank you so much for your kind words Sheri huge hug from me to you sweet friend and Fellow Exer and most definetly EXtended family. ♥

[elvan]

I wanted to quit for a long time and I tried so many times that I cannot even begin to estimate how many times I failed. I KNEW what smoking could do to a person and I knew that it was doing it to me. I was becoming more and more short of breath and it was affecting my ability to climb even the smallest incline on a sidewalk would cause me some difficulty breathing. I am also a retired RN who saw up close and personal the damage that smoking could do. Like @youngatheart, I worked out regularly, maintained my weight, and never really expected that it would literally take over my life

I was stuck in LaGuardia airport on my way back home to Virginia and there was a “Polar Vortex”, I had never even HEARD that term before. Flights were canceled or delayed and they kept moving passengers from one gate to another. No one at the check in desks offered any information, they said they did not HAVE any. I was there for nine hours, my husband was waiting for me to arrive in Richmond. At 9:30PM, they offered people who were booked on Richmond flights a chance to fly into Charlottesville instead. They were departing in a matter of minutes. I said absolutely and got on the plane and called my oldest daughter and told her to get directions for my husband to get to Charlottesville airport to pick me up. I knew it would actually be closer than Richmond to our home. I arrived at that airport and wanted a cigarette so badly that I thought I might lose my mind but I had to put in a claim for my luggage which did not come with me. That took a little over an hour, our house is an hour and a half from that airport. By the time I got into the car, I was so frazzled and tired and I wanted a cigarette so badly that I chain smoked all the way home. Fast forward to the next morning and I could not breathe, my chest hurt so much that I was actually scared. I called my primary care doc and they said to come right over. I got there and he took one look at me and said that I belonged in the hospital in ICU. I KNEW he was right but I made a “deal” with him that if he would treat me with antibiotics and inhalers, I would go home and do what I would do to care for a patient when I worked in ICU. I did not have any way to monitor my oxygen at that point but he gave me two antibiotics, three inhalers, a solution for a nebulizer which I had, and I agreed to call if my temperature went up any higher or if I did not begin to feel improvement within 24-48 hours. I went home and sent my husband to get the prescriptions and several gallons of orange juice. I pulled out a warm air vaporizer that I had and I laid down...I knew when I woke up that morning that my smoking days were over...I was HOPING that my breathing days were not over as well. I did postural drainage and cupping on myself, I used the nebulizer and the inhalers and started the antibiotics. It was more than 48 hours before I felt like I was improving BUT I did feel that something was changing. I could not take enough breath IN to cough, the stuff in my lungs was too thick. The doctor called me every day to check on my progress and I convinced him that I was going to be alright, even though I wasn’t so sure myself. My husband and son kept checking on me and they looked terrified. I did not ever want to see that look again. I did begin to feel stronger, I had no desire to smoke and if I had symptoms of withdrawal, I was not aware of them because they were masked by the pneumonia and exacerbation of COPD. I came to EX about a week later, I had been here before but never as committed as I was this time. I went back to work two weeks after I got home and I made it clear to everyone that I was no longer smoking. I gave a friend of mine 8 unopened packs of cigarettes I had in a carton and I submerged an open pack into water and tore the cigarettes apart. I got rid of all lighters and ashtrays and went outside and moved furniture on the deck (I did not smoke indoors), and I threw away my butt can and gave that friend a pile of coupons I had from Marlboro. I knew she was not interested in quitting. I talked about EX ALL of the time when I wasn’t ON EX. I read blogs, I commented, I paid attention to what was working for others and I wanted SO MUCH to say this was my “forever” quit that I just took it one day at a time and sometimes one minute or second at a time. I had planned for a quit in the past and identified my triggers, I had listed them and which ones were the most severe and I planned what I would do instead of smoking. With the support of this site, the education about nicotine addiction, and my own commitment. I am still free after 5 years and 9+ months.

Ellen

[SimplySheri]

Oh, Ellen, I am stunned by the courage and strength and grace in your story.  God bless you, girl, because you're a remarkably amazing woman.  Both warrior and nurturer...you are a miracle.  Much love, my friend