Good morning , I am new to the group . I have surgery next week . Iam a stressed out mess . but the crying , just comes on some times out of no where .. Than doesn't stop ...
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Good morning , I am new to the group . I have surgery next week . Iam a stressed out mess . but the crying , just comes on some times out of no where .. Than doesn't stop ...
It is a second colon resection ,,, thank you for the advice ...
you better keep in touch missy. do you have chroens ??
I have diverticulitis seems to get infections a lot , I will . still getting use to the site and how it works ..
Yes Karen ill be in touch a lot ..
karenjones one more day under my belt ,,,,, feel like dog poop today though..Iam still learning my way around this site .Should i be in a group or just post when need be ??
Kimberlymillsaps You certainly can join any group that interests you, I suggest that you blog on a regular basis, you will find that people in all stages of their quits will anxiously reach out to help you. PLEASE believe that things will get better...the beginning is rough and there are no short cuts. Stay close to the site...we are all here to help and we have all been where you are right now.
Ellen
Thank you elvan ,,, there time I feel like giving up !!! Been doing the puzzles ,, cleaning something , doing laundry ..just anything ..
probably an idea to start a blog. that way it is seen by alot of people. I saw this in conversations. Conversations is good too. But blogs are good too. if you want to contact someone look up in the righthand corner see the @ symbol, then just type their name or go to their page and follow and a drop down list will show who you are following. you are going for surgery next week, what day? how long will you be in hosp? youve had this surgery before haven't you. ?? Well, it is a good time to quit smoking for sure., seeing as how they don't allow in hosp. how many days smoke free are you now? Sure it is hard int he beginning but not that hard. you have been through worse. Your health will improve withing 3 days. Of course feeling like poop is because your body is ridding of toxins from smoking and mobilizing in the healing process. Take vitamin C, D and B's and drink lots of water. Try to rest. Healing takes alot of energy away from you as it diverts to repair of the body. keep us updated by blogg. @Kimberleymillsaps
Welcome to our community!
You didn't say how long you have been quit, so it's difficult to say how long your emotions will continue to be out of whack. Lots of folks here have reported crying jags as a part of their quit journey. I hope some will stop in with their experiences. It's also normal to be scared before surgery. But - try not to dwell on it. If you can, get busy and take your mind off it. Quitting smoking AND surgery are a double whammy - but you can do this! Distracting yourself will be key.
The most important thing you can do right now is to educate yourself on what nicotine does to your body and mind. To that end, I highly recommend Allen Carr's “The Easy Way to Stop Smoking.” This is an easy and entertaining read. You can search for it online or at your local library.
You should also read the posts here and perhaps go to the pages of folks who you think might be helpful. You might visit whyquit.com, quitsmokingonline.com and livewell.com for the good information contained there. @https://excommunity.becomeanex.org/groups/best-of-ex has lots of blogs written by members of this site with their experiences and guidance.
The idea is to change up your routines so the smoking associations are reduced. Drink your coffee with your OTHER hand in a place different from when you smoked. Maybe switch to tea for a bit. If you always had that first smoke with your coffee, try putting your tennies on right out of bed, going for a quick walk, then taking your shower and THEN your coffee! Rearrange the furniture in the areas you used to smoke so the view is different. Buy your gas at a different station. Take a different route to work. Take a quick walk at break time where the smokers AREN'T.
You need to distract yourself through any craves. You can take a bite out of a lemon (yup - rind and all), put your head in the freezer and take a deep breath of cold air, do a few jumping jacks, go for a brisk walk or march in place, play a computer game. Keep a cold bottle of water with you from which to sip. Don't let that smoking thought rattle around in your brain unchallenged. Sometimes you need to quit a minute or an hour at a time. You will need to be disciplined in the early days to distract yourself when a crave hits. Get busy! Here is a link to a list of things to do instead of smoke if you need some fresh ideas:
The conversation in your head in response to the "I want a cigarette" thought needs to be, "Well, since I have decided not to do that anymore, what shall I do instead for the three minutes this crave will last?" Then DO it. You will need to put some effort into this in the early days, but it gets easier and easier to do.
Stay close to us here and ask questions when you have them and for support when you need it. We will be with you every step of the way!
Nancy
Sorry I didn't add my quit date 3/25/2018 ,,,,its been rough . but thank you for your advice .
Sleep ,, when does that come back ..I have not had a restful nights sleep since Sunday ..
Surgery is always scary. Especially second time around knowing what we're in for. But what's important to dwell on is the reason you're having it and the outcome you hope to achieve. You're having the operation to make things BETTER. Sometimes we forget that and sit in the "why me?!" frame of mind. It's easy for the mind to glom onto the negative part of it all. So it's import to try to distract those thoughts in any way possible. Could also be part of the reason you're not sleeping well. Add that on top of just having quit.... One of the things that has helped me deal with stress is to put the thought into my head of "10 days from now it'll all be over." I think often the hardest part, psychologically is the BEFORE. It was certainly true with me prior to quitting. Much scarier the week before than the week of. At least when you're in the middle of it you can't project all those horrible thoughts. Usually it's not as bad as we imagine it to be.
If you can, get yourself out of the house. Change of scenery helps to clear the head. Go see a movie. Do an on-line jigsaw puzzle (Jigsaw Planet - Free Online Jigsaw Puzzles Take some deep breaths. Take more. If you believe in a Higher Power, give yourself up to trust. Hang in. Glad you joined us. A lot of people are told that they have to quit prior to surgery. They didn't exactly volunteer to do so. This is a wonderful golden opportunity to rid yourself of the slavery of the addiction. That's actually something to rejoice about!
Thank you Giulia , love the jigsaw puzzles ,, thank you
Welcome to EX, Kimberly. It's really GOOD that you are quitting before surgery because you will heal much faster. I can understand the stress...and I can also understand the crying. I cried over everything and then I got busy, mostly on this site, reading, commenting, becoming a part of the community. I can't tell you exactly when it stopped but I CAN tell you that all the time you smoked, you stuffed your feelings down and when you quit smoking, all of those feelings SEEM magnified, they seem SO intense...once you have a little time quit, you will need to pay attention to your feelings and understand that there is nothing wrong with feeling sad or angry or any other emotion. People who never smoked or who were never addicts have been dealing with their emotions all of their lives. We didn't learn a little at a time...we learned when we quit smoking. No one can tell you when the crying will stop or the sleep will return but I suspect they will be linking pretty closely. The important thing to remember is that it WILL get better, this whole thing WILL get easier. It is still very early in your quit and you are having some growing pains. Education, staying close to the site, and getting support will ALL help you immensely. It's going to be WONDERFUL to tell your doctor that you quit smoking, he or she is going to be very, very happy. Hang in there, we have all had beginnings and we would not all be here if it stayed as hard as it is at the beginning. We all want you to succeed.
Welcome,
Ellen
Thank you
Please please don't hesitate to see your doctor, if it feels hopeless.
Hugs.
Thank you , I will ....
Well tears are not a bad thing. They actually release stress toxins from your body. A little cry never did anyone ill. I cried about 5 times yesterday. If someone was kind I cried. Mostly I cried when I heard of kindness. But if you are copiously weeping for hours. Stop it. Just stop it. Put a ice cold cloth on your face. and stop stressing out. you are just messing yourbody and mind through allowing stress. Surgery next week, next week. Not now. and anyway, you cannot influence the surgery next week today. When you awake from surgery you will need to rest to heal from the surgery. Do not worry about the surgery. The people who will be performing the surgery take it very seriously, they have studied very hard for up to 20 years on how to do your surgery. You couldn't be in better hands. Be grateful that you are living in 2018 instead of 1818 or even 1930 when surgeries of this kind were just not possible. You are lucky to live in a country where you get the surgery you need. What kind of surgery are you having? I had major surgery too and know that it can be scary. I also worked in the OR so I know not to worry about what was going to happen. Because I was one of those people who had studied many years to make sure that everything went exactally right. \I'm here for you.