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Give and get support around quitting

Gwenivere
Member

Tapered quit

I’ve been advised not to do this here.  That I will stay in withdrawal.  I’ve gone from 15 to 4 cigarettes in the past month.  I use the lozenges the rest of the time.  I was in the hospital for 10 days and didn’t feel any withdrawal and used very few lozenges.  Doesn’t our body get used to lower levels of nicotine over time?  I mostly feel fatigue, waves of heat and shaky.  I can barely get up in the morning.  During the day I have a lot of anxiety as I have a panic disorder. I’ve talked to my doctor as she is thrilled I’ve cut down so much.  Maybe I am not seeing this clearly, but if I’m getting some nicotine now, having it totally gone sounds like a worse nightmare.  

17 Replies
SaraCorinne
Member

I say whatever works for you as long as the final outcome is getting rid of those 4 cigarettes.

Barbscloud
Member

If you're down to only four cigarettes a day, I would think the NRT is doing the same thing for you.   We all no it's scary and not easy, but hanging on to those few cigarettes still makes you a smoker.   I used Welbutrin and nicotrol inhalers to begin my quit and actually did taper off for a week leading up to my quit date.  Read as much as you can on this site about addiction and withdrawal.   There is the physical withdrawal from not only nicotine, but thousands of chemicals.  You're body is going to respond to that and for many it's not pleasant.  There is also an emotional loss because of the dopamine reduction.  The more your educate yourself to understand the process the easier it is.   Pick a quit date that's close and by being prepared and educated and you will be able to do it.  We're here for you, so reach out for help it you need.

208 DOF

YoungAtHeart
Member

Your body will get used to no nicotine - in time,  Having reduced the amount it is used to will lessen the shock to your system, but your body will still have to adjust to life without it.  The lozenges give you nicotine, so your body is still getting more than just from the cigarettes.

We offer advice based on OUR experiences - take what you need and leave the rest is our motto.  /Just as everyone is different, so is every quit experience.  

Quitting is what is most important!

virgomama
Member

I am a very new quitter.  Only 6 days into my quit so I can only share my experience.  Take what you need and leave the rest.  My fear of failing and giving into the nicotine urges after I quit haunted me for months and kept me from quitting again.  I've failed 3 times.  This time I decided to quit using the patches and armed with all the information and support I could gather on this site.  I spent a month reading all I could about nicotine addiction from a medical as well as personal standpoint.  I tracked my smoking and got really familiar with my triggers.  I thought long and hard about what I would do during each of those triggers and I wrote those thoughts down. I started putting a quit kit together.  All the items I would use instead of smoke.  Cinammon sticks, Altoids,breathing techniques, self talks, walking, water bottles, lemons, where I would sit.  I also read others' experiences with using the nicotine patch.

Just doing the research, reading planning listening to the experiences of others on this site and their suggestions of what worked for them helped me build my confidence towards my own quit.  I started feeling like I could do this.  And I finally felt like I was ready and set my quit date.

I did decide to use the nicotine patches.  I follow the directions to the tee and trust the process.  It did not stop the cravings or triggers but it kept the "edge" off so I could deal with them easier.  As I said I am still very much a newbie but I haven't regretted my decision.  I will say that I attribute most of my success this far to the research and planning I did beforehand.  My quit kit and the support from others on this site has been my real strength in this quit.

Your best guidance for your quit is you.  Trust your instincts.  You know yourself and how much you can handle at a time.  Whatever works for you to be SUCCESSFUL and quit is what's right.

God Bless,

Cindy

Giulia
Member

Cutting down from 15 to 4 is great.  I'm curious, you said you were in the hospital for 10 days, didn't feel any withdrawal and used few lozenges.  What changed since you got out of he hospital that is causing your fatigue, shakiness, etc.?  You didn't experience withdrawal in the hospital, but now you are.  So, let's try to figure out WHY.  If it's due to panic attacks - what made you feel safer in the hospital when you weren't smoking that's different than now?  Was it perhaps because you were in an environment where smoking was not permitted?  And so you kind of accepted the fact that you couldn't smoke?

I've never used an NRT, so my experience is limited to cold turkey.  But our nicotine receptors stay activated, even with a smaller amount of nicotine.  What is the Single Best Thing You Can Do to Quit Smoking? - YouTube   Are you perhaps more panicked by the "thought" of cutting down to zero than anything else?  

Just throwing out some food for thought.  Eat what you like and leave the rest on the plate for someone else.  We each quit in our way.  Tapering works for some.  Whatever works is what is best for you.  You'll know if it doesn't work because you'll end up on the relapse gerbil wheel.  You'll know it works when you finally stop constantly craving.  The latter IS possible.  You just have to hang in long enough.  /blogs/Giulia-blog/2018/03/01/quitting-is-a-skill-that-can-be-learned?sr=search&searchId=cc96fd15-16...

indingrl
Member

CONGRATS ON YOUR WILLINGNESS TO BE WILLING TO BE OPEN MINDED TO LEARN ABOUT YOUR NICOTINE ADDICTION AND BE HONEST WITHIN YOUR OWN HEART-GOOD JOB-NEVER TAKE ANOTHER PUFF OVER YOU!

maryfreecig
Member

I never got sick and tired of smoking, but I did try to control it, especially after a doctor told me that if I did not stop, I'd end up with emphysema --that was ten years before I quit. First I cut back to 19 from about 32. I watched the clock at times waiting to smoke. Then I got used to 19. I kept track of my smoking from then on and I wrote down how much I smoked each day. 

I smoked when I was upset, happy, anxious, freaking out, normal and so forth. I also started smoking 30 cigarettes a day again after the financial crash in 2008. I was working on a new website for the family business and slow dial up was driving me crazy, not to mention the effect of the crash on me and everyone else! So my controls went out the window. A few years later, I got back to a pack a day, just barely. I still kept track of how much I smoked.

I thought I'd never quit. As I turned 54, paid higher health insurance premiums because I smoked, paid about 145 a month on cheap cigarettes--I reasoned that it just didn't matter. I couldn't stop. I needed to smoke, even loved it or felt so dependent on them as a go to thing, that I'd never stop.

I believed I'd smoke til the day I died. 

Why did I quit when I did?

Well, suddenly I wondered if I could. Then I read up on how to quit, then I dared to, then I did.

If you are afraid to let go of the cigarettes, perhaps you could spend time on deciding what will help you to feel better. Make a list. Quitting is doable. And the addiction, while never cured, becomes history--the attraction dies and will stay that way so long as you never smoke. You can get there one day at a time. Cutting back may be your road to your freedom from smoking. Don't give up on quitting, whatever you do.

Gwenivere
Member

Thank you for all the responses.  while I was in the hospital it was a totally different environment, no familiar triggers and I felt sick anyway.  It’s on me that I lit one on my home not thinking I had gone so long without, but I hadn’t planned on quitting right now due to many emotional issues I have to deal with for the next few months.  I wasn’t prepared to come home to a smokers house armed only with the lozenges I kept in my ER bag in case I ever got admitted.  

Maybe it is in vain I am here as you all are so supportive and my motivation is very low.  I am only doing this taper because I do find it hard to breathe and I don’t want to go back to the hospital for it again. I have to face my husbands loss, our bdays, the holidays and our anniversary  thru January.  I don’t know if I can take this on as well.  

I want to be honest with everyone about the lack of motivation.  I don’t want to waste your time.  I do want to be free of this, but don’t know if I fit considering how overwhelmed I feel being alone to handle so much.  

Giulia
Member

YOU ARE NOT A WASTE OF TIME!  I had zero motivation when I quit.  But I got it from the folks on that first quit site I joined.  Stick around.  We'll rub off on you!