Give and get support around quitting
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S>O>S
Today is really bad. Yesterday was my official quit date but I slipped. Today has been rough. I really want one. I used cigarettes for pain killers instead of medicine. So today is really rough. Along with all the other triggers, which I seem to have a million. I have quit before for over a year. But seems it gets harder and harder as you grow old.
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Welcome and Dr Hays and the EX team have blogs with the issues you are experiencing now- please keep blogging BEFORE us take one puff over you- gentle hug.
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Welcome to the Ex. Keep it to one day at a time, one hour if need be. Have you been educating yourself about this addiction and have a plan in place? It helped me to spend lots of time on this site early on. Reading/posting helps get you through a crave. If you need help, reach out. We're here for you.
Barb
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Welcome to our community!
Insanity is defined as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Might I suggest you try this time by educating yourself, planning, and preparing (which might include seeing your doctor for a different way to help with your pain). to be successful? You need to supply an absolute commitment - but we can help with the rest.
I also wonder where you got the cigarette? If you keep any around, you are giving yourself permission to fail. Put them under running water and into the trash they go. Your health is more important than the $8-$10 you spent on them!.
The 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. Here's a link to a video here on the site which describes nicotine addiction: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpWMgPHn0Lo&feature=youtu.be.
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, quitsmoking.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. You should also do the tracking and separation exercises recommended here on the site.
After you have completed the recommended reading, it will be time to make an informed choice of the quit aid, if any, you will use. If you go that route, I personally recommend the aids that don't let the addict control the dose such as the available prescription drugs or the patch. If used properly, gum, lozenges and inhalers are fine, but they need to be used only as a last resort. I have seen folks become addicted to them if they substitute them for every cigarette they used to smoke - just trading one addiction for another. I do not recommend the e-cigarette for three reasons: 1) the vapor has been compared to the polluted air in Bejing on a bad day, 2) they just provide another nicotine delivery system while continuing the hand to mouth smoking motion, and 3) the batteries can spontaneously catch on fire. . But – any method that you think will work well for you will be best for you.
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
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Hello and Welcome to Ex's...congratulations on your decision to quit...many of us have had failed attempts at quitting...so see it as a learning curve...now...your excuse that you smoked for pain...we all have some good one's...find a Doctor and get something for the pain, or find on line homeopathy ways. Next, I suggest you read and work at My Quit Plan There, you will decide on a quit date...put that date everywhere and Prepare for that day as if your life depends on it...well it does, because eventually one way or another we all have to quit. Let it be your decision and take back the control...Choose Life...we are in this together and here to help...Gotcha in my Heart ~ Colleen
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Welcome. You are getting great advise here. Remember to keep busy. It’s what saved me and kept me from dwelling on the crave urge. TV and reading didn’t work for me in the beginning. I couldn’t concentrate. Be active walk, bubble bath, needle point, adult coloring, games here on Ex etc. lots and lots of cold water. Read everything you can to help you on this site. One day at a time. You can do this. You did it before. Yes it seems harder because we have more nico demon in us. But you will get rid of him and then protect your quit. I’m never ever smoking again because I will not start a quit again. This is it no more.
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Welcome to Ex!!!! Its funny how the decision to do something so good for ourselves is so difficult to do. There are no positives to smoking, but yet we all want to keep doing it so BADLY!!!!!
It it is all about your attitude. You are glorifying cigarettes and their magical healing powers. What are the reasons that you want to quit smoking? Have you written them down? Replace the audio in your head with your reasons to quit rather than focusing on your inability to live without them. You have the ability to do this. It just depends on how badly you want it. You have got to change your way of thinking. Stop thinking about smoking!!!!! If you truly want this, you’ve got to stay out of your head. The moment you start to think about smoking just literally shake it out of your head and move on.
Everyone here faces daily triggers and challenges as we are all addicts. Look around, there are literally millions, trillions of people just like us, facing life just like us that have never smoked a day in their life and some how doing just fine. Go figure. You don’t accidentally slip up, everything you do is a conscious decision.
You can so do this and we are here to help!
Beck
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Baywitch, I'll be brief, it takes a lot of courage to admit your slip. To me courage is a sign of honesty integrity good character and judgement. Putting all these together makes someone whom is great at great choices, which giving up smoking, again, is something your going to continue until you achieve this goal permanently
We're here 4 U to keep you free for as much as you need us !
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Wow, I did that too, I smoked because I convinced myself that it helped with pain, I even told people that I could quit if I could get the pain under control. I did not want to take increasing amounts of pain medication and so I smoked and smoked and smoked. Now, I have half of each lung left as my prize for that, I still have the severe chronic pain and now I have no choice other than to take pain medication. I exercise regularly, I eat a healthy diet, I try to stay away from things that aggravate my breathing but that's getting harder and harder since more and more things seem to aggravate my breathing. Quitting is not an event, it is a one day at a time, one trigger at a time journey. I will not tell you that it is easy because it wasn't for me...but I WILL tell you that I will take the pain over this shortness of breath and fatigue and overwhelming fear ANY day and I would not wish it on anyone.
It gets easier...please read YoungAtHeart's comment, make your plan, and commit. Don't smoke, no matter what. NOPE was my go to when I came here, Not One Puff Ever. JonesCarpeDiem wrote a blog that I read over and over again when I first quit, /blogs/jonescarp.aka.dale.Jan_2007-blog/2011/06/26/what-to-expect-in-the-first-four-months He also provided a quote which helped for when I felt a crave. "I don't do that anymore." OldBones-Larry says "One step, and then another, will get you to where you want to be."
It gets easier not to smoke...as far as the pain, meditation helps, so does exercise, and distraction. All smoking did was to provide distraction.
Welcome to EX,
Ellen
