Too much stress

[LisaEndsley]

Hello, first time sharer here.

I set my date as April 30th...and just couldn't do it. 

Everyone in my household is a smoker...zero support.

I find that I am smoking less thru the day, but then seem to double up when everyone else is home.

I live in a very small house with my hubby, my son, my daughter and her 3, sometimes 4 kids (ages 2, 4, 7,and 9), 7 dogs (not all mine), 9 cats (again not all mine) and 19 chickens out back that my hubby put in a place that is inaccessible to me (so I can't even go there to relax).

I am 54 years old and went into the hospital 2 months because of my COPD, and my O2 was down to 70%.  

Smoking and Stress are in a race to kill me, and I am not sure which one is gonna win.

[YoungAtHeart]

Welcome to our community!

Doesn't matter which kills you first - you will still be dead.  So - that means you need to deal as best you can with both.  Believe it or not, smoking CAUSES stress - so if you quit, you are helping your level of that, too!  Read on to understand how!  The things you learn to use to deal with nicotine withdrawal can also help lessen your level of stress.  Things like slow, deep breathing, going for a quick brisk walk or marching in place are good for stress caused by life AND quitting smoking.  I think you will find your breathing improving as soon as you put out your last cigarette.  Notice and rejoice in it!

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. If you do nothing else to get ready for your quit, please do give this a read.

 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. Here is a video to inform you further about nicotine addiction: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpWMgPHn0Lo&feature=youtu.be.

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 after you have tried to delay and distract.   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.  You need to start out with a plan to reduce use of them over time - which the patch does by decreasing the dose contained in them..  For the gum, you can start by cutting each piece in half, then in quarters, then sub regular gum of the same flavor in between, adding more and more regular gum.  For the lozenge, you need to start subbing a mint in between to begin, increasing the number of them over time.  I do not recommend the e-cigarette for four 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,  3) the batteries can spontaneously catch on fire and 4) you can become addicted to that and it has not yet been proven safe .
 

It will be informative if you do the tracking and separation exercises recommended here on the site. As you track each cigarette smoked, note its importance, and what you might do instead. Put each one off just a little to prove that you don't NEED a cigarette just because you think you do.
 

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:
 https://excommunity.becomeanex.org/blogs/Youngatheart.7.4.12-blog/2013/02/25/100-things-to-do-instea...
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

[anaussiemom]

Wow.   Welcome, perhaps you can find some answers here

Many Blessings Kim

[Thomas3.20.2010]

Welcome! We have a COPD‌ group! Check it out!

[MarilynH]

Welcome to the community you've made the best decision that you'll ever make in your lifetime and it's definetly the best gift that you'll ever give yourself which is the gift of LIFE please read everything you can about quitting smoking and remaining quit because there's a wealth of information right here on this site to strengthen your resolve to kick the nicotine poison to the curb permanently it's not easy by any stretch of the imagination BUT it's absolutely Doable and totally worth it, stay close because we're all here to help you in any way we can......

[Sootie]

Now you have support because you have us. You can do this.....54 is too young to give up. Think this through and know that you CAN do this! We all did and we are no different from you.

Welcome to EX------we are all here for each other.

[Barb102]

Welcome. I’m so sorry for what you are experiencing. It’s not easy in a house full of smokers but you have to be selfish. For once you must put yourself and your quit first. You have to. COPD is not a joke it’s debilitating   Take it from someone that found out the hard way. It’s a progressive disease but you can stop the speed of the progression by not smoking. Please stay on this site with us. Talk a walk get away and come back home when you are stronger. Read everything on this site then read it again. Please don’t give up. I want to personally support you. I never want you to say “ I wish I had stopped sooner” like I do. Please let me help you.  

Barb

[sweetplt]

Hello And Welcome to Ex’s...

First of all you need to make the choice to quit smoking.  Then you need to tell the entire family you are quitting smoking and if you don’t you will die.  Ask that all go outside to smoke and stay away from you.  I think you should start planning your quit by going to My EX Plan | BecomeAnEX and plan your quit date.  Please you are worth this quit...and your health is telling you it is time.  Keep close to the site for support.  Know we are all in this journey together and will help you...actually right now I hurt for you...and will keep you in my thoughts and prayers that you will choose to take on this journey...~ Colleen 157 DOF 

[Giulia]

"Smoking and Stress are in a race to kill me, and I am not sure which one is gonna win."

YOU'RE gonna win.  If you really want to.  I'll grant you it's harder when you live with a bunch of smokers, but YOU can be their shining light.  /blogs/Giulia-blog/2018/03/01/quitting-is-a-skill-that-can-be-learned?sr=search&searchId=7cf604d6-a9...‌

So - how do you go about it, this quitting thing?  You make a plan.  You gather knowledge.  About this addiction and about yourself in relationship to it.  And especially, under your circumstances living in a whole house full of smokers, you figure out how you can get away for enough time to center your thoughts, your commitment and your NEED to be smoke free.  You NEED to be smoke free.  If your CO2 level was at 70 percent and you were in the hospital for two months - you definitely need to get this monkey off your back.  

And I'm telling you, you can.  But it takes perseverance, and acceptance of the unpleasantness of the journey.  NONE of us went through this easily.  But we stuck with it because we listened to those who had been there before us and told us we would eventually get OVER it.  Get OVER that constant need for cigarette or a vape. Because THEY did. And THEY are WE.  We become the ones whom we admired in the quitting process, just by hanging in.  No matter what.  

You can do this - stress or not.  But you have work for it.  Are willing?  Those of us with long-term quits were willing to stay the course - no matter what for as long as it took.   And THAT's what it really takes.  Are you willing?  Say YES and you will find the freedom you seek.

[Andstillirise]

You can do this ! Ask your family to smoke outside and you tell them you are quitting . 

Exercising really helps the cravings . For many people anyway . 

I don’t know much about COPD but what little I know , it sounds scary but the progression can be halted by QUITTING! 

Youre worth it !