Scared

Discussion created by Roj on Sep 27, 2019
Latest reply on Sep 28, 2019 by Roj

Like • Show 2 Likes2
Comment • 14

Well I went for a low resolution CT scan because I’m a smoker for more than 35 years...good news there is no spots or nodules...not so good news apparently I have emphysema...what stage I have no idea because I need to follow up with my pcp. Started reading and I have wanted to quit smoking for a bit now as I am 57 and starting to feel my age. I have no grandkids yet but when they do come, being able to breath would be a good thing right? I am scared right now...scared of the disease and scared to quit smoking...would appreciate any and all comments...thanks

Outcomes

14 Replies

JACKIE1-25-15 Sep 27, 2019 7:51 AM
Welcome to EX I can understand you being scared. I was scared of a stroke, heart disease, cancer which was my motivation to quit smoking. No need to fear quitting it would be the best thing that you could do for the rest of your life. There is so much freedom. Your health with get better and your money will build. Do not let fear cause you not quit. Fear is a False Expectation Appearing Real. Knowledge is Power. Educating yourself about nicotine addiction can remove ALL fear. Education and preparation is the key to a successful quit. Start first by educating yourself on addiction to nicotine. It is advisable to read Allen Carr's Easyway to Quit Smoking which can be found on pdf on the web. Another good site to get info is www.whyquit.com. There are several articles to read. Nicotine 101 and Freedom From Nicotine My Journey Home. Quitting takes planning and preparation go to EX Plan | BecomeAnEX to decide how you are going to go about quitting. To get help on navigating the site go to. Community Help. Stay close you have come to the right place for support.
3 people found this helpful
Like • Show 2 Likes2
Actions
- Roj @ JACKIE1-25-15 on Sep 27, 2019 9:14 AM
  crazy thing is watching my mother die from lung cancer wasn’t enough...guess I’m a slow learner...thanks for the advice
  Like • Show 0 Likes0
  Actions
Marilyn.H.July.14.14. Sep 27, 2019 7:48 AM
Welcome to the community we're all here to help you in any way we can many of us have emphysema and other smoking related illnesses, it's not to quit smoking by any stretch of the imagination BUT it's absolutely Doable and totally worth it stay close and keep reading everything you can 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 I'm not very tech savvy I haven't figured out how to copy and paste links yet but I can mention a couple of people that can help by posting a few. Thomas3.20.2010 and Mark
1 person found this helpful
Like • Show 1 Like1
Actions
Youngatheart.7.4.12 Sep 27, 2019 8:35 AM
Welcome to our community!

Quitting is the single most important thing you can do to keep the emphysema from progressing further. I'm glad you are going to do 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 also highly recommend Allen Carr's “The Easy Way to Stop Smoking.”. If you do nothing else to get ready for your quit, please do give this a read. It helped me and many others here to be successful. You will look at smoking in a whole new way!

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-instead-of-smoke
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
1 person found this helpful
Like • Show 1 Like1
Actions
- Roj @ Youngatheart.7.4.12 on Sep 27, 2019 9:15 AM
  such great information thanks
  Like • Show 0 Likes0
  Actions
sweetplt Sep 27, 2019 9:08 AM
Hi and Welcome to Ex’s Roj

I am so glad you found our site and are ready to quit smoking. I have bronchial asthma from smoking...step before emphysema ... I quit smoking 298 Days ago... it takes hard work, but so doable...I feel so much better in every aspect of my life. First, I suggest you read at My EX Plan | BecomeAnEX and make a quit date (usually two weeks from the reading)...then plan for that day like no other and cut down on your daily smokes. Next, read the blogs here to help in this journey. A big part of this journey is finding healthy things to do in place of smoking...here is a list to help...101 Things to Do Instead of Smoke We are here for you...and all in this journey together...Gotcha in my Thoughts ~ Colleen 298 DOF
1 person found this helpful
Like • Show 1 Like1
Actions
- Roj @ sweetplt on Sep 27, 2019 9:12 AM
  Thank you so much
  Like • Show 1 Like1
  Actions
Strudel Sep 27, 2019 6:38 PM
Welcome to the site! Quit now! It will make all the difference! You are in exactly the right place for support....and please do the reading. I came here 9 years ago after 40 years of smoking - and I quit! Best decision ever!
1 person found this helpful
Like • Show 1 Like1
Actions
marciem Sep 27, 2019 9:20 PM
WELCOME, Roj !!
Just wanted to know you're not alone. Many of us feared quitting, or at least had that same anxiety about it as we did when our cigarettes were running low almost out and it was raining/snowing/sleeting late at night and nobody's open... it can be scary letting go of the huge part of our lives that smoking was/is . What will we do? Are we jumping off the fun-train of life forever?

BUT... fear is a feeling, and won't kill you. Smoking will. Emphysema will get worse if you continue smoking, and eventually kill you if you keep smoking.

There are ways and means to get beyond the fear.

You're also not alone with emphysema and/or COPD. The ONLY way to slow or stop the progression of your disease is to stop smoking. There is no medicine you can take, and no real cure for the damage done. My pulmonary function tests, dismal as they are, are no worse two years in between, so that just shows I've slowed/stopped the progression because I don't smoke anymore. Hopefully your follow up testing will show an earlier stage. (I also have lung nodules and am recovering from lung cancer found by that very test you had, the low-dose CT screening... its a winner!).

There is a lot to get excited about with quitting... it is an adventure. A trek sometimes, but one towards a sure freedom from addiction. Read and learn all you can, get pumped, and go for it!
2 people found this helpful
Like • Show 2 Likes2
Actions
- Roj @ marciem on Sep 28, 2019 6:33 AM
  You’re reply could not have been more perfect if it had to be...hearing you haven’t seen progression in 2 years from stopping smoking is wonderful. Won’t find out until Tuesday where I am on the scale..I get winded going up stairs and harder exercise but just chalked it up to being fluffy and getting older, the daily cough I just counted as smokers cough that everyone who smokes gets. Now I just have to convince my brain that I must do this or death will come knocking sooner than later and I have grandkids to meet, vacations to go on, retirement to enjoy...thanks again for your share...bless you
  1 person found this helpful
  Like • Show 2 Likes2
  Actions
  - marciem @ Roj on Sep 28, 2019 9:04 AM
    Please do give us an update when you get your results, Roj ! There is also a COPD group group here that can give lots of help and information (emphysema and/or chronic bronchitis being two forms of COPD, sometimes both like me)
    
    Oh and by the way... I had terrible smoker's cough, it was just a part of me, which I always tried to excuse as "allergies" or "coming down with something". I don't cough at all anymore except when I get a respiratory infection. Embarrassingly people would sometimes tell me "I knew it was you, I heard your cough."
    1 person found this helpful
    Like • Show 1 Like1
    Actions
Barbscloud Sep 28, 2019 9:53 AM
Fear of getting illnesses from smoking and the fear of quitting are both common. You can overcome the fear by approaching it one day at time. Follow up with any additional tests. They should also do a breathing test.(spirometry) Even though emphysema isn't going to go away, you're breathing can still improve by quitting. It's not too late to improve your health. Don't look back--it's time to look forward. So educate yourself about nicotine addiction, create a quit plan, and reach out whenever you need support.

The human body is constantly fighting for a state of equilibrium. That is why our body fights infection and heals itself when we are injured. When smoke is introduced into the lungs, the body fights back. When smoke leaves the lungs, they start to heal immediately. Although the response is quick, the progress is incremental when it comes to lung improvement:
- First day – Your blood pressure will drop along with your heart rate. Carbon monoxide levels will also drop to the body’s normal levels.
- First month – Your lungs will become more efficient in the ability to process oxygen, causing your circulation to improve.
- First 9 months – The cilia in your lungs start to function properly again reducing the risk of lung infection. Also, coughing and shortness of breath should vastly decrease.
- Ten years later – Your risk of lung, mouth, throat, bladder, kidney and pancreas cancer drop dramatically.
2 people found this helpful
Like • Show 2 Likes2
Actions
- Roj @ Barbscloud on Sep 28, 2019 7:06 PM
  Thank you so much for your response and making me realize others have the fear of quitting as well..
  Like • Show 1 Like1
  Actions
indingrl.01.06.2011 Sep 28, 2019 12:39 PM
Welcome and CONGRATS on self love care and changing YOUR addictive NICOTINE mindset to NEW educating YOUR self YOUR health diagnose and asking for HELP - WAY TO GO and YOU are not ALONE- gentle hug
1 person found this helpful
Like • Show 0 Likes0
Actions

Scared

Outcomes

Related Content

Recommended Content