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Give and get support around quitting

Body says it's time my brain says no

Hey, I'm still learning how all this works, not too tech savvy. I've been extremely busy, funny I work in health care. My body and the world are strongly telling me it's time to quit but my brain is giving me a hard time. I've started chantix, I keep putting off taking next pill and so on but I'm forcing myself to take it, I know it's for the best but gosh why does it have to be so hard, I need to quit. Hope y'all have had good smoke free day. Stay safe.

14 Replies
avian3
Member

  The two weeks before I quit i constantly worried about how my life would ever be fully satisfying without smoking. How would I enjoy after meal smokes, watching TV, enjoying nature, having conversations with friends, having a glass of wine, felling stressed angry or content. 

It took time, determination and strength but is so worth it. We are no different than you what we had to go through and just as addicted. If we can do it, then you can to. You just have to put all you have into it and you will be successful.

Thank you for your support and kindness! 

sweetplt
Member

Hi and Welcome to Ex’s shannon3colbert 

Glad you found our site.  I am so happy you want to quit smoking....Continue taking your Chantix as directed...May I suggest, you read at My EX Plan | BecomeAnEX where you will plan your quit date and plan for that day like no other.  Also, come here often and get help and/or encourage others.  We are all in this journey together.  So much of this is mental and telling ourselves we don’t need to smoke...but in the beginning it it keeping the quit and taking things “one moment at a time”...You can do this...it takes work, but is so doable...we are here to help...Colleen 514 DOF 

Barbscloud
Member

Welcome to the Ex.  For the Chantix to help with your quit, follow the directions.  During this time, educate yourself about nicotine addiction and work on your quit plan.   You can also sign up for daily texts from the Ex leading up to your quit.  I found them very helpful receiving each day the week prior to my quit date?   Do you have a quit date?

Barb

Yes, I do have quit date, my Dr was bit iffy with me and chantix and I think she was right, I will not be able to take it, I've gotten a spotty week of it in. I'm on my own now with quitting, the thing that worries me the most is depression. Have you been thru that? I've read that smoking after awhile changes brain chem? Idk. I guess just scared. Thank you for your help! 

Barbscloud
Member

Some people do have problems taking Chantix.  There is physical and psychological component to quitting.  Are you saying you already are dealing with depression?  If so, you might want to consult with your doctor.  

Yes smoking does change brain chemistry.  That's why we're addicted and go through withdrawal continuously until we get that next cigarette.    For many of us quitting is more emotional.  I had few physical symptoms, mine was more emotional.  There can be sadness, crying, etc.  In general, smoking suppresses many of these emotions, so when we quit they come to surface.  Part of quitting is learning to deal with life without the nicotine.  

Fear of quitting is normal.   We've smoked through every activity and emotion, good or bad.  What finally helped me overcome the fear this time was the realization that it was a choice.  I could smoke again if I choose to.  That's why it's so important to approach your quit one day at a time.   Tomorrow becomes the next one day and so on. 

Read as much as you can on this site.  Understanding this addiction and what to expect when you quit gives you the confidence to be successful.

I know having the support of this community helped to make it possible for me for the first time in my life.  Like many, I've tried to quit numerous times in my life.  After smoking for 50 years, I celebrated two years recently.  Remember, we're here for you

Reach out if you need encouragement and to share your journey.  

Barb

0 Kudos
Barbara145
Member

Congratulations on quitting smoking.  I am an LPN and I quit at age 67 with the love and support of this site.  I had tried many times over the years.  Don't listen to your brain.  It is an addicted brain (like all of us smokers)  It is difficult for most to quit smoking.  It is so worth it.  I quit 6 1/2 years ago.  I am so over cigarettes.  Quitting smoking is a journey to wholeness.  It is so much more than just not smoking.  I would not trade ageing without them for anything on this earth.  You can do this.

DavesTime
Member

This is one time your body may be wiser than your brain.  This addiction messes with our heads in so many ways.  When I was still smoking I could list all sorts of reasons why I should quit: health, self-respect, honesty, economic, etc.  But my (addicted) brain told me that I couldn't/didn't need to/wasn't ready to quit.  Then there were the fears of coping with stress and life without a cigarette.  Or the fact that I "liked" smoking.  All of these overwhelmed the logical part of my brain.  But my body was really becoming insistent.  Was I "ready" to quit?  Did I "want" to quit?  My (addicted) brain said No.  But I am so glad I committed to do it anyhow.  You CAN do it!

Dave

597 DOF

Troutnut1
Member

That’s an easy one. Your brain is trying to kill you. Listen to your body.

A repost from my earlier writings:

Relapse always starts the same way.

It begins with our brain. It’s often called “junkie thinking”. Or sometimes “stinkin thinkin”. Once we become addicts to a drug like nicotine we can no longer trust our brains to act in our own best interests. It becomes part of the problem instead of part of the solution. 
Thoughts and feelings are not facts. They are just random, and often dangerous thoughts, manufactured by our addicted brains, in order to get us to ingest nicotine again. The reward center of our brains has become addicted and it will take a long time for it to resume to normal rational thinking. 
Every trick in the book is used by our brain in early recovery to get us to give in to nicotine. If we are sad, or mad (two of it’s favorite tricks) it wants us to smoke to make those feelings go away. If we are happy or have accomplished something the brain says “let’s celebrate!”.  And if neither of those are going on it say’s “we’re bored. Let’s smoke!”. The addict brain wants us to smoke no matter what is going on.  
It took me a long time to realize that my brain was actively trying to kill me. I learned to watch it like a bad TV show. “Isn’t that interesting”, I would say to myself. “My brain is trying to kill me again.” I learned that my brain is not “me”. If it was “me”, I could just tell it to shut-up, and it would have to listen. But it’s not me, and it doesn’t even listen to me most of the time. So identifying the real problem (my brain) was part, and still is, in my long term recovery.
You’ll know immediately when the brain has accomplished it’s evil work. You’ll know because you will begin thinking those “just one” thoughts. It starts looking like a good idea instead of a tragic end to your quit. We’ve all had thousands of those so I don’t think it needs anymore explaining. So don’t fall for it! 
And if you fall for it (just one!) it’s game over for that quit. The brain will have won. And it will become at least twice as hard to quit again because the brain knows it succeeded in selling you death and lies last time. But start again immediately anyway. The longer you wait the bigger the victory for your addict brain. 
You can’t control what your brain thinks and doesn't think when it’s after nicotine. But you don’t have to act on it. We get to say “NO!”. And the place to say NO is way before that FIRST sickarette. It’s even way before that FIRST puff of that FIRST sickarette. It’s time to act at the very first of the “stinkin thinkin thoughts.”
No matter what your history, no matter how many times you have tried before, you are totally and completely safe as long as you draw the line just this side of that very FIRST puff. That is where successful quitters always draw the line. They make up their mind in advance. We prepare. We train. We make plans in advance. We have tools ready. And above all, we don’t smoke. No matter what. Not even if our A dash dash falls off!
If you don’t take that FIRST puff, one day at a time, it is physically IMPOSSIBLE to fail! 
If you don’t take that FIRST puff, just for today, you are absolutely, positively, 100% guaranteed to go to bed as a WINNER tonight!
Your friend in Montana
Troutnut1-dennis