Introduce yourself!

[cwood9999]

Greetings from Texas! I'm hoping we can connect to Support each other, as people without disabilities, or children with disabilities are sometimes hesitant, or uncomfortable talking with us when we bring up our stresses. 

My name is Cindi, and I have a 20 year old son with autism. He's high functioning, but will probably live with me for many more years before he's really ready to be on his own. He's getting there, but it's a slow process.

Please know that this is a safe, and approval only group to talk about the things we deal with!

Hope to heAr from you soon!

Cindi

[fenzy3]

Hi Cindy, thanks for sharing. My name is Jenny and I smoked for 27 years so this addiction is an old friend. I have multiple sclerosis. I'm on day #5 off not smoking and it's a little rough, my husband smokes and chews tobacco so I really don't have much support. At least he doesn't smoke in the house.

[cwood9999]

Welcome Jenny! MS is a real tough disease to live with. I am very familiar with it, and have supported the cause to find a cure by riding many MS 150 bike rides.Do you get the MS Connect magazine? At one time, I was tested for MS, but they eventually decided I have some called benign fasciculitus syndrome instead. Basically take the same maintenance meds as MS. Congratulations on making it through day 5! Start putting your saved up money from not smoking into a jar, and maybe someday your hubby will see how much he's wasting on the nicotine and join you. In the meantime, just concentrate on you. It won't be too much longer before your body will start to feel better. Once it's quit having to fight off the damage from smoking, better blood flow will carry your nutrients and meds around, and if you're twitchy now, you'll be less twitchy, and recover from episodes so much faster! Put that on your list of reasons to quit! Imagine recovering in a few days instead of weeks! Smoking is bad for MS!Remember, smoking does nothing but make the MS worse. The temporary relief from the nicotine only made those few minutes worse for your MS. If you think you need more help, talk to your doctor about adding Effexor or a similar anti-depressant to your regime if you're not already on one. I take the effexor  because it works in combo with my gabapentin  to help with the neuropathy. My doc upped my dose when discussing my quitting, and I feel it's helping me with resist the urge to use nicotine to temporarily feel better!

Good luck today!

[smcmurdo]

Hi..my name is Sheila. I've been an off and on smoker for over 30 years. I am 54 years old. I was diagnosed with epilepsy (grand mal) seizures at 5 years old. I have learned to maintain my seizures and do really well for the most part but still struggle in the summer and high heat. I also have Fibromyalgia but can't take the meds. I have struggled with depression all my life and quitting smoking has been a challenge as it can bring on depression....so to curb that I began working out. Nothing gungho...light, easy and low impact. I figure that doing anything is better than doing nothing. I try to focus on funny things in my day to try and avert the blues...but I struggle so I understand when others do too. Thank you.

Sheila

[cwood9999]

Welcome Sheila! Luckily, a medicine I take to manage a condition I have includes an antideppressant, so I don't struggle so much that aspect of the quitting, but I tell you what, the anxiety is what's getting to me. A creature of habit, having a child with autism, who also suffers from severe depression, changing up my routine for the last 20 years has created a lot of anxiety for me. Going back to the gym is a great idea! 

Well, you're on the right track by joining EX's, with all the support we have here. I love the blogs and discussions. It helps me stay focused. 

[msterling999]

Hi my name is Maggie. I have three sons.My oldest is legally blind with dyslexia. The youngest has milder dyslexia. They are all doing well but it was a very long tough road with the school systems. It left scars on all of us and I am trying to start a life, without smoking and determining how to make friends and just connect with people.

[cwood9999]

Welcome Francis! Great to have you with us!

[cwood9999]

Maggie, as moms, we tend to out ourselves last, and our health behind to suffer from it. Just remind yourself that you need to be healthy so you can be there for your sons! That's what's helping me out with progress as an EX now. 

[francis2013]

My name is Francis and I am not into day 44 into my quit and I wil be honest and say that it has been hard but I will also say that it has its benefits because in the long run I know that I will be the one who will benefit from it in the long run. I have said on this website that I do appreciate a good challenge with positive outcomes. I served in the Army for three years from 1998-1991 and during that time I served in Desert Storm and Desert Shield for one year. Since then I have been dealing with PTSD and depression along with being bipolar. My back was injured during the war and during that time I didn't realize how badly it was injured until years later and now I regret not dealing with it way back then. I am not scheduled to have surgery on my lower back to have some nerves burned because I am so very tired of taking pain medication such as morphine and other medical narcotics. I started smoking when I was in the Army right after boot camp and my AIT training and smoked untill 44 days ago.  I made several attempts trying to quit my over time my addiction took over but I believe it was from the lack of support from places such as this website. Did not have any support from my parents because my mother still smokes but my step dad quit cold turkey but I remember how grumpy or grouchy he was when he did quit. I currently don't have any contact whatsoever with my biological dad for personal reasons that I will not go into at this time. Before I forget I want to say thank you cwood9999 for welcoming me to this group. I was also a user of chewing tobacco and I started doing that when I was still in high school. For some strange reason I found it to be easier to quit compared to quitting smoking cigarettes but since I'm going to be honest and say if there is going to relapse on my part I would probably resort back to chewing tobacco even though it is just as nasty as smoking. Even though it never fixed or helped with anything I think that my depression played a big part of my tobacco use.

[cwood9999]

Welcome Elizabeth! Please tell us a little about yourself!