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Quitting for good

124

Comments

  • Registered Users Posts: 6,769 ✭✭✭sporina


    Smoking for 25 years, 20 fags a day, cold turkey all the way. Depressed today but thats part of the course. I found afirmations helpful, even simple ones like" I dont want to smoke". I find the mental addiction hardest part. So another thing I say to myself is "A smoke wont make anything better just a lot worse". A little mantra will go a long way.
    Oh I get what I call echos after meals and at certain times, time for a smoke, I stop and think thats not me, thats an automatic echo. The mind playing tricks. Not to take it seriously and smile at it. This addiction is very tricky, it will leave you alone for a while even days and than sucker punch you, could be in an argument or an acute bout of depression it will come back and hit you strong. So I will be keeping the gloves up for a good few weeks yet.

    wow - yes time to quit!! I said this to a guy the other day (father of two teenagers) - "what ever about quitting for you, think of your kids - if they have kids they would like their dad to be around to be grand dad etc".
    I too have little affirmations "i don't even enjoy smoking - its just a habit, which i will break". I like your use of the word "echo" as a way to describe the urge to smoke - as it is not so much of an urge or a craving, but an automatic response to certain situations from when we use to smoke. Keep up the good work!!


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 7,484 ✭✭✭username123


    Well here I am on Day 21 and apparently, the brain acetylcholine receptor counts up-regulated in response to nicotine's presence have now down-regulated and receptor binding has returned to levels seen in the brains of non-smokers :)

    YIPPEE!!!!! My brain thinks Im a non smoker!!! So do I!!


  • Registered Users Posts: 6,769 ✭✭✭sporina


    Well here I am on Day 21 and apparently, the brain acetylcholine receptor counts up-regulated in response to nicotine's presence have now down-regulated and receptor binding has returned to levels seen in the brains of non-smokers :)

    YIPPEE!!!!! My brain thinks Im a non smoker!!! So do I!!

    where did you read the above? reference?


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 7,484 ✭✭✭username123


    sporina wrote: »
    where did you read the above? reference?

    Here you go, its my timeline of health :)


  • Registered Users Posts: 6,769 ✭✭✭sporina


    Here you go, its my timeline of health :)

    hmmm - not too sure about that website - its a bit too righteous for me, if you know what i mean. But each to their own and all that.


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 7,484 ✭✭✭username123


    sporina wrote: »
    hmmm - not too sure about that website - its a bit too righteous for me, if you know what i mean. But each to their own and all that.

    Never even looked at the rest of the website before, handy timeline regardless of the tone of the rest of it.


  • Registered Users Posts: 849 ✭✭✭celticcrash


    Sailed through yesterday like I never smoked. Today having smokers lighting up around me gave me an itch. Over 7 days now cold turkey. Thinking about joining a swimming club, to get the ould ticker back in action. I must say I am enjoying the walks but a swim will expand my lungs that bit better.
    I hope everyone is hanging there because it gets a lot easier as the days pass. A cig will make nothing better but will make things a lot worse.


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,835 ✭✭✭StickyMcGinty


    Never even looked at the rest of the website before, handy timeline regardless of the tone of the rest of it.

    Day 15 here myself, the videos on that website got me through the first week!

    Felt good to have a video to watch each morning telling me what to expect, and I like yer man Joel Spitz. Anyway each to their own but definately worth a shot:

    http://whyquit.com/joel/dayone.htm

    Found myself a bit depressed between day 7 and 13 but it goes away, feeling better already. Gonna join a gym and step up the exercise this week. Well done to everybody so far!


  • Registered Users Posts: 87 ✭✭awman


    Hope ye all got through the weekend smoke free!!!

    Its Day 15 for me! yippee! Had a fair few anxious moments over the weekend though. I was out Saturday night at a party so I found that tough. I was dreading it cause I would have normally smoked like a trooper when out drinking but thankfully I stuck with it and didnt smoke...very proud of myself! Hubby caved and smoked 2 fags.....ggrrrrr!!!! but thankfully he started again straight away Sunday morning. No more parties for a few weeks so hopefully by the time we'll be out drinking again we'll have a few more smoke free weeks under our belt!


  • Registered Users Posts: 6,769 ✭✭✭sporina


    awman wrote: »
    Hope ye all got through the weekend smoke free!!!

    Its Day 15 for me! yippee! Had a fair few anxious moments over the weekend though. I was out Saturday night at a party so I found that tough. I was dreading it cause I would have normally smoked like a trooper when out drinking but thankfully I stuck with it and didnt smoke...very proud of myself! Hubby caved and smoked 2 fags.....ggrrrrr!!!! but thankfully he started again straight away Sunday morning. No more parties for a few weeks so hopefully by the time we'll be out drinking again we'll have a few more smoke free weeks under our belt!

    oh well done…

    meeting and drinking with my friends who smoke is going to be my biggest challenge me thinks and I am dreading it. I honestly think I will have to not drink with them for some time (day 8 today smoke free):)

    any tips as to how I would survive such an occasion?


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  • Registered Users Posts: 1,030 ✭✭✭jem


    Day 15 here,
    Jasus had a hard morning today, the craving was as bad as early days, thought I was gone past the real bad ones, guess not,
    got through it though.


  • Registered Users Posts: 18 cassia


    day 16 here and after telling my sister in law how it was going well last night, I am now close to tears for the want of one! Have to keep telling myself that this too shall pass


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 7,484 ✭✭✭username123


    cassia wrote: »
    day 16 here and after telling my sister in law how it was going well last night, I am now close to tears for the want of one! Have to keep telling myself that this too shall pass

    Try to distract yourself, drink some water, eat a piece of fruit, this too SHALL pass, and all you are experiencing is a little mental pang thats caught you off guard. Remember how bad the first few days were? Bet this pang is nothing by comparison - and if you could beat the early ones, you can beat this one!!!

    16 days? Youre doing great, you are totally past the worst!


  • Registered Users Posts: 18 cassia


    Thanks for your words of encouragement - it really helps. In my obsessing about cigarettes I typed 16 days when in fact it is 23 days since I last smoked, I couldn't even get the amount of 3 weeks and 2 days worked out I was that preoccupied. The longing has passed thankfully, I know I would be so angry with myself if I went back on them now that I am over the worst.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1 Homer123


    Hi all, I'm new to this site and found it at just the right time,I'm 30 days smoke free,I went cold turkey 8th jan after smoking 15/20 a day for 18 years.have had some good and bad days, today was a bad day, reading tru your posts really helped me get tru today.


  • Registered Users Posts: 166 ✭✭kkposse


    Giving up the smokes any recommendations hated those nicotine chewing gums?


  • Registered Users Posts: 6,769 ✭✭✭sporina


    Alan Carr - Easy way to quit - READ IT!!!!!!!


  • Registered Users Posts: 39 locater7


    thats same day as me
    cold turkey too
    find my temper is on a pretty short fuse
    how about you


  • Registered Users Posts: 16 Honest Bob


    Hi All,

    Heading for Day 4.

    Smoked for over 25 years and though tried a few times to quit I have never really tried if you know what I mean. Too many lame excuses.

    Determind this time to give it a good go. I always found that "occasions" such as hoidays,birthdays,weddings,stressful time at work etc, were all reasons not to quit but to put it off until a better time,which obviously never arrived.

    Great to find a forum with people who are going through the same as me. Is there anybosy else out there who is delighted not to be smoking but can't quite get their head around the fact that they may never smoke again even though that is exactly what we want?

    Not gonna smoke today!!:D


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 7,484 ✭✭✭username123


    Honest Bob wrote: »
    Great to find a forum with people who are going through the same as me. Is there anybosy else out there who is delighted not to be smoking but can't quite get their head around the fact that they may never smoke again even though that is exactly what we want?

    Well done, day 3 being the height of torture, it gets easier from here!

    I felt exactly like that for the first 2 or 3 weeks. I would sort of simultaneously feel 'yippee - im not smoking' and 'awww - cant ever have a cigarette again'.

    But then it changes. You walk by someone smoking and it doesnt smell nice. You pass by a person who just smoked and they smell kind of stinky. You stop having nostalgia for the actual act of smoking because it doesnt seem like a thing youd enjoy doing anymore.

    Then it changes further. It just becomes a non event. For me now, saying or thinking I can never smoke again has about as much emotional impact as saying I can never have a blue cup again - it just doesnt matter. Im not particularly attached to blue cups - Ill just have a white one!

    Im 51 days today, so just over 7 weeks. Im delighted not to be smoking :)


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  • Registered Users Posts: 29 ezryder


    Honest Bob wrote: »
    Is there anybosy else out there who is delighted not to be smoking but can't quite get their head around the fact that they may never smoke again even though that is exactly what we want?


    Hi Honest Bob,

    Well done!!! You're past day 3-the worst is over :D

    That is exactly how I felt at first, thinking that you're never gonna smoke again so you have to be missing out on something? I suppose it's like a grieving process...we miss them but we dont want them either!

    I promise it does get better, I'm 5 weeks now and not thinking about them half as much ;)


  • Registered Users Posts: 16 Honest Bob


    Hi


    Thanks for the encouragement.


  • Registered Users Posts: 601 ✭✭✭lester76


    Day 4 for me and my god my mood is terrible feeling high then low then tired then alert im all messed up:(.. i took 2 sleepin tablets last nyt im sure that hasnt helped.. Had to come on here to read some posts to remind me im not alone
    & it will pass its just part of the process..


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 7,484 ✭✭✭username123


    Found a good one to look forward to!
    you can expect a substantial increase in overall lung function of up to 30% within just 90 days of quitting

    Day 52 - only 8 more days til Im off them 2 months yippee!!!


  • Registered Users Posts: 857 ✭✭✭Corega


    God I haven't posted on boards in ages, but this is the dreaded day 3 people have been talking about and all day long I've been trying to occupy myself, whereas before I would have been quite content filling my time by sparking up.

    I suppose a bit of background information might be good; I'm 26 now and have had a love affair with ciggies for 13 years. If memory serves me correct, the last and only time I quit was when I was 15 or so and lasted less than a day. For those 13 years I just resigned myself to the fact that I was a smoker and I was always going to be one. I don't know why my attitude changed. I've always been aware of the cost of smoking, both in terms of health and money. In fact, I think smokers are the most aware of the negative impact their habit has.

    So, about a month ago a Polish friend of mine brought me back 400 Camel Lights, my preffered brand, ever since I decided to "level down" from Marlboro Red. Now of course, I thought I was getting a bargain having to pay only half the price of what they cost here. But the cost, what I was doing to myself and the fact that I get no tangible effect or high (except for satisfying the nicotine craving)...all of these points kept on swimming around my head until I couldn't ignore them anymore.

    So at about 3 o'clock on Sunday morning after having finished my shift in work (barman) I had my last smoke. Went to the pharmacy on Sunday and picked up the gum, which is fairly vile I have to admit. The one upside of the gum is that it seems to replicate the taste you get in the back of your throat after having chain-smoked about 5 in a row. And so that aftertaste is almost like a reminder of how gross the ciggies were/are.

    I'm planning on heading out on Thurs for a few drinks, which will be a test.
    Anyways, like I said I just wanted to occupy idle fingers by typing this post...gonna go for a long walk later on to tire myself out. I got little to no sleep last night, the previous two nights were fine though.

    I digress...

    TLDR; I quit smoking.


  • Registered Users Posts: 857 ✭✭✭Corega


    Update; still off them. Went for that walk last night, but it was so windy I found myself cursing the whole way...out loud. Headphones kept falling out too, was really irritating.

    Went down to the shops today to get myself some lunch and two lads in front of me were walking really slowly and I couldn't get past them, I felt like punching them. I'm usually a very passive person, hate confrontation and aggression, but I was just super agitated. Just to clarify; of course I wasn't actually going to hit anyone, was just a brief moment of seeing red mist.

    Have a boxing class later on tonight so it'll be interesting to see if my breathing or lung capacity has improved in any way. And then tomorrow I'm off hill walking up near Glencree, so that should keep me busy.

    I've been doing some maths guesstimations; I reckon I've smoked c. 60,000 cigarettes in my life at a cost of, and this is a conservative estimate, not using today's prices, roughly €20,000. That's a deposit on an apartment I don't own, the price of a decent car I've never bought or 4/5 amazing holidays I have never experienced.

    Ciao.


  • Registered Users Posts: 16 Honest Bob


    Hi All,

    Just finished Day 5 and I can say that it was the worst day yet. Since this morning I have craved a smoke and I have absolutely no idea why. Managed to keep myself busy so far and avoided coffee!!

    I know that tomorrow will be better.

    Not gonna smoke today

    HB


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 7,484 ✭✭✭username123


    Honestbob, its your mind playing games with you, you are free of the nicotine monster in 3 days, now its just habit trying to grab you back - stay strong!!

    I found a packet of fishermans friends and plenty of glasses of water to be my best coping mechanism during the first 2 weeks.


  • Registered Users Posts: 857 ✭✭✭Corega


    Still off them.

    That is all.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 6,769 ✭✭✭sporina


    Found a good one to look forward to!



    Day 52 - only 8 more days til Im off them 2 months yippee!!!

    looking forward to be able to say 3 months smoke free

    I am craving one right no though….:(

    and I have a few major nights out with smokers before the 3 month date..:mad:

    I feel I need a refresher course or something - something to reinforce my antismoking mentality - any suggestions?


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