5 Days and counting...

Ballymana Bhoy

Long time lurker of this forum here,

Well as the title says im off them 5 days, using the patches. One thing that definitely helped me a lot through the first 3 days was something i read on a thread here a while ago, it sounds stupid but it actually works - a small piece of cardboard with 9x8 squares drawn on it and i marked them off hour by hour as i went through the first 72 hours (which is supposed to be the hardest)

Anyway, i found it, well i wouldnt say easy but not too bad for the first few days until today which was sheer hell, short but intense cravings every few minutes. I remember seeing also on a thread here somewhere a graph that was taken from that whyquit.com site showing the craving intensities and if i remember correctly it showed a big peak at the 5 day mark which would explain today for me. Ive searched that site and cant find it, and ive looked through a few threads on this forum and cant find it either.

Does anyone know of the graph im on about and which thread its in?

Pal

the cardboard trick was something I did a year ago.

glad it worked for you.

I have adapted it a bit since.

write things to do in the boxes. things that will take an hour.

like wash the car.
That makes the hours go quicker.

Think of the whole cardboard as your addiction and clip off a square every hour that elapses.

The addiction (cardboard) gets smaller with every passing hour.
when the whole cardboard is finally clipped away, you are clear of nicotine and can get on with little or no withdrawal.

OK
I know, it sounds daft, but it worked for me is all I will say.

Pal

your right about the day 5 spike but its brief thankfully

Mimikyu

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Ballymana Bhoy

Captain Morgan wrote: »

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Thats the one yeah, thanks. Although the big peak is at 7 days on that not 5, but now that i think of it that whyquit.com is about cold turkey not using patches or anything.

Anyway, i meant to post back in this thread before now because i went back on them on saturday six days down the tube :mad:

Ive been reading a lot on that whyquit.com and other sites about going cold turkey being the best option so ive decided to go for it, f*ck the patches and the gum im just gonna go for it i know i can do it.

Gonna smoke my last one now in 10 minutes...

Ballymana Bhoy

Thats it, never smoking again...:)

Pal

Now don't go off half-cocked to quit just because you had a relapse.

Prepare yourself.

You're back at square one of the 72.

Cardboard ready? Grapefruit juice in large supply ?

Personally believe cold turkey is best as opposed to other methods. Its the quickest, easiest and most fulfilling in the end. 72 hours and you're done. Agree with the folks at whyquit.com who seem to have some idea what they are talking about. Well worth a read that site.

Good luck with quit # 2.

You'll be fine. Just think. Come Thursday you're sorted.

syngindub

Best of luck BB..ye cold turkey is the best way to do it...The nicotine cravings send your mind on a little roller coaster but it quickly departs and left with no cravings.

LeahK

I think the thoughts of cold turkey are actually worse than it is.... I tried gum,lonsenges,patches(worst ever) and inhalers. After 4 months I gave up on all of them and went cold turkey. 1.5 years later and Im still off them. If you can give up cold turkey you REALLY want to give up...therefore you stay off them!! Thats why it works, you wont put yourself through that pain again. In fact I think its alot easier in the long run.

I always compare it to breaking up with a bad boyfriend..your never going to get over them if you text or ring them occasionally. You have to block them out of your life for as long as it takes. this also includes avoiding pubs,parties and mates who smoke unfortunately. Its not forever though..just until your over the hump.

Best of luck with it! Its so possible I promise

dolliemix

Well done on getting back on track so quickly Ballymana Bhoy.

Anytime I lapsed before it normally took me a few months to cop on and start again.


I'm off them over two months now (1st Jan) cold turkey. It's going great. THe last two weeks, in particular, I haven't even thought of smoking much!!

I started the Couch 2 5k program, which I learned about from another poster who gave up smoking the same time as me. It's a fitness program that gets you off the coach and running 5k gradually in 9 weeks (hopefully). I'm on week 5 of that program and I've no intention of undoing all the good at this stage....Its worth looking into

Good luck at the weekend. THey're very hard when you first give up