Post for everyone who QUIT evil fags

Spunge

Been off them 3 weeks tomorrow, but i bought some snuff a few days ago and i've been taking a lot of that so i don't know if it's really any better than smoking. Also hitting the nicorette inhalers constantly so im still laying into the nicotine even if its not in smoke form.

taldar

Hello everyone

off them 3 weeks today, feeling good and eating habits getting back to pre-smokless levels.. . Was smoking 20 a day for 20 years, I am 37.

Keep going everyone.

Your Quit Date is:Sunday, January 02, 2011 at 12:00:00 PM
Time Smoke-Free:21 days, 18 hours, 13 minutes and 34 seconds
Cigarettes NOT smoked:435
Lifetime Saved:3 days, 7 hours
Money Saved:€188.10

That_Guy

11 weeks off. Yeah baby!!!

Pal

Quit today.

Here we go again:D

NavanEPS

Keep going Pal you know you can do it

1966

3 weeks today and am thrilled with myself................positives:-

* skin getting clearer
* managing to walk at faster pace in the evenings without getting too breathless - hopefully this will improve
* my dodgy knee doesn't pain me as much as it used to

probably grasping at straws there but with the knee but there can only be positives................have piled on a few pounds though but that can be tackled by me getting off my ar#e and not feeling as if I am some kind of martyr for quitting.

hope everyone else is sticking with it..........................

NavanEPS

that is a great attitude - keep it going!!!

SnoozyS

Hi Guys,

Am still here and smoke free
Was away for the weekend so finally conquered the demon drink. Out with non-smokers so that made it easier. Also faced numerous delays thanks to Aer Lingus and still managed to not smoke so things are still looking good.

Molly - just a little blip! Dont let 2 smokes ruin everything that you've worked so hard for over the last 20+ days..........you CAN do it! Just think of the holidays ahead of you

S

Dalan

molly77 wrote: »

Hi all
After my little relapse. Binned rest of pack and broke them up into pieces good feeling Doing well since, Went for a 4 hrs hike yesterday, tough going especially breathing, but it has improved. Cravings not to bad since.

Dalan, shinshin snoozy, where are ye gone to hope ye are all going gud.

Thats it hopefully i will not give into de EVIL ones again:)

God I was glad to read this from you Molly! I think you did really well to bin the rest of the pack. The easier road would have had you back at square 1, and miserable.

I'm doing good - thanks for asking. Yesterday was 4 weeks off, 4 7-day nicotine free slots. Wednesday will be my one month milestone. I have become very intent on kicking the addiction for good this time, one day each time. I am ready each day to give a good mental kicking to any junkie thoughts coming my way. Sorry to keep banging on about it, but I have got most of my ability to stop this time from reading on the Freedom From Nicotine message boards, linked to WhyQuit.com Every person on those boards has quit and not relapsed, so everyone's like dolliemix or snoozyS or navan here... I spend nearly an hour a day reading there, and expect to have to keep that up for a good while, but not for as many years as I've been smoking. And reading may make me a bit of a crashing bore but it won't make me smell or give me cancer.

Reading over what you've posted these last 3 weeks it sounds like it's not the first three days physical withdrawal is the hardest part for you, but the mental fixation that comes later. Same for me (my previous quits failed at 2 weeks, 3 weeks, 8 weeks, 10 days, 5 months, and 8 months). Probably the same for most people - the physical craves in the first week last a few minutes at a time, the mental longings once they kick off can go on for as long as we can concentrate on one thing... Learning how to deal with these thoughts is going to be the main thing. Keep finding out information, keep posting, remember your intention to QUIT EVIL FAGS and all your reasons for that intention... I will be rooting for you!

Yeah, hope shinshin's doing good... his posts have been one of the strongest anti-smoking stories on the thread.

Just while writing this I see snoozy is back home and still safe - yayyyy!!

dolliemix

Good for you Dalan. Great advice.

I too spent hours reading other people's pain and success stories for the first three months or so. My nicotine addiction was replaced with reading about giving up smoking non stop!

I have to say I'm not sure I was able to relate to the people who had given up long term. And I was sick to the teeth of hearing ...'it does get easier'. I often felt I was the only person who was so obsessed with my journey and giving them up meant I thought about them more, probably, than when I was actually smoking. I also wondered would I ever be in a place where I would not think about them.

Anyway.....it all happened eventually. And I can't tell you when I finally began to stop thinking about cigarettes. It happened gradually. One day I'd think to myself ......'hey I haven't thought about cigarettes at all this week'. Or I'd go through something stressful in work and my first reaction wasn't to go out and have a cigarette.......but I'd only realise that later when I'd see somebody else smoking on the tv or whatever. It sort of reminded me of breaking up with boyfriends. Its all you can think about for a long time after and then suddenly one day you realise that he's slowly not on your mind 24/7 ......and eventually he's just a memory that comes back now and again....but you know you don't want or need him any more!!

You will get there. I do remember how much I didn't believe I could do it myself and it almost made me more determined to prove myself wrong. I needed to do something good for me this time last year and this was the ultimate achievement.

Replacing smoking with running helped also. I knew if I started smoking again I was going to give up the running as well, I had made plans to run the Womens Mini Marathon in June. I started a running (Couch to 5k) program at the beginning of Feb so the aim of the 10k in June kept me going for those hard first few months.

Well done guys for getting through the first few difficult weeks. Some people find it easier than others. Personally, I can totally identify with those of you still having bad days and wondering when it gets easier. But stick with it.....its worth it and you will not always feel this way

celticcrash

Good on you Molly and all. All winners stumble. Dalan is right the first few weeks were not a big problem while I was highly motivated. But the mental side of this is very tricky at the moment it is giving me a bit of a kicking.
Tomorrow morning I am going for my first run or jog in the local park.
I dont care if the parkie has to call an ambulance while I throw up and collapse. I am going to burst my lungs with oxygen.
There is going to be oxygen hitting parts of my lungs that have not
Experenced O2 IN 22 years.
Keep up them gloves everybody.
No surrender to the evil fags.

Dalan

You've been giving a lot of support to the ones of us going through the first stages of this thing - very much appreciated. I love the ex-boyfriend connection - presumably one where you realise eventually what a complete b'stard he was.

Hope you'll find the time to keep checking in - it's a real help

Dalan

celticcrash wrote: »

Good on you Molly and all. All winners stumble. Dalan is right the first few weeks were not a big problem while I was highly motivated. But the mental side of this is very tricky at the moment it is giving me a bit of a kicking.
Tomorrow morning I am going for my first run or jog in the local park.
I dont care if the parkie has to call an ambulance while I throw up and collapse. I am going to burst my lungs with oxygen.
There is going to be oxygen hitting parts of my lungs that have not
Experenced O2 IN 22 years.
Keep up them gloves everybody.
No surrender to the evil fags.

Welcome CC to this thread - have been noticing your postings on other threads. One line of yours in particular stuck in my head: "A friend said to me that if you row in one direction for 24 years dont expect to row back overnight."

Enjoy that lung-busting tomorrow!:)

Sardonicat

I've made it to two weeks. Can't believe how fast the time has gone by.

Gotta say, though, that I seem to be hitting a craving "wall" now, but have resisited tempataion so far. The munchies have set in now, too. I'm going around the place like pacman, constantly searching for something to chomp.

On the plus side; skin begining to improve, no longer wake up with an awful taste in my mouth and coughing less phlegm.

Shinshin14

molly77 wrote: »

Hi all
After my little relapse. Binned rest of pack and broke them up into pieces good feeling Doing well since, Went for a 4 hrs hike yesterday, tough going especially breathing, but it has improved. Cravings not to bad since.

Dalan, shinshin snoozy, where are ye gone to hope ye are all going gud.

Thats it hopefully i will not give into de EVIL ones again:)

Sorry Molly and co that I ,have not been posting lately.

24 days smokefree thank God .
Apologies for not being there to support you Molly but you have coped very well in getting back on track so soon.

Have been very busy and under pressure inside and outside work . long hours , getting home late, coming home narky, tired and no time for exercise .
I know what youve been through and its happened to me many a time under similiar circumstances during previous attemtps. Unlike you I wallowed in self pity and hid away until I could build myself up again . So fair play in getting it back together.

I have always found the pubscene a negative trigger for me , ( all in the mind I know but for me there is a strong association in my mind between smoking and having a drink alcohol or mineral , even though all of my friends are either smokers / ex smokers . I know its best for me to stay away until my confidence and self belief that I am going to succeed this time becomes stronger.
,

I know the cravings are bad I've had them before but this time on the Champix they only cross my mind a few times during the day but I keep saying to myself - "No not this time and rid my mind of any excuses to smoke, by substituting any stray thoughts or doubts with my reasons for quitting .

Just think of all you have achieved to date - a forty a day habit and you quit on cold turkey. It takes alot of courage and guts to even try.
Yes , of course you are suffering they have been part of your life for so long - in my case 35 years so they occupied centestage – your bound to miss them. But Molly you can get there you are stronger than de fags – you have a brain and they don’t - you have a life they die once they are extinguished.

You are inspiration to us all in setting up a single thread for all addicts , that we can share our feelings, pain , and support each other on our mission. Your postings are honest, humourous and motivating and I can fully indentify with them .


You've survived over three weeks - don't let one night destroy everything - it was only a moment when your guard dropped ,and that old weed was there to pounce.
I find light reading good to occupy me. Nothing heavy as my concentration levels are not the best at present but a light story that has me waiting to turn the page. I also find music a great diversion or the live radio - (excluding politics) as it cuts across any negative thoughts or feelings I might be experiencing.

I love jogging, cycling, and walking but the weather has been dire and I hate going on the thread mill.When I was smoking I lacked confidence in my ability not to run out of steam. and guilty that I was still smoking despite exercising.

Won't it be great to go to Kenya smokefree and on the money that you would have blown up in smoke. ? I am using my money for a wedding in Canada . I'm no good to save and woud spend it anyway - but why not spend it on something useful than just slowly but surely destroying my health and making me feel so useless at not being in control over the weed.

So welcome back on board the ship. To hell with the pangs. Look beyond they pangs and look at the end result . A smokefree , confident Molly , proud of what she has achieved and reaping the benefits of being smokefree, living your life to the full and not being controlled by that dreadful filty drug - that has ruined the lives of so many.



Beauty sleep gone tonight so will be wrecked tomorrow

Regards

Skrynesaver

Day 3 - of latest attempt to quit, my wife is also quitting and so home is a bit snappy @ the mo can't concentrate @ work for sustained periods which is a bit awkward, eating like a sumo wrestling walrus in training.

I know it gets easier but I always hate the 1st week, the upsides don't start to kick in yet, taste hasn't returned, still coughing in the mornings and the cravings are like a wire brush abrading my will.

sahs1

Hey Skrynesaver.....happy days you are off the con sticks! Weldone....allow yourself a week or three of adjustment....your body is kicking up one big wobbler! But it gets easier...I swear I am feeling much better this week.....I can remember things again!!! lol And bonus...........my eye's are sparkling and teeth are a shade of my God.....white!!!! I am still listening to the mc2 easy method to quit smoking on utube to give myself a boost...it really helps with the cravings.....best of luck.............:)

sahs1

Hi all!!! haha had to share this daft one..........when I quit I set the calender on my phone to send me random messages of encouragement!!!!!!!! lol.......forgot all about it and just got one now.......I beamed smiling with pride!!!! Its good to be free!

celticcrash

In the thick of it . All guns blazing. For my first 3 or 4 days the noggin
Was like a bag of cement. Just did not work. No one home.
I did not take the negative emotions seriously, if I did than I would have
Being arrested for kicking the parkie, being arrested for road rage,
Separated from the wife because she is mad and I am sane.

Thanks be to god none of these are true.

Its ok to be insane but dont act on it.

Suck in that oxygen in to your lungs and know its good to be alive.

molly77

Shinshin14 wrote: »

Sorry Molly and co that I ,have not been posting lately.

24 days smokefree thank God .
Apologies for not being there to support you Molly but you have coped very well in getting back on track so soon.

Have been very busy and under pressure inside and outside work . long hours , getting home late, coming home narky, tired and no time for exercise .
I know what youve been through and its happened to me many a time under similiar circumstances during previous attemtps. Unlike you I wallowed in self pity and hid away until I could build myself up again . So fair play in getting it back together.

I have always found the pubscene a negative trigger for me , ( all in the mind I know but for me there is a strong association in my mind between smoking and having a drink alcohol or mineral , even though all of my friends are either smokers / ex smokers . I know its best for me to stay away until my confidence and self belief that I am going to succeed this time becomes stronger.
,

I know the cravings are bad I've had them before but this time on the Champix they only cross my mind a few times during the day but I keep saying to myself - "No not this time and rid my mind of any excuses to smoke, by substituting any stray thoughts or doubts with my reasons for quitting .

Just think of all you have achieved to date - a forty a day habit and you quit on cold turkey. It takes alot of courage and guts to even try.
Yes , of course you are suffering they have been part of your life for so long - in my case 35 years so they occupied centestage – your bound to miss them. But Molly you can get there you are stronger than de fags – you have a brain and they don’t - you have a life they die once they are extinguished.

You are inspiration to us all in setting up a single thread for all addicts , that we can share our feelings, pain , and support each other on our mission. Your postings are honest, humourous and motivating and I can fully indentify with them .


You've survived over three weeks - don't let one night destroy everything - it was only a moment when your guard dropped ,and that old weed was there to pounce.
I find light reading good to occupy me. Nothing heavy as my concentration levels are not the best at present but a light story that has me waiting to turn the page. I also find music a great diversion or the live radio - (excluding politics) as it cuts across any negative thoughts or feelings I might be experiencing.

I love jogging, cycling, and walking but the weather has been dire and I hate going on the thread mill.When I was smoking I lacked confidence in my ability not to run out of steam. and guilty that I was still smoking despite exercising.

Won't it be great to go to Kenya smokefree and on the money that you would have blown up in smoke. ? I am using my money for a wedding in Canada . I'm no good to save and woud spend it anyway - but why not spend it on something useful than just slowly but surely destroying my health and making me feel so useless at not being in control over the weed.

So welcome back on board the ship. To hell with the pangs. Look beyond they pangs and look at the end result . A smokefree , confident Molly , proud of what she has achieved and reaping the benefits of being smokefree, living your life to the full and not being controlled by that dreadful filty drug - that has ruined the lives of so many.



Beauty sleep gone tonight so will be wrecked tomorrow

Regards

Hi ya Shinshin thanks for all ur support. Jaysus ur flying it, well done you.
I know what ur saying but its fecking hard, Shinshin I didnt SMOKE in de pub, It was de next morning Sat worst still. Still hanging in there with de skin of my teeth:)
Thanks for all ur wise words.

molly77

SnoozyS wrote: »

Hi Guys,

Am still here and smoke free
Was away for the weekend so finally conquered the demon drink. Out with non-smokers so that made it easier. Also faced numerous delays thanks to Aer Lingus and still managed to not smoke so things are still looking good.

Molly - just a little blip! Dont let 2 smokes ruin everything that you've worked so hard for over the last 20+ days..........you CAN do it! Just think of the holidays ahead of you

S

Thanks snoozy well done u,

molly77

Dalan wrote: »

God I was glad to read this from you Molly! I think you did really well to bin the rest of the pack. The easier road would have had you back at square 1, and miserable.

I'm doing good - thanks for asking. Yesterday was 4 weeks off, 4 7-day nicotine free slots. Wednesday will be my one month milestone. I have become very intent on kicking the addiction for good this time, one day each time. I am ready each day to give a good mental kicking to any junkie thoughts coming my way. Sorry to keep banging on about it, but I have got most of my ability to stop this time from reading on the Freedom From Nicotine message boards, linked to WhyQuit.com Every person on those boards has quit and not relapsed, so everyone's like dolliemix or snoozyS or navan here... I spend nearly an hour a day reading there, and expect to have to keep that up for a good while, but not for as many years as I've been smoking. And reading may make me a bit of a crashing bore but it won't make me smell or give me cancer.

Reading over what you've posted these last 3 weeks it sounds like it's not the first three days physical withdrawal is the hardest part for you, but the mental fixation that comes later. Same for me (my previous quits failed at 2 weeks, 3 weeks, 8 weeks, 10 days, 5 months, and 8 months). Probably the same for most people - the physical craves in the first week last a few minutes at a time, the mental longings once they kick off can go on for as long as we can concentrate on one thing... Learning how to deal with these thoughts is going to be the main thing. Keep finding out information, keep posting, remember your intention to QUIT EVIL FAGS and all your reasons for that intention... I will be rooting for you!

Yeah, hope shinshin's doing good... his posts have been one of the strongest anti-smoking stories on the thread.

Just while writing this I see snoozy is back home and still safe - yayyyy!!

Thanks Dalan
Congrats I month fag free:) tap on de back for you. Yes i looked at whyquit .com, Keeping going anyway, one day at a time
Thanks for ur support and everyone else great help.

sahs1

Went on a run......no lies, ran past a box of fags obviously thrown out of a passing car....slow motion like, I run past.....my eye's scan it...through the slight opening at the top.....I spy a pristine fag...........I run on.....leave it behind me!!!! So chuft, there were quit times before when I would have smoked a butt!! Three weeks in and slowly feeling better everyday....gr8 reading all your stories and it does help! Thanks Be patient with yourselves and think about today and how fab you all are.....!

molly77

Hi all ye non smokers
Well day 28 - my little tiny relapse. Today cravings still there will they ever go away. Now have a question for everyone,
What stops you when de cravings are very very bad and you say to urself feck this is to hard to give up i will have an evil one ( fag):mad:

4 weeks and one slip up. i suppose not bad for me who used to smoke 40 a day
Total not smoked in 4 weeks = 1120 o ya minus 2 i did, Ah well no one is perfect :mad:
saved € 480:P
Best of luck everyone

Dalan

Molly a month ago you were having to feed your blood and brain a cigarette every 20 minutes - your quit is amazing!!!
One way of looking at it is it doesn't matter if you have cravings - or whatever you end up calling them. They may feel uncomfortable, but they aren't going to give you a serious long term health problem. They may be seriously peeing you off for a good few minutes today, but they don't carry a 50% chance of fatal smoking-related illness. Live with them, eventually they'll give up bothering us, is what the ex-smokers are saying.
So far this time the cravings for me have not been as bad as they were last times I tried to quit, not as bad as they sound for you at the moment. When they do come up I don't think of them as cravings, I try to see them as b***s**t thoughts that need a good kicking. EG "I could really do with a smoke" = It won't be 'a' smoke, it will be back to the usual; within a few hours I will be stinking again, tomorrow morning I will be coughing and hacking like I was before, and the long term slope can only be downhill. I don't want that - so therefore I don't want a smoke.
I go to the Freedom message board (e.g. http://ffn.yuku.com/topic/23423), put 'cravings' or something else into the search engine, and spend half an hour seeing what others who have just stopped or who've stopped for a few months or even years are saying about the subject - by the time I've read a few (and looked at a few pictures of diseased body parts and read a few heart-wrenching memorials) I'm able to remember what I really want, and that's not going back to full-time nicotine addiction this time again thank you very much...
I remind myself that if I take one puff I'm back to square one. So I'll not be taking that one puff just now thank you very much...
Every person who has stopped says that the thoughts about smoking and the wanting to smoke do get less as time goes on. This is still early days for us- we've got to keep thinking just one day at a time, or even an hour at a time, god or even 5 minutes. But eventually all those minutes hours and days will mount up and we'll be looking back at and forward to months and years of being free, and basically everything being better than it was when we were hooked on the gaspers...
So good on you Molly for sticking with it, for starting the thread and sticking with it, you've done an amazing thing for yourself and others. Just watch out though for that 'one little slip' thinking, it's more serious than that - there's a law of addiction for us, and that means one hit and the brain is right back to square 1 of chemical need...

Rockery Woman

Off da fags 2 weeks

I have a respiratory infection and Im eating for 6!

Tomorrow Im starting the next phase - healthy eating!

1966

well done everyone = day 26 for me and I can't believe it tbh
like other posters though am eating like a horse and will have to do something about that pronto...................

celticcrash

Well done everybody. 57 days off the cigs, The last few days I have being
Getting a sense of freedom. My confidence was growing,feeling good, than
A big craving the last half hour. I have to watch the highs as well as the lows

Being here before, just as I thought I have it made,bang smokey smokey and
Back to square one, not tonight Josephine. Addiction is very tricky it will use
Any mental situation to blind us, got to keep on my toes, keep that guard up.

A good jog in the morning should clear the head.
Thanks to everybody on the thread, Its a great help coming on here
And seeing every getting through this together.
And remember
Suck that oxygen into your lungs and know it is good to be alive.

susanweir

Hello Molly77 and everyone else,

And thanks Molly for starting the thread. You are a hero!

First off, apologies for lurking for the past two weeks. Second, thanks everyone for all the support you didn't realise you gave me. There's a great, brave, gang of people here.

Am 21 days days off the 'evils' with the help of Champix. Smoked since I was 14 and smoked between 20 and 25 a day. Thats 32 years of smoking! Tried all the usual things, patches, nicorette, Allen Carr book, then Allen Carr seminar, Zyban, and Champix. Succeeded for a while (best was on Champix for 6 months) and always ended up going back. Have had another course of Champix tablets in the press for months this time before I got the courage to even try again.

Finally decided enough is enough! Have a beautiful daughter who is five years old and want to see her grow up. (And be able to run after her in the park!). My husband is a life-long smoker who has no intention of quitting, so
I can't push that, but he has been really good about not smoking around me since I stopped.

Have had some terrible cravings (not that many, but some really close calls) over the last 3 weeks. For what its worth, I have a few tips that kept me going. Maybe some of you will find them useful. I need short term rewards, as well as the 'forever' (reduced risk of heart attack etc.) sort. The first thing I did was decide that I was spending all the money I saved on not buying fags on myself.

This is how I spent it so far: Week 1, I threw away the ashtray in the car and got it valeted. Smelt like new, definitely wouldn't want to ruin it with smoke. Week 2, went to the dentist and told him I'd quit smoking and got a scale and polish. Teeth lovely and white! Next Monday (day off), going to a chiropodist for the first time in my life to have my feet done! Each time I tell myself I deserve it because I am no longer poisoning myself! It doesn't really matter what you spend it on, so long as you enjoy it and know it's money that would otherwise have been spent on smoking!

Hope this helps,
Keep it up everyone!

Shinshin14

Hi Gang

Twenty nine day off the fags with the help of Champix and your postings plus my own determination to quit for good this time. I am going to do the three months on Champex as I feel I need this time to make changes to my lifesytle and change my attitude to smoking. For thirty five years I have programmed my subconscious mind take time for me to change this thought process.

When I am thinking rationally I can see through the brainwashing but all too many times in the past when the power of association is very strong or I am under stress rational thinking has gone out the window and I allowed the old brainwashing to lead me back to the trap again.
So now I imagine a past trigger or triggers that led me to take a cigarette after quitting and plan how to deal with it without falling into the nicotine trap again. I then compare the results of my decision Whether I smoke or overcome the situation without smoking. This re-enforces in my mind that dealing with the event / problem or situation is the only option for me - the alternative is detremental to me and to all apsects of my life.

The past 29 days have been the happiest for me. I have a new zest for life, taking more care of my appearance, eating healthier and running and walking. My confidence in myself and my ability to succeed has increased. I am not getting too cocky and know that I am still an addict psycholgiocally if not physically and will take it one day at a time. Every day we stay smokefree is another step in quitting for good.

Went to Dublin for a bit of retail therapy today. Didn't go overboard and have not put up any extra weight YET so felt pleased with my purchases.

Well done to everyone. I envy ye and your willpower to be able to do it cold turkey but it doesn't matter how we achieve our goal -its getting there that counts!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and will be in touch during the week.