COPD & Emphysema Support Group
COPD is a progressive disease characterized by airflow obstruction or limitation. Emphysema is characterized by loss of elasticity of the lung tissue, destruction of structures supporting the alveoli and of capillaries feeding the alveoli. Both have symptoms that include shortness of breath, among other respiratory troubles. If you are a COPD or Emphysema sufferer, join...
This discussion posting is dedicated to my new friend Purpleiris, and my lifelong friend Lorrie, who is still fighting the battle to quit as well. (Lorrie is not a member of daily strength. Although I did send her the link.)
I know what you are going through quitting those darn cigarettes. I feel so bad for you! The hardest thing I ever did in my whole life was giving them up. Especially since I enjoyed smoking. I liked it all. Opening the package, pulling out the cigarette, lighting it, holding it between my fingers, raising it to my lips and smoking it. That was all my psychological and physiological. Course in my day, every single billboard, all the TV commercials, (remember the Marlborol Man?) magazine articles, Tv sitcoms, the list is endless... they all said if you want to be cool, you have to smoke. So, of course I thought I had to be COOL. oH MY GOSH... WHAT WE THINK WHEN WE ARE YOUNG... foolish, foolish child that I was.
So, let me tell you what I did to break my addiction... You'll laugh I bet.
WEll, this is what I did, I cut straws to the lengths of my cigarettes. I put a few in an empty cigarette pack. I did not actually light them, although I did pretend to. After all that was part of the whole to me. However, that would have been abit much don't ya think? (smoking plastic...yummy!) But, in addition to my straw cigarettes I also used nicotine patches and nicotine gum. (yes, at the same time... I know, I know, that is definitely a no no. Sorry Dr. O.!) The gum tasted awful. In fact it tase like a dirty ashtray. Sounds delishious doesn't it? But thats ok, I would chew a piece of gum and gulp a cup of coffee. In that way I got a flood of nicotine...smoked my plastic cigarette at the same time. I inhaled and exhaled, pure and fresh air/oxygen through my plastic straw cigarette as I did this. I flipped the imaginary ashes into a real ashtray. the whole thing simulated the smoking process. Hey, know what I say? I say do whatever works! So that is what I did!
Now here is the thing... I have never told anyone, ever about my quitting smoking methods but you. (Which how many hundreds of people are on daily strength???) Heck, everyone would think I was crazy...Which of course, I am! Truthfully, I really, truly, did these things. Just never in front of anyone. AND IT WORKED!!!
November 19th, 2007 will be my four year quit smoking anniversary. I tell this story NOW, because if it helps one person just a tiny bit, I will feel I have done a bit of good! Hey, if ya ask me real nice.... I might tell you how I broke my addiction to nicotine gum! nOW...THATS A FUNNY STORY! LOL
On a serious note...to those still bound by the invisible chains of nicotine addiction... I wish for you freedom from its enslavement. I wish for you empowerment once and for all to be painlessly free of this enthralling addiction. If at first you don't succeed...keep trying. You can do it! I have every confidence in you!
God Bless and Breathe Easy...one and all! JoAnn
I know what you are going through quitting those darn cigarettes. I feel so bad for you! The hardest thing I ever did in my whole life was giving them up. Especially since I enjoyed smoking. I liked it all. Opening the package, pulling out the cigarette, lighting it, holding it between my fingers, raising it to my lips and smoking it. That was all my psychological and physiological. Course in my day, every single billboard, all the TV commercials, (remember the Marlborol Man?) magazine articles, Tv sitcoms, the list is endless... they all said if you want to be cool, you have to smoke. So, of course I thought I had to be COOL. oH MY GOSH... WHAT WE THINK WHEN WE ARE YOUNG... foolish, foolish child that I was.
So, let me tell you what I did to break my addiction... You'll laugh I bet.
WEll, this is what I did, I cut straws to the lengths of my cigarettes. I put a few in an empty cigarette pack. I did not actually light them, although I did pretend to. After all that was part of the whole to me. However, that would have been abit much don't ya think? (smoking plastic...yummy!) But, in addition to my straw cigarettes I also used nicotine patches and nicotine gum. (yes, at the same time... I know, I know, that is definitely a no no. Sorry Dr. O.!) The gum tasted awful. In fact it tase like a dirty ashtray. Sounds delishious doesn't it? But thats ok, I would chew a piece of gum and gulp a cup of coffee. In that way I got a flood of nicotine...smoked my plastic cigarette at the same time. I inhaled and exhaled, pure and fresh air/oxygen through my plastic straw cigarette as I did this. I flipped the imaginary ashes into a real ashtray. the whole thing simulated the smoking process. Hey, know what I say? I say do whatever works! So that is what I did!
Now here is the thing... I have never told anyone, ever about my quitting smoking methods but you. (Which how many hundreds of people are on daily strength???) Heck, everyone would think I was crazy...Which of course, I am! Truthfully, I really, truly, did these things. Just never in front of anyone. AND IT WORKED!!!
November 19th, 2007 will be my four year quit smoking anniversary. I tell this story NOW, because if it helps one person just a tiny bit, I will feel I have done a bit of good! Hey, if ya ask me real nice.... I might tell you how I broke my addiction to nicotine gum! nOW...THATS A FUNNY STORY! LOL
On a serious note...to those still bound by the invisible chains of nicotine addiction... I wish for you freedom from its enslavement. I wish for you empowerment once and for all to be painlessly free of this enthralling addiction. If at first you don't succeed...keep trying. You can do it! I have every confidence in you!
God Bless and Breathe Easy...one and all! JoAnn
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I have been here before, a long long time ago and now I am back.Forgive me for not just saying what I want to say,even under a triple dose of antidepressants it is still raw and seeping and I am hesitant at revealing it as at least under the bandages around my heart I don,t have to look at how raw and wounded.My child was cleaved from my heart by his own actions. my child of ten,turning eleven...
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theatre and I are there already. I'm having a very berry tea with crackers, cheese and cherry tomatoes and she's having a joint with some beer and we're both on really comfy recliners on thick pile carpet. we need some help with the decor if anyone is around??
Mom, on the other hand, can tell you to the minute how long she has quit 25+ years later. And she is always telling me that she still craves a cigarette. That is discouraging.
So, again, thank you for the laugh and the encouragement.
I relapsed when I was in a relationship with a smoker. Thought I was in control of cigarettes (what a joke that was!) First it was just a couple of puffs, then it was half a cigarette, next a whole cigarette, etc. etc, until I was up to my previous level of smoking.
It was much harder to quit this time, and the only way I could do it was to gradually cut back on cigarettes until I was smoking 3-4 a day, actually talking to the cigarettes mentally all the while, telling them what evil, foul smelling, horrible tasting, deadly things they were.
Then I made sure I had enough food, sodas, etc. in the house, smoked the last cigarette of the pack and would not allow myself to step out of the house for three days (the time it takes nicotine to leave your body).
When those awful strong cravings hit, I would make myself just sit there and feel them. I would relate them to birth contractions - how they would get stronger and then ebb away -and in the end, there would be someone new (me) as a result.
When that didn't work, I would go to my keyboard and write letters - emphasizing how may hours and/or days I had gone without and basically, patting myself on the back. Or, at times, I simply ask my God for help and strength.
It has been my experience that quitting the second time was much harder than the first - maybe because I had no medications - but I now find that every so often just out of the blue, seemingly, I will have a craving for a cigarette. Some of it habit, I suppose, but sometimes very strong.
I believe cigarettes are to smokers what alcohol is to an alcoholic and just as an alcoholic cannot take that first drink, I cannot take that first puff, and whatever keeps me from smoking I must do, for as alcohol will slowly kill an alcoholic, smoking will do the same to me.
To all who are trying to quit...I wish you God's help and blessings and to do whatever works for you to quit. It is one of the kindest things you will ever do for yourself!
Back on track now... I am a addictive person, so unfortunately my nicotine addiction has chaned to a food addiction. How do you handle that??? It is even harder. You can promise to never smoke another cigarette, but you can't promise to never eat again! Thsi is areally tough one for me. Especially since I've lost my mobiltiy. I am suppose to be in awheel chair all the time. (I don't do it though)Anyone have any ideas? Breathe Easy Ya'all!
(Little Southern slang)
My husband and I are not snackers. So we never buy potato chips, etc. If we are hungry, we'll make a sandwich. If we aren't hungry enough to do that, we wait! I just realized how lazy we are, lol!
I also have a strict diet. I am very allergic to latex and various foods contain latex or a cross sensitivity. I have to be very careful. I'm hoping to loose a little weight during my quit smoking process by going for walks or riding my bike. It's hard to light a cigarette when you ride a motorcycle, *grin*
But I do have the addictive personality. So I have to watch my sweet binges. I can't stand to gain the weight.
The straws worked for me too, btw.
Could have found a much more current article about smoking/not smoking in the Smoking Addiction Group there Timetraveler!
When I first quit smoking I had pneumonia and just too sick to want a cig. More than likely it was the medication helped me to quit relatively easily. I was clean for `11+ yrs but I NEVER got over the craving. I'd seek out someone who was smoking so that I could catch a whiff of his smoke and borrow his pack of cigs to sniff the tobacco. It was a miserabe 11 yrs, especially as every member of my family was a smoker. I was the only doofus who was uptight and crabby while everyone else was laid back having fun.
Second time round was far more difficult mainly because I HAD to stop and didn't reallly WANT to quit. It's been 5 mths now, still craving, but know that I'm one puff away from a pack a day! I'll always be an addict, but I'm smoke free. I went cold turkey because I regarded the patch, gum, mouth sprays etc as nicotine substitutes and would only prolong the agony of quitting. I wanted to be 100% free and not being like "half pregnant". It had to be all or nothing!
I've had to deal with the weight gain but my ability to exercise is somewhat limited to the basic sit-down kind. I tended to confuse the craving for a cig for hunger pangs, so I munched my way through bags of shweeties & choc chip cookies! Hooboy, I've got the belly & bum to show for it!!! I've since learnt to take sips of water or nibble on popcorn whenever a craving strikes!
So my answer to a successful quit is that you must WANT to quit and not feel that you MUST. Its a battle of the wills and whatever works for you to win the war is good enough.
Good luck to you all and tender blessings.
Luv y'all
Huff