Hey, Zig, I am Dennygene's other half.... Congrats on day one of being a non smoker. You are doing great., What you are feeling is very normal. Drink Lots of water to help detox your system...It helps to flush the chemicals out of your body. There is also a smoking Addiction and Recovery site here on DS and you are most welcome to join us....If you are not sure you would like that just come and check us out. You will find a few peeps that are on the COPD site there as well and the people on the smoking recovery site are wonderful caring folks just like you have found on the COPD site.

Congratulations! You're already past the first and hardest step - Day One! The next few days could be tricky but just know that it DOES get easier. I quit cold turkey 3 1/2 years ago and the first week was the hardest. Once I got past that whenever I wanted a cigarette I would think back to that first day, second day, third day, etc. and I just didn't want it to be for nothing (or have to do it again - lol). Keep up the good work and stay strong. It's worth the effort.

Good for you Zig. We will all be here supporting you through this journey. Breath every time you feel like you don't think you can go any longer without a cig or maybe go and take a walk. Have some water when the addictive voice tells you you're in controll and can have a few puffs. Be so very patient with yourself in this process. We all understand what you are going through.You will make it!

Hugs...

Congratulations, zig!!!! Keep up the great job!

http://www.dailystrength.org/c/Smoking-Addiction/support-group

CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU!!!!!!!

Congrats Zig. That is one of the best things you can ever do for yourself & the hardest! I am cig-free now for 13 years after average 2 packs a day for 40 years. And just about 3 years ago finally got over that desire to have one when I saw others smoking. Just follow all the excellent advice already posted and that will help a lot. My bit of advice is to never take that "just one" puff--it is never "just one." At least it never was for me.
YOU CAN DO IT!

That is wonderful news. It will take a while to get the nicotine from your body, but it will be worth it. You may experience a few cravings, this is psychological, because at a certain time you are "USE" to having a smoke, so your brain is saying...
|"Hey fella, remember?" Drink lots of water, go for long walks, it may be tough for you, people are different, and if you are thru day one, you have already won!!!
Be careful of the triggers, the little things that you would normally light up for. For me it was with my coffee, or when I got in my car to drive, I had to change a few habits, have my coffee later, drive with a lolly pop, etc....PROUD of YOU...now go with it...

Just like Shell said and for me the first 5-7 days was the hardest - Congrats :-)

Rather than start a new thread and clog the board up I think I'll just update my progress and thoughts here....

.......Since the beginning of my smoking quit, including the cut back, my lungs have become quite sensetive to cold air. I did my brisk walk last night with my lungs feeling quite raw in the cold canadian air and shortly after getting home and warming up I coughed up a bit of yellowish green phlegm which is unusual for me except when I have a cold. It has me wondering if the chest pain (non cardiac) that led to my copd being discovered isn't somehow related to this. The hospital passed the chest pain off as a strain but that now seems unlikely since it can happen in a few different areas. Mainly about the low sternum/solar plexus area and a few inches to the left side and from bottom of rib cage to about nipple height. It doesn't happen often, is more annoyance than real pain. It isn't really affected by work either but seems a bit more likely when I'm moving around. Hospital visit from about 10 days ago with xray, ekg, blood test says it's not heart but then again the doctor also said my lungs were clear when I asked him......So, any of you good folk have any thoughts on this?

Other than that. I hear alot about the importance of nutrition. I'm on a good diet. Stay away from processed foods much as I can, eat more poultry than red for my meats, no hydrg...hydolgemunated marg etc. But is there anything I should specifically be eating or supplementing my diet with, or on the other side anything I should be avoiding??

Thanks for all the help by the way. Especially when I was in the panic stage. I won't try to tell you I'm all good with this thing yet but at least I'm getting a bit better sleep and I have tremendous gratitude for the relatively hale state of my health whereas I never thought of it one bit before excepting in negative terms like "oh well, I guess I'm too old to start (insert activity here). I'm going to do all I can, knowing what I now know, to get the most out of my health and make it a benefit to me.

YAY! Congrats!!! I'm glad you quit! My dad found it helpful to have hard candies to suck on to help with the craving to do something with your mouth. Keep us posted! And that is great news!

Good for you!! Join the smoking site & pledge everyday!!

I quit in 1987. It was the most difficult thing I ever did.

One of the hardest things about stopping smoking is breaking all the physical habits. For instance, cranking a car.

For thirty years I had sat down in the car. Put the key in the ignition. Then reached into my pocket for a cigarette. Pushed in the lighter. Lit the cigarette. Then -- I turned the key to crank the car.

You'd be surprised how hard it was for me to crank a car without lighting that cigarette. Turning that key, without lighting a cigarette was totally new to me.

So if you will break a lot of your physical habits associated with smoking -- you may be able to break the habit easier.

ziggzagg- your latest post sounds like you may be going into a bacterial infection; which is common for me= i get a virus, but then i end up with a secondary infection that needs antibiotics.

i'm curious---did you just go to ER with chest pain & they told you that you have COPD from x-ray?
i do hope you follow that up with a Pulmonary specialist (or even your PCP) to have the normal testing done like PFT, possibly a HRCT.
sometimes i think COPD is the "disease dejour" and people are scared to death until properly tested to find just where you are at and what treatment may help you; there are daily & rescue inhalers to help plus of course supplemental 02 if you need etc

i do hope that you join the DS quit smoking board also, so you get the support with your smoking as there will be good days and bad days.
just like with our COPD. i love the support and information that i get on this board for my COPD.
grannie had posted this link to the quit smoking support group, not sure if you saw it or have tried it so i'll repost it;
http://www.dailystrength.org/c/Smoking-Addiction/support-group