The Giving Up Smoking Thread!! Part 2

mudgekin

hi all, I finally got back on. Each time I go to post the thread disapears again.

Now on day 12 :j Some days have been good and some not so good. I decided to get rid of the patches yesterday morning as my skin was becoming so painful no matter where the patch was and it was staying like that for up to 36 hours after the patch was removed. I was starting to look like a patchwirk quilt:eek:

Anyhow, as I said day 12 of not smoking but 24 hours of being nicotine free as I have decided to just get it over and done with and get the nicotine out of my system. I must admit I was an unpleasant monster last night and this morning I feel bleh. I have tingling in my right arm and hand and Im generally fidgety and lacking in concentration. I do expect it all to go though as I detox from that dreaded substance.

I am enjoying being a non smoker though :j

louserendipity

hi can i join you all please?
i had planned to give up xmas day , then new yr's day , failed both of those so went to the doc for zyban but she refused and sent me to quitters
went to quitters and was prescribed champix but am terribly scared of being sick so me and my oh are going cold turkey as of today
wish us luck !!

joop

louserendipity wrote: »

hi can i join you all please?
i had planned to give up xmas day , then new yr's day , failed both of those so went to the doc for zyban but she refused and sent me to quitters
went to quitters and was prescribed champix but am terribly scared of being sick so me and my oh are going cold turkey as of today
wish us luck !!

Hi Louserendipity - I'm taking Champix and just wanted to say that I've never been sick on it. I've occasionally felt a little 'swampy' but that's only lasted for 10 mins or so. I know everyone's different and I might just be lucky, was never sick when preggers either.

That's just for your info, however you quit I wish you the very best of luck - well done for taking that great big step.:T You'll find loads of fabulous support on this thread.

x.sophie.x

Just wanted to pop in and say well done to everybody. Most of us are hitting the two week mark now (or round abouts) and from my experience things are getting easier.

I even went for a drink after work on Wednesday... I only felt the urge to smoke when my friend went to the toilet and I was left alone.... but I ploughed on and 2 minutes later the urge had gone. This is a big thing for me. If I don't have to smoke when I drink, then I could seriously kick the habit.

Good luck people. You CAN do it. :j

skintandscared_2

mudgekin wrote: »

hi all, I finally got back on. Each time I go to post the thread disapears again.

Now on day 12 :j Some days have been good and some not so good. I decided to get rid of the patches yesterday morning as my skin was becoming so painful no matter where the patch was and it was staying like that for up to 36 hours after the patch was removed. I was starting to look like a patchwirk quilt:eek:

Anyhow, as I said day 12 of not smoking but 24 hours of being nicotine free as I have decided to just get it over and done with and get the nicotine out of my system. I must admit I was an unpleasant monster last night and this morning I feel bleh. I have tingling in my right arm and hand and Im generally fidgety and lacking in concentration. I do expect it all to go though as I detox from that dreaded substance.

I am enjoying being a non smoker though :j

Hiya mudgekin. I think you'll find the cold turkey method MILES better than using patches to be honest. One thing I read was that some of the fidgety feeling and lack of concentration is due to low blood sugar while your body and brain are adjusting to not having all the ciggie chemicals inside you. If you drink fruit juice it helps stabilise your blood sugar a bit so you don't feel quite so fidgety. I know what you mean though - the first three days I felt a bit spaced out. I'm only on day 5 now (so not very far ahead of you at all) and I feel fine now.

It is definitely all about having the right mental attitude. It's amazing how much easier it is when you are determined! I can honestly say that I can't think of any situation where I will believe that a ciggie can help. I quit on the weekend when I received the worst news of my life so far. Right now, I seriously can't envisage a situation where I could think that a ciggie would make things better. But who knows, eh?!

daleigha

hey everyone, glad to see that everyone is being strong and staying off the cigs!! :T

its my two week anniversary today, i cant believe its been two weeks and im so pleased ive managed to stay off them this long!! :j still having cravings at times of the day when i would have been going for a cig, and i think its hardest in work as i really looked forward to my set times of the day for a smoke break!! but i only have one more week of working here and i'll be busy next week showing my replacement what to do, so i should be ok!!

i loved the idea a few pages back (sorry, cant remember who mentioned it) about pressing your finger and thumb together and thinking about yucky smells and tastes - im definitely going to try that one!!

venturing out for the first time tomorrow night, but thankfully its to a friend of OH's and his GF, and neither of them smoke so at least there will be no temptation there!!

keep up the good work everyone, and have a great (smoke free!! ) weekend!!

xx

jeaniej_2

Hi all and a big thanks Sue-uu for your kind words and your great advice. I have been to Nhs support today for my champix prescription. Told nurse about the feelings I had this week and was told more or less the same advice as you gave me Sue (to drink water suck sugar free lollies gum etc.They told me that smokers can miss the hand to mouth action which can average over a 100 times a day. Anyway 8 weeks and DH still doing well too. I feel much better and have set a goal for February to start evening walks and go swimming once a week. We have the largest pool in Europe and I havent even seen it yet. So to everyone stay strong and do not give in thousands of other people have managed to cope without the dreaded cigerette so things can only get better. Thanks again Sue-uu.

joop

Wow skintandscared - what a fantastic attitude you have. You are right of course, the cigs are only a crutch and somethings you just have to learn to face up to. (Hope you are able to recover from the bad news whatever it is.) I have to agree that I can't imagine feeling I need to light a cigarette now to get through a crisis, quite the opposite in fact.

I do still get the fidgets, usually in the evening when say, 5 mins before dinner is ready but there's just time for..... hmmm, washing up some pots??? But I don't really want to be smoking.

I'm so looking forward to spring-time and the lighter evenings, warm scented breezes. It will do the world of good just to get out into the garden! Don't see it from one weekend to the other at the moment.

Two weeks already daleigha! :T Isn't it great when you pass a milestone! I'm going out tonight to the pub, but I was one of the few of my friends who still smoke and looking back I must have looked ridiculous leaving the nice warm pub and gossip to go and have a lonely ciggie in the cold and rain! Was that really me? I thought I was quite a rational person - thank god I've come to my senses!

Well I've started to ramble so will go and have some dinner.

Hope everyone has a good weekend - good luck - stay strong x

skintandscared_2

Thanks joop. The bad news I received last weekend was that my 12 year old nephew has cancer. Doesn't get much worse, does it. And the ironic thing is that out of my sister's 3 kids, he is the one who is ALWAYS telling me to quit.... We're still waiting for the final results of the tests but all indications are it is Hodgkins Lymphoma, which has a massivly high success rate for a complete cure. But he's got a few weeks/months of chemo ahead, poor little fella.

So I had one day of crying my eyes out and smoked about 60 ciggies (with a generous dash of vodka) then on Sunday decided that was IT. I couldn't face Tom again as a smoker. Spending £7 a day on ciggies would just make a mockery of what he's going to have to go through - like I'm going to pay good money to smoke these smelly things and I don't care if I get cancer too....

Anyway, I'm going to see him tomorrow. He won't BELIEVE I've stopped!! I just want to give him a masive hug and for once not stink of smoke and not be disappearing outside every hour for a ciggie :j

suki1964

Just popped in to say Ive just completed my first year as a non smoker since I was 11:j:j

I managed to quit with the help of champix and they worked so well for me I never even finished the course

I wont say its been plain sailing because it hasnt, even now a year down the line I have moments of wanting a smoke but NOT WANTING to be a smoker is still winning. And I have piled the weight on - 20lb in the year which I start to work on next week - fingers crossed I have enough will power in me to tackle that as well:D

I cant abide the smell of smoke any more. It never used to bother me, now I can smell a smoker a mile away and I find it harder and harder to hide my disgust. And I hate when my GS comes to stay and I open his bag and all his clothes reek of smoke - and his mum only smokes in the kitchen which just shows how much the smoke invades everywhere :eek::eek:

All of you just starting this journey - GOOD LUCK. This is really the best thing you can do for yourself and those around you. If you dont get there this attempt - dont stop trying - try again and again and again - it took me ten years of trying to quit before I got there