The Giving Up Smoking Thread!! Part 2

jinky67

Still stopped

still no idea how long

still not bothered about it

still not really missing them



Still not noticing the extra money though:rotfl:

xxlaurissaxx

8 weeks today - patches


Hey guys, just thought I would pop in and say hi :wave:

Im really struggling today Well this week to be honest:(

I keep getting up to go and have a cig and the amount of times i've thought "!!!!!! it im gonna just go and buy them, its not worth it" is probably in the 20's. I have not stopped thinking about them all day.

Is this normal for being stopped for 8 weeks? (well 4 weeks completely stopped)

I really am struggling. This is horrible.


Well done to everyone who has stopped and those still stopping.

xxLaurissaxx

splishsplash

Hi xxlaurissaxx,
I'm sorry I can't tell you what it's like at 8 weeks, because I'll only have completed 7 weeks quit next Tuesday.
I do think occasionally how nice it would be to light up - especially after a long stretch at work when I've been flat out. If I thought for a minute I could keep it to just the one, it would be no problem. Unfortunately, like any addict, I know that one would lead to the next and the one after that, and I'd be back at 30/day before long.

In the six and a half weeks since I quit, I haven't smoked 1388 cigarettes and have saved myself a fortune. Picture 1388 fags piled up on a table, that's about 70 full packets. Imagine smoking all of those, and imagine 1388 cigarette butts lying around... ugh. That's the reality for me, I know, if I bought just one pack - I'd be right back where I started. It would never be just the one pack.

It's just not worth it, not one puff, ever again.

If I were you, I'd go for a long brisk walk (with NO money in your pockets) followed by a long hot bath and a chocolate treat or two.
Best of luck, I really hope you find the strength to cope with today, remember by tomorrow, this difficult patch will have passed, and you'll be so glad you didn't give in and buy some.

missi1

dundeedoll wrote: »

Hope the champix is ok missi, I know you were worried because of Zyban experiences.

DD x

Hi dundeedoll, so far so good thanks. day 4 today, only thing that's affecting me at the moment is that my taste has changed, the cigs taste like they do when I have a cold or when I've smoked lots together and am stubbing them out half way through.

Food and drink also tastes different but maybe thats a good thing:) lol.

dazco

WOW, everyone is doing really well.:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T

Laurissa, please do not have a cigarette, just remember how absolutely stupid it is. When you "need" one, go and look at a group of smokers huddled, freezing, outside a doorway making each other smell. :(

With regards to the nausea, I found that eating staved it off

dundeedoll_2

xxlaurissaxx wrote: »

8 weeks today - patches


Hey guys, just thought I would pop in and say hi :wave:

Im really struggling today Well this week to be honest:(

I keep getting up to go and have a cig and the amount of times i've thought "!!!!!! it im gonna just go and buy them, its not worth it" is probably in the 20's. I have not stopped thinking about them all day.

Is this normal for being stopped for 8 weeks? (well 4 weeks completely stopped)

I really am struggling. This is horrible.


Well done to everyone who has stopped and those still stopping.

xxLaurissaxx

Really sorry to hear you're struggling.
You stopped about a week after me..........makes me realise how lucky I am, I am finding it quite easy.
I had a friend over for dinner a couple of weeks ago and he kept going out for a ciggie and apologised as he thought it was making me crave one. Until he mentioned it it hadn't even crossed my mind!
He came over again last night and I felt the same.

One thing that really did help me when I sooooo wanted one, was to hold my fingers as if I was smoking and 'take a drag' I'd tried the deep breathing and although it helped I found 'the drag' to help even more. Something to do with deep breathing through the mouth rather than the nose I think..........sounds weird, but worked for me.
Another thing that I did was google 'effects of smoking' images :eek:
The teeth/gums ones totally did it for me.
Also reading this thread helped............a lot!

Now I have found this on the net:

The nicotine in inhaled tobacco smoke moves from the lungs, into the bloodstream and up to the smoker's brain within 7 to 10 seconds. Once there, nicotine triggers a number of chemical reactions that create temporary feelings of pleasure for the smoker, but these sensations are short-lived, subsiding within minutes.
As the nicotine level drops in the blood, smokers feel edgy and agitated the start of nicotine withdrawal. So, in order to relieve the discomforts, smokers light up another cigarette...and then another..and another. And so it goes the vicious cycle of nicotine addiction. One cigarette is never enough, a fact that every smoker knows all too well.


In order to quit smoking successfully for the long term, it helps to understand the nature of nicotine addiction and what it takes to break free of it. In fact, smokers are often surprised to learn that they are addicted to a substance. Many of us believed that smoking was just a bad habit; something we could stop easily when we decided it was time.
Let's take a look at how nicotine affects brain chemistry and begin the educational process that will help us battle this addiction to the ground, once and for all.

Nicotine and Adrenaline

When a person inhales cigarette smoke, the nicotine in the smoke is rapidly absorbed into the blood and starts affecting the brain within 10 seconds. The result is the release of adrenaline, the "fight or flight" hormone. Physically, adrenaline increases a person's heart rate, blood pressure and restricts blood flow to the heart muscle. When this occurs, the smoker experiences rapid, shallow breathing and the feeling of a racing heartbeat. Adrenaline also instructs the body to dump excess glucose into the bloodstream.

(I didn't bold that paragraph, it's pasted like that and I can't unbold)

Nicotine and Insulin
Nicotine also inhibits the release of insulin from the pancreas, a hormone that is responsible for removing excess sugar from a person's blood. This leaves the smoker in a slightly hyperglycemic condition, meaning he has more sugar in his blood than is normal. High blood sugar acts as an appetite suppressant, which may be why smokers think their cigarettes reduce hunger.

Nicotine and Dopamine
Nicotine activates the same reward pathways in the brain that other drugs of abuse such as cocaine or amphetamines do, although to a lesser degree. Research has shown that nicotine increases the level ofdopamine in the brain, a neurotransmitter that is responsible for feelings of pleasure and well-being. The acute effects of nicotine wear off within minutes, so people must continue dosing themselves frequently throughout the day to maintain the pleasurable effects of nicotine and to prevent withdrawal symptoms.

---

So don't think you can just 'have 1'! And certainly don't think it's not worth it and start smoking as normal again. You have come a long way..........done sooo well, be proud.

Stopping smoking is soooooooo worth it!!!

Sorry about the long post..........anything to keep you from giving up giving up

Glad to hear it's all going well, Missi. x

Catherine25

Hi everyone thought I would check in, i see you are all doing much better than me I lasted 13days and stupidly gave in. Laurissa please dont smoke you are doing so well. Im was so angry at myself for giving in after nearly 2wks so i cant imagine what it would feel like to give in after 8 wks! think how angry you will be with yourself. good luck hope ur ok.

hope everyone else is keeping well, you are all doing brilliantly. I will not give up on quitting, I WILL do it, I NEED to do it!!
Im smoking but im not even finishing them, I know it will not be long until i can kick it for good. I am keeping in mind advice given to me on here saying that all these mini quits are building up to the big one I KNOW I CAN DO IT!!!!!

Will check in again soon to let you all know how im getting on.
well done and good luck to everyone and thanks for all your support. You are all doing brilliantly! I feel like such a failure compared to you all Hopefully I can join you all on the other (smoke free) side very soon xxx

missi1

Catherine25 wrote: »

Hi everyone thought I would check in, i see you are all doing much better than me I lasted 13days and stupidly gave in. Laurissa please dont smoke you are doing so well. Im was so angry at myself for giving in after nearly 2wks so i cant imagine what it would feel like to give in after 8 wks! think how angry you will be with yourself. good luck hope ur ok.

hope everyone else is keeping well, you are all doing brilliantly. I will not give up on quitting, I WILL do it, I NEED to do it!!
Im smoking but im not even finishing them, I know it will not be long until i can kick it for good. I am keeping in mind advice given to me on here saying that all these mini quits are building up to the big one I KNOW I CAN DO IT!!!!!

Will check in again soon to let you all know how im getting on.
well done and good luck to everyone and thanks for all your support. You are all doing brilliantly! I feel like such a failure compared to you all Hopefully I can join you all on the other (smoke free) side very soon xxx

Hi Catherine

I'm sure you will get there, it's taken me a while to find the best way for me to give up and am positive I can do it this time.
I think each time you start smoking again, the more determined you become to give up and they do say that the average time it take for someone to quit is 4 attempts, sometimes more.

I know with me, that each time I failed previously, all I could think about was trying to give up again and the determination builds up again and it helped me when I weakened to read up on Google (like dundeedoll said) about the effects of smoking as that seems to do it for me. Best of luck x Missi

Sue-UU

itselliebell wrote: »

MIL2B spilled a plate of spag bol over my lap, came up in pretty bad blisters, probs going to end up scarred, but even through all the stress, i didn't turn to cigs for comfort/relief.

Mother-in-law to be you said itselliebell???? :eek: D'you think she's trying to tell you something, sort of warn you off, like??! :whistle: Just a thought!!!

I really do hope it's a lot more comfortable now or soon will be. I do hope all went well when you went our for the night.

xxlaurissaxx, just in case you haven't seen it, I've sent you a PM.

Well doen DD, that was a lot of information for xxlaurissaxx to digest, and by the time she finished it she possibly would never even think about touching another EVER!!!

missi1, I'm so peased to hear things are going well so far with the Champix, I'm pleased you got yourself into a calm, relaxed state too. No point in not doing really - or at least that's the way I view things. A case of cay "sera sera" when you think about it.

Such good advice to Laurissa girls, and it's so good you're all staying so very, very positive for yourselves as well as each other. Daz and Alan too, don't worry lads, I couldn't forget you!

Keep strong everyone and never forget that you're doing this for your health, in case you've forgotten that, have a look at DDs post!!! :eek:

Sue x

Courage does not always roar. Sometimes it is the quiet voice at the still of the day, saying "I will try again tomorrow."

- Mary Anne Radmacher

jinky67

Apparently its been 5 weeks