The Giving Up Smoking Thread - Part 3

CompBunny

Hi everyone,

The internet at home has been down for a while (long stupid story *grumble*) or else I'd have been on here sharing the pain!

My partner and I had our stop smoking appointment at 10am on Thursday morning (was originally tuesday *grumbles again*) and haven't had a cigarette since!

The nurse had clearly never smoked herself, had no advice about tackling cravings, and didn't get us to blow into anything but prescribed us with patches. The pharmacy had run out of them so we had to go it alone for the first 24 hours. We are now gladly wearing the patches but a bit confused as to why we were only prescribed the 15mg ones!

I'd have liked the support of champix/zyban but she said I couldn't take them with my other medication. My partner chose not to take them to try with patches first.

We are coping pretty well right at this moment though. I flew off the handle last night for no apparent reason and sprayed far too much furniture polish around in the air in an aggitated fashion before angrily throwing it to the ground...oh and threw a toilet roll at the door for no apparent reason:eek: before breaking down in tears but my partner has coped amazingly and I'm feeling more human now! :rotfl: Please note I'm usually a bit of a pacifist, not violent!

We took a walk by the seaside and treated ourselves to some chips to calm down

I'd still very much love to have a cigarette but I DO NOT want to be a smoker for any longer, and point blank refuse to put my partner through this again!

Anyway just wanted to stop by to say hello :wave: again to you lovely people and to share our progress so far.

Did anyone else find themselves feeling unusually violent in the first couple of days?

Also, the patch feels like a graze-type pain, how long does this take to go away?

I hope everyone is ok and doing as well as they can

Stay strong everyone!

EDIT: In case it motivates anyone, my reasons for quitting are:
- Finances.
- I've always known I want children one day, and don't want to mess up my fertility or jeopardise the health of my future kids
- I don't want cigarettes ruining the key moments to come of our relationship. Fancy running off for a cigarette just after a wedding ceremony?
- No more smelling of stale smoke, especially winter coats, yuck!
- I have suffered from CFS/ME since I was 12. How can I expect to get better if I'm constantly battering my body?
- Depression and anxiety are only worsened by cigarettes apparently! And medication absorption can by affected by smoking so my medication should work better!

dundeedoll_2

CompBunny wrote: »

Hi everyone,


I'd still very much love to have a cigarette but I DO NOT want to be a smoker for any longer, and point blank refuse to put my partner through this again!
Stay strong everyone!

EDIT: In case it motivates anyone, my reasons for quitting are:
- Finances.
- I've always known I want children one day, and don't want to mess up my fertility or jeopardise the health of my future kids
- I don't want cigarettes ruining the key moments to come of our relationship. Fancy running off for a cigarette just after a wedding ceremony?
- No more smelling of stale smoke, especially winter coats, yuck!
- I have suffered from CFS/ME since I was 12. How can I expect to get better if I'm constantly battering my body?
- Depression and anxiety are only worsened by cigarettes apparently! And medication absorption can by affected by smoking so my medication should work better!

CompBunny!

I have been thinking about you and your partner............so pleased to see you've posted!

:T for persevering so far, especially with all those hurdles you've faced so far. That really is something to feel VERY proud of already! :j
You are taking control of your life and although it may not feel quite so wonderful at the very beginning of your fag-free journey, it WILL feel F A N T A S T I C in a very short space of time.

There are so many positives (you have already listed some) and only 1 negative - you MAY suffer from cravings that will last minutes at the most, this however is NOT guaranteed!

You edit is a wonderful mindset to have...........keep thinking like that!

I wonder if you kept a note of the links I gave you before..........if so, read through them again, if not PM me if you want.

for you both DD x

CompBunny

dundeedoll wrote: »

CompBunny!

I have been thinking about you and your partner............so pleased to see you've posted!

:T for persevering so far, especially with all those hurdles you've faced so far. That really is something to feel VERY proud of already! :j
You are taking control of your life and although it may not feel quite so wonderful at the very beginning of your fag-free journey, it WILL feel F A N T A S T I C in a very short space of time.

There are so many positives (you have already listed some) and only 1 negative - you MAY suffer from cravings that will last minutes at the most, this however is NOT guaranteed!

You edit is a wonderful mindset to have...........keep thinking like that!

I wonder if you kept a note of the links I gave you before..........if so, read through them again, if not PM me if you want.

for you both DD x

Aww thankyou so much! :beer: Its very kind of you to be so enthusiastic, and you are very right in what you have said! I have only just got the internet back on again, so will be looking at those links again - and maybe giving the cleaning a break for a few days:rotfl:

Thankyou!:D:D:D:D

grandmasam

Evening all :j

Aaahh thanks SUE for your congratulations and encouragement!
To everyone else IT DOES GET EASIER, honest!! I am cig free for today, and, reminding myself that the, very expensive, sticks of weeds and paper have contributed to cataracts, loss of teeth and asthma, not to mention the heart disease :eek: [yes, I have all of these ] gives me the resolve to be free ! Hooray, I already feel the benefit!!

Enjoy the fresh air, and health that only you can give yourself

Caz

CompBunny

grandmasam wrote: »

Evening all :j

Aaahh thanks SUE for your congratulations and encouragement!
To everyone else IT DOES GET EASIER, honest!! I am cig free for today, and, reminding myself that the, very expensive, sticks of weeds and paper have contributed to cataracts, loss of teeth and asthma, not to mention the heart disease :eek: [yes, I have all of these ] gives me the resolve to be free ! Hooray, I already feel the benefit!!

Enjoy the fresh air, and health that only you can give yourself

Caz

Gosh! Cigarette companies really do have a lot to answer for :mad: Well done you though! :j

Kiwisaver_2

CompBunny wrote: »

We are now gladly wearing the patches but a bit confused as to why we were only prescribed the 15mg ones!

Did anyone else find themselves feeling unusually violent in the first couple of days?

Hi Compbunny and welcome to the land of the smokefree, they would have assessed your needs and strength of NRT based on the number of cigs you were smoking per day, but I do think it's all a little loose and depends on the person prescribing. According to the manufacturer recommendations on my patches I think it suggests 15mg for anyone smoking less than 15 per day, yet my Quit advisor put me on 21mg and gum (which I have not even touched).

As for the anger, honestly a couple of weeks back I could quite happily have smashed everything in my house, I so wanted to throw a dish through the window at one point. I have never had such violent tendencies or urges to do anything quite so dumb in my entire life. I have been reading a lot about detox stuff and foods that heal particular symptoms and emotions. I read that honey can be very calming, one book suggested sucking on a teaspoon of honey at times of anger and frustration. Having honey in a drink before bedtime or some honey on toast or porridge for breakfast could be useful.

I need to get some snippets of this stuff down in writing as I find it hard to remember specific details but I will come back to this and write down the things that are suggested one should eat to help flush toxins, cope with withdrawal symptoms, cravings, stress etc.

xmercx wrote: »

iv got up this morning and started to cough up some horrible gunk :eek:hope this is a good sign that my bodys finally starting to get rid of all the years or poison. anyways will keep reading the forum for support

I'm still waiting for this to happen and wondering whether I still have this to come. Do folks think it is still likely after a month off the evil weed?

I have decide to play chicken and stay with the half patches a while longer, as I don't believe they're doing me any harm and I would like to be a bit more stable and free of thoughts about smoking before going through any further withdrawal.

dundeedoll_2

Kiwisaver wrote: »

As for the anger, honestly a couple of weeks back I could quite happily have smashed everything in my house, I so wanted to throw a dish through the window at one point. I have never had such violent tendencies or urges to do anything quite so dumb in my entire life. I have been reading a lot about detox stuff and foods that heal particular symptoms and emotions. I read that honey can be very calming, one book suggested sucking on a teaspoon of honey at times of anger and frustration. Having honey in a drink before bedtime or some honey on toast or porridge for breakfast could be useful.

Sending you a pm - found it interesting



Originally Posted by xmercx
iv got up this morning and started to cough up some horrible gunk :eek:hope this is a good sign that my bodys finally starting to get rid of all the years or poison. anyways will keep reading the forum for support

I'm still waiting for this to happen and wondering whether I still have this to come. Do folks think it is still likely after a month off the evil weed?

It didn't happen to me.

determined_new_ms

Hello :wave: phew just read all of the posts since I was last here. Had a lovely holiday, lots of laughter with oh and feeling extremely relaxed now - just hope work doesn't destroy my sense of zen...

I have a confession to make - before my holiday I smoked was under enormous pressure at work and not coping (excuses excuses ) I am happy to say I only had 2 over a couple of days and then did not smoke again. What is clear is once I smoked then I went through the initial stages of smoking being on my mind 24 hours a day again for a couple of days and it again being a huge battle. Luckily I did not cave into the desire to continue smoking but it is shocking to see that it only takes a 1 or 2 cigs to put you right back at square 1.

I will need to look at how to not get back to that place where I smoked (and was on the brink of being depressed) and find some coping strategies to deal with stress much more effectively.

I have put on weight - am loving food so much and can be very greedy :rotfl: so am looking at getting abck to healthier options today & some exercise. Anyway here I am still a non-smoker! :T

Lovely to hear everyone sounding so positive new and old timers a like x

**Kat**_2

Hi All,

I would like to report that I have successfully had 3 totally smoke free days. My stats below are from "quit" day as since then I haven't bought any and have smoked one or two (or just had a couple of drags) so as my main goal was financial, it still shows how much I've saved (just need to knock a few off number of cigs and life but it would be a max of 10 - prob not even that):

One week, four days, 11 hours, 7 minutes and 16 seconds. 171 cigarettes not smoked, saving £47.54. Life saved: 14 hours, 15 minutes.

I am so chuffed with that figure - can't believe what a difference it's made

Triciaxx

Another milestone reached :j:j

Time for a little reflection, methinks.

I'm not denying the addictive power of nicotine but I do feel that more than 50% of the problem is psychological. Why else would everything click into place half way through a cigarette, causing me to stub it out and never take another puff? I had been reading whyquit.com and this thread (and earlier ones) for a couple of months and I'm sure I just reached a mental state where it was possible to quit.

I think this is backed up by the quirks of thought that have popped into my head at odd times. I've been tempted to have 'just one' on occasion, despite knowing that it would lead to all the others :eek:

A couple of days ago, I even wondered why I had stopped? :eek::eek: Weird thoughts.

Several people have mentioned 'quit rage' as I'm calling it. According to whyquit, nicotine affects the way we digest and use food. Could the anger come from low blood sugar? Just a thought. That might explain the suggestion that honey helps?

It's lovely to see more people coming along and doing so well. I agree with Sue that people who are not quite ready are bound to disappear and (cross fingers) will be back when the time is right.

Even more helpful to those of us along the way is hearing from people who are ahead of us - :T:T to those who keep in touch. I, for one, find it very encouraging. For myself, I find that as the quit becomes normality, I don't think about it much at all and days slip by without keeping up with the thread - which is a shame as it has been my main support and I owe Sue and all the other contributors a big hearty thanks.

Keep going, everyone. If I can do it after 40 years of smoking, you can, too!