The Giving Up Smoking Thread - Part 3

splishsplash

Hi everyone,

I finally caught up with the thread today - it took me most of the day! I hope your arm is feeling better, Sue UU, I'm so sorry to hear you've had such a very tough time.

I can't believe how many new names there are on this thread - congratulations everyone, your stories are so inspiring to those who might be thinking about quitting.

I've sort of forgotten what it feels like to be a smoker now - although I still miss them sometimes. I notice the health benefits though, and I notice the financial benefits - my smoking money has gone some way to offset all the wage cuts and levies and taxes that we've been slapped with in the last twelve months. There is no earthly way I could afford to smoke now!

My silkquit stats:
Smober time: Nine months, four days, 14 hours, 14 minutes and 44 seconds.
Cigarettes not smoked: 8327,
Saving €3,560.13.
Life saved: 4 weeks, 21 hours, 55 minutes.

Here's to us all staying smoke free :beer:.

missi1

Hi all, I'm back and ready to quit again!!! :-)

Just to recap, I was regularly on here late last year whilst trying to quit smoking. I tried the patches, gum etc and Champix but failed miserably. but had wonderfull support, especially from Sue and Dundeedoll , Hope your well. :-)

The patches made me light headed and the Champix did'nt work too well for me so here I am, ready to go cold turkey this time.

I had a wake up call in March when I went to the docs with shortness of breath and a bad cough, went for a chest x-ray and was absoloutely terrified about the results but luckily all was ok and symptoms have got better (bar the cough).

I want to save for a new car as well and I can't afford to do that whilst smoking so this is the perfect incentive for me to beat them and carry on as a non smoker.

I have ordered a book and CD by Paul McKenna to help give up smoking, has anyone read this? I read half the book yesturday and will finish tonight and start listening to the CD thereafter.

This is the week I am finally going to beat it, I have to!!

dundeedoll_2

Just want to say for anyone who is wondering whether it's worth having a few cravings for a while.........:D



Yes yes yes!!!

It really is 1 of the best things you can do for yourself and totally worth it!

Triciaxx

Hi, everyone. Well done to all the people have joined or returned since I last posted and to those returning to report. Give yourselves lots of

:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T

It really is worth the effort and also the vigilance for a while afterwards. I'm still finding the odd occasion when I am in a situation for the first time and think of smoking - but I had my first situation last week when my first thought was "Thank goodness I don't have to go outside and smoke." Woo hoo! a good feeling and a BIG step forward.

To be clear, I never actually want to smoke now or crave it. It's more a habit from the subconscious, like driving where you don't think of how you manage with 3 pedals and 2 feet :rotfl:

Keep going all! Feel proud of yourselves. Keep reading and posting.

Kiwisaver_2

Triciaxx wrote: »

It's more a habit from the subconscious, like driving where you don't think of how you manage with 3 pedals and 2 feet :rotfl:

The mind is a strange thing and has a life of its own. Earlier this evening I found myself driving in a different lane of traffic to where I would normally want to be and the scariest thought occurred to me - I had absolutely no recollection of changing lane, how I got there or how long I had been there. :eek:

Mrs_P_Pincher

Day 29 and I'm still here. Cannot believe I have got through a day at work like I've just had without a fag, but I have.

Upside, quids in and have treated myself to a Radley bag with the money I have saved this week. Just don't seem to spend anything. Got £20 cashback last Tuesday and it's still sitting in my purse.

Downside - after spending a year losing half a stone on a low carb diet, I've put it all back and more. Also I seem to need more drugs to control the metabolic disorder that made it so difficult for me to lose the weight in the first place and I wish the insomnia would go.

Can't believe I have done 4 weeks...

Mrs P P

dundeedoll_2

Thought I'd share.............posted by Jojo the tightfisted in a thread in The Arms


Coughing = getting all the !!!!!! out that you've been putting into your lungs for years (my doctor's technical explanation)
Getting wheezy, etc = not suppressing the cough mechanism with tobacco smoke any more
Dizzy, headaches = blood vessels are less constricted, heart still working harder, extra oxygen in brain
Tiredness = no longer getting stimulant boost from nicotine
Gums bleeding = blood flow no longer restricted around mouth

You won't

smell of an ashtray
have a strange grey cast to your skin
have a catbum face
age 20 years faster than everyone else
have nasty stains on your fingers and nails
have to fidget around with going out for one
make your OH ill from your smoke
have to redecorate so often
wash the windows so often
have people feeling physically sick if they have to stand within 6 foot of you
have people hear you justify your habit and think you are really stupid
be giving the government so much tax money to spend on wars and duckhouses


you will be less likely to

Lose all your teeth (big cause of tooth loss)
have most of your mouth cut away due to oral cancer
lose your breasts (huge factor in breast cancer)
wear a bag to go to the toilet in (factor in bowel cancer)
get (ovarian cancer)
fight for every last breath (emphysema)
have your OH wipe your backside for you because you can't manage it for lack of air (lung cancer & emphysema)
have a bloated body due to fluid retention and steroid use (heart disease and COPD)
spend your fifties unable to enjoy life because you can't breathe (COPD)
Unable to fly on holiday because you can't breathe in a pressurised cabin (COPD & Lung cancer)
unable to travel on holiday because no insurance will cover you (all of the above)
Never have a good night's sleep because you keep waking up choking (all of the above plus sleep apnoea)
Never feel romantic with your OH because you are hooked up to a breathing machine all night and unable to get any action because you feel like you are going to choke (all of the above)
Never sing
Never dance
Never swim
Never walk anywhere
Get lung cancer and spend 5 years slowly suffocating to death
drop dead at the age of 63 because the heart has failed due to how hard it's been working over the years
make loved ones watch you slowly die
have seizures due to brain metastases which leave you lying in your own p**s and sh** because you have lost bladder & bowel control
be in agonising pain and bright yellow due to secondaries in your liver - when people avoid you because you look like an alcoholic
spend 20 years dribbling and having someone change your nappy because you've had a huge stroke and your OH put you in a home
burn your house down due to a lit cigarette being forgotten



Other than that, I am sure there are perfectly good reasons to carry on smoking. I just haven't found any yet.

Jojo the :cool: Tightfisted

Triciaxx

Kiwisaver wrote: »

The mind is a strange thing and has a life of its own. Earlier this evening I found myself driving in a different lane of traffic to where I would normally want to be and the scariest thought occurred to me - I had absolutely no recollection of changing lane, how I got there or how long I had been there. :eek:

Kiwi :hello: I've done that several times and put it down to a Senior Moment :eek::eek: However they must have started early because I remember doing it when I had two little kids in the car and the youngest is 47 now! :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Dundeedoll - great post from Jojo!

Mrs Pincher - You're doing great. I think the upset to your metabolism shows how the nicotine was affecting it. It will settle to a new level reasonably quickly. Good for you for treating yourself - and that bag will never smell of fags. :j

allthatmularky

Just a quick update - I gave up smoking two years back - at the start of May 2009.

I thought it would be really difficult - had tried and failed a few times before. This time I used Allan Carr's audiobook - I was extremely sceptical, it didn't seem to be working it wouldn't work for me. How was this ever going to help me - even by the end of the book I was unconvinced.

However it worked! I did have a few cravings and a few dark days - but never felt like a cigarette. Now I can't believe how easy it all was and never have any cravings.

So give it a try - it does work and its easy - just be positive.

landybabe

hi all

A newbe here, this is my second go at giving up last time i gave up for 18 months.

So last cig was 4pm on sunday and i am using champix, my husband is also doing it and using nrt inhaler thing

so far we havent killed each other but are eating eaing eating so i have been to the libary today to get some low fat cook books as i really dont wont to put on weight as i have spent years deiting getting into a size 12, i have also brought zumba for the wii (with the money saved) and have a puzzel to do and have a list of odd jobs for dh to work his way through.

What hobbies interests have other people taken up to keep them busy