The Giving Up Smoking Thread - Part 3

myonlysunshine

Hi Sue,

Thaks so much for the warm welcome here, you really do deserve a huge THANK YOU for all the time you dedicate on here to help people quit/or keep their quits.

Just a thought that came to me about caffeine, being a caffeine kind of person, i noticed that i was even jittery than normal when i stopped smoking, someone told me that your body is less tolerant of caffeine or the amount of caffeine that you consume when you quit. Sorry if this has been metioned before...but i halved the amount i drink (now just two cups of coffee a day) and i felt much better.

Best Wishes to you all
Mel x

caracara

thanks sue

got tooth ache today (feel like such a whinger) but at least its taking my mind off the cigarettes.

back to work in a week and a half and that will be the true test

have fun all hugs

schmucker

Hi guys, can I come aboard? I really want to kick the weed and have tried in the past but furthest I got was 3 weeks and that was with patches so I think I might go that route again.

Sue-UU

A very warm welcome abaord, schmucker! I truly do hope that you'll be successful this time round. I know you're going with patches again, but for additional physical support (as well as us!) why not pop into your Dr's surgery and asked to see the Cessation Nurse as going regularly to see someone and talking about how things are going can be so beneficial.

Even though you're using patches, try the Quitters Pledge below:

Tell yourself every morning "I'm not going to smoke at all today, but if I wish to, I may smoke tomorrow." Repeat that pledge every morning, it tricks your mind and makes things more bearable to do it in bitesizes.

I'm sending you a PM with some tips in, please read it all through as there is plenty of help that can pull you through.

There are lots of little tricks that will help you through it all i.e. Cleaning your teeth regularly, or putting a pea-sized piece of toothpaste on your tongue and swirling it around your mouth that can really help because anybody with fresh breath does not want to make it stale with fag smoke! Drinking plenty of water helps a lot, it also fills you up and helps keep you from snacking! Fruit is good for you and the peeling of clementines or any other type of oranges takes more of your 'thought' time, similarly so with apple's or any other fruit which takes longer to eat. Ice Poles/Ice Pops from your local shop's freezer section, you'd be amazed just how helpful they can be, not only are they cold and refreshing but they also last a very long time and we've had no end of people on here who have given up with the help of those, truly!

Walk as much as possible and really take notice of all that surrounds you in the way of nature or anything that makes you happy. Any type of exercise is great in fact and it also stops you thinking about fags!!!!

Talk to us and tell us exactly how you're feeling, especially when you're not feeling so good. It really helps to write things down. So many here are in the same boat as you and have just, or recently, given up, and it helps to talk about your struggles (if you have any, not everyone does!) with each other as you always know others can understand you.....you're never alone! You can do this with determination!

Thinking of you and willing you on,

Sue xx


Hi Mel and thank you for your very kind words, I'd just love to see everyone free from the grips that nicotine has had over us, free from all the heartache it otherwise brings so many too! :mad:

We have tackled the caffeine problems many times during the last 3 years, but it never matters that anything is bought up again as, with such a high turnover of new quitters, there are always folk coming on who have no idea of this and many can be helped a great deal just by leaving coffee, and sometimes tea, out of their lives - at least for a while! Don't ever worry about toe-treading, Mel you could never do that!


oooh caracara, that sounds horrible! I particularly hate a bout of toothache or earache, as both seem worse than other aches, as they're so close to the head I suppose. :undecided Yours could be linked with having stopped smoking! So many folk complain about tooache, some even having abcesses, so who knows - maybe the smoke etc has been acting as a guard against things that now come to the surface. Still, see if it continues and if so then a visit to the dentist is way better than going back to those dirty, smelly white sticks!!! :eek: Perish the thought! Please try not to concern yourself too much with going back to work, it's still a week and a half away so carry on strengthening your resolve and when you go back - keep right away from any fag-related [STRIKE]fiends[/STRIKE] oops silly me, I mean friends...then again maybe I was right first time! :rotfl: Stay inside doing your own thing - actually it was you who was going to the work's gym - is that right? If so then make the most of enjoying getting fit and healthy in more ways than quitting!

Hugs for that tooth and congratulations on the brilliant news about the 2 weeks and 6 days FREE!!!! :T:T:T

Best wishes,

Sue xxx

"To get through the hardest journey we need take only ONE step at a time, but we MUST keep on stepping."

brook2jack

Smoking supresses the blood supply to the mouth so often after giving up smoking gums start to bleed as normal supply returns to infected gums. Smoking also suppresses the immune reaction so the mouth can't fight off infections so well so gum disease can run rampant without the normal signs if bleeding/pus etc.

Smoking doesn't fight off anything nasty it just stops the body being able to fight off infections and supresses the inflammatory signs that there is anything wrong. Hence many smokers have rampant gum disease but don't notice because they have no bleeding/ can't taste the pus in their mouths etc and once they stop smoking the body returns to normal and starts fighting the gum disease so gums bleed etc and taste comes back so they can taste all the gunge around the teeth.

Sue-UU

Very many thanks indeed for that, brook2jack! Now I think about it more I can remember us dealing with that topic before! Thank you very much indeed for the memory jog and for helping caracara know just why her tooth is aching! Amazing how powerful and destructive smoking is!

Thanks again,

Sue x

warez22

God, day 9! Didnt have a very good day yesterday, spent most of it in bed, just wanted to sleep.

I did manage a run in the morning (that's probably what did it!). I am now on week 2 of the couch to 5k program and am finding it tough but doable (bit like giving up smoking really).

I have bought some sleep easy radox and also some yogitea bedtime teabags to hopefully get me off to sleep better.

I think bit by bit it is getting easier but one thing I have noticed is that in week one my moods were much better but in the last coupleof days I have been EVIL. I dont know why it's weird. Am going to keep busy today - days seem sooooooooo long.

Good luck everyone - make today another smokefree day!

:T

Sue-UU

Don't worry about the moods warez, they'll pass soon enough.

I think your big stumbling block at the moment is not sleeping properly which makes us all irritable. If you can sort that out then you'll be feeling tons better! So, give the Sleep Easy Radox and the Yogitea bedtime teabags a try, but if after a week or so you're finding no benefit then do try some "Kalms". Meanwhile, leave off any coffee and too much tea as caffeine won't help! You can go back to both in time, but for now there are plenty of alternatives to try instead. BTW, warez, while you have the sleep problems try and snatch yourself about 10 - 20 mins sleep in late afternoon or early evening - BUT - don't sleep longer or you'll mess up the nights more. Have a timer and let it buzz/ring after the time you choose.

I know a lot of young'ns poo hoo it, but Drinking Chocolate, Horlicks or Ovaltine are great calmers of the system - give one a go. Drink some through the day will calm you too.

Just a thought about the long days: Why not get a beginners Yoga (or any exercise) dvd and see if that'll help with your thoughts time AND your sleeping! It'll certainly do you good as well. By the end of today you'll be 9 whole days away from having smoked!!!! Are you saving the cash you'd otherwise have spent? If not then do so as it's a hell of an incentive, especially if it's sitting on the TV or by the sink it can really motivate you.

You'll be ok warez and congratulations on sticking to the couch to 5K too! :T Amazing what we can do on putting our minds to it, far better than smoking ourselves to all sorts of health problems!!! :mad:

Keep right on stepping! [Edit] Just found this, take note! "having sex releases oxytocin in women which calmes any mood swings" :eek: :j I shall be busy if anyone wants me! :rotfl:

Sue xxx

" To get through the hardest journey we need take only ONE step at a time, but we MUST keep on stepping."

alibob_1986

Thanks again Sue, you are so encouraging!!!!!
i am doing fine, was strange today as went to the park with 2 friends and our kids, they both sparked up and i got such a weird kind of jolt when i realised i wouldn't be joining them. These two were people i have known for years and started smoking with when we were all about 14, so very strange not to be joining them! That said, i didn't want one, but when i saw them my brain was like "oh yes, i'll get my fags out now too...." like i had forgotten i had quit, rather than craving anything!
Not doing too badly here, am still not sleeping well, which i'm not sure if it's linked as i thought sleep was only disturbed on the 24 hr nic patches, anyone know whether quitting in general makes sleeping terrible?! i feel i could sleep all day but come night time i am wide awake....grr! Still a little snappy too but i think that could also be down to the lack of sleep
All in all it's all good here

Sue-UU

17 Days free is amazing, Ali, congratulations!!!!! :T:T:T Forgetting you've stopped puffing is so easily done, let's face it, it's been so much a part of our lives in every waking hour for years, we're bound to need time to get it into our heads that we just DON'T smoke anymore! You never know, Ali, you may in time help your friends to think that maybe they can do it too! I'd love to see that happen for them!

Sleep problems are quite normal for a lot of folk, but in time, do get much, much better. Have a look at the PM I've sent about tips to warez who's also having problems. If you can do all the things I've suggested - as well as getting plenty of fresh air and exercise - then you'll be getting a much better night's sleep soon, I'm sure!

Hugs to you Ali,

Sue xxx