The Giving Up Smoking Thread - Part 3

Blue_Elephant

As I have just said in a response to a lovely PM, despite this being anonymous, it never ceases to amaze me that virtual strangers care so much. Thank you. Between you guys holding my hand and me making the most of my free minutes and calling friends for something to do I'm still on the wagon. Feel a little better now, and hopefully the mood will have passed by morning.

I do have 1 "safety cigarette" just in case. I'm not planning to smoke it, it's just to avoid that feeling of panic I got if I ran out of cigs. It's also taped to the top of my wardrobe, and being vertically challenged it'll take some effort to get to lol. I'm living proof that smoking stunts your growth.

As for the Champix, I was concerned about this and I did discuss it with GP as he is aware of everything else. I'm not on medication for depression or anything like that and I have asked a very good friend to keep an eye on my moods/behaviour as I see them almost every day and they would notice. Apparently I was fluctuating more than usual for the first few days and more extremely than normal too, this then disappeared and I went back to normal so didn't think anything of it. Today has then been awful, but could simply be I'd had a bad day and couldn't turn to my normal coping mechanism. Am going to GPs on Tuesday to get the next lot of pills, so will talk to him then.

Thank you!

xx

Needstochange

I did read somewhere that cigarettes can act as mild anti -depressant so i guess it makes sense when we give up that we may be left feeling a bit more down than normal:) Mix that with the loss of our perceived friends and its not surprising we are not swinging from the chandeliers for giving up.

Hope you are feeling OK Blue Elephant and that you stay away from the emergency cigarette :cool::cool: I am trying to give my emergency packet away but everyone seems to be giving up :j being a tight yorkshire girl I cant bring myself to throw them away but I dont think I want them around any more

All good here off out lunch with family. Happy Mothers day to all you mums giving up smoking :beer:

Sue-UU

Hi Blue Elephant, I'm so sorry to read fo how you felt yesterday, but hope with all my heart you're either feeling a LOT better today or are a step closer to seeing your Dr. You certainly had a horrible day yesterday and one you wouldn't wish to repeat again, so here's hoping.

Whenever you're feeling tearful though, and it can happen for us ladies during the first week or two of quitting, always give into the tears! It's nature's way of helping us through such times and we should pay heed in order to help ourselves through it. Likewise, if you ever feel the need to scream (this relates to anytime, not just with quitting!) then go to the bedroom and pull a pillow round the front of your face and scream as hard as you like into it - no one else will hear as it'll be absorbed by the pillow. It's another great stress-buster.

I'm so pleased you'd forewarned a friend about any moods/depression that might be suffered as a result of Champix; I've never had anyone quite like you on the GUS threads, but it still could have been a bad day and many of us experience them!

I look forward to hearing how you feel today and am hoping for the very best possible.

Really big {{{hugs}}}, Sue xx BTW, there's no such thing as an anonymous PM as that would be terrifying for folk and Martin or any other web site owner would allow it; you're always given the name before you see the PM.


Wonderful news for you, thebrink!!! That really was good to read. Sorry to hear about you having the flu, though maybe, in a way, it's helped you move forward though in a different and better way.

Try to be careful with the eating and drink plenty of water as that acts as an amazing filler up. Take plenty of exercise, that'll be a great bonus to you especially if you haven't been used to it - it also helps to shift what's on your chest a lot quicker too...so prepare for a couple of gold watches!!

Needstochange wrote: »

I am trying to give my emergency packet away but everyone seems to be giving up :j being a tight yorkshire girl I cant bring myself to throw them away but I dont think I want them around any more

All good here off out lunch with family. Happy Mothers day to all you mums giving up smoking :beer:

Hi NTC, good to hear you sounding so chipper as normal, no doubt a lot of that comes from being free from nicotine and all that went with it! Good to hear about so may folk joining the quitting, best thing we all have ever done!:j I second your words to all Mums quitting today too! Have a wonderful day, I will as will be off to the youngsters soon!

Have a wonderful smoke-free day folks and remember it's another day of your journey, you're getting closer to actually quitting!

Sue x

Blue_Elephant

Feeling much better this morning to thank you all, and I'm very glad I stayed off the fags after all that!! The emergency cig is still on top of the wardrobe!

There was something that I'd forgotten - it was coming up to TOTM and hormones may have had something to do with it too. Add into the mix that I'd smoke to relieve the PMT normally, even if I didn't know I was doing it, and cue brain chemistry going sproing!

NTC that's a really interesting point about cigarettes being a mild anti depressant, that hadn't occurred to me, though I also found they were a mild painkiller, particularly around TOTM although this may just be in my head.

Sue-UU I'm feeling a lot better today, and strangely all the more better knowing I can get through a really bad day and still stay off the cigs. I'm actually a little bit proud of myself I felt a lot better once I'd gone to bed and gave way to the tears, though I felt stupid because I didn't really know why I was crying except that I was feeling really frustrated with myself. On the other hand that could also have been partly hormones.

To be honest, I doubt the way I was feeling was at all Champix related, I think I would have had a bad day anyway, and it wasn't a work day so I could get away with giving into it. Add to that I was depriving myself of something I'd normally use to help and I was taking Champix on top of that and the old hormone thing was a recipe for being especially down.

Thank you for the hugs {{{hugs}}} back and to anyone else who needs one! I didn't mean the PM was anon, It gave me the user it was from, I meant that this is an anonymous forum and the fact that people (including yourself) are willing to spend time and energy to help out a complete stranger is wonderful, and I sort of might of cried at your collective amazingness


Blue xx

Sue-UU

I am so very, very thrilled to hear from you, Blue, to know you're feeling so very much better is marvellous!!! :grinheart Your TOTM theory sounds just about right and we all (ladies) know exactly what that's like! Hormones are wicked things at times and really make us suffer, some more than most I know, but I was really glad you'd given way to tears, they help us all (men included) so very much. So with totm and having stopped it all makes perfect sense.

I'm really delighted to know how pleased you are to be free of fags and all they entail. Once we start cracking it we all immediately wish we'd given up years ago, but no regrets as the main thing is that we're free now and not still puffing away.

I see what you mean about the anon PM now..thankfully! You have yourself a good day, Blue and do something that you'll really enjoy; whether it's a walk in the sun to see some signs of spring, sit/walk by a river or just sit and relax with the TV an a puzzle - enjoy it and know that tomorrow is gone, but the reasons are known so you relax!

Love and {{{hugs}}}, Sue x

feedumall

afternoon all,stumbled across this thread ,and as i was a regular poster almost three years ago glad to see its still as inportant as ever,hi sue ,lovely to see your still the quitting coach:jto all you quitters keep going i really dont miss it now ,but i would really miss the five thousand pounds:eek: i would have sent up in smoke,it really i'snt easy to quit but so so worth it you are all stars ,welcome to the smoke free zone:D

Blue_Elephant

Thank you Sue

Today has been easier, still getting the old cravings but they seem to be limited to the "time" ones - you know, first thing, with a cuppa, after a meal and now before bedtime

Staying on the straight and narrow though. Part of the incentive now is that most of the nicotine, carbon monoxide etc will be out of my system by now, and if I have one now I'll have to start from scratch and I really don't want to do the last few days again!!

And I've worked out that even with the cigarette on Tuesday evening and the one at Wednesday lunchtime that I've saved over £15 in less than a week :eek: That's madness!!

I kept myself busy today, cooked for my mother and then went for a wander round the shops - and I didn't even buy anything except a couple of bits from the supermarket which were needed. Had to keep talking myself out of buying a "treat" for giving up smoking. I mean it hasn't even been a week yet!

Onwards and Upwards

Blue xx

Sue-UU

Hiya feedum!!! It's truly wonderful to see you back again, it's ages since you last dropped by, almost a year I suppose. You've done us all so very proud..you too of course! Many congratulations again, Feedum!!! :T:T:T "SandC" was here a few days ago and "Joop" a little while ago, each of you and so many others so thrilled you achieved that momentous goal - to be free from old Nic and the harm he and his counterparts brought to our lives!

Isn't it just fantastic not be in the clutches of addiction anymore, to be completely free!!! I still tell folk about how successful you were with the Ice Poles/Pops and many others have since found these to be just as highly effective as you, not to mention, the fact that there are virtually no calories in them! Brilliant news of your £5000 saved :j

Thanks so much for coming back and giving others incentive Feedum! Take care of yourself and please come back again.

Sue xx

Hi Blue! The time related cigs still linger a little while, but if you can change things just a little at those times it'll make a real difference ie. getting straight up from the table and starting on the washing up; going straight to brush your teeth in the morning or something similar; have your cuppa in a different chair and maybe with a puzzle; the night time one you just say "I've gone all these hours of the day without one - why on earth would I even think of needing one now??!" Train your mind to think of other far more beautiful things...things worth thinking of which cigs are not!
Your 2nd paragraph is so right, keep thinking about that one as it's enough to put anyone off of wanting to go back there again!

Regards a treat, why not make a firm decision to wait until this next weekend and treat yourself to something nice then, after all you'll have deserved it! It needn't cost a lot, just something you'd like and would make you feel happy, delighted and so proud at your progress. Maybe a perfume to help you remember you no longer stink like a dirty old ashtray!!!!

You've done so well and had a good day, Blue, keep looking ahead and be so very proud of yourself, it's such a great achievement and you're getting there!

{{{Hugs}}}, Sue x

Money_maker

Needstochange wrote: »

Just a point on smells/tastes I am now disgusted by the taste of my favourite nescafe which just tastes smoky and burnt:( More distressing is that my most favourite after dinner tipple Baileys now tastes vile:(

:eek::eek: Tis indeed bad news. Love Baileys. Will have to try to see if that is the same for me although I can still drink Nescafe.

Latest stats: Amount saved £420.01, 1680 cigs not smoked, 5d 20h life saved (I was a heavy smoker).

Talking of coffee, I am still drinking double figures of cups daily but plan to switch to decaff as I dont mind the taste (well, hopefully I still dont mind it!).

Lovely to see so many new members in this thread. Smoking is definately a dying pastime, well done to all new and 'old' quitters. When times were hard, I would read back some of the old posts in the thread or follow some of the links in the first page to feel comforted that others had felt the same and that it was normal to feel that way.

I have stopped thinking about smoking every minute of every day. I do get pangs on occasions such as getting out into the garden in the lovely sunshine but the pangs pass quickly. OH is still smoking real cigs outside and ecigs inside but when I look at his cig I don't want a puff on it. It's not the cig I get the pangs for but the habit, dont want that smoke in my mouth again :eek:

Didn't mean to open a can of worms by talking about weight. I have never had any weight problems or concerns, always being a healthy weight. The reason I have put on a stone is cos I've been filling my face with sweet foods/choccies/frosties/anything I can get my hands on that I fancy:rotfl: Nothing to do with the actual stopping smoking but the gap filling process I have indulged in. This is being slowly brought under control (once the Mothers Day goodies have been eaten) and I expect to be in a much healthier position in 2-3 months. Since I have stopped smoking I have not had a single cold or cough.

When my dad stopped smoking over 10 years ago, he always kept a sealed pack in a drawer (still has it) and an empty open pack. He would open the empty pack, inhale deeply and say 'aaaahhhh, bisto!' as in the adverts. Remember one day, one of my little boys opening the pack. Upon being asked what he was doing, he replied that he was looking for the bisto:rotfl:

Sue-UU

Money_maker wrote: »

When times were hard, I would read back some of the old posts in the thread or follow some of the links in the first page to feel comforted that others had felt the same and that it was normal to feel that way.

Excellent news Money maker, you really are doing so well and don't sound as though you ever want a ciggie near you again - wonderful news! :T A shame your OH can't give up yet, but maybe in the future.

You make a good point about the reading of posts of others when times haven't been so good, people have done that s much in the past, in fact we always recommended them too, to see how people did indeed progress; it also gave them something to occupy their minds.

Keep moving in the direction you are now, you're doing just great! Don't forget the water about 20 minutes before eating, take regular sips too, more when peckish and you'll gradually start lowering your intake.

Thanks for the giggle with your lad and the bisto, truly priceless!!

Sue x