The Giving Up Smoking Thread!!

BrickingIt

melbury wrote: »

I thought you already were going for it again! Have you had any today yet?

I've given up drinking coffee, can we change the thread title to giving up coffee in 2008:p.

I've smoked 10. I'm going to be the butt of everyones jokes:D .

I'll see you tomorrow, for the 10 o'clock (again again again) give up?.

Beccatje

melbury wrote: »

I have just gone past my one full week of being smoke free and if anything it is getting more difficult. When I think of never again enjoying the experience of smoking, it makes me quite sad really. I am starting to really miss it.



I just think that it is only fair if you go to all of that trouble and effort you should reap some great reward and feel absolutely wonderful and of course look 20 years younger and a lot slimmer etc etc - it is only right!

Sorry for the psycho babble, just missing my little buddy today more than usual.

Oh deary, the ciggarettes are NOT your buddy! You KNOW this in your head! But the little nicotine monster is kicking out one final time before it dies... it is making you think that the nicotine is your friend but it is NOT!

Don't give up now! You'll have done the whole week for nothing if you give up now... Just hang in there a little longer and you WILL start to feel better! You WILL start to feel the benefits!! You can do it! You don't want to smoke anymore do you?

You don't want to be addicted.

Don't give up!

Becca

JoeHel

melbury wrote: »

I have just gone past my one full week of being smoke free and if anything it is getting more difficult. When I think of never again enjoying the experience of smoking, it makes me quite sad really. I am starting to really miss it.

As previously mentioned, my husband gave up 16 years ago but never pressured me to, he said it is a decision you have to make for yourself and nobody else can do it for you. Trouble is he also says that he has never really felt that much better healthwise through stopping - no sudden rush of well being or anything like that, but then he also says he doesn't know how he would feel if was still smoking 16 years on. I would at least expect that all of this doing without and being a martyr should result in some great benefit. I read an article about Maggie Smith a few months ago and she gave up smoking after a lifetime of it a few years back (for grandchildrens sake) and says she has never felt so unwell in her life as since she stopped:eek:

I just think that it is only fair if you go to all of that trouble and effort you should reap some great reward and feel absolutely wonderful and of course look 20 years younger and a lot slimmer etc etc - it is only right!

Sorry for the psycho babble, just missing my little buddy today more than usual.

Melbury I want you to tell me everything that you ENJOYED about smoking. Describe to me what it is you miss the most.

You may well have read something that someone wrote saying that they've felt rubbish since they quit. You have also read on this thread of several people (including me) who can't remember a time when they felt so well. I feel AMAZING because I am thinking positive and revelling in every little thing I notice - like coughing less, smelling better, pinker skin.... There are some things that take time to heal. Smoking has done a lot of damage to your body and although it's an incredible machine capable of repairing itself, it can't do it overnight. Below is the timeline of what is happening in your body. Do you want to carry on towards something real and positive that will help your body heal, or do you want to go back to square one?

• Within ...
• 20 minutes - Your blood pressure, pulse rate, and the temperature of your hands and feet will all return to normal.
• 12 hours - Your blood oxygen level will have increased to normal and carbon monoxide levels will have dropped to normal.
• 48 hours - Damaged nerve endings have started to regrow and your sense of smell and taste are beginning to return to normal.
• 72 hours - Your entire body will test 100% nicotine-free and over 90% of all nicotine metabolites will now have passed from your body via your urine. You can also expect the symptoms of chemical withdrawal to have peaked in intensity. Your bronchial tubes are beginning to relax thus making it easier to breathe. Your lung capacity has also started to increase.
• 10 days to 2 weeks - Your body has physically adjusted to again functioning without nicotine and the more than 3,500 chemical particles and 500 gases present in each and every puff.
• 2 weeks to 3 months - Your heart attack risk has started to drop. Your lung function is beginning to improve.
• 3 weeks to 3 months - Your circulation has substantially improved. Walking has become easier. Your chronic cough, if any, has likely disappeared.
• 1 to 9 months - Any smoking related sinus congestion, fatigue or shortness of breath have decreased. Cilia have regrown in your lungs thereby increasing their ability to handle mucus, keep your lungs clean, and reduce infections. Your body's overall energy has increased.
• 1 year - Your excess risk of coronary heart disease has dropped to less than half that of a smoker.
• 5 to 15 years - Your risk of stroke has declined to that of a non-smoker.
• 10 years - Your risk of death from lung cancer has declined by almost half if you were an average smoker (one pack per day). Your risk of cancer of the mouth, throat and esophagus has now decreased.
• 15 years - Your risk of coronary heart disease is now that of a person who has never smoked.

Frugaldom

melbury wrote: »

When I think of never again enjoying the experience of smoking, it makes me quite sad really. I am starting to really miss it... I would at least expect that all of this doing without and being a martyr should result in some great benefit... I just think that it is only fair if you go to all of that trouble and effort you should reap some great reward and feel absolutely wonderful and of course look 20 years younger and a lot slimmer etc etc - it is only right!

Sorry for the psycho babble, just missing my little buddy today more than usual.

Melbury, what you are describing is exactly why I started smoking again after a 2 year stop - I felt hard done by and got annoyed at having gone to the bother of stopping and then ending up with a big fat zilch to show for it afterwards. I was fine as long as I was reaping some benefits from doing without (It was certainly fun and I didn't even miss the cigs!) but as soon as that 'game' finished and the costs involved were over, I got to thinking the way you are now You need to make sure you collect your reward for quitting. I guess it's like getting the child to throw away a dummy; they need to understand WHY before they are happy to do so and once that's achieved, they happily give it up without any struggle or regrets.

tealady

Hi all. Just thought I would drop in. I know giving up smoking isn't always easy but if I can do it anyone can. When I look around at all the lovely things I bought with my cig money I'm glad I gave up.
Keep trying and you will get there. Remember failure is not falling down failure is not getting up again.

Beccatje

JoeHel, you are SO right!!

I'm 4 months smoke free today. And I can't remember feeling this good!

I used to blame everything for my state, but I now see that most of it was from smoking. I could make it up stairs in my house maybe twice in a row. (for putting away washing for example) after that I'd be exhausted and make my kids do it.
Now.. I do it without thinking and without coughing!

I used to not be able to speak 2 whole sentences without a (little) cough. Every home video we have you hear me coughing in the background. I dreaded letting our dog off the leash because if he legged it I had to chase him.. and I couldn't run more than 10 meters... (our dog is a husky. Notorious for 'legging it') Now, i do it withough thinking. I used to say: Oh I've got this lingering cold...
I don't cough anymore! NOT AT ALL!! I've stopped smoking and guess what? It wasn't a cold! It was the smoking!

I couldn't laugh. I resorted to letting out a little giggle at times.. but a great wonderful lush all our laugh was out of the question.. I'd nearly choke!

Sing!.... I couldn't sing along with my favorite song without shortness of breath. Now I sing!.. (still sound crap but at least it's not from lack of air!)

I couldn't breathe deeply. You know.. let out this wonderful deep sigh... it would make me cough...

My skin looks better!.. I look awake now when I look in the mirror!
My teeth are getting whiter...

I love it..

I will never go back to smoking... it is not my friend! The addiction can try and make me think it is, but it is NOT!. When real friendships outlive their purpose we end them. Why not end this 'friendship' ?

Becca

Beccatje

melbury wrote: »

I have just gone past my one full week of being smoke free and if anything it is getting more difficult. When I think of never again enjoying the experience of smoking, it makes me quite sad really. I am starting to really miss it.
l.

Oh and you don't enjoy the experience of smoking when you are not addicted.

You only enjoy it when you are addicted because you are alleviating withdrawel pangs when you light a fag.

fletch3163

I too understand that the reality of quitting is not so much fun once it's FOREVER! I remember getting all up myself when I'd quit for a whole week. I reinvented this quitting malarky, there was nobody like me, I was my own personal hero(ine):cool: .

Then came the next day, then the next day, then the next day,....... ....................... and here I am almost two and a half years down the line.

Sometimes you feel you should just have one if only to stop you wanting one (odd logic). I was a professional smoker. No amount of price increases, anti-social warnings were EVER going to put me off. Then one day I just felt stupid to be still smoking.

What's the gain?

Financially it knows no bounds. The thought of burning 27pence every time I light up freaks me out. Why would you do that with your money?
Healthwise - granted I don't feel as healthy as I maybe should (am fat:p ) but hey, there's TONS of fat smokers out there.

This is me re-alighting my evangelical leanings towards kicking Nic's BUTT!

OMG I just saw Beccatje there and it reminded me. Every single Christmas video of my DS getting his pressies had been halted for my to have a fag and I too could be heard in the background with the hacking rasp

JoeHel

I think it depends on how you look at it - glass half empty or half full.... I've said it over and over again, if you want to quit with a smile on your face THINK POSITIVE!! Don't think "oh woe is me I'm giving up something yummy and I miss it and I'll always miss it..." How can you ever be happy with that decision?!! Turn it around and say to yourself "I have DONE IT and I am FREE!!!" I don't feel sad that I will never smoke again - I couldn't be happier. :j

fletch3163

Yes, but just sometimes it helps to take it in bite sized chunks instead of forever. For today, for tomorrow, etc. I truly believe I'll never smoke again but it doesn't detract from the fact that I loved smoking. I hate what it did to me but I loved the act, the feeling, the smell, the lot! Learning to not crave the act of it was bigger than the chemical desire to be honest. I can fake that sometimes still. A quick pencil and a foolish puff and blow and I'm all better. In my heart though I can say it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. I was scared of failing so many times that I didn't even try because it was SO hard. This has been my one and only quit.