The Giving Up/ Cutting Down alcohol support thread - number 13

debjay

7/20 for tonight please.

jimmy*c

4/21 AF and NF days. Hope you don't mind me counting my "Nicotine-free days" alongside the AF ones?? Anyway still on target so far. Keeping focused is taking absolutely everything out of me. I mean, I have never felt such a craving for a smoke or a beer like the past few nights - Seriously powerful However I am proud to say I haven't even picked up the standby e-cig! Becoming a real struggle at work now - Being a mobile engineer, driving hundreds of miles a day, I would always have a fag or two between jobs, I'd have a fag or two on site etc... It's taking a bit of getting used to now that I can't do this.

HB of course you can use that phrase, I haven't had it copyrighted funnily enough Be a nice phrase for us to use to stay focused 10 days to yourself, sounds very relaxing - I love solitude.

Keep it AF!

Honey_Bear

jimmy*c wrote: »

4/21 AF and NF days. Hope you don't mind me counting my "Nicotine-free days" alongside the AF ones??

HB of course you can use that phrase, I haven't had it copyrighted funnily enough Be a nice phrase for us to use to stay focused 10 days to yourself, sounds very relaxing - I love solitude.

Keep it AF!

Thank you!

As far as I'm concerned I'm delighted you're posting about going NF as well as AF. From here on in if you didn't I'd start fretting that you'd gone through the absolute worst of the withdrawal (the first three days) and then given up giving up. Once I'd got past the first fortnight I knew it was for life and I'd suceeded, but as I say, the first three days are the worst.

When I finally stopped smoking it was a stonking hangover that did for me. I felt so ill I stayed in bed all day and said to OH that evening, 'If I come downstairs for dinner I'll have a cigarette afterwards. As I never smoke upstairs, could you bring me dinner on a tray in bed and that way when I wake up tomorrow morning I won't have had a cigarette for 36 hours.' He did, thank goodness.

The following day I went to a pharamcy and asked for some nicotine chewing gum to help me through the worst of the withdrawal. It must have been my lucky day because it was the pharmacist himself who served me, and he told me that because I'd gone without a cigarette for over 24 hours, all the nicotine was out of my system and the chewing gum would put it back in, and should therefore be avoided. He compromised and suggested I take the lowest dose of gum and only use it in an absolute emergency when I was climbing the walls, and as soon as the craving was satisfied, spit it out again so that I only took in the absolute minimum. It was his most fervent advice that if I could avoid it, I should.

About six months later I gave the unopened packet of gum to someone else who wanted to stop smoking, because I knew I wasn't going to use it. I also went back to the pharmacy and thanked him because I honestly believe it was his advice that made the difference between repeated failures in the past and that successful attempt.

Can you find something to distract you while you're driving between jobs, like talk radio that you can argue with?

Calling early again, 14/31 please, Shaggy.

shaggydoo

Morning :hello:

3 more AFDs for me for Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday.

My boobs gotta clean bill of health - so that's that done for another 3 years :j



Having a long weekend away from tomorrow - so won't be posting until Monday.

Shaggyx

satchmo1

5/12 AFDs for yesterday. Husband isn't any better/nicer. We had tickets to see Gregory Porter for last night, which we've had since it was postponed from November last year. I knew he wouldn't go. At just after 6pm, I asked him what time we should set off (in order to make him tell me what he was doing without actually asking him if he was going). Of course he told me he wasn't going.


I spoke to the ladies on the box office and said I had a ticket to sell. At 7:25 a lady bought the ticket, hurray. Now, my dilemma is, do I give husband the money (after all he paid in the first place) or keep it because he was prepared to lose the money anyway??? Conscience says give it to him, hurt feelings say keep it.


I thoroughly enjoyed the concert, the lady who bought the ticket wasn't chatty (I tried) but the lady on the other side of me was so we laughed and commended and cheered together.


As I was going to my car afterwards, I had a voicemail message from a very confused/upset mum, who had gone to sleep (I guess at about 8.30) and woken soon afterwards but because it was light thought it was morning. She's in respite care atm. I rang her back and talked with her until she was calmer - I think the best thing I did was to say the Our Father prayer with her, remembering that that had often helped when she was ill last year. I know it helped me last night.

shaggydoo

jimmy*c wrote: »

Am I allowed to rejoin?

Of course :T

shaggydoo

CountingPenniesClaire wrote: »

On the bright side I still lost 1lb last week bringing my weight loss to a grand total of 30lb. Getting there.

WOW :T:T:T:T:T

shaggydoo

jimmy*c wrote: »

Seriously powerful

More than happy to cheer along your NF efforts. Go Jimmy!!!!

Nicotine withdrawal is the worst.

Nicotine addiction truly is an addiction, and shouldn’t be pushed to the side as simply a ‘habit’ that only requires willpower to overcome. In fact, scientists find that nicotine addiction and withdrawal is on par with or above addictions to cocaine and heroin. These substances may cause a more intense high than nicotine, but the addiction itself - how the body becomes dependent upon it - is equally as strong.

I quit a long time ago but I do remember that it takes 3 days for your body to completely flush the nicotine out of your system. The first 24 hours are the worst as most of it is flushed out in that time frame. Eventually at about day 4 the physical withdrawal stops. Then, it's a mental battle.

Now I never ever ever think about smoking. So that's the good news.

Allen Carr's quit smoking book is really good. I remember he said that your body is trying to get back to the "normal" state - the state that your body was in before you introduced nicotine.

Nicotine Withdrawal time line

https://quitsmokingcommunity.org/how-to-quit-smoking/nicotine-withdrawal-timeline-symptoms/

Good Luck and you can to do it because if I can do it anyone can.

shaggydoo

May:

= 7 Days AF

= 14 days AF

= 21 days AF


= 28 days AF

= 31 days AF

= target achieved


ArsenalBarnie 3/10
Barny1979 13/31
Chardonnay 9/24

CountingPenniesClaire 6/24

DansMam 2/15
DebJay 7/20
Dizzy Imp 12/24

Fruball 5/20
Honey Bear 14/31

Jimmy*C 4/21

Maman 3/10

Pricey 3/20

Satchmo 5/12
Shaggy 8/20

StartingLate 3/8

WBF 2/14




Everyone Welcome! It's never too late to join....

Please highlight your AFDs in Red

Don't hesitate to let me know if I've made a mistake!

Fruball

I think I have messed up my numbers or not added AF days this month as I am sure that I am 7, sorry Shaggy

Satchmo, I think you should suggest to your husband (or tell him) that you spend the money on treating yourself since your night has been ruined twice... Just my thoughts