Stop Smoking Support Thread
Comments
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Congrat' Jan!!!! Welcome to yippie squishies!!!
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sweet your doing great. By my 4th TCH I dreaded going for 5 & 6. but they were not as bad as I imagined. I did alot of sleeping. The extra $10 off coupon at Walgrens I think ends tomorrow, so she can save even more.
Seaside wow 9.70 ours are 7.70 and that's way to much. You have saved yourself a nice vacation and you so deserve it.
Basia your doing great too.
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There was an EXTRA 10.00 coupon?? I had no idea or I could have saved more!!!
Im off to bed now... have a good night/morning, Didnt realise it was so late.
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Congratulations Jan, I am so happy for you. Do you like the feel of the breasts or is it too soon to say? What size are you and are you saline or silicone? I am getting happy with mine more and more but one is really bigger than the other one and I do not want him to even them out by making the big one smaller. I will want him to make the smaller one bigger if that is possilble. I would like to stay a size C. Hope you are doing great and my new quit date is the 1st of March.
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I have led up to this date........this morning, and cried, and thrown fits, and decided it was gonna happen one way or another. This morning came........and it isn't so bad. Today is my quit date.
I have tried before...and have quit before, just started back before too. This time I want it forever gone, never to return.
I have a HUGE Coca Cola plastic "bank" bottle ........I just put in my first $12.20 for two packs, .....the amount that them cigs are and will do this every day and a half.
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Dutchy:
Congratulations on your new date! Very proud of you!!
I have my exchange on 3/11 so the girls still have not been born. I can't wait to get these bricks out of me. I'm getting silicone and hoping for a small 'c'.
Jan
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Sunangel, Good luck to you and that is a great idea with putting the money in a jar so you can actually see the money you are saving.
Jan, 3/11 will be hear before you know it and then you will feel so good about your girls. Mine are still a work in progress...
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Jan,
YEAH for having your date! Dutchy is right, time will go so fast and 3/11 will be here before you know it!
Sweet,
Don't ya just hate when that happens! You think you're getting a great deal (which you did, by the way) and then you find out you could have saved even more. That just happened to me last week.
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Welcome sunangel27!!
I know when I first quit the THOUGHT of quitting was terrifying but the REALITY of quitting was, while it was hard, it was no where near as bad as I imagined!
Make sure that you drink plenty of fluids, eat frequent, small meals to keep your blood sugar stable until your body figures out how to do that without nicotine and get plenty of rest when you can.
VJ is a smoking cessation professional and she has offered the workbook that she uses in her seminar, free of charge, to anyone on this thread who requests it. She posted her e-mail a way back in this thread. She has LOTS of great information in there!!
I am going to re-post our list of all of our quit dates this afternoon since we have some new dates. Would you like to be included?
Post when you need to!!
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Welcome Sun angel:
You have come to the BEST support forum you can find! We are all here to get you through this and you will be fine!!!!
Ladies: I'm kinda hoping my PS needs to harvest some fat for my new girls...I think I want to lipo my lower ab...what do you think?
Jan
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Never hurts to ask. Now I just have to remember my own advice and ask for what I want from my PS I have post op on Thurs. from stage 2.
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This IS the best support system Jan, your right. I am on quitnet.com, but I only use them for the meter. LOL. I come here even if it's just to read. Im still doing good. I dont want to screw up now after my boyfriend paid all that money for 2 boxes of patches... He would be so disappointed because we really didnt have the money for them.
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I quit smoking about 4 years ago for about 9 months but went back to smoking. I am going trough chemo right now and my cravings for cigarettes is less than it was before BC. The problem is that my mind is not set to quit again, I'm really struggling with it.
I'm thinking about hypnosis, has anyone experience of this?
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Keep up the good work sweet...very proud!!!
You will do this this time - I think it's your time to quit.
Two places: Sorry you are going through treatment. We are here for support and encouragement. I cannot give info on hypnosis but maybe one of the ladies will be along with some good info.
Jan
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Hypnosis--I have a bias against hypnosis because I see all the clients that it didn't work for (dud, otherwise why would they need me) but I do believe that every method will work for some people, no method works for everyone. In the 2008 Clinical Practice Guideline--there wasn't enough valid research to give a recommendation.
What hypnosis seems to do is work on your belief system--changing your belief about what you are getting from smoking to wanting something else. Alan Carr wrote a good book on changing beliefs--"The Easy Way to Quit Smoking"--doesn't give any tips but looks at all the reasons why someone smokes and explains why smoking doesn't give you what you think--You might be able to find a used copy on Amazon cheap.
As far as hypnosis--if you can find it cheap, then why not try it but I would NOT spend a lot of money on it--even with a money back guarentee--because the guarentee is just that you keep coming back to get re-hypnotized until you stop coming back--you never get your money back.
Patches--the thing to remember about the patch is that it takes about an hour for the nicotine to reach a comfortable level in the blood. So if you put one on in the morning (instead of at night--to avoid the dreams), you can have strong cravings when you wake up--you can combine the patch with an oral NRT (gum, lozenge) that will give a more immediate dose of nicotine while waiting for the patch to become effective.
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VJ,
I used Alan Carr's book and agree completely. It really did take every single reason that we give for continuing to smoke and, 1 by 1, showed how it is all just an illusion.
Was a great book to change how you view cigarettes (they're not your friend) and get you in the "right frame" of mind to quit but, really falls apart a bit on HOW to stop other than to say, 'Well now that you see that the reasons you smoke aren't what you thought they were, just quit'....
Didn't work that way for me. I needed a bit more of a path to follow so I dug out a dusty old copy of a stop smoking program that my employer had given me eons ago (we didn't find out about your workbook until later) and used that for the "How To" part and Alan's book for the "motivational" part.
The two-pronged approach worked well for me!
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Intwoplaces, my sister in law had hypnosis and she is still quit after 4+ years. She swears by it.
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Jan,
If it isn't too painful, I'd say go for it!!
When I went for my consult when I was considering BMX/DIEP she kind of measured how much fat they would be able to get and said that I "might" have enough to do both. After all this stupid weight gain (most around the middle) I swear, I would not only have enough to be Pamela Anderson, but would have enough left over for a few friends!
Dutchy,
Didn't you have some lipo done as part of your revision surgery? How would you describe the recovery?
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Welcome InTwoPlaces!
So much of whether or not you are able to quit depends on REALLY wanting to and believing that you can!! The reasons why you want to quit HAVE to be stronger than the desire to smoke. Those reasons are different for everyone. For me, I found money was a powerful motivator (NY cigarette prices are ridiculous). Also, I was sick of how much I scheduled my life around if I would/would not be able to smoke.
I say, anything (within reason) that will help you with those 2 things would be worth at least looking into.
BarbaraA did something called auricular stimulation which worked wonderfully for her. Hopefully, she'll be along soon to elaborate but, I think if you Google it, you should be able to find info on it.
Hope to hear more from you soon!
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Jennifer, My stage 2 was done by Dr. Festekjian, the same one who does stage 1. They basically give you some of the same restrictions as stage 1 but mine only lasted about 2 weeks although I find if I overdo it I am having pain in my abdomin and my breasts. I was able to go hiking last week and went for 5 mile hike in hills and 3 mile hike in the desert. Last night I went dancing but must of raised my arms too much and shake my hips a little too much as I was feeling pain after about 4 fast dances. Walking is really great and as with stage 1, I contribute my walking 3 times a week for at least 2 miles to my good recovery. The more you get up and move the better it is for you. At least that was my experience. I was able to drive after a week and a half but not comfortably. I went back to work at 2 weeks and my job requires driving and the first two days I was exhausted but have adjusted well and Monday will be the beginning of my 4th week. I am not a runner so I can not comment on that. I was able to shower on the 3rd day and that is also when I took off my bandages. I am still wearing a binder and tight sports bra with zipper up the front much of the time. They did suggest Spanx but I find them hard to get on. Not sure how anyone wears them after Stage 1. I am able to lift the laundry detergent bottles (big) but I am still careful. I think you are not suppose to lift for 6 weeks but not sure how I was to go back to work at 2 weeks and not lift...although I do still ask for help if I feel I am straining. I really let my body tell me the limits. If it does not feel good or feels like something that may cause me pain later then I do not do it.
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Intwoplaces: On iTunes you can download a stop smoking hypnosis audio by Max Karsten for about $5. It didn't "hypnotize" me, but it is relaxing to listen to. He has this British accent that I've found myself imitating at times, I've listened to it so much.
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An update from me:
Ok, so for 2 nights in a row I had smoking dreams, (I know they are normal) and tonight on the way into the grocery store, I could REALLY smell the cigarettes outside the door. Plus, I put on my leather jacket and went to boyfriends mom's house, and could still smell the smoke on the jacket.... (I hope she didnt notice) Im feeling pretty good about this quit... Doing GREAT, I made it past my usuall week point at day three. (Im on day 4 now and still strong)
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Watch that dancing Dutchy...take it easy
Sweet: Very proud of you! Don't you just hate that smell??? I remember having the smoking dreams and waking up in a panic thinking I smoked. What a relief when I realized it was just a dream!!
Keep up the good work!!Jan
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Sweet, Keep up the good work. You are doing it this time. I feel good about it for you too.
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Jan,
I realise that, technically, I am late (although if I was on the west coast it would still be yesterday), but wanted to say... Happy 5 MONTH quit-aversary!!!
Here's to MANY more!!! So Happy for you, girlfriend!!
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RE: auricular stimulation - the theory behind it is that some nerves that go to your ears are blocked with nicotine. They use a machine like a TENS unit that does mild electrical stimulation to each ear. It takes about 10 minutes and doesn't hurt at all. They told me after the treatment, It would be as though I was unaddicted to nicotine since the nerves had been unblocked. I was amazed that I didn't light up in the parking lot. I still had to work on the habit part, which was hard. This was done Wed. evening. I went back for a recharge on Sat. morning and I stopped getting the cravings around 10 days later. Still would get one once in a while up til about 6 months. Smoke of other people still smelled good up until about 6 months and since then smells like ashtrays.
FYI: acupuncture treatment works the same way, needles in the ears. I just happen to hate needles so gave this a try and am very glad I did. 3/2 will be 9 months.
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Wow, I forgot!!!! yesterday was 5 months..I guess I stopped counting??
thanks for remembering!!!!
Jan
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Yesterday I didn't even think about smoking! I saw my brothers at my moms house and usually I we go in the yard to smoke and talk, yesterday I went in the yard but just talked, didn't even want to smoke! Btu this morning the habit part kicked in, I finished breakfast, the girls were in the living room and I sat at the kitchen table with a good cup of coffee and thought how good a cig would be right now. But like I read in others posts that thought came and went within minutes.
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Basia
Congratulations! That was a big hurdle. If you did it one you can do it again!!
Keep up the good work..proud of you.
Jan
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You are doing soooooo well SWEET!!!!
Keep it up!
It is funny how quickly your sense of smell recovers when you quit. I was really surprised at how smokey my clothes smelled. My son really hated the fact that I smoked and would be embarrassed because his friends' parents thought he smoked. It was just my smoke on his clothes!
Don't have to worry about that anymore and, soon, you won't have to either
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