Stop Smoking Support Thread
Comments
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annettek, hi, glad to see you back, we are all here to give you a hand for support. When I decided to quit I read all of the thread. You may want to do that to give yourself extra information and it may bring questions to mind. hugs to you, Karen
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Annette: Welcome back, just keep on trying, you can do it!!!
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Had US and mammo today, all clear - YAY. Next Thurs. see BS, then I am all set till my annuals. My blood pressure did its skyrocking, was OK after all results came back clear. Mind over matter, have not quite mastered it obviously
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YEAH Karen!!!!
That is such a good feeling when it's over and done with good results and you get to relax for a bit!!!! That blood pressure thing is sooo frustrating! I have just resigned myself to that's what it's going to be whenever I am getting results!
GREAT NEWS!!
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Seaside, thank you, it is great news, my daughter and I went to a restaurant for a late lunch to celebrate. Whenever my appts. are in Rochester she comes with me since I know Buffalo and she lved in Rochester for a few years, and the only thing I can do in Rochester is get lost. I gave her the thumbs up sign when I came out and she cried a little. She has been a rock for me through all of this. I'm going to sign up for the E-Lab tomorrow since it's has been a great day, I sent a PM to Meece, haven't heard from her yet, I hope she can place me on the hummingbirds' group with you and O2b.
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Heard from Meece and I will be joining you and O2b on the hummingbird's team. I hope this works as well as the Stop Smoking thread did for me, I am determined to loose this weight, feel better about myself,and get to wear my smaller sized clothes. I have an assortment of size 10,12 and 14. I only have 2 in size 16 - yech - as I refuse to buy more. Karen
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Annettek: Welcome back! You can do this girl!!!!
Jennifer: Yes, almost 7 months...and my DH has been using the e-cigarette 4 months. The girls are doing well (not sore anymore) but I think I'm going to need some revision work in the future. I see the PS next week so we'll see what he says.
Busy weekend ahead so have a good one ladies and talk soon!
Love ya all!
Jan
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Seaside,
Thanks so much for asking! We are very pleased with my healing. The cancer/radiated side has caught up to the other side as far as healing, and I will tell myself I helped this along by quitting.
I am still longing and desiring of my dear friends....Nighttime being worse. VJ thanks for the suggestions..I can smoke a piece of licorice like no other LOL!
Annettek,
I am a recent re-quit, 14 years of cigs and 10 years of Nicorette gum and lozenges. I made it 9 months before..went back for 9 months, and am at 9 1/2 days now....so I am still in the thick of it if you want a quit buddy or just to commiserate. You can.
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Has anyone tried laser therapy? I am wondering if that would help me. The stress is making me pick up one here and there
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Dear Cat, no experience with laser therapy, just wanted to say Hi and it is quite the habit to break. I got a electronic cigarette and that satsfies both my craving and the hand to mouth syndrome. Karen
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Congrats karen!
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Thanks Bama, I had to post my weight, thinking it is one thing, seeing it in print is embarrassing(SP?). Jan, happy to hear the twins are doing well, I remember when I thought you were actually having them, as in two dear babies! Karen
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11 days down, with many long moments and minutes of missing my dear dear little friends. I googled whyquit? and learned some scary news about the nicotine replacement (patch, gum and lozenge.) I think this would cover all forms of straight nicotine. I always knew I wasn't really getting away with anything....that yes, indeed it is better than smoking. But perhaps even more addictive, as you can pop one in your mouth and no one knows the difference, allowing you to take in nicotine as often as you like. So the news helped me to keep pushing through these feelings, but I have remorse and regret for "re-starting" back in July after 9 months nic free, and for the many years I have been mindlessly feeding my addiction.
and it is one heck of an addiction, so I applaud ALL of you who have quit, or are in the trenches (including myself.)
Isn't it amazing the things we tell ourselves in the throes of feeding our nic cravings?
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Has anyone heard from Sweet lately, her last post was April 8th...
SWEET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!
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NRT's are NOT more addictive than inhaling nicotine from a cigarette. That is simply an opinion from John Politico that has no basis in science. The changes in the brain stucture and withdrawals--has to do with the speed the nicotine enters the brain and how fast it leaves the brain and nothing comes close in those two aspects like inhalation.
If you took 100 people who drink alcohol--not all of them are alcoholics--some are social drinkers, some moderate, some abuse alcohol and some are falling down drunks. Some who abuse alcohol may decide to quit drinking on their own, they might attend AA but they are not physically addicted. However, out of 100 people who drink, 10 to 15, will be physically addicted to alcohol and if they try to quit on their own, they will go through DT's--they need medical intervention to safely withdrawal from alcohol.
It's the same with smokers, however if you take 100 smokers, over 90% will be physically addicted to nicointe (nicotine has changed the structure of their brain and they experience withdrawal symptoms). However not all smokers who are physically addicted, need medical intervention because they are able to handle the withdrawals symptoms. There are some smokers that are so physically addicted, that they are unable to quit without medical intervention--and for many of those smokers--they need nicotine replacement products. John Politco at WhyQuit demonizes all forms of NRT's without considering that for some smokers, this is the only way for them to handle the withdrawals--it's not every smoker but for some smokers, they would not quit otherwise--just like the hard core alcoholics cannot quit drinking safely without medical intervention. I believe there is a place for NRT's for some smokers. 90% of people with schizophrenia smoke--they are self-medicating with nicotine--it may be they need to be on NRT's for the rest of their life--because it's not the nicotine that will kill them but the smoking. In 30 years, there has NOT been 1 case of anyone dying from NRT's. So to deny some smokers may need NRT help in quitting, may be sentencing them to a death sentence because they can't quit any other way. John is very radical in his ideas which most are not supported by clinical research but it's only his opinion.
Every method will work for some but no method works for everyone. I always encourage smokers to find what will work for them and it is usually a combination of tools to deal with the physical aspect (medications or holistic approach without meds), behavior modification, and strategies to deal with stress and emotions.
Just my two cents, have a joyous day.
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O2B,
I was thinking the same thing the other day, that we had not heard from Sweet in a really long time. I think last time she posted she, had started radiation. Hope everything is OK!
Sending out the search party!!!
Sweet,
Check-in when you can just to tell us how your doing!
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Sweet, we miss you, please check back in. Karen
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VJSl8,
I wasn't trying to recruit for his website or anything. I was trying to share my experience with the gum and lozenges, and how it's easier to take in more nicotine per day as you can chew them during work etc...I really just wanted to share and get some support.
my bad.
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Squid-- John is very radical in his approach and I know many on this site do use NRT's and I was just trying to present a different perspective. Just as some have suggested laser, acpuncture, hypnosis--and it worked for them but these methods don't work for everyone. Shame and guilt are common emotions when trying to quit smoking--shame--"What's wrong with me because it worked for them, how come it doesn't work for me?" or guilt, "I must be doing something wrong because it's not working for me." My approach is to take all the shame and guilt out of it because there is no right or wrong way to quit smoking, it's just whatever works for each individual. Some would read John's site and it might increase their shame or guilt if they were using NRT's because of his demoniziation of NRT.
In my 20 years of working with smokers, I have had a few that continued to use NRT much longer than necessary but with a plan, we were able to work together to stop that also but this is NOT the norm. Most quitters that have used NRT--quit too soon and their withdrawal symptoms come back before they are prepared to handle it--a common reason for relapsing back to smoking.
I hope that makes sense. VJ
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squidwitch42,
Please don't feel bad!
I think you misunderstood! I have been over to the whyquit site, in fact quite extensively early on in my quit. LOTS of good information but, it is a fairly intense site in that he allows NO deviation in methods used and zero tolerance for any slips...
I think what VJ was trying to say is that, it is perfectly OK to use whatever method will work for YOU and that there was no reason for you (or anyone) to feel bad about your choice to use a nicotine replacement product when it got you to where you are today which is smoke-free!!
I think what VJ tries to do, as we all do here, is to give people the best chance of quitting through information and support rather than scaring the socks off of people to quit...lol Kind of a "kinder, gentler approach!"
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LOL....
OK now that I REALLY took a look at the pic I posted for our canine "search party" to look for Sweet, I think I see a small animal hiding in the foreground of the picture, which is what I think they are looking for.... Seems like maybe my expert tracking dogs are rookies!!!
But, you all get the idea!!!
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Jen:
If you didn't mention it I would never have seen it
I hope everyone is doing well! I've been so busy and sorry I haven't been here as often as I would like to be.
Took the 'girls' shopping the other day and bought them new bras...they are loving it!
I need to catch up on reading here AGAIN but to everyone who is healing I wish you well, to all newbies, welcome you have come to the right place for support and advice.
Wednesday will be 7 months for me...I cannot believe it!!!
My weight has seemed to have leveled off (although it's still too much) so now I have to work on losing it. I'm blaming it on both smoking and the Tamoxifen so I hope I can lose it. UGH....
Love y'all!
Jan
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Jan,
Glad to hear from you!
I really can't believe how much time has gone by for ALL of us... Saw in your last post that your husband is doing well too!!! That is TWICE the goodness as well as TWICE the savings!!!!
Happy for you both!
Yay! For the twins new bras... They 'do' grow up so fast... seems like just yesterday they were born.. They 'do' grow up so fast
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It has been really quiet here...
Got this yesterday in my email from Quitnet!! 15 MONTHS smoke-free!!!! Check out the number of cigarettes not smoked!! Yikes!
Your Quit Date is: Monday, January 18, 2010 at 11:01:00 AM
Time Smoke-Free:
454 days, 19 hours, 12 minutes and 23 seconds
Cigarettes NOT smoked:
9096
Lifetime Saved: 2 months, 9 days, 11 hours
Money Saved:
$4,368.000 -
Seaside, YAY for you!
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Congrats Seaside! That's amazing. What you gonna do with that $4,000?
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Congrats!!!!
Wow, that's alot of smokes
Jan
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15 months, that's fantastic Seaside, lots of money saved too!! Just realized I put a story about my godmother on the ELAB Project thread instead of here. Karen
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Thanks ladies!
Bama,
Not sure what I will do with the money yet BUT, much to my husband's dismay..lol, I WILL find something to do with it!
Karen,
I saw your post on E-LAB and responded over there!
Have a great night all!
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Saw my BS tody,can now be seen annually, how good yet scarey that sounds. My BP was a little better though still high,NP took it, it was 138, she said once it was 160! BS said I am a goood candidate for PS to reduce the right side, have to see if insurance will cover it, I have one 20 yr. old breast and one 62 yrs. old. I'll have to research it once I get the word from insurance. Also saw PCP today, BP was 128, not as scared there apparently. I am at 30 for vitamin D, already taking 1600 Iu a day, any suggestions?
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!!!!!!!!!