Stop Smoking Support Thread
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Where is everyone again. I am recovering well from my surgery. I am about to take the couple weeks of chantix that I have hidden.. doc wont give me any more .. I cant stop unless I take it .. I know .. its all in the mind ... I just pray for the day I can stop relapsing once and for all. I pray for the strength. I love love love the way I feel when i am smoke free.. I hate hate the way I feel when I am smoking .. its all like a catch 22 for me ... Today I treated myself to a new haircut and then I colored my grey away.. smile ...I miss you all bunches and always think of you even when I am being bad and not here .. haha .. xoxoxox
LisaMarie
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LisaMarie - seems like everyone got busy over the long weekend. I'm so glad to hear that you're recovering well from the surgery.
Did the doc say why he wouldn't give you Chantix again? Make sure you're off any other drugs that might conflict if you're going to take Chantix again. Maybe the pharmacist could tell you any that might cause a bad reaction. And what about BF quitting? Or at least not smoking in the house or around you. We all know how much harder it is to stick with any program if someone else in the house is smoking. (or even if they're only smoking outside the house).
Congrats on the new hair-do. Mine is now an inch long. Looks a bit like an aging Jamie Curtis but mostly brown w/salt & pepper highlights. Everyone says "cute". "Cute"??? At my age???
Red - I forgot - when is your trip to Italy?
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Ha Ha minus , I am not on any other meds now that I was not on before except the antibiotic .. guess I will call pharmacy... Me I was brown grey and purple ..lol.. now I am dark brown with a hint of purple .. gotta be different or I would not be me ... BF quit .. nah he wont .. he just says stop smoking .. He says he dont want anything to happen to me .. It is very hard living with a smoker .. but I keep trying .. I guess that is the biggest thing , I just keep trying ... he smokes most out side .. in the morning he smokes in bathroom .. yuck .. but what can ya do . it is his home .. lots of love . I guess it was a big weekend for all .. just seems quiet a lot around here ..
Red , I am jealous of a trip to Italy... That my friend is on my bucket list ... maybe someday ... xoxoxo
LisaMarie
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There are no known drug interactions with Chantix. Most doctors don't have a lot of experience with Chantix or other cessation medications. They haven't been trained in how to help people quit --so often they won't prescribe because of their lack of knowledge.
Chantix is a partial inhibitor--it fills only half of the receptors in the brain that nicotine targets--it was designed that way on purpose so there wouldn't be a dependency problem like with nicotine.
What they also don't tell you is that taking just 1mg a day instead of 2mg has almost the same effectiveness but of course the pharma companies want the highest effective rate--but taking two pills a day instead of one adds to the side effects---crazy dreams, nausea, insomnia. Lighter smokers can often get by with just one a day instead of the two a day pills. The only reason they have you start with one and them go up to two --is to control nausea. For heavy smokers, some cessation doctors are using 3 pills a day, but then the risk of dependency increases.
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Lisamarie...I just wanted to wish you luck on quitting smoking and tell you I quit taking 1mg like VJSL8 says.
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VJ - thanks for the info.
LoveWins - I too quit by taking only 1mg per day. I never took more than that so they lasted longer.
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Thanks everyone, I think that makes sense . I may try it . I need to just get it under control and keep it there ... sigh ...xoxo
lisamarie
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Another weekend. Oops - I'm jumping the gun by a day. It's impossible for me to figure out what day it is when there is a Monday holiday. So, I've already done my grocery shopping tonight. Tomorrow I can relax and play dominoes w/my neighbor ladies.
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my first time growing potatoes in a garbage can ... amazing .. hoping to get a great harvest this year .. and they are purple .. My fav color ... have a great weekend all0 -
Clever way to grow them Lisamarie! Hope your harvest is bountiful! xo
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Hi ladies .... LisaMarie, you are growing potatoes and I'm weeding. I rather do what you are doing. Anyways, weather was beautiful today and I want more .... keep it coming. Hope all are well. So today, I thought of going and buying a pack of smokes but then forgot to go. See, it never ends!
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We had our first outdoor water aerobics class of the season today. We started this group 5 years ago with 6 people meeting 3 times a week and now there's so much interest we have to cut off enrollment at 25 due to the size of the pool. Since we've had a week of rain, the neighborhood pool was really cool (not to say cold, but...). About 10 people suited up & worked out in the water. I stayed under the pavilion with another lady and we did leg stretches & used light weights for our arms.
Our instructor lives in the subdivision so teaches for a minimum fee.
In her 'real life' she teaches at LA Fitness 4-5 classes a day - so
she's no nonsense. For many of us, this was the first activity since the pool closed last September. Lots of people 'moaning' tonight. For me - it was the first exercise of any kind since January 2013 when I started this BC mess for the 2nd time.I stayed to dig out the Mexican Heather that didn't survive our unusually cold winter. The soil is all turned and the timber edging back in place. Monday night I'll pop in the new plants.
Needless to say I took a nap after lunch!!
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Judi - Yes, I agree. I expect I'll be wanting a smoke when I'm 90. But I'll continue to persevere. Not even one. For those of you still working on quitting or closer to your quit date, the urges really do come along further & further apart as time goes on. Just for today, I will not smoke.
Love the potatoes Lisa Marie.
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Hi everyone! I'm a smoker and like all of you need to quit. I was going to try Chantix too. My breast surgeon told me in order to even consider nipple-sparing on my breast reconstruction I couldn't have ANY nicotine in my body due to the needed blood flow following the surgery. Smoking constricts the blood vessels and it would cause all kinds of problems following surgery. So yes...I NEED to quit as well. It's just so dang hard!!! I keep giving myself excuses on why it's ok to continue to smoke lol...but I know it's not. Especially if I want a shot at saving my nipples after the surgery
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Hi everyone! I'm a smoker and like all of you I need to quit. I was going to try Chantix too. My breast surgeon told me in order to even consider nipple-sparing on my breast reconstruction I couldn't have ANY nicotine in my body due to the needed blood flow following the surgery. Smoking constricts the blood vessels and it would cause all kinds of problems following surgery. So yes...I NEED to quit as well. It's just so dang hard!!! I keep giving myself excuses on why it's ok to continue to smoke lol...but I know it's not. Especially if I want a shot at saving my nipples after the surgery
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Hi everyone! I'm a smoker and like all of you I need to quit. I was going to try Chantix too. My breast surgeon told me in order to even consider nipple-sparing on my breast reconstruction I couldn't have ANY nicotine in my body due to the needed blood flow following the surgery. Smoking constricts the blood vessels and it would cause all kinds of problems following surgery. So yes...I NEED to quit as well. It's just so dang hard!!! I keep giving myself excuses on why it's ok to continue to smoke lol...but I know it's not. Especially if I want a shot at saving my nipples after the surgery
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Hi everyone! I'm a smoker and like all of you I need to quit. I was going to try Chantix too. My breast surgeon told me in order to even consider nipple-sparing on my breast reconstruction I couldn't have ANY nicotine in my body due to the needed blood flow following the surgery. Smoking constricts the blood vessels and it would cause all kinds of problems following surgery. So yes...I NEED to quit as well. It's just so dang hard!!! I keep giving myself excuses on why it's ok to continue to smoke lol...but I know it's not. Especially if I want a shot at saving my nipples after the surgery
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Hi everyone! I'm a smoker and like all of you need to quit. I was going to try Chantix too. My breast surgeon told me in order to even consider nipple-sparing on my breast reconstruction I couldn't have ANY nicotine in my body due to the needed blood flow following the surgery. Smoking constricts the blood vessels and it would cause all kinds of problems following surgery. So yes...I NEED to quit as well. It's just so dang hard!!! I keep giving myself excuses on why it's ok to continue to smoke lol...but I know it's not. Especially if I want a shot at saving my nipples after the surgery
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Dorthi - welcome. Is your surgery scheduled yet? Lots of good stuff to read in earlier posts. Lots of good support. Keep checking back. VJ will be around before too long to offer her quit smoking book of tips.
Red - when is the Italian odyssey? Can't remember so maybe you're there now.
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Welcome Dorthi .... you have come to the right thread. Ladies here will offer you nothing but support during your journey. We have all been down that road and it is one of the hardest habits to quit (so I hear). It may be easy for you or harder, depends on that little devil sitting on your shoulder. I'm almost 3 1/2 years not smoking but thought of going to buy a pack. Best part was I then forgot about it. You can do it and we are all here to support you.
MinusTwo, water aerobics sounded like fun. What a good gig you women have going for you .... an instructor for a "minimum fee". Can't get any better then that. Soon you will be jumping in - especially when it gets really hot. Wish I was there to join you. LisaMarie ....how is it going? Ladies, have a great day - weather looks to warm to stay inside.
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Surgery hasn't been scheduled yet. My surgeon wants to wait for the other biopsies to come back first. I have those done on 6/2. Thanks for all the support. I'm starting to feel like I can get through this now
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Dorthi, your post sounds encouraging. Of course you can get through this. I was a 40+ year, heavy smoker and when I got my diagnosis and surgery date, I quit cold turkey. But that is not for everyone. You will find what works best for you but by jove, we are all in your pocket. When you go for your surgery we will have a pocket party .... we are all jumping in. Don't despair, myself and others have been in your shoes and we all know what you are going through but we will walk with you through this journey!
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Dorthi, Good luck today I just had surgery about a little over a week ago.. So I am oin your pocket .. we are strong women .. you can get through this . I myself am struggling all the time .. smoking then quitting , then letting stress get to me and smoking again . its a journey and I gotta keep reminding myself not to beat myself up...but that also is hard .. My nipples look amazing now ... never thought i'd feel better about this .. but i do now.. I am in your pocket .. and got lots of snacks ... holding your hand from afar and wishing you warm healing hugs
Lisa Marie xoxoxoxox
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Thanks lisamarie! I needed to hear that this morning
Btw, love your avatar of the tattoo
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Thanks ..Dorthi, I got that tattoo and the word survivor under it .. my daughter is a big hello kitty fan... I really am wishing you the best for today ... xoxoxo
Lisamarie
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I'm always lurking in the background--and yes I'm still offering my e-book for free--just send me a PM with an email address. I'm very excited since it's being professionally edited and formatted, a new cover is in the works and it will be in printed format soon.
The cravings eventually do go away if you work at changing your mind set. Cravings can come up even years later--I call them "out of the blues" cravings since they seem to come out of the blue. Yet often they can be traced back to a smoking memory. Nicotine hijacks our brain and infiltrates parts of our memory and becomes linked with so many things. Habit cigarettes--like with coffee, driving etc--often we think they are the hardest ones to quit--but they are the easiest---because we get to practice them so often. It takes about 30 times of doing something different for a "habit" to change. Have your coffee 30 times in a row without your cigarette and that connection is broken. have you ever heard of someone buying a nw car and not wanting to smoke in it? Soon they just don't smoke in their car and it's not an issue for them.
But for somethings associated with a cigarette in our mind--we don't do them very often, certainly not 30 times, but our brain remembers that connection--so that even years later we do something that triggers that connection in our brain and our brain screams----when I do this I get nicotine--where is it?--and that is what we call a craving--but just a memory of a connection we used to have.
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Ladies, VJ's book is filled with useful information. Highly recommend it for those working on getting cigs out of your life. I am 14 months out and while it gets easier, it is still not gone completely from our minds.
Lisamarie, you are so darn cute girlfriend with that Hello Kitty tat! xoxo
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LisaMarie, good to hear that you are healing well. You sound amazing and I'm glad to hear that you have found what you are looking for during the many surgeries. Now that's over, you can concentrate on the "other things" in your life that you want to deal with but remember, one at a time. You know we are all here for you .... now go get them girl!
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Thank you Judi. I have so much on my mind, weighing heavy is my heart. . I don't know what to do with my life anymore. My finances suck.. stuff is so hard to deal with both physically and emotionally. My mom being sick is really bugging me .I wish I could go to her. I hate when things are so confusing and heart wrenching. On the flip side my veggies are doing really well. My daughter is having a hard time in Arizona and wants to go back home to North Carolina . My older daughter has to move at the end of the month and she is pregnant and overwhelmed . I have not spoken to either of my sons . I just hate coming here sometimes because all I do is bitch and be sad . there will come a moment of clarity and a moment of peace and joy . I am just sitting on the ledge waiting for it .
xoxoxo
Lisa Marie
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LisaMarie - So sorry to hear that is sounds like everything is at sixes & sevens. I didn't realize your Mom is sick. Hopefully it's something minor? I wish you could find a way to go out there too. Is your daughter in AZ close to your Mom? What ever happened with the wedding dress fiasco? Did you get your money back? How is the healing coming? Don't forget - you must take care of yourself first - physically & emotionally. You can't help any of them if you're not "refreshing" your self.
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