Stop Smoking Support Thread
Comments
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WOW VJ - great interview. And the costume on the header is great. And congrats on the passage of PROP 56 in CA. Just a few highlights:
Everything will work for some people; No one method will work for everyone.
Start breaking your habits ahead of time; postpone the smoke with the morning coffee; lock the smokes in the trunk of your car & don't smoke in the car; etc.
List the GOOD reasons to quit - what you're working toward rather than what you're missing
On a personal note, I never would have recognized you from your voice. It's just not what I hear in my brain when I think of you. Were you raised in CA? Anyway, you certainly don't sound like a valley girl (LOL - insider joke - I know, wrong valley).
REALLY great interview. Everyone should listen.
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VJ - as a P.S. - I'm looking forward to coming to San Diego either 2017 or 2018. Strange that I was raised in CA and never made it that far south. Actually I don't think I've seen the Salton Sea either. I hope I can drive out & have lunch with you. I've now met 5 different BCO members and enjoyed each encounter. OK - none of them smoke, but as everyone on this thread remembers, I promised to come back East in 2024 when all of us smokers & ex-smokers will get together. Well, I never gave you all a date before, but really that's only 7 years!!! If you're still yearning for just one puff (oh no Mr. Bill), that will be the time when those of us who love you can put that darn thing out.
For those of you who are still trying - it's a day by day thing. We will always be smokers - just smokers who are not smoking. So..... just for today I will not smoke.
Leslie - is it getting better?
LisaMarie - starting to worry!!!
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Thanks Minus Two for checking in on me...I haven't told anyone, but tomorrow is Q day. We will see if I can follow through.
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Hang in there girl. It's a royal bitch but you can do it. Hopefully the time is right.
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Well, I've been up an hour.....lol
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Good luck Leslie! You CAN do this! If I can (and all of us here on this thread) anyone can. It make take a lot of tries, but if we keep working on it, that is all we can ask of ourselves. This is really hard...we know how hard so we are here for you.
VJ, I will listen to that later. Thanks for sharing it. I am at work and so must wait until I get a break.
Minus, 2024 is only 7 years from now???? WOW..never thought of it that way. Seems like it should be much longer than that..LOL xo
Hi Judi, Bosum and LisaMarie! xoxo
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Thanks MinusTwo. I was born in Seattle but moved to the California desert in 1984. I don't think the Coachella Valley has a sound?? Unless it is -- too many transplants and retirees here. Salton Sea is not worth the drive IMO. It's not the resort place that it was many years ago. Lots of broken down buildings, it stinks. Only interesting spot is the mud pots and geothermal activity on the east side but that is a very long drive away. But I love San Diego -- if I were to move from the desert, that would be an area I would love to live in. Lots to see and do there. Let me know when you plan on being there and I'd drive over (unless you wanted to see some of Palm Springs).
Congratulations Leslie on taking that important first step in setting a date. This first day is the time to be really kind and gentle with yourself. Do things that you enjoy and --- breathe ---- you can be smoke-free for this minute, and then the next minute. Just take it one minute, one hour at a time. We all have your back here.
I worked hard on Prop 56 -- it's a $2.00 tobacco tax in California. This is the third time we have tried to get one passed and this time we actually did it.
I am also do volunteer work for the Cancer Support Community and I will be going to Washington DC at the end of the month to talk about health insurance and how it affects cancer patients. In the past 6 years, I've had 5 different policies. I've always had an individual policy because I've always been self-employed and I'm really scared that the ACA will be repealed without a good replacement and I won't be able to get insurance. My hope is that there will be a better replacement for the ACA but I worry that some of the protections of the ACA will be lost --such as denial for pre-existing conditions, life-time caps. I have 3 years and 4 months before I can get Medicare and now I hear they want to privatize Medicare. I don't understand how a for profit company can be cheaper and better than a no profit system? In the past I really worried that even with insurance I was one medical emergency away from bankruptcy and now I'm worried I won't even be able to get insurance. At one time the president-elect was for universal coverage -- I hope he still believes in that.
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I heard on the news today from one of the Republican Senators that they have their plan ready to go and it will take about a year. The plan is going to "try" to keep pre-existing conditions but he doubts it so you would go into a high risk pool which would then be subsidized by the feds somewhat - not sure what that looks like. If you are looking for good insurance, they elected the wrong person imho. That is not going to be. He believes in free market privatization. I live in the "Insurance State" (CT) and all they care about is PROFIT and they will gouge you every way they can.
BTW, if you want to know why the big increases in ACA happened and why companies dropped out it was to protest the feds denying a merger between Humana and I think BCBS (Blue Cross but it could be Aetna or another company) and they basically said if they were not approved, they would pull out. They THREATENED us. Elizabeth Warren called them in for a hearing and they did not like that so they made it look like ACA was losing them money. It is NOT...they are just GREEDY!
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I want one soooo bad right now. I've made it all day, but right now? I want to jump in the car and buy some. Sigh. Trying not to. Don't know if I"m going to win.
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April - and many states (like mine) refused to get with the program so almost all of the companies who were originally offering ACA here are now gone. We have the highest rate of residents with out heath care of any state in the nation. Shameful!! If the country moves towards a plan to give money to the states to handle health care - we are royally screwed. The men in Austin will use it to file ridiculous, money wasting law suits against the government and any organization that might want to help education, or health care, etc or for something like subsidizing Rick Perry on Dancing with the Stars.
Let's keep our fingers crossed about honoring pre-existing conditions. That is a MAJOR issue. Hopefully there will be more groups like AARP who will fight that kind of change.
I'd like to see Congress get the same health plan benefits that they vote for the rest of the nation. And the same retirement benefits through Social Security that the rest of us have. That would open some eyes.
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Leslie - if you absolutely have to have one - find someone to bum from rather than buying. And hopefully you will bum regular if you smoke menthol - or vice versa. Won't be as good. I kept 4 or 5 in the freezer for months after I quit just as a security blanket. I could open the freezer door and cry, then I'd go for a walk w/o giving in.
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Leslie2016 -- Just look at how many you haven't smoked today. Look at the craving that you have made it through. When dealing with a strong craving think of these five steps:
You need to recondition your brain to stop the automatic thoughts that nicotine has planted. It takes time. If you only change your behavior and not your thinking, you may relapse or turn to something else such as food.
Whenever a craving comes up, use these steps to change the way you think about smoking and having a craving. You can use these steps when you first quit and at any time in the future:
1. "I'm having a desire to smoke right now." Recognize you are having a desire to smoke. This is normal. The craving will go away whether or not you smoke. Just let it run its course.
2. "I can smoke at any time, I'm not deprived." Nobody is taking your cigarettes away from you. It is your choice. Remember what smoking is really depriving you of that is more important: your money, health, and freedom.
3. "I'm a puff away from a pack a day." It's easy to fall into the trap of having "just one". Don't kid yourself that your willpower is stronger than a nicotine addiction.
4. "Right now I have a choice to make for myself. Either I give in to this temporary discomfort and go back to the constant misery of smoking, or I can accept this temporary discomfort and work through it for . . ." (name one of your "Benefits of Becoming Smoke-Free").
5. "At this moment, I willingly accept this temporary discomfort because I want . . ." (then list your "Benefits of Becoming Smoke-Free"). Focus on your personal values that are truly important to you that smoking is depriving you of.
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VJSL, thank you, that list is really good. I actually took a pic of it off my screen so I can have it handy.
Yeah, I failed. Went and bought a pack. It's my fault...was feeling so strong yesterday morning, I didn't bother putting a patch on. I was good until I knew my company was leaving...then I went into bad craving mode. I'm going to start again tomorrow. I'll put on a patch, go out buy more patches and go for it again.
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There is no failure until you stop trying. It was a "practice run" and what you learned was to not forgot to use the patch.
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Ok. Just smoked my last smoke. No more in the house. I have a patch on so we will see what tomorrow brings. I really need to make it this time. For my own sanity, I hope I can stop self-talking me out of it.
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Leslie - we're with you in tomorrow's adventure.
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37 hours so far and holding. I keep feeling like I should reward myself...by having a smoke. lol
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Congratulations!!!
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high five! and NO!
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Leslie - Good going girl. You're on the way. Rewards are ALWAYS good. How about a special 'out to dinner' treat? It could even start with "S" - like steak instead of smoke.
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You're no fun April.
You neither MinusTwo. Fine. I'll do it your way.
45 1/2 hours and counting.
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RIGHT ON - 45+ HOURS. Oh, you posted an hour ago so almost 47,. Seriously, do find ways to reward yourself. It doesn't have to be food. Hmmmm - "S" words - slippers? scarf? skin tight jeans? Oh I've got it - Sapphires!! After 48 hours you can pick any letter you want, but don't scrimp on interim rewards. Even if they are really small, like allowing yourself to sit and read a book instead of moping the floor.
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Funny - I actually remember counting the hours the last & final time I quit. Some people prefer not to count and to try to forget the time passing. I liked to note that one more hour as a notch in my belt. And I actually marked down hours on a piece of paper.
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Went Shopping with my best friend today. Bought jeans and yoga pants, had a lovely lunch together. That's my reward for today. Don't get to spend enough time with her, so it was perfect.
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Made it to day 3....3 is one of the "bad" days, right? 3 days, 3 weeks, 3 months? Something like that. So far, so good. Keeping my patch at step 2 for this week, hoping when this box is done to go down to step 3 next week with my chemo. Maybe 2 weeks on step 3, then off them. We shall see.
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YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Leslie - good going. On a positive note about "3" - think how wonderful it is when the little ones progress to Three after the Terrible Twos.
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I think my kids were worse at 3 than at 2! lol
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So I've hit 67 hours smoke free. No, I'm not sitting here calculating it; I downloaded an app to my phone that I started once I had my last smoke Sunday night and it tracks it for me. It's a pretty cool app....tells me how many smokes I've not smoked, how much money I've saved so far, if you go into the progress area you can tap on a health part and it tells you when things like your oxygen levels or taste buds are back at 100%. I like that part....it reminds me I'm doing this for a reason.
Going to go brush my teeth again....
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Leslie - sounds like a really interesting app - especially the health part. Do you mind sharing the name?
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