Stop Smoking Support Thread
Comments
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Our Beautiful Butterfly is Back!
So sorry to hear about your friend...I wish we could find a cure soon so no more young women have to go through this battle.
I have 7 months under my belt and there are days/weeks that I do not think about smoking at all so there is hope for all those who are trying to quit. I was a die hard, chain smoking, 20+ years smoker who used cigs as a de-stressor, boredom buster and for emotional comfort...I still have friends who are in awe that I am a non-smoker.
Hugs!
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Hi ladies
I love that I found this thread. I KNOW that I must give up smoking, but find it hard. Must admit I have a lot of reasons why I should smoke! Now that they are others out there also battling with their nicotine addiction, I do feel more motivated.
Hugs
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Hi, I can relate to the reasons to smoke, too. I have not smoked except for a few puffs of others, since Labor Day 09. I am on a short casino trip next week and SO tempted to buy a pack to take for the 4 days. I Know my dh will be smoking some, he cheats in the garage now. I think I requested a nonsmoking room, so that will be helpful.
I guess if I just stay in the nonsmoking section of the casino I can pull it off. Gonna be hard to avoid drinks, too. Not sure I'll even try for that one.
Even if I don't pull off NO smoking, I will do as the Chantix intstructions said---just consider it a misstep and return to non smoking ASAP.
Ok, I'm just babbeling now.
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Hi Ladies, this thread doesn't seem to be very busy of late? Anyway I'm popping in to say... 22 days and counting being smoke free. Not one puff and not one desire to puff. I have been very surprised by it. I am so thankful that God took the desire away. Now, I just wish he would take the pain of rads away. I am down to the final 8 boosts and the first 2 have been painful. If I was ever going to smoke it would have been yesterday. I seriously thought about it. But I didn't!!!!!
Congrats to all who are quitting, have already stopped and are thinking about it.
Renee
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Hey there...I am so proud of all of you! FYI...I am down to literally 3 or 4 cigs a day. IF that! I just found out another woman in my life, a VERY important woman in my life just had a mammogram come back irregular. I'm scared. She's going to be 49 this year, and has a family history of BC. So, she may too be on here...=) Thank God for this site, and for all of you.
O2B I am SUPER proud of your 7 months! You GO GIRL!
Susanmary, iodine, and mimi...I don't know you ladies yet, but I am super proud of you 3 as well!
Well...it's been a day..and I don't know how you all do it...because I am exhausted! I'm gonna hit the sheets! I love you all, and will have you all in my prayers!
Much Love To All
~*BELIEVE*~
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Hope it is ok to ask this but is anyone battling emphysema along with breast cancer, my sister has IDC stage 2 grade 2 and was just told she has emphysema.
Thanks,
Deb
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Hi Ladies,
Haven't been around for a while but wanted to post that our dear friend and sister, MB Scruggs, was taken away by the angels last night. Rest in peace Mary Beth. We will always remember you.
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This is heartbreaking pantufas, I am out of word to say how sad this makes me feel. Thank you for letting us know.
Welga
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OMG Pantufas, HOW did she die, surely not from the cancer. Unless I missed that she was a stage 4???? Thank you for letting us know.
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Pantufas - OH NO! I am so sorry to hear that MB lost her battle...her family is in my thoughts and prayers!
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I knew that mb had mets and she quit posting here. I don't know what stage. Her college room mate told me this morning. I was so shocked and saddened I didn't think to ask if it was the cancer. Her sons posted photos for her this morning on fb. My heart soared to think that we were finally hearing from her and that she was okay. Only moments later did her dear friend send a pm to me to let me know of her passing. It was with her blessing that I posted here because she didn't think Mike would think of it in his grief. There will be a new star in the heavens tonight.
God bless all of you, I have missed you very much!
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I am just so saddened and shocked. I went back and checked her post last one Aug.
She said, on July 10 they found cancer was on her spine and mass on her lungs.
Please convey our sorrow to her family. Yes, your right a new star is looking over us tonight taken far to quick.
She was diagnosed NOV 08 with BC.
God Bless you all,
Malle
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I disappeared for awhile and now I am back but had a hard time finding this thread since the last post was Jan 30th.
I don't have time to go back and read everything from January but how is everyone doing with their non-smoking?
Last time I was active in this thread I had quit for 6 days and then dangit started up again.
I didn't even try quitting again for another 3 weeks.
So here I am on day #4 of not smoking - had to take a valium to control my nerves because I am wound up so tight right now.
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Janice - welcome back!!! I now have 9 months smoke free under my belt...not smoking has become my new habit and I don't think about very often (I am also not around it much either-I do find the old longing coming back if I am around smokers but I just have a little mental internal chat with myself and it seems to help).
Good Luck!!!
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Michele - thanks so much for responding. It has been such a rough day. I about bit my hubby's head off all because I was having major anxiety attacks/withdrawals. It took everything I had to not go buy a pack today. I still feel like crap, I still want to smoke. I just enhaled a couple of pain meds along with some lorazepam to help with the anxiety. I just want to pass out and fall asleep and start all over again tomorrow.
Why does it have to be this freaking hard? I am so emotionally attached to those stupid things. Of all weeks to try to stop it seems like I was getting beat down hard with personal issues and stress all week long starting on Monday and here it is only Wednesday. My hubby even invited me to go out and eat dinner instead of cooking but I was having a pity party, I was angry as heck and told him to go by himself. The thing is I am not angry AT HIM - he has done nothing wrong. It is his children that are driving me nuts right now.
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I made it through another day. I had plenty of opportunities when I was out and about to buy a pack but I didn't. I know I am safe for today since I won't be going anywhere by myself tonight.
Tomorrow I will be with my dh all day and all night long through Saturday around noon so again.....I won't be smoking as he has been begging me to quit for years. I haven't told him that I haven't smoked in 5 days now - I am waiting for him to say something such as "you don't stink anymore"
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Yea Janice!!! Way to go...one more day under your belt!
Isn't funny how we can stay strong when our loved ones are not in the loop but some how it is more difficult when they KNOW you are quiting...I used to get so frustrated because I was worried about failure and I did not want ANYONE to witness my failure...now I just feel a sense of relief that I am no a slave to cig's and I smell a lot better too
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Jancie,
Just wanted to pop in and say hi. I know exactly what you mean about how incredibly hard those first few days can be. I quit on January 18 and I swear for those first 5 days or so I was a wreck. All I did was lay on the couch and cry begging my husband to go get me cigarettes. Feeling like absolute crap physically. Every minute seemed like an hour! My husband ( a non-smoker)understood that it wasn't me talking. It was the nicotine withdrawal.
Somewhere around day 5 or so things got quite a bit better. Still not great but ALOT better. Then amazingly enough, around week 3, I went to count how many days it had been and said "wow, I can't believe it has ALREADY been 20 days" instead of "I can't believe it's ONLY been 5 (or whatever number of) days.
A few things that I read that helped is to drink lots of water to help flush out the nicotine. Eat regular small meals. When you smoke, the nicotine causes your body to release stored sugar which is why smokers can skip meals and not be hungry. When you quit it takes a few days for your body to figure out how to regulate your blood sugar levels. Some of the symptoms of nicotine withdrawal are actually due to low blood sugar levels. Get lots of rest when you can.
I am still a pretty new non-smoker (still have my training wheels on!) and do still have cravings (although that gets better every day too) but, I had never gone more than a day without smoking in 30 years so I am very happy.
When your husband finds out that you haven't smoked all week, he will be so proud of you and you should be very proud of yourself!
Michelle,
Congratulations on NINE months!!! I hope to be there one day myself. I know what you mean about not wanting to tell anyone that I had quit because if I failed, I would be so embarassed having to tell them I started again!
Jennifer
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Hi all - I quit last fall and here's what helped me the most:
1. Stopped smoking in my house or my car.
2. Weaned myself down to one a day, right after work, before the commute home.
3. Nicotine gum for physical cravings. Behavioral cravings were not bad due to #2.
4. Not telling anyone when I quit for good, not even DH, just skipped that after-work smoke one day to see if I could do it. I wanted no outside expectations, just my own.
Haven't had one since that day and now I'm quit for good. Good luck everyone, it's hard but you can do it too!
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Congrat Groundhog!!! Thank you for the encouragement!!!
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I have made it through day 7 now. Luckily dh and I went out of town on Friday and returned today so it was a no brainer that I couldn't smoke.
However, the best news is that I wasn't craving them. I only thought about it maybe 4 times those two days.
However, I will say that Thursday night was the night from hell. I got into a HUGE arguement with dh regarding my stepson (my stepson started the whole thing) and dh was being stupid about it. They both showed me such disrespect that I almost stayed home that night instead of going to ministry school with them but I knew if I did that, I would take my car up to Walgrens and get a pack so I forced myself to go. I didn't hear a word that was said, I was just too upset.
Stress is what drives me to smoke on an emotional level. Get into a fight with the hubby and the only thing on my mind is smoking! I finally shouted at him that night "you are so observant that you hadn't even noticed that I haven't been smoking!"
Thankfully I have members in the congregation that are truly supportive of me right now in my quest to quit smoking, they are not judgemental, just extremely encouraging and they helped me get through that night.
I am just worried that I will start up again. I have failed too many times. I talked to my friend that quit 15 years ago after smoking for 30 years and she said to this day she will have cravings here and there. I don't ever want to have cravings!!!
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I will quit smoking on March 1, 2010. It is such a bad habit and I plan to have the DIEP in the near future. I smoke a pack a day and need all the encouragment I can get. It is nice to know I am not alone. I had quit cold turkey before when the cigarettes made me sick, but lately I have really been enjoying them and think it is going to be real rough to quit this time because I am actually making a conscious decision to QUIT. So anyway it is great to have found this thread.
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I have picked my stop smoking day, March 1st, 2010.
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Congratulations on your decision Dutchy!
Groundhog had some good tips in her post. I also did the force myself to go outside to smoke for a month or so before I quit. That really helped to cut back my smoking drastically since, I am in the Northeast and it's freezing in January! I didn't ever make it all the way down to one though.
Best of luck!
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Dutchy - congratulations! I will be here supporting you the entire way!
I also cut down the amount I smoked from 10 cigarettes to 3 a day for over a week before I finally quit all together. In addition I got a prescription for Chantix from my doctor - there is no generic and it costs $44 for a month. This is the first anti-smoking gimmick that actualy works. The reason it works is that it takes away ALL of your physical cravings. But as most of us know.....it is the mental cravings that get the best of you and Chantix doesn't help with that so you need to find something that works for you in the mental department.
I am the first one to pick up a smoke when I am stressed out!!! It is what I have done for 30 years to deal with stress. This is why I have failed to quit time and time again. Also because I was trying to quit for my dh instead of for ME. So when he ticked me off - I would go smoke - in a sense rebelling against him - here I am trying to do something nice for him and he treats me like crap??? WTF?? Time for a smoke!!
This time I don't care what he thinks. I am doing it for myself and for myself only. When I get a sudden mental urge I take deep breaths, pray to God and count to 10 and I can get through it - or at least I have for 9 days now. Slamming cabinet doors is another great stress relief for me especially if my dh is around, then he knows I am really ticked off to the max.
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TIhanks for the encouragement. I have also recrited my Face Book family and friends to encourage me and what a wonderful response. Today I tested the waters to see how long I could go without a cigarette and I was able to go well over an hour. I have also taken the smoking to outside the house and it is fricken cold out there and I live in CA, but still smoked in the car today. Most of my triggers are work related as there is too much work and not enough help...I am a social worker and we are short on staff. I am so determined to quit because I am going to get the DIEP surgery and I do not want anything to interfere with me getting the surgery. I have delayed it for 9 years and now I am ready to get it. I am still in the process of getting the referral to the PS that I have chosen and getting the insurance to approve my decision. Well you ladies hang in there and we can do it. We just need to be here for each other. Jancie and Seaside- We can do this!!!
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Dutchy - I am glad that you have recruited some help!!! I never smoked in the house ever and I was getting tired of going outside in a snow storm to smoke but hey.....when you want a smoke,you will go out in the driving rain if you need to.
If you are short on staff - yes....more stress on you but doesn't that also cut into your time of taking smoke breaks? Maybe use that to your advantage. When you want to smoke, pick up a stack of papers instead and do something! Start slamming cabinet doors - it works well for me!
The car trips are the hardest for me especially when I have to drive 1 hour to see my horse. That is when I have to fight myself to not pull over and buy a pack. I do a lot of deep breathing and praying to God to give me strength to get through it. Tomorrow I have to go see my horse, so I know I will have a battle on my hands.
Today I kept busy cleaning house, doing laundry, ironing, etc. I worked in the house for 6 hours straight then was too tired to go to the gym and work out!
Seaside - we are here to support you!
I have been on and off this thread since it started - now I am determined more than ever to quit so I won't be going anywhere. Staying down here in my basement office responding keeps my mind occupied and I can't smoke in the house so my computer is a safe place for me to be.
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Hi Dutchy,
It's good to kind of test the waters first.. The way I look at it, if you would have had 2 cigarettes in that hour and you only had one, you've already cut what you would have smoked in half! Are you going to use any of the stop smoking aids that are available? Sounds like Jancie has had good luck so far with Chantix. I did the cold turkey thing but, if I hadn't been able to do it, my doctor said he would prescribe Chantix for me as well.
Funny that you mentioned that having your DIEP done was a motivator for quitting. That was also on my list of reasons to quit. I am starting now with my first post treatment follow-up exams and imaging and thought if, god forbid, they find something else I will be having a mastectomy (or 2). I've heard that after radiation, it can be difficult to get good results with implants. I went for a consult with a surgeon and plastic surgeon who specialized in DIEP when I was first diagnosed and was considering a mastectomy. I know the plastic surgeon said she wouldn't even consider doing it unless I had been smoke free for 3 months. I want to have that option in case I need it.
Jancie,
I had to laugh about the going out in the driving rain comment. It brought back memories of when we went on vacation and booked kind of late. The only place that was available was non-smoking. We said that's OK, how much time do you spend indoors when you're at the beach anyway? Well, turns out if a tropical storm hits, you spend quite a bit of time indoors so there I was smoking away and trying not to drown or get blown away!
Just had my first long car ride this past weekend to pick up my daughter from college. It was a bit rough but, I did it. I expect it will get easier each time we do it. I agree staying busy is key! I did take it easy for the first few days basically because I felt so darned crappy. But when I started to feel better physically, staying busy helped alot (and still does) with mental part of it and I must say, my house is the cleanest it's been in a long time so there's a perk!.
Is the horse in the picture your horse? If so he/she is beautiful!
Anyway, thinking of you both and I KNOW we can do this!
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Another day has begun! This is my rough day - my one hour drive to see my horse!
Yes, Seaside, that is Jazzy, she is a throughbred/warmblood cross mare who will turn 5 years old in April. I owned her dam so I have had her since birth. She is quite a handful though. I thought I was going to hit the dirt at least 5 times last week when I rode her. We have issues with snow piling up on the arena roof and then it comes crashing down after the sun has been out for days so I was on her back when it felt and sounded like a mini avalanche. It was not the most pleasant ride to say the least!
I have 10 minutes and then I need to be out the door, time to take my morning Chantix, get together a big bottle of water, bag of carrots, etc. See ya'll later on tonight!
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Deep breaths in the car. And yeah, something to munch on is a great idea!
You can do this!!!!
I just re-read your post and hope the carrots were for you like I assumed and not for Jazzy! Or at the very least she will share. Lol
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