Topic: Stop Smoking Support Thread

May 28, 2020 08:25PM VJSL8 wrote:

Hi HB -- It makes total sense that sense that you would relapse now ---- none of us have ever experienced such disruption in our lives. Although, I do feel my medical issues have given me life skills to handle this better than I would have. But the survival part of our brain says -- where is my old friend? the one who always gives me comfort and will get me momentary pleasure. Yup-- our survival instinct is activation during stress and these times are stressful.

I agree with MT -- what can you do that can give you comfort within your situation? For me -- I go out to the garden and dig some dirt. Each of us is different is what tools we use. I also use progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) -- when my Epstein Barr (EBV) flares, my nervous system goes into overdrive and PMR works really well for me to break me out of it.

Don't be so hard on yourself. I relapsed during chemo. I had been quit for 6 months and made it through surgery, radiation but I couldn't make it through chemo without my friends.

Instead of making quitting a goal right now, why not take the pressure off and instead the goal is to try different ways to cope when the urge comes up. We are all different and it might take you a few times to figure out what helps in one situation, what helps in another situation. Start building a tool box of tools Don't deny yourself a smoke, but just start practicing different ideas to see what does help.

It's like my EBV and using PMR to calm myself -- when my doctor explained what was happening to my nervous system, I researched and found that PMR disrupts the connection between my brain and my muscles and it calms me down. It's one tool for one situation for me. different situations need different tools.

Find your tools and then when the time is right, you will already have a toolbox full of things you can do. Good luck, I know you can do this.

Sep 7, 2020 09:33PM MinusTwo wrote:

Just posted this review on the Book Lover's thread. Sounds enticing. Hope all my old friends from this thread are doing well - smoking of not. No judgement.

As a former smoker, this is now on my book list. Wow - just look at the authors - Nicotine Chronicles:

In recent years, nicotine has become as verboten as many hard drugs. The literary styles in this volume are as varied as the moral quandaries herein, and the authors have successfully unleashed their incandescent imaginations on the subject matter, fashioning an immensely addictive collection.

From the introduction by Lee Child:

Food scientists have discovered a complex compound naturally present in, among other things, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants. The compound offers us a number of benefits: it improves our fine motor skills; it increases our attention spans; it improves our cognitive abilities; it improves our long- and short-term memories; it lessens depression...In and of itself, it has no real downside. It's called nicotine. We should all get some.

The problem is the delivery system...The most efficient way is to burn dried tobacco leaves and inhale the smoke. Ten seconds later, the compound is in your brain, doing good in all its various ways. Unfortunately, the rest of the smoke doesn't do good. And therein lies a great mystery of human behavior. To get the good, we risk the bad. Or we prohibit ourselves the good, for fear of the bad. Which approach makes more sense?

Featuring brand-new stories by: Lee Child, Joyce Carol Oates, Jonathan Ames, Eric Bogosian, Achy Obejas, Michael Imperioli, Hannah Tinti, Ariel Gore, Bernice L. McFadden, Cara Black, Christopher Sorrentino, David L. Ulin, Jerry Stahl, Lauren Sanders, Peter Kimani, and Robert Arellano.

Sep 8, 2020 12:43AM - edited Sep 8, 2020 12:44AM by AliceBastable

Tangandchris, I quit two years ago, I think on the 10th of September. I remember I asked both the breast surgeon and oncologist about smoking, and they both said that of course it's not a good idea for general health reasons, but it's not really tied to breast cancer. But then I found out I had kidney cancer just as I had my lumpectomy, and the urologist told me at my first appointment that I HAD to quit before my kidney was removed. Funny, if I hadn't been a smoker I'd have gotten a pre-op chest x-ray, but the oncologist had me get a chest CT for a better look at my lungs, and that picked up enough of my kidney to find the tumor on it. So smoking may have saved my life, in a roundabout way. It was a good-sized tumor of a nasty type.

I used the patch to quit. Hubby and I went out of town for a few days, and early in the morning on the return day, I ditched my last pack and lighter, and sat in the passenger seat and crocheted for five hours on the road. I used the first group of about 10 patches (the strongest ones), then moved into phase 2, with a lower dose of nicotine in them. After a few days, since I hadn't had a single craving, I stopped using them. I still haven't craved one, even when I've inadvertently walked into someone else's smoke. I wish I'd known how easy it would be for me, because I'd have quit years ago. But maybe I needed a scary incentive to re-set my priorities.

Sep 9, 2020 12:10AM - edited Sep 9, 2020 12:11AM by AliceBastable

If it helps to add to the "Scare that cigarette out of your mouth" technique, smoking wrecked my teeth. In my year from hell in 2018 (2020 is an amateur in my experience!), my teeth were starting to crack because they were hollow, even the front ones. My Mom died in January that year, and one thing that was a relief was that she passed a few weeks before my teeth started breaking - she was 97 and still had all her teeth! I'd have been so embarrassed if she'd seen mine breaking. So I had the top ones pulled and got dentures. At least I had a few months to get used to them before the cancer crap hit the fan. So, a warning of what can happen to your teeth AND your kidneys from smoking. But I probably never listened to other people's scare stories while I smoked.

Nov 10, 2020 04:44PM MinusTwo wrote:

Bumping for those trying to quit now. I miss all you guys that posted here.

If everyone's disappeared, how will we have lunch back east in four more years?

Nov 10, 2020 05:22PM - edited Nov 10, 2020 05:23PM by MinusTwo

abi - yup. I think most of us still want one sometimes. I'm fortunate that I've made it 13 years. But that was the 3rd time I'd seriously tried. The first time I made it 2 years. SIGH.

That doesn't mean that I don't still occasionally DREAM about smoking. And still probably once a month I think 'oh a smoke would be so nice'. Like yesterday. I worked out in the yard for several hours and when I finished I really wanted to sit down with a coke & a smoke. Settled for the coke (meaning cola)

Hang in there. It's a royal bitch. Hopefully you can find a good substitute to reward yourself. For delayed rewards, the money saved is amazing - but that's not much help when your back's up against the wall.

This was always s a good discussion. Maybe others are having the same issues.

Nov 10, 2020 07:25PM MinusTwo wrote:

Abi - please do check back in. Every one of us that ever posted here understand the issue and we're rooting for you. Yup - exercise bike might help.

Tang&Chris - how are you doing in your struggle with this beast?