I QUIT SMOKING , YOU CAN TOO. I QUIT SEPT 27, 2012, SUPPORT EACH OTHER HERE

Thanks for getting back to me, Anon. One quick thing. Thanks for talking about the masking. I too found that the cigs really covered a myriad of feelings for me. Allowed me to stuff a lot of shit down. If I was pissed, I'd have a smoke. Anxious, a smoke. Bored, a smoke,,,,on and on. I called smokes my emotional 7UP. They gave me the pause that refreshed. Once the cig was gone, all that stuff has been coming-up.

Also, the world looks alot bigger without the constant smoke screen I put-up. At times, it's a big anxious Yikes for me (these days, if they made an action figure based on me a lot of kids would be disappointed, "Come-on little, Timmy, play with your BxMac action figure - Aw, Ma, Do I have to? The thing just rocks back and forth in terror."). On the other hand, when I'm happy these days, I'm really freaking happy. When I laugh, it's full and satisfying. Grateful, the same thing. All of it real. All of true. I'll take it all with great gratitude.

Nice meeting you, Anon. Looking forward to celebrating your three months here. Best to you and yours.

Happy (fake) end of the world :D

Hi, reporting again, now on my fifth day. I finally got some sleep yestarday (more like a blackout) and now feeling much better.
Most of the fisical aches are mild and Im begining to feel like a person again.
One curious thing, is today I woke up with a sore throat like when I smoke a pack in one night (night out with the boys).

But (real or not) I justify every discomfort as if its a healing symptom.

Tonight is the first big test as Im going out with my friends (dinner and dinks). I know I wont smoke, the test is to realize how much I ll suffer for not doing so ¿?
Of course Ill keep the booze to minimun, probably just beers.

BxMac, OP and the others, thx again for everything, and congrats on your milestones.

One more thing, those who quit and lives with a smoker are superhuman, my hat off.
Ive tryed when I was married, but she didnt want to, and I never succeded.

I see statues to you in the future as a symbol of the power of will.

Dear God Almighty! What a day to be caught up in a GLP ban. I was just beside myself with fury and spent the day writing an imaginary letter to Trinity to explain why HE and HE ALONE was the reason I was going to start smoking again. Bastard! Who am I without my support group? Where am I if not getting up at 6:00 a.m. to post my day. It is day 11. The END of day 11. It took some searching but I went out to the porch and found another butt in a flowerpot. It was horrible. I hate myself. I hate Trinity. I then cleaned out the porch so I wouldn't do this again.

But I hate myself. I'm going to pretend it didn't happen. So it IS Day 11. What is WRONG WITH ME???

Dammit!

I'm now going off to find a forum where people discuss emphysema and copd. That will make me grow up.

I can't seem to grow up. Oh misery. Misery. Misery.

Eleven days and I am not perfect. Just torturing myself. Why am I torturing myself? Why am I doing this? I cannot believe the power of the addiction demon. That demon sounds so damn reasonable. He can talk his way around everything sane.

ARGGGGGHHH!!!!

For you new guys. Don't smoke. Not ever again. Not one puff. Take it from a grumpy woman who has slept with the demon. It ain't all its cracked up to be...

"Cigarettes create the void. They don't fill it."

Craving is just a void. Fill it with something. What shall I fill it with? Besides licorice? And cranberry juice? Maybe I'll take up drinking. Maybe it is just sadness and I have to live the sadness until its gone. I hate me right now.

The light at the end of the tunnel doesn't have to be an oncoming train or a horde of smokers lighting up... It could be florescent unicorns with rainbow arses...

Now I'm not making sense. Man oh man....

I have now filled in a username so now I don't have to be called Anon.



Just stay open to everything you're feeling now. You're having to deal with emotions and issues you avoided before. It can only go up from here! I'm in the same boat and have a long way to go, but I'm determined to conquer it and not let anxiety control me any more than I would let tobacco control me.



I can only speak for myself, but I'm definitely not superhuman lol. Vaping is what helped get me through it. I didn't feel like I was missing out on anything. From there I just had to change my attitude to that of a non smoker. Thanks for the kind words though! Congrats on your 5th day. That is awesome progress. Drinking lots of water is a great way to help detox. The air could have been dry while you slept too.



Cheer up, Grumpy! You need to change your negative thoughts. It's not about giving in to temptation, but how many you haven't smoked. One little butt does not negate all of the progress you have made. Kicking an addiction takes time, effort, and willpower. No one is perfect at it. Focus on the fact that you're trying to do something positive for yourself. And after giving in, you picked right back up where you left off determined to do better. That is something to be proud of, right? As for your void, you might have to work harder and occupying the void until you figure out what's causing it. Try doing something you enjoy to take your mind off things and give you something positive to do. Above all, don't hate yourself. You're still awesome and worthy of appreciating yourself and your hard efforts.

Aww Grumpy, you didn't!

So what though, you're going to make it, it's all about the right mindset and remember that we only count the successes and not the failures

You can do it, you did it for 11 days, next time will be 12 or better

Quit for 3 days cold turkey. Then start using the E-cig. The e-cig will be more welcomed at that stage. You will find out that nicotine is not the biggest thing that your addicted to. I have been 2 years on the e-cig and lungs feel so much better. After several months you can slowly work your way down in nicotine strength or keep using it like I did.

Exactly..... well said

Nicotine isn't all that addictive, imo. Even freebased with ammonia, people really should be past the nicotine dependency within the first week or two. I think it's the whole tobacco alkaloids that make it so hard for people to quit. That is why gum, patches, etc. are often a poor replacement for tobacco when trying to quit.

DF, Has faith in you, don't beat your self up, beat the demon down. I DIDN'T SIGN IN, BUT IT IS da FOX.

I will friend. DF

Grumpy - Whoa, is it nice to hear from you.

I missed you, sister, and have come to rely on your presence here at our collective sides in this walk. It seems we've made a committment to ourselves and each other (our loose and shifting confederation of like-minded people joined together in a common cause) with each of us bringing our own unique insights, experiences, strenghts and imperfections to the cause. In short, we bring our humanity (warts and all). For me, whether you like it or not, this thread just wouldn't work for me the way it does if you weren't here. You're very valued, Grumpy.

So you picked a clip from a flower pot after 11 days smoke free. Let's see, did you knock someone over the head and steal their last crumpled bills to feed your raging jones and addiction? Did the coppers show-up to pinch and cuff you as you caught a case? Did you hear the twang of Johnny Cash's guitar or the rasp of his voice telling of a train going by Folsom Prison? No, Grumps. You simply picked a clip from a flower pot because that's what we do. What we know. I've been to some dark places in my time (cue the soft strains of a cello in the middle of a dirge) and I can tell you that those clips, where you might get five full stale huffs if your lucky, have been some of the best smokes of my life. They were the ones that delivered. The ones that counted. The ones that mattered out of the tens of thousands I simply smoked by rote. You may know why you smoked. You may not know why you smoked. For whatever reason, in that moment, you smoked. No harm. No fucking foul, Grumpy. Those 11 days are yours. Period.

That you came here and gave us a piece of your heart is something I will never be able to repay you for. All I can say is thank you. I am, as I have been and will be, so grateful you have allowed us the privildge of getting to know you.

And you are one funny, crazy, nic-fiending Canadian, Grumps. The ban and imaginary letter to Trinity riff had me in tears. Funny, funny. What a fucking pair of whacks we are. I so get it. So tomorrow is day one, or tomorrow is day 12 less 33 seconds. Your call. Nothing's changed except you've given yourself a new bit of information. A new reference point (and that you didn't have to go all the way to the car ashtray for the clip shows that even your time management skills are improving by being off the smokes). I believe you can do whatever you desire, Grumps. You've got a pal in me.

Still smoking, not proud nor ashamed, I just like it.

Good to hear you, Anon. Day Five with sleep and limited aches! Congratulations. Big stuff. Really happy for you.

It feels like you went through it and you're doing great. Looked at it and then you went right through it. Solid in your committment to yourself. By now you're either out to dinner (and drinks -cuidado and tranquilo, por favor) or back home. In either event, please let us know how you did.

Day five is huge. So glad you let us know it's working. Stay close. All best.

I hear you, Anon 374. Neither good nor evil for some Just is.

For me, it was something that stopped working for me. Found myself working for it. Fuck that.

If ya got 'em, smoke 'em. Nothing but a thang, Ese.

I'm on day 13 of cold turkey and feeling better, was a struggle last week as body went into shock and made me feel really I'll :(

Ah, the Anon Flower, Nice to formally meet you with a name. Glad you're here.

Anon UK, we're at about the same day count nic free. Congratulations. It would be nice to have another person going through this with us so I hope you continue to check-in when your schedule allows (I'm all formal in my attempt to speak the King's English). We put our bodies through the wringer and I guess the attendant shock of recovery is simply evidence of us bouncing back (our bodies are pretty amazing withstanding and recovering from the beatings we've given them) and doing a wobbly-legged Lazarus of sorts. Picking-up our pallets as it were. In any event, congrats on going through the shit and getting to 13 cold turkey. Unlimited possibilites ahead for us all. Hope to see you again.

Posting fool this evening/early morning. Taking it down, but before it slips....

RIGGS! Three Months Today! Happy Anniversary!

You're Money, Riggs. Golden.

Many, many, more. A mighty accomplishment. Congratulations.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas (all day, everyday, Riggs).

Day 1. She said, tersely.

:)

Day 6
Woohoo, great night last night. I was worried about the cravings so I took some nic gum (chewed 3) just to stay cool.
At first the smell was disgusting, then as my brain recalls past events with the aid of the alcohol the smell wasnt that bad (here I got my first gum), by 2 AM and 2 1/2 litres of beer (9 of US beer cans)and a couple of tequila shots, the smell was almost nice. Surely tempting...

Alltoghether it wasnt that hard, and it probably would be much easier without the booze, but I was happier than hell of been able to went through the detox and been able to enjoy the night with my friends without the cancer sticks.

After tuesday I probably wont be around much because Im intending to go a couple of weeks to the country. Its a small house that the family uses for vacations and stuff.
I think I will check in once or twice a week.

33 hours more and it will be a week.

Okay. Really Day 12 for the generalist who can forgive a flowerpot transgression.

You're all doing so well. I'm proud of us. Well, not me just yet but almost.

:)

Grumpy it take courage to confess publicly you slipped (not failed) but takes even more to last those initial 11 days, dont beat yourself, Im sure if it happened to me I ll be smoking the next day again (all wasted mentality) but you brave up and carry on.
We are only human ;)

it's that all or nothing mentality i'm trying to cure myself of... one transgression does not a pack a day smoker make... she said to herself... over and over and over again...

Okay, so is there really at the end of this long tunnel a unicorn belching rainbows happy because its not smoking? Or does it ever leave us? This craving stuff? I honest to god forget every 10 minutes or so why on earth I quit smoking... I quit because I had a cough that wasn't going away for months. It's gone now. Imagine. It was gone almost at day 3. Yet I can forget all that in an instant!

McBax/aka BxMac aka MacBx, we really are similar. It's very scary. Stop that! lol

Carry on everyone. I just came in for my evening grumpiness...

Off to read the Emphysema support forums. That reminds me of reality if we continue to smoke. We need to get mad at the tobacco companies again. Have we done that lately? For dickering with the nicotine levels? For advertising to kids?
They are almost as bad as bankers. Maybe worse.

Any space for a peace pipe, df?

Ooooooold happiness, it just never ends, does it, df. Well, old happiness, once there was a way to get back home - Golden Slumbers fill your eyes.

[link to www.youtube.com]

Only very few of us know what this medley is about, op.

Why thanks to George??? And why is this thanks so short? Did you notice who was missing?