The "I quit" thread
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D
You have to be honest with how much you smoke. I believe every cig is 2-4 mg. of nicotine. Now with the Step 1 patch, that's like having 10 cigs a day perfectly evenly spaced over 24 hours. Granted, we're trying to cut how much nicotine we use, not raise it, so the best way (I thought) is to survive on half the nicotine you lived on when smoking.
Examples: If you smoke a pack of lights per day, then the Step 1 patch gives you how much you need. Don't add lozenges, gum, or vaping, because that increases the amount.
But, if you're like me and smoked over three packs a day, then I need the Step 1 patch plus 5-6 lozenges a day (each lozenge is like one cig.) That's half the nicotine.
Well, anyway, that's how I was handling it, and it worked for three and a half days. First time I ever got past 7 hours.
But I just failed. Now I have to pick up the pieces and try again.
Maybe I didn't take enough lozenges. Maybe half nicotine didn't work. I really wish I knew someone who could help me, because I can't help myself.
(And don't tell me to give it to God, because that didn't work either. Better, but better wasn't good enough.)
And, honestly? This thread could have been more helpful on another forum. I'm not single, so don't come to the single forum. The only reason I found this thread was because it hit the recently-responded-to list for a moment. But, that's probably just me grumpy I couldn't do it.
Examples: If you smoke a pack of lights per day, then the Step 1 patch gives you how much you need. Don't add lozenges, gum, or vaping, because that increases the amount.
But, if you're like me and smoked over three packs a day, then I need the Step 1 patch plus 5-6 lozenges a day (each lozenge is like one cig.) That's half the nicotine.
Well, anyway, that's how I was handling it, and it worked for three and a half days. First time I ever got past 7 hours.
But I just failed. Now I have to pick up the pieces and try again.
Maybe I didn't take enough lozenges. Maybe half nicotine didn't work. I really wish I knew someone who could help me, because I can't help myself.
(And don't tell me to give it to God, because that didn't work either. Better, but better wasn't good enough.)
And, honestly? This thread could have been more helpful on another forum. I'm not single, so don't come to the single forum. The only reason I found this thread was because it hit the recently-responded-to list for a moment. But, that's probably just me grumpy I couldn't do it.
D
How about I give you some reality/encouragement instead?
Why I am trying to quit.
Honestly? I figured it would kill me. I'd have a heart attack or die quickly from cancer. They have inhalers or oxygen for people who get COPD from it right? So, as long as the oxygen canister isn't on when smoking, we can keep going, right? (Oh, come on! Tell me I'm the only one who thinks like this.) Once we can't breathe, we suffocate in five minutes tops, right?
And then hubby -- a pack a day smoker -- got an unusual form of indigestion/heartburn on a Tuesday night. He googled it. That's what it was, not the other word. (The word we didn't say -- heart attack.) He's a smart guy. He's wrong once every ten year and I keep count of when he's wrong. He wasn't due being wrong for another eight years. It got worse and worse over the next four days. He couldn't lie down, or he couldn't breathe. He couldn't eat or he couldn't breathe.
On the fourth day he finally told me to take him to the VA hospital, (which isn't the closest hospital, but it's where he gets medical help.)
They whisked him in front of the ER line. While they were helping him a nurse told me his skin was so gray and he was having such trouble breathing she knew it was bad. I hadn't even noticed he was gray. All I noticed was how hard he was breathing. The fact that he didn't sleep for two days scared me too -- enough to skip buying food for Thanksgiving in case he needed me.
The last part of the conversation I heard between the ER doctor and him was "You can't breathe. You're dying, unless we put you on a ventilator now."
He responded, "Holy S***!"
Those words echoed for the next three months -- all that time he was on that vent, going through two separate heart surgeries, the second 32 days after the first, because he was too weak, got pneumonia, his kidneys shut down for a few days, got another unknown infection, and had to get better.
He quit smoking the hard way!
I listened to him breathing by a machine, and when they took the machine out, I watched the monitor religiously above his bed. When one number -- the amount of oxygen in his system -- hit 93, he began breathing hard again. When it hit 89, they put him back on the vent.
Scary thought. While smoking I sound like he did when he was struggling breathing. I'm probably down to 93% oxygen level. It's not a quick death. It's a slow painful death.
He's still recovering. I need to be healthy when he comes home... and I just failed, know he'll love me anyway, but I don't want to be caught crying in his room with all those people around, and I don't want to make him cry, which he will when he sees me cry this much.
I hailed. I have to try again, and dagnabit, I got all the way up to 80+ hours before failing!
It's something we have to do, and yet, I don't know how but to keep trying.
It's not necessarily a quick painful death. I never thought of that possibility before.
Why I am trying to quit.
Honestly? I figured it would kill me. I'd have a heart attack or die quickly from cancer. They have inhalers or oxygen for people who get COPD from it right? So, as long as the oxygen canister isn't on when smoking, we can keep going, right? (Oh, come on! Tell me I'm the only one who thinks like this.) Once we can't breathe, we suffocate in five minutes tops, right?
And then hubby -- a pack a day smoker -- got an unusual form of indigestion/heartburn on a Tuesday night. He googled it. That's what it was, not the other word. (The word we didn't say -- heart attack.) He's a smart guy. He's wrong once every ten year and I keep count of when he's wrong. He wasn't due being wrong for another eight years. It got worse and worse over the next four days. He couldn't lie down, or he couldn't breathe. He couldn't eat or he couldn't breathe.
On the fourth day he finally told me to take him to the VA hospital, (which isn't the closest hospital, but it's where he gets medical help.)
They whisked him in front of the ER line. While they were helping him a nurse told me his skin was so gray and he was having such trouble breathing she knew it was bad. I hadn't even noticed he was gray. All I noticed was how hard he was breathing. The fact that he didn't sleep for two days scared me too -- enough to skip buying food for Thanksgiving in case he needed me.
The last part of the conversation I heard between the ER doctor and him was "You can't breathe. You're dying, unless we put you on a ventilator now."
He responded, "Holy S***!"
Those words echoed for the next three months -- all that time he was on that vent, going through two separate heart surgeries, the second 32 days after the first, because he was too weak, got pneumonia, his kidneys shut down for a few days, got another unknown infection, and had to get better.
He quit smoking the hard way!
I listened to him breathing by a machine, and when they took the machine out, I watched the monitor religiously above his bed. When one number -- the amount of oxygen in his system -- hit 93, he began breathing hard again. When it hit 89, they put him back on the vent.
Scary thought. While smoking I sound like he did when he was struggling breathing. I'm probably down to 93% oxygen level. It's not a quick death. It's a slow painful death.
He's still recovering. I need to be healthy when he comes home... and I just failed, know he'll love me anyway, but I don't want to be caught crying in his room with all those people around, and I don't want to make him cry, which he will when he sees me cry this much.
I hailed. I have to try again, and dagnabit, I got all the way up to 80+ hours before failing!
It's something we have to do, and yet, I don't know how but to keep trying.
It's not necessarily a quick painful death. I never thought of that possibility before.
I am just going to throw a couple of things out there. If you are going to quit smoking, you usually need to address three different things. The degree these things have to be addressed is different for each person.
1) Physiological - this is the physical addiction to nicotine. Some have talked about using the patch, lozenges, gum, etc. for this. There are also medications that help.
2) Habit - There is a component of smoking that is habitual. Think about that cigarette that you just have to have when you drive, watch, television, are on the phone, or because it is your break at work.
3) Emotional/Social - Some people smoke as a means to manage stress and conflict. If this is how you cope, you have to find other means of managing your stress.
One of the biggest reasons for relapse is that folks only address the one issue of physical addiction and that's it.
1) Physiological - this is the physical addiction to nicotine. Some have talked about using the patch, lozenges, gum, etc. for this. There are also medications that help.
2) Habit - There is a component of smoking that is habitual. Think about that cigarette that you just have to have when you drive, watch, television, are on the phone, or because it is your break at work.
3) Emotional/Social - Some people smoke as a means to manage stress and conflict. If this is how you cope, you have to find other means of managing your stress.
One of the biggest reasons for relapse is that folks only address the one issue of physical addiction and that's it.
B
Hay Depleted , well i cant use the other forms i don't have a mic , or Skype so this is the only way i can talk to anyone but any ways i here you i tryed so many times to give it to God but all ways go right back to them . Wow three packs a day wow i have never met anyone that smoked so much . Well if you find someone who can help you let me know i could use help as well .
O
Hey Depleted. Well, bad luck. You slipped up. So that's not good, but it's not the end of the game. The gentleman Hoss2576 gave great advice about being careful with getting too much nicotine in your system and I wholeheartedly agree with him. It's just that I did whatever I could do to quit. Whatever. For me that meant hitting myself up with a lozenge even when I was wearing a patch. It meant removing every associated article of smoking that might have been laying around. It meant getting rid of a last cigarette in a pack in the trash. It meant butts in an ashtray (believe it or not). It mean ashtrays, lighters, matches, even tobacco crumbs. I wouldn't even go into places where they sold cigs for a while. I avoided people who smoked or smoking hangouts - the modern day leprosy centers.I went through my car and cleaned it thoroughly of any and all reminders even though I couldn't do anything about the burn holes. I washed my windows at home and made the place smell good and different. In short, I became a non smoker. I didn't smoke! I didn't. I don't smoke cigarettes and I don't stink and I don't avoid the dentist crying about teeth stains. My clothes didn't stink. I breathed better almost immediately and when I laid down at night to sleep I didn't have that crackle in my throat. It was revolutionary.
You know what the biggest thing was though? I was disappointing God. Not just myself; God. I really think that is what got me over the hump. It's a war, Depleted. These criminal cigarette makers have put in chemicals in their product that addict you to their brand so you will buy them again and again. Politicians have taxed the crap out of you for buying a product that's illegally addicting. These people are out to kill you and won't even know when your funeral is. One less lawsuit is their coronation.
God is challenging you to FREE yourself from these bonds and trust Him to deliver you through this storm. You are a non smoker. You don't smoke for the Glory of God. Whatever you are feeling, the urges, the nightmares, the anxiousness, the insomnia all are due to the illegal drug. Criminals are trying to sell you a means to get that drug into your bloodstream by essentially inhaling it so that the capillaries in your lung will quickly dispense it your bloodstream instead of the oxygen it needs. Who cares if it's smoke filled with carcinogens.
Quit for the Glory of God Depleted. Quit and crusade against these chemists and politicians by doing so. Best of luck.
You know what the biggest thing was though? I was disappointing God. Not just myself; God. I really think that is what got me over the hump. It's a war, Depleted. These criminal cigarette makers have put in chemicals in their product that addict you to their brand so you will buy them again and again. Politicians have taxed the crap out of you for buying a product that's illegally addicting. These people are out to kill you and won't even know when your funeral is. One less lawsuit is their coronation.
God is challenging you to FREE yourself from these bonds and trust Him to deliver you through this storm. You are a non smoker. You don't smoke for the Glory of God. Whatever you are feeling, the urges, the nightmares, the anxiousness, the insomnia all are due to the illegal drug. Criminals are trying to sell you a means to get that drug into your bloodstream by essentially inhaling it so that the capillaries in your lung will quickly dispense it your bloodstream instead of the oxygen it needs. Who cares if it's smoke filled with carcinogens.
Quit for the Glory of God Depleted. Quit and crusade against these chemists and politicians by doing so. Best of luck.