So I haven't had a cigarette all day. I can't formulate thoughts properly, anybody I talk to, I argue with and I can only complete basic actions without stress. Talking to a friend earlier on quickly turned into me snapping answers at her and a complete communications block, followed by me losing any energy I had and taking a half hour nap in her lap.
Even though I could go to sleep for the night now, (and I don't have any energy to stay awake,) I'd feel like I'd wasted a day, even though I have nothing to do. Little noises are loud, like the time there were rats... or mice...? or little children...? in the attic above me and I couldn't sleep for two whole weeks. Not because they were that loud, but the noise was insidious, like they were scrapping the floor up there to try and specifically annoy me. Paranoia.
I'm going for a fag.
Stopping smoking can be difficult, I guess that you are trying to stop?
I smoked for about 10 years and it took me 4 serious attempts to stop, I still don't know if I will stay off them forever but this time feels different somehow.
I couldn't even give you any advice on how to stop, except the pitfalls I fell into myself.
After stopping for several weeks, the first three times I failed each time by trying to remember what a cigarette tasted like and armed with the complacency of thinking I'd beaten them I thought sod it, I'll buy a packet and just have one. Problem was that it started the chain again.
All I can say is that you have to have your mind right before you try and stop.
Don't listen to the government bullshit.
They tell you stopping is hard because they want you to carry on smoking and pay the tax.
They even put psychological messages giving negative advice on fag packets like "these will kill you horribly" and I believe that it's designed to make you feel pathetic and trapped.
The adverts all say that it's difficult to stop.
When you're mind is right and you are ready to stop, you'll find it easy. After all most people sleep all night without the nicotene cravings waking them up and therefore go about 8 hours without a fag.
The last thing I'd say is don't replace it with patches or eating or drinking, smoking is drug addiction, it's not a habit and it's easy to replace one addiction with another.
Allen Carrs Easy way to stop smoking is a good book (but be careful if you read it as it worked for only 2 months for me before I got curious again and went back on the ciggies).
Thanks, Nick.
I've given up for a couple of months at a time twice already [strike]this year[/strike]in 2008 and I didn't really have that many problems. It was shit for a few days and then I was ok, until I started smoking again.
This time, I'm thinking about them alot more. That's not even the worst part, though. I'm getting headaches and I have no energy but I couldn't sleep at all last night no matter what I did, and after waking up at ten this morning for the 100th time I decided to get up and get a drink. Then I went back to bed for a snooze and didn't wake up til the late afternoon, unintentionally.
But I guess that's good, cause I'll be more inclined not to start smoking again, even if the only reason is not to go through these withdrawals again.
Over twenty years ago, ( I'm giving my age away now) It was all fools day the first of April. I decided that I wouldn't give up smoking, just see how long I could keep the cigs I had in the packet. There were 15 of them
I never told ANYONE I had stopped smoking, I even lit a few for friends, When I was ofered a smoke My answer was" Not at the moment thanks"
If I felt like a smoke, I would go somewhere that I would never dream of lighting up a fag. Keeping myself busy most of the time helped
I threw the 15 fags away on my birthday in October. I have never smoked since. My health is much better. My clothes don't smell horrible, I have no nicotine stains on my fingers any more, in fact there seem to be lots of good things about NOT lighting up a fag.
Another insentive I may offer is.......... When I was storing my 15 cigs, I would put the money I was saving from buying fags into an old wallet I had, and within 2 months I had enough money to buy new carpets for Nick and Russ's bedrooms.
Keep trying ( If you really want to) Its worth it
Good Luck
I used to love smoking and drinking. I never intended to quit smoking because I enjoyed it so much. One day I felt a bit sick after smoking about my 10th for the day, and I just stopped. The next 3 weeks were hell. I had to take a chaperon to the pub with me to stop me caving in and buying a pack. It was very difficult. I chewed A LOT of gum which seemed to help distract me. After that three weeks, it was much easier not to smoke. My health improved a lot, right away - the coughing was the first to go. Then over the next two years I got back to pretty much normal. I still have the odd one or two - pack a year, but the next day I feel so shit there's no way I'd continue.
Jim
I quit again on the 1st of the 1st this year. This is day 11 without a cig.
I've been smoking for close to 20 years at the rate of 10-15 cigs a day. Cept when I was drunk that figure would double.
The first 4-5 days were rough. Dizziness, no focus, irratible, erratic sleep patterns, and I could smell a ciggie from 50kms.
My 3 reasons for quitting are:
- My kids (1 and 3). Kids see, kids do.
- To regain my fitness
- To lessen stress. Being addicted to anything is stressful.
Best of luck Yaloopy.
Any day spent trying to break the habit isn't a waste. And almost everybody fails at the first attempt, so don't be disheartened. You won't be the last.
Give it your best - the benefits will soon outweigh the discomfort.
I've never been curious enough to start but from what I understand many psychologists say that the feeling of something in your mouth is a sort of comfort. I know a few people have tried things like cinnamon or mint toothpicks some some success. Apparently it seemed to comfort the stress and need for some oral fixation. I doubt it is THE answer.
Day 3. The headaches are pretty much gone. I still have much less energy than I did before I gave up, but at least now I have the enthusiasm to do things. Still an irritable bastard, though. Sleeping patterns and appetite are gone to shit. Woke up at 6am this morning and I was so hungry that I ended up making a fry, then had next to no appetite all day today, had to force myself to eat. Hopefully I'll be much nearer normal tomorrow :)
The smells are insane and I feel dirty all the time. The dirt bit's probably just my unique weirdness, though!
Fair play to Singer and Jim on giving up, takes effort to say the least! Good luck to you Voltage, you're doing very well to make it this far! I'm guilty of it myself this time but what made it hard the first couple of times I tried to quit was counting the days that I've been smoke free after the first few. Dunno if that's any help! Thanks to everybody for their advice and encouragement. :)
Well done Yaloopy, I can tell you from experience its a lot better NOT to count how many days you haven't had a smoke. If you must know, try to mark the date on a calender or something, them in a few months time give yourself a wonderful surprise when you look back at the date of last fag.
Keep it up
Good luck to voltage as well. :clap: :clap:
After 3 days the Nicotene has pretty much completely left your body.
You felt like crap because it is poison. Don't do what Jim does and have the odd cigarette, not many people can get away with that and even if you smoke a packet a year, you're still a smoker, why else would you try something that makes you feel like shit unless your convinced it's not for you?
It's something that you either do or don't do.
I wouldn't look on it as giving up either because that implies that you are sacrificing something, you stop or carry on :)
To successfully stop smoking you need to be mentally prepared and then you just stop and watch your health get better. You and Voltage are both over the worst part of it now.
The next danger time will be in about 2-3 months.. Absolutely don't be tempted to have just one and if a friend offers you one just feel sorry for them, you don't need cigarettes, they don't either but they think they do.
I had once considered developing a placebo cigarette, which contains none of the harmful crap in regular cigarettes, while looking like a cigarette and smelling quite nice, as an aid to giving up.
However, the burning method involved will always produce carbon monoxide and other nasty things without adequate ventilation, so I gave up on the idea.
Quote from: Pixel_Outlaw on January 11, 2009
I've never been curious enough to start but from what I understand many psychologists say that the feeling of something in your mouth is a sort of comfort. I know a few people have tried things like cinnamon or mint toothpicks some some success. Apparently it seemed to comfort the stress and need for some oral fixation. I doubt it is THE answer.
There are many, many things I could say to that, but I won't :P
Quote from: combatking0 on January 12, 2009However, the burning method involved will always produce carbon monoxide and other nasty things without adequate ventilation, so I gave up on the idea.
It would have to be some form of electronic device, like a handheld vaporiser, so the material was simply heated and not 'burnt'. Hense, no carsiogens (sp?).
Like an "inhalator" - if it were to emit smokey vapours from the outside end (but not into the mouth directly), it could appear to be smoke, and so camouflage the fact that it isn't really a cigarette to some degree.
Used with patches, this might be a useful will-power booster.
Any suggestions for scents? I think chocolate might be popular.
I never understood patches. You're just continuing to take nicotine? Isn't the point of stopping smoking to escape the addiction?
I gave up for 3 months once, but went out drinking and the rest is history. Had to give up when I was in hospital this time last year with the acute pancreatitus. Did that for 6 weeks. Mixing with smokers at clubs is the worst thing you can do, especiallly if the club is non active. btw, the club is for "Catch The Pigeon Injustice"
Yaloopy: When you are stopping, you can gradually come off them with the patches, as nicotine is still in your blood, its that graving you are trying to over come. Or you could come off them cold turkey. Appolgoies if some of this doesnt read to well, I cant sleep very well at the moment, hope it makes some sense.
Gradually cutting down never worked for me.
I know it helps some people to prepare to stop, but at some point you do have to stop so you may as well do it first as last.
Nicotene is a really fast acting poison, the cravings are similar to hunger and only last a few minutes, because it metabolises so quickly the withdrawals become very easy to deal with after only a few days.
Hi Yaloopy and Voltage
How are you getting on with the NO SMOKING ?
Been off it since this topic wa started. Bad stuff! I was grand after the first couple of days but I've been sick the past couple of days and for some reason the cravings have been worse yesterday and worse than yesterday, today. I can't explain that!
I've never been a smoker but my dad used to be a 2 packer a day. He started smoking when he was at his 20's and tried to stop more than ten times but failed miserably. However he got sick and that's what gave him will power to stop for good at 50 years old.
I agree with Nick, patches don't work that well.
Good luck to you both Yaloopy and Voltage.
I'm still clean. :) The urges come, and the urges go, and they are usually short lived.
I still need to be cautious of how I think about smoking, smokers, and my desire to quit. That little voice in my head is still addicted, but my resolve is still strong.
Keep up the good work Yaloopy.
And you too, Voltage! :) Glad to hear you're doing well!
Thanks a lot, rel!
You'll always have the curiosity to go back to them after you stop.
Your mind will still play tricks on you like associating bad health/headaches with cigarette withdrawal, even after a time when you haven't smoked.
As Voltage says, the cravings don't last for long so you have to prepare yourself for when they come and turn it into a mental game.
It's important to remember how you started.
The first cigarette you had probably made you feel terrible, light headed, coughing, sick, maybe even headache.
You probably thought theres no way I can get addicted to this... and thats the subtlety of the trap because at first you learn to tollerate the cigarettes and you are addicted before you know it.
You face the same danger if you succumb to cravings and try just one. Youll wonder how you were ever addicted to them in the first place and steadily you'll be hooked again after having fallen into the same trap.
I still don't know how long I will be successful, I still occasionally have quite strong cravings, especially when I am with friends who smoke, so far so good.
I can only wish you luck :)
Quote from: Yaloopy on January 23, 2009
Been off it since this topic wa started. Bad stuff! I was grand after the first couple of days but I've been sick the past couple of days and for some reason the cravings have been worse yesterday and worse than yesterday, today. I can't explain that!
I've been off smoking for over 20 years. I can still want a smoke when things are not going as they should be, or if I'm feeling slightly under the weather. I haven't tried just the one, because I know it would leave me feeling very green. But the worse thing is I think I could easily become hooked again, and financially I cannot afford to put any more money into the governments purse.
Keep up the good work both of you.
You are doing really well, and the worse is almost behind you for good. :clap: