Still a non-smoker, whoo-hoo!

GoingNorth

Crazy Cat Lady
I'm still hanging in there. Yesterday was a rough day with cravings, but other than doing serious damage to a box of malted milk balls, I got through it. The worst of the cravings are hitting at night.

During the day I am doing things where I wouldn't be smoking anyway. It's the evenings when I really WANT a cigarette.

My lungs are feeling a lot better already. I'm no longer coughing and my sinuses are doing better. I'm committed to doing it this time.

In addition, my cat Squeaky is no longer coughing intermittently, and Jakey the cat's watery eye (blocked tear duct) isn't as irritated looking. I feel really bad for subjecting my pets to 2nd hand smoke for so many years. Just glad it wasn't a kid.

No vet even ASKED if I smoked around the critters.

Has anyone else decided to quit? Let's get a support circle going if you have.
 

tiredmommy

Well-Known Member
I'm really proud of you. Quitting smoking had to be one of the hardest things I've ever done and truthfully, I've never smoked another cigarette because I'm terrified of going through quitting again. Hand in there. You CAN keep doing this!
 

DDD

Well-Known Member
Great update. I would guess you'll soon be joined by others who have New Years resolutions. Hang in there..."one day at a time". I'm sure you are going to be successful. DDD
 

scent of cedar

New Member
How long has it been, Going?

husband and I are quitting, too. We switched to e cigarettes. Other than for a day or two this past week, it has been going beautifully. Both of us noticed a difference in our lungs. husband has stopped coughing in the morning.

And oh, Going ~ we smell so much better. There are times when I will grab a sweater or something that I would wear outside to smoke. When I go to wear that same sweater now? I can't stand the stench of it. It's amazing how bad cigarettes really do smell.

Terrible.

I am happy you are sticking with it, Going! It will all be over soon. And here is a side benefit you may not have thought of. The strength you are teaching yourself through resisting the urge to smoke will be all for you, once this habit is broken.

That is the best benefit there could be.

Cedar
 

AnnieO

Shooting from the Hip
Quitting at some time other than New Years helped me more than having a bunch of people around me doing it.

Having a REASON helps too. Your furkids are, more than your own body, showing you how awesome it is!

I've been tempted, for weight loss reasons... But every time I think of it... I think of how hard it was to quit. NO NO NO. Never again.

:hugs: SO proud of you!!!
 

cubsgirl

Well-Known Member
I'm proud of you too. It is a difficult thing. I have never smoked but husband does and it drives me (as an asthmatic) crazy. I'm sure your furbabies appreciate it too. Hang in there.
 

in a daze

Well-Known Member
I remember. It's really hard, isn't it? It took me two attempts to quit. The second attempt was during a bout of a stomach virus which finally worked. I should mention I decided to quit the first time when I started working in a chronic ventilator ward. The patients had tracheostomies and were hooked to the machines. They were just waiting to be transferred to a state hospital as they had failed multiple weaning attempts. I would get a co worker to watch my patients so I could go outside and have a cigarette. And of course the irony of it was that I was poisoning myself with the same thing that had ultimately gotten my patients in their present state of affairs. Yet that was not enough, until I got that viral thing. That was over 30 years ago...

Helps if the boyfriend (now my husband) doesn't smoke!
 

GoingNorth

Crazy Cat Lady
Well, my mother quit a 2 pack a day habit 25 years ago and doesn't really recall the cravings or how rough it was. She's very encouraging, but can't really empathize, which she sucks at anyways as she is an Aspie and has to really think about it.

husband quit when he came down on orders for a training and a tour as a drill instructor. He figured he'd best be able to keep up with his recruits, and also wanted to set a good example by not smoking or drinking.

This was in the days when formations were dismissed with "smoke 'em if you got 'em". Nowadays, you can't buy tobacco on any govt. installation and cannot smoke in the cantonment area at least.
 

busywend

Well-Known Member
April 2nd was my last one. I still think about it, but like the others the thought of quitting again keeps me from having even one. Tonight will be especially hard as I am having my high school friends over and 2 smoke...and of course we will have a few.
 

Malika

Well-Known Member
Here's another ex-smoker adding their congrats... and encouragement! The trick, I found for myself, was to do everything to prop up the idea not that one has given up some exquisite pleasure that is then craved for and missed, involving real hardship and sacrifice, but rather than in stopping smoking one has liberated oneself from a nauseating, enslaving habit that robs one of self-esteem and power. You need to keep congratulating yourself on your freedom, looking with pity at the other poor, addicted suckers (literally). :)

Life is infinitely better sans cigarettes... And cheaper.
 

GoingNorth

Crazy Cat Lady
I've pitied other smokers even as a smoker myself. I didn't even really enjoy smoking the last couple of years. I resented the hell out of it and couldn't believe I'd been so stupid as to start and I started before all the health warnings other than lung cancer came out.

What infuriates me now, and did when I smoked, is seeing young people smoking. I can't see why, knowing what we know now about how deadly cigs are, anyone would smoke.

Plus, they are SOOOO expensive. What a pity to work a low-paying or part-time job and blow minimum wage on tobacco. Makes no sense to me. When I started smoking, cigs were 35 cents a pack. 45 cents out of the machines. Now they are 6-7 dollars a PACK. That meant as a 2 pack a day smoker, I was spending close to 400 dollars a month on a habit that was killing me and hurting those around me.

Big Tobacco has refused to admit that 2nd hand smoke is dangerous. I have my pets as living, FEELING, examples of what 2nd hand smoke does!
 

GoingNorth

Crazy Cat Lady
Busywend. Don't be afraid to order non-alcoholic drinks. I found that I was best off not drinking while quitting as alcohol gives me horrible nicotine cravings. I had a hard cider the other night and it set me off badly. I think half the reason I didn't break down and go get some cigs is that I'd had a drink, and will not drive under those circumstances. So the rest of the cider is waiting until I am more "set" in the non-smoking way.

Plus, alcohol is empty calories and trying not to eat everything in sight is already an issue, LOL!
 
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