Welcome back! It's great to hear from you Silver. Hope you had a good time. Get some rest because tomorrow is the day that the Survivors all start to join the 6-12 club! See you there soon!
[B]My Milage:[/B]
[B]My Quit Date: [/B] 9/16/2005
[B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 176
[B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 2,121
[B]Amount Saved:[/B] $1161.6
[B]Life Gained:[/B]
[B]Days:[/B] 17 [B]Hrs:[/B] 16 [B]Mins:[/B] 10 [B]Seconds:[/B] 34
Bambi, I am in a world of hurt from the teeth clenching. Please go see a dentist! You don't need TMJ syndrome with your jaws painful and your neck in constant spasm, not to mention the tension and migraine headaches. Yes, this can all be caused by clenching! Don't chew gum either! Keep that great quit going!
[B]My Milage:[/B]
[B]My Quit Date: [/B] 9/16/2005
[B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 176
[B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 2,123
[B]Amount Saved:[/B] $1161.6
[B]Life Gained:[/B]
[B]Days:[/B] 17 [B]Hrs:[/B] 16 [B]Mins:[/B] 35 [B]Seconds:[/B] 28
This bump could not have been more timely. I came so close to losing my quit today it was scary. After a long and unpleasant medical procedure, and another one tomorrow, I so wanted one! So, I need to go back to square one and figure out a better way to manage my stress. But in the interim, I need a substitute for, not cigs, but clenching my teeth, chewing gum, or cinammon sticks, or caramels, or my fingernails, or pens. I have serious jaw problems and am being forced into a soft diet with NO CHEWING. Any suggestions on what to do with my mouth while I am relearning all of this stress management stuff? Guess I could start smacking my lips? Has anyone else developed such a dysfunctional substitute for smoking? "I will not smoke, I will not smoke, I will not smoke!" :mad:
[B]My Milage:[/B]
[B]My Quit Date: [/B] 9/16/2005
[B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 172
[B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 2,074
[B]Amount Saved:[/B] $1135.2
[B]Life Gained:[/B]
[B]Days:[/B] 17 [B]Hrs:[/B] 6 [B]Mins:[/B] 46 [B]Seconds:[/B] 29
Thank you N2K. I think the Mantra is the safest bet for me. I don't trust myself with putting anything in or near my mouth, for sure I will chew it! Thanks also for letting me know that this is yet another one of those times where Nicodemon is playing his games with me. I truely thought I was starting to lose control, and my mind!
Great post as always! I was having a chat about this very topic with one of my clients. Her partner had tried to quit numerous times without success. She is trying again because a dentist offerred to clean up her periodontal disease for free if she quit (she does not have health insurance). The appointment got mixed up and she ended up quitting with NRT a month earlier than she had to. Her first statement upon learning about the appointment mix up was, "oh good, I can smoke for another month before I have to quit". Fortunately, she decided against that, saying she wanted to quit for good this time. She is still smoke free on patches. Lesson learned is this. You successfully quit by wanting to quit for You, not for the free dental work or for any other reason.
[B]My Milage:[/B]
[B]My Quit Date: [/B] 9/16/2005
[B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 170
[B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 2,045
[B]Amount Saved:[/B] $1122
[B]Life Gained:[/B]
[B]Days:[/B] 17 [B]Hrs:[/B] 1 [B]Mins:[/B] 2 [B]Seconds:[/B] 31
I have had headaches and neck pain for the last 6-10 years or so, for which no cause could be found. These would wax and wane. I thought it was just stress and learned to live with it. Well, nearly six months into my quit, things have been worsening. My jaws started making popping and grating noises, the headaches and neck pain intensified,I developed insomnia and ear noises, and my bite suddenly changed. I was getting strange itching and aching in some teeth that I thought needed crowns. I saw a new dentist the other day and was diagnosed with Temporomandibular Joint Syndrome (TMJ/TMD). He told me that I had been clenching and grinding my teeth all night. I had no clue I had been doing that. Since I quit smoking, I have relied on chewing gum to give my mouth something to do, and to cope with the stress I guess. Gum chewing is the worst thing anyone with TMJ can do. Guess what makes us clench, grind and want to chew? [color=Red]STRESS![/color] I thought I had planned for it. Well, I guess I didn't do that well enough. Now I have to end my addiction to chewing gum (just the plain kind)! I can't chew on anything, not even a cinnamon stick. What I am trying to say here is this. Chewing gum, especially for long periods of time, can really stress the jaws. If you had mild TMJ, waiting to be symptomatic, a quit relying on chewing gum can trigger it to become active. It may be better for your dental health to use the nicotine lozenges rather than the gum, especially if you will be using NRT for a long time. Try to use sugar free mints rather than gum to avoid getting into the gum habit. This could save you some agonizing pain not to mention expense for a disorder that insurance usually won't pay to treat.
[B]My Milage:[/B]
[B]My Quit Date: [/B] 9/16/2005
[B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 168
[B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 2,027
[B]Amount Saved:[/B] $1108.8
[B]Life Gained:[/B]
[B]Days:[/B] 16 [B]Hrs:[/B] 21 [B]Mins:[/B] 22 [B]Seconds:[/B] 41
I am about the same place in my quit as you are, and I too have noticed increased cravings over the last week or two. They don't last long, but they sure are strong. It seems old Nic just can't find another place to live. I could not tell if it was just the natural course of the quit or if it was due to other stressors. Anyway, you are not alone. I just hope that this phase passes just as those before it did. Remember hell week, and heck week? Then 39 days, then 90 days? I guess we can add another at 165 ish days. I find it so strange how I can despise the smell so much, and yet experience craves. Go figure. Keep up your great quit!
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The key to a successful quit is staying true to yourself.
[B]My Milage:[/B]
[B]My Quit Date: [/B] 9/16/2005
[B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 159
[B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 1,919
[B]Amount Saved:[/B] $1049.4
[B]Life Gained:[/B]
[B]Days:[/B] 15 [B]Hrs:[/B] 23 [B]Mins:[/B] 43 [B]Seconds:[/B] 2
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