I'm still alive as well

[i]because I long for a cigarette[/i] Therein lies part of your problem....."longing, thinking about, romanticizing, wishing" that you could smoke Placing your smoking past in a positive light and your quit in a negative light. You need to learn to dwell on the "positive" of the quit.....see smoking for what it really is.....it won't relax you or help with your stress....that is one of the greatest fallacies of smoking. It actually causes MORE stress because the addiction is constantly demanding your attention to satisfy it. Where you are now, you are experiencing the misconception that the way to handle stress and anxiety is to smoke. You have spent your smoking years listening to this addiction tell you that smoking "relieves" pressure.....of course it does! but the pressure it relieves is the addiction demanding a fix!! Once you give yourself that nicotine 'fix' you feel a mellowing and a satisfaction. Not because you solved any problems!!....but because you satisfied the addiction for a few minutes! Your quit isn't bad now.....you just have to learn to cope with stress without lighting up! Do you practice any relaxing techniques?? breathing, stretching, turning your attention from the cause of your stress for a few minutes?? Distracting from letting yourself "think" about smoking?? These are what we refer to as coping skills and you need to continue to employ them for several months....until they come naturally when an urge to "solve the problem with a smoke" hits you. Are you rewarding yourself?? Rewards are one of the best ways to train yourself to think "positive" about not smoking. Set up a reward plan that includes small, spur of the moment rewards and also longer term rewards....ones that really bring home the realization that you have more time and money because you QUIT smoking. Also learn to relish the pride that comes with maintaining "control" over your own actions. Look at smoking as letting the addiction have the control! now ask yourself......WHO is going to run my life?? ME...or a bunch of rolled up, burning weeds???? And I too realize that gaining weight is often an outcome of quitting smoking......but begin to realize this.....weight gain is because of what we 'eat'.....not whether we smoke or no

I want to be a social smoker

as nicotine addicts, most of us on here know there is no such thing as "social smoking"....you can't bargain with nicotine addiction. giving it "some" only makes it scream for "more" Let the fact that you are struggling with thoughts about the unopened pack be an "eye opener" you may consider yourself to be in control by keeping that pack and not opening it......I can about guarantee you at some point you are going to loose the control. The smart thing to do is get RID of the pack....and forget about being a 'social smoker'.....anyone who really makes the choice to quit, will realize that smoking "occasionally" will not work. if you are really in control??.....you will trash those smokes and forget about so called "social smoking" Katy [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 1/4/2002 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 1542 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 61,715 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $8481 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 201 [B]Hrs:[/B] 5 [B]Mins:[/B] 58 [B]Seconds:[/B] 7

What the heck happened?????

[i]The trouble for me seems to be that I just can't seem to decide that I want to quit. [/i] You have the answer to your questions already. You haven't committed to quitting....in fact you have set up a pattern that says you will not smoke for a short spell and then you will reward yourself with cigarettes. You have to commit. Till you do that you are going to 'wonder' what is wrong. [u]YOU[/u] have to take the control away from the addict in yourself. Katy

Too weak to quit

?[i]I am full of excuses all the time[/i] The excuses are the junky in you....funny how he can turn mere "excuses" into what seems like sound 'reasoning' isn't it? make not smoking a "choice" instead of a 'sentence'. It isn't that you "can't" smoke??....it's that you "choose" not to at the present. Don't look down the road and try to project 'never' smoking. Just take care of where you are now. See not smoking as YOU being in control. Get determined that you are no longer going to let a bunch of rolled up, burning weeds dictate your life. Katy [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 1/4/2002 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 1542 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 61,693 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $8481 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 201 [B]Hrs:[/B] 4 [B]Mins:[/B] 15 [B]Seconds:[/B] 1

I am sooo MAD!

personally, I think you should take a walk without the dog....(I know the neighbors are wrong, but you need a nice, quiet, settling reward).....when you are about a month into this quitting business...slip on you knee high boots, load the guns(ammonia of course)...leash up the dog and give the neighborhood hell LOL Perhaps you should write all this down into a very humorous story and submit it to a magazine.....I know it's irritating as can be, but see the humor that is here??? ;p katy [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 1/4/2002 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 1542 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 61,693 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $8481 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 201 [B]Hrs:[/B] 4 [B]Mins:[/B] 15 [B]Seconds:[/B] 51

YES I'm still alive and smoke free

LOOK AT YOU GO GIRL!!! CONGRATULATIONS ON REMAINING SMOKE FREE! Katy

Ulcers???

Hi CS my daughter had this symptom along with bleeding gums. it persisted for quit some time....she finally asked the doctor during a visit about it and he prescribed a round of low dose antibiotics for her....it cleared up and never bothered her again. I think the bacteria goes haywire in our mouths when we quit smoking? ask your dentist or doctor Katy [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 1/4/2002 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 1538 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 61,530 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $8459 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 200 [B]Hrs:[/B] 15 [B]Mins:[/B] 30 [B]Seconds:[/B] 39

Tail Between my Legs - Needing some help

good to see you here zookie.....and I am sure you can remember times just like this when you WERE smoking??? Life goes up and down....it's just that we used to reach for cigarettes to confirm ourselves and now we don't have them. Once in a while you need to have a short pity party...then you need to look around and see what is really going on and leave that party. I think you are already realizing all this. It's real easy to get slightly off track and let ourselves start having a fantasy about how smoking might 'help' us in some way......but just remember.....those ARE fantasies and the junky is the creator of them. kick butt and get back to living with your new freedom katy [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 1/4/2002 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 1538 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 61,532 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $8459 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 200 [B]Hrs:[/B] 15 [B]Mins:[/B] 31 [B]Seconds:[/B] 22

anyone who has used patches!!!

you will adjust to the lower amount of nicotine in 2-3 days.....in the meantime, try to think positive....it gets BETTER the longer you go without smoking. Sure there are triggers and even cravings....but they are no way near like the first week. Remind yourself of all the GOOD things about not smoking....be sure to get a reward program set up. If your dreams get intense and your sleep is interrupted then you could take the patch off at night....but I never wanted to do this, cause early morning was when I really craved a smoke! However you handle this, whatever the symptoms are.....remind yourself that they WILL pass.....and lung desease from smoking will NOT. Hang tough....you are doing a great job. Katy [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 1/4/2002 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 1554 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 62,193 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $8547 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 202 [B]Hrs:[/B] 19 [B]Mins:[/B] 23 [B]Seconds:[/B] 24

Does anyone else do this?

You have to realize that not smoking is a merely a 'choice'.....not a horrid painful life sentence of some sort. it's not that you "can't" smoke....it's that you "choose" not to. You can't determine "forever" so why try to project and worry about it?? Just deal with not smoking at the present....the future will take care of itself.....you will finally realize that you don't want to smoke! Smoking is an addiction and the purpose of lighting up is to satisfy that addiction....all the notions about "enjoying" smoking are a result of satisfying the addiction. Anger is common.....try to direct it and use it. Be angry that a bunch of rolled up burning weeds wants to contol your life! then hang tough and stay in control......it won't be a struggle forever. In the future you will find this is the most wonderful gift you ever gave yourself!! I promise!! katy [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 1/4/2002 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 1554 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 62,193 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $8547 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 202 [B]Hrs:[/B] 19 [B]Mins:[/B] 24 [B]Seconds:[/B] 26