WEEKEND PARADE

I hope to have a restful and fulfilling weekend with my kids. And nope... no smoking on my horizon. [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 3/6/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 10 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 269 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $92.5 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 1 [B]Hrs:[/B] 18 [B]Mins:[/B] 9 [B]Seconds:[/B] 1

My Quit is making me sick!

Sorry it's so tough for you right now, Tryagain. But at least you're going through the pain for some positive purpose. When you were smoking, the only purpose was to destroy yourself. (Even if that wasn't your intention, it would be the result) Remember, there are alternatives to dealing with tension. Explore some of those and select one or more that are a good fit for you. This is going to take time, but you'll be the beneficiary. Things aren't going just the way you hoped, but they will get better. If it takes 6 months or a year of dealing with some of this stuff, that's still a better option than smoking. Chances are great that you'll show significant improvement as long as you keep doing what you're doing. [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 3/6/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 10 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 269 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $92.5 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 1 [B]Hrs:[/B] 18 [B]Mins:[/B] 10 [B]Seconds:[/B] 35

To those who quit in March 07

Last couple of days I've had constant low-level cravings, and it does become wearing. But one thing I've noticed is that I'm not getting the really intense cravings, that come out of nowhere, demanding that I have a cigarette. So, I assume that's good, that the process is going as it should... the cravings are quieting, if persistant... and that before too long, they will barely be noticable most of the time. I just wish that was today :) But, I'm in double digits now. I've gone through the worst of it... and now it's just a matter keeping the faith as I fully become what I set out to become; free. Now there's a terrific thought. I can live my life today as a free man. The cravings try to convince me that I'm not... but I am. See, Ma! No cigarettes! :) [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 3/6/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 10 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 258 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $92.5 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 1 [B]Hrs:[/B] 16 [B]Mins:[/B] 31 [B]Seconds:[/B] 46

Find Away

Thanks for the reminder, and the example, STI. Smoking is NOT an option! Not anymore. LOL! After all... people who have never smoked deal just fine with life, without a cigarette. It's not like it can't be done!! :) [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 3/6/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 10 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 258 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $92.5 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 1 [B]Hrs:[/B] 16 [B]Mins:[/B] 32 [B]Seconds:[/B] 35

Bye Bye NRT

Penguin, it's purely psychological. It's your psyche's last panicked attempt to resurrect the addiction it has come to know so well. You took that last patch off... and said goodbye to nicotine. And there's a part of you that really doesn't want to wave that final farewell; that part of you that's been an addict all these years. I don't think it's the cigarette you're grieving so much as the smoker you've been, and who has been part and parcel of your identity all this time. Embrace your new life and all the best that's in you, my friend. You haven't lost anything but a lie that was killing you. Seize the day. You're free! [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 3/6/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 12 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 310 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $111 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 2 [B]Hrs:[/B] 0 [B]Mins:[/B] 43 [B]Seconds:[/B] 15

Thinking Makes It So

Spot on, Nonic. Well said. [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 3/6/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 12 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 310 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $111 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 2 [B]Hrs:[/B] 0 [B]Mins:[/B] 41 [B]Seconds:[/B] 21

Success

"Of the 46 million Americans who smoke -- 26 percent of the adult population -- an estimated 80 percent would like to stop and one-third try each year. Two to three percent of them succeed." -MSN Health Does that scare you? According to these stats, about 1 in 30 people who try to quit smoking, achieve anything like long term success. Actually, it doesn't scare me at all. What it does do is supply me with even more validation for what I already know; ...quitting isn't easy, it requires constant and committed vigilience. It tells me that I had better not harbour any kind of 'condition' as a prerequisite for long term abstinance. For instance, I had better not expect that I'll be craving-free in a year...because that may not happen. I had better not qualify my quit with the understanding that, "I'll stay quit unless this, that or the other thing happens". I had better be committed to my quit through anything and everything...no matter how long long it takes, no matter what suprises come, no matter how supported or unsupported I feel...no matter what. And I had better never, ever forget that all of that happens in this moment, because this moment is all I'm ever going to have. And the wonderful irony is... that as long as our attitude is "no matter what"... all of this becomes easier, not harder. We're no longer fighting with reality, we're accepting it on it's own terms. It's in kicking at the realities of what it takes to quit... that most of our pain comes from. But in accepting what it takes, and committing to that... we find peace and strength. [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 3/6/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 12 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 314 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $111 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 2 [B]Hrs:[/B] 1 [B]Mins:[/B] 8 [B]Seconds:[/B] 55

I'm having a really hard time

Kayla, you're walking through the fire right now... but it won't last. A couple more days and it will get easier. The physical withdrawal will quiet considerably. I know it's difficult, Kayla, but this is your life. And you CAN do this. We have, and so can you! We're here for you! [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 3/6/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 12 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 314 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $111 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 2 [B]Hrs:[/B] 1 [B]Mins:[/B] 9 [B]Seconds:[/B] 44

To those who quit in March 07

March 18th, and all is well. I'm smoke-free, relaxing with my children... and I'm glad to be alive! I'm even getting "March mellower" :) I still think about smoking... there is still that sense that I'm incomplete... that there's something missing. But I know it's an illusion, and that through the course of time it will diminish into obscurity, and be replaced by a far greater sense that life is as it was meant to be, and that I'm more fully alive. Something I remind myself of every day is that I'm in control. For the first time in a very long time... I'm not a slave to cigarettes. I can have a real life today, and I can be happy... without a cigarette. [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 3/6/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 12 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 313 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $111 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 2 [B]Hrs:[/B] 0 [B]Mins:[/B] 55 [B]Seconds:[/B] 43

At what point does the patch do more harm than good?

I'm using the patch and something has begun to bother me about their continued use. I can see their value in the initial stages of my quit, in that they acted as a buffer. The strongest patch provided the equivalent of 1/3 package of cigs (25 pack), so roughly the same as 8 cigs worth of nicotine over 24 hours. So while I still took quite a hit in terms of nicotine withdrawal, it wasn't as bad as it would otherwise have been. But I'm past the physical withdrawal now, and I was able to withstand the withdrawal of 2/3 of a pack of cigs... so why am I now taking 8 weeks to gradually withdraw over the last 1/3 (the equivalent amount of nicotine)? As well, there's this; it seems to me that my cravings may actually be worse in the long term because of the patch. The patch is supposed to provide an even and consistant dose of nicotine, but it doesn't seem to. My cravings are at a minimum shortly after I put on the patch (in the morning) and for about 8-10 hours after... but after that the cravings start to increase again. So, is it my imagination, or do the patches provide a larger dose for the first several hours and a diminishing dose after that... forcing my body into withdrawal again? Because that's what it feels like. It's like being on a withdrawal roller-coaster. And I might chalk that up to a psychological process except for the fact that it's always better the first part of the day and always worse the last part of the day. And another 6 weeks of this to avoid what? To avoid going through 3 days of withdrawal that's, at worst, half as bad as what I went through in my first three days? :) And probably not close to half as bad because I'm well along in making the phsychological and emotional adjustments to not smoking... which factored in heavily during the first 3 days of my quit. Are there others on the patch who have considered this? I'd be curious to hear your take. [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 3/6/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 12 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 311 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $111 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 2 [B]Hrs:[/B] 0 [B]Mins:[/B] 48 [B]Seconds:[/B] 16