After buying another carton of cigarettes today, I got back in my car and said to myself "this has to stop, I've had enough throwing away my money". My usual brand had gone up another dollar and I ended up buying the cheapest they had. Here in South Carolina there is legislation pending to put a 4 dollar tax on all cartons. I can no longer afford to smoke money wise nor health wise. So sitting in my car I decided it's time to quit and my target date is when I finish this last carton which will be in about 4 days or June 1st.
I have successfully quit smoking before 2 times and stupid excuses got me started again. I really do want to quit. My biggest hurdle will be the fact that I live alone and have no family for support .. just my two kitties Barney & Feif. I'm quitting for them too.
I'm a 56 and live in Summerville, South Carolina. Right now I am determined to stop this nasty habit. I just hope I can keep up my determination when I get down to 1 pack (I smoke 3 packs a day)and not panic.
I'm trying to decide if cold turkey is best or to try that Chantrix stuff.
Anyway, glad to be here and finally taking control back over my life.
Anne
Thanks for all the encouragement .. I keep telling myself, every time I light up that I am quitting on Friday. I keep getting little panic attacks when I think about it .. but I really want to .. especially for my two kitties Barney & Feif.
Anne
Well I was able to get a prescription for Chantix today. I will start tomorrow. My new target date is June 8th. I'm really getting psyched up for this! and look forward the the vivid dreaming since I can sometimes make myself realize I'm dreaming and direct the dream. It's a hoot when I can!
I though about something else that is an incentive to make me quit. One day when I was doing a spring cleaning and was wiping off all my office equipment, I sprayed some 409 on my printer that had toner stains to see if it would come off and was horrified to see that it was literally coated in nicotine. That nice golden patina was nicotine!
I think it's better to wait a week too because I've decide to totally rearrange my office and clean off all my surfaces to get the nicotine off (you all might want to buy stock in 409 cause it will probably take hundreds of gallons to get if off of everything). My thinking is that a change of scenery and absence of the norm will help quell the knee jerk reaction of grabbing a smoke during a lull in the internet (even with dsl it takes time to load pages). We are all creatures of habit and well know that .. by changing the surroundings, the habit will not be reinforced. I'm thankful that I have essentially only smoked in the living room, office and bathroom. A coat of paint will take care of the walls & ceilings. I'm gonna test my 409 carpet cleaner and see if it removes nicotine as well .. if it does, I will treat the carpet and all my furniture.
Anne
[B]My Milage:[/B]
[B]My Quit Date: [/B]6/8/2007
[B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] -7
[B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] -420
[B]Amount Saved:[/B] $-46.48
[B]Life Gained:[/B]
[B]Days:[/B] 0 [B]Hrs:[/B] 0 [B]Mins:[/B] 0 [B]Seconds:[/B] -74105
I'm thinking and praying for you. Friday was my day to quit too. I was lucky enough to get a prescription for Chantix so I upped my quit day by a week.
I know how you feel .. the panic, anxiety and insecurity. It's funny how my logical self can laugh at me and my emotional self is screaming for help and comfort. In the end, I think the hardest thing to accept is that even though we aren't alone in our feelings and journey we are taking, we are alone in the fact that only we, ourselves can ultimately take that first step and continue down the road to recovery. There is no magic wand, pill or adjunct that can make it all better. We are addicts and as someone wrote before, our addiction withdrawal is a child that screams and screams until we either appease the child or learn to tune out the screaming child until it learns that screaming will get no reaction.
A wise person once said to me .. �don�t try to do it .. just do it�. In thinking about what she said, it occurred to me that the word �try� was like a cop out, sort of a permission to fail. I have been very careful to say to myself I am going to quit smoking and not I�m going to try to quit smoking. As the saying goes, we are what we eat .. we also are what we think.
Take care and know I am thinking about you. Don�t try. Do it.
Anne
[B]My Milage:[/B]
[B]My Quit Date: [/B]6/8/2007
[B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] -7
[B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] -420
[B]Amount Saved:[/B] $-46.48
[B]Life Gained:[/B]
[B]Days:[/B] 0 [B]Hrs:[/B] 0 [B]Mins:[/B] 0 [B]Seconds:[/B] -72269
I'm on day 2 of Chantix now .. I don't really notice that much difference. I imagine once I start the twice a day I will.
Anne
[B]My Milage:[/B]
[B]My Quit Date: [/B]6/8/2007
[B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] -5
[B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] -300
[B]Amount Saved:[/B] $-33.20
[B]Life Gained:[/B]
[B]Days:[/B] 0 [B]Hrs:[/B] 0 [B]Mins:[/B] 0 [B]Seconds:[/B] -51908
I'm on day 4 of Chantix, 2 pills a day insted of one. I get a little nauseous for a few hours after taking it, but it usually goes away. I've started having wierd dreams too and wake up 3 & 4 times a night. I'm kind of dreading tonight since I'll be taking another pill, afraid I won't get any uninterrupted sleep.
Any other Chantix users have interrupted sleep?
Anne
[B]My Milage:[/B]
[B]My Quit Date: [/B]6/8/2007
[B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] -3
[B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] -180
[B]Amount Saved:[/B] $-19.92
[B]Life Gained:[/B]
[B]Days:[/B] 0 [B]Hrs:[/B] 0 [B]Mins:[/B] 0 [B]Seconds:[/B] -31052
I've been on Chantix for a week now and tomorrow is my target date for quitting. All this week I have been doing things to psych myself up for Friday. First there is my mantra .. everytime I light up I say to myself the following:
I am a non-smoker.
I will save $220 dollars a month
My house won't stink
My car won't stink
I won't stink
My cats might become more friendly.
I quit smoking in my car on Tuesday and cleaned out the ashtray and took the lighters out of the car. When driving I just say my mantra when I want to light up. After I finish this post I will gather up all the ashtray's and lighters in the house, clean them and only smoke outside for the rest of the day.
I went to the grocery store today and bought foods I love but give me diarrhea like watermelon and red pepper in hopes of moderating the expected constipation (which will apparently be a double whammy since I'm taking Chantix and one of it's side effects is constipation). I also bought carrots and celery which I will cut up into sticks tonight.
I'm ready to do this!
Anne
[B]My Milage:[/B]
[B]My Quit Date: [/B]6/8/2007
[B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 0
[B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 0
[B]Amount Saved:[/B] $0.00
[B]Life Gained:[/B]
[B]Days:[/B] 0 [B]Hrs:[/B] 1 [B]Mins:[/B] 43 [B]Seconds:[/B] 50
Well, I've almost made it through my first smoke free day. My cats discovered my gum ball stash, knocked over the dish and have been batting gum balls all over the house. In a way, it's a good thing cause all I have to do is lean over no matter where I am and pick up a gum ball off the floor when the urge hits me.
It's been rough and my jaws hurt from chewing so much gum, but I'm sticking it out and saying my mantra. Everytime I get up from what I'm doing I catch myself before I start to grab the cigs that aren't there anymore.
My only real complaint is that the Chantix is really doing a number on my quality of sleep. I haven't had uninterrupted sleep in a week now and it's taking a toll.
I'm curious, since Chantix is not NRT it's really not doing anything too keep me from smoking and only does something when I smoke .. so why am I still taking it?
Anne
[B]My Milage:[/B]
[B]My Quit Date: [/B]6/8/2007
[B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 0
[B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 0
[B]Amount Saved:[/B] $0.00
[B]Life Gained:[/B]
[B]Days:[/B] 0 [B]Hrs:[/B] 3 [B]Mins:[/B] 6 [B]Seconds:[/B] 0
Well, I cheated in my dreams .. but I only smoked 1 cig and felt bad afterwards .. the funny thing was, as I was smoking in my dream, I was in my car and saw three accidents and one took out the stop light at an intersection .. now what would dream analysis have to say about that lol ... In waking life, unless I sleepwalked down to the convenience store I'm still smoke free!!! Yaaaaaaa.
The cat's are still batting gum balls around and I've stepped on at least 6 of them .. they hurt if you are barefoot. Those strawberry filled hard candies have become my favorite food too ... woops .. just started to grab for the ciggs but stopped myself knowing they arent there. I think that is going to be the hardest part about this, not smoking at computer. But I must say it's really nice not having to blow ashes out of the keyboard.
Anne
[B]My Milage:[/B]
[B]My Quit Date: [/B]6/8/2007
[B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 1
[B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 60
[B]Amount Saved:[/B] $6.64
[B]Life Gained:[/B]
[B]Days:[/B] 0 [B]Hrs:[/B] 4 [B]Mins:[/B] 33 [B]Seconds:[/B] 15
Almost the end of day 2!!! Today has been really hard, but I've managed .. The strawberry hard candies and I are engaged .. the cats are getting surly because there aren't as many gum balls to bat around anymore and my thumb is starting to look good as a substitute for celery & carrots.
I was a 3 pack a day smoker .. essentially a chain smoker .. especially when sitting at computer so the habit of smoking is probably more ingrained than the nicotine addiction.
But I'm happy to report .. no slip ups or deliberately standing next to smoking people. I'm just scared I'm going gain 50lbs before the urges go away.
Anne
[B]My Milage:[/B]
[B]My Quit Date: [/B]6/8/2007
[B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 1
[B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 60
[B]Amount Saved:[/B] $6.64
[B]Life Gained:[/B]
[B]Days:[/B] 0 [B]Hrs:[/B] 6 [B]Mins:[/B] 25 [B]Seconds:[/B] 11
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