Hi,
I'm BrownCoat (Yes, I am a fan of Firefly), I'm 25, I've only smoked for about 3 and a half years, but a year and a ahlf ago, my wife was raped at work, kidnapped, and almost killed. Suffice it to say, my stress level has been intense to say the least, and one of my primary coping mechanisms for stress has been to smoke.
I recently went to the doctor's for a sinus infection, and discovered my blood pressure is staying in the neighborhood of 200 over 100. My doctor explained that as "60 year old alchoholic air traffic controllers with a four pack a day habit have lower blood pressure than you."
While I apreciated his humor, the results of having a blood pressure that high are ... scary to say the least. And after a year and a half of stagnating, I finaly started to move forward with my life, to try and get past the trauma of my wife's rape. Now that I am living, I don't want to die.
So, I plan on having my last cigarette 2 weeks from today, and as the nicotine is jacking up my BP, I will not be using any of the NRTs. Cold turkey or bust.
Wish me luck.
