If I had a smoker in the house, I would have smoked up all their cigarettes by now. I pop some NRT gum. Sometimes I'll just sit and watch the clock minutes tick away. I'll grit my teeth and just white knuckle wait it out. I've chomped down on the gum so much sometimes I get hiccups. It starts with a funny feeling in my chest. I'll start to tremble a bit. Hands shake. Concentration goes completely. My head starts to hurt with the effort it takes to not smoke. A little feeling start to tell me how much better I'll feel if I have a cigarette. Just a puff or two. Just enough to end this and take the edge off. Start again tomorrow, I'll be okay. A lot of people slip. Slipping doesn't mean starting again. It's just one slip. Just enough to get me through this. I know that if I slipped. Within five minutes I'd be slipping again. And two minutes after that. 47 cartons later, I'll still be slipping so I've never done it. I am a 2-1/2 to 3 pack a day smoker. There is no such thing as a slip with me. I'd probably be dead too because I can no longer breathe cigarette smoke. I was talking to a woman the other day, just like me, a long time chain smoker. She's already lost 1/4 of one lung. She carries around a little oxygen tank. She has COPD and emphysemia. She shuts off her oxygen to smoke. She still SMOKES! No one is gonna tell her what to do. How often have I said that myself!! It's like having a terrible wound dripping blood all over the place and saying "no one is gonna stitch me up! Nossir. No one is gonna tell me I can't bleed all over everything. I got RIGHTS." I've become more goal oriented and the goal is getting through the crave. If I have to just sit it out, that's what I do. I figure each quit has so many craves in it. Get through one and it's gone. Slowly the list of available craves will get shorter and shorter. If I have a smoke, I've added craves so the list gets longer. It's a harmless little mental exercise but seems to work. [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 1/27/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 19 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 586 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $190 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 2 [B]Hrs:[/B] 13 [B]Mins:[/B] 53 [B]Seconds:[/B] 38

I do use regular gum too. In between NRT gum. I have my stickers all over the calendar on what days I do what. Reduce use, step down. I have Da Plan! [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 1/27/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 19 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 589 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $190 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 2 [B]Hrs:[/B] 14 [B]Mins:[/B] 10 [B]Seconds:[/B] 27

Thank you to all of you for your great ideas! I can relate to so many of you...especially the lil people on the shoulders arguing back and forth! Ex-slave- "Why I blush with pride as you notice my BEAUTIFUL struggle!!"

Last night as I lay on the couch I was working my way through an icky crave/urge/desire (call it what you may) and thought it might help if I identified what I was doing so that I can look at it later or maybe help someone else along....so here is what it was. I started to feel it about 7:30. It was a slow creeping "feeling" in my chest area. In the beginning it feels just like a little nagging or tugging and I tried to ignore it by watching some boob-tube. By about 8:15 the nagging came to be much stronger. You know when you are having a bad dream and you are really scared and it feels like "dread" in your heart? That is sort of what it feels like for me. My skin gets a little crawley. So, here is what I did... At first I try to ignore the feeling to see if it hopefully goes away, and often it does. Then I get up and go brush my teeth and get a glass of water with lots of ice (don't know why, just like the ice machine I guess). This usually works for a lil urge. But if it is a whopper like last night I tuck my knees up and wrap my arms around them and drop my head to my knees too. I sort of let the craving envelope my mind and I imagine myself diasecting the feelings. I squeeze my knees a little and take a few deep breathes in through my nose and out through my mouth. As I am breathing I say to myself...I am SO beating this. I am doing great! I have felt this urge before and it DOES go away. I repeat these things a few times in my mind and then I keep breathing in a nice normal controlled manner and try to imagine a peaceful location (they change all the time). And to be honest with you, that all sounds well and fine and it honestly works most of the time; however, there are times that it keeps escalating. And when that happens like it did last night...I put myself in my jammies and lay myself down in my comfie bed and pray that the feeling will go away. Well, guess what??? It DOES!!!! I woke up this morning and life is great again!!!!! What are your urges like? How do YOU make them go away? [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 1/25/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 20 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 407 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $82.4 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 2 [B]Hrs:[/B] 0 [B]Mins:[/B] 50 [B]Seconds:[/B] 43

hi rainie, you are coming up to your one month anniversary of freedom..good job of defeating those nicodemon craves. i have been very impressed with your quit from the beginning. your preparation and your logical thinking. when i have extreme cravings, i get a feeling of panic. those are the 'kick my a@#' cravings that used to drive me to the pathetic depths of my addiction; like stealing cigs out of someone's pack when they were not looking; or digging long butts out of a public ashtray, hiding behind the garage puffing those poisonous gases. i finally had one of those moments of clarity...i could not have one puff. i would keep myself in the vicious cycle of addiction forever if i kept having a puff here, one cig there! i had to accept how i felt and just FEEL it. deep breaths while closing my eyes helped. i love a good book, so i would read my way through. taking a nice aromathearpy bath and climbing into bed was always helpful. aunt deb.. i do not think that i could have quit without nrt..everyone's journey to freedom from this addiction is DIFFERENT and PERSONAL...whatever works! [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 9/20/2006 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 148 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 4,013 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $555 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 20 [B]Hrs:[/B] 5 [B]Mins:[/B] 11 [B]Seconds:[/B] 5

Great topic of discussion! This is imperative for all members to join in! We can all learn from one another and someone else's tip just might help you through your own quit :) Josie _____________________ The SSC Support Team.