"You Can't Do It"

[SengaKitty]

I'm really worried about falling off of the wagon, because the friend that's doing this with me DID quit before and was doing great, until a few horrible nights at work with Ann testing her patience, and she started wanting cigarettes again and then up and started smoking again.

If that happens, let me know, and I'll support you. You're not quitting with just one person this time I have four cigarettes left and that's IT.

[blas]

No worries, you'll get your first update this coming Saturday. I'm wondering what day my gum is coming in the mail.....I'll get my patches on Friday night from my bf, then I need to decide which ones to use first....

Feel free to PM me tonight or tomorrow and let me know how you're doing! I'll be sure to read it and get back to you after work tomorrow morning!

[SengaKitty]

I am currently on the phone with Quit For Life, enrolling and will be talking to a quit smoking coach once I'm done enrolling.

[Dave1982]

First of all, Blas, I wish you the BEST of luck with quitting. Seems a lot of people are quitting now. My sales manager just quit, one of our techs had quit a few weeks before that, and one of our CPC girls is quitting (though she had a slip recently).

It's actually funny that this topic has come up here. Last night (Sunday night) I was out to dinner with some co-workers, and somehow the topic of quitting smoking came up. Our IA (who I never knew as a smoker; he'd quit just before I came to this store) said he'd tried Chantix but had to stop using it because he said it gave him REALLY screwed up dreams that really freaked him out. This of course meant we HAD to hear about them. He only agreed to tell us about ONE, and mentioned that it was a fairly mild one at that.

What follows is slightly NSFW.


The dream started off with him walking down the street with - of all people - Ron Jeremy. The two of them turned to walk down some alley, and partway down was an enormous woman with tentacles for arms. Next thing he knows, he's caught up in a bizarre three-way with BOTH Tentacle-Woman AND Ron Jeremy.

Then he woke up.

He said these dreams were so vivid he felt like he hadn't even slept. Fortunately, he was still able to quit even after dropping the Chantix.

Quote of the Night?

ULTRA cute petite co-worker who looks very very innocent: Wait....who's Ron Jeremy?

[TTAZ]

Chantix

WARNING: THIS IS LONG

I am on Chantix now. Medicaid pays for it surprisingly but even for those who would have to pay the bucks for it, DO IT. I cannot stress this enough: CHANTIX WORKS. I recently cut my dose in half because of the nightmares and that has worked like a charm. One pill in the morning and I'm good all day. My quit date was July 9th and I haven't had a cig since. I even got my mom (who has smoked for 40 years!) to call the doc and she is going to try it. I still have vivid dreams, but they aren't as bad as the nightmares. They're actually quite silly and I forget them very soon after waking up.

I tried Wellbutrin. It worked....kinda. It kept me from getting a kick off the smoke, which just made me smoke more for a while trying to get that high back. Either way, no go, I didn't quit. But I am feeling GREAT after 19 days with no tobacco, y'all! Seriously, I have not coughed ONCE since stopping. My "allergies" have gotten waaaaaay better. What I missed more than the cigs was the time out I got to take when I went outside to have one, but y'know what? Non-smoking breaks are good too. Also Altoids. Numb your mouth for the first few days and suck on some Altoids.

I won't lie to you, if at all possible on the 3rd day of no cigs, don't go to work. Don't do anything unnecessary if you have to be around ppl. If you are off weekends try to time it so you are doing you're third day on a day off. THE THIRD DAY NOT SMOKING IS WHEN YOUR BODY HAS NO NICOTINE RESERVES LEFT. YOU WILL WANT TO BITE THE HEAD OFF OF SOMETHING CUTE AND FUZZY. It is physically the WORST day, and please please PLEASE take my advice and plan it for a day off. However, when you get through it, and you will, it is the best incentive to not smoke again. Why? Because you will never ever want to go through it again. I am being perfectly serious when I say I preferred LABOR. Day 4 is easier. And every day after that. You CAN do it and you will not regret it.

So quick recap:

On day 3 tobacco free, you will be in physical hell. You will survive, but try to time it for a day off.

Chantix will likely give you weird dreams, if you have nightmares, call your doc and ask to cut down the dose.

The physical hand to mouth habit is harder to break. You'll find your own way of dealing with it. I type a lot faster now.

Altoids. Stock up on Altoids. Suck on 2 or 3 of them at once when you want a cig. The sucking seems to help with that physical habit and when your mouth is numb, what's the point of smoking anyway? It helps. I recommend cinnamon.

Breathe through the cravings. Nice yoga breaths. Inhale nice and deep like you used to on a cig, and realize how much easier it is to do so!

Celebrate on your 7th day. Seriously, you earned it. It only gets easier after that.

DO NOT WORRY ABOUT GAINING WEIGHT. Quit first, then work on the other if you need to. Some folks will tell you exercise will help because of endorphins etc. You can try if you like, but if you don't want to, don't beat yourself up. You're doing something great for your body even if you don't exercise. Don't kid yourself, you are detoxing and you need to get a grip on that.

Ladies (and any gents in this boat) I'm going into day 20 successfully and I have a very fresh memory of the early days. If anybody wants to PM me, I'll gladly help you any way I can. If you need it, you can email me, hell, you can CALL me if you wish. What I love the most are getting the check in calls from Chantix that say "attaboy" when you've made it another day smoke-free. If nothing else, I would be happy to "attaboy" for you.

[iradney]

See if you can get one of those stress balls. A nicotine craving lasts between 5 and 15 minutes. When it hits, grab the ball and just squeeze the crap out of it.
Also, get physical cash that you would've spent on smokes. Put it into a jar or something. Count it weekly. You'll be amazed at how much you'll have at the end of the month. Use to it buy yourself something nice - a mani/pedi, a cute top, whatever. Then, you have something you can look at when you feel like backsliding and you can think to yourself "I want that more than I want the cigarette."

Also, I know you work out quite a bit already - the elliptical trainer is also useful for burning off the craving for a cig.

You can totally do it, Blas. *hugs*

[Boozy]

Quitting smoking is stupidly difficult. My grade 5 teacher said she'd quit smoking 15 years ago, had a dream about smoking, then woke up with cravings as strong as if she'd never stopped.

Sharing stories like that is not helpful, dear.

Look, blas, I don't want you to psych yourself out. It might be hard, but it might be easy. No one can say that your experience will be just like their own.

I've quit twice. The first time I was a pack a day smoker and had been for nearly 10 years. And I walked away from it with barely a problem. I've heard the same story from others, such as my grandfather who smoked two packs a day for 60 years and then one day just decided "not to do that anymore." And it was a piece of cake.

In fact, my first quit was so easy that I took the habit up again about a year later, thinking that quitting was so simple that I'd just do it again after my vacation was over. I ended up getting up to about 5 smokes a day, about a quarter what I smoked before. And when I quit, it was hell.

So every quit is different, and every person is different. Don't take any stories or opinions to heart, including mine. You know what you need to do, and that's all that matters.

[AccountingDrone]

Good luck ...

I quit simply because I ran out of cigs and it wasn't payday, but I am not an addictive personality [i also stopped morphine when I was in traction, but I'm funny that way]

I *have* had 4 roomies quit smoking ... one cold turkey, 2 with patch/gum and one with chantix.

You need to derail the physical motions, upstream lollipops were suggested, carrot sticks/celery sticks work also for that hand to mouth motion, and keeping the mouth busy. Try to make sure however you break the hand/mouth habit, lower calorie the better =) I swear Sandy was going through 5-7 lb of carrots a week, we thought she was going to turn orange or something! She found that first cig in the morning with the cup of coffee to be about the hardest, and was using some sort of stella doro breadstick.coffee crunchy stick thingy instead of that first ciggy.

[Primer]

I'm on my last pack of cigarettes. I am NOT buying anymore cigarettes after this.

This is a great approach! You can't smoke 'em if you don't have 'em!

This morning I bought enough ciggs for the rest of the work week, and that's it. So that way, all I will have left on Friday are what's left in the same pack I took to work Thursday night, so about half a pack or a little less. And that's IT.

Planning ahead, and having a definite stop date/time really does help, too!

But at the same time, I've always been the type of person to get more motivated when told that I don't have a chance or that I CAN'T do something. I love proving people wrong.

This will definitely help, also!

I've tried the patches and gotten a rash, and tried the gum, but it made me sick, so it's time to just try it through sheer will power.

Last year, when I had my hip surgery, the doctor insisted I quit smoking for the duration of the healing. He said that after I had healed, he didn't care if I started smoking again. I found out that I was allergic to the patch--probably the adhesive, but in the hospital, I wound up with a trail of itchy red squares all across my chest and arms from the patch. I unwillingly gave up on the patch before I was over the cravings, and had to go cold turkey from there.

I'm really worried about falling off of the wagon, because the friend that's doing this with me DID quit before and was doing great, until a few horrible nights at work with Ann testing her patience, and she started wanting cigarettes again and then up and started smoking again.

Don't beat yourself up if you fall off the wagon. Just pick yourself up, and climb back on. Most people require several tries before being successful.

Last January, when I was dealing with my parents in the hospital, and my father passing away, I started smoking again. Once that calmed down in March, I crawled back on the wagon. In late April, American Spirit tobacco company sent me $20 in coupons. I ended up getting 4 packs, but when those were gone (mid-May), I crawled back on the wagon again. I have cravings every day, but if I can go without buying any, I won't smoke any. And prices are so bad now, I believe that WILL keep me from buying them.

I quit simply because I ran out of cigs and it wasn't payday, but I am not an addictive personality [i also stopped morphine when I was in traction, but I'm funny that way]

I *have* had 4 roomies quit smoking ... one cold turkey, 2 with patch/gum and one with chantix. I swear Sandy was going through 5-7 lb of carrots a week, we thought she was going to turn orange or something! She found that first cig in the morning with the cup of coffee to be about the hardest,

I am an addictive personality, but at least I know I am.

Ahh, that first cig in the morning--the one that gets the bowels moving. Don't laugh, all you smokers know it's true! The hardest thing for me now is trying to re-regulate my body. As a teacher it's quite inconvenient to have that sudden urge right in the middle of class time! And for me, when Mother Nature says it's time, She means it!

Blas, RHPG, you CAN do it! You have to want it badly enough, but you CAN do it! If you backslide, that's ok. Just pick yourself up and try again!

[XCashier]

So every quit is different, and every person is different.

Absolutely true. Everybody has different physiologies and biochemistries. Do what works for you, not Joe Schmoe in Idaho.

I've never smoked, but I'm trying to lose weight, so I can sympathise with the struggle of quitting a bad habit. Sounds like you're doing everything right. I believe you can do it, and you'll be gleefully serving the humble pie to the naysayers in no time!

[BookstoreEscapee]

What is Zyban? Is that like Wellbutrin?

Zyban and Wellbutrin are the same drug, marketed under different names for different uses. I don't know if the dosing is different, though. I came across the name while I was researching antidepressant withdrawal. I'm not a smoker, but personally I would probably save any kind of drugs for a last resort.

You could always do what Ex did...he made a bet ...and his friend paid $500 towards the down payment on his car when he won.

[blas]

I don't have the money to make bets with anyone.....but that would be a good idea.

Although a new(er) car is what I plan on buying with all the money I save by this coming spring!

[ditchdj]

I smoked for 8 years. What drove me to quit was the zyban i paid $120 for didnt work. So I forced myself to quit and I had withdrawal for six days. Trouble sleeping, nervousness, and restlessness. For the next five years I had occasional cravings, and actually broke down and swiped a cigarette from someone and had a smoke outside. But the cravings finally ended for good a couple years ago. Benefits that I've gotten out of not smoking is that I can climb a flight of stairs without running out of breath. Food and drink now have more flavor to them. I don't reek of smoke and neither does my house or car. And I save about a hundred dollars a month.

[blas]

Yikes...if Zyban costed you that much, it'll probably cost me a pretty penny as well.

I'm hoping the free stuff that the Quit Line sends me and the patches my bf gives me are good enough and I don't need to spend anymore extra money. My insurance doesn't cover smoking cessation aids, just gets us out of paying tax on them.

[TTAZ]

Zyban is available as a generic. Get a doc to write you a scrip for bupropion and the copay would be what it is for any other generic med.

Just sayin'.

Good luck! Tomorrow is my 3 weekiversary of quitting my 14 year long habit and I know you can do it!