Joanne! Good for you! Stick with it. When you pull it off, you'll be very proud. I'm sure all this has been mentioned above.... drink lots of water, take a sip when ever you feel like lighting up. Cave to sugar cravings, but remember you can get hooked on sugar too. Sleep all you need (good to listen to your body). Have gum to chew. Licorice root is supposed to be good for cravings. You chew it, it's sweet and it is supposed to help level blood sugar.
Take it easy. Let your body go through the process, just keep thinking how much better you'll feel physically and mentaly when it's all done. Go for little sprints or long walks.
GOOD LUCK - hang in there!
Actually, Matrix, I got sick a lot for the year after I quit. Your lungs are weak with healing and a little raw. And the toxicity of the smoke seemed almost to kill off some of the bugs.
JoanneD - hugs heading your way. The fluids and rest are a real key to helping your body in the early days of detoxification. Take care of yourself and come back and bitch at us - we understand that particular bitch.
Hi, little k...
That's interesting. I got bronchitis and colds quite often when I smoked, and one time the bronchitis actually turned into pneumonia. After the pneumonia (which made me weak for a year after I had it) I quit. To be clear, I never smoked after I was diagnosed with the pneumonia. Have only had bronchitis maybe 2 or 3 times in the 22 years since. Have a major allergy to cigarette smoke and can't stand to be around it, though.
You just never know what them dang ciggs are doing to you!
"You just never know what them dang ciggs are doing to you!":
But it ain't good - keep holding out Joanne!
Keep it up, 'tis well worth it.
I "only" smoked 10-30 ciggies a day for about a decade (most of them handrolled and unfiltered), and did manage to kick, more or less, a couple of years ago, after sucking down a pack in about four hours along with a painful number of 7&7s in a bar on Halloween. Just didn't buy a pack the next day, and was pretty much quit at that point. I had to stay away from the bars for a while, though, and I drank oceans of green tea (a little bit of the feel-good effect from the aroma and the caffeine without getting so wired that I needed the smoke break to calm down) in the days that followed.
I still smoke one or two cigarettes a month, and they can be around the house and I don't go back on the wagon, so I'm probably not a completely addictive personality, but it was still a little rough. I feel better, though -- and I've saved a lot of money on both ciggies and on the ducats I don't drop in bars now ('cuz the smoke-filledness of them makes them less appealing now).
Good luck. People I'd known for a long time were absolutely shocked that I don't have to pop out every half an hour for a smoke -- it's very doable.
@JoanneDorel,
Quitting the traditional cigarette smoking is a real challenge for me. But day by day, I tried to remind myself that it will do me no good and it can ruin my health. That's what I keep in mind to push me more in quitting it. I tried to be more active as well in joining sports and other physical activities. In other words, I keep myself busy. I got a big help from a friend as well. He's trying to quit smoking too and her alternative is the use of electronic cigarette. It works on him and never crave for the traditional cigarette anymore. So I tried it too and that's what I've been doing right now, just to help myself free from the negative effects of the traditional cigarette smoking and quit it for good.
Do you have to do the gargle as often as you used to smoke? Give us a protocol, if you don't mind.
The most effective way I tried, was a method in a "How to quit smoking" book lent to me by a colleague.
You have to get your mind re-trained to immediately think 'yuk' when thinking about cigarettes, rather than considering them a treat or a reward.
One physical method was to promise yourself that when you actually give in and light up a cigarette, that you must take a drag deep down, and then cough repeatedly and hard as you breathe out.
It is an absofâckinglutely awful thing to experience, and it pretty soon persuades the brain that this smoking lark isn't all it's cracked up to be.
That, combined with cold turkey and peppermint chewing gum by the bucketload did the trick for me.
I can't even stand a faint whiff of a cigarette now, and I used to be a fully fledged, dyed in the wool puffer of the dreaded weed.
@Lordyaswas,
One outfit that held a stop smoking clinic at work told everyone to get a ginger root, cut off a slice and chew it. They looked silly and it didn't work. Another theory had a rubber band worn on the wrist. You were supposed to snap it every time you wanted a cigarette. Yes, I would put up with being snapped in exchange for a cigarette.
@JoanneDorel,
You might try the laser acupuncture. This method uses laser light instead of needles, to reduce your desires for smoking and only takes 45 minutes. The health professional does not also uses drugs during the procedure. He stimulates the laser light to the acupuncture points on the body.
@JoanneDorel,
Congratulations! You have decided to quit this hazardous habit. You can try quitting smoking on your own, which is commonly called going cold turkey. Try quitting in a step-wise manner, such as picking a date to quit and sticking to it. Before that, write down the reasons why you are willing to quit and read it every day. Options such as behavioral therapy, nicotine replacement therapy, and prescription medicines are also available.
Only one tip to quit smoking, don't catch fire in the first place. And keep a bucket of water handy.
I don't believe positive reinforcement helps to quit smoking because the benefits of not smoking are obvious to everyone, but they are not eating enough to induce a smoker to quit.
I believe negative reinforcement works, like something as simple as putting a rubber band on your wrist and giving yourself a healthy snap with the first puff of a cigarette.
A talented hypnotist could implant a suggestion against smoking. I'm sure hypnotists have their own techniques and their own suggestions that are successful. I imagine it would be a negative message that would produce a negative feeling while smoking. Over the long run the person would feel better when not smoking than when smoking.
However, nicotine may have a physiological calming effect. I had a neighbor who quit smoking for a period of time, but started up again because she felt calmer when she smoked.
I read about a famous clinical psychologist who would not allow his neurotic patients to smoke while in therapy because the nicotine would reduce their anxiety and keep them from confronting their issues. However, he said psychotics can benefit from smoking in therapy because it brings their mental state down to a level that can be dealt with.
@LucasBlack78,
LucasBlack78 wrote:
Congratulations! You have decided to quit this hazardous habit. You can try quitting smoking on your own, which is commonly called going cold turkey. Try quitting in a step-wise manner, such as picking a date to quit and sticking to it. Before that, write down the reasons why you are willing to quit and read it every day. Options such as behavioral therapy, nicotine replacement therapy, and prescription medicines are also available.
FYI. This is a 19 year old thread and the poster hasn't been back to the forum since 2005 (per her profile).
@coluber2001,
Negative reinforcement worked for me when willpower couldn't slow it down. I took a job that frowned on me smoking while working inside empty apartments. So I smoked less and less and eventually forgot to buy tobacco. I said, "I guess I quit." And I never smoked again. Don't even like to be near tobacco.
@tsarstepan,
There's been a lot of this lately, particularly on religious topics.
