quit smoking new years eve.  I am going to kill someone.  I feel like a friggin heroine addict.  My poor family.  When does it start getting easier?  I am chewing up to 6 nicorettes a day to stay sane.   Why did i ever start?  Need to vent.  Deep breath.  deep breath, deep breath deep breath deep breath........................ergh!!!!!!

Go find a big piece of wood - some great long nails and a bloody big hammer.  Go outside - hammer nails into wood - take out your frustration on the wood.  All the while talking to yourself about how bloody good you're going to feel in just one more day!  Who knows - you may even create a masterpiece whilst you're there.

One hour at a time buddy.  Good on you for trying!

Carol

Keep reminding yourself that you are now in control, that cigarettes and nicotine are no longer the master and you are no longer the slave.  You are no longer allowing something else to completely control your life, you are in the stages of taking back control.

You've already quit, now you just have to withdraw the substance from your system.

It isn't easy, but it IS doable.  You can succeed, think of a cigarette as an attack, while it hurts like a mofo, you KNOW it will end, it will be over and you will feel fine again.

Then think about all us poor suckers who are still brainwashed and slaves to the monster.

It ain't easy, but you have taken back control and each day will get better - it takes only 72 hours for nicotine to be completely removed from your system, and if I remember correctly, only 6 months for your body to believe it was never a smoker.

Hang in there, and hold on to the support from your CH family and know just how incredibly proud we ae of you.

Cat

Quote:


  Kev,   On the Nicorette package it clearly states to take at least 9 per day for best results.  You may not be taking enough to help you through these first days..

The first 72 hours are the physical addiction - after that it's all in your head    You have the hard part behind you - read and re-read what Frank said.

Hang tough - it's worth it!

Marc

Good move, Kev!!!

Wow!  Frank packed a lot of wisdom into a short post!

I smoked for 33 years, and have been quit for 5 years and one month as of today.  I must've tried to quit a couple hundred times, but one day it finally 'took'.

Hang in there.  A WHOLE lot of the agony is, literally, "all in your head" - particularly since you're taking the Nicorette.  You're working on the psychological aspect of the addiction first.

It's damn near impossible to explain, but it'll start getting easier when you find and flip the little 'switch' in your psyche that changes your perspective from 'smoker' to 'non-smoker'.  I don't mean to downplay your pain at all - been there, done that, many, many times - but believe it or not, it really is in your control.  You just have to find the button  .

I have to disagree with Linda.  Use as little of the Nicorette as possible, and get completely off of it ASAP.  As long as you're taking it, you're feeding your addiction, and not really getting 'clean'.

One other tidbit - I think that one motivator for me was when, at the age of 46, I realized that allowing for compounding of interest, I had spent enough on cigarettes to buy a fairly decent little house!    Man!  What I wouldn't give for a chance to go back and never start smoking!

Hang in there, Brother!  You're tough.  You're strong.  You'll win.  Then you'll discover it really wasn't that hard after all  

Very best regards,
Jim

kevmd wrote on Jan 4^th, 2009 at 1:13am:


Wow - drinking was the one thing that I couldn't do when I quit - no way.
Good for you! That shows that you really are in control.

Keep it up, it's worth it.

Marc

Mosaicwench wrote on Jan 3^rd, 2009 at 11:11pm:


This thread is gonna get printed and put on my fridge for when I do (I will be quitting by month's end)

Kev, AWESOME good on you!  Stay strong, you CAN do this.

Kilowatt3 wrote on Jan 3^rd, 2009 at 10:51pm:


I'm going to agree with Jim here.  Unfortunately, by using the Nicorette, you are basically prolonging your withdrawel.  I was one of the lucky ones, I was able to use Zyban/Wellbutrin to help with the psychological aspects of withdrawels.  Didn't mean that I wasn't stressed out, just meant it took the edge off and made it easier to deal with. 

I was smoking at least 2 packs a day (sometimes up to 3), when I realized several things, (1)it was costing me a small fortune and (2)I didn't want to end up like my mother-in-law, who died partially because of emphysema.  When I made up my mind to quit, I went from that rather *large* number to a half a pack a day and I laid them down.  That was February 28, 2005.  I attended the OUCH convention in Dallas in July (and anybody who's ever been to convention knows that smokers outnumber non-smokers 5-1).  I made it through that without killing anybody  .

I think I'm probably one of the few who has not had any desire to pick a cigarette back up.  It's worth it not to stink anymore and have more money to spend (bought my first DSLR camera when I quit).

Carolyn

Quote:



And I agree with both of you.  However Kev made the choice to go with the Nicorette and so I was just telling him what the package said as far as the dosage.   

It is 99.9% a psychological addiction. If it weren't, there would be rehab centers with medical staff for people going through withdrawals, the way there are for people coming off of alcohol, cocaine, and heroin.