Hmmm. Not sure if I’ll succeed but I had the last one in a pack on Tuesday around noon and, being that it was Mrs. rktman’s birthday, I told her I would finally quit with the cigs. She quit a year and a half ago. Have done some things that would normally spur me to fire up but hangin’ in so far. Do I want one? Hell yeah. But, I ain’t buying or bummin’ so far. As far as succeeding, I can do this. Not too cranky so far from nic wifdrawls.
Good luck! How sweet of you to quit for Mrs. rktman’s birthday.
rk- what helped me tremendously was everytime gthe cravings got bad- I reminded myself what hell it was beating it each and every hour I struggled in hte beginning- I kept saying to myself “I’ve endured it this long, I’m NOT wasting the hours of hell i went htrough by quitting now
I think one key is to REWARD yourself by makign yourself understand that you WILL feel much better and increase your chances that you might not get cancer because you are quitting now-
Keep tellign yourself “Nope- I’m NOT wasting all those hours of effort and misery by havign even onem ore cigarette- (because you know that you can never have ‘just one cigartette’ as a ‘reward’ to yourself- it WILL cause you to start smoking again-
You’re tough- You can beat this
Also tell yourself everytime the cravigns get rough “Pfffft- I’ve had colds that were worse than this- I WILL get through thsi craving (the cravings really only do last a very short while each time they hit- You CAN get through htem- Colds make us feel miserable too- and we just grit our teeth and get through the worst symptoms- Well, we can do the same with hte cravings too- they WILL pass- and every day will get easdier and easier-
Keep trying.
My Mom smoked two packs a day for 54 years. Once cancer hit she went quick.
When I quit, I used various incentives and mind tricks to keep from having another cigarette. The one mental trick that worked the best was understanding that there is a limited number of urges to smoke before they cease. You do not know how many urges there will be but you do know that each urge is one less...unless you have another cigarette then you go back to square one. So every time I got the urge to have a cigarette instead of dreading them I cherished them because when it was done it would be one less that I had to endure.
The final lesson I learned was the connection smoking had to past experiences. Each time you have a past experience that you last were a smoker you will likely have an urge to smoke. After going for over a year with no urges to smoke I suddenly had numerous urges and I was getting ready to give up and have a cigarette until I realized a connection. The urges were happening when I was on vacation and I had never been on vacation in the prior 15 years without a cigarette. As soon as I realized the connection I was able to handle the urges very easily.
There’s a couple problems with vaping. 1. the batteries are known to explode. 2. the chemicals that bind oils and water together are NOT good for you.
I started the Chantix in late February......with quitting goal of the second week of March.....have failed a couple of times, probably had 8 or 9 cigs in March but went to doc Tuesday, sick as a dog with upper respiratory (or flu)......she’s trying to keep me from getting full blown pneumonia. I don’t like the feeling of not being able to catch my breath......screw the cigs, Lord help me with stupidity and good luck to you rktman.
You can do it. My dad smoked 2 packs a day for 40 plus years. He cut down gradually over a 2 year period. No programs, gum, patches, etc. Family members and friends dying of cancer sealed the deal for him. He’s 73 and been off cigs for almost 10 years. It helps that he’s a stoic, stubborn Irishman...