Chrysalis

Jackie, I quit smoking using Chantix-- 3 weeks before my "quit date" and 3 weeks after. It worked great and I have been quit for almost 5 months now. Two weeks ago I ran into some very stressful situations in my life. I started craving a cigarette all day every day. After 4 or 5 days I couldn't stand the feeling anymore and was on the verge of relapsing. I didn't WANT to smoke but I couldn't STAND the craves! So I put myself back on a low dose of Chantix-- 1/2 pill (i.e. 0.5 mg) per day. I also did everything I could think of to reduce stress-- regular exercise, better nutrition, making time for fun, etc. It worked. I didn't smoke. My craves are gone. And overall I am feeling much better. I did talk to my doctor about this yesterday and he was fine with it. He, like Bakon, recommends exercise to reduce stress. But if exercise is not enough, he's fine with the low-dose Chantix. Anything rather than go back to smoking. So that is my advice to you. Take a low dose of Chantix (1 "starter" pill or 1/2 "regular" pill per day). Get out and exercise as vigorously as you can for at least 30 minutes EVERY DAY. Do whatever else you do to reduce your stress. And stop smoking RIGHT NOW!! It is stupid and unnecessary to continue to feed your addiction even one more day much less for another week or two. Chantix does work right away; its effect is subtle at first but it's there. Trust it. You have to want to quit smoking more than you want to smoke. Is that true for you? Do you want to quit more than you want to smoke? If so, then take the Chantix and stop smoking NOW. Yes, you have problems and frustrations in your life. Go see a psychotherapist for those. But smoking will solve nothing and will rob you of all the good things you were accomplishing by not smoking.

Leanna, when I was a poor graduate student I couldn't afford some necessary dentistry. A friend recommended that I go to the local dental school. They had an income-based sliding fee scale that I could afford. I was treated by senior students but an experienced dentist was looking right over his shoulder. It worked out fine.

That's one thing my husband and I learned early in our marriage. Most of the time he just sits back and lets me handle everything. And that works most of the time. But when I get stuck or frazzled or overwhelmed I tell him. Then he jumps in with both feet and fixes everything chop chop! So we're both happy-- I get to control everything (most of the time) and he gets to be the hero (often enough).

I think that the thread: "Pre Respond to your own SOS" is great. It will be wonderful for those to actually wrote their own "pep talks" then subsequently experience a crave; it also provides wonderful encouragement and tips for casual readers. I suggest that the admins pin it to the top of the SOS forum. Let's not let it fall between the cracks.

Hey, the fact that you can get up off the couch to feed yourself so soon after this trauma is quite a victory! Appreciate what your poor body is doing for you. Seven months after quitting smoking you are so much healthier than if you had continued to smoke, thank God for that! Keep on shuffling to the fridge, then step briskly to the fridge, then jog to the fridge, and from there the sky's the limit! I'm so glad that you are home and recovering.

Wow! You're really having a tough time with the smoking today, aren't you??!! I'm so sorry, honey, I know it's tough sometimes. Here, come over here so I can give you a big hug... ((( :wub: HUG!! :wub: ))) Hang in there, honey, you're doing great! You're going continue to do great! You trust me on this, don't you? Yes? Good. OK. Now calm down.... Breathe deeply and slowly for a couple of minutes.... Relax your shoulders and rotate your neck.... Just relax....shhhhh.... Now-- let's fix this: 1. You know that you do NOT want to go back to smoking. No how no way. Never. Right?! 2. Remind yourself of why you wanted to quit in the first place-- you really want to be fit and vigorous in your old age. You want to bicycle, hike, dance, explore, walk dogs, feel good, feel energetic! No rocking chair, no wheel chair, no oxygen tank. You don't want to plague your family with second hand smoke (you felt so guilty!). You want to be financially secure in your senior years--it feels good to know that you stopped wasting all that money on cigarettes. 3. DISTRACT YOURSELF!!! For a temporary (1 day) "crave" do what you know works to relieve stress and/or boredom (the two most common causes of your short-term craves)--Get some exercise, listen to a relaxation tape, call a friend, play with the cat, do some artwork, watch a Netflix, plan your next vacation, play with your financial investments, look up a new recipe, order Spring bulbs online, look at Nonsmoking Cats, Dogs and Animals or funny Youtube videos. 4. Give yourself some tough love as in: "Come on, stop indulging this crave. Stop feeling sorry for yourself--you know that this feeling is temporary. So get up off your sorry a** and DO something!" 5. Repeat your mantra to yourself until it sinks in. Remember this?-- Note to self: Even if I do smoke ONE cigarette and that ONE cigarette gives me relief from these AWFUL feelings, how long will that relief last? Forever? No, of course not. All day? No. An hour? Unlikely. I know perfectly well that the relief I feel, such as it is, will only last about 15 minutes before I'm right back to where I am now-- NEEDING just ONE cigarette to deal with these AWFUL feelings. All right-- forget it! Forget the d*** cigarette! 6. N.O.P.E. If you find yourself going through a phase of several days of constant craves and obsessing about smoking, sit down and think carefully about WHY you keep fantasizing about cigarettes. What is wrong in your life? What feelings are you trying to suppress with cigarettes? Anxiety? Weight gain? Boredom? If there is some underlying problem in your life that is triggering frequent thoughts about smoking, fix the underlying problem! Don't hide from it. Don't deny its existence. Don't be too lazy to address it. FIX IT!! Now get a grip, girl! You don't want to smoke. You are not going to smoke! Do something else with your life! Got it? Good!

Then what do you call rugby? And what is a "scoucer"? (Jeeze, I didn't think I would have to take a language class when I joined Quit Train! :cray:)

OK. Got it now. Secret handshake, goofy hats and discussions about dog food and PMS. Must be a real popular forum! Thanks for the info.

Didn't exercise today but did have a very good medical checkup. BP, glucose, cholesterol, etc. everything great. Weight down a little from where it was last time but still need to work on that. All this PLUS I haven't smoked in almost 5 months. Doctor was pleased as punch. Me, too! :) Now I just need to keep doing what I have been doing and I'll get to where want to be. Good to know.

Great post, Beacon! And it's true...so many things that we couldn't do on our own--or couldn't maintain for very long--we can do and maintain by drawing on the strength of others. When you think about it, that's pretty amazing. :victory:

Thank you for posting this, Colleen. You are inspiring me! You have done exactly what I want to do-- use quitting smoking as a first step in becoming a healthier, fitter, happier (and smaller) person. Congratulations! Of course, my first thought is that you can accomplish that but I can't. I'm older, fatter, too out of shape, blah, blah, blah. But then I realized that that's just the same old "special snowflake" argument (everybody can do it but me). All I have to do is do like you did-- be consistent and stick with it!! Good for you, Colleen. You should feel really good about yourself.

So, are you dead yet? "Ripped in 30" graduating class, August 2014

Sorry to be dense, but I can't figure out what topics are supposed to go in "Off the Record".

Gosh, DevilDoll, you make me feel so special! Thanks. (((DevilDoll)))

Ditto, Jimmy! Funny thing, though, you look just like a certain bus driver I know. ;)

This one is for Beacon and action. Thank you for caring. :wub:

Hi, Zelda- Congratulations on your quit (20 days is it now?) and especially on your baby! I'm so happy for you! While I am impressed that you threw out your cigarettes the minute you knew you were pregnant, please don't stop there. I can't tell you how often I have read of women who quit while pregnant but went back to smoking shortly after the delivery. Clearly, there is no physical reason for that-- the physical addiction is long gone. I think that the reason for these relapses is that the woman is quitting "for the baby". Mama herself feels deprived of cigarettes throughout the pregnancy. She misses what she THINKS the cigarettes did for her (relaxation, focus, energy, etc.). That thinking is WRONG. Cigarettes do nothing for you except to relieve the withdrawal symptoms caused by cigarettes. So while I think it's great that you used your pregnancy as the motivation to begin your quit, I hope you take the time during the next few months to really educate yourself about nicotine addiction and how to overcome it. Read Alan Carr's "Easy Way to Stop Smoking" and/or watch Joel Spitzer's videos and/or read and post here often. At 20 days you are well on your way to complete freedom from this horrible disease. Learn from the mistakes of others. Educate yourself about the lies old Nicodemon will tell you after your delivery so that you can remain free for the rest of your life. You want to be active and vigorous enough to play with you grandchildren, don't you? Start planning for that now.

Yes, my sleep is MUCH better now. I used to wake up every night to go to the bathroom. I thought it was my kidneys. Actually, I think I woke myself up by coughing in my sleep (at least that's what my husband says). Then, once I was semi-awake I would often decide to wake up enough to have a cigarette in the middle of the night before going back to sleep. At that point, however, I was unable to get back to sleep for quite a while. Dumb!

Wow, Gemzee, Ripped in 30 sounds challenging enough to be downright scary! Don't overdo it now, you hear? :swoon:

Congratulations, Gemzee! Your enthusiasm is great to see. You EARNED this celebration! And, hey, when you get to the Lido deck be sure to save a place for me. I'll be there by-and-by.

I've been too busy reading old posts and blogs to finish up my profile. Soon, I promise. Meanwhile, will this do for now?

30 minutes of "disco walking" today. ("Disco walking" is my term for listening to fast, bouncy, danceable music on my iPod while I walk and dance and beebop around and around the perimeter of the condo's tennis court. Looks ridiculous but it makes for a fun workout. :dance3: )

Smoking causes you to cough-- --in the middle of a theatrical performance --in the middle of a speech --while on the telephone --in church --every time you laugh --all through the night

Hi, Abigail. So nice to see you again! Congratulations on your one month milestone-- that was a biggie for me. I know you feel as though your brain is lagging behind your body but it's not. Everything is healing at once. But at this point, one month quit, you could start making a conscious effort to do some new and different things with your new and non-smoking self. After a month I decided that my lungs were probably healed enough that I could probably start exercising (I used to get too short of breath to do much). I got off to a slow start with that but things are getting better and better. Also, to help relax me as well as to get some benefit from the additional time I have each day, I started charcoal sketching in the evenings. Very relaxing and takes my mind off the smokes. I guess my point is that you have clawed your way to a very good place. The worst is over and you can try to experiment a little. Stay close to the board, protect your quit above all else, but start to enjoy your life more.

Petra, what a fabulous idea to get everybody into a happy frame of mind! I have 2 best compliments that I think of often: 1) after teaching a rigorous biology course to non-majors one of my students told me that she had been planning to become an interior decorator. But she had worked so hard and done so well in my class that she now had much more self-confidence. So she decided that she was going to become an interior designer. 2) my husband frequently gives me the (bass-ackward) compliment of telling me that marrying my was the smartest thing he ever did in his life. How sweet! -_-