Sazerac

OK, bebe., It is time to quit, right ? The answer to this is YES, It IS TIME TO QUIT. So, know that You can quit. I quit, all these lovely people quit. It is not rocket science. It is about making a commitment to yourself. Embrace the new day, quit nicotine and be a free person. You can do this. Prepare yourself with education about nicotine addiction and hold on for the ride. You won't regret a thing. Love, S

You have come to the right place and you can have a successful quit. Learn all you can and don't forget to have fun along the way because life is short.

They are also taking over the vape thing. Not likely they will let go of an addictive product any time soon. lol.

To be honest, christine, this is a journey of self-discovery, a boost of self-confidence and learning how to be a smoke free person. The physical withdrawals can last for months to include the great smoke free fog, the rest is un learning and understanding the pattern of addiction. Each receptor in your brain needs to be re-booted. Give it a year, give it the rest of your life. It won't be as crazy as it is now, you are in the thick of it and it gets better with each crave you beat. Each moment, day, each week, each month, each year brings more and more benefits for you to enjoy. Hang on to your resolve and educate yourself, read till your eyes bleed. You are doing the best work on the planet, putting your addiction to sleep ! Congratulations on you second day of Freedom. Tomorrow, a whole lot of nicotine will have left your body and you are growing new cilia in your lungs as we speak.

Hey @farmgirl, These craves are the last live embers of addiction as you put it to sleep. Remember, Addiction doesn't magically go away, it is something we must live with forever. The quicker we silence our smokey thoughts, the quieter the addiction becomes. At a certain point after the first year, I could no longer call my smokey thoughts craves, they were just wisps of a phantom. You may find this post helpful Lifetime of Addiction

NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE

Kate, Craves will continue to pop up especially the first year. Many are seasonally related (Winter chill, the burst of Spring etc.). These are the receptors in your brain that have made associations with Nicotine. Do not fear any crave, all you have to do is breathe through it. As someone said, as we all repeat, "A Crave Is Not A Command". It is just another receptor to wrench away from Nicotine and look how splendid you are doing ! an hour from 28 days ? Beautiful !

Congratulations, dear Sslip, on your First Year of Freedom. It has been a pleasure watching you build a solid quit and encourage others as you go along. Thanks for being here ! Wanna go for a ride ? Take the TARDIS for a spin, won't you ?

Quitting smoking is going to change your life, Kim, and change it in quantum ways. You will experience a giant boost in self-confidence and establish a real trust in yourself. All that needs doing is making a commitment to yourself that you will never smoke again. Not One Puff. If quitting drinking will help serve you, then quit drinking for a while. Don't let anything/anybody interfere with your quit. YOU decide whether to choose Freedom or Addiction and get ready for a great awakening in your body and spirit. Freedom is where it's at.

Hello Christine, I am a cold turkey success story. It was easier for me to just DO IT rather than deal with NRTs. You must embrace the suck no matter what method you choose to quit, it is a serious deadly addiction and the only real choice is to NEVER SMOKE AGAIN. Sure, you will have discomfort but, so what....the rewards far outweigh any distress. Please educate yourself, commit to yourself and protect your quit. You Will Succeed.

Happy Three Years of Freedom, Wana and welcome to the QTrain !

Great news for the new year, Christa ! Believe it or not, it keeps getting better even after years of quitting. Thanks for checking in.

How is your quit, Christa ? How are you feeling a few days shy of five months ?

As you can see from the successful quits above, the fog is not permanent. So, cut yourself some slack, be kind to yourself and be careful with heavy machinery, playing with knives or,

Just checking in... two rounds of snow ?

NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE

How did it go Rozuki ? Will you be showing up on the swearing thread ?

I saw on the NOPE thread that our friend, @Tammy had bad smokey dreams last night. It is always horrible to realize how deep out addiction goes. Our subconscious is ripe ground and it takes time to purge. It is a wake up call to how entrenched addiction is. But, there is also a physical reason, it is about the cilia in our lungs removing tar. Joel says interesting things about Dreams in this video, how the cilia are continuing to clean up while we sleep which may generate smells and taste of tobacco and trigger the dream. Should you want to delve deeper into the psychology of this, here is a study on PDF. Dream of Absent-Minded Transgressiohttps: An Empirical Study of a Cognitive Withdrawal Abstract Among 293 smokers abstinent for between 1 and 4 weeks, 33% reported having at least 1 dream about smoking. In most dreams, subjects caught themselves smoking and felt strong negative emotions, such as panic and guilt. Dreams about smoking were the result of tobacco withdrawal, as 97% of subjects did not have them while smoking, and their occurrence was significantly related to the duration of abstinence. They were rated as more vivid than the usual dreams and were as common as most major tobacco withdrawal symptoms. In subjects abstinent for 1 year, 63% recalled having dreams about smoking. They had on average 5 of them, and about a quarter occurred after the 6th month of abstinence. Having dreams about smoking was prospectively positively related to maintenance of abstinence. An explanation of this finding based on the association of smoking in dreams with aversive emotions is offered.

Nope nope nope nope nope

Bump

I sucked on cinnamon sticks like Jillars Air Smoke

Glad you are fine, Jack. Busy is the best, distractions keep you away from nicotine. You have 10 fine days. Congratulations. This is a really big deal and we are all really glad you are building a successful quit.

yep, mrsguest it is hard. I felt like jumping out of my skin but, taking breaths (oxygen became my new drug of choice) peeling a satsuma and enjoying that delicious-ness helped me a lot. Also WATER. Water water water ! And throwing any kind of distraction my way, jumping jacks, screaming showers etc. I would sit and sketch or write just to give my fingers something to do. @jillar made a fake smoke with just a straw and sucked on that. Believe us, mrsguest, it gets better. You won't feel terrible forever, I promise. Each crave you beat reclaims a receptor in your brain.

Happy 12th Night Y'all. Tonight, The Epiphany, begins Mardi Gras, 57 days of revelry culminating on Fat Tuesday March 5th. Laissez les bon temps rouler!

Here is a vid from our friend, Joel, about 'how to do nothing w/out a smoke. This part of quitting was hard for me. In-between tasks or taking breaks I would usually sit on my back stoop and think about what to do next or just look at my garden...that light on that leaf. I thought I needed a smoke to do this but, I didn't need a smoke. I needed the break, I needed some nice deep breaths of oxygen, I needed a moment to collect my thoughts. Smoking was non essential and facilitated nothing but bondage.