Devil Doll

NOPE

6

Thank you all! I made it through nursing school and have accepted my dream position in the trauma intensive care unit. All of these positive changes came from my decision to quit 9 years ago!

Thank you! This has been an amazing 7 years! Without this site and the help of its wonderful members I don’t think the outcome would have been the same. If you are lurking and thinking of joining, do it! It is worth it. Next year at this time I will be quit and have a new title added to my name BSN, RN. All of this snowballed from quitting at that point in life quitting was the hardest thing that I had done. Conquering that obstacle gave me the courage to conquer my fear of going back to school at my age.

7 years! When we first started 7 minutes was a stretch... 7 flipping years!! congratulations Joe!!

Nope ... not today

The self-help group that we chose to attend is an online quit smoking forum called QuitTrain.com. An online forum provides the person who might not feel comfortable in person the opportunity to obtain support while maintaining anonymity. This board was formed in 2014 by [redacted] (Maryland Quitter) as a safe space assisting people on their path to freedom from smoking and addiction to nicotine. The board does promote the quitting philosophy of Joel Spitzer but QuitTrain also recognizes that there is not a “one size fits all” approach when it comes to quitting smoking. Permission was obtained from the owner and notified the members about using the forum as a source of information for this report. We chose this type of group because according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (2020) smoking is the leading preventable cause of death in the United States. Unfortunately, quitting smoking isn’t as easy as lighting that first cigarette. There are physical and mental withdrawals that go along with deciding to quit. This withdrawal can be so intense that people surrender and cease their quit attempt. All of the members of the QuitTrain are former smokers. They have the unique perspective of knowing what every member on that board is going through. I [redacted] have been an active member of quit smoking boards for the past seven years. On December 31st, 2013 decided to quit smoking for the <insert failed attempt #> time. The one thing that I changed in this attempt is that I searched for help. I found a message board, joined and made my first post. I immediately found support from people who were in all different phases of their quit journey. It helped to know that there were people in the same phase of withdrawal as I was and others that were further along; meaning that they made it through what I was going through. It also helped to assist people who were new to the site, at the beginning of their journey. I not only had cheerleaders on my side, but I was a cheerleader to someone else. QuitTrain is free to join, the criteria that you need to join are that you need to quit smoking and all forms of nicotine use. There is no required method, there are members that have quit Cold Turkey, and also by using NRT (nicotine replacement therapy), Chantix, or a “vaping” step-down method with nicotine (this is not a preferred method). New members are asked to pledge a one-year commitment to the board. There is a daily pledge thread where you are encouraged to post in for accountability. Each member promises themselves “NOPE – Not One Puff Ever (just for today).” New members are also asked that if they feel they are in danger of relapsing to post in the S.O.S thread. QuitTrain has international members and moderators to ensure that someone is always on the board to answer an S.O.S. The S.O.S thread had saved me quite a few times when I needed it. When a member relapses, it isn’t viewed as a failure. That member is encouraged to dust off and get right back to it. Some members will ask the poster to dig into why they relapsed just so that they can avoid that trigger if they encounter it again. When I was weak, I would tell myself that “If I have just one cigarette I would be back to where I started. Where I started was desperately wishing that I was where I am today.” Now, seven years later, I say that to members who are struggling. That is where the benefit of having former smokers helping on the board comes in. They not only know how the poster is feeling in a moment of weakness, but they also know that it is possible to get through this hard time. Quitting smoking is difficult because there is not only physical but also psychological withdrawal associated with freeing your body from its dependence to nicotine. We learned that this group has been beneficial to helping people successfully quit smoking and maintain their independence from nicotine. Support and accountability are positives when it comes to helping keep the motivation going even when what they are doing is hard. References Center for Disease Control and Prevention. (2020). Health Effects of Cigarette Smoking. https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/health_effects/effects_cig_smoking/index.htm

-2

8 get in here Mammy

6-8 months in was a really rough time for me. You can get through it though. There are times where it is going to pop into your head and then it will just pop right back out. All you have to say to yourself is "I am not a smoker", it really does get that simple.

Take it minute by minute. Nope just for an hour, and then the next hour, and the next... You can do this.

2020 may be a dumpster fire but I am still here.

@Linda This thread has saved many quits. Write something to yourself, something that will help save you when you are on the edge. When you feel weak come read ... ❤️

Not today, NOPE.

The messed up part is that my patients didn’t do this to me (symptomatic, but negative). Student nurses did!!! Now because of that I refuse to go on campus for lectures. I am going to virtually attend classes and go to my clinical double masked with and N95 and a cloth mask.