Once and for all

[jillar]

Yea @tocevoD it sounds like you're still getting a lot of nicotine between the patches and lozenges. I would worry you're getting too much nicotine using both and would encourage you to maybe try using just the lozenges since those sound like your preference. 

At any rate, the idea with patches and lozenges is to reduce your nicotine use over time and at four weeks I would think they would have started doing that. Just my opinion.....

[Minnie Mouse]

It's doable for you to remain smoke free long term.  None of us long timers are just "special" people.  We have the same time as you & everybody else who hasn't smoked today ... one day.  

 

I changed how I saw smoking in order to remain smoke free without having an ongoing struggle with it or to keep relapse/slips as an open option for myself.  I educated myself on nicotine addiction (it is not just a bad habit) to learn how addiction(s) work. 

 

I needed to understand what smoking did to my brain/mind/thought process and to my body systems.  I needed to find my willingness and free choice to not smoke no matter how I felt, what I thought, or what happened to me in life going forward.  The ongoing recovery process can include a bunch of self-discovery & personal changes (if you are open to it). 

 

Best Wishes. 

[Genecanuck]

On 10/4/2024 at 10:37 AM, tocevoD said:

Sorry for not posting Genecanuck. I'm at the place I need to be to get posting again now.today is my quit day. As mentioned in previous posts it's easier when I've got my son. Got him till Wednesday night next week. Going out for a drink, which I do rarely, is a gateway as is boredom which I have lots of. I need to occupy my time when my son is not with me. The determination is there again. When you go back to it you realise how it makes you feel. Heartburn, lethargy and wasting money. Time to get back on the train.

Hi @tocevoD... No need to appologize. I was checking in becasue i was concered and wanted to know how you are doing. Keep that determination you have to quit. Get back on the train with us and we will support you. I hope you are ok. Keep posting. Keep seeing support.  

[Genecanuck]

Good morning @tocevoD

 

I just read your thread and got caught up on your progress. Wow, good for you. You are making some good progress. Just keep it going my friend. 

 

 

[tocevoD]

Im not going to post durations anymore, just check in every so often and update that I'm still going strong. I think if I keep updating like a 1 week, 2 week, 3 week etc. etc. It is like I'm counting the days, whereas I'm not anymore. 

 

Anyway, no phone consultation this week. As I said last time I got 2 weeks worth of patches and lozenges to see me through the 2 weeks. I'm still on the patches daily, but the lozenge use is down. I find I don't need to be eating them as much as I was. I think it's about 3.or 4 lozenges a day now. I may at some point just buy a packet of non nicotine fruit lozenges and give them a go as I think it's the fruity taste I like more than the nicotine within. That's a plan for the next few days. 

 

Things are going well. I've got more energy now. I noticed when having a football kick around with my son. I had to walk up 10 flights of stairs in a block of flats yesterday with a smoker work colleague. He was puffing and panting at the top and I wasn't even out of breath. All noticeable things for me that are evidence of the progress made. I still haven't been back the gym. I need to get myself back in there but that's more of me finding the time than actually avoiding it. I have my son around a lot so squeezing gym sessions in around work and my son is hard at the moment. I've got a little exercise bike in the house so may try and fit in half an hour a day on that to start my fitness adventure and the gym can follow that. Small steps at the moment.

 

One thing I have noticed with every quit, and moreso with this. When I was a smoker I would bite my nails a lot. Now Ive got proper finger nails. The biting of the nails is a nervous smoker thing. The anxiety of the wait for the next ciggie making you go for the nails.

[Genecanuck]

Good morning @tocevoD Noticing that you have more energy is a nice benefit of not smoking. You are probably entering the phase of your quit where you have to work on relapse prevention. What are the little triggers in your world that you have to be aware of  that might catch you off guard? An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!

 

You have an awesome quit. Keep it going.

 

Here is a handy checklist regarding relapse symptoms that I picked up in Quitnet back in 2005.

 

Following is a checklist of relapse symptoms we can watch for: 

1. Exhaustion - Allowing oneself to become overly tired, usually associated with work addiction as an excuse for not facing personal frustrations.
2. Dishonesty - Begins with a pattern of little lies; escalated to self-delusion and making excuses for not doing what's called for.
3. Impatience - I want what I want NOW. Others aren't doing what I think they should or living the way I know is right.
4. Argumentative - No point is too small or insignificant not to be debated to the point of anger and submission.
5. Depression - All unreasonable, unaccountable despair should be exposed and discussed, not repressed: what is the "exact nature" of those feelings?
6. Frustration - Controlled anger/resentment when things don't go according to our plans. A lack of acceptance. See #3.
7. Self-pity - Feeling victimized, put-upon, used, unappreciated: convinced we are being singled out for bad luck.
8. Cockiness - Got it made. Know all there is to know. Can go anywhere, including frequent visits just to hang out at places that allow drinking\using.
9. Complacency - Like #8, no longer sees value of daily program, contact with other alcoholics\addicts, feels healthy, on top of the world, things are going well. Heck may even be cured!
10. Expecting too much of others - Why can't they read my mind? I've changed, what's holding them up? If they just do what I know is best for them? Leads to feeling misunderstood, unappreciated. See #6.
11. Letting up on disciplines - Allowing established habits of recovery slip out of our routines, allowing recovery to get boring and no longer stimulating for growth. Why bother? 
12. Wanting too much - Setting unrealistic goals: not providing for short-term successes; placing too much value on material success, not enough on value of spiritual growth.
13. Forgetting gratitude - Because of several listed above, may lose sight of the abundant blessings in our everyday lives. 
14. "It can't happen to me." - Feeling immune; forgetting what we know about the addiction and its progressive nature.
15. Omnipotence - A combination of several attitudes listed above; leads to ignoring danger signs, disregarding warnings and advice from fellow members
     

[Doreensfree]

Well done @tocevoD…Your doing great …upwards and onwards

[tocevoD]

Just checking in again. Had a stressful week or 2 just gone. Been in and out of the hospital with my son, appendix had to be removed. All went well then we were back about a week later with a flare up. Thankfully it came to nothing. Never once felt the need to head to the shop for the dreaded ciggies. I feel like a non smoker now. Sporadically having the lozenges. I can go without them but still like the taste so need to get going on finding myself a pack of nicotineless lozenges. Could be the final hurdle. Haven't been out for a drink as yet which was always a hurdle in the past. I actually feel like I don't want to drink anymore aswell as that makes me wake up the next day feeling like death warmed up no matter how many I have. I sometimes think I have some sort of allergy to drinking and ciggies as both make me feel anxious, alcohol the day after and ciggies as and when I'd have one. Maybe my body is telling me to steer clear of alcohol aswell.

 

Anyway, got to keep fighting the good fight. Off the patches and only sporadically taking lozenges as I say. It's been a good few months. Just got to keep going.

[Genecanuck]

Good morning @tocevoD.. if you are beginning to feel like a non-smoker, that is a good sign.  Hope your son heals well.

 

Regards,

Gene

 

[tocevoD]

51 minutes ago, Genecanuck said:

Good morning @tocevoD.. if you are beginning to feel like a non-smoker, that is a good sign.  Hope your son heals well.

 

Regards,

Gene

 

Thanks for your kind words Gene. Means a lot mate. Your previous posts helped me aswell.

[Minnie Mouse]

Alcohol and cigarettes are both very addictive substances that most often go hand in hand with each other.  Good for you for gaining an awareness of how you personally relate to them.  Don't let your guard down.  You're doing great!  

[Reciprocity]

More than 2 months quit now @tocevoD; that's GREAT! Keep up the good work! You're through the worst of it now just remain on guard so when that nicodemon whispers in yourear, you can just kick him to the curb

[tocevoD]

Just popping in to update. The phonecalls with the prescriptions have finished. I missed a call and that was the end of that. As I said at the very start they're not bothered about you as a person or how you're doing. It was all just lip service to give you the prescriptions. I think there was probably some sort of local funding from government and they just have to keep throwing prescriptions around to keep receiving the government money so they're not really bothered about the individual.

 

Anyway, onto this week. I don't know why but there were temptations this week. Id been finished with the lozenges for a week or two and midweek this week, Wednesday to be precise, had me thinking the unthinkable. I never succumbed to the pressure. I thought how horrible it would be in the end. The feelings of anxiety I used to get off smoking are still in my mind. I know how smoking used to make me feel and it was not good. All them feelings have gone this last 3 months odd, and that is because I have packed in. I was around at my lads mum's on the Wednesday in question, I had to go in the kitchen to get a plastic bag to take some stuff she passed me, her ciggies were on the side, open with a good few ciggies gone so she wouldn't notice if I took one. It was a quick temptation, the thought was gone as fast as it came but the temptation was there. 

 

Can't work out whether I've actually won with that battle by not taking one. The temptation being there probably means the opposite but the knocking back of the temptation must cancel that out.

 

Needless to say last night I went to boots and got myself a weeks worth of lozenges. I need to kick this nicotine habit. I know I don't want to smoke, Ive knocked that temptation back. Just got to kick the lozenges now. It's like nicotine in a different form is taking a hold now.

[Minnie Mouse]

Your thinking is right on in many aspects that you have found/find yourself in.

 

I also went through the "phone calls" where one of them was definitely reading from a written script to me in a dull bored voice (yawning included).  One even told me if I get cravings while reading posts on-line in their dedicated community that I shouldn't go on-line then.    Those experiences served me well later when I became a certified volunteer to teach an 8 week smoking cessation course to individuals.  Personal experience and giving a sh!t does make a difference for successful outcomes.

 

Until you are nicotine free your body will continue to crave even more of what you are feeding it that's why it's so addictive.  You might try alternating the lozenges with some other substitute (ie cinnamon hard candy) to gradually taper off the lozenges.  Otherwise "just" choose an end date for the lozenges and end the active addiction using the other tools you chose to use when you quit smoking from your "Quit Kit" (distractions, activities, self-talk, substitutions, etc.). 

 

Once nicotine free, your body and mind will eventually find its new normal.   Time and patience heals & recovers you.  Smoking thoughts/cravings will lessen but may/will still pop up from time to time (fewer and further & further apart).  The difference is we made our choice and once the physical addiction is dormant it becomes easy to acknowledge the thoughts/triggers (even laugh them off) and just move on from them.  You're doing great!  Keep it up!

[tocevoD]

44 minutes ago, Minnie Mouse said:

Your thinking is right on in many aspects that you have found/find yourself in.

 

I also went through the "phone calls" where one of them was definitely reading from a written script to me in a dull bored voice (yawning included).  One even told me if I get cravings while reading posts on-line in their dedicated community that I shouldn't go on-line then.    Those experiences served me well later when I became a certified volunteer to teach an 8 week smoking cessation course to individuals.  Personal experience and giving a sh!t does make a difference for successful outcomes.

 

Until you are nicotine free your body will continue to crave even more of what you are feeding it that's why it's so addictive.  You might try alternating the lozenges with some other substitute (ie cinnamon hard candy) to gradually taper off the lozenges.  Otherwise "just" choose an end date for the lozenges and end the active addiction using the other tools you chose to use when you quit smoking from your "Quit Kit" (distractions, activities, self-talk, substitutions, etc.). 

 

Once nicotine free, your body and mind will eventually find its new normal.   Time and patience heals & recovers you.  Smoking thoughts/cravings will lessen but may/will still pop up from time to time (fewer and further & further apart).  The difference is we made our choice and once the physical addiction is dormant it becomes easy to acknowledge the thoughts/triggers (even laugh them off) and just move on from them.  You're doing great!  Keep it up!

I don't know whether becoming addicted to the lozenges is actually serving me well. The fact I have turned back to lozenges rather than succumbing to ciggies is reinforcing to me that the addiction is most definitely nicotine and not the physical act of smoking. Smoking is what left me feeling like crap more than lozenges. Smoking is the act with the most downsides. It's why I didn't want to dally with vapes, it's too akin to smoking with the physical long term effects on the body still unknown.

 

I don't want to be stuck on lozenges for the rest of my life. I just need to find an alternative to the lozenges now. As I say I'm a very active person, always on the go so I am feeling the positives of not smoking on my body and that's with still eating the lozenges. I just need to be free of the drug that is nicotine. 

 

I think I will do as you say my friend and find myself the alternative to these Nicorettes and set a pack in date for these. 

 

Anyone got any alternatives to Nicotette fruit lozenges? Same taste and same size minus the nicotine? 

[Reciprocity]

When I was quitting I wanted to have something in my mouth to suck on and found mints did it for awhile, then I found a cheap g7hard candy called "Crystal Mints" plus a small hard candy thathad a butterscotch flavour.

 

Don't think it really mattered what it was as long as I kept my mouth busy. Seemed to woek for me and eventually, I just got tired of buying them all the time so stopped.

 

Hope you find a suitable alternative that suits you!

 

[tocevoD]

7 hours ago, Reciprocity said:

When I was quitting I wanted to have something in my mouth to suck on and found mints did it for awhile, then I found a cheap g7hard candy called "Crystal Mints" plus a small hard candy thathad a butterscotch flavour.

 

Don't think it really mattered what it was as long as I kept my mouth busy. Seemed to woek for me and eventually, I just got tired of buying them all the time so stopped.

 

Hope you find a suitable alternative that suits you!

 

Thanks mate. Think I'm gonna take a look at fisherman's friends. They're small and of similar size and have quite a few different flavours. I can't do mint, they seem to do something to me aswell.

[Doreensfree]

Hi T,

I do  agree it’s a case of keeping your mouth busy 

You are still putting nicotine in your body ..therefore you still have cravings when the nicotine wears off 

If you could find something to suck or chew on for a while till your body adjusts 

Your right going back to smoking is a huge NO NO…

I used just regular sugar free gum ..it worked for me

[QuittingGirl]

As the other ppl said, try sugar free gum, hard candy, lolly pops, or even cut up crunch veggies, such as carrots, celery or broccoli with dip.  What worked for me was using cinnamon sticks to pretend I was smoking a cigarette, but since you are addicted now to the lozenges, I think the gum, candy or crunchy veggies will help you.  You can do it!!! One day at a time!! Keep coming on this site as it will help you to be focused!

[Minnie Mouse]

Your personal choice.  Go down the candy lane in a store & look for "fruity" substitutions if that's your preference.  I encourage you though to pick out a few different ones to try.  Size and texture really shouldn't matter (in my lowly opinion ) because remember you are building new habits, new go to's (at least for now as subs).  It takes a while for anything new to become our new normal (feel right).

 

BTW you are not alone in thinking mint/menthol may not be the way to go (for you).  I know a few that feel those flavors are addictive to them too.  Good listening to yourself! 

 

You sound like a winner to me.  Keep it up!   

[Cbdave]

Gday 

I found fisherman’s friends and mints etc tended to burn my taste buds. Especially at the amount I was consuming. Sugarless gum well just read the label. To much consumption can have a laxitive effect……

I settled on fruit tic tacs. I enjoyed having a “packet” to carry around. It also gave me a ritual. I’d stop open the lid take out one without dropping any and pop it in my mouth. Put the little box iback in my pocket. 
Had the added advantage of having less than 2 cal per serve.

They say a black coffee and 2 tic tacs are the breakfast of super models