Monday November 20th

[Guest]

I have survived the first 24 hours without a cigarette. I have 48 more until all the nicotine is out of me. In the past I had used the patch, it would work well--but this time I just want all the nicotine out of me. I slept most of yesterday--which I is good--now I am rested and better able to handle those cravings.

This morning just as I finish the whole "I love myself enough not to smoke and no matter what I will not smoke today--the only thing I have to do today is not smoke", my husband comes and tells me some very stressful news. I looked at him point blank and said, "You do know that I am trying to quit smoking?"

It was something he had to tell me though--and boy I did want a cigarette. But I realized that by the time I actually went and got them the craving would be gone. Also, I knew that sucking in toxic fumes would not fix the issue we have to deal with.

I already feel so much better physically....I can not smoke today no matter what!

Kim

[mikeupnorth]

Monday November 20th

Way to go, Kim!

I ended up smoking through the weekend so today is Day 1 for me. In preparation, though, I listened to Allen Carr's The Easy Way to Stop Smoking on CD.... his book on quitting drinking was so helpful to me in changing the way I thought about alcohol that I wanted to do the same with cigarettes. Some of the helpful suggestions I got from it:

*I am not "giving up" anything; I am GAINING everything.

*Cigarettes don't DO ANYTHING for me. Like any drug, they cause the very symptoms they seem to cure.

*There is no need to mope or feel deprived.

*When I see someone smoking, I am not the one missing out; they are. They are missing out on good health and freedom from the addiction. They would love to be free but are still enslaved.

*The actual withdrawal from nicotine is minor; the main part is in your mind. Remove the brainwashing and it's a piece of cake.

Anyway -- there's much power in the way we think about things. I've found this to be a HUGE part of my remaining sober so far. I don't crave alcohol if I think of it as poison; I am going to try the same thing with cigarettes.

Hang in there Kim!

Mike

[xtexan]

Monday November 20th

Hi Kim and Mike:

My cravings for a cigarette have been coming out of nowhere lately. My last ciggie was December 22nd last year.

I try to visualize hot, toxic nerve gas. I see it irritating my alveoli cells, and making them red and inflamed. I see the icky tar as buckets of hot steaming stinking roofing tar, and I visualize them clogging up all the cells, and stopping them from getting oxygen.

I visualize the carbon monoxide locking onto my red blood cells, and the cell instantly withers, dies, and becomes black. It floats through my bloodstream, useless and dead, of no good.

I see the polyphenol molecules invading my lung cells, and the nucleus. It attacks the DNA, and causes the cell to go berserk, and become cancerous. The cancer cell multiplies, and forms a tennis ball sized mass that chokes me. I imagine the doctor holding an x-ray, shaking his head, and saying there is no hope.

I see myself sucking on an oxygen tank in a wheel chair. My lungs destroyed from emphysema, and each breath causing my body to be wracked in pain. My lips are blue from no oxygen. Tears flow from my eyes, because I can?t even walk, and I know I am going to die a slow and painful death tortured by regrets.

I have more visualizations, but they get pretty gross. Some of them involve me laying in a coffin, all withered, and shrunken, and having a greenish/blue color.

So, by the time I imagine all that stuff vividly, I don?t want a cigarette so much anymore.

After three days or so no smokes, try a hard run or cycling session. I bought a stethoscope (cheap at the pharmacy), and listen carefully to your lungs while you are wheezing and coughing from the workout. Then visualize all the things I wrote above.

It works for me. May work for you.

Be well.

Neil

[TracyA]

Monday November 20th

Hope it's okay if I jump in on this one because I'd love nothing more than to give up nicotine.

Kim and Mike - you guys are inspiration.

It's scary, just the thought of trying is scary. I've tried a bunch of times, had the docs say, "there is nothing more important you can do for your health than give up smoking." It stinks, people hate it, long flights and airports can be miserable. Watched mom and dad die of it - but still haven't been able to kick it.

You are right - you aren't giving up a thing. I'm pulling for you both!

Tracy

[TracyA]

Monday November 20th

You too, Neil. We were posting simultaneously.

[mikeupnorth]

Monday November 20th

Tracy, you are right. I recently took a health assessment. I'm 38 and in what most people would consider reasonably good shape. By that I mean that I am at a healthy weight. But that's about where it stops! My health assessment told me I was at HIGH risk of developing SERIOUS health problems. The two main factors: 1) smoking and 2) getting no exercise. These factors are both under my control.

I also saw my Dad die from smoking. His two brothers also did. I don't want to follow their example in that way.

It's really amazing to me that almost everyone in my family is too afraid to fly, when the odds are infinitesimal that you will die in a plane crash. Yet almost every single one of them smokes. What are the odds of dying from smoking? Something like 1 in 4?

Anyway, looks like you are having fun out on the sea~

Mike