Need moral support and tips.

[April07]

After all the stress and worry I have been though the last year I started smoking agian . I know stupid eh ? But now I need to quit. I am feeling sick from it but can't seem to stop. I have done it before and know I can again but it is extra hard when DH is smoking and there are cigs in the house.

He leave the end of Jan for his training before heading overseas till 2010 so he will be gone nearly all of 2009 and part of 2010. Once the cigs are out of the house I know I will have a better chnace to quit.

Anyone have any tips they can give me ?

[Littlemoe0]

No tips, but will be here for moral support. They say to try to keep your hands busy, maybe try a new hobby. You are so strong willed you will be just fine, and when you feel the need, come in here and start typing to someone to get those hands busy. Good luck, and congrats on trying to quit.

[jenna321]

April- I want to quit as well, lets start a support group with each other, I'll pm you my email.

[MissGodiva2u]

I need to stop too and it seems every time I tell myself this, my hand stretches out to grab yet another cigarette, the only time I don't smoke is when I go shopping, but as soon as I walk in the house ........... I have absolutely no will power at all and just hate myself for that. I've tried to quit sssssssso many times, it's unbelievable, can't even chew on those nicorette gum as every time I put something in my mouth I need to smake afterwards, worst when it is sweets. Think I should go on a hunger strike for a week or so

[Alixana]

The only thing that has stopped me from going back to smoking is dd. I used to be a heavy smoker until I found out I was pregnant, that's when I stopped. Hubby still smokes, but he has to be outside the house. No kissing or touching me and baby until he's changed clothes, washed his hands and mouth.

I still get the occasional craving to smoke. The only advice I can give is to keep busy. And don't substitute smoking with eating. Or if you must eat, eat something healthy like a fruit. While your hubby is still home, make sure you keep all cigarettes and lighters/matches out of sight. Out of sight, out of mind.

And make sure to let hubby know that you are trying to quit. I hope he supports you with that. Ask him to stop smoking inside the house if he is doing that.

[Judstir]

April,Jenna and MissGodiva hopefully you can each support each other and kick the habit. I have never smoked so don't know the pain and stress of quitting but I will try to be supportive with words and encouragement. Good Luck. April I am sorry you will be alone for most of 2009/10 but please thank your hubby for doing what he is doing for our country and world peace. God be with him.

[PetiteFemme]

On January 14th will be 3 years since my quit date Husband and I both quit so it made it a little easier. We quit using "Addiction Services" (for Nicotine) which was a support group offered here locally. They paid for the "smoking aid" and we both chose Zyban. It was an anti-depressant used for a maximum of 3 months and it supressed the urge to smoke. Many people have been successful using the patch though. I don't know if they offer Zyban anymore or not. We smoked for up to 2 weeks while using Zyban and we had set the quit date of Jan 14th and my husband smoked his last cigarette around 4:30pm and mine was about 1/2 hour later. We've never smoked again.

The worse part of quitting smoking was the FEAR of know I would NEVER see my little friend again. Now, the Zyban did not make me quit, I quit on my own. The only thing the Zyban did was leave a "tinny" taste in your mouth when you smoked and then it supressed the urge to smoke again. Also, the fact that it was an anti-depressant helped because it kept us from getting extremely stressed out by not smoking. I started eating a LOT of popsicles! I would get in the car with two popsicles for the drive to wherever I was going. We stuck to our support group meetings for about 4 months which was helpful too! But you MUST be wanting to quit and you MUST be ready to quit. If you only "think" you are ready, you're not. It must be something you WANT and then you go out and GET IT. It takes a lot of willpower but truly though, the worse was the fear BEFORE I actually quit. Quitting was a piece of cake! I didn't have any withdrawals though, luckily. I smoked about 1 pk/day. They say you need to drink a lot of water/juice to detoxify your system of the over 4,000 drugs in a cigarette.

You can do ANYTHING if you WANT to. We got tired of spending $400/month on smokes and nothing to show for it except yellow fingers and yellow ceilings/walls in the house!

I have no regrets! Will I ever smoke again? I sure as heck hope not but who knows? It's a "one day at a time" kinda of deal

[Bubsy]

It was a year for me in November, it has definitely the best thing I have ever done for myself! I found an online smoking cessation group on About.com that really helped me. There are tons of quit stories from other successful quitters to really inspire you. Lots of good information too about what your body goes through when you quit and all kinds of other stuff. I still check in a few times a month to keep positive and help other people. One of the mottos is N.O.P.E.( not one puff ever-which on the others times I tried to quit was the reason I started smoking again, that one puff would do me in and I would be back to a pack a day again!) Good luck, you can beat the nicodemon!

[April07]

I know how hard it is to quit.. I quit for 5 yrs . Boy do I feel stupid for starting again but no use in kicking myself too hard now I just have to get my sheet together and stop again.

I feel soooooo sick when I smoke, my throat hurts, my lungs feel heavy and I just feel sick. If I can quit for a week I know I can probably be back to feeling better and have more of a chnace to stop altogther. Last time I ate lots of carrot sticks and chews lots of gum ( actually pulled out some fillings LOL ).

Today I have had 2 smokes, made me feel terrible so I have not had any since this morning. I have nicorette gum and have chewed one piece which curbed the craving. Now I just have to be strong.

Jenna please do PM me and we can start a support group I think that is a great idea, I need the support for sure and I am sure you do too. We can lean on each other.

[karalin9]

Hey April,

I feel your pain. I smoked for 10 years, and quit Sept. of last year.

I would really recommend reading "the easy way to quit smoking". I haven't personally read it (I quit because I was pregnant... enough motivation for me) but about 5 of my friends swear by this book, and said it was all they needed to stop. These are heavy heavy smokers too.

Good luck, and you know we're all here for you if you need us. Quitting smoking was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life.

One more stupid tip... For some reason, Halls helped me. For some reason the feeling that you get in your throat from a halls reminded me of smoking (only it tasted much better!) This helped me during the first few days that I quit.

[jenna321]

April I pm you my info. we will do this grit and determination and of course of love the support from out fellow SCers.

[PetiteFemme]

Best of luck to all of you who do make the decision to quit! Don't make it a New Year's resolution. My quit date was originally January 13th but it was a FRIDAY!!! I didn't want to quit on Friday the 13th as I'm superstitious and didn't want it to not work or came in and use the excuse that the reason it didn't work was because of the date so I picked the following day instead, my sister's birthday and I'll never forget my quit date now! It's been just about 3 years and it's wonderful!

[popsnuos]

I did a couple things when I quit -- smoked for 9 years and then quit cold turkey.

- you gotta want it
- costco crate of chewing gum. i went through alot of gum
- stress ball
- lots of movies

I've found the first 2 weeks were the hardest, I just tried to avoid situations where it would be easy to get a smoke, and I just made sure to keep myself occupied as much as possible. I actually watched a few movies per day for the first week (it was over xmas holidays a few years ago).

BUT! don't wait to do it, if you are gonna do it, just put your foot down and do it right now!

seriously! just throw your smokes out NOW! dont finish the pack. just do it. you know its worth it.