Community Chat

[Suziepeach]

@Plaid Pants2,

[Puzzle Piece]

It's okay.  Not a let down for me and it's alright to know and admit you will get help/assistance in reaching your goal.  It's okay to ask for help when you need it.  No one needs to tough it out. 

[IamMrsG]

@Plaid Pants2  You are still on the right path.  This is neither a letdown nor a step backwards toward achieving your goal.  I remember you said that you have prayed for help.  The advice you received today may be an answered prayer.

Hang in there, PlaidPants, and keep praying.  

P.S.  My husband was the last person on the planet I expected to be able to quit.  He did it with the help of nicotine patches.  

[Suziepeach]

@IamMrsG, when my husband's medical oncologist said, "If you start smoking again, I'll refuse to be your Doctor."  He, of course, had already stopped but that, I swear, was the icing on the cake.  He was officially stopped & never looked back.  Neither of us regretted the biggest decision ever!! 

I am proud of anyone trying to stop and to those that did.... It's a huge step and the first step is the hardest but you can do it!!

[IamMrsG]

I smoked my first cigarette when I was ~8 years old -- sitting on a log in the woods with my older cousins.  I loved it and couldn't wait 'til I was old enough to smoke for real. 

I began 'for real', sneaking from my parents, in my Junior year of high school, and smoked until I was 28 years old.   My poison of choice was Salems, which was that aforementioned first cigarette.  

I quit as a New Year challenge with my father -- an "I will if you will" pact. I agreed, thinking since I didn't live with him, I could easily get away with cheating.  

Then, one day at his house, I answered the telephone.  The caller was his brother, a man who had laryngeal cancer and had his larynx removed. He spoke with the aid of an appliance in his throat.  The shock of hearing that mechanical voice over the telephone scared the nicotine out of me, and I have never smoked another cigarette all these 37 years later.

[reiki604]

You shouldn't beat yourself up. Most people try multiple times to quit and you sound like you have the desire to quit but will need some help. Be kind to yourself.

   I quit almost 7 years ago by staying on Chantix for a month. Had some emotional side effects but it was manageable. I was diagnosed with breast cancer 6 months later and it took all my will power not to smoke due to the stress. It is a powerful addiction. A day doesn't go by where I don't think about a cigarette, but I know I don't have will power to go through it again.

  It's a tough battle but worth it the first time you start to do things without getting short of breath or when you stop coughing. Be Strong!

[ladyroxanne]

@Plaid Pants2

you did very well and don' think you let us down because you didn't.  it will happen when you are ready for it to i truly believe that.  you must take care of yourself and it's a good thing that you have a dr.s' appt. coming up.

i wish you the best and hope you are feeling better today.  please keep us apprised of how you are doing.

[PamelaSue72]

I smoked for over 20 years and I "quit" at least five times before I managed to quit for good. And then it was cold turkey......hardest thing I've ever done in my life. 

Hang in there. When you're ready to quit, you will. I wish you the best of luck.

[Ms X]

If you did it for a few days, you can do that again and hopefully quit.  My relative who's a doctor says that if you continue to smoke nothing else you do to improve your health matters, so this should be a priority for you.

I've never been able to get used to cigarettes even when I spent time with smokers and shared cigarettes.  I always felt as if I had been poisoned.  Is there something about smoking that you find kind of gross, either the taste or the smell?  Would focusing on that help you to quit?

[fortune]

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@Plaid Pants2 wrote:

because I was having a really bad anxiety/panic attack, and I was looking for something, anything, to calm me down.

I mean, on a scale of 1 -10, my anxiety was a 10+.

I spoke with a doctor, and SHE said that they couldn't prescribe me anything for it, or prescribe anything like Chantix.

She also said that when I get established with a personal physician, that that doctor can work with me on quitting smoking.

She also said that while she doesn't want to discourage me from quitting, it's just that now might not be the right time for me to quit.

So, there you have it. I tried. No one can say that I didn't try.

It was four days of ....

Not everyone can do cold turkey, I can't.

So, I made an appointment to see a doctor on Tues Marc 1.

Maybe then I will finally be able to quit for good.

I hope so.

I am sorry to let you all down, and I know that you were pulling for me, but I just couldn't do it. It just got to be more than I could handle.

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I quit smoking cold turkey, but I had a process set up to prepare me.  Do you want to know what I did?