I quit smoking today

Maybe I should be the guinea pig, and let you know mechanic!

If someone tells me that it’s a great help…I will go buy some today. I think they are spendy, and I really want some opinions first. Do they make you stop eating? Can you sleep; will the “jaw clinching” go away with the patch?? I can’t stop clinching my jaw, it’s making my teeth hurt!

When I quit 2 years ago I had a few small nicotine patches from a previous quitting attempt. Maybe 3 or four days without a cigarette I came to the point where I thought I wasn't going to make it. I was on the verge of going down to the store to purchase a pack. That was the last thing I wanted to have happen so I used one of the small nicotine patches....just for that day. It helped me get through that panic attack and the next day I was still a nonsmoker. Several days later I had another "attack" so I used another patch.....again it helped me get through the day without breaking down and purchasing a pack of cigarettes. This happened maybe 5 times until I didn't need or want nicotine.

Personally the patches didn't work for me when I followed the instructions on the box...you know using one every day and slowly stepping down to lower and lower levels. But it did work when I only used them to get through incredibly tough moments of quitting "cold turkey".

Obviously I recommend you do what I did because it worked for me...

I herd a story of this hospice home (for the terminally ill) where people go to die. They had this one large room with vinyl flooring. It was dimly lit and had yellowed walls. All over the floor were these melted brown burn marks.

These terminally ill (cancer) patients would be wheeled into the room in their wheelchairs and they would smoke another cigarette even though it had already killed them...So you have this smoke filled room with dozens of wheelchair bound cancer patients taking their last breath. The melted brown spots in the vinyl floor were from the patients dying in the room and dropping their last cigarette on the floor.

The end of their life...slumped over in this wheelchair in this smokey yellowed room with a half used cigarette slowly burning a hole in the vinyl floor below them.

I didn't want to die like that and this imagery helped me quit. I would think of this room with the melted spots in the floor every day.....make me sick to think about it.

I don't want you to be in that wheelchair either.

You can do it...keep telling yourself that...over and over...you can do it...you ARE a nonsmoker.

God Bless you Kinglizard...I mean that! I'm going to buy some patches today. You said only stick one on my arm when I'm having a Nic Fit?

That jar of essential oils really does work, but I get to the point where Satan himself, is sitting on my shoulder telling me to smoke that cigarette! I turn away from my little smoke-less jar and follow that urge.

I don’t want to smoke anymore…..

Jen! Woot!

I just noticed this thread for the first time! I had quit right before Christmas, but with the holidays, I fell back onto them again. Let's do this together, then! I'll make this my last cigarette, and we'll work on this together.

I have patches, but the one thing I can warn you about Jen, they make you have CRAZY dreams!

Wanna be quittin buddies?

Originally posted by jensouth31
I'm going to buy some patches today. You said only stick one on my arm when I'm having a Nic Fit?

I think it will help. Just remember to only use one when you are ABSOLUTLEY at your end. You don't want to trade a cigarette problem with a nicotine patch problem. Like I said I only used something like 5 of the very smallest patches in the 2 months it took me to get over smoking.

Also remember NOTHING makes quitting easy...it was the hardest thing I ever did but it can be done.

Just remember the emaciated terminally ill cancer patients dying in that dark and stained room.

Originally posted by niteboy82
Jen! Woot!

Let's do this together, then! I'll make this my last cigarette, and we'll work on this together.

Really? Really.......... Thanks Josh....it's always easier with a friend

Originally posted by niteboy82
I have patches, but the one thing I can warn you about Jen, they make you have CRAZY dreams!

Good crazy, or bad crazy? Or are they naughty?

Originally posted by niteboy82
Wanna be quittin buddies?

Holds out hand You know I do! Are you sure you want to quit mid day? You can start fresh in the morning, and I won't care.

Bless your heart Jen. I know how you feel. Quitting tobacco was one of the hardest things I ever did and I'm a weak willed, selfindulgent #. You can do it!!

Jensouth

I'll toss my 2 cents. It took me years and years and years to quit.

It wasn't until I finally learned that.........YOU CAN'T HAVE THAT ONE.
that I was able to quit.

Until you learn..............YOU CAN'T HAVE ONE..........you won't make it.

But don't quit trying. They say trying to quit is part of the process.

In addition if you fail you will usually find you are smoking more than ever.
Try to recognize that and cut back and ease off until you are ready to have another go at it.

You can't have that one...........If you really want to quit.

Ok, so it's morning, I'm about to go to work. No cigarettes, though when I first sat at my computer, the first thing I did was look around wondering where the cigarettes and the ashtray went. lol.

Took some Quit Smoking! herbal tincture, have a patch in my pocket in case I need it, and a rubber band to play with and distract myself when I need to smoke. Best wishes to you Jen! If you need some additional support/humor on the subject, just think of The Zipster!:

Bless your heart too NB82! That you tube thing made me cry. You can do it.

Honest, Raw emotion always touches parts of my soul that I thought were dead. Thank you NB82 for keeping me part of the human race.

[edit on 8-2-2007 by whaaa]

Good Morning! (Big smile) I didn’t have a chance to check in sooner. I hurdled out of bed at 5:45 am, put the coffee on and hopped in the shower, dried my arm off, and popped that 14-mg. patch on. Drove my son to school, came home and rode on the elliptical I really think I need the patch all day Kinglizard. Yesterday was just too hard, and I cheated…but I’m bound and determined not to cheat on you today Josh! Yesterday I had the worst cranial headache imaginable…a side effect I’m sure, much like giving up caffeine. But even still, I only smoked a few…it was little enough that I was still suffering withdrawals.

Since putting the patch on over four hours ago, I have only put 2 cups of coffee in my mouth, an apple, and water. That’s much better. I don’t seem to be fidgeting with my hands, and I’m not shoving food in my mouth. Josh, I really did bring home some chop sticks last night I’m not very good with chop sticks, so if I start pigging out…I’ll force myself to use them and most of my food will end up on the floor.

Damn dial up…U-tube is still loading that movie clip, but I can tell it’s a tearjerker already. I’m gonna be crying with you Whaaa!

I tell you another sad story, and it’s another reason why I’m determined to kick this habit. My little sister is a heroine addict. When we found out roughly 9 years ago, it was because she called crying, the state of Oregon had just taken her 3 kids away. She was always the black sheep, and illusive with the family, so we had no idea. I took those 3 kids in, put my sister into detox (one of many expensive attempts), so she could get on the path to having her children back. I was so stressed, that’s when I took up smoking again, and I had been a non-smoker for about 2 years at that point. All the sudden I had 5 kids over night, a husband that traveled constantly (M-F) for his business, and a 12-hour a day job! Yes, I was stressed beyond belief… so I picked up those cigarettes!!

So anyway in detox, they started having family counseling once a week. I was pretty disturbed to have that first meeting because I knew what was on the agenda. My little sister had been forthcoming with some information with my other sister and I. My uncle had been raping her, my dads little brother. My older sister was going to tell dad about that at this meeting… the same uncle that had molested my older sister and I when we were real small. You can imagine how emotionally hard that was, in fact I was so distraught about this meeting, I fell down the stairs that morning before leaving home and broke my foot badly…FYI…don’t use the stairs when you are sobbing, because you really can’t see where you are going.

Anyhow, to make a long story short, my sister lost all parental rights to her children because she couldn’t seem to stay off the heroine. She told me once she loved it, she hated it, that it was her lover and it was her worst enemy. I talked to my dad the other day, and he said my sister had been clean for a couple of years now, had a job…a manager at that! I haven’t seen or talked to my sister in over 8 years, she stole my jewelry, made up horrific stories so I would give her money- etcetera. I’m not holding a grudge against her… I decide 8 years ago that my plate was way too full to deal with a f--k up like her that wouldn’t help herself. Well now she’s clean, a little too late to have her kids, but By God if she can give up heroine…. I can give up the damn cigarettes. And I shall.

The U-tube movie is done. OMG…I’m going to call him Jack, because that’s what his hat says. I cried with him, I prayed for him, I felt his pain about losing his friend, I remember when my Grandpa died in hospice care (He was at home, but hospice was in the house) Those hospice people have dying down to a science, you know they give you a little book about what to expect at every step along the dying path…It is so accurate. Jack…. I hope you made it buddy

I feel like I just wrote a book…a raw look into jensouth’s life. Your lucky I gave you the short version of the heroine story, it was very taxing.

Don't worry Baby...everything is gonna be all right


Edit** to add

[edit on 2/8/2007 by jensouth31]

I’m feeling good. Motivated! How are you doing so far Nite?

Wow. I must say, I thought I would have lasted longer without resorting to the patch. :shk:

I am still quitting. I can report that much, I decided that since I had planned on it anyway, that I would go ahead and upgrade my computer tonight to Windows Vista. Figured I might as well get the most stressful and time consuming thing I will hopefully encounter in the next few weeks out of the way now.

I feel good though, I slapped on the patch a few hours ago, so I am feeling no problems now. One thing I have noticed when I mentioned to someone today that I was going on the wagon again, I got a "I'm happy that you're finally listening to me and quitting.."



She's lucky I didn't have a cigarette in my hand, it may have slipped out in her direction. Why is it that ex-smokers have this insatiable appetite for annoying the piss out of those trying to quit? It isn't like they don't know how emotional you are going at that point, yet they still do it! :bnghd:

Jen thank you for sharing that here. I am sorry that is going on with your sister, I can't imagine the pain that must have generated for you, and your family. Heroin has a horrible effect on people, I have seen it first hand, though not with a family member, thankfully. I hope she continues to do well.

As for Zipster, aka Jack, he is still quitting, I email him now and then to check up on how he's doing. He's a really groovy guy, I catch all of his videos, and he really makes ya smile. I've cried with him, laughed with him, screamed with him. Amazing how something via the internet can be so meaningful.

I'm backing up all my music files now (just in case), so I should be around for a little while. Once I start the Vista upgrade, though, I may be AWOL until the morning.

It's our first day Jen, and so far, we rock!!!

Don't you just hate those self-righteous ex-smokers? They really are the main reason people don’t quit smoking sooner! Yes, we rock…Good job today buddy I’m proud of you

[edit on 2/8/2007 by jensouth31]

I give you guys kudos for quitting.... a source of strength, truly.

Right now, I'm on the baby steps program, as I like to call it. I don't know how much I smoke (I'm an inside smoker to top it off), so I've been working to make my unconscious habit a conscious habit by keeping count.

My father quit cold turkey, and took up chewing on toothpicks.

The first time that I 'quit' (I was too broke, it was not my own actual choice), I made it about half a day before I literally begged someone i didn't know for a smoke. :shk:

The last time that I 'quit' I visualized that the cigarettes were cockroaches.. (thee most vile, disgusting thing I could come up with!!!), and I actually made myself physically ill. I almost made it that time... ('cept my inner fiend kept trying to block the visualizations, and eventually succeeded.)

I've been smoking for 7 years, and I feel it. My lungs hurt, my throat's sore... I'm winded walking to class... (I blame it on the cold air, which makes me very aware of how hard I'm breathing... but I know. I know...)

I was doing okay yesterday, and today there's too much stress and my count is going up. *sigh*

Up to this point, my mantra was, "I choose not to have this cigarette because I want to breath again..." ...or I'd make myself wait 5 minutes before giving in.

If I choose to quit, I'll be on hard-street because my b/f smokes, and has no intentions of quitting... and he's an inside smoker.


I send good energies to you Jen & Nite. Always keep in mind the progress that you've made thus far, and don't let the temporary failings get you down. Don't make light of them, ("I only had 1..." can easily lead to "I'll just have one more..."), but don't carry them with you like weights.

Well last night, I removed the patch before bed. I just don't feel like getting the nutty dreams. Woke up this morning with a cough.

But it's day two, and we're gonna do it. Any weird dreams yet, Jen? I'm going to be jealous if you get away with wearing that patch and avoiding the dreams.

Today will a good test, a slow coworker who hasn't caught on in 2 months now, a busy day, and me not smoking. Interesting combination, I just can't on people like I'll be tempted to do.

Diseria, thanks for the words of encouragement.

Ahh you're quitting too? Awesome-o


Been a lil bit since I had a cig, I wanted one yesterday though, was at johnny carinos seems alcohol makes me really want a cig.

Other than that cravings arent that bad, most of the time I don't even think about it, cept first 2 weeks uber sucked.

Originally posted by niteboy82
Well last night, I removed the patch before bed. I just don't feel like getting the nutty dreams. Woke up this morning with a cough.

I woke up at 4:30 am clinching my teeth…I think my patch wore off! I tried slapping it, but the damn thing was waste at that point.

Originally posted by niteboy82
But it's day two, and we're gonna do it. Any weird dreams yet, Jen? I'm going to be jealous if you get away with wearing that patch and avoiding the dreams.

Maybe I should U2U about this one j/k Hahahahahaha
Would you believe that I didn’t have any? I wore the patch all night waiting for happy/satisfying dreams, and no dreams any nastier than usual…. kind of bummed me out. I was all stoked up for that one I was imagining before bed

Originally posted by niteboy82
Diseria, thanks for the words of encouragement.

I double that. Thank you Thank you. I can’t imagine quitting with another smoker in the house. Good luck to you if you give it a go…. buy the patch! Really….

Nothing unusual to report, I’m still smoke free, and yes we are gonna get this done Josh I’m so happy I have a friend to walk down this road with. It does make it easier, and holds you more accountable


[edit on 2/9/2007 by jensouth31]

Originally posted by jensouth31

Originally posted by niteboy82
Diseria, thanks for the words of encouragement.

I double that. Thank you Thank you. I can’t imagine quitting with another smoker in the house. Good luck to you if you give it a go…. buy the patch! Really….

You know what's really sad?

I'm so broke that I'd hafta quit for at least a week before I could even afford to get the patches.... :shk: