JoG?

[witzend]

How's the not smoking going? I found it helpful to do something with my hands. Cooking is dangerous because I needed oral stimulus. Chewing gum is great, knitting or crocheting or needle work occupies the mind and the hands. Or maybe work with some gardening or something?

Keep up the good work, I know how hard it is!

 

[hearts and roses]

My story is pathetic.

I started smoking when I was around 15/16. I became a part time smoker at about 19/20, only socially. Then I stopped at 23 and started again 3 years ago after difficult child's assault.

Since then I've been off and on, mostly on. I hide it from just about everyone...I won't even drive on open roads in case a neighbor sees me. I cringe if H comes outside while I'm out there sneaking one. I hide the packs in my winter boots. I hide it from my easy child - she'd be so angry with me! It's pathetic to be 45 and sneaking around like a 15 year old. So....

The not smoking is going good. I will admit that I had a drag of my nephew's cigarette this morning (he is 26, by the way), but other than that, I'm good.

I have been trying to get my cholesterol down. Back in March I was at an overall 199. I got it down to 185 by just giving up meat and watching my fats. My Dr tells me that now I have to kick up the exercise a notch and stop smoking and that will bring it down to where she wants it. Oy~

I have been working out everyday this week and today I did my first Pilates class in since forever, so every muscle in my body aches....but in a good way.

Anyway, that is the REAL reason I am quitting - to get my cholesterol down and so I can work out with out falling.

Thanks for the encouragement.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

I know exactly what you mean about sneaking cigarettes. I smoked from age 18 to just a few months before meeting wife -- stayed quit for 3 years, then started up again "because of stress" -- quit again for a year -- started again, and was sneaking out to the store, grabbing my pack hidden in a toolbox in the garage where wife would never go, smoking one, then stopping at a gas station to gargle mouthwash and wash my hands to get rid of the smell -- finally 'fessed up (five or ten trips a day to the store gets hard to explain) and smoked openly for several years, then finally quit for good on 2/18/05.

Thing is about sneaking around: wife was smoking the whole time! (Still does.) How pathetic is that, hiding your smoking habit from a smoker?

 

[DazedandConfused]

(I just posted to your "will not smoke" thread)

Those reasons sound great to me.

I smoked for 23 years! I started at 10!

Neither of my parents smoked at the time. I started hanging out with some teenage girls that smoked. I convinced them to let me try it. I liked it a lot and the rest is history.

So, okay, you took a hit. Let it go and refocus yourself.

(((hugs)))

 

[witzend]

I had my first when I was 7 and started sneaking when I was 12. I out and out smoked by the time I was 14. I quit when I was 31 after trying many times. I quit because I got a blood clot on my lung (yes I do mean I got a pulmonary edema) and I couldn't breathe, let alone inhale a cigarette. By the time I had recovered a month or so later, I was past withdrawals. I had tried many times, and went nearly insane. When I finally did quit, I still got edgy, so I used the patch and xanax. Nowadays I would probably go with Wellbutrin instead.

Do whatever you have to. But if you are going to smoke, you need to not hide it. Hiding it makes it much harder to stop when you are ready because it's already something you're hiding and pretending isn't for real, and something you don't really do is pretty hard to quit.

Suz, I thought I had posted this in Watercooler. You can move it if it needs to be moved.

 

[Suz]

Thanks, Witz. It's probably a watercooler topic but it makes sense to stay here since Jo brought it up here and many of us are already engaged in it.

Jo, try www.quitmeter.com . I had great success with that. I enjoyed seeing how long it had been and how many cigarettes I HADN'T smoked. It was like a pat on the back every time I checked in.

I smoked for 38 years....2 packs a day for the last 20 years. I never EVER thought I'd be able to quit. I flunked out of every stop smoking program there was over the years at least once; some of them twice- or more. The patch was my last program but the truth is, something finally "clicked" in my brain and I was finally ready to really STOP SMOKING. That was August 11, 2002.


Suz