Smoker's challenge
06-25-2011, 09:02 AM
#52
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Montreal
Posts: 376
Is she a good enough friend that you can ask her not to smoke near you? You could say also how vulnerable you are and ask if she minds if you absent yourself while she's smoking. Or without saying anything, find an excuse to get away from her while she's smoking. Tough row to hoe, will add you to the prayer list.
06-25-2011, 09:38 AM
#53
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Olympia,Washington
Posts: 638
Originally Posted by Krystyna
You are putting yourself in a tough situation especially since this is so new to you. Think about it this way: if you were an alcoholic and just newly sober, would your first social event be a cocktail party? I don't know the situation, but maybe you might think of postponing the visit?
06-25-2011, 10:59 AM
#55
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Montreal
Posts: 376
I have been teaching people how to stop smoking for over 25 years as part of my nursing practice. I was a social smoker, never severely addicted and quit August 17 1983.
The best way to stop is to cut back slowly, 1 cig per day per week, so if smoking 20/d smoke only 19 the next week, 18 the next, 17 the next and so on, down to 1/d, then 1 every 2 d, then every 3 etc.
As you get to the last few - and sometimes you might need to stay at a particular lever for a bit longer - you will notice less craving (withdrawal) and then maybe - hopefully - disinterest, then finally distaste for cigs altogether. This is the best note to end on as that memory, both psychological and physical is what will help you stay cig sober.
Quitting suddenly causes painful withdrawal symptoms and craving is miserable to have to deal with. Withdrawal and cravings are very much less painful if you use the gradual method and there is much less chance of rebound even months or years later.
Nicotine from smoking tobacco is deposited in the hypothalamus, a walnut sized organ in the middle of the brain. It is the site that governs hunger and anger. As blood cleanses nicotine away, the hypothalamus objects, and demands more = craving and irritability = nic fit! But! the human will and spirit can trick the ole hypothalamus into not noticing it is getting less nicotine from reduced smoking by reducing very slowly. In the end, when down to 1 - 2/week and the courage to toss out the cig pkg altogether arrives, the hypothalamus is no longer the enemy, which was us, as Pogo said.
I had to quit suddenly after developing a sudden allergic reaction that almost killed me. My mother too - she had cardiovascular symptoms too and needed surgery. Her surgeon, Peter, a family acquaintance, asked her to stop smoking during an office visit, and she said, "Very well, Peter", took her cigs out of her handbag and threw them into his wastebasket with a wonderful clanking noise! He said, "Mary, I can see we are going to get along very well!" She was in her mid 50s then, lived 'til nearly 80 and died of something not related to tobacco disease.
Smoking is a disease that causes worse diseases. Bon courage to everyone on the path to quitting. Your quilts will smell so much better and you will live longer to make more of them!!
The best way to stop is to cut back slowly, 1 cig per day per week, so if smoking 20/d smoke only 19 the next week, 18 the next, 17 the next and so on, down to 1/d, then 1 every 2 d, then every 3 etc.
As you get to the last few - and sometimes you might need to stay at a particular lever for a bit longer - you will notice less craving (withdrawal) and then maybe - hopefully - disinterest, then finally distaste for cigs altogether. This is the best note to end on as that memory, both psychological and physical is what will help you stay cig sober.
Quitting suddenly causes painful withdrawal symptoms and craving is miserable to have to deal with. Withdrawal and cravings are very much less painful if you use the gradual method and there is much less chance of rebound even months or years later.
Nicotine from smoking tobacco is deposited in the hypothalamus, a walnut sized organ in the middle of the brain. It is the site that governs hunger and anger. As blood cleanses nicotine away, the hypothalamus objects, and demands more = craving and irritability = nic fit! But! the human will and spirit can trick the ole hypothalamus into not noticing it is getting less nicotine from reduced smoking by reducing very slowly. In the end, when down to 1 - 2/week and the courage to toss out the cig pkg altogether arrives, the hypothalamus is no longer the enemy, which was us, as Pogo said.
I had to quit suddenly after developing a sudden allergic reaction that almost killed me. My mother too - she had cardiovascular symptoms too and needed surgery. Her surgeon, Peter, a family acquaintance, asked her to stop smoking during an office visit, and she said, "Very well, Peter", took her cigs out of her handbag and threw them into his wastebasket with a wonderful clanking noise! He said, "Mary, I can see we are going to get along very well!" She was in her mid 50s then, lived 'til nearly 80 and died of something not related to tobacco disease.
Smoking is a disease that causes worse diseases. Bon courage to everyone on the path to quitting. Your quilts will smell so much better and you will live longer to make more of them!!
06-25-2011, 11:50 AM
#56
Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Odessa, Texas
Posts: 878
after reading everybody's ideas, i just had to tell my success story about smoking. i'm 74 now, i started smoking when i was 16 in high school. i quit 3 years ago on June 8, 2008. i was fixing to have a very serious surgery on July 3 of 2008 (caused partly by smoking). I had blockage in my iliac arteries which almost cost me amputation of my right leg. i had tried quitting lots of times but to no avail. so i looked up everything i could about quitting smoking on line. finally i found a site that made sense. it said to set you a date ahead a month or a week or 2 weeks - however long you want to. then smoke more than you've ever smoked in your life. and keep telling yourself that as of such & such date i will be a non-smoker.
then just keep smoking more and more and as it gets closer to that date, just chain smoke - make yourself smoke till you're nauseated from it. my last 2 days of smoking, i smoked nearly a whole carton of cigarettes. but when that minute came that i had set, i smoked my last one in front of a mirror. it was so disgusting. it is more mental than addictive. when i went to bed, I prayed, telling God that i couldn't do this entirely on my own and that I needed His help. I asked Him to take away my desire for a cigarette!! the next morning when i got up, believe it or not, I absolutely had no desire for a cigarette and never have had since. i never tried the pill, patch, or gum. i've apologized to all my friends and especially my daughter for having smoked around them all my life nearly. but different strokes for different folks, not the same thing works for everybody, just try what you feel will work for you and I pray something works. by the way, I had aorto bi-femoral bypass surgery on 7-03- 08 and I still have both legs. in case you don't know what that is, they opened me up from right below the ribs to top of pelvic main incision and two other incisions one in each groin. used dacron tubing, sewed it into my aorta where it comes out of the diaphram and ran it past the iliac arteries and into the femoral arties at the groin going to each leg. it was NOT a fun surgery. the surgery lasted 5-1/2 hours, was in hospital 9 days, on a ventillator, had 3 blood transfusions and lots of complications & infections, so just hope my story will encourage some of you to quit before something serious happens to your body.
donna
then just keep smoking more and more and as it gets closer to that date, just chain smoke - make yourself smoke till you're nauseated from it. my last 2 days of smoking, i smoked nearly a whole carton of cigarettes. but when that minute came that i had set, i smoked my last one in front of a mirror. it was so disgusting. it is more mental than addictive. when i went to bed, I prayed, telling God that i couldn't do this entirely on my own and that I needed His help. I asked Him to take away my desire for a cigarette!! the next morning when i got up, believe it or not, I absolutely had no desire for a cigarette and never have had since. i never tried the pill, patch, or gum. i've apologized to all my friends and especially my daughter for having smoked around them all my life nearly. but different strokes for different folks, not the same thing works for everybody, just try what you feel will work for you and I pray something works. by the way, I had aorto bi-femoral bypass surgery on 7-03- 08 and I still have both legs. in case you don't know what that is, they opened me up from right below the ribs to top of pelvic main incision and two other incisions one in each groin. used dacron tubing, sewed it into my aorta where it comes out of the diaphram and ran it past the iliac arteries and into the femoral arties at the groin going to each leg. it was NOT a fun surgery. the surgery lasted 5-1/2 hours, was in hospital 9 days, on a ventillator, had 3 blood transfusions and lots of complications & infections, so just hope my story will encourage some of you to quit before something serious happens to your body.
donna
06-25-2011, 12:18 PM
#58
Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Marengo, Iowa
Posts: 802
I smoked for nearly 50 yrs. and decided it was time for a makeover. I tried various things, but for me they weren't very successful. Then I tried Chantix. That was what I needed. Haven't had a smoke for nearly 2 yrs. You do need a prescription from the Dr. though. There are many times I wish I had 'just one', but know that it would not happen, so I don't. I'm very proud of myself and w/ the money I saved, I was able to buy a used Viking Designer I. When I look at that machine, I know it was worth it. But try Chantix if you are having problems. Good luck. Marge L.
06-25-2011, 12:26 PM
#59
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2008
Location: California
Posts: 401
As a heavy smoker, I wish you all the luck in the world to kick this ugly addiction. Just think about how far you have come already and try to realize that you will have to start all over again if you give in. Just take it one day, or even minute, at a time. When the urge hits, tell yourself you will wait for 10 minutes before you give in to the urge. Then try another 10 minutes. I have heard that going for a walk helps. Keep us updated - we are all rooting for you!
06-25-2011, 02:25 PM
#60
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2011
Posts: 697
I never smoked but it seems everyone else in my family did at one time or another - I have my own "bad habits" so Im not perfect lol. I do know smoking is not just an addiction to the chemicals in the cigs, but its a compulsive habit. If you try to stop by substituting something else all you will do is switch one complusion for another. Its as bad to get hooked on eating candy, drinking, anything that just becomes a mindless habit.
(My dad smoked and quit cold and ate candy. My mom tried to quit but never could. He died of diabetes and she died of cancer.)
If you have a need to have something in your hand why not hold a pen or pencil and make notes on new quilts, or doodle into a personal quilt pattern. I knew someone who walked around w/ a toothbrush in his mouth all day at work to quit smoking.
I see this thing advertised on TV that looks like a cig you inhale/exhale on but the "smoke" is water vapor(??). Its not a real cigerette, but I dont know what it is exactly, but if you check on it maybe it isnt anything harmeful. It looks like a perfect substitute - you can have it in the house, no smoke smell, no smoke damage, no harm to your body.
also, if you have kids/grands even with a sub like this vapor cig, people who love you will want to be like you, and no matter how hard you struggle to quit, until you do they will all see it as not so bad if they smoke too. If you can fight it and win they will see that you are a strong woman who can do anything she puts her heart into.
Good luck, sharet
(My dad smoked and quit cold and ate candy. My mom tried to quit but never could. He died of diabetes and she died of cancer.)
If you have a need to have something in your hand why not hold a pen or pencil and make notes on new quilts, or doodle into a personal quilt pattern. I knew someone who walked around w/ a toothbrush in his mouth all day at work to quit smoking.
I see this thing advertised on TV that looks like a cig you inhale/exhale on but the "smoke" is water vapor(??). Its not a real cigerette, but I dont know what it is exactly, but if you check on it maybe it isnt anything harmeful. It looks like a perfect substitute - you can have it in the house, no smoke smell, no smoke damage, no harm to your body.
also, if you have kids/grands even with a sub like this vapor cig, people who love you will want to be like you, and no matter how hard you struggle to quit, until you do they will all see it as not so bad if they smoke too. If you can fight it and win they will see that you are a strong woman who can do anything she puts her heart into.
Good luck, sharet
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