Jase broke it down for me and came up with a plan. Since nicotine addiction has 2 separate stages he wants me to tackle one at a time instead of trying to take both giants on at once.
I really believe the reason I have failed in the past is because I went too fast and tried to go from 2pk/day to 0. I need to slowly get used to the mental withdrawal before I can conquer the physical aspects. I don't know if this will affect my quit date but I am setting my sight on V-day. I have a phone session with my quit counselor Friday and will ask her what she thinks. I don't want to rush it and fail again.
Step 1: Continue cutting back and upping the timer every few days as I feel comfortable going longer between. I'm using some patches I had from an earlier attempt and those are def. helping. I'm sucking on suckers like there's no tomorrow. My lips are sticky sweet!
Step 2: Get down to less than 10 cigs a day before my quit date so I can stop smoking all together. I will continue to use the patch and the gum or lozenges (Don't know which of those they are sending yet) as long as I am craving a cig. Then slowly wean myself off of those. I'm worried about getting addicted to the gum as I have heard that can be a problem.
I want to thank Carrie for speaking about dreams and fulfilling them. She's given me the courage to do this and I hope all her dreams come true. She's been through hell and back and she deserves things to go her way for once. Go give her all the support you can. She's keeping her dream on the down low for now but she'll open up one day and share it with us. She's amazing.
2 comments:
I am so proud of how you are doing. I finally remembered to ask Vic to tell you about how he quit and he said he'll do it tomorrow.
Heather, Kristin's DH here. I quit smoking in 8/08 for the second time. I had started in 07 when I changed jobs and became a 9-1-1 center supervisor.
What really helped me was what I remembered from my first time smoke cessation classed in 95.
First of all, you have to be very sure that you are ready to quit smoking, really, really sure; for sure this time.
It will take your body 72 hours (3 days) for your body to get rid of all the nicotine inside of you. You will also find yourself waking up with a harder coughing, as your lungs work overtime to push that gunk up and out. The bad side of it is that you will still have the craving for the nicotine, but don't worry 'bout that.
I bought a large box of Nicorete gum (the wally world brand, I am cheap), and every time that I got the urge for a smoke, I popped a piece of gum. And I chewed the hell out of each piece. They are supposed to last about 20 minutes.
Make a date as to when you will not have any cigs on that day, and that is when you start. Always keep some of the nicorete with you, some travel bottles of mouthwash, etc. As soon as you get the craving for a smoke, put a piece of gum and chew on it. Of course, to reinforce it, then go to the convenience store and take a look at the price for those things.
I wish you the best of luck, and if you need any encouragement, I will be happy to help you. And remember, that the urge to smoke a cigarette will go away whether you smoke it or not.
Vic
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