Community Forum

Hello-I’m grateful that I am still smoke free so I can hold my first grandchild without leaving the awful smell of smoke on her. I know I would choose having a cigarette over holding her. Isn’t that pathetic!!! My husband still hasn’t held her because he can’t go long enough without a smoke to not transfer the smell into her. It’s one more reason to say NOPE.

Hi everybody! Just got home from a walk in the sunshine and it felt great!! It’s day 16!! I’m coughing a lot less and breathing easier. My walks are easier tho my distance is way down. I have a rehab worker coming next week to help me slowly get my distance back up to where it used to be. This might be too much of an expectation as I wasn’t on home oxygen before. Now I have to push that along with me. Oh well. It’s my own fault. That’s what over 50 yrs of smoking did. Anyway, looking forward to getting into shape with the rehab worker. I’ve never exercised without smoking before. I wonder what that’s going to feel like. Now if I could just get rid of these nasty cravings! I was out for a walk the other night looking at all the butts on the sidewalk when a serious craving hit me. I wondered if any of those butts had enough tobacco in them for me to take home and smoke to the filter!! Pretty disgusting! I can’t believe I would have done that. Just think of the germs!! I distracted myself by saying I didn’t want to start all over again. Now what I do is take my Nicorett Quick Mist with me on my walks so I have it just in case. Thankyou to all of you who have helped me through this particularly difficult stage. I keep telling myself that I just have to get to wk 3 and then the cravings should start tapering off I’m told. I’m going to go for 2 more walks today. My goal is to walk 3 times a day rain or shine.

Hi: it’s great to come here and read everyone’s stories and gain strength in your words. I’ve started to feel a little depressed about not smoking. I remember this happening to me before when I quit for 1 1/2 years. I know I will get through it but I’m at the stage where I feel like I’ve lost something important to me. I’d be grateful for any words of wisdom or encouragement.
Thanks

I am day 50 and I feel great heaps of energy and I lost three kgs last week from intermittent fasting and exercising and walking. Don't dread quitting there's a better life for you than choking 😉

Hi everyone. Well I am 2 wks smoke free if I count the Sunday that I quit!! Feels fantastic tho I can’t seem to get a handle on these nasty cravings. I’m going for lots of walks which I’ve done for many years, drinking lots of Lemmon water and distracting myself as much as possible. I ran into a neighbour when I was out for a walk and we were talking about smoking. He said he quit many years ago. He noticed the oxygen that I was pulling along beside me which I’ve been on for about 4 wks now. He asked if I was a smoker. I didn’t know what to say at first, it had been such a short period of time since I’d quit. Then I realized that I am a non smoker now so I proudly said, no I don’t smoke anymore. What a good feeling that was! This forum has been amazing. I know I can make a comment when I get into a bind and there’s help out there. Thankyou so much. My next goal is to get to wk 3

Hello all

Hope everyone is well and smoke free.

I was wondering how you go about getting the NRT supplies.

Do you require anything from a doctor or can you just purchase it at a drugstore ?
Been 30 days without a smoke but I am craving much more than I was 29 days ago.I have been a smoker for many decades unfortunately and smoked about 25 a day.

Read Allen Carr’s book twice and also listened to the latest release of his book on audio. Doesn’t seem to be helping at all this time. Maybe a little but not a lot.

So....before I drive my family crazy with my increasingly bad moods.....I thought maybe I should try some NRT and see if it helps.

Can anyone tell me how to go about getting some NRT and what you recommend in this regard. I am led to believe that we can get some of this stuff free in BC with our MSP.

Thanks for your help guys 👍
PJ

I am almost 24 hours smoke free. I downloaded the app Smoke Free. It keeps track of how much money saved and how long since your last cigarette. I posted on Facebook that I have quit to get support from friends and family. I have had thoughts of smoking but no craving to smoke as I have a patch on and they work really well for me. Not looking forward to the vivid dreams but it's a trade off. I can't wait til the day when smoking is never on my mind. I am saving over three hundred dollars a month so I've decided to take $100 to reward myself at the end of the month...anytime I think about a smoke I immediately start fantasizing about what I'm going to buy myself as a treat.

Hi. Well I have a relapse, 3 months and 9 days. I have many reasons why. I bought, I just took the pack and filled it with water so it’s gone. I have only taken three or four drags on each of the cigarettes I have smoked. I hoping I can now get back on track. I know I now have to start all over again. This so disappointing for me. It’s good to be able to come here and talk about all this. Thanks for listening,

Almost 2 months in and I can’t believe how better I feel. I’m so glad I quit this nasty habit!
Don’t think about it... just do it.
I smoked for 30 years.
Now I’m going to be SMOKE FREE FOR THE NEXT 30 years!

Hi Sunetra. Thanks very much for the comments. They are so helpful right now. My health is the biggest reason I’ve quit. I’m on home oxygen now and have been for 3 wks. I should have seen that coming but I refused to believe it. That was never going to be me. All from smoking for over 50 yrs. my goal is to get as much of my health back as possible and that means never go back to smoking! These first days are very challenging with some days I’m so tempted to go out and buy a pack of smokes. I have to really distract myself and drink lots of water. I’m very determined. I’ve never seriously tried to quit before so hopefully this will be it. I keep the Nicorett Quick Mist close by and my pharmacist has just increased my Nicoderm patches to 2 per day. You’ve been quit for many years. Congratulations. Did you quit on the first attempt? Will let you go. Thanks for listening.

Hi Katerina, thanks for getting back to me. I want this to be my one and only quit attempt because I can’t imagine going through this again! I keep staring at my Nicorett Mist spray because you’re only allowed 4 mists an hr and I find the time has been going by so slowly. Thanks for all your suggestions on different activities to try. Will keep them in mind. Sounds like you had a challenging time quitting for good. You must be so very proud. So glad you’re here to help. Really appreciate all the advice I can get right now.

One year, 5 months and 3 days quit. And I just turned 65 last week. Yay! Life is good!
I've been reading many of the recent posts and have been struck by some of the expressions of helplessness, guilt, shame, anger and on and on. I thought it might help if I offered a few words to provide some perspective.
Quitting is tough, perhaps the toughest thing you will ever do. But the worst thing you can do is to beat yourself up - about having started, or relapsed, or snuck a drag or two on the sly or went out and bought a pack. It doesn't matter. You are going through an extremely tough time and there will be slips. Recognize that they happened, learn from them and very quickly put them behind you. Pick up where you left off and for goodness sake, forgive yourself.
I smoked for over 50 years and when I hit about the 6 month mark, I was overwhelmed by guilt. How was it that I was able to quit for the sake of my new granddaughter and in response to needing a triple bypass but not able to quit for my two (now fully grown) boys. I was consumed by terrible guilt. I spoke to the boys about it and they told me that all that matters now is that you have quit now. And they hope I will remain a recovering smoker. That gave me permission to move past that guilt as well as the guilt I bore about ever starting in the first place. I treat each day that I am a non-smoker as a BFD (Big Freakin' Deal!) because it is. And it feels wonderful to keep racking up those victories over my addiction. Today I won again. Don't know about tomorrow, but today I won. Thank you for letting me rant. Do not give in to helplessness and despair. Fight for your life, one day at a time.

I have been trying to quit smoking since Saturday Match 27th and have yet to have a smoke free day. Everytime I light up I feel worse about myself ...today I gave in and bought a pack . I've gotten rid of most of them but have kept some for tonight to have yet another final cigarette. I get so depressed about the finality of it all but am aware it's like being upset your no longer punching yourself in the face. I just want to at least be able to go for 24 hrs. I have smoked for 28 years I am almost 40 and have never been an adult and not smoked. I've been crying on and off since Saturday and I just want to not feel so hopeless. Ii do know I can do it I just need to get over this initial hump. I have nic gum and bought a bunch of regular gum and suckers. Any tips from ex smokers to get through my first day? I feel like in the last 5 days I have just been always starting day one again.

I finally came out ... on Facebook that is 😬. I celebrated my five month win openly on my page, filled with fear as many of my peeps had no idea (or I thought they didn’t) that I smoked. It was probably one of the scariest things I’ve ever done, but also one of the most freeing. My friends were very supportive and my husband said to me ‘I guess this means you are in it for the long haul’. I definitely felt very different after I did it, and quite honestly don’t give a crap if people think less of me ... one person commented that she never knew I was a smoker and that comment strangely offended me ... it was a label in my head, like she was saying ‘you are one of them’, but I got over it. The best thing that came out of it was that my sister (who has yet to acknowledge my quit) showed up at my house with a plant for my deck saying ‘this is for you to celebrate your milestone’ 😳. I almost fell off my chair ... but she said it and my heart melted. Five months have flown by as I look back but I still remember day one very clearly. I am very early in this still, and aware that I will be challenged throughout my lifetime but man oh man it feels so good to be free. I ran 5K yesterday and then walked another 4K and then yoga with my husband and daughter last night. I can breathe so deeply and with ease. Today is a good day and I pray a good day for all ... the fight is worth it!! Sending hugs 🌹🙏🏻🤗

Hi Katarina,
Thanks very much for your comments. Very helpful. You quit 11yrs ago? How did you do it? Do you ever get cravings now? I find the cravings the hardest part. I’m told they only last a few minutes but seems like they’re there all the time. Today seems a bit better, hopefully that’s a sign of things to come. Using the Nicoderm patch and Nicorett Quick Mist inhaler. The inhaler seems to help which is nice because I think I’ve tried most of the NRTsand was getting desperate. I have used the chat quite a bit and am getting a phone call from a counsellor tomorrow which is great. Thanks for listening take care