Would appreciate hearing from you

[hlc]

Hello to all, I am a 58 year old who had been smoking since the age of 15. I have quit twice in the past so the third time is a charm! My problem this time is I really don' have anyone close to turn to for support since no one close is aware that I ever started again after the second quit! 

l quit on June 23rd and it has been rough! I am using the patch. Since I was smoking 5 or 6 ciggs. A day, l started on step 2 per product instructions. Two more weeks and then to step 1 for  2 weeks. Wondering if anyone else has experienced headaches and feeling poorly using the patch. Can use all advise and support you can give. Congrats to all on their Quit!!

[Terri103]

Hi!  Congrats on your quit!!   You are doing great and without the support!  Now you can have all you want.  I did the patch and I did okay.   But I took it off before bed because I had crazy dreams.  Plus, I don't smoke for those 8 hours, so I thought no patch.   Quitting itself can change your body a lot.   I had lots of fatigue.  If the headaches and feeling poorly is making you miserable, stop for a couple of days and see if you feel better.  Of course DONT SMOKE!!  You might be getting more nicotine than you are used to.   We all will help you find distractions and coping skills when you have a big crave.   Good thing you found this site.   This is insurance for your forever quit!!

[Thomas3.20.2010]

I'm confused,,, lack of Oxygen - does that mean that you have COPD? As for the headaches - they could be caused by quitting smoking, and/or the patch and/or lack of Oxygen.. Have you asked your Doctor or his/her Nurse? 

One thing to keep in mind is that Smoking is never the correct answer!

You've done just great so far so keep up the good work!

[YoungAtHeart]

Welcome to our community!

Congratulations on your decision to quit smoking.  We can help you make this your FINAL quit!

I am not sure about your symptoms vis a vis the quit process.  The headaches can be from quitting - but you are still getting nicotine from the patch, so that doesn't fit.  You might talk about this with your doctor.........

The most important thing you can do right now is to educate yourself on what nicotine does to your body and mind. To that end, I highly recommend Allen Carr's “The Easy Way to Stop Smoking.” This is an easy and entertaining read. Here is a link to a free PDF version of it:

http://media.wix.com/ugd/74fa87_2010cc5496521431188f905b7234a829.pdf

As well, read the sections on this site, and read the blogs, responses and pages of folks you think might be helpful. You might visit whyquit.com and quitsmokingonline.com for the good information contained there.

The idea is to change up your routines so the smoking associations are reduced.  Drink your coffee with your OTHER hand. If you always had that first smoke with your coffee, try putting your tennies on right out of bed, going for a quick walk, then taking your shower and THEN your coffee! Rearrange the furniture in the areas you used to smoke so the view is different.

You need to distract yourself through any craves.  You can take a bite out of a lemon (yup - rind and all), put your head in the freezer and take a deep breath of cold air, do a few jumping jacks, go for a brisk walk or march in place, play a computer game.  Don't let that smoking thought rattle around in your brain unchallenged. Sometimes you need to quit a minute or an hour at a time.  You will need to be disciplined in the early days to distract yourself when a crave hits.  Don't let that smoking thought rattle around your head alone.  Get busy!  Here is a link to a list of things to do instead of smoke if you need some fresh ideas:

https://excommunity.becomeanex.org/blogs/Youngatheart.7.4.12-blog/2013/02/25/100-things-to-do-instea...

The conversation in your head in response to the "I want a cigarette" thought needs to be, "Well, since I have decided not to do that anymore, what shall I do instead for the three minutes this crave will last?"  Then DO it.  You will need to put some effort into this in the early days, but it gets easier and easier to do.

Stay close to us here and ask questions when you have them and for support when you need it. We will be with you every step of the way!

Nancy

[lois2]

stay close to the site , great support here. congrats

[joyeuxencore]

Hello and congrats on 26 days of freedom!

 You have made it through the most difficult time! Now you must set about the re-learning everyday life without them and when you get a bit better with that it won't be so difficult anymore. 

The day will come when you do not even think about smoking ... Oh my goodness it seems I used a cigarette to punctuate every move I made and every feeling I had good or bad… I have had to find new, healthy ways to ‘punctuate’ my life…

I bought myself fresh flowers or a sweet smelling candle, took a bubble bath, rented a movie, watched a special tv show, I kept coming up with fun things that made me feel good and remembered that life is made up of little moments and a cigarette break is NOT one of life’s beautiful moments…It NEVER was…My addict brain thought it was good because I needed to feed the addiction NOT MY SOUL…Now I feed my soul…

Hang in there no matter what because “You are worth SO much more than a cigarette!” xo