Trying to quit smoking, Today!

[Superman]

Hang in there, tobascobobcat.

[HughA44s]

Made it threw a WHOLE WEEK and have not slipped once (I have come very , very close). Biggest problem I have now is sleeping as I really don't sleep much but that should pass. The stupid feeling is also leaving and I can follow conversations and perform simiple tasks now, some that required concentration of at least 10 minutes. Thanks for the help and keep up the good work.

[tabascobobcat]

I also have had cases of insomnia. Before, I've always prided myself on being able to sleep anytime, anywhere. I absolutely hate lying in bed watching the clock.

[lendaddy]

I sleep much better? Bizzaro-smoker I haven't slept well in well over a decade. This last week it has been easy to fall asleep once in bed, before it would take hours. Whether or not this trend will stay or is fleeting we'll have to see, but I like it so far.

[Superman]

Melatonin can help. Your brain produces it when it's bedtime anyway. It can help with falling to sleep. It seems to have no lasting effect, like some relaxants have.

[Rot 911]

I think you guys all deserve congratulations for making it past your first week (yes some of you longer and some of you shorter0!

[lendaddy]

Originally posted by Superman
Melatonin can help. Your brain produces it when it's bedtime anyway. It can help with falling to sleep. It seems to have no lasting effect, like some relaxants have.

Melatonin gave me crazyass dreams! It does this to alot of people so be forwarned. I'm not kidding at all, some were really neat, some were terrible nightmares. I have spoken to others with similar results.

[Overpaid Slacker]

I'm a day and a half in... Just woke up yesterday and didn't want a smoke bad enough to stop on the way to work to buy a pack. During the day, I thought "do I want a smoke" hmmmm... "am I quitting?" Then I read this thread. Opportune timing, Joel.

I'd said to myself a few times in the past month or so "enough, I'm done with this coughing, stuffed head smoking crap" but hadn't 'decided' to quit. I was just over a pack a day, but it really messes w/ my sinuses and upper resp. tract to smoke. You don't realize how much, though, until you stop and the distress goes away...

This is one of those swings that come along every so often that provides the initial impetus (w/o premeditation) to stop. I think Supe alluded to a similar phenomenon that happens to him.

What really helps is that my smoking buddy at work is out today ... I find I'm most tempted to smoke when I'm bored, so it's the slow periods of the day when I'm antsy that I'm most likely to crave. Oh, and when they show someone lighting up in a movie, it's almost Pavlovian that I'll reach for the pack as well.

Congrats to all those who have gone before me. I quit once before for a couple of years, and I think after the first 3 days or so, it gets a lot easier ... except for those situations where you'd subconsciously have fired up, those take a while to get over.

JP

[creaturecat]

how many Pelicanites still on board?
I count 7: 125shifter, HughA44S, K911SC, Lendaddy, Overpaidslacker, Parralleltangent, Tobascobobcat.
Have i missed anyone?
Anyone else joining in?
A collective 3 cheers for facing this difficult challenge head- on.

[HughA44s]

Hey O-Slacker, thats the way it was for me - saw the thread and decided to hit it. Starting my second week and still clean however everyday is an adventure!!!!!! One morning - can't sleep, next morning - can't see, next morning - my guts hurt but all that is better than what could happen.
Keep pressing -

[Overpaid Slacker]

Hugh -
Exactly. I'd been on the fence about it, waiting for one of those brief episodes where I just felt like stopping ... and it aligned with this thread.

Thing is, I don't really want to quit smoking ... more often than not, I enjoy a cigarette. But I really should stop, and why not now?

Had a couple of nic fits today (weird feeling -- like my chest is hollow and then my chest/arms/hands feel slightly flushed) but nothing bad. The worst is going to be the ride home from work; that's the tough smoke to skip.

Didn't sleep too well last night (or too poorly, for that matter), but no other pathological issues.

Not even too cranky ... yet. The combination of LI driving and no cigarette might be explosive, though.

JP

[tabascobobcat]

Originally posted by Superman
Melatonin can help. Your brain produces it when it's bedtime anyway. It can help with falling to sleep. It seems to have no lasting effect, like some relaxants have.

You are right on.
I take that stuff when ever I go to Japan to take the edge off of the jet lag / time change. Problem is : none in the house. I'll pick some up later if this persists.

[David]

Still smoke free. I didn't even have cravings last night during the 5 hours I spent in the garage. The beers were disappearing out of the frige pretty quick.

[paralleltangent]

Still smoke free here as well. Today was a bit rougher than the last 7 for some reason... a little irritable and more intense cravings.

I'm going to spend some time in the garage tonight and see how it goes without the customary smoke breaks.

[HughA44s]

Thing is, I don't really want to quit smoking ... more often than not, I enjoy a cigarette. But I really should stop, and why not now?


O-Slacker, that is a great quote and exactly how I feel!!!!!!!!!! The problem is I would enjoy chewing tobacco right up to the time I have some sort of cancer and have tubes sticking out of me. Best to all!!!!!!.

[Overpaid Slacker]

Well, last night had all the makings of a test ...
A buddy who could win the "Most Prolific Cigarette Mooch of All Time" award showed up to play some Tiger Woods 2004 on the X-Box (aside: awesome game).
He walks in and announces, as though he's invented a cold fusion process that cures cancer and teaches rhythm to the white: "Mark the date and time, I brought cigarettes!!" Obviously very proud of himself.
"Good timing Gomez," says I, "I stopped."
"You can't stop, I'm just starting up again!" My friend, who looks out for me, ladies and gentlemen.

So, through 3 rounds of "golf" (about 2 1/2 hours) AND a trip to White Castle for dinner (I'm not taking this "health" thing overseriously...) and 2 1/2 hours at the local ginmill -- NO smokes, even though I was drinking and my wingman was going out (it's NY) to smoke. A couple of minor cravings, but it was more for the company/camaraderie.

It occured to me that 5 of the last 6 women I've ... been with ... I've met/picked up while outside having a smoke -- it's a bonding experience. So I'm not ruling out ever having a cigarette again...

On our way home, Gomez asks how I'm doing it, how it's so easy (it's not really that "easy"...).

I said "I know this sounds kind of perverse, but it's easy to stop, knowing I can just start smoking again any time I want to."

Didn't feel tired until 4 am, and felt the effects of the booze much less than usual last night; obviously chemical changes are taking place, but nothing too bad.

Further good news ... my smoking buddy at work is out sick again today... the stars are in alignment.

Congrats to all who're past the week mark. I think your chances of success triple or quadruple if you make it that far!

JP

[Moses]

Originally posted by Overpaid Slacker
Well, last night had all the makings of a test ...

JP

Test? Are you kidding? You just ran the smokers gauntlet. Congratulations!

[arcsine]

Originally posted by Moses
Test? Are you kidding? You just ran the smokers gauntlet. Congratulations!

Here, here. With friendly peer pressure, dinner, drinks in a bar you have hit most of the things that would lead a person to light one up. Only other thing you could have tested yourself with is having sex. Or is a smoke after sex a fable?

Regardless, good on you for staying the course.

[pwd72s]

with me, the hardest part of quitting was after sex. I got over the after a meal urge...but after sex? I still want to light up. And it's been over a decade since I have. Light up a cigarette, I mean...

[creaturecat]

Any pre-weekend reports out there? are there still 7? anybody slip up?any true confessions?