Dentalfloss

never mind. I figured it out.

How do you add your quit date to the calendar?

- My health. I was scared that I was going to get a preventable disease. - Good example for my kids. -I was embarrassed to be a smoker. -I'll get cheaper insurance. -Live longer. I know I have other reasons but those are the ones I thought of off the top of my head. I also have reasons to stay quit(even when I don't feel like it) that I wasn't aware of until after I quit.

great post! congrats on 6 months!

The bold part concerns me. You are giving yourself that option of going back to smoking. In 90 days will you start to convince yourself that you dont feel better and go back to smoking? Dont put that option in your head even if its way in the back of your mind. We are all very aware of how the addiction works and what it will convince us of to get us back.

That's great news and lucky for her, she has an awesome mentor as her brother-in-law.

Awesome! Celebrate and make it a day to remember!

I think you are my dad's real daughter. Lol

I'm at work and don't have time to read through all the responses so it might already be mentioned but you are very early in your quit so think of your body healing like it does when you have the flu. You need extra water and you are tired all the time. Give your body what it wants and the thirst and fatigue will go away soon enough. I have never been overweight and I've never had to watch what I ate but since I quit I am always hungry. It's getting better but I still eat a lot. I have started cutting down on pop and eating a lot of veggies and some fruits. They are low calorie and keep my hands busy. I also use a straw in my drinks and that helps with eating too. You will regain energy soon enough and then you can start to add exercise. Don't put too much on your plate right now. Quitting should be your main concern. They rest will settle on its own. I never had the brain fog so I can't help you there but be very careful. Can someone else drive you for a few days? I still haven't told my family that I quit. I don't know why but I just haven't. Just be blunt with your smoking friends. If they are true friends they won't get offended and if they do then it's their problem. If they won't comply then you need to get up and walk away from them. Do what you need to to save your quit. Just tell people the truth about quitting. Some days are good some are not but you are doing what you can to make it. I didn't/ haven't done anything special but I would like to start saving my money for my dream vacation. Gotta stop spending it first ;) .

You've saved $18 already? dang!! how much do cigarettes cost in your area?

Normal to feel that way. Keep really busy for the first week. Cleaning, exercise, shopping, anything to keep you busy will help you get through this easier.

Not only can you function without it but you will find out that you are more productive since quitting. You will no longer spend hours a day smoking or use it as I did. A way to procrastinate. I am actually getting all my chores done in the morning and relaxing for the rest of the day instead of spending most of my day smoking then rushing around to finish everything later in the day.

Yep. The cut back method. Also known as the non-quit. We would find anyway to keep smoking but feel like we were doing something good by cutting back. I remember saying something like " oh, I only smoked 12 today instead of 20 so I'm doing good" . That's completely normal. The fear is worse than the quit. I feared I would constantly crave all day everyday and that fear kept me from quitting for a long time but the truth is, it's not like that. Yes, you will crave but it's not all you do all day. Read all the info on here and anything you can find about quitting and addiction and have an arsenal of coping methods and you will so find out that it's doable and well worth it.

What is a gradual smoking cessation? My advise would be to get rid of all cigarettes before going to bed. You can't smoke if you don't have any.

I hope you don't mind me asking a few questions. What made you start romance them and what did you consider romancing?

my 12 week course is up on October 8th and I was doing a very slow wean. I planned on doing 3/4 pill for a few weeks then going down to 1/2 a pill then down to 1/4 pill then being done and I was going to make that last until about October 8th so I will technically be on it for 12 weeks. But to answer your question, I am not big on taking pills so I want to be done and I heard sudden stopping can cause issues and since I had such a huge increase in craves the last time I tried tapering I thought I'd start now and give myself plenty of time to taper.

I am weaning myself off Chantix very slowly. I am at 3/4 of a pill a day now. ( 1/2 in the morning and 1/4 in the evening) I tried weaning off a few weeks ago by going to 1/2 pill total a day but I guess it was to soon and I had severe cravings all day everyday for a week and it was wearing on me so I upped my dosage back to 1 pill a day and I felt a lot better. I kept at this dosage for a few weeks and just started the 3/4 a pill a week ago. I am just ok on this dose. I am actually not sure if I am feeling worse on the 3/4 a pill a day or if I am just so worried that I will have problems after I come off it that I am making myself have more craves. Does that make sense? So anyway, my question is. Anyone who took Chantix and stopped, did you have a hard time after you quit Chantix? If you did, what did you experience and how long did you feel that way? Could the way I am feeling really be from coming off Chantix or am I getting my self worked up and causing my own symptoms, in other words, is all this is in my head or is it from lowering the Chantix? I really wonder if a 1/4 of a pill really makes that much of a difference. If it does then I guess I'm screwed when I completely come off of them. EEEEK!!

Jodi, I know you are struggling and a cigarette sounds good right now but you know you can't have one cigarette. You have no control and one will turn into 1000's. You are like an alcoholic, you can't have just one. If you do go back to smoking,you will be wishing you we're quit again. Remember how you felt before you quit? If not I will remind you. You wished you had the courage to quit and you worried everyday that you'd smoke yourself to death. You worried your kids would have to bury you before they graduated or that you'd never see them get married or have kids. You were also embarrassed that you smoked. You hid it from people that didn't know and you always thought strangers were judging you for it. Imagine how embarrassing it will be to tell everyone you failed and you are smoking again. Plus, don't forget the headaches you always got and blamed on sinuses. Well guess what? You haven't had a signal one since you quit and you don't cough anymore and your teeth are whiter. You ARE quit now and if for some idiotic reason you did go back to smoking then you may never be able to quit again and all your fears you wrote about above WILL come true. DONT MESS THIS UP. You will be back to wish and hoping and wanting you could quit and that you weren't smoking again. P.s. You also like the extra money you have since you don't have to buy cigarettes and all the free time you have since you don't waste it smoking yourself sick. Also, your family has a history of dying young from smoking. Do you want to die before age 60 like your grandma and uncle? Remember, dying young was a huge fear of yours too. If you do then you only have around 20 to 25 years left to live. That really isn't that many more years if you think about it. You know you want to live longer than that and you just may as long as you don't go back to smoking. Key words to remember: lung and throat cancer, copd, oxygen tank. You know how suffocating has always been a fear of yours? Well, you will S L O W L Y suffocate if you get some of the diseases smoking can cause. Another good thing about not smoking is that won't have to go through to whole quit process ever again as long as you don't smoke. You know these feelings/craves/bad days go away even though it feels like they are never ending and you know you will have good days so just buck up and do whatever you need to get through this without smoking because those good days make you feel so good about your decision to quit. This note may seem all over the place but that's because you are writing your thoughts and feelings as they pop in your head.

Well done! Happy 5th!

Welcome

I had one a year ago because of shortness of breath and it was all clear but I was still smoking then too. It took me a year to actually quit. That was the point where I really started to consider quitting but it took me a year to build up the courage to do it and I have the quitting boards to thank for giving me the knowledge and courage to go for it.

Me too. Maybe once every few years for me.

Welcome and its a decision you'll never regret!

I'm backward from you Sharon. I started out quitting because of health and family but I haven't bought cigarettes in 6 weeks so now its about money too. I like not spending that money on cigs. Now my husband still smokes so we still are buying them but not as many as we did when I smoked too.

Woohoo. Great job!