Chrysalis

Oh, my! What an upsetting thought! I'm telling you, you military wives have my respect--you have to deal with so many things the rest of us don't even have to think about. Thank you and Mr. DD for your service. (((HUGS!)))

I quit smoking at the end of March. In April, I started riding my bike 2 or 3 times a week. At first, I could only go about 1 mile in 15 minutes before I was totally done for. :( However, I kept at it and got to where I could ride for 30 minutes if I stopped to rest twice for 2 minutes each time. Today for the first time I rode 3 miles in 30 minutes non-stop (ta da!!!). Baby steps, baby steps, but I'm making progress. :)

Now that I think about it, I have less desire to drink since I quit smoking. I used to have 1 or 2 beers at home most nights. Now I tend to drink iced tea or a glass of milk most nights. My guess is that my main reason to smoke was to relieve stress and that is the same reason I drank. Once the nicotine-induced stress was gone, so did my desire to drink. I still like to have 1 or 2 cocktails when we go out dancing because it relieves my inhibitions (you should SEE my uninhibited dancing!! :pleasantry: ) but that's about it.

I quit because I had a crystal ball. When I hit 62 I had to think long and hard about whether or not to collect Social Security "early". That got me to thinking about my retirement-- when, where and what I wanted to be able to do. When I was 63 my older brother was diagnosed out-of-the-blue with Stage IV melanoma; he was dead 10 months later. My father was a physical and mental mess (alcohol, diabetes and 4 packs-a-day cigarettes) who died at 56. My mother quit smoking at 60 and was fit, active and exercised every day and was still going strong at 85. So my crystal ball told me that: 1. I'm not going to live forever and the end could come at any time. 2. If I mimic my father and keep going as I am (overweight, smoking, couch potato) I will have a very boring, disabled retirement and I will die much sooner than needs be. 3. If I mimic my mother and quit smoking and get fit I could have 20 years of being happy, healthy and vigorous. As Jack Benny said, "H-m-m-m-m... I'm thinking! I'm thinking!" So the next time I was at my doctor's office I asked for a prescription for Chantix and I quit.

OMG, Comrad, I'm so sorry that you had to endure all that! I didn't know that someone could be a "non-responder" to anti-clotting medication. I guess that's a good thing to know. :( You must be one tough dude to go through all that and come out swinging. Take care of yourself, you hear? And let us know when you're home shuffling back and forth to the refrigerator again.

Is Tenerife one of the Canary Islands?

Hey, Apeezy, good to see you again! Congratulations on your two weeks-- the worst is over and it gets better and better every day now. Good to have you along on our mutual journey.

Wow, Sarge! It sounds like you are doing great! Over the last 3 years you have quit smoking, lost 50 pounds, built up your strength to 13 pull-ups and improved your cardiovascular fitness to < 8-minute miles. Oh, and it sounds like you are inspiring and supporting Mrs. Sarge to improve her fitness, too. That is fantastic! I hope you take the time to appreciate how much you have accomplished and to give yourself a well-deserved pat on the back. Enjoy those pizza rolls (but only once every 3 years :) ).

Good for you, Doreen! You had every right to have a smile on your face that day! Keep on smilin'. :) Yes, the expense is probably the main thing about smoking that made me feel like an addict. I knew that I would spend my last dollar on cigarettes to the exclusion of anything else. Back when I was smoking, I rationalized the expense by buying the cheapest cigarettes I could find and making sure that I never added up how much cigarettes cost me each month. Sad, stupid, self-destructive junkie! :sorry:

Hey (((metman!))) good to see you here! Yes, what you say about the relapses is honest and true. We don't know why. But we are NOT going there, right??!!

Hey, (((Dentalfloss!!))) Great to see you here. Congratulations on your 37 days. You've really got it going for you, now. Looking forward to sharing your journey.

Aw, Jenny, thank you for taking all the trouble to make such a nice video for us! You really made me smile. How did you know that "Happy" was my favorite song of the year??!! Love the hats, especially! Thanks again. ((( :wub: Jenny :wub: )))

How are you doing, Comrad? Are you able to get around more easily? Will you have to do physical therapy or anything?

"Disco walking" is my term. I load up my iPod with 30 minutes' worth of bouncy, danceable music. Then I go to the condo's tennis court (which can't be seen from any unit) and walk and dance and beebop around and around the perimeter of the tennis court for 30 minutes. I know it looks ridiculous but it's fun and it's great exercise. But I can't do it in hot weather (like Atlanta in August :( ). When the weather is too hot to exercise outside I do stay inside and do a 30-minute Leslie Sansone power walking video. That works good, too.

I got sloppy about my diet and exercise for the last couple of days. Finally getting back to it now. Did a 30-minute exercise video today and am sad to say that I had to turn it off and catch my breath 2 or 3 times during the video. Aarrgh! I could kick myself for the layoff! Oh well, I did do the whole 30 minute workout and if I keep at it I will improve, right? Onward and upward!!

Tried but too darned hot! Only 10 minutes of disco walking. meh...

Thanks for the links, MQ. I did go through them. Happily, one thing that Joel said really resonated with me today. He was talking about the problem of obsessive thinking about cigarettes-- the internal mental debate. It usually goes like this: "Yes, I want a cigarette!"/"No you don't!" around and around inside your head. And he's right--that is exactly what I do. He suggests that we need to change the internal discussion. Acknowledge that right now, at this moment, you DO want a cigarette. That's OK. But instead of thinking about having ONE cigarette (which is all I usually think about) think about the consequences; the long range picture. One cigarette will lead to jumping back into smoking with both feet-- with all the health, financial, social and psychological baggage that comes with it. Joel says when you get wrapped up in one of these endless internal debates instead of thinking about A cigarette, ask yourself: "'Do you want to go back to smoking, full fledged, until it cripples and kills you?' Stated like this it normally is not a back and forth debate. The answer will normally be, 'No I don’t want to smoke under these terms, and these are the only terms a cigarette comes with.'" Although this is certainly not a new concept to me, for some reason the way he phrased it, the words he used, something "clicked" with me. I do think about having ONE cigarette. Of course, that's self-delusion. If I have one I will probably have many. Then many more. Then I'll be right back to square one. So maybe I can reframe my internal debate from "Yes, I want a cigarette!"/"No you don't!" to "I want to go completely back to smoking forever."/"No you don't!" I think it will help me if I look at it this way. This reminds me of a joke I saw recently: "Cigarettes never travel alone--they come in packs."

Exactly!! Bravo!!

Colleen, it's interesting that you chose to take up riding your bike to help you quit. My #1 reason for quitting smoking was so that I could ride my bike again. I have been riding regularly and it is helping a lot. Who knows? Maybe someday we can both sign up for some terrific cross-country ride someplace. I heard there's a big one in Iowa every August. Wouldn't that be cool?

Lucy, I think that you are absolutely correct but I might phrase it differently. I would say, "If more people could embrace the N.O.P.E. approach 24/7 they would. Then there would be a lot less relapse on everything." I know, understand and embrace N.O.P.E. I think everybody here knows, understands and embraces NOPE which is why we are all not smoking-- be it 12 hours or 12 months or 12 years. If you are not smoking you have, by definition, not taken one puff. But numerous studies have shown that somewhere between 66% and 95% of the people who attempt to quit smoking relapse within one year. Presumably these people (at least most of them) implemented NOPE as long as they could. Then they relapsed. The people on this site--especially those who are more than one month away from cigarettes-- are on their way to a lifetime of freedom. They are practicing NOPE. But if history is any guide, 66% of us will be gone by this time next year. Basically, this forum-- probably all quit smoking forums--selects for the 33% of the population who DO succeed with NOPE. Assuming that the failures leave the forum, over time a higher and higher percentage of the active participants will be of that rare breed who can and do succeed with NOPE alone. I appreciate all the time and thought that all of the folks here have given to this topic. I hear you loud and clear. NOPE and some of its variations is the first, last and best way to maintain a quit. I believe you. I also believe that the more time one gets away from the cigarettes the easier it becomes to maintain the quit. Some people at some point suddenly find themselves free of even thinking about cigarettes, for others it happens gradually but it does happen. I believe that, too. But speaking for myself alone, if I ever again find myself in a place where NOPE is not working for me and I am sliding towards a relapse, I will not hesitate to re-start Chantix again until I get my head straightened out. There are just too many ruined quits out there. If I have a tool that helped me quit in the first place and I can use it again to prevent a relapse, I'm going to use it. You can call me a cheater, you can call me a backslider, but be sure to call me Mrs. Smokesnomo!! :)

Sarge, happily, I do not have to structure my life according to your tea leaves. Nobody, including you, has any idea what my future holds for me. I am quite confident of my quit-- at least as confident as the statics can support. I do believe, however, that some people like to bull their way through life while others prefer more thought and finesse. To each his own!

I don't know how effective that video is, but it sure is creative and gutsy! Bully for them!

Really cracked me up, frez. Thanks!

Even after all these years these people probably still love each other very much. And just think... they probably still have sex together on a regular basis. :good3: [we need a fist bump emoticon!]

Yes, Susana! That is what I would dearly love-- to think of smoking as I would think of sucking on an exhaust pipe (love the analogy). I must admit that I have ALWAYS been jealous of the former smokers who have just become completely turned off to the idea of smoking. I certainly have not reached that point. Perhaps, as you say, I will with time. Sure hope so!