Reciprocity

At least it's a dry heat :P I remember being in Turkey and parts of Greece a couple of years ago in mid July and yeah, it was pretty hot and completely sunny every day for the entire two weeks I was in that region.

The difficulty focusing is completely normal (just so you know). I was basically a walking zombie for the first few weeks of my quit but, that too eventually goes away. Maybe try to drink more water or, some say fruit juice helps too. Sometimes the "foggy head" issue is related to a change in your blood-sugar levels. I understand you are still feeding nicotine into your body via the patch & lozenges but all those other toxic chemicals your body has been ingesting over the years are no longer there so your body is making huge (and for the better) adjustments. It takes a while for it to get through that stage - it's all a process. If you were not taking ANY nicotine supplements, it would take approx. 3 days for your body to be completely rid of all nicotine. (Called a Cold Turkey Quit). Getting rid of the nicotine is just a small part of the quitting process. The much larger part and the part that takes so long is reprogramming your brain to learn to live without smoking. Smoking invades virtually every facet of our life. When you stop suddenly your brain still focuses immediately on having a cigarette based on triggers for smoking in your life: waking up in the morning, having a coffee, a stressful event, a sad event, a happy event. You feel lost and anxious for the first while until you start living life without turning to smokes every 30 minutes or so. And once you start to get comfortable with that - you will feel so proud and so great that you can function happily without those deadly cancer sticks. You'll see. Just keep pushing ahead. Also, maybe get a ticker thing for yourself so you can follow your progress. It will show you how many cigs you have NOT smoked and how long your quit is and how much $$ you've saved. If you need help doing that - let me know and I will Private Message you instructions on how to set one up :)

I too found that deep breathing really helped me in the early part of my quit. It just seemed to calm my anxiety and was just a great quit tool :)

There is nothing you can do to eliminate the discomfort of the early quit but you can do whatever you have to in order to distract your mind from focusing on your temporary misery. Binge watch TV or videos, go for a long walk, immerse yourself in your work if you are working, take lots of naps if you can, take a relaxing bath or a hot shower - do whatever you need to do to NOT SMOKE. Remember, this more difficult part of the quit will not last all that much longer as you are already 2 weeks in. That's the other thing - you have 2 weeks of hard work invested in this quit. Do whatever you have to so that hard work isn't wasted. You can do it! Believe in yourself. Read all you can here and watch the Joel videos. Once you truly understand that smoking does nothing good for you, it will be a lot easier to take smoking off the table in terms of it being a quick fix for all your problems - it's not. Only adds to them! Make a list of all the reasons why you want to quit smoking. Keep that handy so you can read it often. That will support your determination to quit. Make another list for yourself of all the benefits that smoking gave you. You know, like it improved your health, added money to your bank account, made you more socially acceptable in public and made you in general a much more popular person? And be careful with this one - smoking reduces stress. That's not really true. You are an addict when you smoke so every minute longer you go without feeding your addiction, the stress inside you increases! Smoking only adds stress to your life. All those other life issues you used to try and get through by smoking them away will still be with you like they are with everyone. You still have to deal with them only, as a non-smoker, you'll be able to deal with them better :)

A big congratulations to you Treetop for reaching the 1 year plateau in your quit! You are now officially an "Olde Pharte" and will be piped onto the Lido Deck with much pomp and ceremony! Now I know I said we'd have fireworks but that didn't mean you had to go this far! Props to you brother, you certainly know how to celebrate!!

Many of us here were even longer term smokers Jewel so yes, it is possible to quit even though you've been addicted for that long! That's the good news here. But, will be up to you to do the heavy lifting part. Just do not ever take another puff. Your body and mind will adjust themselves in time and you will be just fine. Quitting never killed anyone but smoking has killed millions!

Hi Jewel and welcome to the quit train. Congratulations on your first two weeks of quitting. That's a really good start! You are right that this quitting thing is not easy, particularly in the beginning!! It's the same for all of us - trust me. You are still in the very early part of you quit and things will gradually get easier to manage. The time frame for all of this is different for everyone but as long as you don't smoke, you will get through the really crappy part of quitting and slowly reprogram your own thinking so that you will not only live happily without cigarettes but you will wonder why you didn't quit sooner. And yes, having a support group who know exactly what you are going through is important to getting through your quit. Please also educate yourself about this addiction because, that's what it is - an addiction. That's why it's so hard to stop smoking. It only wants you to feed it more of what it demands. It does nothing for you. Please read all you can on this site and watch the Joel videos about smoking. Read all the posts you can here and participate as well. That really does help keep your mind focused in the right direction. Attitude and dedication to getting through the tough part will get the job done for you. Be sure to commit to the dail NOPE pledge here as well. It gets you started off right each day. Not One Puff Ever! There's a separate page for this on the main board.

NOPE!

^^^ Exactly what I was thinking. First we had "Fake News", now we have "Fake Celebrations" :P

You're getting there MissD! You will see that now you have a couple of months in the stable, time will begin to be more friendly to you :)

Sorry for your loss tracey. I witnessed my father's similar fate and also lost a sister to a combination of smoking/drinking addictions so I know all too well the pain and distress this brings to all. I too hope that your posting helps even just one person begin or strengthen their quit. Yes folks, these stories are real, the people are real and the ugliness of disease that this addiction is real! Rid yourself of it very simply by NOPE.

OK .... got the invite ............. showed up .......... now what?

Hope you're doing a little better today HN! This is a tough battle, the early days of quitting but it can be done with enough determination and the belief that better days are ahead and, indeed they are if you just don't smoke. Things do get easier - not harder. It just doesn't happen as quickly as we'd like but it Does happen for everyone.

Good job Missdixie!! 2 months is a great base to build an even stronger quit from. Reward yourself for doing so well. Next stop .... 1/4 Year :)

A HUGE congratulations SmokeFree and "Welcome to the Lido Deck"!! Take a lounge, kick back and relax a little. You deserve it after achieving this incredible accomplishment!

NOPE!

Congratulations Petra! 4 years as a non-smoker is fabulous. Celebrate this incredible achievement today - you deserve it :)

Congratulations GL! 5 months is awesome and I would be willing to bet you have found your sticky quit!! Next month is 1/2 year quit so I will see you then :) For today, pamper yourself with something nice!!

Congrats on your amazing quit! 4 full years today. Hope you celebrate in style and thanks for all you contribute here on the Quit Train. It means a lot :)

NOPE!

^^^ I think you'll find that urge to reach for one will become weaker and weaker in the next month or so. At least things should be more manageable now. Just stay on guard particularly when some unexpected life issue arises. That's when the addiction will try and lure you back but you're stronger than that now so carry on :)

13

5

Congratulations on getting past that hardest month of your quit Jk!! You should be starting to enjoy many of the benefits of being smoke free. Be sure to celebrate this important milestone then get back to work strengthening that quit :)

Wow - you made it B57!!! 1 Month without smoking. How does that feel? You have been a silent but busy and focused quitter here on this board. Your daily nope pledges have been a constant and you have just been busy realizing your dream of being a non-smoker. You have taken on the nicomonster and beaten him back thus far. We are very proud of you as you should be too!! Here's part of what you said in your introduction: There are so many reasons why I no longer want to be a smoker. There are the obvious: My health, cost, disgusting smell, it takes up my time, it is no longer socially acceptable, it’s a bad example for my grandkids, and it controls my life. I want my car and home to smell good and fresh. I want my hair/body/breath to smell good. I want my clothes and purse to smell good. I am tired of wasting money. I don’t want to keep poisoning myself. I want to breath better and not get sick so often. I don’t want it interfering with where I go and who I hang around. I don’t want to stress out because I am running low on cigarettes. I don’t want it to be a barrier regarding how close I let people get to me because I am afraid they will smell it. I want to have more energy, stamina and ability to do the things I want to do. I want to control my own life and I want to say goodbye to my fake friend. You are well on your way to being smoke fee for life. Just protect what you have built so far and you'll be fine. Be sure to reward your hard work then push forward to enjoy even more time as a non smoker :)