Reciprocity

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-5 Howdy stranger :D

Let me just interject a little something here to for you new quitters. Think of the "pangs of withdrawal" as cutting your new teeth of freedom. That is to say, it may be unpleasant for the first little while but you are doing two wonderful things in the midst of all this misery you're feeling: 1. You are riding your body of not only nicotine but a lot of other toxins that you have ingested over a long period of time. It's no wonder your body is doing weird things temporarily. 2. Your are having to retrain your brain to function without cigarettes as part of your daily routine. You're currently on autopilot when it comes to lighting up. Stress at work or at home; light one up. Happy event, light one up. Time to relax, light one up. Sad thing happens, light one up. Meal finished, light one up and on, and on it goes. You now have to figure out how to mentally function day to day so you are not addressing all these things and more by pulling out a smoke and lighting it up. That's a lot of reprogramming going on there. No wonder you're jittery and anxious. It's hard work and takes a while to sort it all out and be comfortable with it all. Try and embrace the fact that you have started down the road a whole new way of functioning. This is the road to freedom that you want so badly. This is what needs to be done to get there and you are finally doing it! Don't fear it so much. Don't dwell on how horrible you feel. You're changing your life for the better and that's a good thing, a happy thing. These feelings of misery won't last that long. Live through them while they're with you because soon you will be in a new healthier world and you'll wonder what the hell all the fuss was about and my God, how could I have smoked like that for so long. It's not that far off if you just quit and stay quit. No puffs, no cigarettes; just quit!

I understand what you're saying but as you said yourself: "I guess I am lucky as I had the determination to get back on the quit and not fully relapse." Yes. Not sure I'd call it lucky. I think your case is a very unusual case though as most people in their very early quit who have "a slip" and smoke one or even just a few puffs, will immediately imprint smoking once again in their brain as being all the good and satisfying things they thought it was when they smoked regularly therefore, they will be even more likely to pick one up at the next slightest inclination. Repeat this action over a day or two and guess what? Back to three packs a day in no time = full relapse. I would bet that this scenario is by far more likely than your recent situation with the smoking of 6 on holiday. That's why we bang on here endlessly about NOPE. One puff leads to one cigarette which leads to the thousands that follow.

NN, I'm wondering how things went when you took on your opiate addiction (think that is what you had before?) as beating that addiction must have generated additional stress & anxiety for you. At least I assume it would anyway. Was your panic attack issue triggered then? I don't know the difference between quitting that addiction as opposed to smoking but I have to believe they both generate stress. Hopefully your doctor appt. tomorrow can shed some light on an appropriate course of action for you, given your circumstances.

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Review with your doctor tomorrow. The panic attacks add another layer of difficulty to your figuring out the right plan for your personal quit. There's really no way to avoid the anxiety that quitting smoking produces especially in the early days. Learning how to channel that anxiety without triggering panic attacks I guess is the question. Have the doc weigh in on that,. Also, as others said, make sure there's no smoking material handy - that's key.

You will get there Kenzie and paying it forward to others will strengthen your own quit as well :)

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I nominate this for: "Post of The Year" ! Who's in charge of that around here?

I just realized the other day that I no longer wake up each day thinking about smoking. That surprises me as that 1st one in the AM was always a focal point for getting the day started. Made me feel really good :)

Since we don't have anything in particular to celebrate today (unless I missed something, which is always possible :rolleyes: ) I thought it would be a good time to give all our recent New Quiiters a BIG shout out for what they are doing. Taking back control of their lives, making the best decision for their health AND, saving a bunch of $$! There's certainly nothing bad in that list. We know it's not easy in fact, it can be down right miserable for a short while. Sure, time seems to be standing still during that early part of your quit but it's not. It's just your perception is all. You are learning how to live your life without cigarettes. That's a big change. Affects virtually every aspect of your day to day life - takes awhile to work all that out but, you'll get there. Just keep at it! Remember to commit NOPE at least to yourselves each and very day. It's important to start out each day with the proper mindset - Not One Puff Ever. That's all it takes!

I posted this up in another thread as well but thought I would say it again here: The number of people who relapse outweighs the number of people who don't relapse at least once I suspect. A few critical things to realize though: 1. Relapse isn't accidental. It's a choice you and only you make. 2. Understanding how crappy relapsing made you feel after the fact compared to how much you thought you needed that "just one" before the fact is critical! Keep that understanding fresh in your mind as you move forward so you can draw on it next time. 3. Having a better plan for your next quit. Think about what went wrong the last time. Know what was missing in that last quit and make sure you plan to have that missing ingredient in your pantry on your next quit. 4. Quit again as soon as you have pondered numbers 1,2 & 3! Never quit trying to quit. Read the posts on this or any other quit smoking board and you will see tons of people who now have multi-year quits going. Many of them too relapsed early on. Some multiple times but they learned from their mistakes, pulled themselves up and tried again until they achieved success. We can all do that. It's not something that is just reserved for "others". In the end, it's up to YOU!

The number of people who relapse outweighs the number of people who don't relapse at least once I suspect. A few critical things to realize though: 1. Relapse isn't accidental. It's a choice you and only you make. 2. Understanding how crappy relapsing made you feel after the fact compared to how much you thought you needed that "just one" before the fact is critical! Keep that understanding fresh in your mind as you move forward so you can draw on it next time. 3. Having a better plan for your next quit. Think about what went wrong the last time. Know what was missing in that last quit and make sure you plan to have that missing ingredient in your pantry on your next quit. 4. Quit again as soon as you have pondered numbers 1,2 & 3! Never quit trying to quit. Read the posts on this or any other quit smoking board and you will see tons of people who now have multi-year quits going. Many of them too relapsed early on. Some multiple times but they learned from their mistakes, pulled themselves up and tried again until they achieved success. We can all do that. It's not something that is just reserved for "others". In the end, it's up to YOU!

I think maybe I'll have just NONE today.

What these people said before me Kenzie. Try to just take a moment away from the situation when you feel yourself tensing up from the stress and do a little deep breathing. That always helped me refocus and my stress level would be at least temporarily reduced. It is tough dealing with whatever our life situations might be while we are in the early part of our quit but as others have said. We think smoking is reducing stress but all it's really doing is feeding the addiction. Your stress from work, relationships or whatever will still be there. Relapsing would make things a lot worse for you. You would be so disappointed in yourself. Stay strong and power through these early days. You're doing great - just stay the course my friend! It will be so worth it in the end. You'll see. Reflect on how far you've come too. Protect that hard work you've done as if your life depended on it. You're closer each day to things getting less intense for you. It happens slowly but it does happen for everyone. Believe in that and stay strong :)

Thanks for dropping in beazel :) Glad you're still rolling along with your quit - always good to see quits growing and becoming more solid every day. Drop in anytime you like - our welcome mat is always out :)

Sometimes it's just those little adjustments that we can make to our routine that can make a big difference. Especially that morning routine as in my case, that first cig of the day was the one I least wanted to give up. Funny cuz now I don't even think about having a cigarette when I wake up.

Ooooooone

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People often think they don't have a voice as an individual when it comes to big business and government. Cutting off the support your cigarette consumption gives to Big Tobacco is a loud voice that each one of has the option to use or not. When we quit, we stop putting our hard earned money into the pockets of those that don't care that they're killing us with their products. Stand up and be counted. Speak up loudly to Big Tobacco and tell them "I'm done with you!!" Quit smoking for good!! In about 4 1/2 months, I have refused to give them over $2,000.00 of my hard earned after-tax dollars. In my mind, I'm giving them the middle finger - lol. Look at all the dollars saved by all the other long term quitters on this site. That's money Big Tobacco is no longer getting and that's just fine by me! (end rant :) )

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Yes - good idea to record stuff as you progress. Wish I had done that. You tend to forget about the small things over time and, the progression of quitting is so slow to happen, it's good to go back a couple of weeks and refresh your memory as to where you were at then compared to now. It will help you see the progression. In terms of your "foggy head"; I had this pretty bad the whole first month of my quit. It eventually cleared up but was frustrating at the time because it made me so unproductive. Just couldn't focus on stuff for long. Someone suggested drinking fruit juice would help. Blood sugar levels or something. Of course, I paid no attention and just suffered through it - lol. The anxiousness and quick to anger issues -well; I wish I had a quick cure for those but I don't. Deep breathing maybe when you feel yourself getting all worked up. I still get a little overly riled at small stuff and I'm over 4 months in. It isn't as prominent now as it was earlier on though - thank God!