jillar

Welcome aboard @Kingelocin and congratulations on your deciding to take your freedom back Googling my symptoms was also how I found my first support board. There's no better place to be than with a group of people who have been through or are going through what you are going through. As far as your symptoms go, you can expect them to last at least few months so you still have a ways to go. And you will still need to go through the nicotine withdrawal once you get off the patches. I used distractions, playing games, reading funny threads in our Social section or educating myself on the main section. I also found supporting others took my mind off my misery. I also was addicted to soft peppermint puffs and sucked on them for the whole first year of my quit. And when things got really bad I took out my JAC (jillars air cigarette) an imaginary cigarette I pretended I was holding in my fingers and then going through the motions of "smoking" it. It worked great at tricking my mind into thinking it was getting the real thing Hang in there, because the icky feelings are only temporary!

I agree, great post pilgrim. You're done with Hell week, the hardest week of them all

Yea @tocevoD it sounds like you're still getting a lot of nicotine between the patches and lozenges. I would worry you're getting too much nicotine using both and would encourage you to maybe try using just the lozenges since those sound like your preference. At any rate, the idea with patches and lozenges is to reduce your nicotine use over time and at four weeks I would think they would have started doing that. Just my opinion.....

Glad to hear that @Paula B., let us know if you need any help figuring things here out. Youll probably want to post any questions on the main forum and not this Nope one so more people will see it.

Wendy Quit Date: 18/01/2015 Posted January 19 Yesterday, I celebrated 10 years since I quit smoking. Except celebrated is a bit of an exaggeration on what I actually did. I remembered the anniversary at around 7pm, promptly texted my eldest son to say “hey it's been 10 years” - he congratulated me - and logged onto Quit Train to log my 10 years on a little section in my profile. I’ve done that almost every year (usually a couple of days late and my 6th year anniversary I totally missed and didn't realise until the following year) since quitting for reasons I struggle to articulate other than it feels important to do so. Anyway, that was the extent of my ‘celebration’, other than the thought of “what shall I have/get as my reward?” And that started a little trip down memory lane. Sort of … This wasn’t my first quit attempt by any stretch of the imagination. I struggled for a few years, cold turkey or with aids, always finding a reason to abandon the ‘attempt’. Eventually a mix of hypnotherapy and Champix did the trick. I had planned to quit on the 20th but on the morning of the 18th I had run out and made the decision to not buy any more, bringing forward my quit day. Still, it wasn’t easy and there were some really hard days. What did I do to get through those hard days? I honestly don’t remember, I don’t have any words of wisdom, but I think I did the 4 second breathing thing through craves, after meals I would have fruit flavoured chewing gum and I found rewards to be really important in those early days, weeks, months. Things I would buy with the money saved. Never anything extravagant and honestly I don't even remember what they were - maybe a chocolate bar or a donut? I think for my 6 month and 1 year anniversary I bought some jewellery. Maybe a ring and a necklace? Ooh maybe perfume! Are you sensing a theme here yet? I also rewarded myself on my 2 year anniversary - I think I bought a kindle or a tablet? I also made the decision that I would next reward myself when I got to 5 years. But when I got there I didn't feel the need for a reward. Smoking was no longer part of who I was that would need rewarding for not partaking. So my almost immediate thought of “what shall I have/get as my reward?” at 10 years made me chuckle. I think I just wanted an excuse to treat myself! The only ‘reward’ I have these days is a square of chocolate after a meal but that’s more a reward for doing the clean up than anything else. Sometimes I’ll have grapes. My point is, ‘smoking’ is just something other people do and has nothing to do with me. I know quitting was hard but I don’t remember it, even the once so important rewards. I barely remember the anniversary. If you are down in the trenches of your quit and holding on for dear life, I salute you and I congratulate you. You will find that one day, almost without realising, you can do everything without needing the crutch of a cigarette. I have lived celebrations, deaths, vacations, going for a walk, writing a letter, drinking a beer, drinking coffee, reading a book, watching a movie, eating a meal, waking up, going to bed, and everything in between, all without smoking and it was absolutely fine. (I actually struggled to come up with this list of what I previously couldn’t do without a smoke because … you guessed it … I don't remember!) I implore you to keep the faith, keep your quit. Because one day, you will not remember this stage of your life that clearly or with the focus it currently has. Congratulations to all, wherever you are in your quit, 1 hour, 1 day, 1 week, 1 month, 1 year, 1 decade … wow, time sure does fly. Link to original post: https://www.quittrain.com/topic/28569-10-years-quit/

I'm glad your site came back on. We'd love to have you all stick around but understand if you don't and will be here if it happens again

Unfortunately @Ray1198, you're going to have to go through them to get past them BUT each one you do get past makes it weaker and weaker until it's just an annoyance. I kept tellinh myself this too shall pass and of course using my JAC. I still to this day highly recommend the air cigarette in the beginning of a quit to get you past the withdrawal and as long as you need it after. Then it's all about the habit

Congratulations on your awesome quit @Mac#23, I hope you celebrated in some way

Welcome back @Ray1198, you know the drill so let's do it this time

Welcome Ryan, glad you found us! We can absolutely support you in getting your forever quit Check out all our various forums, lots of good info. The pinned threads at the top of each forum is a good place to start

Doreensfree Quit Date: 7 /8/2013 Posted May 23, 2018 If you havn,t read this book yet...its a must... He has helped millions.... You can download it on the internet ,and read it for free... What have you got to lose.!!!!....nothing.... And could gain freedom !!! Link to original post: https://www.quittrain.com/topic/10456-allen-carr-the-easy-way/

That's crazy!

That's a pretty good reason to quit or keep the quit for anyone still needing to find one. Thank you for sharing jo and I hope you have a speedy recovery with no recurrence...

Congratulations @Kdad!

Thank you for bringing that to our attention, I didn't even notice they had deleted your text and added theirs. Pretty sneaky for sure!

You're doing great @tocevoD

I love the flashlight on my smartphone and am surprised how much I use it

Hi Shellee, welcome aboard, here is the post I believe you're looking for. I highlighted it on my Pick of the Week blog: https://www.quittrain.com/blogs/entry/1082-no-mans-land/ Just FYI we have a search engine in the upper right hand side that will allow you to search for anything you're interested in.

DenaliBlues Quit Date: 2/10/2022 Posted March 2, 2022 Congrats on completing day one @JustinHoot99! And thanks for raising the topic of action. I can relate. A fiendishly clever aspect of my addiction is how it takes habituated behaviors + emotions + physical/chemical dependence and ratchets them into a really tight knot that seems impossible to untangle. As I start to pry those strands apart, I find that each one wants to smoke for different reasons. Each one has the power to sabotage my quit. I suspect that each part of my addiction needs its own attention, reprogramming and healing. Thinking about my behavioral habits or my “action” strand: until not smoking becomes my baseline (which I am months and miles away from) I need substitutes. The vacuum of not smoking is just too much to deal with. Also, at this stage in my withdrawal the reward centers in my brain are still pretty fried and screwed up, so things designed to make me feel good - taking a walk, breathing deeply, noshing on snacks, etc. – can irritate the bejezus out of me, instead. Depending on my mood. A new coping mechanism I started this week is a “Mini Honey Do” list of small tasks that need doing around the house. Nothing arduous or time consuming, or else I’ll procrastinate and it won’t help me combat an immediate craving. Simple stuff that can be done in 15 minutes or less, things I know I can’t fail at. Tighten the loose screws on the recycling cabinet door. Scrape whatever that sticky goo is off the laundry room window. Change the light bulb that’s been flickering in the bathroom. Swap out the HVAC air filter. I have to write these down because when I am stressed or sunk emotionally, my mind goes weirdly blank. I’m so used to meeting that moment by smoking that it’s hard to remember or imagine doing anything else. So I get up, look at the list, pick something, do it, and cross it off. It feels sort of silly, but it’s better than picking up a smoke. It adds a little novelty to my coping routine. And there’s the silver lining of stuff getting done around the house… Ditto on your comment about writing here being helpful, too. Reading your post and responding helped me ride out a nasty crave wave this morning, so thanks! Link to original post: https://www.quittrain.com/topic/17681-giving-up-my-car-for-3-weeks-this-time/#findComment-466935

Congratulations @despair not on your awesome quit and thank you for all the support you've given all these years. I hope you have a great day!

^^LOVE THIS ^^ totally agree!

For me it was 100%.

Sorry to hear your site is down. You're all welcome here to use our daily NOPE thread. We have a whole forum just for it. And for those of you newly quit there is a ton of information about our addiction as well as tips to help you along your way on the main forum so check it out too

Genecanuck Quit Date: August 19, 2024 Posted August 27 The Bare Facts About Relapse From joyinca Nicotine Users Are Drug Addicts, And Therefore Are Subject To All Of The Rules Of Drug Addiction The very first cigarette you smoked started you down the road to addiction. You arrived without knowing where you were going. Now you know. You have joined the millions of nicotine users who are and will always be drug addicts. There is no changing this fact, and the only thing you can do now is to learn to control your response to your addictive impulses. Luckily learning to be a quitter can be done, as attested to by the millions of people that have gained their Independence from smoking. This rule is absolute, and there are no exceptions. Relapse Won't Happen Unless You Put Nicotine Into Your Body Once you have become a quitter you begin to condition yourself to being an ex-smoker. Each hour and day brings you closer to total comfort. But first you must learn to function in situations that would have formerly called for smoking. After getting through the initial few days, and getting the nicotine out of your system, you may begin to worry that after all of this effort you might end up relapsing. There is only one way that you can possibly relapse, and you have complete control over it. As long as you keep in mind that you are a nicotine addict, subject to the laws of addiction, and that you can never put nicotine into your system again, and therefore do not take a puff, you will not relapse. This rule is absolute, and there are no exceptions. Relapse is the result of awakening your addiction While you are learning to be an ex-smoker you may find yourself thinking that you must have a cigarette to cope with x, y, or z. When you find yourself thinking this way you are having a bad case of Junkie Thinking. If you act on thoughts like this and start puffing, you have stepped onto the slippery slope of relapse. If you don't act on your junkie thoughts, but instead turn your focus to other things, notably your reasons for quitting, then you won't relapse. This rule is absolute, and there are no exceptions Relapse Will Happen If You Don't Acknowledge and Respect Your Addiction You must come to terms with the fact that you are a drug (nicotine) addict, and therefore as subject to the rules of addiction as any other type of drug addict. One puff is all it will take to put you back into the control of Ole Nic. The only way that you can keep your Independence is by admitting to the certainty that one puff will result in total relapse . This rule is absolute, and there are no exceptions. Relapse Means Having To Start Over From The Beginning Once you awaken your addiction you loose all of the ground that you gained. You must begin again, that is if you are even able to bring yourself to do so. Most quitters that relapse spend months or years trying to get themselves to quit again. Some quitters that relapse are never able to try again, and die as smokers, plus frequently they die early because of their inability to break away from smoking. This rule is absolute, and there are no exceptions. Link to original post: https://www.quittrain.com/topic/26599-the-quitnet-lounge/#findComment-526993

Hi @QueenB, thanks for stopping by to celebrate your six year anniversary, that's awesome! Congratulations!!