Mona

Hope you are back to good health soon, Lilly.

I would need a very big notebook because nothing seems to be working this time around.

No, 01/29 is not true. Neither is 02/01, 02/05, 02/08, 02/09, 02/13, 02/17, 02/19, nor 02/23. Oh yes, I have been a busy little quitter. I drew a line in the sand at end of February. And in true addict fashion, I waited until the last possible day. My quit day was yesterday, 02/28. I am now a little over halfway through day 1.

1

I am? I sure wish that were true!!!

Face music

11

Oh man...you guys are making want potatoes something awful!!

I don't eat potatoes anymore but when I did, my fav was mashed potatoes, real home-made mashed potatoes, not that fake stuff you get in a box.

New England Clam Chowder

tres

There is hardly anyone here! I'm getting ready for the big day and worry that I might be celebrating by myself.

So true, Sazerac. I'll just say that my climb will be starting very, very soon!

Don't want to say anything else until I'm off the smokes for at least a couple of days. And rest assured, I have been studying, studying, studying, so much so that I am quite tired of it. I just want this problem to go away. The fact that I threw my precious quit away like it was nothing breaks my heart everyday.

Hope you're doing well, reciprocity, and just enjoying your wonderful smoke-free life!!!

Wow, jillar, that sure is a long time to be miserable. Glad things eventually got better for you. Yes, I do think hanging around the board will help a lot!

Good advice, Sazerac, but I just don't think I have it in me to embrace so much suck this time. By the way, I educated myself on this horrible addiction the first time around. I am well aware that smoking does nothing for me. I don't romance the cigarette, at least not that I'm aware of.

I don't think it's a hand to mouth thing for me, Doreen, but that is a good tip. Thanks!

Yes, I realize that I will not be pressing the easy button notsmokingjo. I will still need to put the work in. I am curious what strength gum you used. 4mg, 2mg, or both?

A little background information. I quit cold turkey about 2 1/2 years ago. It took me a lot of tries. I would stay quit for 4 days, 7 days, I think the longest was 9 days before it finally stuck. I needed to have surgery and when I met with the surgeon, I was at 7 days. The surgeon told me that he would not even do the surgery unless I was quit for 2 full months because smokers don't heal well enough, too much risk of complications. I said that I didn't want to wait that long and he said OK, if you promise me that you won't smoke even one cigarette, I'll go along with 6 weeks. As it turned out, my surgery was exactly 2 months after my quit date but that was because they needed an operating room for 9 hours and that was the soonest available. Anyway, I did tough it out and stay smoke free. The first month was absolutely horrible. I was crying all the time. A lady came up to me at the grocery store and said what's wrong honey when I was sobbing for no apparent reason. I would get so angry and have emotional meltdowns. This is not how I normally am. I"m not one to show my emotions too much. My boyfriend at the time told me that he liked the new more emotional me...lol...but I didn't. After that first terrible month, things did slowly get better. After 7 months, I felt great! My quit lasted a little over two years and I absolutely loved being a non-smoker! When I relapsed, I was actually very happy. I'm not going to go down that road now, that's a story for a different day. I would think the fact that I loved being a non-smoker would be enough incentive for me to quit this time. I keep telling myself to keep my eye on the prize. But I keep failing before I get to three days. I think what I went through for an entire month the first time around scares me. I don't need it to be easy but I definitely think it would help me if it were a little easier.

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You are doing wonderful Linda! Congratulations!!

Think I'm going to go with the 2mg gum...

Hi Sazerac, Thanks for asking. I did make it through the 30th but it was really horrible. I was trying to quit cold turkey but after quite a few attempts, it seems to me that I need some help (kind of like the truism "what's the definition of insanity?"). I'm currently trying to figure out which NRT I want to go with. I tried the patches many years ago and didn't like them. I'm leaning toward the gum. I've read a lot of great reviews on it. I also like the idea that you can use it as needed versus getting a steady flow of nicotine. Be back real soon, Mona