Shezi

I can totally relate. I spend my days editing; about 3pm every afternoon, I go down for a break and somewhere near the bottom of the stairs it occurs to me, I don't know where I'm going. Still. I still head for the deck where I used to have a smoke break, then turn around and wonder where to go. It's a mighty ingrained habit.

I don't have so many, only 990 (wow really? nearly a thousand??) but they can go on the bonfire! I miss bonfire night

Jeez Linda, I'm so proud of you. And you know? Every time I come in here and read that someone is still not smoking, it reinforces my own affirmation. This is a very supportive place to be.

Hi Matthew, I just posted on another board about this; I have an air cigarette, don't use it for days at a time but occasionally, with a glass of wine, I'll take it out. It moves me past the craving. I think people have mixed feelings about air cigarettes but, depending how challenged you feel, it may be something to consider.

Well done Linda! Just keep doing it, every day, in bite sized pieces. You're doing great, the fact that you keep coming back to do something incredibly difficult tells you all you need to know about your motivation. Be good to yourself and listen, this is clearly something you really want. I hope your test results bring a negative result, I know it can be stressful. I developed hypertension and an irregular heartbeat in July, it's what finally made me quit but the irony is that it's precisely this kind of stress that keeps us smoking, right? So, just keep doing it, a day at a time - that's how I got 2 months down the line. (My results came back yesterday, early heartbeats in upper chamber, not dangerous and no afib.)

Well done Mick, I'm trailing right behind you (I quit August 15th). I can't imagine inhaling smoke into my lungs at this point, it seems kinda disgusting. I do still have cravings, they're not terrible but they're there and I still think about smoking more than I expected. I 'm still using patches though, down to the last couple. I've just read a post about alcohol, I enjoy a glass of wine at the weekend and I use an air cigarette occasionally, that gets me past any associative cravings but I hadn't touched it for over a week before last weekend and not since. I feel like I'm being propped up all over the place but I'm not smoking and I don't want to. That's worth a lot! I'm looking forward to 3 months smoke free. Shezi

Thought I'd join in with this with my newly-discovered joy of cooking healthy meals. This takes 20 mins, fish (cod or tilapia) is roasted in an oven along with the grape tomatoes, both with fresh parsley, garlic and a little oil or lemon butter. Mushrooms sautéed in a pan with onions and garlic and broccoli steamed.

But at least you're not giving up. Do you spend a lot of time on your own? I'm using an air cigarette - I can't believe how helpful it is.

Hi Linda, just read through this thread and wanted to reach out to see how you're doing. I'm at the beginning of my journey and read on another thread something about how you can't be scared off from smoking by horror stories (I forget which thread now). This is absolutely true for me, I know all the stories, seen the images and smoked anyway. But there is something that DOES work for me so I want to share it with you, and it's this: After 1 day Just 1 day after quitting smoking, the risk of heart attack begins to decrease. After 2 days In as little as 2 days after quitting, a person may notice a heightened sense of smell and more vivid tastes as these nerves heal. After 3 days 3 days after quitting smoking, the nicotine levels in a person’s body are depleted. After 1 month In as little as 1 month, a person’s lung function begins to improve. After 1-3 months For the next several months after quitting, circulation continues to improve. After 9 months Nine months after quitting, the lungs have significantly healed themselves. After 1 year One year after quitting smoking, a person’s risk for coronary heart disease decreases by half. This risk will continue to drop past the 1-year mark. (Medically reviewed by Timothy J. Legg, Ph.D., CRNP — Written by Jenna Fletcher on November 19, 2018, published in MedicalNewsToday) Knowing the recovery that's going on makes me feel good. Knowing what's achievable just by not smoking that cigarette helps me to keep going, because (after 30 years of smoking) it's not too late. I can get better. Stay positive Linda, see the benefits and focus on them when you feel the urge to smoke. Baby steps, just put one foot in front of the other and keep going.

Hi Amyen, Welcome. I've recently quit too and only been here a week but wanted to say something. What you've said here resonates - so I want to share what is working for me. I definitely feel the desire to snack during the day but I'm snacking on celery and raw carrots. It's not brilliant but it takes the edge off and it's working. I'm also doing a lot of walking (about half a mile every hour, 8 hours a day). It's distracting and time consuming, I'm not losing a lot of weight but I'm not gaining either. I spent some time thinking beforehand about diet and nutrition because I'm well aware that a lot of people gain weight after quitting smoking. It helps to have the 'right' kinds of foods in the house to deal with the desire to snack, minimising fattening foods. I'm also doing a lot more cooking than I used to (fish is now a regular on the menu), using more greens (asparagus, broccoli) and mushrooms as side dishes and cutting back on potatoes. Since my sense of taste is much improved, I find I'm actually enjoying vegetables far more than I used to. It's really just a matter of being organised, I think. Planning ahead for what you'll do when... etc. and putting in your own safety net. I'm 7 weeks into being a non-smoker, and it feels good. Really good. Good luck with your own journey and stay strong. Shezi

So the problem with Newbies? They're constantly resurrecting old posts because they're still relevant! I relate, I relate... My timeline is a little different, dabbling as a teen, meeting and marrying a non-smoker in my late teens knocked it on the head. I was safe, I didn't develop, I had my children as a non-smoker... I divorced at 27... I socialised with my smoker brother, remembering the illicit drags on a cigarette, feeling rebellious... oy. By 30, I'd been 'smoking' for 3 years, calling myself a 'social smoker', don't smoke in the house' etc. The fact of the matter is that I'd never once inhaled the smoke from a cigarette - I simply didn't know how. Never thought too much about it. Until a 'friend' laughed at the way I smoked and so I asked her to teach me how to inhale. I know, I was 30. Please don't judge me. So I'll quit before I'm 40.... ok that didn't go as planned... I'll quit before I'm 50, since I started so late, what harm? Right? No, that didn't work either, but I'll definitely quit before I'm 60. Honestly. I turned 60 last Christmas, in Merry Old England, my husband and daughter threw me a party, I spent much of my party, where friends and family had come especially, one guy leaving a family celebration to spend an hour at my party - on Christmas Saturday - outside, having a smoke. By the way, my smoker brother? He gave up when I was only 37... he's never touched one since. I've been the only smoker in my circle for a very long time. I can't tell you how proud I'm going to be of myself, when I reach my 61st birthday. Smoke-free. So babs609, good on you for calling out the excuses. That's all they ever will be - reasons not to.

Gosh guys... I'm really sorry to hear the price you paid. I guess I got off lightly, it didn't feel so. In 2004, I randomly developed asthma. My then doc said he thought the damage had been done - he was as surprised as I was when the chest X-rays came back clear. Did I stop smoking? No, I didn't. In July this year, after a routine physical, my doc called to tell me blood pressure was up and I scored 121 on my bad cholesterol (good being 0-99). So please stop smoking. She's been saying this for 6 years now and I've learned to filter. I bought a blood pressure monitor so I could present my readings to her at my September follow-up appointment... day 2 tells me I have hypertension stage 2 and an irregular heartbeat. I can tell you this, I now know EXACTLY what it will take me to get me to stop smoking. Fear. Pure and simple. But like I said, I probably got off lightly.

Ok, I'm sorry - that was a mis-direct. I actually live in TN, the 'stuck' part refers to the fact that there is nowhere really to go and I can't go 'home' just now. Hopefully soon.

Thanks guys, Doreen I think I read somewhere that you're a Liverpudlian? I'm a Mancunian - currently stuck in Tennessee!

What a truly great post!

Hang up your gun, soldier SLMPR

It's funny you should say that, I'd never heard of an air cigarette but right before I joined this forum today, after looking up nicotine mints and rejecting them (I'd never heard of those either), I read about this air thing on Amazon and ordered one! It'll come next week, one of the reviews said the size and weight felt right. I really miss the 'hand to mouth' action. Crazy right? So here's the thing, I showed it to my husband, who promptly said 'do you not think it's a step in the wrong direction?' Well clearly not, since I just ordered one, duh! But now I feel a bit stupid, I'm embarrassed that I 'need', if that makes any sense at all. As I said in my first post, people are proud of me, even the doc, but I feel like I have to live up to that, show strength and I really feel like I am... but jeez I miss it. Guys thank you so much for your brilliant welcome! Shezi

Hi everyone, I've spent ages looking for a support forum and you guys look the best fit for me, so here I am. I quit smoking about 6 weeks ago, the psychology of the decision took more than 2 years, the decision took 2 weeks, smoking the last cigarette took 6 minutes... it's a work in progress. I bought nicotine patches before I quit, took a short vacation (can't go on vacation and not smoke, I'll be stressed and miserable, yada yada yada), so made every effort to cut down until we got back. Thought about it some more when we returned home, and began to realise why the psychology takes so long! Eventually, let myself run out of cigarettes and decided the last one in the packet was the last one. And it was. I'm still using patches (21mg down to 14 mg, with a pack and a bit to go before I finish the program). Spoke with my doc this afternoon, she's thrilled. She suggested getting some nicotine mints in, for when I'm done with the patches, but I don't know, that feels like I'm still feeding a habit. I just want to think about next steps and avoid having a major wobble when the patches are finished. I think what I need is to hear from others about management. How did you manage quitting long-term? For those of you going through it right now, we can be travel buddies - how are you managing cravings? I haven't had too many cravings, in the early days of quitting, I would sometimes realise I was really thinking about smoking (not actually thinking to do it, just thinking about cigarettes) and then realise I forgot to put a patch on today. So off I'd pop and put on a patch and the thoughts would subside. I guess that's what craving is, right? Other days, I'd be so irritable that I'd pick a fight with my husband and then realise I had nowhere to stomp off to... that was hard. Its not been an easy journey so far, but it's not been as hard as I thought it would be either. I'm feeling strong, I'm feeling healthy. We walk around the block most days, it's just a mile and the elevation back up the hill is, according to my tracker, 18 floors. There's a point midway where I'd always stop and pretend to be admiring the view but, in actuality, I was doing a quick cardio recovery. I don't stop now, my chest feels clear, my breathing is good and there's no coughing and throat-clearing after exertion. I'm at a point where I don't want to give that up. Right now, I don't desire a cigarette. I don't want to be a smoker anymore. I've smoked for 30 years and never seriously tried to quit. I've always been able to last for hours between cigarettes without it hurting. I take several trans-Atlantic flights a year and can do that no problem. Having said that, I can go through bouts of near chain-smoking too. Depends on the situation. Got it all under control... so why am I here? I live in a world of non-smokers and they don't really 'get it' - that sounds ungrateful for their genuine support, but it's true. Sometimes, 'well done, I'm proud of you' isn't really what I need. Soon it will be 'you don't still need support do you?', in the way that people have when they don't realise the depth of something. You know? Well, I wasn't really going for 'War and Peace', so I'll stop there - just wanted to say 'hi'.