Aine

My sister and I made hummus! Homemade. First time. :dance3:

Gym. 3 miles bike and walk, and then spent 25 minutes on things that made my stomach and arms hurt. lol!

Quitting smoking, for me, has been much more than getting through the first 72 hours of physical withdrawal. For some it is easy peasy, for some, it is a bit rougher in patches. I smoked heavy for 40 years. It is taking some time to retrain my brain, so it's perfectly okay to find yourself "uneasy" at this stage, Laura. Glad you are here, by the way! How long did you smoke and when did you quit?

Thank you for staying and giving back, Markus. You have helped me. Best wishes.

And, it has been minute by minute several times for me. You are right. They add up. :)

Why do you want to quit?

Checklist: Amy: Which of these things are you doing the first week? Which are these are you NOT doing? 1. Quit letter to yourself posted here 2. SOS posted and wait for 5 minutes before you smoke. 3. Fruit juice a lot for first 3 days. 4. Plenty of ice water handy when you get a crave, plus black licorice, according to many. 5. Throw ALL paraphanalia out of house. Ashtrays, cigarettes, etc. 6. Avoid for a bit those smoking situations or friends that have made it easy for you to relapse in the past. (Not their fault; your choice.) 7. Reading Alan Carr and Spitzer's books, completely. 8. Watch Joel Spitzer's videos for the first 7 days; all of the above are posted in the Newbie section.

Make quitting a priority. There is almost always 5 minutes to go to this website and read and post if needed. There is a strong possibility that you can live longer and spend more days and hours with your children if you do not smoke. This is important. Make time for it. Tell your husband, a child, whoever, at that moment, what is going on. You will probably be overwhelmed with support. And, even if they can't understand because of their own addictions, you are so worth it. I care. Now, your turn. :)

Will do.

Well done, Evelyn. How are you doing otherwise today?

I'm in front of a computer, most of the time, when not in a classroom. Even so, if your man is complaining of additional aches, perhaps it might be smoking related. No athritis in my family that I know of. It does sound like a few of us have some achiness though. All of mine started after I quit smoking. I had absolutely no aching prior to quitting. Epsom salts is a great idea; think I'll utilize that and ibuprofen and just wait it out. Nicotine. Geez.

I wasn't sure where to post this, actually. I think it is related to my smoking, but I'm not sure. Thought I'd throw it out here and see if anyone else has had the same problem. Within 3 days of quitting smoking, my whole body, no generalized area really, began to ache like crazy. Sometimes minor aches, but more often than not I really hurt. Enough that it is difficult to sleep. Felt like the bone ache you get with a bad flu, but no other symptoms. Hips and legs hurt worse than anything else. I thought it was connected with joining the gym and unaccustomed exercise, but now I'm pretty sure it isn't that. I have 2 months off nicotine , and I would have thought any physical withdrawal symptoms would be gone. I bruise easy, and due to cleaning because of family coming down and April festivities, I'm more purplish than usual. So, I, in my typical neurotic fashion, was pretty convinced I had leukemia. Smoker, you know! I don't have leukemia. 2 isolated symptoms just doesn't work! But. . .I was doing some research on cortisol levels and smoking, and a weird, way too holistic a term called "adrenal fatigue" and I got to thinking that the body aches might still be related to my quit. 40 years of overstimulated cortisol levels and sudden withdrawal of a chemical. . it would make sense, I suppose. Has anyone else experienced this? And, when/if did it go away for you?

:big_boss: Is this appropriate? :-)

YEAH!

CONGRATULATIONS LACE!

Doctors make you think your life is over if you eat a piece of cheesecake. Meh. Strong lady, Greenlover. Glad you are here!

I can sympathize, Amy, with the difficulty. Day 11 I was a basket case. I absolutely knew I couldn't do this any longer. I was just nutters. So, I didn't smoke. That's all you have to do. Just don't put anything in your mouth and light it on fire. No other tricks. Feel what ever you feel, don't hurt yourself or others. Eat whatever you want. Walk. A lot. But mostly, believe me (and I questioned EVERYONE about this) that it WILL GET BETTER. I really just stepped out on a limb and trusted that not everyone was lying to me; what are the odds of that one? lol! Don't light up. And, you will feel better. 2 months now. 40 years of smoking, and I wish to HELL I'd quit earlier. Oh, well. I had your basic junkie denial, though; bad things wouldn't happen to ME from smoking. That was for everyone else. I've never thought I was a stupid woman, but frankly, I think I should have questioned that a bit more. . . :huh: What helped and helps me: stay pretty busy if you are craving or having thoughts. Don't sit around and play with the ideas. If you are having thoughts for long enough, do some writing. Reasons why you want to quit? No matter how I feel today ( a couple of times I wanted to smoke) my initial reasons for quitting are still sound. Feelings are just feelings. They are not logical, a lot of the time. And it's not forever. It's just for now. . .

Sautéed shrimp in garlic and Parmesan basil noodles. Yum.

Blade--best vamp ever Old Boy--yeah, wait a couple years.

I took my "boys", my son and 2 of his buddies, down to the creek to celebrate his 13th birthday. This place is a special one for me, for a number of reasons, but all my memories here are tied to smoking. I was a little hesitant, but it was a brilliant day; 75 degrees, cold water, but not too bad, and I saw a couple of herons. I sat on the side of the creek, and realized that I wasn't jonesing; I was just content. Good day.

Eyebrow pencil, preferably a brown one? It will fade in time

Absolutely fantastic Bandito!

Just one. . hehhehe! So far, that is the easiest part of romanticizing the cig for me to kill. However, "what's the harm, really" oddly enough really plays with my head sometimes. Weird what dreams can point out, I always thought. Helpful sometimes, but don't care much for the ones where I wake up in a sweat.