6 days after surgery, struggling
temp...@hotmail.com
When in doubt talk to the Usenet Oracle of a chaos and wisdom, I always say.
Hence, I join this alt.support.stop-smoking newsgroup.
About a month ago i got hit by a Gall stone attack, i was knocked flat on my
back for 24 hours in the hospital and several days later at home.
I slowly regained my normal self and, i discovered, was slow to accept
cigarettes again. The first couple were pretty hard to swallow and down right
nasty tasting!
Then the idea hit me... I will use a week a surgery and recooperating to help
get me off this nasty drug!
First 5 days have been easy. The hospital controlled me, drugs me better
drugs like morphine and others, practically enslaves me, its hopeless to even
try to smoke. And other than one night of dreaming of smoking cigarettes (I
dont recall EVER smoking in my dreams before) I never had much of a desire
for cigarettes.
But the devil, it seems, has been waiting for me in my apartment.
The first 24 at home have been ok but now its getting bad. My throat itches,
its scratchy, and when I cough my belly feels as if it is going to rip open!
I have to hold back coughs so hard that tears squirt out of my eyes!!
My mother, who i do not smoke around, has been here and she doesnt even know
why Im coughing. She found i smoke years ago but she doesnt know the
symptoms enough to see the monster in her son. And I dont have that heart to
tell her why.
She leaves tomorrow. No hospital imprisonment, no parental shame, just me and
my monster.
Can I do it? Ive come so far with brutal force, can't i last a few days with
will power?
Was this a stupid way to quit? Cold Turkey sounded like the best option a
week ago, especially under these conditions.
Now I am thinking maybe i should go to the phaze out option - or stick to a
half a pack day. A reasonable compromise with the devil? Cut to one third of
my habit?
The patch? hmm maybe, but i want to stop my addiction - but lungs are more
important than addiction.
Or scratch it all and try again another day, but do it a better tested and
better prepared way? Or is this a rare opportunity not to be ignored??
sigh....
Usenet oracle of the mass earth-mind, what should i do???!!!
Thanks!
Jonathan
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Dedo34
>From: temp...@hotmail.com
>Can I do it? Ive come so far with brutal force, can't i last a few days with
>will power?
>
>Was this a stupid way to quit? Cold Turkey sounded like the best
option a
>week ago, especially under these conditions.
>
***snip the rest***
Hiya!! Far be it from me to tell you what to do because I also folded in my
quit after 1 week and a day but.......... I'm gonna tell ya anyhow!! LOL
You've already come this far with your quit, even though it wasn't necessarily
voluntary at the time but you really want to do this anyhow and now is just as
good a time any right? Why not just try to keep going??
You already have in the week almost and CT isn't easy at all for alot of folks
to even make it a few days let alone as long as you have!! You should feel
proud!! Besides all that, smoking slows down the healing process and you've
just had surgery!! You're doing yourself more than one favor by quitting right
now. Your lungs AND your stitches will thank you!! :-o
One thing you may want to consider is Zyban or gum or patches. Maybe a quitting
aid is what you need right now?? It can't hurt to give something a shot that
may help you curb your cravings alittle bit and keep you on track. I've heard
many times here that quitting smoking does not have to hurt!!! There's nothing
wrong with asking for some help.
>Or scratch it all and try again another day, but do it a better tested and
>better prepared way? Or is this a rare opportunity not to be ignored??
>
Again, I think most of these questions are the nicodemon talking FOR you.
Sounds an awful lot like my nicodemon too. Do nicodemons have twins????
Triplets???? God and twins run in my family too!!! LOL
You have a golden opportunity right now to quit and stay quit. Every
opportunity is golden as long as you don't pass it up. You've gone a long time
already without nicotine in your system. Are you drinking lots of water?? <and
do you have a bedpan??>
This opportunity you have is not rare. It's an opportunity we all have
everyday. Everyday we make the decision to either smoke or not to smoke. It's
all up to us and in our own hands. Right now you're craving a cigarette and are
making the choice to not smoke even if you really want to. The longer you keep
doing that, the easier your quit will be.
I made the stupid mistake (for lack of a better word) of practically jumping on
a butt in my basement during a bad storm when I was scared silly and didn't
care at that point about my whole weeks smobriety!!! Never again. I want to be
clean. Do you? Make your choice and stick with it. Nothing worth having is ever
easy in my estimation. I've always had to work for whatever it was that I
wanted in life. This is no different. Oh........how I wish it were.......
Dee :-) <--- ditched the meter
June 1998 quitter (Junebug)
Some people fall out of the stupid tree and hit every branch on the way down.
You know, the wheel is spinning but the hampster is dead??
Hellllllooooooooooo............ :-O
Angela McD
Jonathan,
You're already through the hardest week of physical withdrawal. It
gets easier (physically) from here. DON'T MESS IT UP!! The
psychological part is not ever going to be any easier than it is now,
and depending on who you talk to, you are anywhere from all the way
through the physical cravings ot about a third of the way through, but
definitely through the hardest part.
Why don't you download a meter (see other messages for how to get one,
I don't know right off hand) and put in your information, including
the quit date when you had surgery and see how much you have already
accomplished before you throw it away?
Hang in there. Drink water. Chew on straws. Eat M&Ms. Write lots
of messages here. Take hot baths. Anything. JUST DON'T SMOKE.
You already started. It will never get any easier to quit, only
harder if you keep feeding your addiction.
Okay. I know it is hard. One thing you might try that made life much
easier for me was Zyban. I took it before my quit, but my neighbor
decided he just couldn't take it a week into his quit, and his doctor
prescribed it for him. . . the Zyban started working before he caved.
Anyway, best of luck to you on your recovery from surgery and
addiction!
AngelaMcD
Smoke free since June 13 at 12:00 noon
0 Years 0 Months 2 Weeks 1 Days 13 Hours 20 Minutes
621 cigarettes not smoked. $41.92 saved.
rudy
Jonathan -
My first two quits, many years ago, were accidents like yours is. But back
then, I didn't have the resources that you have right now. I was too sick
to smoke, so I figured that I wouldn't pick them up again. But it didn't
work that way, I didn't understand the fact that quitting is a process, not
an event, that a month or two later I would still be a smoker at heart
because I was truly addicted to nicotine and smoking in many ways.
This time I made the decision to quit, and did so, cold turkey. I still
didn't know what I was getting into, but this time, after the first month
and in the midst of a huge depression, I was able to access information out
here on the Net. So I'm still quit. Nine months on Wednesday.
So, I figure you're about in the same state that I was in many years ago,
but you're smarter 'cause you're here looking for info about staying quit.
That's the best thing in the world for you tight now. Reading and posting
here will be one of the best things that you can do to keep your quit.
Here's the URL of the AS3 homesite. There's some really great info on there
- you should read it all. You'll have the time.
http://www.swen.uwaterloo.ca/~bpekilis/as3/
My personal opinion: If I were you I wouldn't use Nicotine Replacement
Therapy. You've already cleared most of it out of your system, why go back
and have to deal with the withdrawal again? Talk to your Dr about Zyban -
it's been a wonder drug for many, and it helps to avoid the depression that
afflicts many when they are going through nicotine withdrawal.
But the most important factor in your quit is your desire to accomplish
this, and your belief that you don't ever need to smoke again. It IS an
addiction. A very TOUGH addiction. You are an ADDICT. If you concentrate on
beating this addiction with the effort you would use to battle alcoholism
or drug addiction, you will be successful. The most important thing is that
you take the battle very seriously.
You have fallen into a quit by accident, but there is no need to forfeit
this head start that you have been given, as long as you take it seriously.
You are in a dangerous time and place - you probably smoked a lot in your
apartment, and boredom is a really prime trigger for many of us to want a
cigarette. In order to keep this quit, you're going to have to change some
habits really fast! It won't be easy.
I understand that there are a lot of neat game playing sites on the Net!
Good Luck
Attitude is Everything
AnnR
100297
Laura
On Mon, 29 Jun 1998 01:25:21 GMT, temp...@hotmail.com wrote:
>
>Then the idea hit me... I will use a week a surgery and recooperating to help
>get me off this nasty drug!
>
Great idea!! I had a similar situation in 1986 after having surgery.
I didn't smoke for the week I was in the hospital or the following two
weeks. I didn't really even want a cigarette, but thought I'd "try" a
few to see what they tasted like. The rest is history. I didn't quit
until 9 years later! So many times I could have really kicked myself
for not quitting then. I felt I was given a head start on a cold
turkey quit and I blew it. This is a great opportunity for
you....seize it!!
>First 5 days have been easy. The hospital controlled me, drugs me better
>drugs like morphine and others, practically enslaves me, its hopeless to even
>try to smoke. And other than one night of dreaming of smoking cigarettes (I
>dont recall EVER smoking in my dreams before) I never had much of a desire
>for cigarettes.
>
>But the devil, it seems, has been waiting for me in my apartment.
>
Yep, this is what happened to me too. The easy part is while you're
in the hospital and once you get in those familar surrounding, all the
smoking triggers come back. But instead let this be a new beginning
for you. Also remember that you won't heal as well from surgery if
you smoke. And doesn't your apartment smell a lot better now too?
<snip>
>
>Can I do it? Ive come so far with brutal force, can't i last a few days with
>will power?
>
>Was this a stupid way to quit? Cold Turkey sounded like the best option a
>week ago, especially under these conditions.
Yes, you can do it!! If you really want to be a non-smoker, then yes,
you can do this. The nicotine is almost all out of your system now
and the cravings from this point on will be mostly psychological.
You'll have to practice not smoking now when you go about your daily
routine. That's the key. You don't smoke until not smoking becomes
your new behavior. Have patience, hang in there, and it will happen.
>Now I am thinking maybe i should go to the phaze out option - or stick to a
>half a pack day. A reasonable compromise with the devil? Cut to one third of
>my habit?
>
>The patch? hmm maybe, but i want to stop my addiction - but lungs are more
>important than addiction.
>
>Or scratch it all and try again another day, but do it a better tested and
>better prepared way? Or is this a rare opportunity not to be ignored??
>
I don't think the patch is really necessary if you haven't smoked in a
few weeks. You'll only be introducing more nicotine into your system,
rather than the patch's intended use of slowly decreasing the nicotine
in your body. This is definitely a rare opportunity not to be
ignored. Don't blow it like I did. You'll be so happy later if you
quit now...believe me.
I quit about 2-1/2 years ago with the help of this newsgroup. I feel
great now about not smoking, but I know it was harder than if I'd quit
after that hospital stay. Good luck to you!!
Laura
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