Opinions Needed
Hello. Today was not too good. I just feel so blah. Very lazy, anti-social,
mad at the world, etc. I know these are expected since it’s only been 8 days of
my quit but it seems to be getting worse not better. Today I actually felt
light-headed and nauseous. My husband has quit the Zyban (we’ve both been on it
for about 3 wks now). I think maybe I should quit it and see if I feel better.
It scares me though, what if I start craving cigs? The physical craves are
still there, but not so bad. Any suggestions?
Gail
One week, 19 hours, 9 minutes and 59 seconds. 194 cigarettes not smoked, saving
$29.24. Life saved: 16 hours, 10 minutes.
September 27th, 2003 at 9:51 am
Hi Gail,
not so bad.
Some ppl do feel better when they stop Zyban. Apart from the side effects
that can be significant, Zyban doesn’t really directly effect the many
physical sensations that are expected with quitting and recovery. It’s
usual effect seems to be to help our emotional ‘feelings’.This, in turn,
effects our thinking re: how we’ll respond to the physical craves.
If your craves aren’t so bad now, they shouldn’t get any worse. If you
continue to anticipate situations, understanding that the odd one may jump
up at you, and continue to try to put together rational sets of thought as
your tools for identifiable situations, then I don’t think you’ll find the
quit any harder or that you “start craving cigs”.
With that said…… there’s depression. If you haven’t yet seen a Dr,
please see one. This is just so you have a professional on your team in
case some intervention becomes advisable. Getting things in place now means
you’ll be able to get help sooner and reduce waiting time. That can be of
tremendous importance.
Steve
www.cognitivequitting.com
September 28th, 2003 at 7:28 am
Hi, this is Choloe and I don’t know if I said who I was early on but
hello. I was really glad to find a site that put me back in the
dirvers seat. I really didn’t like the idea of just waiting for “the
whatever it is…broom” to just get lost. Now I am learning how to
just get him to actually get some sweeping done, little lazy
broom!
So here goes on this subject.
Gosh I am no therapist but I am nutty enough.
I tried Zyban for a few days and it made me feel physically weird
so I stopped. I may have talked myself into it, not hard for
me…who knows, but anyway here are some other opinions on
things that I really hope help.
What I would do when I would worry about being able to do this…
and it may not be right for the sane…is to look in the mirror and
try to realize that you are there to help out that scared person
hiding inside. Change your fearful look to a smile and say I am
going to help you. I am here to help you, don’t worry we’ll get
through this together. Need to realize that we are one in the
same, but changable, rediscovering ourselves, it’s cool, you will
make it! Then work out some ABC’s, to reprogram yourself to
respond to life with healthy ways to relieve stress. Hey you did it
before, you can do it again, and this time you know that you are
actually doing it so awesome!
Another odd thing I might say is: Why wouldn’t you steal a million
dollars from your best friend? Because it’s wrong. So is
smoking. That’s how I got through most of my begining period: I
know my behavior was wrong, I know I am an addict, know I have
to stop, must find new ways of dealing with emotions and
feelings now or stay a prisoner to the “lazy broom” that I created
for the rest of my life (no thank you), Nope, it’s up to me, and it’s
going to be okay it really is. You are doing the right thing in life,
how cool is that, not many people get to do the right thing
everyday, keep it in mind that you are.
Be happy about that because you deserve to be happy and
healthly.
Another thing, cut out sugar, seriously, after I cut it out (and I
think completely is a good thing because you get to really notice
the effects it had on your body) has helped to stabilize my nerves
more than I knew it would I can’t believe it! Before it was just
sugary candy all day….darn those Milkfuls, I think they were giving
me craves. After a few days without sugar I didn’t get any nervous
tummy feelings and other tensions just seemed lesss.
And if you can jog. I like to jog and sprint when I get mad. I run
away so to speak. I don’t do the “athletic thing” I just run like
hell and then get tired ut and go home. Then I do it again the next
day to see how much further I can get but don’t care if I get only a
few feet more. It’s for my nerves and mind (hey isn’t that the
nervous system ha) and any caloric/muscle benefits are great!
Yada yada, my life isn’t peaches but hey I am not a smoker and I
love that sooo much I really do.
September 28th, 2003 at 9:08 pm
Gail
I gave up zyban about the same time as you are at now (maybe I waited until I
was a few days more quit but not much). The reason I gave it up was cos I
didn’t like the side effects.
Well what I actually found was that the side effects I didn’t like weren’t
actually side effects of zyban but just the ’side effects’ of quitting cos
they were all still there.
I obviuosly can’t advise you what to do as each of us are different and
metabolise medication in different ways. But I can tell you that for
whatever reason the week after I quit zyban it was ‘hell’ and if it hadn’t
been for my cog thinking, Steve and all the members of this group I would
have folded like a deck of cards/
Whatever you decide to do we will be there for you so good luck and stay
quitting - I’m a slow learner and hadn’t got it into my head back then that
planning abc’s in advance really did help with the ‘cravings/discomfort’.
Namaste
Indi
October 11th, 2003 at 9:39 am
Well, I certainly hope this isn’t insane because I had quite a few talks,
I have to agree with you here (and I know Steve feels strongly abour this
very loud talks sometimes, with the mirror. How could I look myself in the
eyes and lie that it would be ok to have a smoke? And Indi posted a few
times how she went stomping around her house yelling at herself that a smoke
would do her no good. Hey, whatever it takes to keep that one out of my
mouth until I get calmed down enough to think about it rationally (I CAN do
that sometimes you know), then that’s what I’m going to do. The beauty of
all this is that I find I haven’t had to talk to myself in the mirror or
yell at myself in quite a while. Instead, I’m just talking to myself
one too). It seems like the extra sugar makes for a harder time. It lends
to increasing the intensity of the cravings and sometimes, the depression.
I ALWAYS feel better when I’ve exercised a few days in a row.
Unfortunately, I’ve been extremely lazy about getting into a regular
routine. I’ve been trying to get into a regular routine with tai chi tapes
but that’s just not happening as much as it should either. So Monday, I
start Jazzercise. I figure if I pay for an exercise class, I’ll be more
motivated to do the program, also I wanted to get around people more, I’m
feeling a little lonely the last few weeks (thank goodness for you guys or
I’d have gone nuts).
Some days you’re the dog and some days you’re the hydrant.
Some days you’re the bug and some days you’re the windshield.
Some days you’re the pigeon and some days you’re the statue.
Well, you get my drift. That’s life, folks.
Later Gators,
Cat
God, grant me patience. I want it NOW!
October 12th, 2003 at 6:34 pm
In a message dated 12/01/02 17:29:28 GMT Standard Time,
catmohan@… writes:
Cat I love this so gonna pinch it:)
Ta
Indi