Cognitive Quit Smoking

……Gail, Cat and Pam. I have to give credit for the frozen grapes
to my S.O., she used them when she quit - over 10 years ago!!
I had a rough day today, seems my urges are strongest in the morning -
not first thing, (I’m actually happy about not smoking in the morning
because I don’t have to allow time for 3 smokes, so I can sleep
later) but mid-morning. And today I had my buttons pushed big-time by
a co-worker, and was in a foul mood. I have trouble sometimes
determining whether the urge is the chemical dependency or an old
behaviour, but when I’m in it it doesn’t seem to matter, I’m in it!!
Anyway, I’ve made it past 5 days, into my sixth. Still have the
crawling/tingling skin thing, I’m not using Zyban or anything else, I
quit cold turkey. Actually, I used Melatonin as a sleep aid last
night, it seems to have helped, but I wonder if that contributed to
my edgyness today. Anyone had any experience with this one? That’s it
for now.
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Hi
Just joined, first post. I quit 4 days plus a few hours,ago.
I’v been a pack-a-day smoker for 32 years, longest previous quit was
for 6 weeks about 20 years ago. My experiences have
been “interesting” to say the least. Mostly dealing with the physical
withdrawal symptoms now, the weirdest one being a tingling/burning
sensation on my skin, mostly arms and legs. Anyone else have this?
Plus having a hard time sleeping. But I have read everything at the
website, and it all makes so much sense to me. Thanks for all of
that. I realize that for my entire life,since I started smoking,
everything I’ve done has been punctuated by a cigarette. Everything.
Anyway, that’s all for now. And frozen grapes make a great snack!!
Paul.

Hi Kate - welcome to the group
Yep - we know exactly what you’re going through at the moment -
we’ve all been there at some point in our quits, past or present.
The first week or two during detox (if you aren’t using patches or
other NRT’s) can be a rough ride. Nicotine is a powerfully addictive
substance, and the withdrawals are unpleasant. We can feel pretty
emotional - anger/range/tears all within minutes sometimes.
Fortunately it’s short-lived - maybe up to a week or two - not a
permanent condition.
Have you read over in the Files section on the group’s page yet?
Have a look at Steve’s post on ‘Foundation statements’ which can be
a great help when you first quit. In fact, I’ll re-post it here:-
“Regardless of how a person is going at their quit, whether it’s CT
or
with NRT or any other quit aids, I think it helps to establish some
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Hi Susan,
and Welcome you said:
“I’m leaning toward using a low dose patch (7 mg) for
the first few weeks, while at the same time
“practicing” my ABCs. I have found that the 14mg
patch works beautifully with the physical withdrawal -
almost too well i.e. I don’t feel as though I’m
conquering anything.”
You’re right, the patch can be a tremendous aid in taking the edge off the
withdrawal symptoms, specifically the brain fog and some of the emotional
upheaval. The down side is that too many let the patch do all the ‘work’.
It’s good that you’re aware of that danger and I think your plan to use the
7mg patch through the first couple of weeks makes sense. You may find that
using ABCs early means you’ll step off the patch much sooner than you might
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Good morning all,
My birthday (57) is Tuesday, July 30, 2002. Quitting smoking would
be a good birthday present to myself.
I’ve been reading the information at the Cognitive Quitting website
and just signed up for the group messages. Cognitive Quitting makes
a lot of sense to me.
I’ve been smoking for 35 years (started in college) and have tried
to quit many many times - as I’m sure we all have. But nothing ever
worked. But, Cognitive Quitting techniques appear to be the tools I
was missing.
So, my goal is to quit at 11:50 pm EDT Monday, July 29th and start
my birthday off smoke free.
Thanks for listening and thanks for being here.
Susan

I’ll be around most of Saturday if anyone wants to chat - we could
use Spinchat, ICQ, MS Messenger or AOL Messenger, whichever’s
easiest. I’m just aware there are several new quitters who’ve joined
the list recently who might want/need some one to one support -
weekends can be difficult times!
Let me know - and suggested times too. BTW, I’m in the UK and am 5
hours ahead of EST.
bye for now
Pam
ICQ# 142898919
AOL Messenger ukpam2402
email ukpam2000@… (to add me to MS Messenger - screen name
Pam)

Mega congratulations, Pam………. :))
Jean

Hello,
I am relatively new to the group, but not new to quitting. I am
finally on my last and final quit. It has taken me 8 years to get to
this point. I’ve been quit for a little over 3 months now. I
stumbled onto cognitivequitting.com and decided to try it out. Here
is my first ABC. Let me know what you think.
A. I am at a bar waiting for a friend. My friend is late.
B. I feel uncomfortable just sitting here with no one to talk to. I
could talk to the bartender, but he’s too busy. Everyone around me
is absorbed in conversations. A cigarette always used to make me
feel more comfortable in this type of situation. Sometimes, I would
chainsmoke until my friend shows up. But, I don’t want to smoke any
more.
C. I need something to do. A cigarette would be something to do.
B1. I don’t want to blow my quit on this. It’s not worth it. Plus,
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My computer problem is not fixed but at least now I know what the problem
is. I have a home network, either my hub is bad or my cable IPS has my
account set up wrong. I can not get both computers online at the same time.
I am having to share the internet connection. <go
It finally happened, I had my first smoking dream. Even in my dream I was
saying I am a non smoker as I held a cigarette in my hand. In my dream I
freaked out saying where did that come from, immediate put it out and then
what do I find but a pack of cigarettes in my purse.
Yesterday was a “hard”day. I was very anxious. Took me hours to figure out
it was my rheumatoid arthritis medication (predisone) that was making me so
anxious, nervous wreck is more like it.<G
self talk to alleviate the desire to smoke. To compound the matters, I was
in the company of two smokers and in a smoking environment (casino). As
usual I became angry. Angry because I could not make the voice in my head
shut up, wanting to smoke, what I perceived as family members being
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I am doing great with my quit. Yesterday was one of those easy days, today
was filled with stress…..computer/cable is down, my dog is very sick, my
dogs are like children to me, job hunt is going no where. Life living
me.<G
I have had intermittent email/online since Sunday. I am not ignoring all
the great topics going on , I don’t want to get into a discussion and not be
able to read the posts.
Tech will not be here until 26th, but I bet I work something out before
then.
Tonight at midnight is my two week anniversary, I am so proud. This program
works! I have been in such a brain fog, seems to have hit my language area.
Being articulate has not been my strong suit for the past two weeks.
I noticed a few people saying they had difficulties identifying “feelings”,
myself included.
I found a resourceful way to accomplish this without an exhausting effort.
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