17 hours…
Smoked my last cig around midnight last night - its now nearly 5pm.
I’ve worked on lists - foundation statements, when and why I smoked -
I feel I’ve been much more aware of so much this past week, and was
cutting back on smoking pretty easily once I realised that half the
time it wasn’t really about smoking. At this point I don’t feel like
I own my head, let alone my brain, i feel so spacey and restless. I
can’t sit still or concentrate very well. But, I’ve been here
before and know that this is temporary, and that the mists will
lift. Thanks for the chats Pam and Steve, helping me marshal my
thoughts together. This is all disjointed, sorry, I’m just writing
as it comes to mind.
Hope to be more coherent next time! by the way I decided to go CT
and get this detox out of the way. More next time,
anita
October 23rd, 2004 at 10:16 am
Congrats Anita! I actually smoked my last cigarette sometime around
noon yesterday. (If I had know it was my last, I would have noted
the exact time.) I have been on Zyban since last Weds., using the
patch but still smoking several cigs a day. Yesterday I had a BAD
morning, probably smoked at least 5-6 cigs then slapped on the patch
around noon because I was meeting a friend for a movie and I knew I
would not be able to smoke.
Well, during the movie I noticed that my heart was racing! Had I
ODed on nicotine by smoking too much that morning and then putting on
a patch? I thought “I am on the Zyban and the patch, I have made the
commitment to quit, I have all these things supporting me but at some
point I just have to STOP SMOKING!” So I haven’t had one since.
I’ve had a few bad spells but try to distract myself until they pass
(and they DO pass). Walking a lot, drinking lots of water. I have
done CT in previous quits too, the advantage of course is that you
get it “over with” faster. Personally I am already worried about
weaning off the patch/Zyban but right now I am just taking it one day
at a time. And I don’t want to start the clock over by having a cig!
Feel free to email me if things get rough, and I am magicmarian123 on
AIM.
Marian
— In CognitiveQuitSmoking@y…, “anita200202″ <anita200202@y…
October 23rd, 2004 at 5:31 pm
Hi Marian - thanks!
way too complicated for this rookie in a
It sounds to me like you O/D’d on nicotine - from what I’ve read its
not a good idea smoking while wearing a nicotine patch.
I’m coming up to my first 24hours off smoking - I napped this
afternoon, I was so tired mentally and physically after feeling
hyper all morning. I’ve had some cravings this evening - I know
thats the withdrawals, but once thats over with i can get on with
dealing with the mental part of this. I can’t be much help to you
at this point, but as I said, I’d steer clear of smoking while
wearing nic.patches. But as far as I can see, if you had a good
supply of nicotine inside you, those craves must have been
mental/behavioural
I don’t have AOL Messenger but use MS Messenger - I looked at ICQ,
but that blew my mind
pea-soup fog…
Good luck to you
Anita
October 24th, 2004 at 12:46 am
Congratulations ladies
Anita, keep working on those lists, maintain your awareness.
Marion, you too. Both of you will be going through a readjustment for
the next couple of days. It seems that any change in nicotine level
and/or delivery system (CT, or cigs to patch) involves a 3 ish day
adjustment. Anita, that racing heart sounds like it may have been the
patch delivering too much nicotine, that happens sometimes. If you
continue to feel instances of that, specially shortly after you’ve put
a patch on, switch to a lower dose patch or maybe you can try cutting
them (even though that’s not recommended by the manufacturers, I know
that lots of ppl do it and it seems to work).
Both of you, please post often. The act of writing out thoughts,
as slippery and foggy as those thoughts may be, is the best way to
help focus and be aware of what’s happening as you move through the
early stages of the quit.
I’ll see you ladies in chat, Anita you no MSN and Marion, I’m
adding you to my aim list now.
Steve
October 24th, 2004 at 8:08 am
I meant Marian. Using the patch AND smoking really isn’t a great idea.
October 24th, 2004 at 10:30 pm
Hi Anita - just wondered how it’s going today for you. As Steve
said just before, the first 3 days especially takes some adjusting
to, and that foggy/lightheadedness can be quite something! Oh, and
that antsiness too - I never forget the 2nd day of my quit - I went
for a swim, and I was tearing up and down the swimming pool trying
to get rid of that restlessness like some possessed Olympic
swimmer! The regular sleeping/eating helps such a lot, but I know
you said in your email this morning how you’d napped during the day
and then were up late online last night. That’ll settle down, but
the ‘online’ is a great help for sure, specially in those early
hours when it seems like the world’s asleep and you’re trying to
reassure yourself that you haven’t turned into some madwoman. It’s
a ride, it’s exhausting, but after a few days it’ll start to level
out.
There’s plenty of mileage in just starting out on your quit too
Steve used to tell me I could blame a lot on just having quit and
suffering from a degree of brain fog. If I forgot to get food in,
or what I’d been about to do…. but forgot what halfway to going to
do it, seemed a bit absent-minded, wanted to sleep extra, or chat
online, or just plain couldn’t be bothered, then it was all down to
just having quit. We really do need some ‘I’ve just quit’ T
shirts…..
take care - catch up with you later
Pam
— In CognitiveQuitSmoking@y…, “anita200202″ <anita200202@y…
October 26th, 2004 at 10:52 am
Marian, with all due respect to you Dr, get a new one. None of the patch
manufacturers and NO doctor that’s responsible will tell you to that it’s
ok to use any nicotine above that which your patch delivers.
Juggling nicotine levels has never been an effective way to quit. If it
was, many more ppl would be quit for good.
If you suspect depression is a developing part of your quit, please find
a Dr who can help you.
Then you get to kill two this afternoon.
Steve