Posted by Kristi on August 30, 2001, at 10:43:37
In reply to Re: False starts » sar, posted by Mair on August 29, 2001, at 21:14:04
It wasn't meants for me.... but it helped me, thankx. Kristi
> > Sar - I started smoking when I was probably about 16 but not regularly until I went to college. I quit when I was probably about 38 or 39. This only lasted for about 3 or 4 years and I started up again after I was in the full throes of depression. I quit for good about 3 years ago. I just turned 49.
>
> For most of the time I smoked a pretty consistent pack a day, although I was smoking less each of the 2 times that i quit. Like you, I loved smoking and tended to light cigarettes almost unconsiously. A number of things helped with my quittiing. For several years before I quit the first time, i couldn't smoke in my office so my smoking probably decreased just because of that. Also, when I started having kids I didn't smoke as much because i just didn't have time and I was always uncomfortable exposing them to secondary smoke. My husband and I got in the habit of smoking as little as possible on vacations. We argued to ourselves that smoking was a stress reducer that we shouldn't need in more relaxed times. This didn't always work, but did work pretty well when we were visiting his parents since we couldn't smoke in their house. Typically we'd get home, and be back smoking full throttle with the first stressful phone call, but I tried to keep my intake as low as I could for as long as I could. One year I came back from vacation and promptly got sick. Between the 2 week vacation and the 10 days or so of pretty awful illness I smoked very little for almost a month. I decided at that point just not to start up again. My husband tried to quit less successfully. We both went to a hypnosis session about 3 months after I quit. It didn't do much for him but it reinforced things for me because I was starting to waiver. I think I didn't struggle so much with a physical addiction the first time I quit because I really had whittled my smoking down before i stopped. The killer in my mind was the whole lifestyle thing.
>
> Starting up again a few years later was about the stupidest thing I've done. I didn't intend to of course, but i started having the ocassional cigarette and things just gradually escalated until I was forced to admit that I was really hooked again. I kept at it for a few years, but I never got all the way back up so quitting wasn't as bad either. Also, my kids were getting bigger and less gullible. I was having a tough time hiding my smoking.
>
> I also think it helped that I live in an area where relatively few people smoke, so I was starting to stick out like a sore thumb. Most of my friends didn't smoke or were quitting and we got in the habit of always asking to sit in non smoking sections also.
>
> If I tried to have a cigarette now, I'd feel pretty dizzy and nauseous, and the smell is pretty unbearable to me now. I still get ocassional urges, but I just can't see myself smoking again.
>
> Hope this helps -
>
> Mair
>
> PS - for what it's worth my husband had a much tougher time and only managed to quit almost 2 years ago. He started chewing nicorette for about a year or so before he quit as a way of gettiing his daily intake down. Now he chews on the stuff constantly (and annoyingly sometimes). I worried about this because I'm sure his nicotine intake is much higher now than it was when he was smoking. He keeps telling me that his doctor sees no danger in chewing too much for too long. I've learned to bite my tongue since it's obviously a better alternative to smoking.
poster:Kristi
thread:10308
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20010825/msgs/10482.html