But it’s all I can think about. So suck it.
I’ve officially gone 24 hours without a cigarette. In fact, I’m well on my way to 36 hours… and then 48 hours…
The magical 72 hour mark can’t come soon enough.
The first 24 hours was hard. Obviously. In fact, it was much harder than I had anticipated it would be (and I’ve quit 3 times before, so I thought I knew what I was getting into.)
Everyone kept giving me suggestions for “getting through this craving”. And I really wanted to reach through the screen and punch every single one of you. No offense.
My problem yesterday morning is that there was no *craving* to get through, per say. There was no three minute interval of hell that I could breathe through like a well timed contraction. Instead, I was battling wave after wave of hell, one right on top of the other. It was like full on fucking transitional labor for a good 12 hours or so.
I tried to drink water, chewed on plastic straws, and ate celery with cream cheese instead of taking smoke breaks. My teeth hurt from the constant gnawing.
One unexpected “side effect” was that I found myself short of breath all morning. I could not get in enough oxygen without massive unnatural gulps of air. Apparently my lungs were rebelling against the idea of having to function without the aid of hundreds of toxins. I can understand that.
By the afternoon, the constant onslaught had subsided a bit. In it’s place was a desperate need that came on every fifteen minutes or so. And then every twenty. The intensity definitely waned as the day went on.
Five o’clock hit and it was time to get in the car and face a smokeless commute. I called my husband – who was also quitting – and asked how his day went. And by asked how his day went, I mean as soon as I heard his voice I asked, “Did you smoke today?”
“Mmm… maybe.”
“I knew you would,” which – while shitty, was much, much nicer than what was going on in my head. At least I didn’t call him a spineless pussy or demand that he bring home a new butcher knife for me to stab him with. Because I really, really wanted to say that.
“I only had a few this morning. And I didn’t buy any!”
“Oh, hey, traffic’s bad, I gotta go” because if I don’t hang up on your now I am going to end up finding a way to skewer your insides from 30 miles away.
I called Karl and tried to sound nonchalant. “So, um, how is it going?”
“Fine,” I could tell he was lying.
“Yeah? So, um… er… have you smoked?”
“No. But fuck do I want to.”
I was so relieved. Knowing someone else was in the same hell I was and not giving up made everything better in an instant. I told him about the conversation I’d just had with Jared and giggled as he yelled back that my husband was a big fucking pussy who couldn’t even go one day!
We raged about how “just a few” sounded like absolute fucking heaven right now. And how we hated everyone else in the whole world. Especially Jared. And Adam. And you.
OK, not you. We actually talked about our lowest points in the day and how helpful it had been to know we had so much support “out there”.
ANYway – fuck this is rambling. I AM BLAMING THE NICOTINE. I think I’m just going to start blaming the nicotine for everything.
When you post late, (it appears) I get to be first.
(Either that, or your rant has frightened everyone off.)
Regardless, I’ve got no suggestions. Quitting sucks hairy moose balls (do they have moose down there?) and there isn’t anything you can do about it other than just try to survive (and not kill anyone… I was only half-joking this morning when I said I thought your delayed posting was due to, well, due process).
That said, from what little I know of you, it seems like you’re a strong enough woman to do this. I mean, come on… you can clean urine out of a closet at 3am while pregnant. You can SO do this.
Seriously babe,
you should look into acculaser. It’s been great for everyone here and it only costs a few pairs of shoes! And, no one has gone back to smoking!
Love ya!
I feel that it’s probably best that I just go home. Again. In fact, I was never here.
I have no idea how hard it is to quit but I think it’s awesome that you’re trying, even if it’s not your first time. I don’t see anything wrong with having one or two over time, it’s hard to quit anything cold turkey!
Can I blame the nicotine too?
Transferring addictions is awesome. Considering my part of the world, I vote for gambling. Yay gambling!
way to go on making it one day! my hubby is cutting down and gradually stopping…he wasn’t a heavy smoker to begin with, 2 packs a week, however now i’m trying to keep his cranky ass out of bed and around the family without him killing everyone off…wish me luck, and i agree, your hubby is a pussy who can’t make it one day! come on man, buck up!
Yay! made it through the first day!!! You and Karl are awesome! Don’t give up……
hgreatone:
I blame fire. If we didn’t have fire, we could never have lit cigarettes in the first place.
Good for you. It gets easier everyday. Just stay away from sharp objects
blame the nicotine all you like, because it’s truly the culprit. i have no great assivce for you. i can only say that i love you and i am rooting for you.
This is exactly how I feel about EVERYONE that continues to eat carbs while I suffer in my own personal hell. And those that dare talk about baking brownies in my presence? They all should be shot at dawn.
Hallie
http://wonderfulworldofweiners.blogspot.com/
Keep hanging in there! You can do this.
The Man stopped smoking too. If HE can do it, anybody can. You go girl.
instead of punching me, how about just spanking me? :spank:
again! harder. harder!
mmmmmmmmm
You are doing so good! Keep going! And think of it this way. You’ve made it 36 hours (or 48 or 72 or whatever), and if you smoke, then you have to start that all over again. You will be amazed at how much better you feel and how much more energy you have in a couple of weeks. YOU CAN DO THIS!!!!
This proves, yet again, that are the strong person in your marriage! I would throw a major fit and then blame the nicotine. I hope today goes better for you.
Physically the first day is the roughest.
Mentally day three is a killer.
Just remember… mind over matter…
Keep going!!! Think future(although I know you already are) and Jared sucks ass!
It’s ok if you hate me.
(Which probably makes you hate me a little more right now.
Woo Hoo! You are totally allowed to stab people in your mind. Even me. As long as it gets you through it!
My husband and I quit yesterday as well, and by 11am he had already had 3 and was going for the butts.
I was pissed!!!
Last night he kept disappearing in the garage….
I was more pissed!!!
I will say he was home with 3 kids yesterday and will be again today, all I had to deal with was work and my 1 coworker…maybe I should give him the benefit of the doubt.
But I’m 34 hours smoke free!!!!! Yeah for me, yeah for you, yeah for anyone else who is making the crazy difficult decision to quit and sticking to it
WE ROCK!!!
You did great, Britt. 36+ hours and counting. :clap:
Sorry it sucked! But you should be very proud of yourself.
And if Jared smokes again: :poke:
There is no magical 72 hour mark. You will continue to crave them into day 4,5,6,7,8…etc. Just not quite as intense.
And even after you’ve gone almost a full year (much like myself) there are still certain things that bring on cravings.
Driving in the car by myself was my worse time.
God how I used to love to smoke….
Still – you’ve done it! For this long! And as far as I know, Adam didn’t die, so you’re doing it very, very well!
Woohooo! :rock:
You can do this.
I have no clue what you’re going through. All I’ll say is do you want me to come down there and kick Jared’s ass?
:heartbeat: :kiss: :heartbeat:
Bossy once heard someone say that when they were craving a cigarette they licked an ashtray. Cured them.
Or maybe Bossy dreamt this?
There’s only one way to find out if it works…
No advice. Just best wishes and good luck.
For once I’m feeling a little bad for Adam :cheese:
:hug: hang in there
whenever my husband smokes it makes me instantly want a cigarette. If we’re gonna go down it may as well be together.
You can do this.
You totally want to kick my non-smoking ass in the balls for that comment, don’t you.
Hang in there, babe.
Sometimes, I wish you would understand that my uh… suggestions are REALLY just a way to HELP you commit a crime and still maintain some reasonable doubt, man.
If you had gone the taser route… you could have electrocuted Adam and THEN Jared when you got home. Fuck, Britt. I’m TRYING to HELP you here.
:hug:
And make sure to surround yourself with friends who will actually help you quit, not hand you cigs when your other half isn’t around cuz they think that it wasn’t really your decision to quit. Eapecially when they know your triggers. Yeah that makes quitting real hell. :banghead:
you are doing awesome!
you haven’t smoked AND you haven’t killed anyone!
You can call me anytime you want. I’m happy to share our the irony of our misery having to learn to live with a smoke-free life. Email me for mah number.
Way to go, Britt. Seriously, good for you. Jared sucks. You rule. The end.
xo
b.
Don’t let them fool you. That magical 72 hour point merely marks the waning of the PREDICTABLE cravings.
I would even venture to say that The first week is really the easy part. It’s the most painful part for sure, but if you can’t make it the first week, then you don’t truly believe that it’s going to harm you in the end. If you can look at all the future health problems and the gasping, painful death at the end of it, and still say “fuck it, just this once” then part of you is still hanging on to that youthful illusion of invincibility.
The real tests will come when your defenses are down. When you are stressed out from the world’s worst day, or worried about a family member’s heath, or depressed, or drunk.
“Fuck it” is addiction’s secret weapon.
P.S. Jared must not have been at the nursing home when his grandpa died wheezing, in his mid 70′s, surrounded by a family marked by longevity.
(…climbs down from his high horse and heads around the corner to smoke a doob…)
You know what? None of those “strategies” works. You just have to grin and bear it and swear and rant and rave and hate the fuck out of life for a while. Which you seem to be having no problem with. ;?)
It’s good that you have a quitting buddy. My husband never smoked, so when I was quitting and he was trying to be kind and understanding, I wanted to stab him through the heart. The nicer he was, the more I wanted to hurt him for his lack of suffering.
Tell your husband I said he’s a pussy. If a hormonal pregnant woman can put them down and walk away cold turkey, he sure as hell can.
I have nothing inspirational and no words of encouragement. Everything that has run through my head is leaning more towards the sympathetic.
::leaving now::
Have you looked into the drug Chantex? A friend used it and it worked for him. There are some side effects but they didn’t last. I read another blogger who has quit smoking. He’s weeks into his smobriety. Check him out
http://www.stickycrows.blogspot.com
I wish I had magic works of wisdom to give you. I only quit smoking because I got cancer. Cancer was the thing that smacked me in the face. That’s when I realized enough was enough. It’s the thing that keeps me from picking up a cigarette right now because believe you me (did I just say believe you me?) I want to smoke with the amount of stress I’ve been under. Knowing that I have lung cancer via ovarian cancer stops me from picking up a cigarette.
THAT was NEVER supposed to happen. ME get LUNG CANCER??? NEVER. It’s enough to sober me up today and stop me from running to the Turkey Hill for a pack of cigarettes.
Just take it one day at a time, one hour at a time if you need to…because sometimes that’s how you have to break it down.
I used Chantix. It even curbed me wanting to drink which was good because that used to be a trigger. I used Chantix for 5 weeks and then I was fine. I am coming up on one year in a few months. The way it made sense for me to quit was to replace my unhealthy habits with totally healthy ones – so I started working out, eating healthy, and just saying that I wasn’t going to smoke today.
Maybe the Chantix had a placebo effect but it definitely made this quit (after 13 years of smoking) stick.
When I quit in January of ’02, I swear to God my chest hurt like I smoked two packs in one night, for about two weeks. I could never understand why, but I damn well wish I had never started back 18 months later!
I gotta get off the Coke.
The sodas are ruining my svelt bod.
One of the smartest things I ever did in my life was to quit a 3 day a pack habit, after 13 years of use. I doubt I’d be alive today if I hadn’t quit.
I think the 72 hours flushes the toxins, and then all you have to deal with is the psychological :help: :whosnext: . I was homicidal the first week. By the third week my life had changed. What kept me from ever going back was thinking about how much better my life became. I didn’t stop wanting cigs for 10 years, but I did make.
The triggers were the hard part, parties, drinking, and movies (let’s you know how old I am). Yes, you could actually smoke in theaters back then.
So pay the price, and love yourself. I think staying away from shrap objects is good advice.
I’m not a blogger; I’m a reader and like your blog. I started smoking at 13, smoked 3 packs a day (unfiltered Camels – I’m now 72) and I quite cold turkey when I was 27. That was the last time I quite and it took two years until the craving went away. It’s really hell. I admire you for quitting. You won’t be sorry. I’m not going to say that it’s easy. It’s a fucking hell. I haven’t forgotten. However, I don’t crave tobacco now and really don’t like the smell of it at all.
You seem to have a huge support system.
Good luck.
Alan
hey – you asked for suggestions.
I am glad you are quitting. if it means anything.
no suggestions, it does get better and I’ll be hiding under a table so you don’t stab me with a coffee stirrer or a butter knife.
Oh honey, I totally admire your restraint. I would have skewered Jared and filleted his balls to make smores.
SciFi Dad: it is definitely coming down to shear will power right now. Thank you for the vote of confidence.
Kristin: I’ve never heard of that.
John:
chickenshit.
B: right, but if I had one or two, I’d be right back to square one. It’s kind of like drinking.
avitable: no. But you can blame your mental handicap.
Becky..Absent Minded Housewife: lol, oh boy that is something I could easily get hooked on too.
Jamie: yeahhhh, my husband would call it “cutting back” too.
blondefabulous: thank you!
Dave2: that’s true. DAMN FIRE!
Willie G: are spikes considered sharp?
Crys: that’s the best assvice ever!
Hallie: me too! Damn carb junkies!
Melizzard: thank you.
Lynette: LOL, thanks.
hello haha narf: *sigh* it’s a good thing you’re so damn cute.
Wendy: that’s what I keep thinking actually – and it gets easier with each hour because of that.
Becky: hahahah – it’s so much better when YOU guys say it.
NYCWD: thanks babe.
misi: yeah, it’s like labor – you think future and it STILL sucks. LOL
Poppy:
Angel: whew!
Misty: YAY!!! Hey – *I* am with you!!!!
Maria: thank you
Finn: I’ll tell him you said that.
Bucky: yeah, i think i have to accept that it’s going to be a constant thing.
Sybil Law: no, he’s not dead yet.
Em: thank you.
Coal Miner’s Granddaughter: yes! please!
BOSSY: oh dear God. Even I have limits of what I’ll do for the blog.
Dragon: and that is just as good as advice. Thanks.
Turnbaby: ADAM!??!?! That fucker is FINE!!!
Bluestreak: yeah, we never smoke alone – that was always our “rule”.
maggie, dammit: hahahaha, no – not at all.
AmyD: YOU ARE SUCH A GIVER!! xo
Sarah: yeah, I’m lucky like that.
ali: so, I deserve ice cream. Right??
TSM: I so love that you’re in this with me.
just beth: hahahhahahahahahahhahaha
debbie downer: um, have you ever quit anything, buttface?
But yeah, I know that 72 hours doesn’t mean it’s magically easy. But right now, EASIER would be nice.
And Jared thinks he’s invincible.
Blog Antagonist: “Tell your husband I said he’s a pussy.” Again? From you this time?
Done.
Sheila: hey, sympathetic is awesome!
Summer: yeah, I’ve heard of some side effects though I’m trying to avoid.
Lisa: you were a HUGE part of why I quit.
Smiley: hey, whatever works – right?
Robina: something about the things that grown in your lungs.
A Whole Lot of Nothing: LMAO
eggy: thanks for sharing!
Anonymous: I do have a huge support system, thank God.
libragirl: means a lot.
And I am LOVING the suggestions!
Jennifer A: lol – another chicken!!
Evil Genius: I want you to know, I snorted out loud at this.
I’m proud of you. And I would be pissed at Jared, too. In fact, I am kinda. Sorry, Jared, no offense.
I quit, too. And my husband is still chewing, so fuck him, too.
Rooting for ya.
I blame the nicotine, too. It’s the new patriarchy.
Holy fuck you managed write a post. I quit I couldn’t do anything except yell … a lot.
It’s not the nicotine withdrawal…you’re just a bitch! :lmao:
Way to go sweets!! Hang in there! :clap:
:clap: Good for you!! I have heard that the first and third day are the hardest. Keep it up!!
My hubby gave up smoking last year after 32 years. He hasn’t had a ciggie for almost a year. His advice – you have to find something else to put in your mouth.
Go and get a big bag of lollipops. They worked for him. Hang in there!
Just think. Every hour you go without a cigarette is another hour you add to the end of your life, arguably the most painful and annoying, hib-breaking, wheezing, wrinkled-ass time of your life.
Enjoy!
Way to go you guys so far!
I can see how you’d want to punch me. I can be all kinds of annoying.
But awesome job so far Britt! :clap:
I say fuck it all…let’s go buy shoes. I’ll go with you. :peace:
(you need a shoe smilie and a Prince smilie!)
If it will help…you can hate me! Let it out girly, let it out!!!
I wish you luck. I’m sure it’s very difficult but you’ll be so happy once you’re smoke free! My parents smoked my whole childhood and I hated it. I thought, why do they love their selfish habit more than they love us? My mother finally quit when my daughter was born, 8 years after the cigs killed my dad.
you can do it, girl!
I was behind on blogs already, but even more behind now. Now that we’re almost finished with Day Three and hardly anyone is dead, I think we’re highly successful.
I still want one every breathing moment, and no straw is safe around me, but I’m not smoking.
who the fuck is toni? coz seriously? my vagina smells FABULOUS so of course cigarettes are worse. i mean really, who says such stupid shit?
and what does adam have to do with cigarettes? he doesn’t even smoke. why the name calling?
iam obviously missing something, however toni is anything but peaceful.
Toni’s that same deluded person who was lecturing people about homosexuality earlier – the one who harasses Jester.
And yes, her vagina does smell horrible.
but we are clear that MY vagina smells like sunshine, right?
Sunshine and unicorns.
so, yeah, I was on that journey too and I made it two and a half days before I lost my damn mind, had a huge fight with my best friend and bought a pack. I will try again as failure only happens when you stop trying and I will NOT fail. so in a week or two or three I will try again, only this time with the patch or something so that I’m not a complete nutcase.