What a difference a year makes...
11 years ago
Thursday, September 24, 2009
I can honestly say that quitting smoking was one of the most difficult things I ever had to do. I quit on January 1, 2007, cold turkey, after 4 years of smoking. I was sick of it. I hated doing it. I hated smelling like it. I hated coughing in the middle of my sentences. I hated having to make time in my schedule for a freaking cigarette, and I especially hated trying to gather pennies so I could buy another pack.
I went through weeks of hell--luckily, Hubs was driving semi at the time and gone for weeks at a time. I would snap at my students, freak out about the dumbest things, sleep, sleep, and sleep, and I also worked out to keep my mind off it (lost 25 pounds, most of which I've gained back in just this last summer, though, ugh!). Having been through it, I KNOW how hard it is to quit. I KNOW what it feels like to be ready to chew your lip off just to have something to do with your mouth. I know you feel like crap while you're going through it, but...I did it. Every day, I told myself, "Just one more day. Make it one more day, and you'll be ok." And every day, I made it just one more day. I did it. I no longer feel any desire AT ALL to smoke.
Hubs, however, has smoked for as long as I've known him (7 years), and from what I hear, he started smoking when his mom started buying his cigarettes when he was 15. I've bugged him every now and then about the amount of money he wastes on cigarettes, and I've discreetly reminded (ok, nagged) him what we COULD be doing with the money he drops on his pack-a-day habit. But, I've always known that he would quit when he was ready. I've trusted that he would eventually quit, because he would see the VALUE in quitting.
This week was his third time trying in the last couple of months. The last 2 times, he made it to day 3 with the Nicotine patches before he caved and smoked again. This week, he made it halfway through day 4 before caving. The thing that pisses me off about his caving is his need to buy A WHOLE CARTON when he caves instead of just getting a pack, he buys a WHOLE CARTON!! So, it's as if he just wasted the last 4 days to do it all over again.
I'm definitely not anti-smokers. I don't care what other people do with their bodies, but I wish he would just make a decision and quit. Sheesh!
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3 props:
this is part of my job now is to get people to quit.. have him try chantix... its sort of expensive.. like $100ish dollars a month.. but when he quits that will be chump change... all he needs to do is take that for atleast 6 months and a lot of people have quit... its perscription.. and side effects are like nausea and stuff like that...
-Roberta
Yeah, the military prescribes that Chantix stuff(free for military members/dependents)..and it works. worked for a friend of mine. Good luck to Nathan, I know he can do it. I did it cold turkey, like you did after smoking for almost 3 yrs. I threw a whole pack of cigs out the window(yeah was littering), but I quit. I can only imagine how expensive they are now....I think someone said they are almost $5/pack now?? Is this true????
Keep us posted Christina..he can do it only if he has the "want in him". Plus---this would be a good gift to you and the baby!!!!
Yeah, we've heard about the Chantix, but unfortunately (ugh) we still haven't found a doctor since our family practitioner quit the practice and all the docs I've called in G-town have a month-long waiting list to get in. Ugh!
Jess--That's what I keep saying about a gift to the baby. Screw me, I don't care about that, but does he really want his baby to smell like smoke when he comes in and touches on him/her after smoking? I don't think so! 3 times in only a couple months is more than he's tried in the last 7 years, so maybe we're getting closer, lol.
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