One day at a time

[Barcham]

I quit on August 26, 2013 when I had my heart attack. I haven't had a smoke since but I have to be honest and say that I still get the urge almost every day. It's not easy to stop but you do not want to go down the road that Krusty did or that I did. I didn't require a bypass but did spend 11 days in a coma, dropped over 50 pounds and my heart capacity is now at 20% and will never get any stronger. My stamina is about where my heart capacity is and even a short walk will leave me catching my breath.

I now have to keep my liquid intake below 1.5 liters a day because my heart is not strong enough to keep fluid from building up in my lungs and I could develop pneumonia almost instantly if I'm not careful.

It will never be easy and you will get the occasional urge for the rest of your life. But you will have a life! A healthy life. Food will taste better. Air will taste fresher. And by quitting now, your health will only get better, you will only get stronger. You will never have any regrets.

You CAN and you WILL get through it. We all believe in you, you just have to believe in yourself!!!

[ForceHSS]

Sorry to hear you went though all that Barcham but at least you are still with us. I know when I die I won't have to worry about smoking or anything else of this world as I will be in heaven (born again 14 years)

[blind-eddie]

ForceHSS, I smoked for almost 34 years...I believe you read my post in the New Years Resolution thread..... don't let a hospital visit tell you bad news for you to quit.... just quit!

It is a whole lot easier then you think.... plus you are beyond the crave stage... its all in your mind now.... you have kicked cigarettes ass..... keep it that way.

Chew on tooth picks, eat suckers.... eat food... I have made my once outty belly button an inny from the weight gain I have gained since Dec 6... but, hey, I am still alive and can actually breath again...
I am less stressed... people say "I smoke to relieve stress"... bs.... smoking is stress!

And forget the e-sigs....what a waste of money! Sucking on an E-cig to me, is a setup to fail.
Just quit and don't look back..... You will thank yourself later...

Good luck...

[ForceHSS]

Originally Posted by blind-eddie

ForceHSS, I smoked for almost 34 years...I believe you read my post in the New Years Resolution thread..... don't let a hospital visit tell you bad news for you to quit.... just quit!

It is a whole lot easier then you think.... plus you are beyond the crave stage... its all in your mind now.... you have kicked cigarettes ass..... keep it that way.

Chew on tooth picks, eat suckers.... eat food... I have made my once outty belly button an inny from the weight gain I have gained since Dec 6... but, hey, I am still alive and can actually breath again...
I am less stressed... people say "I smoke to relieve stress"... bs.... smoking is stress!

And forget the e-sigs....what a waste of money! Sucking on an E-cig to me, is a setup to fail.
Just quit and don't look back..... You will thank yourself later...

Good luck...

I agree smoking causes stress. I only use the e-cigs a few times a day 5 to 7 draws a day at most I dont want to rely on them so i am taking the lowest lvl and making sure i dont go crazy on them but they have helped the first few days. Drinking tea seems to help me

[Tigga]

Keep it up! It's definitely worth it in the long run. I smoked at least a pack a day for over 15 years, but the 25th of this month will mark 3 full years since I had my last cigarette. I quit cold turkey, but I did use some generic nicotine lozenges from Target for about the first 6 weeks. I would still go out on my back porch to start on a lozenge and hang out outside for the first few minutes so I wasn't really changing my habit, other than using a lozenge instead of a cigarette. I think I was supposed to keep using the lozenges for 3 months, but after the first 5-6 weeks I wasn't craving them so I switched to regular mints to help with the oral fixation.
The other thing that I think helped me a lot was a simple polished rock. It may sound a little crazy, but I kept a small piece of polished amethyst (my birthstone) in my pocket that I would pull out and play with to keep my hands busy when I was using a lozenge or just feeling antsy. I think giving my hands something to keep them busy really helped to distract my mind and take my it off of cigarettes.
I was pretty convinced that I was never going to be able to quit, so I know if I did then anyone can. Just remember that it only gets easier each day and don't give in!

[Barcham]

Originally Posted by ForceHSS

Sorry to hear you went though all that Barcham but at least you are still with us. I know when I die I won't have to worry about smoking or anything else of this world as I will be in heaven (born again 14 years)

If your belief helps keep you going, all power to you. I actually died from my heart attack and was resuscitated and didn't see any bright light, no departed loved ones, nothing at all. I have no belief in an afterlife of any kind and in fact when they began working on me in the hospital I made sure to say goodbye to my friend who had come with me and I thanked the doctor for his efforts. Now...the drugs they gave me to induce a coma for 11 days...that was heaven!

I've always believed in living your life to the fullest because it is the only one we will ever have. Live it well and live it full, die with as few regrets of things undone as possible as you will never have another chance to do them.

[ForceHSS]

Some have not seen anything maybe you need to get to some point of death before you do I have no idea why some do and some dont see anything but trust me God is real heaven and hell is real.

[ForceHSS]

18 days smoke free and the cravings are min so far so good

[Disco_Dave]

Good man.....The force is with you

[New Joe]

I was a very heavy smoker till 2 years ago.
I really enjoyed smoking and didn't want to give it up, I was healthy, no smokers cough, no nothing really, well apart from headaches everyday...

However I knew I needed to stop.
I started on the e cigs, which made it so I could stop smoking right then and there.
2 years later still on them, although we call it "Vaping" and my mod i use to vape with looks nothing like an e cig.



I love vaping, no need to go through all the pain of giving up when there is something which I can replace it with.

Smoking is dead, vaping is the future and the future is now:up: