scheduled quit date

Hi, I am 5 weeks post op, and I have a quit date! Yeah! My quit date is in 2 days (Saturday). I am so, so nervous. I did quit 2 yrs. ago and only stayed quit for 8 months.

Any encouragement and/or great quit ideas would be greatly appreciated.

I smoked my last real cigarette on Friday. I ordered one of those electronic cigarettes that gives you just the nictone you crave. You smoke it like a real cigarette. It even has smoke that you will blow out that is not harmful to you or anyone around you.

I always take my break with 2 other ladies that smoke so that was the biggest test for me. I was fine just smoking my fake cigarette.


Good Luck

I quit smoking 16 years ago on October 2, 1994 and I did it through group hypnosis. Here are some hints we were given.

If you are a coffee drinker, switch to decaf coffee. Don't do it all at once or you'll have caffeine withdrawal headaches, but gradually add decaf to your coffee when you brew it. I buy "Lite" coffee at the supermarket. You can also ask for 1/2 reg. and 1/2 decaf if you buy your coffee at a coffee shop.

Drink lots and lots of water.

DON'T take a drag on a cigarette EVER......not even 10 years from now. You'll end up smoking again. It's like an alcoholic who can't take a drink or will end up drinking again. One of my sisters recently started smoking again after being a non-smoker for 24 years!

Drink more water.

If you think about a cigarette, immediately do something else. Pick up a newspaper, magazine or book, or turn on the TV. Come to hystersisters.com and post messages. Anything to distract yourself.

We were shown pictures of the lungs of smokers. When you want a cigarette, picture in your mind what your lungs look like. Then picture them nice and pink as they will be after not smoking for ten years.

One thing that helped me was cutting a straw so that it was about the size of a cigarette. I would hold it between my fingers in the car when I was driving, and when I talked on the phone. I kept one in my pocket too, so that I could hold it and no one would see it.

It only takes a few weeks to rid yourself of the physical addiction. The psychological addiction takes longer.

By the third week I had no more "morning smoker's cough".

You will notice that your hair and your clothes smell so much better. Your house will smell better too. Did you ever look at the paper towels you washed your windows with? The color from the nicotine is on your windows and walls. The smell has probably gotten deep into your sofa and curtains. That smell will eventually disappear. Your food will taste better too.

I rarely get a cold now. I would get a cold at least 6 times a year and it would last for a long time. Now if I get a cold, it lasts only a few days, and I get no more than 1 or 2 a year.

The thought of ever smoking another cigarette disgusts me, but there are still times when I dream I'm smokng a cigarette. (I'm always relieved when I wake up.)

Please keep us posted. And remember this: If you do slide backwards and have a cigarette, don't think of yourself as a failure. Make up your mind that you WILL lick this addiction. It will be one of the most difficult things you've ever had to do, but you can do it.