"You Can't Do It"

[blas]

Well, yesterday I got the reading material that the Quit Line sent me...but not the gum? Ehhh...if I don't get that gum or those patches by Friday night, I'll be worried....

[ArenaBoy]

If you work at a desk you can use a sign to help you.

I had an editor who was trying to quit and he had signs on his desk that all read,

"Every time you miss a deadline, Editor A smokes a cigarette. Why must you insist on killing him?"

[gremcint]

Based on what you said earlier you are probably going to hear the discouraging remarks several more times at least. Therefore to counterbalance them:

You CAN do it! Times a million.

[blas]

I got the gum yesterday. It was raining so hard last night that I really didn't want to go to the mailbox.

[MannersMakethMan]

Based on what you said earlier you are probably going to hear the discouraging remarks several more times at least. Therefore to counterbalance them:

You CAN do it! Times a million.

QFT. You can do it!

[blas]

I'm going absolutely nuts. I need to call the doctor as soon as the clinic opens tomorrow and see if I can get on Wellbutrin or Zyban....I'm using the patch and the gum right now and it's not helping.....all I want to do is sleep......I'm so angry and sad and I don't even know if I can make it through the night at work tonight...

[TTAZ]

If you're getting the nicotine in your system, why are you going through withdrawl? Think about that, what is driving you nuts? The physical withdrawl of the drug can't be it, because you are getting the drug from other sources. So the feelings of withdrawl are coming from your mind and you CAN get through them. Physical cravings for nicotine last from 5-20 minutes ONLY. Anything beyond that is not physical.

Blas, you CAN do this. Get the bupropion, it'll help with the sad and it will keep your dopamine levels more steady. Look into if your insurance will help with the cost of Chantix. Also go to chantix.com, Pfizer has a program you can sign up for and they give you discounts on their drugs. Get a tin of Altoids, it seriosuly helped me the first week, it gave me something to suck on (get your minds out of the gutter), and inhaling the vapors from the strong mints actually fooled my brain enough that the craving would pass.

YOU CAN DO IT BLAS!!! YOU KNOW YOU CAN!!! YOU WILL BEAT THE ADDICTION!!! YOU WILL SURVIVE THE DETOX!!! GO BLAS!!!!!

[blas]

I decided last night that I DO need to go to a doc and get on some drugs. I'm seeing a doctor tomorrow morning and hopefully he will prescribe me Wellbutrin or Zyban. My bf's dad said that with most insurance, those should only cost about $20 for a month's supply. That's not so bad.

I hate the gum, I hate the patch as well. I'm getting all the nicotine I need and even more (while holding back the urge to vomit while I chew the pepper spray tasting gum) and I'm still going nuts.

I'm doing ok at home and in the car. I made it all weekend without....and I wasn't completely crazy until I was at work. I was anxious, I was angry, I was sad, I wanted to cry....I wanted to go HOME now!!!

I broke down and bummed a cigg on my last break. Just one. I know, I fail at life, but I had to do it. It got me through the last few hours of the shift...

There's my problem right there. Work. I can go without at home and in the car....why not at work? I need something that will stop my brain from working so damn hard and thinking too much!

[dalesys]

... I fail at life, ...

No, blas, you don't! Don't use 1 ciggie (or 10 or 100) as a reason to beat yourself up. You are a person. Real people slip, stumble & fall (and stagger back up).

If/when you get clean, we'll all be here & happy with you.

Even when you're not perfect, the effort is respected.

[blas]

I am pretty proud of myself.

I smoked my last cigarette right before midnight on Friday night. I did not smoke until 5:00 am today. I went almost 3 days with no cigarettes!

I'm amazed at how easy of a time I'm having in the car and around home....I sure want to and do go a little stir crazy at times....but those cravings tend to pass....the ones at work DO NOT go away. And I begin to freak....I want to cry...I want to throw everything on the floor....I want to run to the bathroom and scream....or above all, just go home

[TTAZ]

I had my toughest time when the kiddo here would act up big time, I really wanted that cigarette. After thinking about it I realized it wasn't the smoke I wanted, but the 5 minute break having one would give me! Maybe it isn't the fact that cigs calm you down, but the fact that they give you that excuse to take 5 minutes to yourself. Well, why can't you do that without the cigarette? You can still go outside, take nice deep breaths without a smoke in your mouth. Calm down. Relax. I've never understood the ire I've gotten from non-smokers who bitch about how they don't get to take little breaks and go outside like the smokers do. Why not? Just because you don't smoke anymore (and you are a non-smoker now) doesn't mean you don't deserve that five minutes, hell you deserve it more!

Try that Blas. Next time that work craving will not go away, take a smoke break, go outside, take nice deep breaths, and do it without the ciggy and see how you feel. After that if you still want that nicotine, then okay, but it may just be that you need a break.

P.S.- you do NOT fail at life. Quit that shit too.

[Jester]

Not everyone has the same reaction to Chantix but it WORKS...

As you yourself said, it works differently for everyone. So while it works for you, it may or may not work for others. So please, people, no blanket statements about how this or that WILL work. It MAY work...it may not. Just saying.

I won't lie to you, if at all possible on the 3rd day of no cigs, don't go to work. Don't do anything unnecessary if you have to be around ppl. If you are off weekends try to time it so you are doing you're third day on a day off. THE THIRD DAY NOT SMOKING IS WHEN YOUR BODY HAS NO NICOTINE RESERVES LEFT. YOU WILL WANT TO BITE THE HEAD OFF OF SOMETHING CUTE AND FUZZY. It is physically the WORST day, and please please PLEASE take my advice and plan it for a day off.

On day 3 tobacco free, you will be in physical hell. You will survive, but try to time it for a day off.

My best friend Neets has four days off starting today, and is going to try to quit smoking (again) during that time. She backs up TTAZ's assertion (from previously quitting) that the 3rd day is the worst. Also, her big thing is smoking at work, so she figures that if she is not at work, it will be that much easier for her.

This is a great approach! You can't smoke 'em if you don't have 'em!

Ah, but we all know that that is not true! The smoking culture is such that bumming a smoke from another smoker is considered perfectly acceptable, and of course another smoker will be more than happy to float you one, as they understand the need.

You could always do what Ex did...he made a bet ...and his friend paid $500 towards the down payment on his car when he won.

I am a lifelong non-smoker. However, I am, as y'all know, a drinker. Well, one day many years ago (I am thinking 1996?), my friend Neets (yes, same one as above) was giving me shit about my drinking. "Jester, you couldn't go three weeks without a drink." Bullshit, I told her. Hell, I could go a month. So we made a bet on that very thing. And since it was right near the end of that month, we figured I would just do it for the next calendar month.

And I did. And I didn't stay at home, either. I still went out with my friends to the bar and had fun. I didn't drink, mind you. I just enjoyed the night out with friends, while they drank. Me? I had my standard non-alcoholic cocktail: Sprite on the rocks with a lime. And my friends that I was out with would actually try to get me to drink. Same as your friends are telling you you can't do it. It's not that they wish you ill. It's just our friends nature to want us to cause just as much trouble as they are. But my friends would get on me. "Dude, have a drink. How would she know?" The reason, as I explained to them, was that I did not lie to her, and I would not lie to her, and the whole bet was based on our mutual trust.

And I went that whole month without a drop of alcohol passing my lips. I saved bunches of money, my friends I was out with always had a safe driver if needed, and I still had fun. And the only time I was tempted to have a drink was, oddly, not at the bars, but one lovely Zona day sitting around the pool when everyone was having margaritas and beers.

But I won the bet. No, it wasn't money. It was simply that she had to get off my ass about my drinking. I proved to her that I was not an alcoholic, and she did, in fact, back off. Though she will occasionally make comments to this day that I might, from time to time, drink too much (though she no longer accuses me of alcoholism).

And actually, starting today, I am going to hold off on drinking for a while, for personal reasons, to support a friend who is having some issues. I am not making any promises, to the friend or myself, about how long this will be, and with football season coming up, I know it won't be permanent. After all, Sundays in the fall to me are all about football, chicken wings, and beer! But for the time being, I am on the temporary wagon. Should be interesting.

I made it all weekend without....and I wasn't completely crazy until I was at work.

Work. I can go without at home and in the car....why not at work?

As I said, my friend Neets also sees work as the place where she most has the craving for a smoke.

I've never understood the ire I've gotten from non-smokers who bitch about how they don't get to take little breaks and go outside like the smokers do. Why not? Just because you don't smoke anymore (and you are a non-smoker now) doesn't mean you don't deserve that five minutes, hell you deserve it more!

I often do just that. I'll go outside and just stand there, relaxing. And one of the managers will ask me, "Jester, what are you doing?" My response is simple: "Taking a smoke break." They all know I don't smoke, of course, but they also realize that if they allow smokers to take a smoke break, it would be discriminatory to not allow the same for us non-smokers. I've told the story in here about a previous (smoking) manager who I got in an argument with about that very thing, since he did not understand what a "Sprite break" was until I explained it to him in simple, plain English.



Good luck, Blas. You can do this. Because you are stronger than the naysayers, and you will prove them wrong, if for no other reason than to shut them the fuck up.

[JoitheArtist]

I will confess, I've never smoked--my grandfather died of emphysema when I was a kid, and trust me, seeing him like that was the best anti-smoking advert! So I am aware that I don't know the difficulties involved in quitting.

That said...

You can do it, Blas! I know you can! You're not going to let smoking or anything else get the better of you! Kick its butt!

[blas]

I bought two packs of smokes this morning and I'm going to bring them to work with me....so that I don't end up bumming. They are only for at work, because that seems to be the only place that I absolutely HAVE to have a cigarette at this point....

[Tanasi]

OK for everyone you smoke you have to eat the tobacco out of another. I can guarnatee that you won't smoke the second one.

Do it I dare you!!!!