Nicotine Withdrawal + Shopping = Bad Idea

[Boozy]

I decided to quit smoking yesterday afternoon. This morning, I get up and realize that I can't have my morning smoke and become instantly miserable. So I decide to go shopping to lift my spirits.

I go to Major Electronics Retailer. I'll try to keep this brief:

I need CD to cassette adapter. Sold adapter. Suckered into service plan. Leave store, go to car, try out adapter. Doesn't work. Go back to store. They tweak it somehow, tell me to try again. Still doesn't work. Go back to store. Given different adapter, same model. Still doesn't work. Go back to store for fourth time.

Getting angry now that I have to run back and forth between store and parking lot in blistering heat. Am told that the problem is not adapter, but is my car's cassette player. Inform them that my old, much cheaper adapter works great in my car, this is just a second adapter for my husband's vehicle.

Finally, I am sold another, more expensive adapter. Charged the difference in price, plus told that the service plan is $5 more on this adapter because its a different model. I tell them to take the service plan off the bill entirely. Am forced to listen to service plan sales pitch again; respond with icy glare. Leave with exorbitantly priced adapter, no service plan.

BLOODY THING STILL DOESN'T WORK.

Go back to store, toss on counter and glare at salespeople. No words are exchanged. I am quietly refunded my money and I leave.

Can't go home empty-handed, I figure, so buy a pack of smokes, have one. Sanity restored. Realize at this point that maybe I should have been a bit nicer to clerks, not their fault that Major Electronics Retailer sells overpriced crap.

I'll try again tomorrow. Quitting smoking, I mean. I don't want to see another adapter again for a long time.

[tendomentis]

Good for you on wanting to give it up. Word of advice, don't give up smoking cold turkey. Friend of mine just did it, and she's been 56 days without a cigarette by sticking to the gum. The gum is designed to slowly wean your body of its "need" for the nicotine.

Another friend of mine a few years back tried going cold turkey on smoking, and while he managed it, his girlfriend left him citing the horrible person she saw in him in the first few months of quitting as the reason.

Oh, and those tape adaptors SUCK. I feel your pain. I recommend getting a good quality FM transmitter or upgrading your car stereo to one with an AUX input (they're really not expensive at all). I used those tape adaptors for years, and my "good" one (paid $70 for it) ended up BREAKING the tape deck in my car stereo.

[blas]

Don't beat yourself up if you can't do it cold turkey!

Honestly, very few people have been succesful that way. Those who have been, well, I admire that kind of will power. But there is nothing wrong with having help!

I've tried quitting smoking hundreds of times since starting at age 12. I chewed up pens to the point of getting ink on my face, I've eaten everything in sight until I purged, I've tried to learn knitting, I tried to paint, I doodled but ended up chewing all of my pencils, I bought lots of stress balls (squeezable balls), eventually I became like a toddler again and everything I touched went into my mouth. I tried everything I could think of and still failed.

[Boozy]

Good for you on wanting to give it up. Word of advice, don't give up smoking cold turkey. Friend of mine just did it, and she's been 56 days without a cigarette by sticking to the gum. The gum is designed to slowly wean your body of its "need" for the nicotine.

Problem is, she's now addicted to the gum.

[Aldous]

Best of luck quitting. It's tough, I'm about 5 months into it, and haven't had a cigarette since I moved 3 months ago. And almost every day I find myself saying "What I wouldn't do to have just one more."

[AriRashkae]

Congrats on the decision to quit!

My husband manged to quit cold turkey, and that was only because he quit 10 minutes after seeing the ultrasound of our first son, and keeping the printout with him while I was in Boston for the next few months. He'd tried a few times before, and it didn't stick.

Everyone finds something that helps them through the change, if they keep looking. I watched my Mom quit and gods was she a b!tch. Don't remember what worked for her though.

You'll manage. Maybe try cutting back on how many you smoke until you can drop them? i dunno. Good luck!

[cheese]

Good luck with the quitting!

I only have a tape player in my car; I have one of those adapters so I can play my music from my ipod/(or personal CD player if I had one). It cost me £1 from poundland and its worked fine for 2 years now. So who needs expensive rubbish Unless I'm thinking of completely the wrong thing!

[MadRocketScientist]

My wife tried quitting a whole bunch of times. It finally stuck after I sighed a really big sigh and told her I just didn't think she could do it.

The next day she got the gum, threw all of her cigarettes away, and quit just to spite me ;-)

She's been smoke free for 7 years now and does not have any cravings

[MadRocketScientist]

Oh, and I bought this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16855998406

a few years ago and it still works great. It accepts any audio input and broadcasts it over any FM freq.

[BlaqueKatt]

tomatoes contain trace amounts of nicotine-they can help with the withdrawl-when I'm sick and can't smoke I eat Roma tomatoes like apples.

[Boozy]

tomatoes contain trace amounts of nicotine-they can help with the withdrawl-when I'm sick and can't smoke I eat Roma tomatoes like apples.

Tomacco!

I love the Simpsons.

Thanks for the words of encouragement, everyone.

[Becks]

I'll try again tomorrow. Quitting smoking, I mean

Best of luck!!!!!

I chewed up pens to the point of getting ink on my face, I've eaten everything in sight until I purged, <snip> I became like a toddler again and everything I touched went into my mouth. I tried everything I could think of and still failed.

Oral fixation. (And not that way, you pervs!!)

I, myself, have an oral fixation, and that's part of the reason why I smoke.

[Banrion]

I'm getting ready to quit smoking. I have a prescription for the chantix. I have already filled it, I need to keep a diary of every cigarette for a week, then I am gonna start it. I'm thinking I might start an online diary of the process as well.

[draftermatt]

Every smoker I've talked to has said "you can't quit till you want to" and for most of them, they just woke up without a craving one day.

The only reason my best friend's dad went to the hospital when he was having a heart attack is because he hadn't smoked all day, and his co-workers knew there was something wrong. He hasn't had one since that day. And he used to go through a lighter a day.

[Naaman]

Problem is, she's now addicted to the gum.

That's a far better situation though

The nicotine contained in the gum is the addictive component of cigarettes and whilst a poison in high enough quantities is not that bad for you (comparatively).

The huge majority of the nasty stuff in cigarettes is a result of burning and inhaling the resultant smoke.

[pedantic I know, apologies]