Having both made it through "Hell Week" and "Heck Week" and now into our 4th week I´m finding I´m developing more and more mouth ulcers. I´ve consulted my doctor about it and he has assured me it is nothing out of the ordinary and prescribed me some medication that in terms of pain, is like applying battery acid to the affected areas.

I´ve Googled this quite a lot and I realise that this is not a totally uncommon side effect of quitting smoking, but what amazed me is that some people have actually resorted to smoking occasional cigars in an effort to keep the sores at bay. I´m wondering if anyone else has come across this problem and if so, if any miracle remedy is available out there. 

Giving up smoking is tough. Being unable to reward yourself because your car is in the mechanics for the 3rd time in 2 months is a pig as well. (Really, I suspect I´m single-handedly putting his kids through college.) But not even being able to enjoy a cup of tea and a biscuit after a long day is just really dragging me down. After 20 years of starting the day on Coffee and 5 cigarettes, I can´t tell you how much I need breakfast to get me going in the morning these days, and now a piece of toast feels like I´m eating razor blades.

Does anyone have any advice for a very grumpy, very poor, but most of all, very hungry ex smoker?

Regards

Steve 

Hi Scruffy,

 

Congratulations on your progress so far, I’m only a few days in front of you so I can totally empathise with what you’re going through. I’m 37 and have been smoking since I was 14. In the last 10 years I went from smoking around 20 a day up to about 35 - 40. The increase is attributable to the fact that I moved from London to Madrid and in Spain, smoking is the national sport! I was one of those people that smoked 3 or 4 before leaving the house in the morning, another 2 or 3 in the car on the 45 minute drive to work, 2 or 3 before bed in the evening - a real junkie. The extent to which I was addicted was absurd. We live out in the country now and I’ve lost count of the times I’ve had to go out at 1am in the morning to find a petrol station selling cigarettes, just to ensure I had enough to smoke the following morning. The thought of a life without cigarettes terrified me, to some extent it still does but everyday is getting easier. 

I found the first few days I’d get like a watery feeling in my mouth and a pang in my stomach, that was me craving nicotine and I just did anything to take my mind off it - some sit-ups, running up and down the stairs a few times, gulp some water, anything. Hell Week was just that, absolute hell, not just for me but for everyone around me. We have 3 young kids at home, all boys; Alex 6, Samuel 4 and Baby Jamie will be 1 year old next Sunday. The option of sleeping through the first week just wasn’t available to me. I work mornings 8am - 3pm and my wife is an adult education teacher and works 4pm - 10pm. So the afternoons for me are always hectic; nappies, making dinners, baths and finally getting everyone into bed. It would have been so easy for me to say "I’m stressed - I need a smoke" but the truth is, in the moments I felt like that I would read a few threads on the forum and the urge would pass. And interestingly, for everyone that "slips" because of stress, someone else "slips" because of boredom - in the end we’re looking for excuses.

Things improved dramatically in Heck Week. The physical dependence subsided but the psychological side of smoking was still there. A feeling of being a bit lost, or a sensation of "Something’s not quite right, something’s missing" but anyway, I went from thinking about smoking every 2 minutes to thinking about it every 10 or 15 minutes. At the end of Heck Week I went for a 10km run. A month ago I couldn’t have run up the stairs without gasping for breath and bordering on the point of vomiting. That was a real achievement for me - I could feel the fresh air filling my lungs for the first time in decades and I felt good, I mean really good.

And now I’m in my 4th week. I’m taking nothing for granted, and I am working at it all the time. But everyday really is getting easier for me. I go hours now without thinking about smoking. I get out of bed and my first thought is no longer "Another sodding day without a smoke" its more "I’m starving, what can I have for brekkie!” I certainly have more energy than I´ve had in a long, long time.

My boss is Argentinean (although he’s been in Spain 30 years) and he’s being really supportive actually. He was telling me that when he quit in 1985 it was so hard for him. Everyone smoked in the work place, in cinemas, on the metro, buses, banks etc. He’s hasn’t smoked in 25 years but even now when he’s enjoyed a good meal, has a glass of red in his hand, he still craves a cigarette - I’m under no illusions - this is going to be something I’ll have to fight the rest of my life. But better than fighting for my life because of some awful tobacco related illness! And really, think how much easier we have it compared with our predecessors; smoking is prohibited in so many places now. I can quite literally go whole weeks without having to smell even a whiff of smoke. 

I read a good post by RSFire (who I must admit I find myself rooting for and checking his progress) and it was about this idea that on giving up smoking, you’d somehow be able to press the reset button and it would be as though you had never smoked. And of course the realisation and disappointment that it just doesn’t work like that. And this is why for me this site is so invaluable. The combined experiences of hundreds of others, the support if needed and the encouragement. One particularly poignant thing that worked for me was Samantha’s quit video. As a parent it really did strike a chord with me and it still makes my wife cry every time we watch it. If you’re even tempted to try a puff, just watch that You Tube clip and imagine your own little ones as lost as that wee lad.

I’ve rambled on a bit much! (Quiet morning at work). We might be hundreds of miles apart and it’s very unlikely we’ll ever meet, but I’m cheering for you, and wishing you every success!

 

All the best

 

 

Steve 

Nothing would make me happier than to arrive at work Monday morning and see you´ve completed "Hell Week".

Very best of luck to you,

Steve

And look at the cash you have saved! Money that would literally have gone up in smoke. I hope you find time to treat yourself to something very, very special, you deserve it :)

Well done!

Steve

Congratulations to you. You are officially a Top Banana.

Steve

As I tried to convey on the deleted post, it wasn´t a lack of enthusiasm, it was a lack of awareness. 

Count me in.

Regards

Steve.

If you´re 32, and smoked for 16 years, we can assume that there were 16 years you didn´t smoke. 832 smoking weeks, and now 833 smoke free! 

I have to wait until 2018 before I can say "I´ve smoked less than half my life". lol

I spent most of the second week of my quit contemplating just how much additional income the governement would generate out of me if I continued to smoke for another 40 years and how much state pension I was likely to lose by dying 10 years earlier through a smoking related disease. I imagined all these politicians and treasury bean counters rubbing their hands gleefully at my foolishness. You just have to find something that works for you. I mean, you know deep down what a mug´s game it is anyway.

I know you can do this. See how you´re feeling at the end of week 2, I´m sure there will be a marked improvement.

All the very best,

Steve

You start analysing the pros and cons of quitting. You´ve saved some cash, but you´re miserable. You don´t feel like Superman all of a sudden either, which is a smidge disappointing. I think its very easy to lose sight of why you were giving up in the first place in the second week which is why I imagine they place so much emphasis on preparation here. Its now that you need a reminder of what your goals were - kicking the smoker´s cough, the smell of your clothes, the rewards you were going to have. Stuff you wrote down when you were sound of mind prior to quitting.

If you did any of that, go back and have a look at it. If not, don´t worry. I can tell you from experience that were you to light up a smoke now it wouldn´t taste half as good as you thought it was going to, which is the first kick in the teeth. Added to that you have the feeling of disappointment that you´ve let yourself down again, and that now you´re going to have to go through another week of grief just to get back to the point you were half an hour ago. What´s more you´d probably buy a pack of smokes, and even though the first one was revolting you´d smoke 5 more in pretty quick succesion, you´ll have a headache, your hands will tremble and your eyes that were just starting to look pretty clear and sparkly are already looking like a road map again.

Its just so not worth it. Do anything but light up. Buy yourself a Happy Meal instead, the craving will pass. As I said, it does get easier, and I´ve no reason at all to lie about that.

You can do this, I know you can.

Regards

Steve