Brenda (bgaineshunter) is Here

I'm now ready to formally introduce myself. I was born July 14, 1961. I quit smoking partly for my 45th birthday. I was a smoker for 29 years. I quit smoking for two years back in the late 1980's. I achieved that quit through using the gum and going through 12 Step program. Strange, I think there were more 12 Step meetings back in the 1980's. It's difficult for me to tell what got me smoking. I grew up a ward of the state of Illinois and it seems that all the foster care youth at the time smoked. Not only did foster children smoke a lot but it was generally allowed in the house, usually in a designated room. The reasoning was that if a spot was not set aside, the children would just smoke in the closets and burn the house down. So I remember my first smoke, or should I say puff, when I was 14. I got so sick--dizzy and nauseous--that I am surprised that I tried it again within days and got hooked. I remember trying within the first month after I started to quit and couldn't. So I smoked for the next 13 years, until I entered 12 Step program for codependency and started just feeling better about everything. I decided that I picked the habit up from my mother and since I really didn't want much to do with her, wanted to exercise her demon as thoroughky as possible. I struggled, but with the gum it somehow seemed easier then I had imagined it would be. I don't think I ever really developed a sense of having struggled for that sobriety.I gave up the gum when I recognized that I had joined a group that emphasized being nicotine-free over being smoke-free. I think I was ready to anyhow. I did not gain weight immediately. The weight gain came after I went back to work and started getting stressed. I gained about 30-40 pounds, but within a year I was successful at losing it. However, I again got really stressed, and I can remember making the decision to smoke rather than gain weight again. I'm a 12 Stepper. The truth is that I did not have a close enough relationship with higher power to let higher power feel the gaps I had. I hadn't yet learned to turn my stress over to HP. One of the things I know is that I will not make that choice again. Now I've been a 12 Stepper for nearly 20 years, and I am extremely close to HP. Plus, I realize that when I needed to lose weight

lung cancer

I haven't had, nor do I know of anyone, who has become addicted from being around second hand smoke. [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 7/11/2006 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 23 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 940 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $170.2 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 2 [B]Hrs:[/B] 8 [B]Mins:[/B] 25 [B]Seconds:[/B] 5

lung cancer

I was a child of smokers. I became addicted because I got the message that it was okay to smoke. I was never addicted to second hand smoke. [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 7/11/2006 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 23 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 940 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $170.2 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 2 [B]Hrs:[/B] 8 [B]Mins:[/B] 26 [B]Seconds:[/B] 21

Just How Many Cancer Sticks Did You Use to Smoke Each Day

Got the idea! [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 7/11/2006 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 24 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 988 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $177.6 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 2 [B]Hrs:[/B] 11 [B]Mins:[/B] 18 [B]Seconds:[/B] 33

Brenda (bgaineshunter) is Here

I want to add that my father died of lung cancer and smoked the day he died, because he said the dying was making him so anxious that he just couldn't quit. I believed him. That's why I need to quit now. [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 7/11/2006 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 24 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 985 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $177.6 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 2 [B]Hrs:[/B] 11 [B]Mins:[/B] 10 [B]Seconds:[/B] 22

Think I Just Got Some Insight into This

I realized that I was heavily, physically addicted. The withdrawals were just awful. I think the physical habit is the addiction part. However, as I made my rounds this morning, I realized that each routine and situation called for a coping mechanism, because I had habits. I realized what was so difficult about breaking the habit is that I do not just have one habit. I have a habit for every situation, and as I am confronted with each I have to put a coping mechanism into place or devise one. So I know that I will not come across some old situations for months, and will probably be tempted to smoke when I do. [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 7/11/2006 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 24 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 985 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $177.6 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 2 [B]Hrs:[/B] 11 [B]Mins:[/B] 8 [B]Seconds:[/B] 38

Just How Many Cancer Sticks Did You Use to Smoke Each Day

As difficult as this quit has been, it has brought a lot of laughs, too. When I think of what we went through for our addictions, it's ridiculous, as well as hilarious. I was thinking about how towards the end, I would douse my cigarettes in water each night and throw them away, only to climb into the trash a few hours later and dry them over an electric burner. For two years, I had patches, gum, and lozenges. Managed to smoke, chew, absorb, and swallow all at the same time. Finally, I looked at all of my NRT and said, You just have to stop it. Like just say, No! My Dad even died of lung cancer, and I managed to convince myself that had he been as diligent about getting his physicals as I am, he would have been saved. The problem, I reckoned, was that he hadn't had a physical since his induction into the Korean War. My mind goes places that I doubt few minds even bother to go. [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 7/11/2006 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 22 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 885 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $176 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 2 [B]Hrs:[/B] 5 [B]Mins:[/B] 9 [B]Seconds:[/B] 39

What the???????

Addicts call that a using dream. My first day, I dreamed that I had actually bought two packs of cigarettes a couple of days earlier and that one pack was still in the house. [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 7/11/2006 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 22 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 880 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $176 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 2 [B]Hrs:[/B] 4 [B]Mins:[/B] 50 [B]Seconds:[/B] 39

Just How Many Cancer Sticks Did You Use to Smoke Each Day

I just turned 45 and quit a few days before my birthday. I was 14 when I started. [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 7/11/2006 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 21 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 878 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $168 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 2 [B]Hrs:[/B] 4 [B]Mins:[/B] 47 [B]Seconds:[/B] 56

Just How Many Cancer Sticks Did You Use to Smoke Each Day

Never tried Zyban because I once was given Wellbutrin for depression and had to take Tagement with it. [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 7/11/2006 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 22 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 880 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $176 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 2 [B]Hrs:[/B] 4 [B]Mins:[/B] 48 [B]Seconds:[/B] 8