Finally decided to register.

[nsd_user663_5137]

Hi Everyone

I have been checking into this forum since i gave up. I am now into day 10!

I will just give you a little bit of background.

I have been smoking since i was 16, i am 35 now. I did however give up whilst i was expecting my children, and as my last two were so close together i gave up for 4 years whilst they were small. Then i just started again, smoking 20+ a day in the end.

I would wake up and smoke 4 in the first hour before work, smoke on the hour every hour during working hours, smoke three in my lunch time, then continue smoking until i finally went to bed. Sometimes i would wake at night and smoke. I was hooked.

About 5 years ago after i finished my degree i decided to lose weight, this meant going to the gym. I loved it, but i took pride in the fact that i could run 8k after a smoke and then when i finished i would light up again.

Last year though i got very ill, i started going blue around the mouth, feeling sleepy all the time, and wheezing. The old smoking was starting to have an impact on my health. Finally i was diagnosed with asthma (after time in hospital with bronchitis, etc). I have managed to give myself extreme asthma, i can’t even take my medication without a spacer, and the meds i am on are the strongest you can get.

Genetically cancer also runs in my family, i have a relative currently dying of lung cancer (but continuing to smoke).

So i decided i had had enough. I got the patches and have not smoked since i started my programme to quit.

Each day is a struggle, my youngest child is 11 and my eldest is 17 so they cause me some stress (i am such a worry wart!) but i have remained strong.

I do feel better in myself, i have not put any weight on, i have even lost a pound. But like a fool i thought that once i had given up my lungs would immediately heal themselves. Yesterday though showed that this is not actually the case, and its going to take time. I felt like i was suffocating, i simply couldn’t breath, and panicked. It just goes to show the level of damage i have caused myself.

So anyway the reason i am trying to quit is because i want to live, i want to run a marathon, i don’t want to die in self inflicted pain.

Here i am at day 10 finding it hard to breath, but like i say each day is a struggle, it’s a battle of wills isn’t it?!

This forum is brilliant, i have been checking on everyone’s progress each day and though my family are very supportive too, sometimes i wonder if quitting is my only topic of conversation and they soon get board!

Sorry its so long, but i am glad i have in a way re-capped on why i wanted to quit

With all my best wishes to all the other brave quitters....Squid

[nsd_user663_3728]

Hi Squid

Well done you on day 10 that's great

You have some very good reaons there to quit and it's always good to write them down

I'm sorry you have been so ill and wish you good health in the future although as you say it will take a bit of time but quitting the fags will make a huge difference which will begin to show shortly

Below is my standard welcome and advice post which I try and give all new members

Welcome to the forum and well done on the decision to quit possibly one of the most important you will ever make and you will be losing nothing but you will regain control of your life and that has to be good

You will find all the help and support you need on here as we all help each other just like a family we are here for you every step of the way cheering the good days and sympathiseing with the bad but the good far outweigh the bad

Read the posts on here you will find a lot of tips and advice and in the signatures of a lot you will find links to other sites just click on them Here are 2 I find very good to start you off whyquit.com and woofmang.com Read, read and then read some more as the more you read and learn about why you smoked and about your addiction the easier your quit will be

Post often to let us know how you're doing, to rant, rave have a moan whatever you like pretty much anything goes on here OK

Love

Marg

[nsd_user663_5137]

Thanks for that Marg.

You know in one of my moments yesterday i was surfing the net to find smoking stories etc (it actually helps me!).

Anyway i came across the Mail online story about Liz Dawn and her health problems - the ones she admitted were brought on by the fags. Anyway people made comments about it, some said they were sorry she was so ill, that she was a star etc.

One man said something like "Well she chose to smoke, it was going to get her in the end". I thought that was rather blunt but after some consideration i felt that my health problems are my own fault, and only i can help myself to get better.

This time next year i will be fit and well again i can feel it in my bones! [she says rubbing her patch]!

[nsd_user663_3728]

Hi Squid

I know what you mean about the smoking stories helping they helped me as well

Yes what that man said about Liz Dawn was blunt but to some extent true and we all do it without giving it a thought

Yes next year this time you'll be fit and well and probably well before that as well

But remember that mans words if/when you feel weak and it will really help you

Love

Margxx

[nsd_user663_4990]

Squid,

Firstly.. welcome to these lovely forums. Glad you made the decision to finally join.. lurking can be fun.. but participating is far more useful to your quit than you'll realise at first.

I note your using patches from your last post ^^, which is how i'm quitting the smoking. I'm on the last day of my 6th week before i go into my 7th week tomorrow and i can tell you definitely that what you are doing is the best possible thing you can do in your life. Giving up smoking is a big step towards reclaiming your good health back and certainly towards ensuring your kids keep you around too.

It definitely gets better, you will see some definite improvements over the first 3 weeks alone, and even more after that.. just stick at it, keep your mind and focus on your objective strong, and don't give into any cravings.. they are pure illusions and even when the going get s a little tough, get as stubborn as a mule and don't forget to seek the help of friends, or get advice on here.

Just remember, your not alone.

Make folk proud of you, this is a great thing that you are doing.

You are a none-smoker now.

[nsd_user663_5065]

Wow, that's too bad. I have been a smoker for most of 40 years (I quit for 6 years ... divorce was my excuse for restarting), and I was also feeling some effects. I have had situational asthma since I was a child and when I did heavy labour that showed up. Well, it probably would've anyway, but it scared me, so I quit.

This time, I got the following and just about died:

[*]Type A flu (think 1918 pandemic)

[*]Flu triggered Type A viral pneumonia

[*]H1N1 flu

[*]Flu triggered H1N1 viral pneumonia

[*]Bacterial pneumonia

I was hospitalized (in triage for 2.5 days, then in acute car for the rest of 9 days). I remember very little and have damage in my lungs, thus I have to quit and it's hard being forced to quit.

My youngest child, my son Kurt, passed away about a month before I got ill and I believe that is what weakened my immune system and allowed me to become so ill. At one point my internal organs shut down, and my husband was calling my relatives telling them to get ready to come.

This has been my worst year of my life, but I am determined to go on for my other children and my husband. They have all expressed that with Kurt passing away; if I also passed away, they would not be able to hold it together.

So, I have to quit. From my horrible illness, I have a partly collapsed lung which may be permanent and radiological pneumonia (clinical pneumonia is active and the patient is ill while radiological just shows on x-ray but they don't want to see anything there). They are now sending me for a CT scan to see if anything else is there.

It's been almost 3 months and I finally got to return to work last week part time. I'm going to full time next week.

So, it's hard having no choice but to quit. I happen to enjoy smoking, darn it! LOL

Sorry for such a downer posting. I guess it's been such a very hard time.

Have a great day! I'm going to try to.

Love, Kari

[nsd_user663_4990]

Canuck,

I don't see that as a downer posting, that is real life.. and the real you, and your experience certainly with this pandemic flu gives every one of us here on this forum a very real EXTRA reason to stay off the smokes.

This A-H1N1 flu is described as mild by so many, and yet, here we are in England, its been here since early May, has spread like wildfire all summer and now we in the UK being classed as the northern hemisphere are about to enter our flu season. normal seasonal flu already is a killer for certain sub-types.. but heavy smoking and the greatly reduced lung capacity that smoking causes too (not to mention the damage), makes things like Pneumonia and flu have a much larger and dangerous effect.

I do wonder if heavy smoker is classed as 'underlying health conditions' sometimes, because surely thats precisely one of the classes under their banner for that description.

Its a harsh reality, but here we are.. in the UK and the kids all due back at school soon, the pandemic flu A-H1N1 is here, it will likely be here for some years yet too, so the more we all do now to stay quit from smoking, the better our health and indeed our immune systems will be as a result.

Well i've already got this on my list of reasons for staying quit.. i hope others do the same, because in the cold light of day... this is real... very real.

Thanks Canuck, you have my profound respect for an honest post like that, i hope you go on to regain good health once more.

jase.

[nsd_user663_5065]

Thanks Jase. Your reply was inspirational and also made me feel good.

[nsd_user663_4990]

then it was as much worth taking the time to reply as it was for yours.

Chin up, i know you didn't want to really give up the smokes in your case, but you really are doing the right thing here all things considered and for that, i wish you good luck and indeed .. good health.

Jase.

[nsd_user663_5137]

Jase - i love it...i really haven’t considered myself a non-smoker but now maybe i should thanks for pointing that one out.

Joan – I have felt that “Just one” feeling, it’s not good is it. I have 6 left in the back porch with a lighter on top of the pack. I leave them there so i don’t have that blind panic BUT i find it actually helps me not to take just one. In any case i really don’t want to have to go back to the start again. Giving up smoking is like playing snakes and ladders isn’t it!

Kari – I hope you had a good day, we all need some good days. I didn’t think your message was a downer, i actually believe that talking, even if it is online, is the only way forward. I certainly felt i had a better day after off loading everything this morning, so in a way we seemed to have had our own on-line counselling session.....[group hug!]

I hardly thought about smoking at all today, especially after this morning’s post, so i can honestly say day 10 wasn’t too bad.

Personally i have great respect for people who quit, not just because i am one, but because it’s one of those amazing achievements, like running a marathon, or climbing Everest.

[nsd_user663_4964]

Big Hug to you Kari What a rough time.

Hi squid ,good luck to you, day 10 is good going.