Really High Carbon Monoxide Reading!

[nsd_user663_5207]

Well I have just got back from my first meeting with the smoking cessation advisor and am going to go for Zyban - I've taken the letter to my doctors and hopefully will be able to collect them and start taking them on Friday.

The meeting with the advisor was really good and even prior to that I had made my list of things to do when I feel a craving, why I want to quit, what I'm going to spend my money on, how I'm going to spend all my extra free time. This is the most positive I have ever been about a quit (have tried many, many times before).

However, when I did the blow in a tube to get your carbon monoxide reading thingy mine was really high and i REALLY HIGH!

I wonder if anyone can put my mind at rest by telling me that they had really high readings as I have been in panic mode ever since - convinced that it means that it is too late and that there is already something really terrible wrong with me. :eek:

I'll post what mine was later...just want to see what others had.

[nsd_user663_4990]

Ok heres something to aim for.. get another check done after 4 days of not smoking, and see the difference... most folk see a drastic reduction in Carbon Monoxide after this point.

just stick to the plan of not smoking and you'll see

[nsd_user663_4625]

Co2

Hiya Unglegirl,

If it puts your mind at rest might was way over the heavy smoker scale before I quit & I do mean WAY over.

When I went back to wekks later it was negligble as it should be.

It's NEVER too late to quit.

Good luck, you can do it.

Love Gaynor x

[nsd_user663_5207]

Thanks guys for the positive posts!

I'm feeling much better about things and am crossing everything in the hope that I will be able to pick up the tablets from the doctors on Friday so that I don't have to wait until Monday to get started! When I gave the receptionist the letter she just said that my doctor had any issues with prescribing Zyban for me and I haven't heard anything yet so hopefully it'll all go through smoothly.

I know that there are lots of horror stories about Zyban but the only two people that I know that have taken it had really good experiences and only suffered the mild side-effects (insomnia/dreams/dry mouth). One friend kept a diary when she gave up and is going to lend it to me so that I can read how she was feeling through her quit, knowing that she had bad days but is still a non-smoker!

I'm back to feeling positive and releived that Gaynor had a really high reading and that it will go straight back to how it should be a coule of days after I quit.

[nsd_user663_1658]

hi unglegirl,

welcome to the forum, My reading was quite high, & when i went back like gaynor a week late it was that of a non smoker(between 0-5) the carbon monoxide is the first signs of improvements once quit, it gives you a huge boost. well done & good luck x

[nsd_user663_4149]

Come on then u, what was your reading?

[nsd_user663_1658]

me!!!ill need to fish my little card out my bag i will post it later, it was in the 30s i think?? what was yours david?

[nsd_user663_3728]

Hi Unglegirl

Well done on the decision to quit as for the CO test mimes was very high at 34 but a week later doen to 2 so it makes a vast difference in a very short space of time

Below is my standard wlecome and advice post which I try and sned 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_5207]

Thanks again guys!

My reading was 43!!!!!!

By the time I got to the pub (I needed a half of cider at that point) I had convinced myself that the reading was so high because I must have lung cancer and it was high because I had less room in my lungs for the carbon monoxide and oxygen, so the mix was higher! Thankfully my very good friend who quit said hers was high (not as high as mine) and together with the (rather nice) half of cider I managed to calm down a bit and take the letter to my doctors

[nsd_user663_4149]

me!!!ill need to fish my little card out my bag i will post it later, it was in the 30s i think?? what was yours david?

Mine was fairly low KitKat about 23 I think. Down to 2 the next week though. Young girl there had about 47 though. David

[nsd_user663_4625]

My CO2 result when first quit

Found mine now! Had to go back to my first posts as couldn't remember. Here you go:

Been to the docs today & had my CO2 tested. Gone from a 4.2 off the scale heavy smoker to a 0.16 bottom of the scale n0n-smoker. Worth it all to see that G. xx

Good luck for today.

Gaynor xx

[nsd_user663_23911]

My first reading was 63!

Down to 16 after the first week of cutting down.

We did an experiment too...

One week my reading was 9. Then I had a cigarette and they re-tested - it had shot up to 40 from just one ciggie.

Very useful/motivating to know how just one will affect my body so drastically - by the way, they said I'm not the norm, for some reason I'm very susceptible to carbon monoxide.

[nsd_user663_22320]

The other thing you have to remember with the CO test, is that the reading also depends upon how recently you had smoked a cancer stick. So if you had only just put one out, the reading would be higher.