Tiny-

Please know that 9 hours is a HUGE deal!! The beginning that is the hardest and trust me, everyone on this forum understands and respects that, please don't think differently! Thinking about quitting being forever still overwhelms me too! Like you, I take it moment by moment, day by day - there is no need to add any additional pressure! I think you are doing great and hope you are able to stick with it. If you slip, no worries - we will help you back up, dust you off, and encourage you to keep going! We all are human and are trying our best to beat this thing! Treat yourself to that kit kat! I just bought sugar free fruit pops, maybe give those a try as well? Ice water is good, are you using a straw? A lot of people say that helps. I have also heard of people breathing through a straw to mimic smoking. I would suggest deep breathing, for me it really helps. 

Is your husband at least being supportive? That must be hard to be around. Any chance he is interested in quitting as well?

I know he wants to quit, I think he's just seen me try and fail after a day or so. He doesn't want to throw everything away and then have to buy more and start all over. I haven't tried the straw thing but it does make sense. I had one this morning. The mornings are so dang hard. I wake up, jump out of bed and start the hunt. He had them in a jacket pocket. Does anyone else experience this? I feel so low. I was doing great and now it's down the pooper, yet again. 

You have not failed - you are just still practicing!! Practice makes perfect :)

I TOTALLY understand what you mean about waking up and starting the hunt - for me, the mornings were the worst! I would wake up and immediately head outside to smoke. I actually ended up sleeping with the patch on, despite the crazy vivid dreams - when I woke up with it on, I was much more productive than if I took it off to sleep. When I took it off to sleep, I would wake up feeling like a zombie and would have NO motivation whatsoever. I would just sit on the couch and try not to cry ( I cried a lot during my quit and that is so not my style!). 

It makes me sad to hear you say you feel down, beating yourself up is not helpful, Tiny!! Be proud of yourself for trying and showing up! Showing is 80% or more of the battle!! Use this moment to understand what went wrong, and have a plan for the next time. 

When I quit, I smoked my last cigarette before bed on a Friday night - that way, when I woke up, I already had a number of hours under my belt. I slapped on a patch when I woke up and then, I did absolutely nothing on Saturday. Not even joking, I think I watched 6 movies that day (maybe 5, I watched every Lethal Weapon movie made lol). I was afraid to do anything else as I thought it would make we want to smoke. My plan was to sleep the weekend away, but that didn't work out. When Sunday came, I was little bit braver and actually ate something, but still took it easy otherwise. 

With time, I realized I still felt "empty" in the morning if that makes sense. So I began to exercise in the am vs. doing it at night - it gave me something to do and helped pass the time. It wasn't much fun at first, but after a week or so, I developed a routine and it became easier. Then, JerseyDee turned me on to yoga and now I love it! 

All in all, be patient and try not to beat yourself up or have negative thoughts. Quitting is hard - we spent numerous years making that a habit and it is going to take a while to break it! There is NO shame in that!

Keep your head up high and know that it will happen for you :)

Thank you, I really needed to hear that. Its smoke break time for everyone but I'm staying in today so I don't have to see or smell them. I'll start taking walks soon, but the way out building is, and you can't smoke on the property, I'm pretty much forced to get near them if I want to walk the loop around the building. You can't leave the property for a break so I'm kind of stuck for now. I've got a lozenge in, and that helps. I'm going to try sleeping with the patch on, even though it does make me a little pink. I keep on telling myself how much I want to be free of this addiction and I just have to keep trying. I'm going to post a lot today, so be prepared to hear some hormones coming out.

Elizaquits said:

I used the 14mg for the recommended 2 weeks, and then over a weekend, went down to the 7mg. This time, I did not notice the difference! I was convinced I would, but for one reason or another I did not! Actually, there were a few days where I forgot to even put the patch on! I took this as a good sign :)

Thanks Eliza.  I am going to the 7mg patch tomorrow and appreciate you sharing the above.  I would be lying if I said I was not a little anxious.  I have been wearing the 14mg way over the 24 hours sometimes cos I just forget to change it out and have been ok with that most the time.

The only advice I would add is buy the name brand because they adhere better. (But they are stronger....I had a bad experience switching to them like Jeff)  If you are outside a lot, sweat, or swim use a waterproof tape with it.  This will make a big difference and you won’t waste patches.

Congrats  for coming off the patch successfully!  You go, girl!

Peggy

5-8-20

Of course! I will keep reminding you! :)

How was the rest of your day/this morning? 

Hey Peggy!

Let me know what you think of the 7mg, hopefully you wont notice much of a difference!

How is your quit going otherwise?

I just made it 24 hours!!!!! And I even had time to make breakfast, now that I'm not smoking. This is good.

Excellent! Way to go!  Knew you could do it!  

YAY!! 

Now we work towards 48!