Hi Jenny. Cross stitching did it for me. It's hard to think of smoking when your concentrating on your work. Have a stack of finished work. Now have to frame them all. Another project. I quit on July 4th. Independence day. I'm retired now and wished I never started this nasty addiction. Your still young and have a family. Just take one day at a time. Good luck with your quit.

Jenny... You are doing great. You are managing your emotions about your husband's lack of interest and your friend freaking out well. Good for you. You did not smoke. Good on you! Cross stitching sounds good. It will keep your hands busy. For me, exercise is working. I am still using 6 lozenges a day but it is a big improvement from using 12 a day. Let us continue to share and support one another!

Hi Jenny,

You are doing great and hopefully had a wonderful day working on that cross stitch project.  When I quit I thought my daughter would be so happy for me but it was like she really didn't care or thought I wouldn't stay quit.  I also think she was disappointed in me for even smoking in the first place, even though it was over 25 years before she even came into the world.  I'm saying this because maybe your husband is just afraid if he gets his hopes up, he might be disappointed.  It's really hard for a non-smoker to understand what it is like to go through this and the level of effort it takes.  At first it was just exhausting for me to get through the day battling the cravings and resisting the triggers.  Go to the people that support you even if they may be virtual in this forum.  I can't even imagine I would have been successful without my quit buddies here.  Sure I had friends here but most of them are smokers and I think they were even secretly jealous of me succeeding (including my husband who still smokes).  You can do this my friend...just take it one day at a time and come here and vent and post all the feelings, struggles and accomplishments you have.  That is exactly what the forum is for.  Even if you just post "Yay I made it through another day smoke free!" and get the kudos you deserve for that.

This is so encouraging Cindi. I am not at a quit with the lozenges yet, but I feel good reducing to 6 a day from 12 a day. Some days I have 7. Some days I have 5. But I am  averaging 6 a day. I don't know if I will ever be home free, but my anxiety has really gone down now, so at this point I am really happy!

Hi Jerthie,

You're doing great.  Going down from 12 is a huge accomplishment.  I never tried lozenges but it has to be better than smoking with less of the harmful chemicals.  Keep trying to reduce when you can.  You may have posted this already, but have you talked to your doctor about the anxiety?  Maybe they can recommend something to help you with that.

Keep up the great work.

Stay strong Jenny. It's worth the effort. The nicotine is out of your system in 3-4 days.

Paul

Cindi, thank you so much for your insight. I think that’s probably why my husband doesn’t give a lot of support. He really is amazing in so many ways and very much so doesn’t want me to smoke. I was confused by why I can’t get him to even check in every night about my quit, but it makes more sense now. I know it’s disappointing for me when I lose a quit, so I’m sure it is for him, too. 

I made it through day 3!

Thank you Cindi. Like I said, I feel pretty good. I do see a psychiatrist who prescribes medication for my bipolar disorder. The anxiety is not so much illness based, but due to my relationship life. I am seeing a relationship counsellor soon. I have a consultation tomorrow morning. I do need help. Closing the door temporarily on a relationship that was causing the amxiety has helped. Going for walks has also been therapeautic! Day by day. This forum helps me a lot too. Thank you again for your kind words!

Ginger, I’m so happy to hear cross stitch worked well for you! I do hope it both gives me something to do with my hands and keeps my mind off unhelpful thoughts. I had carpal tunnel surgery in August on both wrists, so this will be my trial run for how good my hands are. I wouldn’t have even been considering trying it 3 years ago, so I’m excited! I got everything set up yesterday and will start stitching today  

Jenny

Jerthie, thank you so much! I’m always happy to see your messages. I love that I can come here to get a pat on the back when needed. Emotional stuff is so hard when quitting, since anything can be an excuse to give up. My quit last November had me try to use the excuse of my lasagna noodles being over cooked. I had to laugh when the thought occurred to me, so I wasn’t really in danger over it, but it sure reminded me of how much I can use cigarettes as a comforter. 
I hope your day is going well. 6 lozenges is so much less than 12, so I hope you feel some amount of victory with that!

Jenny