Thanks for your response Jenny! I am feeling pretty good today. I am so happy about you reaching Day 20. That is truly amazing!! I am back to 6 lozenges a day. I don't know when and if I will ever reduce my intake, sadly. But, I don't feel too bad about it anymore. I respect and admire you and everyone else here who fought the good fight and won the battle. For now, I will do what I can! So proud of you!!

Thank you for sharing your story. I wish there was something I could do to ease your pain. I can feel your predicament and how challenging and scary the thought of quitting smoking is at this moment. Perhaps you can see your quitting as something that will improve your life, and in the long term, give you great satisfaction and even, joy! And listen, I am not that strong of a person either okay I used to smoke cigarettes from the ages of 20 to 41. I quit smoking cigarettes at 41 by using the nicotine lozenges. I am now 51 and still using the lozenges I use 6 a day. They don't stay in my mouth for long at all. I'd say I suck on each one for a minute, sometimes not even that long... So listen.. I really don't know why I am still doing this but I do have a problem. It is a mild and yey still strong addiction. I don't smoke, but this summer I did have some bad cravings so I had three in August... All in a row. The power nicotine has over its victims is relentless. But I want you to know something. Get HOPE in you! Hope is what fires up determination, and we need determination if we are to win this battle. God be with you, and know I will be praying for you!! Post here often. Read what you can to help you... And lastly, turn to prayer.

Hello  - I hear your pain and suffering and can relate.  I just wondered if you have ever considered self-hypnosis.  I found some great self-hypnosis sites on WWW and used it quite often to convince myself I wanted to quit smoking.  Although nothing seemed to happen right away, I am an certain that it helped ease the way through my quit.  My quit wasn't completely without discomfort, but I did not go through a lot of resistance or anxiety or withdrawal when I quit.  I woke up one day, and didn't smoke.  Even that was not a conscious effort.  I did the same thing for the next few days, about four or 5.  Then I thought, well, maybe this is a good time to quit - which was a conscious decision however, I still did not experience rough withdrawal or anxiety.  I did have a few cravings after several weeks into my quite where I had to surf the quit crave wave, but otherwise, my quit was very easy. Almost too easy.  A real blessing that I would take full advantage of.  Quit for 3 years plus now.

Anyway, while I do not think hypnosis will make you quite instantly, I think it helps in a subconscious sort of way, to make it easier to quit smoking.    

And, bonus, when you quit, your anxiety is reduced in a very meaningful and noticeable way, almost immediately.

Trust me, if I can quit, anybody can.  

CHeers to you!! You are on the right track.  Its the best thing you can do for yourself, your family and your friends.

Thank you, I have been listening to  u tube hypnosis  videos for about a year now. I totally agree there is alot to it Paul McKenna does one on my play list that is one the ones I believe is most beneficial. Deep relaxation videos help to keep me focused on getting this insanity a part of my past.  One of my very first attempts to quit was about twenty years ago, It was a half hearted attempt, looking back now I know a smaller part of my mind wanted to quit and the majority of my conscious mind  didn't. I saw an ad in the newspaper for a stop smoking hypnosis seminar, and decided why not go and see what it was all about. I was skeptical, mostly because like I said ,it was a half hearted attempt and I think most of my mind did not want to quit. There had to be over a couple hundred people in attendance. I learned back then that Hypnosis is real and effective. The gentlemen heading up the seminar started, by saying, I'm sure you all saw blue garbage cans by the entrance to the room. He went on to say he guarantees by the end of the session ALL of us would  willingly throw our smokes in the barrels when we left. My skepticism about the whole thing doubled when he said that. Half way through, the Hypnotist said we are are going to take a break, you all can go out to the lobby and have your last smoke break. It probably was more than twenty years ago because smoking inside buildings was still considered to be an acceptable thing people did. Smoking sections in restaurants hadn't even to been thought of or implemented. The whole restaurant was a smoking section. But any way, me like everybody else couldn't wait to get to the lobby and spark up. I remember clouds of smoke, remember hundreds of people were there. Looking back I don't think alot of us really even needed to light up we could have just went to the spacious lobby and breathed the air to get our needed doses. I also remember thinking, aren't we all a bunch of hypocrites? Were here wanting to kick the habit, but having two or three smokes on the break. Needless to say, when the seminar was over, we ALL did willingly.and gladly,throw our Marlboros and Newports in the blue cans on the way out. I left feeling like a big cloud over my head had lifted. I did not sleep for two full days after, because I did not want to wake up without the feeling of empowerment I was feeling. It was amazing, Most of me didn't really want to stop, at that time, but I threw my smokes in the can and didn't even miss them until three days later. After waking up  that third day I did not have the feeling of no need to smoke. I tried to to remember  the self hypnosis tips the Hypnotist suggested we do to keep the feeling. I couldn't get it to come back after some honest effort for another day. It didn't happen, and quite honestly it didn't bother me to much, because, like I said, it was a less than half hearted attempt,and most of me really loved to smoke. It's funny how all these later that failed, half hearted attempt is paying dividends now because it never left me how we ALL through our smokes in the can even though most of me didn't want to. I believe in power of Hypnosis it has helped me in the last year to get my daily intake back down to the pack a day habit, that ballooned to two and half to three a couple years ago. Keep the Faith fighting the good fight. God Bless.

Hi, this might help indirectly with your version of the blockades we face to successfully kick this. I definitely can relate about your bloating issues. All the antibiotics I took for years made bloating a permanent part of my life still now after I stopped the ANX over a year and half ago when the infection spread despite all the strongest ABX. I found probiotics, fiber (meta mucil and more foods rich in fiber, gave some relief to the bloating caused by constipation caused by all the ABX. I say this might help indirectly with our fight, because if my suggestions help then you'll feel better to have more ability to fight Nico Demon byl lessening or eliminating a strong urge to smoke trigger for you. My bloating is due to constipation, as I said. Other things Other things could be the cause of your bloating, even if they are, the probiotics and fiber which is good for the probiotics to multiply would make you feel better in a lot of ways that you, may, or may not, be able to identify directly in your mind,  you might just know,your feeling better.I have had a considerable amount of time since since becoming disabled to research on the web many topics .I put more effort researching the probiotic issue than other than alot of others, and do believe, what is being  revealed now, is that a healthy gut is key to  good health in more ways than we ever considered. To leave this thought on a less somber serious  note., I have said to my wife, and others, an almost normal trip to the porcelain fixture, which are still far and, way to few between, make for a good (at least better) day for me. Keep fighting the good fight ,and quit beating yourself up about using nicotine replacement. My last credible attempt to quit I went the first two days no smoke or nic gum then started the nic gum when the mind started started screaming loud. I want a Marlboro now. While NRT may be keeping the addiction alive in a reduced way, it is still far less detrimental to your health than smoking, Before my return to insanity I was just learning to use normal gum sometimes instead , to beat down Nico demons demands,and it would work, in combination with diverting my thoughts to something other than a Marlboro. Mike

Jenny,

Sounds like you've had a non-smoker inside of you just wanting to get out!  I totally relate to your recent dreams--I dreamt the other night that some guy from TV was scolding me for holding an un-lit cigarette.  It was weird, I was like, "What, I'm just holding this cigarette I wasn't going to light it."  Pretty easy to interpret that, huh?   I'm putting my shame to good use this time, and this quit feels more therapeutic.  And I always forget that my anxiety levels go from like a 6 to a 2 after a couple weeks smoke free.  

I also had a parking lot encounter after yoga last week. . . I saw a guy from class pull in the back part of the lot where I park and then he got out of his car and lit up a cigarette!  I thought briefly about going over there to bum one from him, but then I remembered NOPE (not one puff ever) and just got in my truck and drove away.  

Now I'm off to google Anne2020's suggestions about self-hypnosis, because I think that she is spot-on with that.  The key is changing our subconscious minds.  

Oh, my daughter is 18.  Such a sweet kid.  She's so happy I don't smoke anymore, even though I hardly ever smoked around her.  She said she could still smell it on me sometimes and that it made her feel sad, like why would I do something that seemed so yucky. 

Have a great rest of the week and thanks for being here.

Thank you, Anne, this is brilliant!  I have been practicing meditation for awhile now but that involves letting my mind wander as it will, so the self-hypnosis visualizing myself as a permanent non-smoker is going to be so helpful.  

I'm at day 26, stepping down from the NRT but taking it easy.  This quit seems a lot less edgy than previous attempts and coincidentally this is my first time ever in a smoking support group.  Makes all the difference.  Thank you so much for being here.   

WELL DONE ON YOUR PROGRESS - EfinallyQuit - 

I truly believe that the self hypnosis made my quit much, much easier.  Visualizing yourself a non-smoker living a non-smoking lifestyle is excellent practice for your whole self.  You got it!  I am sure it makes it easier to cope through this huge lifestyle change.  Another great weapon against an awful addiction. 

VISUALIZING is definitely on track.    

Cheers!

Mike,

Are we ok to talk colon stuff in here, cause I could go on forever about that one. I hope anyone squeamish will just scroll past, but I’ll keep it brief and with as little detail as I can manage. My colon doesn’t work like it’s supposed to and I had it rip open a couple years ago. I never knew how dangerous constipation could be! For years, I’d often been going 2-3 weeks without anything happening, which apparently isn’t ok.
Anyhoo, I know keeping the gut happy can make a huge difference in so many ways. I have to do and eat a lot of things to keep from things getting dangerous again, and even then, there’s been some scares.

I’ve read that constipation is a common problem for people recently quitting smoking and I take any (reasonable) chance I get to share how dangerous constipation can be. It sounds like you are watching it closely and doing what you need to do. So many of us don’t think much of it.
My doctors gave me a 1 in 5 chance of survival. It isn’t something to mess around with. 
Jenny

Erika,

Smoking dreams really are interesting and often easy to interpret. Also, often strange, lol. Well, dreams in general are strange. My dream that ended with the cop started with me escaping from some place that wasn’t going to let me smoke. I think that came from the conversation we had about smoking rehab. It’s a serious rehab when you have to escape and they chase you down and call the cops, right? 

I think the parking lot encounters are some of the hardest times for me to resist. If I buy a pack, I know darn well I will smoke the entire thing and buy at least a couple more to get a cheat week in. That cheat week rarely stays at a week, of course. ‍?? My addict mind tells me that by bumming off someone, I can easily only have 1. My sane mind knows that just that 1 will awaken the Nicodemon and leave me very vulnerable to getting more. 
Even with that, it’s hard. I do feel like I won when I keep going without stopping the person, though, so I look forward to that feeling as I briefly contemplate throwing my quit away.

Our daughters are close in age! No one saw me smoke this past year, but my husband and daughter knew that I was. My daughter had told me she wanted me to quit, so I’m sure she’s happy I did. I mean, who wants their parent filling themselves full of toxins? 
Jenny