Jerthie,

thank you for checking in on me I didn’t make it through day 7. Going for it again on Saturday. I just have to ignore my many excuses of why to wait until Tuesday. 
I seem to have some issue with being home alone. My husband told me he had to leave for a few days and I almost immediately went and bought a pack. I’m sure there’s some psychological thing going on there. Most likely something to do with my closet smoking. Really need to figure out how to get through that before his next trip. 
I’m so happy you’re doing good! You must be around 3 months now?
jenny

Jenny.. It's okay. You had a slip, but here you are determined to quit again. You have not given up on yourself. You are trying to understand yourself, so you can be better for your next quit. That gives you hope Jenny. You have hope, and that is important! You keep on truckin', and I am just a post away if you need a sounding board!

Hi there! I'm excited and nervous to have found this space. :)  So far there has been a great amount of information here. So, thank you!!

I am on day 11 of my first time ever trying to quit. Honestly...I'm not sure I can say that because I had one disgusting drag off one of my old cig butts I saw laying on the ground 2 days ago.  I know that re-introduced nicotine into my system...but I didn't go buy a pack and I haven't smoked anything since then.

Anyway...I smoked for 35 years. I'm struggling daily with cravings. 

Welcome!!!  Sounds like you're doing great!!  Browse around the forum and take advantage of the great articles on VeryWellMind.  And great job on not buying a pack.... it's a tough road but you can do this.  I also smoked for over 35 years and next March I'll be smoke free 5 years.  Never thought I'd be able to say that.

You have come to the right place for support on your journey to quit. There is both encouragement and connection here. There is also a lot of useful and technical information too. It is great that you didn't end up buying another pack after you gave in that night, and you only took one drag, so that is just the tiniest of slips. Very nice recovery! Hope to connect with you again soon, and keep on doing what you are doing because you will get there!

Hello all. Rathe than start a new piece, I thought I would just respond to one of the messages from Cindi. I am reading Allen Carr's Easy Way to Stop Smoking, it is amazing. So far today i have had 3 lozenges, I started three weeks ago at 12 a day, went down to 6 a day, a few days had 7, a few days had 5, today I am at 3, and feeling good! I am proud of my progress. Slow but steady. I am not at a full on quit yet, but I think I am finally realizing that maybe, just maybe with this continued resolve to reduce and reduce and read Allen Carr and hop on this forum, then maybe just maybe, I too can be free!!! Oh gosh, what would it feel like to ve truly and completely through with nicotine? Allen Carr's book is really helping me. It is what has kept me at only 3 today. I can now see illusions created by nicotine. I can now see that nicotine all summer long did not ease my anxiety. It only took away the withdrawal pangs that were created by the lozenge prior! So the situations causing my anxiety were never addressed at all. And the nicotine from the lozenges made the anxiety worse. In fact I got to the point where I had no clue at all what I was feeling... Stress, hunger, anxiety, depression, irritability. So many issues going on in my personal life. I thought to give up the lozenges would be too stressful. But this past summer I was never more anxious in my entire life! Hence, getting up to 12 a day! It took some effort to get down to 6 a day, and at 6 I thought I would be happy and satisfied. I am... But not really. I have had 3 today. I will probably have one more before I go to bed just because that is the most critical one for me. But I can honestly say that I can do a lot of things without using the lozenges now! More updates tomorrow or the day next. God bless us all!

That is great news!!!  Please keep that way of thinking and take on tomorrow!  You can do this!

Thanks Cindi! I am making reducing to eventually quitting nicotine one of my top priorities now. Other things may not get done in the same orderly way they used to get done, but oh well! If they used to take nicotine in order to get done, no thank you anymore to that! They will stay undone until I can do them without thinking I need the nicotine to help me concentrate. Allen Carr's book is helping me a lot! Today I have a bunch of things to do on my list. It is snowing and cold out which depresses me a bit. Perfect excuse to have a lozenge to get me motivated to start tackling a few things. But today, no thank you. Anyways, sorry my dad is calling me. Will continue later!

That is a great attitude.  Yes Allen Carr's book is very good and I'm glad it's helping you.  We have snow too... not really sticking yet but it's coming down.  Hope you have a great day and tackle the things on your list!

Yes Cindi, thank you for your response. The more I continue to delay taking the next lozenge, the stronger i feel! Yesterday I had only 4. Today I have had only 2. I did want one half an hour ago, what kept me away from giving in was what Allen Carr said. What we are experiencing when we feel restless or irritable is likely not anxiety. It is the pangs of withdrawal caused by needing a nicotine feeding. This goes away when you feed yourself nicotine but only for a minute. And then the withdrawal continues and just gets worse! I hate this. I find I can skip lozenges I used to think I couldn't live without. Three weeks ago by this time I would have already had 6, but here I am today at this time only taking 2. It is important for me to celebrate this very small win as a win, and not be frustrated that I am not at 100% off of nicotine. I find that eating when I really want to eat helps me to stay away as well. In the past, I would pop a lozenges in my mouth if I felt like it was too early to eat my next meal. Now if I need to eat before dinner, I eat instead of staving off my hunger with a lozenge. I feel good about where I am. The more I read of Allen Carr's book, the more light is shed on why I smoked and why I still use nicotine in another form. Anyways, I did get a few things done already, and without using the lozenge! I needed it at the time but I didn't use it. As a result, my need and dependence is being decreased! I find the only time I am using lozenges now is when I am finding myself clawing away beyond my control to open my package. Other than that I delay and resist and delay and resist! I will continue to keep you all posted on my progress!!