Topic I've Avoided

[newtobikesmama]

bits-I am in the same boat, although I haven't been smoking as long. I am waiting for the weather to get nice enough to ride every day. I quit smoking for four days last week and started up again when I was bored. How lame is that?? Good luck to you!!!

[LizzyBee]

Wow, that takes some courage to admit that, thank you for posting it and sharing it with us. I can't relate to the smoking but I struggle with my own demons as everyone does. Be patient with yourself and if you are ready to make changes, you do it on your timetable.

Take care!
Liz

[nancielle]

Good luck on quitting. Been there, done that. If you haven't already done so, you might want to check out the NY State quit site http://www.nysmokefree.com/ for some additional support.

[Zen]

I don't think some (not all) of these comments from non smokers add to the conversation. Bad direction for a drift.

[rocknrollgirl]

I smoked for about 8 years. Quitting was the hardest thing I have ever done. You CAN do it. I was totally addicted. Pack a day habit and I quit cold turkey. If there had been drugs available, I would have taken them.

You will feel so much better.

You can do this......

[andtckrtoo]

I could never judge you - I smoked for 14 years. Started at 18, quit at 32.

I quite, then took up mountain biking. Best thing I ever did.

Two things - First - there is nothing wrong with trying and not succeeding - you're learning about what works for you. Second - When you are truly ready to quit, you will know it and you will quit. I knew the last time I quit and "stayed quit" that that was it. I used nicorette. It was not easy - I actually had a harder time with handling stress than I did the oral fixation. I finally realized that it was the act of inhaling (aka deep breathing) that relaxed me and once I started working on that, I was able to better deal with my stress.

Have fun riding!!

[dinabean]

Best of luck to you. I know there can be bad side effects from Chantix, so check into it carefully for you, but if you find yourself really struggling, do check into it. My Mom smoked for 40+ years. She quit once for almost 3 years, then went back to it. Chantix is what finally got her to change the habit, and her physical urge to smoke is completely gone (she still struggles with some mental/habit urges from time to time, but the physical "no" is so overpowering now that she really has no desire to pick it up again). It is very effective when nothing else is (she had tried therapy, hypnosis, nicorette, wellbutrin, and all sorts of other natural and unnatural aids to quitting in the past, to no avail).

For some reason, despite growing up around my Mom and swearing I would never, ever, smoke, I still picked up the habit in grad school and continued until I was preggers with my first child. So I know how hard it can be, too. Good luck, and hang in there.