It’s that time again.  If you read back in my posts, you can see that I have attempted to quit before.  During the week that I quit, my grandfather passed away and my cat almost died ($1000 later he was okay).  So as you can imagine, i’m walking into this with some fear.  The second I hear someone in my family isn’t feeling well or my cat starts making funny noises i’m out.  Maybe there is some sort of ancient spell cast on me, so that I must smoke in order to keep the most important things in my life alive?  Nah, I don’t think so either.  But that would be cool.

For those who are quitting along with me, I know exactly what you have going through your head.  Well, at least this is what is going through my head.

• It’s impossible.  There are a few times i’ve just thought that it is impossible.  I know that it is, I know people who have quit.  I quit for a few years a while back.  But it still worries me.  What if it just isn’t in my cards?
• I will be depressed.  I don’t know why I think i’ll be depressed….but I can imagine that during a craving i’m just going to want to curl up in a ball and go to bed. I’m hoping to curb this feeling by working out.
• Smoking calms my nerves.  I don’t know if this is just a mental thing or if it actually calms your nerves, but when i’m pissed, a cig helps.  I guess I need to work on never being pissed off then.  So, I guess that means no Internet.  Shit….
• I don’t want to start eating a ton.  I’m not super afraid of this, because I am going to be taking up working out in place of smoking.  Still worries me a bit.  On the other hand, I might avoid overeating, because I know I will crave a cigarette afterward.
• Drinking will NEVER be the same.  Ever.  It just won’t.  There are few things in my life that make me feel completely relaxed and a cigarette with my beer is one of them.  Ugh, this is going to suck.
• Being Social will be tough.  I love sitting around and talking with friends.  Smoking makes this even better, I think.  It will be hard to sit around chatting with friends without wanting to smoke a cigarette.  Double suckage.

Like everything I do in my life, I have to know every single detail about it and over prepare myself.  So I have taken to the interwebs to locate some helpful but not overbearing tips about quitting and how to quit:

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Drink plenty of acidic fruit juice the first three days. Cranberry is excellent and a bottle will cost you about the same as a pack of cigarettes. It will help to both accelerate the up to 72 hours needed to remove the alkaloid nicotine from your body and help stabilize blood sugars. Take care beyond three days as juices can be rather fattening.

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Amazingly, nicotine somehow doubles the rate by which the body depletes caffeine. Yes, your blood-serum caffeine level will double if no caffeine intake reduction is made when quitting. Although not a problem for most light to moderate caffeine users, consider cutting caffeine intake by roughly half if troubled by anxieties or experiencing difficulty relaxing or sleeping.

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After you quit, plan to celebrate the milestones in your journey to becoming a non-smoker. After two weeks of being smoke-free, see a movie. After a month, go to a fancy restaurant (be sure to sit in the non-smoking section). After three months, go for a long weekend to a favorite get-away. After six months, buy yourself something frivolous. After a year, have a party for yourself. Invite your family and friends to your “birthday” party and celebrate your new chance at a long, healthy life.

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Drink lots of water. Water is good for you anyway, and most people don’t get enough. It will help flush the nicotine and other chemicals out of your body, plus it can help reduce cravings by fulfilling the “oral desires” that you may have.

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20 minutes after quitting: Your heart rate and blood pressure drops.

12 hours after quitting: The carbon monoxide level in your blood drops to normal.

2 weeks to 3 months after quitting: Your circulation improves and your lung function increases.

1 to 9 months after quitting: Coughing and shortness of breath decrease; cilia (tiny hair-like structures that move mucus out of the lungs) regain normal function in the lungs, increasing the ability to handle mucus, clean the lungs, and reduce the risk of infection.

1 year after quitting: The excess risk of coronary heart disease is half that of a smoker’s.

5 years after quitting: Your stroke risk is reduced to that of a nonsmoker 5 to 15 years after quitting.

10 years after quitting: The lung cancer death rate is about half that of a continuing smoker’s. The risk of cancer of the mouth, throat, esophagus, bladder, cervix, and pancreas decrease.

15 years after quitting: The risk of coronary heart disease is that of a non-smoker’s.

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Based on data collected in the late 1990s, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated that adult male smokers lost an average of 13.2 years of life and female smokers lost 14.5 years of life because of smoking. And given the diseases that smoking can cause, it can steal your quality of life long before you die. Smoking-related illness can limit your activities by making it harder to breathe, get around, work, or play.

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If you have been smoking for any length of time, smoking has become linked with nearly everything you do — waking up in the morning, eating, reading, watching TV, and drinking coffee, for example. It will take time to “un-link” smoking from these activities. This is why, even if you are using a nicotine replacement, you may still have strong urges to smoke.

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One way to overcome these urges or cravings is to notice and identify rationalizations as they come up. A rationalization is a mistaken thought that seems to make sense to you at the time, but the thought is not based on reality. If you choose to believe in such a thought, it can serve as a way to justify smoking. If you have tried to quit before, you will probably recognize many of these common rationalizations:

I’ll just have one to get through this rough spot.

Today is not a good day. I’ll quit tomorrow.

It’s my only vice.

How bad is smoking, really? Uncle Harry smoked all his life and he lived to be over 90.

Air pollution is probably just as bad.

You’ve got to die of something.

Life is no fun without smoking.

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What if you do smoke? The difference between a slip and a relapse is within your control. A slip is a one-time mistake that is quickly corrected — a relapse is going back to smoking. You can use the slip as an excuse to go back to smoking, or you can look at what went wrong and renew your commitment to staying away from smoking for good.

Even if you do relapse, try not to get too discouraged. Very few people are able to quit for good on the first try. In fact, it takes most people many attempts before quitting for good. What’s important is figuring out what helped you when you tried to quit and what worked against you. You can then use this information to make a stronger attempt at quitting the next time.

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• For the first few days after you quit smoking, spend as much free time as you can in public places where smoking is not allowed. (Places like libraries, malls, museums, theaters, restaurants without bars, and churches are mostly smoke-free, and there may be more in your area.)

• Don’t drink alcohol, coffee, or any other drinks you link with smoking. Try something else instead — maybe different types of waters, sports drinks, or 100% fruit juices. Look for drinks that are low- or no-calorie.

• If you miss the feeling of having a cigarette in your hand, hold something else — a pencil, a paper clip, a coin, or a marble, for example.

• If you miss the feeling of having something in your mouth, try toothpicks, cinnamon sticks, sugarless gum, sugar-free lollipops, or celery. Some people chew on a straw or stir stick.

• Avoid temptation — stay away from situations you link with smoking.

• Find new habits and create a non-smoking environment around you.

• Be ready for future situations or crises that might make you want to smoke again, and think of all the important reasons you have decided to quit. To remind yourself of these reasons, you may want to put a picture of your children (or other people who are important to you) in your workplace. Or keep one handy in your purse or wallet.

• Take deep breaths to relax. Picture your lungs filling with fresh, clean air.

• Remember your goal and the fact that the urges to smoke will get better over time.

• Think positive thoughts about how awesome it is that you are quitting smoking and getting healthy — try to avoid negative ones. Remember that quitting is a learning process. Be patient with yourself.

• Brush your teeth and enjoy that fresh taste.

• Exercise in brief bursts (try alternate tensing and relaxing muscles, push-ups, deep knee bends, walk up a flight of stairs, or touch your toes).

• Call a supportive friend, family member, or a telephone stop-smoking help-line.

• Eat 4 to 6 small meals during the day instead of 1 or 2 large ones. This keeps your blood sugar levels steady, your energy balanced, and helps prevent the urge to smoke. Avoid sugary or spicy foods that may trigger a desire for cigarettes.

• Above all, reward yourself for doing your best. Give yourself rewards often if that’s what it takes to keep going. Plan to do something fun.

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When you get the “crazies”

• Keep substitutes to put in your mouth handy, such as carrots, pickles, apples, celery, raisins, or sugar-free gum.

• Take 10 deep breaths, and hold the last one while lighting a match. Exhale slowly and blow out the match. Pretend it is a cigarette and put it out in an ashtray.

• Take a shower or bath.

• Learn to relax quickly and deeply. Make yourself go limp. Think about a soothing, pleasing situation, and imagine yourself there. Get away from it all for a moment. Focus on that peaceful image and nothing else.

• Light incense or a candle instead of a cigarette.

• Tell yourself “no.” Say it out loud. Practice doing this a few times, and listen to yourself. Some other things you can say to yourself might be, “I’m too strong to give in to smoking,” “I’m a non-smoker now,” or “I don’t want to let my friends and family down.”

• Never allow yourself to think that “one cigarette won’t hurt,” because it very likely will.

• Wear a rubber band around your wrist. Whenever you have a thought about smoking, snap it against your wrist to remind yourself of all the unpleasant reasons that made you want to quit in the first place. Then remember that you will not always need a rubber band to help you stay in line with your plans to quit.

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Alright, that’s enough information.  Good luck to you and more importantly good luck to me Smoking is disgusting and nobody wants to die from lung cancer.  Plus, why the hell would we want to give money to some scumbag cigarette manufactures who are killing millions of people just so they can drive a helicopter to work everyday.  FUCK THAT. FUCK SMOKING.

Love,

Jamie