The first week wasn't really hard, because I had actually quit about mid-August for 2 weeks, but fell back on the first of September...and near about choked to death when I lit up, and the taste was NASTY! I puffed *at it* for about 3 days, and just could NOT hack that NASTY taste! THAT is when I threw more than a 1/2 pack in the garbage, and haven't looked back! The 2nd week was hard with the cravings...the same cravings that always *broke* my will power with other attempts...but, I would think about that NASTY taste the week before, and I would go jump in the shower and just STAND there! I took MANY showers that one day, and since then the urges have been very mild...easy to deal with! I still have those *fleeting* thoughts, but I can distract my mind with my birds. I also had a rubber band that I wore on my right wrist, and when I would catch myself reaching out for a cigarette (even though there were NONE)...I would pop my wrist HARD with that rubberband, and distracted my mind from the *habit* to the *STING* from the rubberband, and it stopped me from reaching for a while! It took me a couple days of severely abusing my wrist...but, I learned NOT to reach! I also think that by breaking the habit of reaching, helped to make my mind more acceptant to the change of NOT smoking! I have smoked for 29 years, I have TRIED to stop for 28 years! I have been through every *trick* & gimmick out there to help me quit, I've been to multi cessation classes & lectures...NONE of which worked very long! But, I truly believe that I have truly chosen to quit for *ME* this time (I live alone with my birds), and NOT because someone ELSE was *bugging* me to quit! I was told many times over the years that IF I was really *ready* to quit for *ME*, that quitting wouldn't be as hard as the previous attempts I made by *someone else's* pressures! And, I have found those words to ring so true THIS time! Congrats to ALL for their choice for *Health*, and Good Luck to ALL on your success! God Bless us ALL! Betty2 [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 9/4/2006 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 11 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 178 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $77 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 1 [B]Hrs:[/B] 13 [B]Mins:[/B] 23 [B]Seconds:[/B] 59

1st day : physical withdrawal symptoms only !( sweating, shortness of breath , blocked nose) 2nd day : physical only 3rd day: wanted to smoke badly 4th day : again craved for it and ate like hell 5th day : no cravings , no physical symptoms and on diet that is all for now

Togh call this 37 days and varies dramatically I thought get a week out the way and I will be fine.... some days are good some are bad. I dont get the cravings that are supposed to last a few momwnts but I do have days when I feel b awful and days when I feel great! One thing I do know is that Old Nick is not coming back into my life EVER!!! Phil [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 8/9/2006 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 37 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 747 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] �166.5 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 7 [B]Hrs:[/B] 16 [B]Mins:[/B] 55 [B]Seconds:[/B] 11

I am 9 days smoke free and using zyban. Zyban really works but the habit of having something to do with my hands and mouth is what gets me down the most. I really loved smoking, it was part of who I am and now.....now there is an empty feeling. But I can breath better now, and I haven't had an asthma attack in 2 weeks. I can take a deep breath and it does not burn my chest. I get the urge to light up but I won't. I breath. From Bonny [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 8/2/2006 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 9 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 385 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $288 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 0 [B]Hrs:[/B] 18 [B]Mins:[/B] 37 [B]Seconds:[/B] 55

Hey all, I am on day four. Today not to bad. Although I got a really bad craving becuase my kid was cranky in a store. Day one and two were like clock work. My cravings came exactly when I used to smoke. Like pretty much on the hour. Those days were hard, alot of other unusal stuff happened that day. Day 3 was ok, until about midday. I got strange physical withdrawls. Then I got angry, then giddy, then very energitic. What a weird day. I felt a little insane. (in fact I am scared to even read my post from yesterday.) Very much like a ticking time bomb. But today cool. I did figure something out yesterday. "junkie thinking: I am mad or upset, I need to smoke to calm down" The response to that is you will just be a upset smoker. HOWEVER It is TRUE you do NOT need the cig. What you need is the time it takes to smoke. Haha nicodamon it is not you I need it is just the deep breaths and time to calm down. ;)

Survey of the Severity of Urges over Time- Your Feelings and Input are needed If any of you have the time to elaborate on how you feel after any amount of quit :1 day, 3, days, 1 week, 2 weeks, a month, 2 months, 6 months one year, 2 years, etc. please do so. I think your responses may help everyone with what they may anticipate for themselves. Can we give this a try and see if there are similarities? For me after six months and change of quit this is how I feel: I might get an urge but I don�t really think you can call it that because I don�t want to smoke. Cigarettes come to mind when certain events cause my old triggers to come forward, but I can�t imagine lighting up. So the thought of smoking for me is dead, but I remember lighting up. I was born with a cigarette hanging out of my mouth and I hadn�t even attempted to quit in 35 years and I smoked 5 to 10 years before that. I guess it is the habit of smoking that comes to mind. Does any of this make sense? How about you guys and gals? [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 1/22/2006 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 201 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 3,024 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $1055.25 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 37 [B]Hrs:[/B] 14 [B]Mins:[/B] 7 [B]Seconds:[/B] 59

Did you really love smoking? For years I told myself that. And it was Nicodemon talking. I could not have possibility loved the shortness of breath, the bronchitis that eventually came, the chain smoking that it lead to. I was embarassed by the time I quit. I hated smoking, although Nicodemon has told me on at least one ocassion so far that I loved it. [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 7/11/2006 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 33 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 1,327 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $244.2 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 3 [B]Hrs:[/B] 7 [B]Mins:[/B] 38 [B]Seconds:[/B] 37

Craving really hasn't been that much of a problem. But I have gone through a range of emotions. I first I was just frightened of the withdrawal symptoms, and then I was afraid of slipping, and now I'm anxious about accumulating time. I want to be like those people who have four or five or twenty years. [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 7/11/2006 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 34 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 1,365 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $251.6 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 3 [B]Hrs:[/B] 9 [B]Mins:[/B] 58 [B]Seconds:[/B] 27

Yeah.. it's human nature to forget the pain. That's why i write all the time about the stuff i'm going through. I need to put it all together now before I get further into it. Procrastination strikes again. LOL I've kept journals of painful times in my life, and went bak and reread them and thought.. "I'm sure glad i'm not there anymore!" The last time I quit, I used the patch and I think was alergic because I turned purple all over my upper body. This time, like you said, I have been experiencing more - or so I think. There's a couple of ways we could look at that. Either we're manifesting it in our heads in order to come up with an excuse to start again. OR (and I prefer this one) we're feeling it all so that we don't forget so easy and to solidify our quits. I sure don't wanna do THIS again! It does make us rather lucky - if you look at it right. We get to fully experience the detoxing and healing of our bodies and get to feel a significant difference because we quit. I had no idea that my circulation was so bad until now. LOL!! [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 7/17/2006 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 26 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 1,435 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $338 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 2 [B]Hrs:[/B] 4 [B]Mins:[/B] 41 [B]Seconds:[/B] 39

I've had "craves" for exactly 4 days since I quit, and two of them I just got over after I finished the third week. That suprised me and I was really angry that I was suprised. I felt like someone had rubbed my nerve endings with sand paper and each and every pore in my skin was trying to inhale some smoke into from somewhere. Today i am much calmer but still have the painful lump in my throat. I had my first bad day on day 6, and the second bad day on day 14. Other than that, I had other things that I once called withdrawals, but now call my body healing. I was sick, threw up, my gums blead, my nose bled, my ears bled.. three packs a day does a number on your circulation and once I had some it went a bit nuts methinks. I had headaches but nothing that tylenol wouldn't kill. I hurt all over my body.. and had pin prickly things hitting me all over my body.. I think from my nervouse system waking up and healing. I also got bladder and kydney infection, and I don't understand that at all. I'm not the only quitter that got it, and it could be coincidence, but I think that it had something to do with all of the poison leaving that direction. I'm only speculating the causes of these things and honestly don't know for sure. I also had hot flashes and sweats and still get them now and again. In the first few days I woke in a puddle of sweat all the time. I started getting gassy in week three, and now my stomach is so bloated that I look pregnant. So, for me it wasn't a constant painful thing, and what upset me the most out of all of it was that I felt unprepared and when i had read so much, I shouldn't have. [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 7/17/2006 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 26 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 1,432 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $338 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 2 [B]Hrs:[/B] 4 [B]Mins:[/B] 38 [B]Seconds:[/B] 55