Update and Sidebar

I’m still here and still quit, but haven’t really had much to write about. I past two months now

Anyway, heres a quick video I found interesting

Day Something: Still Here

I’m still here, and still smoke free. My posts were becoming the same old… feeling nauseous, still not smoking, had some cravings. I almost feel like I should have a smoke so that I have something exciting to talk about

I started my second month on Chantix today; time really flies. Now hopefully it flies till I get off the pill. Although I know its probably doing a lot, the fact that I feel like I’ve quit, makes me want to get off it sooner. The plan is to start tapering in the middle of the third month, but I will talk to my doctor first.

Day 6: Still Trooping

I haven’t posted in a while because I tried to stay busy all weekend. I went out Friday, drank a lot and guess what happened…I got drunk (no, I didn’t smoke). I wasn’t even too tempted in a room full of people smoking. I was on guard the whole night though, to make sure I don’t slip.

Day 3: Things Are Getting Easier

I went to sleep last night with the novelty of my quit wearing off, and wondered (pessimistically) about how long I could last with just patience and commitment. I thought today would be really hard, but thankfully, it was not. I still had cravings but they were a lot more manageable, almost easy.

Unrelated to smoking, I did make a big mistake today. I left my windows open to air out my place while I was at work, and a huge storm hit Chicago.

“Hours after a fast-moving storm packing winds over 70 m.p.h. turned skies from day to night across the Chicago area Thursday — damaging buildings, splitting trees, causing flooding, and bringing planes and trains to a halt — the rain continued to fall.”

- Chicago Tribune

Now I live right next to the lake, in one of the highest wind speed areas in the “windy city”. Needless to say, I got home from work to my apartment pretty much rearranged (and very well aired out).

I’m not sure if closing the windows, would have helped much though, since I had them closed in my bedroom, and the wall unit air-conditioner was blown out of the wall.

Nothing valuable got damaged though, so it didn’t get me too stressed, it was almost amusing in a weird way. I just had a lot of cleanup work to do.

Sidebar

If this blog continues being only about me bitching about my quit, I think it will get old real quick. So I thought I’d start a series called “Sidebar” about random things related to or unrelated to smoking. so heres the first one…

I hope that didn’t make anyone want a cigarette more, since that wasn’t the point. I just thought it was entertaining and the movie was pretty good too. Although, if you haven’t seen it, don’t until you are very comfortable with your quit (theres a LOT of smoking in it).

Correction: I guess there wasn’t a lot of smoking in it. I saw it a long time ago and looking back, due to the subject matter, I just assumed there was.

Day 2: Still Trying to Stay Strong

The last 24 hours were horrible, although the urge to have a smoke wasn’t too bad, my body felt like it had been hit by a truck. I was nauseous all day, weak and somewhat dizzy. Not sure what brought all that on, but I didn’t get much sleep last night. For most of the day it helped with the nicotine cravings though, since my mind was distracted worrying about not throwing up or passing out.

But by the time the evening came around, I started feeling better and the cravings came back full swing. The evening dose of Chantix helped a bit and I’m calm now.

Hopefully tomorrow will be better, but I’m still confused as to whether it was the Chantix, nicotine withdrawal or something that I ate that caused all of this. I guess I’ll never know, but the good part is I didn’t break. One more day under the belt.

Day 1: Continued…Still Not Smoking!

So I got through the day without smoking, I wouldn’t say it was easy, but it was definitely not as hard as my last try with just the patch.

The worst craves were when I woke up, and after lunch. But since they eventually passes, by the evening I was more confident. Hopefully tomorrow is a little easier.

I forgot to mention in my previous post that my dreams last night were the most vivid yet. I dreamt that I didn’t make it through the first day, and was pissed off with myself, for not trying hard enough. In my dream I had smoked half a pack by the evening. Thankfully, that wasn’t a sign.

Day 1: No Smoking!

Originally when I put my plan together, I had decided that I would smoke one cigarette when I woke up today, and then quit; however last night I changed my mind. Why start my quit with a cigarette right? So I broke my last cigarettes before going to sleep. Big mistake… When I woke up this morning the cravings were so bad I wanted to kill someone. I fought through it though…

I stuffed some food down my throat, took my morning Chantix and then jumped in the shower. By the time I got out, I was feeling a lot more in control; although I should have eaten more, because the nausea started kicking in. Thankfully, after a half hour or so that passed too.

I just walked from the bus stop to work, and I swear I saw about a 1000 people either smoking, lighting up a cigarette or throwing one away. Surprisingly I wasn’t too temped, so there is hope.

Day 12: D-Day Almost Here

I just had my last smoke, tomorrow I start my quit, I am a little scared but hopefully I’ll last through a day

There were two cigarettes left in the pack, which I broke so that I can avoid temptation.

Day 11: Things Are Looking Good

Chantix is definitely having an effect on me now. I only had three cigarettes today, I might have one more before going to bed, but a week ago smoking so little would have been a huge ordeal, especially on a Sunday. For the last four days I have been tracking how much I smoke, and its amazing to see it go down daily. I am fairly confident now that I can do this, and I am still allowed to smoke for one more day!