The Goblin Diaries (previously Quitting Smoking)

It's now been over 24 hours without a smoke (although no, not without nicotine). I hope you all don't mind me coming back to this thread, I don't have anyone around locally to hold me to quitting. No accountability otherwise.
 
Of course you can keep coming back, we are all wishing you well. Lots of us know from personal experience how hard it is to give up smoking. I think it took me 3 goes and a lot of nagging from my (now ex) husband at the time.
 
You are doing amazingly well. Just take one day at a time. You can smash this. ❤️
 
Lorcan said:
Thanks everyone :) I'm beginning to realise I smoked a lot more than I thought I did.
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It isn't just the smoking itself that makes it hard to quit either, it's those little rituals, getting out the packet and lighter, rolling your ciggy, lighting it etc, they quickly become a habit you do without thinking. Like me looking at the clock and thinking "it's 4 o'clock, time to put the kettle on" - I'd be ins serious difficulty if I were told I shouldn't do that any more 🤪
 
piggieminder said:
I found it was the cigarette with a coffee after dinner that haunted me. Occasionally even now after 40 years (:fog:) I think I could enjoy a smoke after dinner.
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I finally knew I’d kicked it for good last year. I was up north having my usual girlie evening with my best friends from primary school. I always have a few cigarettes with one friend who still smokes and I actually had to put it out, absolutely vile, that’s the first time ever. I actually felt quite dizzy for 5 minutes, will never touch another now. Quite happy though that I will never be tempted again
 
Qualcast&Flymo said:
It isn't just the smoking itself that makes it hard to quit either, it's those little rituals, getting out the packet and lighter, rolling your ciggy, lighting it etc, they quickly become a habit you do without thinking. Like me looking at the clock and thinking "it's 4 o'clock, time to put the kettle on" - I'd be ins serious difficulty if I were told I shouldn't do that any more 🤪
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This is why I went for the e-cig. Patches, lozenges, gum - they don't give my hands anything to do. Those little nicotine inhalers do but they're kinda harsh on the throat, and that's from a heavy smoker. I'd have a smoke after eating, taking something to the bins, walk away from the computer/piggies/etc for five minutes. This'll sound drastic though I swear it's not - I've used up a fair amount of e-liquid and I've had no issues but I wanted to check the symptoms for nicotine poisoning. Just in case I overdid it, because I don't think it'd be difficult. You know what I realised? I've been having those symptoms long before yesterday. Not all the time, not even daily, but they've been there. People sorta go "well it's hard to do it with just cigarettes" but now I don't think so.

piggieminder said:
I found it was the cigarette with a coffee after dinner that haunted me. Occasionally even now after 40 years (:fog:) I think I could enjoy a smoke after dinner.
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I knew a woman who'd quit smoking using the gum. And she admitted that now she just chews the gum all the time instead.
 
You are doing great - honestly acknowledge every single step.
It's bloody hard.

It is good you can see your trigger points too.
If phone calls are hard have a pencil nearby to play or doodle with. Have gum (regular - not nicotine if you are vaping) nearby.
Have a fidget spinner.
Have boiled sweets.
Anything really - just something to occupy your hands and mouth by the phone.

If there are other situations that would usually cause you to smoke, then put stuff in place to make it easier not to.

I gave up with patches and gum 25 years ago, and it was hard.
My BIL gave up at the same time as me, and to this day he is super, highly addicted to nicotine gum.
He has to have it in his mouth literally 24 hours a day.
It costs him more than the ciggies ever did.

I said I gave up for my wedding.
But the reality is that I gave up for a dog.

I had 2 rescue dogs at the time, and had seen a 3rd dog in rescue that I really, really wanted.
He was 11 years old and had been put back in rescue when his owner's new wife said she didin't like him.
Seriously his owner of 7 years chucked the dog out for a woman?
He was 11 years old, and so sad to be back in rescue.
I had to have that dog, but we couldn't afford a third dog - an old dog that we couldn't even get insurance for.

So I worked out that what I spent on cigarettes in a week would more than cover the cost of feeding and caring for a dog.

Everyone else thinks I gave up for my wedding, but really I gave it up for Jerry - an 11 year old greyhound that no one else wanted.
It was worth every bloody moment of hardship and sacrifice, and I never regretted the decision for an instant, just like you won't regret yours.
Focus on the end game - you give up now and you will be in the best position when it comes time for the surgery you need and deserve.
 
Unfortunately I can't chew gum, nicotine or otherwise - I have no teeth (it turns out that making your child brush his teeth for 15 minutes at a time, 2 or 3 times a day, can give him a lifelong aversion to toothpaste. not that I'm proud of it, but it's what it is). It's also why the lozenges aren't a great option either because the way you're meant to hold them in your mouth kinda requires teeth. It's hard to explain though.

At some point I'll have to knock the liquid on the head too. That in itself might take forever, but I can cut down on the nicotine content in a way I could never do with tobacco. And I think that distinction is important - and also not something I'm caring too much about right now. Now, and for the next few days/weeks/months, it's about getting the nicotine without the use of a lighter.

At the minute, I could go through about 50g of tobacco in a week. Sometimes more, sometimes less. I'd usually buy 130g a fortnight, and every so often I'd have enough left that I wouldn't need to buy any for a couple of weeks. To buy 100g of that stuff (as a guide), I was paying £53.95 a fortnight. Ignoring the upfront cost of the e-cig, because that's always gonna be an extra, the place was selling 7 liquids for £15. The chances of me paying anywhere near as much as I did for tobacco a week is slim to none. I'll take those odds.
 
piggieminder said:
I found it was the cigarette with a coffee after dinner that haunted me. Occasionally even now after 40 years (:fog:) I think I could enjoy a smoke after dinner.
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You and me, both. I gave up smoking in 1994. But I still get the occasional hankering for a cigarette with after dinner coffee….l
 
I told my mum it'd been two days, explained all the gumpf about it being with the e-cig and the nicotine in the e-liquid and she's like, "Oh so you're still getting nicotine?" Ah, mum, never change. She wasn't trying to lessen the achievement or anything, it just hadn't occurred to her that's how e-cigs work.
 
Lorcan said:
I told my mum it'd been two days, explained all the gumpf about it being with the e-cig and the nicotine in the e-liquid and she's like, "Oh so you're still getting nicotine?" Ah, mum, never change. She wasn't trying to lessen the achievement or anything, it just hadn't occurred to her that's how e-cigs work.
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Parents. They just don’t get it sometimes. Lol
 
I mean, I might have gone over 2 days without nicotine at all, but then I wouldn't be having conversations over the phone lol. I might be daft, but I'm not that daft.
 
Nearly 73 hours! And every time I've done this before, including with e-cigs, I'd be having to repeatedly tell myself "nope no cigs" "nope no cigs" "nope no cigs". Not today. I'm feeling better with the decision to quit the tobacco more than ever.
 
Lorcan said:
Nearly 73 hours! And every time I've done this before, including with e-cigs, I'd be having to repeatedly tell myself "nope no cigs" "nope no cigs" "nope no cigs". Not today. I'm feeling better with the decision to quit the tobacco more than ever.
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Well done you, it’s not easy but think of the money you’ll save long term too 👍
 
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