I just need to vent a little :(

Kelliebelly · 07-31-2005, 10:41 AM

I gave up smoking the day of my surgery and have found it bearable up until now. Over the last week it has been nearly unbearable. I have been so close to going and buying a packet so I can have a smoke...I dont know what to do, I am making excuses up in my head why it is ok for me to take it back up, mostly because it is just too much for me to handle right now with the giving up of food etc. If I am not thinking about food I am thinking about smoking and vice versa...whats a girl to do, should I find myself another addiction to bide my time and make it through *sigh* Im kidding...but really any ideas??

**Alexandra** · 07-31-2005, 11:03 AM

Kellie, quitting smoking is the hardest thing a lot of people ever have to do. But I'm here to tell you it IS possible, and once you're over these early days and the cravings have subsided, you will wonder how you ever could have done that to yourself. If you care enough about yourself to undergo banding surgery, you MUST care enough about yourself to quit smoking.

In a few more days or weeks, you will start to notice the benefits of no longer polluting your respiratory system with smoke. You'll be able to breathe, smell, and taste better than you ever could before. Your clothes will start to smell like clothes, instead of like tobacco. And the day will come when you really DON'T want a cigarette at any time.

Stay with it, girl, it really is worth it, and SO ARE YOU!!! :D

**Jack** · 07-31-2005, 11:46 AM

....well.....congratulations on your efforts....I hope you suceed...

First of course, is the fact you really aren't 'giving up' food....you are modifying your overindulgence just like all of us are learning to do....

Second, I really don't have any other old habits that distract me from this main challenge of becoming healthier....so I have the luxury of obsessing on the food issue alone...

the fact I now wear 'XL' tee shirts whereas 6 months ago XXXL were tight....makes me appreciate those little tribulations I've overcome along the way.

Thankfully I've never had a smoking habit; I would have simply had another comorbidity to overcome....perhaps being unwillingly exposed to so many around me all my life served to deter the drive to develope my own tobacco habit...

That as a MO person I can at times even consider wanting to eat those things that have led to such disasterous consequences should make me understand at least a little what smokers face in their efforts to throw off their addiction must endure....but I don't think I really do understand....

as one who is affected by smoke inflicted on me, the best I can offer is my support for 'smoke easies'....where those who must do so can go to be among their own and leave the rest of us out of it....

'smoking is optional---breathing isn't'....

porclndoll · 07-31-2005, 02:22 PM

I quit smoking when I was expecting my baby. Haven't picked them up again!! My son is now 7 years. I do know about those cravings though! Once in a while now a cigarette will actually smell good to me! I dont know what thats all about. However, for my self and my son, I can not pick that habit back up. My son is going to need me for a VERY long time and I cant risk ending my own life by smoking. God knows there are enough risks in life to deal with other than smoking....but why choose an intentional way of shortening your life span? People say yea well, you could step out of your house and get hit by a truck...Yea possible, but you cant control that. Absolutely pick up another hobby...paint, bicycle, walk,surf the computer, read, knit (tie knots in yarn is more my style of knitting),write,dance......
Good luck to you! It isn't an easy thing ~

NJChick · 07-31-2005, 06:39 PM

Congratulations Kellie, you made a great decision twice. One was quiting smoking and the other is the band. Both are healthy changes :) BRAVO !!!

My DH tried for years. When my DD was born, he went to the doctor and got Zyban. He hasn't smoked in 4 years. This is from some one who smoked 2 - 3 packs a day. I remember him getting urges so bad, it drove him crazy. He still gets the urge once in a while but its not as bad as it was. When he wants to smoke he will either chew some gum or suck on a lollypop. It seems like having a lollypop in his hand helps. If you do, buy the Dum Dum's they are teeny tiny. Talk to your doctor, it can't hurt.

Another motivator might be....... Just think of all the money you are saving by NOT smoking. Its over $5.00 a pack here... oy!

Hugs and hang in there.