How's your day?

[trogg 1,136]

Same here Ben , its been nearly 2 weeks. (seems like years.)

[Stavertongirl 1,189]

Oh dear you are supposed to give me words of encouragement, tell me how you just stopped and never had any problems and it will get better. Feel depressed now but at least someone else is suffering. 

[West Bridgfordian 51]

Ben, SG, Trogg etc...

I virtually stopped smoking 10 years ago but struggled for a long time so in the end decided if I wanted a ciggie I would have one. Always keep a pack at home and the last pack lasted 5 weeks. So, I guess I'm smoking on average 1 cig every other day.

I don't half enjoy that smoke when I do have it though!

ETA. My better half still nags the hell out of me when I do have one, but she admits it's better than when I smoked 20 or 30 a day.

[DJ360 4,775]

6 hours ago, nonnaB said:

DJ360

Have you thought of sand fly allergy. 

 

I did look at it but I don't think it fits.  I don't think I was bitten by anything while I was away.  Certainly no itchy bites.  but I've still got an open mind as to whether I picked up some sort of issue in Mexico.  There are any number of human parasitic infections, insect vectored viruses etc. which can cause issues, and I'm slowly working my way through the list.

[Geoffrey Dennis 123]

Ben, SG, Trogg

I smoked 25 to 30 cigarettes a day and to compound the problem really enjoyed a pipe and the occasional cigar. I found handing the cigarettes around during difficult meetings at work for example, could be a real ice breaker and became a legitimacy to carry on smoking. I stopped smoking 15 years ago using will power and West Bridgefordians technique of always having a cigarette available to fall back on if the cravings became intolerable. I can assure you SG it does get easier overtime and when I tell you my wife still smokes and in consequence cigarettes are always readily available, the temptation to have a cigarette does go away as well. Coincidentally I picked up a device from my Doctors on Monday just gone which, apart from indentifying the well publicised health benefits, of much improved heart and lung function, it  also informs me I have saved £58,857. It`s not easy to stop SG  but  the incentives are there so crack on.

 

 

[trogg 1,136]

GD I have been smoking since I was 15 and have been on 20 to 30 a day , The last few months I have been coughing up every day and when I lay down I can hear myself breathing. With that and I am due to go for an operation soon with the Consultant telling me I have to stop before the op and a very close friend just passed away with lung cancer I have made my mind up, now is the time. My wife still smokes and there are many cigarettes in the house, her friend brings them back from holiday for her. I have made my mind up I have stopped smoking, not I am going to try I have stopped, sure I have gone to have a cigarette on occasions but then remembered I have stopped. The wife thinks I will succeed as in her words I am an old awkward cantankerous stubborn b******d person. I may have lapses but I am human I will stop.

[DJ360 4,775]

Smoking.  First time I gave up was after 6 months of fighting with myself and living on Nicorette Gum.

 

I don't suppose I really wanted to give up because I started again 5 years later.

 

A few years later again I had a heart attack and even that didn't stop me smoking from the attack, in 1996, until I finally stopped in 2008.

 

I wish I could tell you how I did it and how the psychology of it all worked, but I can't.  I just came home from work one night and announced to Mrs Col that I had 5 Superkings left in a pack and when they were gone.. that was it.

 

I smoked the last one about half past midnight on 24 Sept 2008.  In fact it was only half of one, which for a long time was a cause of regret... that I didn't at least finish on a full ciggy.

 

For about a week or so after that, I had a few pulls on some small, short, conical shaped things brought back from India by a friend, but they didn't really do much either way.  Then that was it.  I was free.  I had very few withdrawal symptoms and just got on with it.

Best thing I ever did, but I can't feel smug, because I'm not really sure how it worked.

 

I thnk that eventually something just 'clicks' in your head and you realise that the actual nicotiine withdrawal is only for a few days at most and the rest is a combination of habit, ritual etc.

 

for many years I took a mug of coffee to bed with me everynight.  No real idea why, but a few months ago I just thought.  "This is stupid" and took a glass of water instead.  I only have a couple of sips and I'm asleep. 

 

Habits.. silly things.

[DJ360 4,775]

In other news, several of the Echinacea seeds I sowed in a propagator on the dining room window have germinated.  Took seven days.  No sign of the Aquilegias yet but they are supposed to take up to three months.

 

Just off out to plant more stuff in the borders as it's finally stopped raining and there's a glimpse of Sun.

[Brew 3,165]

4 hours ago, Stavertongirl said:

Oh dear you are supposed to give me words of encouragement, tell me how you just stopped and never had any problems and it will get better. Feel depressed now but at least someone else is suffering. 

 

 

Last cigarette was just prior to Christmas last. 

It was as easy as flicking a switch. My sense of smell and taste were instantly restored, the sun shone. lambs gambolled and women swooned at my feet. I grew a fine head of hair,, lost weight, gained six inches in height and threw away my specs...

 

Can I stop now I've just walked into a door...

[letsavagoo 468]

5 hours ago, Stavertongirl said:

Oh dear you are supposed to give me words of encouragement, tell me how you just stopped and never had any problems and it will get better. Feel depressed now but at least someone else is suffering. 

I stopped smoking in 1984. It was a dreadful struggle for a long time and the final try of several previous failed attempts. 99% of the time it doesn't bother me at all but now and then for no apparent reason I could kill for a fag. I just remember my lovely dad dying at 67 slowly and painfully of the cancer a lifelong addiction to tobacco had given him and find the strength to resist. It gets easier but for me hasn't completely gone. I'm now only 3 years away from the age my father was when he died and certainly hope I overtake him. It's not easy but stick to it. My advise would be to stop completely. The odd one is nothing but a set back and the craving clock resets. 

[nonnaB 3,387]

My husband made a promise to my son that he would stop smoking when he became a grandfather. The day he got the news of daughter in laws pregnancy he threw the cigarette pack away and hasn't had one since and our grandson is now 16. Must say that he promised me that he would stop smoking the day we got married. On the railway station waiting for the train to take us to our honeymoon destination, he excused himself to go to the loo. He came back with his hands behind his back and a stream of smoke spirally upwards and that was that for the next few years he did try quite a few times so I can sympathise with smokers. I have never smoked , I tried but don't like the taste it's leaves in my mouth. 

[Beekay 1,667]

LAVG,  the secret is that you have to make your mind up to stop ! No cutting down or daft things like that. When I could afford I used to smoke up to 60 per day. I was irritable at first but recognised the symptoms of withdrawal. Kept a packet of fags with me along  with matches, so I knew if I needed one there they were. It got, after a day, if I have one now I will have wasted a day, then a week, a month. That was in the mid seventies. If I started now I will have wasted over 40 years. I had occasion to meet a colleague at Deal hospital when checking some x-ray film and he showed me the contents of the tray he was carrying. It was a human lung that had been sliced open and he said " That's what killed this bloke !". The lung was full of black tar substance. That really cured me of smoking.

[Geoffrey Dennis 123]

trogg. I started smoking at an earlier age than that (something in the Hucknall water?) and later on took papers out to support the "habit". Any extra papers delivered were rewarded with a packet of 10 Park Drive courtesy of Norman the shop manager. Fags were part of the fabric which held our pre 11+ gang together, almost a rites of passage.  I was never strong willed enough just to stop on a whim but had to choose exactly the right time. Any stress issues in my life at the time would render stopping smoking non viable.I found 2 techniques worked for me but I am sure there are many others:

1 Aversion Therapy.  In this I would mentally associate smoking  with vomiting, such that when I took a cigarette out of the packet  I would think of being sick.

2 Financial. Either put what you would spend on cigarettes every day into a tin but count it regularly to see the progress you are making in saving money or buy something really expensive that you have lusted over for ages, on the never never and use the money realised by not smoking to pay for it. Many years ago I decided to stop smoking, walked into Prestons Of Bolton and walked out with a brand new Omega Seamaster on my wrist, funded eventually by not smoking. DJ 360 is correct in that when you smoke you develop routines. I would have my last cigarette of the day sat on the toilet. Because my cigarettes and lighter were still there the following morning, I would have my first cigarette of the day as soon as  I got up. This would be followed by a cigarette after breakfast, one on the way to work and one in the office when I arrived, four cigarettes before 8am. Habit indeed. I do know that although I never intend to smoke again, just one cigarette would be enough to restart the process.

[trogg 1,136]

GD it certainly is a habit, we only ever smoked in the utility room , I am up early every day put my coffee on then into utility, cigarette,  back collect my coffee and back for another ciggie, then throughout the day defined routine for cigarette breaks. Since stopping I still find myself sitting in utility with my coffee, without cigarette, when I realise I think what the heck am I doing idiot, your right it is just a habit that you have to break, easy to say but harder to do.  

[letsavagoo 468]

I'd tried to stop several times. I recall one holiday when I'd recently stopped and was miserable all week with cravings so gave in finally and I felt that the misery had all been a waste of time. Once I happened to be in Ilkeston and saw a stop smoking book called 'kick it' in a shop. I didn't buy it that time but few weeks later decided I would get it so picked it up next time I was over there. When I read it the first chapter instructed you to chain smoke all day, dozens of cigarettes until you felt sick and dizzy. I thought no way so put the book down and just stopped. That was it. The book was so good you just had to buy it. Seriously it wasn't so easy but I did stop. I have a cigar my son gets me every Christmas Day after dinner and that's about it. 

[catfan 14,246]

I tried many times to quit & failed miserably after a life time a smoker I just went "Cold Turkey" it was the best thing I ever did, you just need to convince yourself you want to quit & you will, some smokers try patches or chewing gum or other aids to help quit, whatever is best for the individual.

[MargieH 5,981]

I think you are right, Catfan.   Once you have decided ABSOLUTELY that you are going to stop smoking, then it's easier.  If you say to yourself,  "I'll stop and just see how it goes...  ".  then you are more likely to fail.  

Trogg, you could just try NOT having a coffee, but specifically  doing something else.  A cup of coffee and a cigarette are often very closely connected.   I know that worked for me..

[trogg 1,136]

MargieH   stop having coffee, tried it once and tried tea and green tea , worst 30 mins of my life, black coffee to me is an essential to life, cigarettes were just  an additional bonus. Keeping busy I find I just don't think about or need the weed. Have I been that sad all my life.

[IAN123. 9,293]

Flippin' nippy today. Haircut and shave..off to see Suggs & Co..great when you have a boy minding them this week..vip'ing tonight.

Last week he looked after an ex Q Tip bloke who layed his hat.."nightmare" was his text.

Still got the one eyed cat in the hedge..birding no doubt..got me water refund today..water bills scrapped!..good old EU.

[davep5491 327]

All good days this week.

After returning from hols at the weekend the first 2 bags on the carousel were ours what are the odds of that happening?

 

Then on Tuesday we went to the Rod Stewart show at Motorpoint Nottingham, seated someway back on the floor section we were approached by an official who offered an upgrade FOC to seating 9 rows from the front.

 

To-day expecting the worst we went to KRCS on Lenton Lane who are authorised Apple device repairers, Barb's 4 year old phone had the battery replaced at a cost £45 and is now working perfectly. My 2 year old phone had a swollen battery which had distorted the screen I was told this would also cost £45 but in this case for the £45 I was given a new replacement. Might do the Lottery to-night.

[LizzieM 8,117]

The upgraded seats was brilliant luck Dave.  We were at the Arena on Tuesday too and I was rather disappointed with our seats which I’d booked online the day before general release about 6 months ago.  They cost twice as much as the seats we had for Rod 18 months ago and weren’t nearly as close to the stage.   Fantastic show though!  

[PeverilPeril 2,318]

Just finished packing for a weeks fishing in the Highlands. Leave at 6 am for the 483 mile trip. Won't be posting during that time - my phone is not up to it. Taking warm clothes - it is 10 deg colder up there and out on a wet and windy Loch it feels freezing. The whiskey helps 

[LizzieM 8,117]

Have a good trip PP and take care. 

[IAN123. 9,293]

Another fag..and i'll gerrup.

[DJ360 4,775]

I am alone in the house.  Mrs Col has gone to Manchester to 'Cat sit' for our oldest.  We used to have the cat here, but it all got to be too much of a faff for all concerned.  I'm not going to stay in a house with a cat for any length of time anyway, as I've always been a bit allergic to them, though not as bad as my brother, who gets something close to anaphalaxis around them.

 

So, here all alone with nothing but my itchy skin for company.  Three days of relief on the steroids, now back to square one.  See 'Ailments, Aches... etc...'

 

The long forecast warm sunny weekend hasn't materialised and it's cloudy with rain instead, before getting cooler again next week.  May potter a bit in the garden but really I'm a fair weather gardener.

 

May have a play at fixing my 3 year old Samsung A3 phone while it's quiet here. I've now assembled all of the tools, adhesives and the new battery for replacing the old.  Not 100% sure it's tha battery but seems logical as it's taking all day to charge and not holding a charge for long.  All for under 12 quid.  So it has to be worth a punt c.f. the cost of a new one. You have to remove the glass back from the phone, which is glued on.  Bit of a delicate process, but plenty of online tutorials for how to do it.  If it fails, or I break anything, or the new battery doesn't solve the problem, I'll just get a new phone. Couple of hundred quid I could do without spending but 'hey'.