Smoking Cessation

Nurses General Nursing

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Karen4HIM1951

35 Posts

Hey Nurcee

AMEN TO THAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"I don't ever want to go through quitting again ":eek:

Rustyhammer

735 Posts

Well, here I am on day 3 again but this time I KNOW I can't have even one cig.

I'm feeling pretty strong and it helps when the kids say how proud they are of me.

I am starting to regain my sense of smell and food is tasting better.

essarge, I went to quitnet and found some good support there.

It's one of my hangouts now.

-Russell

Rustyhammer

735 Posts

By the end of today I'll have made it a week without a cig.

It may not sound very profound but to me it is a landmark.

I am stronger than tobacco!

I will NOT be a slave to cigarettes any more!

I can do it!

-Russell

Karen4HIM1951

35 Posts

A M E N :D

YOU CAN DO IT! ! ! !

GO RUSTY!!!

KEEP IT UP!

CONGRATS! ! ! ! :cool: :cool: :cool: :cool:

sharann, BSN, RN

1,758 Posts

RUSTY,

YEAH!!!!CLAP CLAP CLAP!!!

1 week IS indeed profound and an achievement. Each day, each hour and each MOMENT is an achievemnt when you are fighting the strongest of all addictions.

Keep it up and PM me anytime!

Shar

2 months and some weeks quit

(cheated twice, but stopped immediately)

nightmoves

22 Posts

I don't recommend how I quit.

Two years ago at work I started to experience what I thought was indigestion. I decided to go outside to get some "fresh air" (read: a nicotine fix.) Whether it was the exertion of walking out of the building or the lousy puff I took, I'll never know, but all of a sudden it felt as if the entire backfield of the Dallas Cowboys was sitting on my chest! Thank God I had the good sense to pitch the stupid butt. I waited a couple of minutes, took two deep breaths, and the chest pain didn't seem to go away. So, in the absence of anyone else outside (this was about 1 AM) I walked slowly back into the hospital, went to the security desk, and told the shocked officer (who was noticing the diaphoretic perspiration all over my face) to get a wheelchair and get me up to the ICU (I work in a specialty hospital, we don't have an ER or a CCU.) The staff there was shocked at my being hauled in; within half an hour I was being transferred to a general hospital with prolonged QT and elevated T waves. The chest pain kind of responded to one dose of NTG.

The ICU staff who took care of me initially came over in the morning to see how I was doing. Through the morphine-and-nitro-induced fog I was in, I could see the fear in their eyes. These are experienced nurses, but they looked like three saucer-eyed student nurses. I am ashamed of myself that I caused my colleagues, family, and friends such fear, anxiety, and pain.

Quitting isn't difficult at all when you get parked in a CCU for a couple of days. Funny, I always thought in terms of lung cancer, I never thought in terms of an MI.

One of the self-defeatist things I used to tell myself is that if I quit smoking I'd get fat. I've gained ten pounds, which is starting to come off. Hardly morbid obesity, I would have to say. The really odd thing is, when I walk past the smokers sitting outside at work (staff, patients, visitors, etc.) I notice that most of them could stand to lose at least twenty pounds.

A cigarette for me used to be how I "celebrated" completing a task, how I "got away from it all" for a few minutes, and how I used to hide from social interaction that caused me anxiety on some level. I've learned to reward myself in other ways, to congratulate myself and validate myself in healthy, life-affirming ways, and to confront anxiety in ways that don't injure me or those around me.

Yes, making this change is difficult, but it goes without saying, the rewards are worth it. And continuing to smoke simply isn't.

My best wishes to all of you who are struggling with this issue. You don't want to quit the way I had to.

Cubby

305 Posts

Nightmoves; yep, thats how my husband quit 8 years ago, except he died! CPR really works! He is fine now, he knows that I will kill him for real if he picks up another one!

But I still smoke. I did try (true not very hard) but have been unsuccessful. I am cussing myself everytime I light up though!

Maybe someday. :o

toronto rn

91 Posts

I started with zyban three weeks ago and have found it really helps deal with the cravings.I quit one week after starting the zyban and also used a 7mg nicotine patch for the first week. The Dr didn't want me to use both but I was previously unsuccessful with just the patch or just zyban, so using both seems to be the magic combination for me. 16 days and counting,not coughing:D

Rustyhammer

735 Posts

I can breath better, I can smell better(and probably smell better) I for once feel like I have this addiction whipped! I'ts been 15 days now. I've even started speed walking 3x/week.

WOO-HOO

-Russell

sharann, BSN, RN

1,758 Posts

Great going toronto and Rusty!

Hang in there and remember, there's no such thing as

"just one". We don't want one, we want them ALL.

Take care and congrats on the great work.

Karen4HIM1951

35 Posts

:roll congratulations ! ! ! i'm doing cartwheels! ! !

keep it up! ! ! look ahead - not back ! ! ! :)

you've conquered the demon! ! ! ! :roll

mario_ragucci

1,041 Posts

I remember, when I was stationed on Okinawa, and there was alot of people abusing alcohol, they would force you to take these pills (ant-abusse?) that made you throw up if you even got near alcohol.

Is there such a thing for nicotine? There must be. Then, you just hafta take a pill and if you take a drag, you get sick. Wouldn't that make it easier for you to quit for the initial time it takes to break the physical addiction? Like a negative reinforcement.

I've often thought of trying to claim asylum in New Zealand or Australia from the United States on the grounds that I am trying to escape lung cancer, and can't quit in America because of the prevailence of smoking. I want to plea to those countries to let me immigrate because then I could escape smoking. When I was in those countries, especially New Zealand, I had no desire to smoke because they didn't have a ga-zillion brands (no Marlboro Light in the box) and I didn't smoke. But as soon as I got back in the states, and see people enjoying cigarettes everywhere, I want to too. :-(

More power to Rusty; Your well on your way!!!!!!! Bravo!!!!!!

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