Tuesday

Quitting Smoking Timeline - Day One

Unlit filtered cigarettesImage via Wikipedia

Day One

Well, today is day one of my quitting smoking timeline. I officially quit smoking as of 2:21am, right after I smoked my last cigarette. I put the nicotine patch (I am using NicoDerm CQ STEP 1 Clear Nicotine Patches) on and went to bed. Unfortunately, I could not sleep. The nicotine patch burned at first, and felt rather foreign...like putting a sticker on your skin. It itched a bit as well. Plus my mind just wouldn't stop racing. Isn't it interesting how that happens? You go to bed, then suddenly you come up with thousands of different thoughts and ideas.

But I digress. After tossing and turning for a bit, I started feeling queasy. Yup, you know where that went. I'll save you the gruesome details. Not sure if it was from the nicotine patch, from dinner, from all the milk I had drank, or from the touch of vertigo I had had most of the evening. Or some combination thereof. Eventually I fell asleep, and woke up this morning. Late of course. Perfect way to start my day.

Quitting Smoking Timeline

9:00am – Woke up late, after having a difficult time sleeping.

10:17am – Driving was interesting. All I could think of was not knowing what to do. I felt off. I smoke a lot when I drive, at least one cigarette each way.

11:38am – Having a difficult time knowing what to do with my hands. Grabbed some carrots and Russian dressing to help keep my hands and mouth busy. The nicotine cravings aren't too bad, but looking for my cigarettes is already getting annoying.

1:30pm – Now I really want a cigarette. Not so much for the nicotine, but because of the silly carrots. My body is wondering how on earth it is supposed to digest these things. Its used to having the after food cigarette! I have had a fairly productive hour though. Not as productive as I wanted, but definitely better then yesterday! I'm hoping this continues to improve.

5:11pm – I have a headache. I've had it since about 3pm, and it doesn't seem to want to go away. Rather annoying in fact. I'm not 100% sure if it has to do with quitting smoking, or the amount of work I've been doing. If I weren't having such a blonde day, I'm sure I'd be even more productive. My lungs are also starting to hurt. They almost feel as if they MISS the smoke!

7:30pm – The physical symptoms are starting to kick in. My stomach hurts, I'm gassy (not that you REALLY wanted to know that), and my intestines are in knots. Still not sure what to do with my hands, I keep glancing toward where I keep my cigarettes. I've had a few moments of irritation, but so far nothing bad or uncontrollable. My noise sensitivity is sky high right now though. And I'm developing a cough. At least cough drops should help the oral fixation part! Maybe it will help the sore lungs as well. My sense of smell seems a bit more intense then it has been, either that or I'm smell-lucinating!

21 hours, 3 minutes and 25 seconds smoke free.

18 cigarettes not smoked.

$5.70 and 3 hours of your life saved.

Your quit date: 4/7/2009 2:21:00 AM
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7 comments:

  1. Be careful with the patch. My hubby knows two guys who used it and had bad side effects...racing heart, high BP, terrible dreams. Hopefully you won't have those reactions. Good luck!

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  2. So far I haven't had those side effects, but I'm keeping a close eye on things. If it doesn't work, I'll try something else. I just need it for long enough to get over the biggest hurdles, then I think I'll be okay.

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  3. If you failed, try try again.

    The first 3 days are the toughest. After that, you feel like you can quit, so you have the temptation just to have one because it's OBVIOUS you're over the hump after 3 days and feel like you can do it again. You need to remember what a nightmare the first 3 days are.

    I had to "quit" about 6 times, until I finally actually quit. I'm still fairly fresh from my final quit, but I'm at the point where the smell of nicotene makes me ill again, my lungs hurt and that scares me, I'm biking again 20 miles a day and can't smoke, and I'm afraid to smoke a cigarette because I'm afraid I'll go right back to my habit. It's been about a month, and I no longer have any desire to smoke. You just have to remember what the first few days are like and you won't have any desire to smoke after a month. You'll go right back to the first day of those first 3 days if you smoke again.

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  4. On day 1..19hrs in and trying to sleep as much as I can to get through the 72hrs

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  5. Never put the patch on before bed! I suggest you read the instructions.

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  6. Just curious, is there a continuation to this blog? I am planning to start using the patch next weekend but I'm also trying to mentally prepare myself.

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