Still Struggling

I am now on my third time quitting smoking, and it’s more challenging this time then the last two times. The first time, which is chronicled here, was six months long. The second was nine months long. Each time, my quit was murdered by stress – which I didn’t have another way of dealing with.

The first time, I ended up with a rat in my house. I am extremely rodent-phobic, so this was a major stressor. Of course, I probably was over-reacting to the situation, but that’s what a phobia is. To say I flipped my lid would be an understatement. It appeared to be someone’s pet rat (sorry to whomever may have lost it) as it was the wrong color for our local wild rats, and was lacking that ‘wild’ look. It died in a rat trap, though I will say I was expecting it to be a red squirrel (the scourge of Maine).

The second time I was doing great with this whole quitting smoking thing…or so I thought. My mother ended up in a car accident, and died one month later. Needless to say, this was stress I was NOT prepared to deal with. Unfortunately that also seemed to precipitate an immense increase in stress for the next year. At the same time as the drama unfolding with my mother, I was diagnosed with several health issues. That was just fuel for the fire, let me tell you.

But I’m not giving up. No matter how hard it may be to quit smoking, or how many times I have to try, I refuse to stop trying. I am tired of being a slave to something that is probably making things worse in the long run, even if it is the go to stress reliever. If you are quitting smoking yourself, don’t stop trying…even if you think you have failed. You haven’t.

Two Month Smoking Relapse

Image by Thirteen Of Clubs via Flickr

After nearly seven months of being quit, I had a two month relapse due to stress, the holidays, etc. With the current cost of cigarettes, I ended up spending quite a bit of money that I really did not have, which as we all know only increased the stress levels. So here I go again, basically starting from scratch to quit smoking. I know I can do it though, since I was very successful for those seven months.

One thing relapsing taught me is that most of the physical complaints I had prior were from smoking. Smoking affected my stomach, causing me to be nauseous a lot; smoking affected my head, causing more headaches; and smoking definitely affected my energy levels. It even seems to make me more depressed, to worry more, and have higher anxiety levels. Odd, considering most smokers smoke to avoid such things and to take a break.

Time to walk back down the hard path to being smoke-free again! :)

Still Smokefree!

Image via Wikipedia

I am still going strong! I have been smoke-free entirely, and I haven’t slipped once so far.

Of course part of that might be due to all the complications I’ve had with my depression meds. Including body cramping, which could mean that it wasn’t the nicotine patches. Or perhaps it was a combination of the two, since it was far worse in the biceps then it is now. But I’ve done more then my fair share of sleeping, and getting absolutely NOTHING done.

But smoke-free I am, and hoping to continue onwards. I have had some mild weight gain, I’m now currently 142.4 lbs. Though that could be from the lack of movement as well. One thing I’ve noticed is a smokey taste in the back of my throat. I’m hoping that it goes away soon, but its been there for about a month now. Its far worse when I wake up then during the day, and I can only assume it is from my lungs cleaning themselves.

Hope everyone else that is quitting smoking is doing well out there! Chime in and let me know how you are doing. :)

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