smoke quit is IMPOSSIBLY hard

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smoke quit is IMPOSSIBLY hard

Postby havanagilla » Sun Mar 26, 2006 6:16 pm

Venting/sharing my suffering during the attemtps to quit smoking. I started ZYban 3 weeks ago -a prescription medication for smoke-quitting (which is in fact an antidepressant, now out of use and replaced by the new generation of antidepressant) and NOTHING is happening. At first I had two great weeks of spontaneous reduction to 1/3 my usual consumption, but after a bad meeting with someone I hate, I bought a pack and resumed the mindless smoking.<br>--<br>HOwever, 100 % success with caffeine (and coffee in general). I quit totally, about a month ago, had some bad nights and indigestion (and cried a lot) and over it. <br><br>I registered myself to two suppot forums, one in Hebrew and one American. most of the time people chat about sex.<br>----<br>Which brings me to another sex issue. wanting to commend Hugh Mntee for the beautiful and moving analysis of fascism as male domination. I am trying now to translate some of your posts to hebrew for my readers. Especially those which to into details about the conditioning of men, as part of "military recruitment" mentality.<br><br>Noticing that recently this board is going along the trends in washington, number of female voices has dropped ! Mind you, listening to the "female voice" these days, is all about SRA, RAPE , DID and MC. that's the feminine condition, existentially, during such fascist times. there is no other voice more authentic and important to heed.<br><br> <p></p><i></i>
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Re: smoke quit is IMPOSSIBLY hard

Postby sunny » Sun Mar 26, 2006 6:31 pm

Havanagilla, all the best to you in your efforts to quit smoking.<br>"93 I quit smoking because I "got religion" and started back 9/11/01. My son was 19, there was <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>going</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> to be a war.. you get the picture.<br><br>I smoke now more than ever. Used to smoke between 5-10 cigs a day. Now, almost 20. I hate this stupid habit. Sometimes I really think about what I am doing and think "what an incredibly stupid thing to do. Sucking smoke from a stick into your lungs and blowing it back out into the atmosphere." There has got to be a better way to pass the time!<br><br>Anyway, sending good vibes your way and hoping some of it comes back to me! <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :) --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/smile.gif ALT=":)"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <p></p><i></i>
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Re: smoke quit is IMPOSSIBLY hard

Postby thoughtographer » Sun Mar 26, 2006 6:46 pm

Good luck! I had some marginal success with the "Commit" nicotine lozenge, which is sold over-the-counter here in the USA. The problem is that they contain phenylalanine/aspartic acid (Aspartame), which, along with being a neurotoxin causes a pretty unpleasant laxative effect at the recommended dosage. After ten days, I basically stopped using the damned things and only smoke about one cigarette a day, if any. My trick is to roll my own cigarettes and not keep the tobacco on my person all the time. Making my own cigarettes means that I have more control over the dosage of nicotine that I'm getting, and this put me on the road to getting a This works for me, and by no means am I suggesting that it will work for you. <br><br>Zyban is chemically identical to Wellbutrin. The difference is in the marketing and dosage. I'm not trying to scare you, but caution is my way, so...<br><br><!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://www.thememoryhole.org/health/zyban-update.htm">Zyban/Wellbutrin™ Safety Update</a><!--EZCODE LINK END--><br><br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>Noticing that recently this board is going along the trends in washington, number of female voices has dropped ! Mind you, listening to the "female voice" these days, is all about SRA, RAPE , DID and MC. that's the feminine condition, existentially, during such fascist times. there is no other voice more authentic and important to heed.<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><br>Don't sell everyone else so short. If it weren't for the many strong women in my life, I would quite literally not be here right now, and I'm not just talking about being born. <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p216.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=thoughtographer>thoughtographer</A> at: 3/26/06 3:48 pm<br></i>
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Re: smoke quit is IMPOSSIBLY hard

Postby havanagilla » Sun Mar 26, 2006 6:53 pm

<br>If I understand you correctly you replaced cig addiction with religious addiction ? (or did I miss the point). Cause I can relate to that. I quit in 93 as well, and looking back on it, I think it "helped" me fall into other traps, one of them was a religious abuse, but it had other reasons, with my MC history. I resumed 1998, with divorce from my religious husband who was part of that "trip" and had to be let go along with withdrawal from Fundamentalist/Kabbalist addiction to being controlled by freaks. Cigs was better than cult.<br><br>The reason I am taking Zyban now is precisely in order to minimze the risk of replacing one dependence with another. Mind you, cig is not the worst addiction..<!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :) --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/smile.gif ALT=":)"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> . 20 a day is bad. I reached 30 recently which is why I decided to quite. I started having health issues, like losing my voice due to vocal cords inflammation.<br>I went to get a lung check up two weeks ago, and "regretfully", it came out surprisingly GOOD for my age, like 90% capacity which is considered excellent. This was bad as a "negative incentive". Psychologically, if the doc told me I am losing my lungs, I would probably be more willing to withstand the withdrawal. <br>In the meantime I am benefitting from the "side effects' of zyban as antidepressant, which otherwise I would not dream of taking. <br><br> <br><br> <p></p><i></i>
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smoke quit impossibly hard

Postby mother » Sun Mar 26, 2006 6:54 pm

Just in from the blistering sleet and a smoke outside. Guilt, guilt, guilt. I have seriously considered asking for a serious prescription for something that knocks you out in order to quit. I don't know...except I love to smoke because I am a total addicted fiend. I have a box of patches in my bag...maybe super drugs. But then who wants to get fat? I always use the Victor Frankle rationale..or St Padre Pio, a bilocator who also contacted his spiritual children with the aroma of tobacco or roses. Add my name to the guilty list. <p></p><i></i>
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Re: smoke quit is IMPOSSIBLY hard

Postby sunny » Sun Mar 26, 2006 7:04 pm

Oh no, havanagilla, I'm sorry I wasn't more clear. My religious experience wasn't abusive, quite the opposite. I really quit smoking in order to please God. Unfortunately, I lost faith (not my belief, which is quite different) so that by 9/11 I had not the spiritual strength to fall back on that I once did.<br><br>My sister tried Wellbutrin and it did not work for her, though I wouldn't presume to say it wouldn't work for others.<br><br>I think a gradual decrease in intake is probably the best way. Make a list of all the ways you will benefit if you quit smoking (save money, better health, etc) and find a way to occupy your hands, like sewing, painting, etc. These are just opinions, things I have thought of to help myself. I've been trying for five days and <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>have</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> decreased a little. For instance, I pick up a book just after dinner instead of a cig. I smoke far less when I read. <p></p><i></i>
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Re: strong women and ZYban

Postby havanagilla » Sun Mar 26, 2006 7:05 pm

thoughtophoto -<br>thanks for info, I hope not to die from ZYban, but the other side effects are not so fatal and I did experience ALL of them (palpitations, dry mouth, insomnia, panic attack, sweating and what not), but it passes arond the 10th day, or maybe 12th day, which makes it quite bearable.<br>reducing the smoke won't help in MY case, and with people who are heavy smokers for decades. I envy people like you who can smoke in moderatoin, and I believe it is even healthy this way, much like 1 glass of red wine for dinner is medically positive. <br>---<br>HOw did i sell the others short ? I didn't mean to imply anything like that.I am coming from a culture where <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>women are not</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> encouraged to participate in public discussions. YOu'd see very little, if not negligable, number of posts by women in blogs/boards like this in Israel. And so for me this is a celebration ! but I am also more apprehensive and perhaps over vigilant, with respect to the number of women posts in general or on a daily basis. <br><br>what hughmntee is describing in his posts, is the common reality in Israel, and it was a breather for me to see it articulated this way. it was a relief. And I do hope this "dark age" you are experiencing over there in the USA - with regards to women/militarism - will soon go away or shrink back. <p></p><i></i>
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smoke quit impossibly hard

Postby friend catcher » Sun Mar 26, 2006 7:12 pm

I find the initial stage of quitting to be quite easy for a week or more and feel sort of saintly. Then I become a bad tempered fiend who's looking for some kind of dramatic excuse to start again.Either that or a trip to the pub sets me back again. <br> Today in Scotland they have outlawed smoking in all public spaces so folk are hanging around the doors sucking it in. I can't really defend the habit and I see the logic of the law but still resent it. There are certainly places in the East end of Glasgow that will never be able to enforce it as everyone smokes in the poverty belt and it would be a suicidal copper that tried interfering.<br> <p></p><i></i>
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Re: strong women and ZYban

Postby sunny » Sun Mar 26, 2006 7:15 pm

I think here in the southern part of the US it is not so different from Israel. Women <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>are</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> quite strong here, we have to be. So many of our men are so macho, redneck, chauvinist, domineering. We women have just learned to be "Steel Magnolias", being extra feminine while making quite an impact without the poor dears really knowing what is going on.<br><br>Men of the upper classes in the south are not so bad as the redneck element insofar as a woman's "place" but as for me, I wouldn't want a man who couldn't fix the sink, the car, or kill the bug. Men are supposed to kill the bug! So my mechanic husband of 25 years has come a long way from his early attitudes, thanks in no small part to my winning ways! And I wouldn't trade him for a hundred lawyers or doctors. <p></p><i></i>
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Re: faith, guilt, women, smoke/addiction

Postby havanagilla » Sun Mar 26, 2006 7:15 pm

Sunny, I see what you mean now. You had a traumatic fear and panic attack with 9/11. that makes perfect sense to me, wouldn't spank myself over that "fall" from grace. (maybe you can sue somebody ?)<br>But as you see, there is a strange connection, for many people, between chemical/emotional/religious dependence. You took it to another direction, a positive and moderate spiritual growth, but truly, I think the connection is guilt oriented. I can also see a connection to gender issues as well. You know the whole thing of being emotionally dependent, clinging, driving the spirit/male away, sexuality, sexual needs...its all connected in my mind to the same issues.<br>---<br>I see the difference bn male and female cig quitters (in the forums), men are less prone to feel guilty, rather they are future oriented and ego oriented, namely, they are going to "win" this battle. Women go into deep emotional crises, sadness, loss, and many of them sense a deep unexplained connection between sex, smoking and religion too. (like, if I quit smoking I will be entitled to have sex ? or such magical thinking, which is also guilt oriented).<br><br> <p></p><i></i>
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Re: strong women

Postby havanagilla » Sun Mar 26, 2006 7:23 pm

<!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>I think here in the southern part of the US it is not so different from Israel<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END-->.<br><br>:=)) probably so. these are men who think they are anointed by GOD to rule women. iSraeli men actually feel that having sex with them (voluntarily or NOT) is a blessing, a prize, a gift...and they walk around feeling that they are god's gift to humanity, while there is nothing really more remote from that.<br><br>and in arabic the saying goes here that "if God is here (pointing to one corner of the room) then the woman is there (opposite corner)."<br><br>So, I think for some of us here, smoking stood for liberation, and so it is harder to give it up. <p></p><i></i>
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Re: faith, guilt, women, smoke/addiction

Postby sunny » Sun Mar 26, 2006 7:26 pm

havanagilla, sex is an excellent way to avoid smoking! And it burns calories too.<br><br>But you are right. Guilt over such things as smoking is much more pronounced in women. We are the examples to our children, we are supposed to be "saintly" dear old mom. I didn't say a single curse word in front of my children until just a few years ago, when it seemed they were mature enough to see me as a real human being. (Not a direct connection of course. I just got mad as hell over something.)<br><br>I think we should glory in our womanhood, and not be afraid to show our children, both daughters and sons, that we are worthy and beautiful despite our many faults. <p></p><i></i>
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NOT impossible

Postby marykmusic » Sun Mar 26, 2006 7:27 pm

I've done it. My husband has done it.<br><br>I've also quit heroin, cocaine, meth (admittedly a short experience) and the last thing to go was pot, all at different times in my life. Cold turkey, each time.<br><br>I quit coffee whenever I got pregnant. Stayed off until the baby was weaned (several babies.)<br><br>It's NOT impossible. ANYthing can be stopped, once a decision is made, including over-eating, which I've also had to deal with many times.<br><br>Tobacco, like pot, is a sacred herb with specific uses... NONE of which are recreational or addiction-causing. The additives in cigarettes are far more addictive than the tobacco, and is why 1) they cause cancer (did you ever hear of lung cancer from smoking peace pipe? Of course not. It's a modern disease.) and 2) why tobacco companies use 200+ chemical additives, PLUS promoting the "it's hard-to-quit" mindset. <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>Quo bono?</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--><br><br>My suggestion is to find an organic tobacco, then cut your smoking down to a more spiritual level, being aware of its purpose and history.<br><br>Then you will find that 1) it doesn't make you feel sick like commercial products do, and 2) you'll HAVE more spiritual experiences.<br><br>It's not about me having more will power than you; it's about empowering YOU to have more will power, as is your birthright. I didn't start out like that; sure, my basic stubbornness is probably why I washed out of the MK-Ultra program in the first place. It worked on my brother(s) better... but that's another story, not all of which I even know. --MaryK <p></p><i></i>
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Re: NOT impossible

Postby sunny » Sun Mar 26, 2006 7:36 pm

MaryK, I quit pot cold turkey as well, an herb that I <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>really</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> loved for a long time. If I weren't so afraid of getting busted ( a consequence of middle age?) I'd smoke it now to relax.<br><br>Like you, I had no trouble quitting cigs & caffeine while pregnant. Why not now? No incentive? I don't know, but I just put them away, even for months after while I breast fed.<br><br>And you are so right. I get very queesy if I smoke too much. Damned chemical death dealers, are cigarettes. <p></p><i></i>
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Any further suggestions mary ?

Postby slimmouse » Sun Mar 26, 2006 7:37 pm

<!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>My suggestion is to find an organic tobacco, then cut your smoking down to a more spiritual level, being aware of its purpose and history.<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><br><br> Any further suggestions on any of this ?<br><br> Signed, <br><br> Another useless addict <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :( --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/frown.gif ALT=":("><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <p></p><i></i>
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