Friday, July 19, 2013

Day Two Begins

Day one completed. I got through it with nicotine gum and an inhalator I’d used before and still bears the teeth marks of that occasion. Certainly a few cravings hit me but with my mind set and a couple of pulls on the inhalator I was fine. Also, that Caroline is giving up and has her mind set too is a huge plus point. The electronic cigarette wasn’t much good (sorry, Rich and Shona). I thought it simply wasn’t charging up but soon discovered I wasn’t drawing on the thing hard enough for it to activate. Actually getting some ‘smoke’ out of it is akin to trying to suck a marble up a straw. Maybe I’ll look into acquiring one of these nicotine ‘pens’.

Day two begins with a piece of liquorice-flavoured 4mg nicotine gum and a new cartridge in the inhalator. Judging my yesterday’s food consumption (fried breakfast, Chinese meal, and lots of fruit) I know I need to repair my bike and get it on the road as soon as possible. I think I’ll also clean out the garage and brush the rust off my weights too. And, generally, I have to do stuff. The thing about smoking is that it sucks up time. Yesterday, while thoroughly cleaning the car, I found myself pausing for a ‘break’, then realising that this meant going inside, sitting on my arse and smoking a cigarette. Caroline, working in the back garden, found the same thing. Instead we both just carried on doing stuff and, as a result, where thoroughly knackered at the end of the day.

... 

Someone asked me on Twitter to please not turn into a ‘born again non-smoker’. No fear of that. I know how for some people it seems almost necessary to be that way – part of the required mind-set to give up. To give up an addiction they love they have to get angry with it. This in fact is where a lot of the anti-smoking bullshit comes from, not from those who have never smoked. I won’t be a ‘born-again non-smoker’ because I am giving up something I have enjoyed, on and off, for 35+ years, and I am not a hypocrite.  

8 comments:

alibaba said...

I managed to break a 30-year habit; not easy but it's well worth the effort.

Distraction is the key - I got rid of all the 'cues' for smoking: ashtrays, lighters, old ciggie packets, even my pillow which stunk of fags. Everytime I felt the craving, I'd go outside and pull weeds or wash the car. The neighbours must have thought I was developing OCD!

7 years down the track, I still have the occasional urge and probably always will but the health benefits are well worth it.

Jebel Krong said...

However I am sure you both will realise the benefits (in terms of health, if nothing else) eventually.

nakchak said...

I found eCigs to be quite good, as long as you dont screw the tip in to tight then it chokes it, also the switch in the battery can gum up and either stick on or off but a few drops of surgical spirit seems to do the trick and get the thing working again.
Also the cartridges for the main uk high street ecigs (10 motives, nicolites and the ones with the gangnam style dancing baby advert) are all interchangable, so based on which super market offer is best you can get quite good deals on the refills...

Livio said...

breaking 20 years of smoking, by far the hardest thing i've done in my life. first 3 weeks were hell. things which helped: i joined a gym and started jogging (major help), my wife (major help), changing habits built around smoking. after 3 weeks the inferno was more like a nightmare. after 3 months i was back to normal. good luck

Neal Asher said...

alibaba, yes, I'm doing the OCD thing too. Yesterday I planted plants, cleared out the composter, repaired a bicycle, swept out the garage in between doing sets of weights...

daniel, I can feel the benefits right away. Within just a day I have more energy.

Tim, we had some e-cigs but I think they'd reached that stage you mentioned. Instead it's been gum, patches in Caroline's case, and inhalators. However, we did pick up some Vapesticks from Tesco and they seem very good - I've now ordered full kits.

Livio, aiming for more exercise, like the weight training mentioned above. It's also the reason I got a bike back to being cycle-worthy.

Neil said...

Good luck with the quitting.

freegnu said...

Try researching custom nicotine oil atomizers (e-cig). If you are handy and looking for a project you can even make your own. The advantage being you wouldn't have to do the gum and inhaler thing and can smoke in non smoking places without having to pull so hard and can also control the ingredients in your nicotine oil. The trick of the custom designs is that they are refillable and have a trigger. You buy your own nicotine oil separately.

Neal Asher said...

Thanks Neil.

I'm pretty happy with the Vapestick I have fregnu. I don't really want to get that involved with e-cigs because I fully intend to put the one I'm using aside as soon as possible.