Day 10 - The Rewiring

Not one craving today. I actually don't remember having a physical craving in a couple of days. I even find myself no longer thinking that often about smoking (maybe once or twice in the day I'll say to myself "Here, I would normally light up"). So I consider that a success, passing on to the next phase of my quit. Yay!

That was actually pretty quick. Less than two weeks to detox. Now it's all about the psychological side of the nicotine addiction. Continuing the rewiring. Continue ignoring my personal assistant which is only doing it's job by reminding me to light up; my brain will eventually fully catch on. Right now it's just like a confused little assistant who doesn't know on which foot to dance cause you just changed up the whole plan on her. She's a smart cookie, though. She'll get it quick enough.

Add to that that I've been sick since Saturday, so that has made it quite easier, thankfully.

The one thing that I have noticed and that I think I'm the most proud of is that I haven't taken my Symbicort in 11 days. Normally I take two puffs a day... every day. So my asthma was directly linked to my smoking. *&%$# And I knew it, too. I realized that my asthma actually started about a couple years after I started smoking, my first severe attack when I was 15. From then on I was prescribed everything from Ventolin to Flovent to Symbicort, nothing helping improve my condition. Until I quit. I hadn't noticed during my last quit either how my asthma had improved. And how a few months after I had started smoking again I was hospitalized for 3 days for a severe asthma attack. Here's an interesting article I found online about the link between smoking and asthma:

"How does smoking cause asthma? “Tobacco smoke contains several irritants that have been shown to cause chronic inflammation in the airways and in the alveoli. Such chronic inflammation can lead to asthma,” Dr. Jaakkola explained. “In addition, smoking has been shown to modulate the immune system and to impair normal repair systems leading, potentially, to asthma.” She added that in both animals and humans, hypersensitivity to allergens is enhanced in the presence of tobacco smoke." (http://www.pulmonaryreviews.com/jan05/smokingasthma.html)

Mitch is doing much better, too, no longer anxious about it anymore. I even reminded him today about the fact that I hadn't seen him jones in a while. He hadn't even noticed. :) Well, (other than the sick part) I continue to enjoy this path to ex-smoking.

Woohoo, I made it to Day 2!

Day One was interesting... and long. Though I realize my two mistakes that made the day go by so much slower: I played along with Mitch (who is sick, mind you) and was a couch potato. All day. No activity other than taking Treble for a walk. That and I kept giving into the cravings. Not that that by itself is such a problem, but it's when you go back for seconds and thirds... that's a problem. And what was up with my random combinations?! Anyways.

Seeing as it has snowed a whole lot in the last 24 hours, I'm going to correct my first mistake by taking Treble to the train tracks to run wild for a while. I'm thinking I'll even put my snow pants on and hopefully Mitch will feel better and come out with us! I need to move!

One thing I had forgotten about quitting is how quickly your metabolism SLOWS DOWN. I think I'm going to have to pick up some Activia or something. And water retention!!! I drank nearly 2L yesterday and only peed twice! I felt like a water balloon all evening.

Time stamp : 33 hours 8 minutes

The Fits

Sounds like a band name. Hunh.

Well, I'm half-way past Day One. I'm half-way through my bottle of water (how the hell is it not going down quicker?!) and I'm half-way to bat shit crazy. But it's okay. Like the tattoo on my forearm : This, too, shall pass.

But holy cow, Batman.

Mitch is up. Apparently he dreamt that I had started smoking again. Which I think is funny cause I only quit last night. Vote of confidence much, Mitch's Subconscious??? I can already see he's edgy. Fun times. At least my dog is still and always the epitome of calmess. I'll cuddle with him when I have a fit.

I had one point this afternoon where my hands started shaking. So I started making my blog prettier to keep me busy. Then my Mom called.

First thing I heard when I answered was her inhaling her own cigarette. And my knuckles went white as my eyes darted across my coffee table, instantly searching for my trusty pack of DuMaurier's. And then reality hit 2 seconds later. Oh yeah. Ok. I can do this.

So onwards and upwards. Time to start looking into the yoga classes next door. Ain't NO WAY I'm gaining that weight back.

Brilliant Anti-Smoking Videos

As it is with any new endeavor I embark upon, I spent some time online and found a few powerful anti-smoking videos from around the world. These actually moved me. So I'm going to collect a few here.

Punch in. Day One. (Ugh)

The sole purpose of this page is because not 15 minutes ago I made my boyfriend swear he wouldn't tell anyone about our little promise. And now I have to tell someone. So I'll tell the emptiness of this space.

WE'RE QUITTING SMOKING.

How ridiculous a little thing to keep secret, but this is why: I quit everything, even quitting. My longest success period was just over 1 year. And then I caved and believed myself by saying 'Just one'. That was 3 years ago.

I started smoking when I was 13 years old, so that's nearly 17 years (minus one). 16 years. And yeah, I had started because I wanted to be cool. And it was. And now my entire apartment stinks like my grandparents house.

I'm also a singer, so the Duh Factor there is pretty big.

I'm also an asthmatic. Yeah. There's that Duh Factor again.

So basically this is where I'll allow myself to spill my guts about the Quit (among other things). If ever ANYONE at all decides to read this, feel free to ask me questions. It entertains me and, well let's face it, I'll be a ball of energy for the next few days, so keep me entertained.

Smoke free : 11 hours, 6 minutes