found out the hard way
hello everyone. well after smoking for 34 years i have to quit, no choice. july 2017 i suffered a heart attack and emergency heart surgery and during that journey they put a patch on me in the hospital so i would not crave smokes during my stay. after 2 hours i had a allergic reaction so they took the patch off. when released from the hospital the surgeon advised me to wean myself off smokes. well that worked somewhat ,40 smokes down to 10 a day. then stressful events happened so i stayed around 10. Jan 2018 i have had another heart attack and on the operating table i was told i have to stop now. with this i have to quit cold turkey and no aids. any tips out there?
Hi Hemi, I'm 9 days into my second serious quit attempt (last time was 10 years ago) and I'm also allergic to patches (glue allergy). I did actually end up using patches for the first 3 days and using them with antihistamines. Can you use lozenges or gum at all to help you? Otherwise, I second what Red-67 says about Allen Carr's book which I read before xmas and helped get me into the quitting mindset. For me, the thing that was harder than nicotine withdrawal is change of behaviour ie breaking the routines around smoking. So now instead of going out to the porch with a coffee and a cigarette, I go out with a coffee and a puzzle app on my phone to play for 5 mins which lowers my stress a lot and makes it easier to get through each craving cycle.
Best wishes, hope your health is on the mend now.
Hi, seems to me you have been granted a second chance, if you think about it, someday has to be the last day we do something, let this be the last time you smoked, like they said Allen Cars book is very helpful, as well as the posts on this site.
Dont let yourself down, you can do it!
You are lucky to be alive , everytime you go to light a smoke remember the ambos and doctors and nurses that saved your life . I smoked for 37 years and have been 5 years smoke free and loving life . Remember when you give up you dont stink anymore , you can taste food, you dont cough your guts up every morning, Smoking will rule you as long as you let it , you must be head strong but it gets easier.
I just think of being on that operation bed and the moment they start drilling holes into my scalp while I am awake, it has to be done so I can have a better life.
So I am in the first week of cutting down my smoke's thinking of getting the patches but not the chantix, It won't be good for my depression, I have smoked for over 30 years and never been serious about quitting. Now my Doctor says that is imperative that I do. I have panic attacks and severe anxiety so the cigarette is like my security blanket.
I know that some people quit cold turkey,and some fail many times. But at the end is just one reason and it means everything... Our HEALTH.