Breathing Happy Author

Becoming Smoke Free

Enjoy Life and Breathe Happy

 Some of you have smoked for many years, are smoking several packs a day and it is not easy to just up and quit. Perhaps you have even agonized over how to do it. It's time but its so hard.

Have you thought about changing the way in which you get nicotine into your body? Maybe changing cigarettes to smokeless or chewing tobacco? In an article on mayoclinic.com ("Chewing Tobacco Not a Safe Alternative to Cigarettes")it stated that chewing tobacco has at least 30 cancer-causing chemicals in it and is just as dangerous as cigarettes.

On cancernews.com it explains that cigars have more cancer-causing nitrosamines. This only makes sense since toxins are produced at a higher level due in part to the slower smoking time. And this type of smoking causes oral cancer.

Electronic cigarettes are the newest on the market. They get nicotine to your blood and lungs without burning tobacco and adding all the harmful toxins that tobacco smoke adds to the air. It is just a better nicotine inhaler and may be a little better than the toxic tobacco smoke.

The truth is that there is no safe tobacco product.

Examine your need for a cigarette. You may say you enjoy it but the majority of you are using this addiction to stuff away feelings. Do you find yourself smoking during an emotional or stressful situation? Making smokingt helps you get through a rough day. But why? Think about the times during the day that you smoke. Kids are loud and not behaving, work is stressful, traffic makes you nervous, or relationship problems and the list goes on and on. Or perhaps its instead of doing something you know needs to get done. Are you suppressing your emotions by smoking? Smoking a cigarette instead of eating and using it to suppress hunger?

When you feel the need of a cigarette try asking yourself if you might be hungry, tired, lonely or even angry. What do I really need instead of a cigarette?

Do you think you are ready to pick a date and stop the smoking addiction that has plagued you? The best results come when you pick a date to start becoming smoke free. On that date you start using the nicotine replacement of your choice. Of course just trying to go from two packs a day to half of one in one day is ridiculous so going cold turkey onto the replacement seems the best way to go. And, remember, each time you do something else instead of smoking you are helping your self to quit.

Getting support from your doctor and family is very important in becoming smoke free. Your medical doctor can give you options and information on what nicotine replacement product might be best for you.

There are several Nicotine Replacement Therapy(or NRT) products on the market. Over the counter there are patches, gum and lozenges. There are sprays and inhalers by prescription. Two tablet prescription types are Chantix and Wellbutrin. Chantix is said to cause suicidal thoughts in some users and Wellbutrin also helps with depression.

Smoking is not an easy thing to stop. It may take you a while and even a few stops and starts. Be easy on yourself. Finding the reasons for smoking will help you become smoke free.

For more information visit the sites below:

Smokefree.gov

http://www.smokefree.gov

www.quitnet.com

NCI's Smoking Quitline at 1–877–448–7848

I had to quit smoking

In January of 2011, I had developed a heart condition known as atrial fibrillation.  As I prepared to go in for my first internal x-rays, I was so scared the results would reveal my 28 + years of smoking by way of charred lungs and blackened ventricles.  I decided on that day to quit smoking cold turkey.  Read more

Steps to Save An Almost Loveless Marriage

Save An Almost Loveless Marriage

Marriage with no love between the couple is unlikely to survive. If you feel your marriage is losing the love that should be there, steps must be taken to save even the last trace of this important element. Many couples think that saving a loveless marriage is impossible; thus, they don’t even lift a finger to do anything. This represents one of the many wrong attitudes couples have because in truth, there are ways to save a loveless marriage. Read more

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My favorite day of the year has come and gone.  Friends’ Thanksgiving.  We started this event after our roommate suggested we have folks over to celebrate the holidays with our ‘family of friends’.  It began with about 15 people getting together, putting aside the to-do lists and committing a meal together.   Read more

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Even though most people associate summer and the sunny days that it brings with joy, it can sometimes be quite difficult to remain looking, or indeed, being happy when your makeup is having a persistent tendency to come sloping down your face. Luckily, there are things you can do to either completely prevent this from happening, or at least, keep the necessary interventions on your makeup at a minimum. Read more

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When I Get to Live to More than a Hundred Years Old

“What if you can live forever?” What if you can see the seasons of life from spring, summer, autumn and winter for a thousand years or more? Some say that it’s a curse while billions around the world dream or aspire to have it in an attempt to cast out their own mortality and fear of death. The beliefs and versions vary. Some say you’d float in the sky in a white shining beam of light and be reunited to your creator, but that’s another form of immortality. That is immortality through an afterlife. Some view it as an oasis where milk and honey flow overabundantly in rivers. Some view it as a place where 70 virgins prance around to give you immeasurable pleasure but only if you do their bidding first in this life.

Some view it as a reunification with loved ones long gone and missed. But for me, immortality has two levels:

Conceptual: Some luminaries long gone, become immortal through their words, sacrifices or actions.

Practical: Science fiction and vampire novels come to mind.

Now you may be asking why this blog post is about immortality when I should be writing about trying to quit smoking. Our finite nature in this universe all hinges upon the fact that our organs fail. That’s why when somebody dies, people always ask what they died from. Heart attack, lung cancer, prostate cancer, liver damage, etc. All of the causes of death have to do with the failure of one or more organs. I am imagining a near future where scientists would one day be able to develop organ replacement techniques that are infallible. Maybe through stem cells or through nanobots.

Once they’ve done this and made it affordable and universally accessible, then we would no longer have to worry about a bevy of things that we should not be worrying about. At this very moment, my grandfather is slowly dying from cancer. When I came to visit them last week, they told me that what I am asking for was a miracle and miracles don’t happen in this world. What they needed was a practical solution, a solution of which I could not provide – nobody could. The conversation would have been different if the technology or the procedure was more readily available. Our conversation would have been about which star each would love to go to next, what robot models were being developed right now, the latest music or movie, how my daughters are learning how to code and play the guitar. In short, we would have been discussing living this life now.

Setting the Date

Share your story with a world

After figuring out what your triggers are and working to change your routine (as discussed in my blog entitled “Triggers”), you are ready to set a date for the big day, the day when you conciously back away from smoking.

It is a good idea to either talk to your medical doctor or call a help line (one is listed below). There are some products on the market to help with the nicotine withdrawal such as gum, patches, lozenges and even some prescription medications such as Varenicline (or Chantix) and Bupropion (brand names Wellbutrin and Zyban), that help with the cravings. A doctor can advise you as to whether you might need to start one of these products before stopping actual cigarettes. This is a very important aspect of quitting and these aids are good idea to decide on before the day comes.

You aren’t going to just never have another cigarette. Cutting down or edging off is a little more the point here. Your awareness of your smoking triggers, and what you have done to change those most vulnerable moments, will help you to cut down and finally quit.

Water pipe smoking (vaping and e-cigs) still deliver the nicotine, but not as toxic as a cigarette.

A lot of people feel that cold turkey is the way to go about quitting. But only about 3.5% of those stopping cold turkey actually stop for good.

Remember that addictive behavior comes from our reactions to certain situations. Usually, it is an emotional stresser that brings on the addictive behavior. This is where changing the rituals we go through comes in. For example: If you smoke when you get in the car and drive at a certain time during the day, then you need to find something else to do at this time.

Don’t forget to ask for support from family and friends. Not being around people that smoke will be very helpful and is something to think about.

Call the NCI (National Cancer Institute) Smoking Quitline at: 1-877-448-7848 Monday through Friday 8am to 8pm eastern time, or visit www.smokefree.gov for help if you need it.

I hope this blog is of help to you and that you read the others I have written on this subject.  Thank you for your votes and comments.