I’m Quitting Smoking (Round 2)

Jason — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 04:25:16 +0000

I’ve smoked cigarettes for a long time. Too long. I just turned 30 years old a few months ago and I did a lot of thinking about my life, my future, etc. One of the things that continually bothered me was my smoking habit. Sure, I used to like smoking when I was younger. The social aspect, the “good feeling” that nicotine triggers, and the stress relieving properties were all good things I thought.

But, here I am today. Sick of smoking and hating the way it makes me feel. I of course also know all the bad things it can do to your health as well. I won’t go on and on about all that here, but, the bottom line for me is I’m just tired of it and no longer want to deal with its many burdens.

So, I started reviewing popular ways to quit. Patches, pills (ie. anti-depressants), hypnosis, seminars, you name it. I don’t particularly want to use any nicotine replacement systems (ie. patches or gums). I know that within 12 hours of your last cigarette the carbon monoxide level in your blood drops to normal and your oxygen levels go back up to normal as well. And, within 3-7 days of your last cigarette you’re body is basically no longer chemically dependent on nicotine and any withdrawals start to subside. So, why keep feeding your body that shit for weeks after quitting? Didn’t make sense to me.

I definitely do not want to use any type of prescription pill like Zyban or Chantix. These are either anti-depressants or chemicals which interfere with the brain’s nicotine receptors. Both of these types of drugs have a long list of possible side-effects which I won’t bore you with. But, a few in particular bother me like thoughts of suicide, depression, vivid/strange dreams and so on. No thanks…

Everywhere I read about various stop smoking programs I kept seeing Allen Carr’s “EasyWay to Stop Smoking” book and seminars. So, I bought the DVD and the book online and will be giving that a try. It supposedly has a high success rate and I liked that it didn’t require drugs of any kind. I’m definitely skeptical but after reading all the reviews and checking out all the info on the program I’m trying to stay positive and give it a fair chance.

Why did I finally decide to try quitting again today? Well, on-top of a myriad of other external forces (friends, family, general heath concerns) I’ve had this cough/sore throat and congestion for a little over a week that just won’t go away. I finally felt so crappy today that I visited my doctor and he said I most likely had whatever cold bug that’s going around currently and it’s turned into a slight respiratory infection because I smoke. Lovely…

Anyway, hoping this program will work for me. Wish me luck.

SNEAKY.ME » quit smoking

I’m Quitting Smoking (Round 2)