StacyJo44
What's Helping Me Quit Smoking
May 02, 2014
So almost a week ago I blogged a post about quitting smoking. It ended up taking me a couple days to REALLY get on track with quitting. Like most smokers, I KNOW it's a bad nasty habit I should have never started, but 28 years later, even though I KNOW it's slowly killing me, I just couldn't figure how I was going to find the will power to quit. See, my smoking addiction isn't really all that different from my eating addiction. I'd quit the smoking for awhile and go back. I quit cold turkey while pregnant only to start back up after I quit breast feeding. Like dieting, I'd quit the bad foods for awhile but ended up failing and going back to my old habits eventually. I resented having to give up sugar or butter or twinkies just like I resented having to give up smoking. There are two parts to a smoking addiction. The physical addiction to the Nicotine and the psychological addiction or habit. Is it really that different from our addiction to food? Sure we NEED food, we can't give it up completely, but going into this WLS process we all learn the same thing, our HABITS HAVE TO CHANGE! Any reason I ate other than to fuel my body when it was hungry was a deadly habit. I realized that and went to a seminar to change it. I don't want my obesity to kill me. So why couldn't I see smoking the same way? Even after losing my mother to lung cancer I STILL smoked. I've known for a long time that I NEED to quit, but why couldn't I WANT to quit enough to really stick with it? The physical withdrawal from nicotine lasts about 3-5 days. Even as I type this, my body is going through those withdrawal symptoms. For the first time EVER in my all my quitting attempts, I'm able to ride out the intense cravings when they hit without any thought of giving in to them. Why? Because I finally, truly, actually, WANT to quit. It's one thing for a smoker to play the game of chance with cancer or emphysema. It's not so much if, but when. We all know somebody who knows somebody who smoked their whole life and never got cancer or didn't get it until they were in their 90's. So you figure you'll just cut down some if you start getting short of breath or coughing too much and take your chances. But here's the reality with Nicotine and WLS. Nicotine SIGNIFICANTLY increases the risks of blood clots after surgery. It also raises the risk of post surgery leaks and ulcers. It was the thought of a clot traveling to my lungs that flipped a switch in my brain. Yes, clots are a risk, but as a smoker, the risk is more than doubled. I'm not that much of a gambler! I have a son who needs me and the whole purpose of this journey is to change my life, to be healthier. Not to die before I can reap the rewards or risk complications that prevent me from succeeding. It's simply NOT WORTH THE RISK! I'm not sure what that flipped switch did, but somehow it reconciled my Id, Ego and Super-ego. I have cravings, but NO desire to give in.I feel like I have SUPER HUMAN Will Power. In a couple more days the physical cravings will cease, the nicotine will be out of my body and I can move forward towards a safer surgery.
