Posted on 04/30/2007 3:14:10 AM PDT by leadpenny
Editor’s note: Veteran reporter Fred Connors recently quit smoking after 45 years. This is the second of a three-part series that focuses on how Connors realized his addiction to nicotine and is now dealing with it.
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“Quitting smoking is easy. I’ve done it a thousand times.”
— Mark Twain
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Me too.
But, it’s not until this stage of my life that I realize I don’t have a problem with cigarettes.
Blaming cigarettes for my health issue would be like blaming my car if I should go out and kill somebody while driving under the influence of alcohol.
It’s not the cigarettes. It’s the nicotine.
For years, I have been unwilling to see that or say it. My diagnosis of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease must have shaken my brain into making me so strong that I could come to terms with how horribly weak I am compared to the power of nicotine.
Nicotine is the highly addictive active drug in tobacco. There are strong clinical arguments suggesting that nicotine is just as addictive as heroin or cocaine.
The bottom line is nicotine is a narcotic drug that elevates blood pressure and binds to chemicals in the brain to enhance a feeling of pleasure. It is the exact effect produced by heroin or crack cocaine.
A cigarette is to nicotine what a hypodermic needle is to heroin or a glass pipe is to crack.
The physical cigarette is a perfect delivery device for getting nicotine into my blood system. Every puff is a hit and every hit is another shred of evidence that can, and did, build into an air-tight case against my health and, ultimately, impose a harsh sentence — COPD.
As I size up my adversary it is evident I can’t do this alone.
Quitting smoking is a huge industry. Cessation programs and products are everywhere. They are, however, only as good as a person’s resolve to truly become smoke free.
I know I cannot try one of these plans or products. Trying leaves room for failure.
It will take much more than trying. It will take a complete attitude adjustment geared at no outcome other than success.
Many employers offer smoking cessation programs to their workers, and most states have free cessation programs. They include quitting aids such as patches, lozenges, gums, inhalers, nasal sprays or pills. Some health insurance plans pick up the tab.
Here’s how they work:
? A nicotine patch is something you wear on your skin like an adhesive bandage. It releases nicotine through your skin and gradually reduces your urge for nicotine. The cost is about $3 per day.
? The lozenge is used like a throat lozenge. As it dissolves, it releases nicotine slowly into your body and helps you stop wanting nicotine. They cost about the same as a pack of cigarettes per day.
? Nicotine gum is a type of sugarless gum containing nicotine. It keeps your mouth busy and reduces nicotine intake into your body. The cost is about the same as a pack of cigarettes per day.
? The inhaler looks very much like a cigarette. By holding the inhaler between your fingers and puffing on it, you get the nicotine your body needs to control cravings. Its cost is $6-$16 per day.
? The nasal spray is a liquid product you spray into your nose from a pump bottle. The cost is about the same as a pack of cigarettes per day.
? Bupropion SR, also known as Zyban or Wellbutrin, is a medicine in tablet form. It helps lower your urge to smoke and prepares your body for the stress of quitting but does not contain nicotine. The cost is about $2.50 per day.
These products can be very expensive, and a solid cessation program may incorporate one or a combination of products into one’s personal quit plan. They, along with emotional support, are designed to work.
The patch, lozenge and gum are available over the counter, but a prescription is needed for the inhaler, spray or Bupropion.
There is no way to endorse any particular plan or product. They are merely tools and are only as good as the user. It would make no sense to buy a hammer if you know you never intend to use it.
The Veterans Affairs clinic pointed me toward the Free & Clear Quit For Life Program.
I found the Free and Clear folks to be true friends who were sincerely interested in helping me, and I chose to follow their advice every step of the way.
First came the telephone number for my seven day a week Quit Coach. Then, a slick 32-page quit guide showed up. It would outline my plan from selecting a quit date to choosing the right aids, to quitting.
The quit would take four steps, including choosing a date, making a decision about medications, learning coping skills and choosing support allies. I had to determine if I wanted medications and, then, which would be best for me.
My Quit Coach, who helped me decide lozenges and Bupropion SR tablets would be best, encouraged me to pick a quit date within two to four weeks. I would continue to smoke and take the tablets seven days prior to the quit day. At the seventh day I would drop the cigarettes and begin the lozenges. The tablets and lozenges would be part of my daily routine for eight weeks.
The coping skills section would help me deal with all three sides of the addiction triangle. They are physical, or cravings; behavior, or smoking while doing certain things; and emotional, or dealing with mood swings. It also helps you recognize smoking triggers, which are times and places that make you want to smoke.
I chose to enlist everyone in the newsroom of The Intelligencer and Wheeling News-Register as allies to keep an eye on me. By letting them know what I was going through, I hoped they would offer support and encouragement.
Then, it hit me to include all the people I come into contact with daily. A reporter is a visible figure, so why not seek encouragement from all those folks.
The problem with the allies decision is it leaves me nowhere to hide. Wherever I go people will be able to see if I get weak and stick a nicotine delivery device up to my mouth.
The seven day pre-quit mode was easy. No physical or addiction issues popped up because I was still smoking.
It made me wonder if the Bupropion SR tablets were quietly building up some kind of withdrawal symptoms barrier to get a head start on the addiction in preparation for the day I would replace the smokes with lozenges.
Free & Clear’s quit guide deals with coping skills to be used when a smoking trigger arises. I found it interesting that one of the skills was prayer.
I had prayer with my pastor on Quit Day Eve.
Day 2.
Keep ‘er going FRiend!
Wishing him well.
I didn't mention it yesterday, but its three years on 18May for me. It was a heckofa lot easier to quit the smokes than the booze.....~!
My husband got out of the hospital thurs with life threatening heart and lung and kidney and other problems.
Our sons and I threw all his cigarettes away before he got home.
Yesterday he got in the car and drove to the gas station to get @#$%^ cigarettes.
The remedy always seems to come back to the individual. You’ve done all you can do, but don’t give up.
I asked his doctor, while he was in the hospital, to lecture him about smoking. The doctor said it usually didn’t do much good.
He’s a total mule when it comes to cigarettes, and a mule on other things as well.
“I didn’t mention it yesterday, but its three years on 18May for me. It was a heckofa lot easier to quit the smokes than the booze.....~!”
I certainly disagree with that. I quit the booze without any real problem but nicotine is a bitch.
In the interests of equal time and journalistic integrity, another editor needs to walk us through on how to *start* smoking.
Got it all together, friend. Been off cigs for quite a few years. My son got on my case. I snuck smokes for a while. Son, being a wrestler, said he loved me and threatened me with bodily harm. With guilt and loving my son I got away from the urge to smoke. However the “Urge” won’t leave the room. When the “Urge” comes into my circle I go talk to someone else more healthy, like you guys..
Tough Love.
What’s frustrating both of us is, after his heart attack in 2006, the dye used in angiograms to view the arteries, evidentally causes kidney failure.
The kidney doctor said “We’re seeing a lot of this (failure) in heart patients”. There are evidentally a lot of reasonably healthy heart patients in dialysis, who got there from the angiogram dye.
When I quit 6 years ago, I used patch for a few weeks to work on the Habit side first. I used red hot candies because I liked the stinging sensation in my mouth. I missed fidgeting with the lighter so I carried a lipstick (Chapstick will do). You may have to drive a different way to work because you know where you fire up the second one and will get an urge. If you miss going outside, go ahead - just go for a quick walk and enjoy a break (endorphines from excercise help, too).
A few weeks later, I switched to the gum on demand to start working on the chemical side of the issue. I would try to stretch it out, but don't wait too long and get too jumpy at first. Several weeks into there is a time to "ride through the crave wave". They last about 5 minutes, then pass. When the chemical has been out of your system for 7 days, the physiological craving begen to go away. Don't borrow or buy.
Meanwhile, get the smell out of all your clothes - take jackets to the cleaners. Detail the car. Buy a new fragrance. Brush your teeth after every meal so you have a clean taste.
And prayer does help. For years, that smoke was a constant companion. When you got stressed - grab a cigarette. When you wanted to relax - puff. When you were hanging out and chatting, it was there. When you were getting into an uncomfortable conversation, a smoke break gives and excuse to get away. You will need to replace that "friend" with a new companion.
You are off to a great start by looking at this with a plan. It is a tough battle, but worth it.
Bump for your method and some good advice.
I have three adult sons and all have smoked and all have quit, except, now my youngest is smoking again. I don’t say anything because he knows it’s bad for him and I think he’ll figure it out for himself. He’s a bartender and I know he’s gone for four or five hours or more without having a smoke. He played different sports growing up, so I’m hoping he will have that cathartic moment when he just quits for good.
Someone should do just that, tongue-in-cheek. ;)
Sarcasm, ridicule and shame could motivate some folks to quit.
In conversation I’ve used the the idea that it’s good for people to smoke. It helps pay taxes and if things work out just right, the smoker will die the day they apply for Social Security. Everyone except the smoker wins.
My quit day is scheduled for May 12. There is a brand new prescription med that just came on the market called Chantix. The literature that I received on it explains how it blocks the brain’s receptors from receiving the nicotine that in turns releases dopamine that creates the pleasure sensation. Chantix makers also offer a support group called GetQuit. I have an appointment with my doc on Friday to start the med.
I am excited and anxious.
Mr. CGG is 73 and a smoker. He did quit once for 10 years and then started again.
I hate smoking but at this point, I have mixed emotions about it.
I compare it to my mom's addiction to antidepressants, etc.
They're both highly addictive, expensive, have undesirable side effects and are used to calm the nerves. My mom's addition is far more expensive than my husband's and actually, hers have brought her misery where my husband's addiction has brought him pleasure. My mom's addiction was prescribed by doctors.
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