quitting smoking

[andi69]

I've been smoking for more than 20 years and about a month ago today I quit cold turkey. Now I'm experiencing a lot of things goin on inside me and sometimes I'm scared. Maybe I should have just gradually gone about quitting. And I'm thinking of smoking again just a stick or 3 sticks a day to remove all this fearful side effects.

[Bruce Paine]

andi69,

Congratulations!

Now you've done something!

Before you quit, how many cigarettes were you smoking per day on average and at the peak?

One thing that those absolutists don't seem to understand that life is like a pendulum (unlike a light bulb which is so simple that we can turn it on and off at will and still have a well functioning light bulb) and that we upset it's function when we suddenly break it's swing.

You didn't suddenly start smoking all the cigarettes that you ended up smoking, on that first day, so why should you have suddenly just stop.

We all develop gradually, wither it is two people meeting and getting to like and appreciate each other gradually, then falling in love when discovering that we have a lot in common and deciding that we want to be together for maybe the rest of our lives, and if we also happen to be heterosexual then maybe sometime after we've made commitments to each other we mix our fluids together and create that spark of life that then becomes someone and gradually for about nine months that new person develops inside one of us and then at some point comes out to greet us and the world.

Again, gradually, that person develops, perceptions, vision, taste, smell, hearing, and feelings, gradually developing the body and the mind learning to speak, read think, judge and venture slowly gradually out into the world.

Becoming a young person that one is introduced to smoking by someone, either their parents (like I was) or a friend or acquaintance and gradually gets into the activity and habit of smoking.

Interestingly enough, most people grow up and participate in the world and then at some point start gradually losing their functions and abilities leading up to some time when they finally die, all taking time gradually.

So with all that history of gradualness, why should we start doing new things suddenly?

Do you feel like smoking now?

Do it!

It will not be the same because you know that in some way you might suffer from something whether as a S.A.D. eater something like cancer, heart disease, bronchitus, respiratory disease or something.

Yes, if you are eating organic miso soup, sea vegetables, organic whole grains and the such, you might not suffer from all those diseases but you will still have problems whether it is that you might not feel like running in a marathon, or getting involved in some outdoor adventure.

Maybe you won't feel as inclined to open your heart to someone important in your life if your judging and analysing part of you brain is still being stimulated by all that nicoteine or any other exclusive attitudes might develop (perhaps again?).

One thing is guaranteed, that if you start smoking again, and you travel to the United States, that in most offices, restaurants, and bars, you will have to go outside (like a criminal) to smoke.

Perhaps the same attitude is developing in Manilla or other countries outside the U.S., but the attitudes of ignorance from yesteryear are changing and you will have to change with it or be chastised.

No one here went from being completely computer illeterate to being able to e-mail writen letters, create programs, develop skills.

Again, it all happened gradually, so take your time with this.

If you feel like smoking, do so with complete awareness, and look at what you are thinking or feeling before you feel like smoking.

Maybe something is making you feel upset or perhaps you ate too much or too little of something.

Maybe you just got intimate and released energy with someone that you really don't feel connected to, or maybe you have pressures on you that is causing you to feel overwhelmed.

Many people who have stopped smoking for years and broke up with someone or had an important family member or friend die, and it is then they start smoking again without thinking about it.

So the thing is to always be thinking and paying attention to your feelings as they come up.

If you have difficulty doing that, you can either see a therapist who can teach you to do that, or you can find a group doing meditation (if you are really a strong person, you can do all those things yourself without anyone's help or instruction) and learn how to pay attention to all things and phenomena that come up to disturb you and then any unwanted habits and addictions can gradually fall away and you can be free.

Does that help you, any?

Thank you, very much.

Bruce Paine

[mike chen]

andi69, in oriental medicine, fear is a quality that indicates concern with the kidneys. nicotine narrows the capillaries and restricts blood flow - i.e., nourishment - effectively, it inhibits sensorial capacity. it would be worthwhile to consider the nephrons.

in general, when an organism cuts off its usual food supply - in your case, nicotine - all sorts of imbalances surface. we call this event "discharge" in classical mb. as bruce points out, to suppress the symptoms is easy: simply re-start the previous consumption - i.e., start smoking again! the discharge will generally promptly abate!

(of course, the question why you stopped smoking in the first place will persist . . . )

any comment?

[andi69]

You know you guys are probably right but I'm kinda making a stand here. i'm not sure how long it's gonna last but what I'm sure of is i'm not missing it at all and to think that I smoke at least a pack and a half a day at the most is three. what really concerns me are these side effects which I sure hope would all go away. so armed with a little prayer I stand here and say bring it on.

[mike chen]

. . . so, you're on.

what kind of diet are you following? how old are you? have you been doing some exercise?

to take care of the kidneys, you need salt baths. do you have access to a bathtub? 3 pounds of rock salt, enough water to come up to your navel (not higher!), and, say, 20 minutes 3 times a week.

can you get to a sauna?

[andi69]

i'm not following any sort of diet. and i'm not exercising much though i do a lot of manual labor, i'm 42 years old and I wonder, what's the salt bath for man? what would happen to my kidneys?

[mike chen]

in macrobiotic theory, it's very tough to consider cessation of, say, smoking outside of the change of other factors. change 1 thing, change everything! at age 40 or so, the body is already experiencing a rather marked slowing of metabolism. on top of that natural change, you are asking it to experience drug deprivation. it's much easier to handle these dramatic differences with the benefit of new diet, exercise, social and spiritual perspectives.

the salt bath by itself assists in de-toxifying the body.

[andi69]

I see, thanks. Maybe I should really try something to replace this habit with.

[Nosaj]

Your desire to smoke is not physical its mental. It takes on average 3 days to eliminate the physical addiction to nicotine, the mental addiction however can take years so chewing nicotine gum or using nicotine patches is practically useless. I imagine where u live still smells like smoke, the smell will make you think of smoking and your mental addiction will urge you to quit. If you can agree to accept that you have a mental addiction it may be easier to overcome because you will know that you really do not need to smoke. I am currently working with a CAnadian Health Authority creating campaigns to eliminate smoking and would greatly appreciate it if you could tell me why you started smoking to begin with. Was it association, peer preassure, a rebelious act, to produce a sophisticated image or something else?

[andi69]

Hi there Mr. Nosaj. It's possibly true that the addiction was probably mental. Because I just thought about quitting and that was it for me and smokes! It's been 4 months I guess since I puffed my last stick. I started smoking when I was twelve years old. I guess it was just plain curiosity on my part, no pressure from anybody or anything. I guess it's more of association or something, defenitely not a rebelious act.

[glow4ever]

To quit smoking, one must have the Will to Quit. That by itself is a step forward.Smoking is an addiction which doesn't only effect you but those around you as well. Passive smoking.

[glow4ever]

It is not easy to quit because of the cravings associated with withdrawal .Just a will to quit isn't enough.

It has been seen recently that many of the herbs used to treat addiction in traditional medicine help to control craving associated with withdrawal from substances like nicotine and other drugs.
There are products like Crave-Rx which contain herbal ingredients to reduce the craving for nicotine due to their balancing effect on the brain chemicals known to be associated with addiction and help to prevent the sugar cravings and compensatory overeating .

Maybe you could try this out .