I Can Quit!

Sometimes we use nicotine to shut off our feelings. When we do this, it doesn’t make the feelings go away. Often they became resentments. After we stop using nicotine we will, in time, discover more clearly how we feel. At first, however, emotions that were usually smoked away may now feel awkward, confusing, and even seem overwhelming.

We often discover we now feel differently about some things. Feelings, like anger and sadness, can be clear signals that a situation needs to be addressed. With the courage we ask for in the Serenity Prayer (listed in another post on this blog), we move forward, dealing with the feeling.

Recovery also provides us with the opportunity to feel new joys. An ongoing gratitude for this new freedom is an exhilarating experience.

As nicotine addicts, we all had our list of excuses and rationalizations to use this drug. We may have believed that using was simply a choice we made. Nicotine addiction is powerful and cunning. It interferes with our thinking, so using it becomes an irrational, compelling response to any and all experiences.

Over time, we discover the truth: Nicotine will not solve a single problem. With recovery we learn healthier and more effective options than using nicotine. The more we work on our recovery, the more we accept that smoking is not an option anymore.

Young adults, ages 18-24, are among the most targeted groups when it comes to tobacco use. According to Bacchus and Gamma, smoking just 4 cigarettes can give a person a 90% chance of becoming addicted. In fact, 31% of college students use tobacco and half of them would like to quit. The Tobacco Technical Assistance Consortium noted that at the current rates, an estimated 1 out of 9 college student’s will die of a tobacco-related illness. The Indiana Tobacco Quitline can help you break your dependency on tobacco products. Call today at 1-800-QUIT-NOW! Your questions will be answered you will be given suggestions for the best way to quit.

Quitting smoking is the biggest step you can take toward improving your health and the health of your family. The Indiana Tobacco Quitline can help! This FREE telephone-based quit tobacco resource is available to all Hoosiers. Simply call 1-800-QUIT-NOW or 1-800-784-8669 from 8 am to midnight, 7 days-a-week to talk to a trained Quit Coach.

By quitting smoking, you will dramatically reduce your risk of cancer, lung disease, emphysema and other tobacco-related diseases. Plus, your family’s risk of lung cancer, heart disease, and other health problems caused by exposure to secondhand smoke will be greatly reduced.

You’re not alone. Seventy percent (70%) of current U.S. smokers report that they want to quit completely! For many smokers, quitting takes practice! So, don’t be discouraged if you’ve tried before and been unsuccessful. It takes an average of 7 to 11 attempts for many smokers to quit completely. When you call the Indiana Tobacco Quitline, you will talk with a trained Quit Coach who has helped hundreds of people quit and understands what you’re going through. If you are ready to quit, you and your Quit Coach can work out a customized quitting plan, which includes a practical counseling session and a quit kit. You may also be encouraged to contact your physician for smoking cessation medications or be referred to smoking cessation support programs in your community. Call 1-800-QUIT-NOW to free yourself of tobacco.

With all the smoke-free laws going into effect, many people think they can safely switch to a smokeless form of tobacco. Don’t be fooled. Smokeless tobacco is NOT a safe alternative to smoking.

You can call it what you want — smokeless tobacco, spit tobacco, snus, chew, snuff, pinch, plug or dip — but don’t call it harmless. If you’re considering making the switch from cigarettes to chewing tobacco because you think the smokeless version of tobacco won’t hurt you, be forewarned — chewing tobacco also causes serious health problems.

Using smokeless tobacco products can cause serious health problems, from gum irritation to oral cancer. It also increases your heart rate and blood pressure and puts you at a greater risk of heart attack.

If you aren’t convinced that chewing tobacco, spit tobacco and other forms of smokeless tobacco aren’t risk-free, consider the words of someone who’s seen the damage tobacco can do. Joe Garagiola, a former spit tobacco user, played major league baseball and later worked in broadcasting. After retiring from baseball he became a crusader against spit tobacco — the term he prefers since “smokeless” makes tobacco sound harmless.

“I chewed tobacco because it seemed to be the thing to do if you were playing baseball,” says Garagiola. “Everybody chewed when I was playing, and nobody knew the dangers of it.” But he’s seen the dangers since, losing three close friends to oral cancer and seeing the harmful effects of spit tobacco on other people.

“You won’t die of gum disease or yellow teeth, but develop oral cancer and it’s a terrible way to go,” Garagiola says. “Here you are with oral cancer from using spit tobacco, your jaw has been removed and you have to eat through a tube. You die one piece at a time. Spit tobacco is a horrible, horrible thing. I just wish I could get this message across to everyone.”

Set a date to quit. Think of healthy ways to deal with cravings. Know that cravings typically last only a few minutes. Drinking water, eating licorice, chewing gum, going for a walk or calling a friend can help you get through them. And the interval between cravings increases the longer you’ve stopped using tobacco and eventually the cravings will go away.

Remember, it’s never too late to quit. For help, call 1-800-QUIT-NOW, or go to www.indianatobaccoquitline.net.

I came across the following about how your body starts repairing itself after you quit smoking and thought I’d share it:

What happens after you quit smoking?

20 MINUTES

·        Blood pressure drops to normal

·        Pulse rate drop to normal

·        Body temperature of hands and feet increase to normal

8 HOURS

·        Carbon monoxide level in blood drops to normal

·        Oxygen level in blood increases to normal

24 HOURS

·        Chance of heart attack decreases

48 HOURS

·        Nerve endings start re-growing

·        Ability to smell and taste is enhanced

2 WEEKS TO 3 MONTHS

·        Circulation improves

·        Walking becomes easier

·        Lung function increases up to 30 percent

1 TO 9 MONTHS

·        Coughing, sinus congestion, fatigue, and shortness of breath decrease

·        Cilia re-grow in lungs, increasing their ability to handle mucus, clean the lungs, and reduce infection

·        Body’s overall energy increases

1 YEAR

·        Excess risk of coronary heart disease if half that of a smoker

5 YEARS

·        Lung-cancer death rate for average former smoker (1 pack a day) decreases by almost half

·        Stroke risk is reduced to that of a non-smoker 5 to 15 years after quitting

·        Risk of cancer of the mouth, throat, and esophagus is half that of a smoker’s

10 YEARS

·        Lung cancer death rate is similar to that of a non-smoker

·        Precancerous cells are replaced

·        Risk of cancer of the mouth, throat, esophagus, bladder, kidney, cervix, and pancreas decreases

15 YEARS

·        Risk of coronary heart disease is that of a non-smoker

God, grant me serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.

God, grant me serenity to accept the things I cannot change…

As smokers trying to stop smoking, we cannot change the craving for cigarettes, but even if we can’t change the craving, we can accept it. The truth is that until we can accept our craving for cigarettes, we will not stop smoking. Lighting another cigarette is what we do if we decide we cannot accept the craving!

It’s that simple: If you want a cigarette and you will not accept the craving, then you will surely light a cigarette. Or maybe you will have “one puff” to get you through, but even one puff is “not accepting” the things that you cannot change.

Accepting the craving does not mean we want the craving or like it. Accepting it means, first, recognizing the craving for what it is: a strong desire, physical or psychological, not a need, for a cigarette. That’s all. We do not fight this craving; rather we look at it, letting it be, not getting panic stricken or feeling sorry for ourselves, but saying, “Yes, I really am craving a cigarette right now.”

We do not practice self-deception and try to trick ourselves into thinking we don’t want to smoke. This is an honest program. Nor do we try to hate the habit (or ourselves) so much that we quit. No, we cannot make ourselves stop smoking, but we can live with the craving, and so we pray for…

courage to change the things I can…
The thing that we can change is our unwillingness to live, even for a short time, with the craving for the next cigarette. We can, with God’s help and the support of the group, change our old way of dealing with craving, and we deal with it in a new way: We become willing to live with the craving; we no longer light a cigarette to get rid of the pain of craving. Our lighting up shows that we have not accepted what we cannot change and have not acted with the courage to change the things we can. Of course, living with a craving is hard, sometimes very hard, but you are not alone-with God’s help you can do it. That is what this Serenity Prayer is all about.So we ask God to help us accept the craving, and then we ask God to give us the courage not to take care of this craving–as we have always done–by smoking one more cigarette. Thus, we need the strength to accept the craving, and the courage not to light up…

and wisdom to know the difference.
The wisdom we ask for here is to become aware of the difference between our old way of handling the discomfort of craving in the past (by compulsively lighting up) and the new way of dealing with cravings: accepting the craving until it passes, uncomfortable though we may be for a few moments.

The strength and courage to live as ex-smokers with this discomfort does come if we ask for it, even though it may take time. What we receive is not raw will power, but Power that comes from God, from the group, and from our inner-most self The power that we want is actually love! It is only with this kind of power that we can become ex-smokers and receive a new life free from nicotine addiction.

The reason we did not become ex-smokers years ago is that we chose not to live with the craving. Every time we craved a cigarette, we gave in and smoked it. And kept on hoping that in some magic way a day would arrive when the craving would disappear or we would find an absolutely painless way to stop smoking. That day never came. Each of us kept using our favorite rationalizations or excuses for lighting up, our own justification for not living with the craving. And we kept on craving and smoking, craving and smoking, year after year. But now we can change all that: The moment we can accept what is — “I want to smoke” — and face it with the courage God gives us, we can say, “I choose not to handle this craving by smoking a cigarette” then we become ex-smokers!

If you continue to smoke even though you say this prayer, then say it again, and again, and keep on saying it while you reflect what it means to you, a smoker. Eventually it will work. It will not work if you are not sincere, but if all you can do at first is to say the prayer without believing it, then at least do that! Some time may be needed for you to receive the power to live with the discomfort that comes from craving without lighting up, but eventually it will come. In time, the craving will diminish greatly, and someday, we trust. it will disappear altogether. If you have a slip, however, and you light one up, accept yourself reverently and say the prayer again the next time!

Remember, it really is not the stress, frustration or even the craving that causes us to have another cigarette, but rather our lack of strength to deal with the craving. That strength comes from God, from the group, and from your own healthy inner self! May God be with you now! - J.S.

For more help call 1-800-QUIT-NOW

A Nicotine Anonymous group meets on the 2nd and 4th Monday of each month @ 6 pm at the Portage Township YMCA in Portage (3100 Willowcreek). All desiring to withdraw or stay withdrawn from nicotine are welcome.

Welcome Valparaiso University faculty, staff, students and community! We hope that this blog can be a means of support to you all, as you work to overcome the addictive power of tobacco. Please leave comments as a way to begin an ongoing conversation about your quitting journey. This forum is a respectful environment, but a challenging place that will hold you accountable!