Have to help myself

[AnxietyMrs]

So I’m 28 and I’ve been struggling with health anxiety for a few years. I worry about everything under the sun but one thing that always makes my health anxiety worse is that I’m a smoker. I know it makes no sense that I have anxiety about my health and still smoke, but that’s what it is. I started smoking before my anxiety came along and it was just hard to put down. I’ve done patches before and quit for about a month then started back like an idiot. But my doctor has called in another prescription for the patches and I’m gonna give it another go. I’m really determined to give it up this time.


If there are any ex smokers out there with some positivity for me that would be awesome :)

Wish me luck!

[SG1977]

I havent had a cigarette in 4 years... even seeing my own father succumb to lung cancer didnt dissuade me.. it made me smoke more with the stress. One day I just said enoughs enough and stopped. If you want it bad enough you will stop.... and believe me you will make up any old excuse to keep smoking. Drive through it... you know its right.

[AnxietyMrs]

That’s pretty much where I’m at, enough is enough. Nobody is going to do this for me, I have to do it for myself. Great job on the 4 years though! That’s awesome!!

[Carys]

Hey there ! I gave up 20 years ago, and was a heavy smoker all through the HA period of my life. Go figure (same as you!). I actually gave up by using the gums, they did work but then I ended up being addicted to those, but certainly better for you without a doubt. I would say congratulations on making the decision to do something really positive for your health, you won't regret it. Its tough though, really tough, and I can recall feeling as if I lost purpose for a while as having a cigarette was so woven into the fabric of my life, as if all the happy and sad and plain neutral moments in life were blank and had something missing.

I read a book, ummm, gosh it was a giving up smoking book by Allen Carr all those years ago and it really struck a chord with me. It is probably really dated now, and there are even better around, but thought I'd mention it anyway. The great news is that you can, certainly at your age, reverse the effects of smoking and have lungs back to normal if you stick with it. :)

[Gary A]

I haven’t smoked in just over 3 years and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss it. What I will say though is that it genuinely does feel like one of my proudest achievements, which maybe says more about my lack of achievements than anything else but there it is.

I was given a good tip by a friend of mine. He said to go running, and time how long it took me to get to a point that I couldn’t run any longer. Then after about a month of not smoking, do it again and test the difference. Naturally the longer you aren’t smoking the greater your lung capacity becomes so it’s a great way of proving to yourself that not smoking is a huge benefit to your health.

Good luck.

[AnxietyMrs]

Thank you guys for the positive encouragement!

Carys, I remember that feeling last time I quit. It was like any and everything I did either needed to be celebrated or de-stressed by smoking. Then when I quit it made me realize how much I smoked because I had no idea what to do with my free time lol! Definitely going to have to find something to keep my mind busy especially during the first bit. Thank you for the book recommendation, I hadn’t thought of help books, I will definitely be checking some out!


Gary, it will probably be one of my proudest achievements as well lol! I wish I could say I was a runner but I’m definitely not! Lol regardless I’m sure the changes in my lung capacity will be very noticeable regardless!!