Saturday, June 25, 2011

A Month and a Half

About 45 days ago, I got a migraine that directly led to a decision to quit smoking. I'm not going to preach. I'm not going to tell anyone else to quit. What I AM going to do is mention some of the differences I've noticed since I decided to give up tobacco.

-I may be free from tobacco, but I am not calling myself nicotine-free. I am chewing the nicotine gum, and I have no specific deadline for quitting that. In other words, I freely acknowledge that I may be substituting one addiction for another.

-Unlike other times in my life, this commitment to be tobacco-free seems to be sticking. A couple of weeks ago, a friend offered me clove cigarettes -- a major weakness of mine -- and I declined his offer without batting an eyelash. Okay, it took a LITTLE bit of willpower, but I resisted.

-I get heartburn MUCH less frequently than I did as a smoker.

-My appetite has pretty much returned to normal. For the first couple of weeks, I was CONSTANTLY hungry. That seems to have subsided.

-It was not, and is not, nor do I expect it to be, difficult to have a beer without a smoke in my hand. The gum is a perfectly viable substitute.

-I spend FAR less money on nicotine gum than I spent on my daily cigar habit. I chew two to five pieces of gum per day. I also smoked (and inhaled) three to five cigars per day.

-I have FAR fewer headaches.

-I don't get winded doing (insert activity here).

-My sleep patterns are far healthier.

-I am STILL very cognizant of how clear my lungs are. But with that said, I am STILL coughing up itty bitty chunks of phlegm each morning in the shower. I think, though, this is a result of allergies. I believe that I'm done coughing up stuff due to smoking.

-No more dragon breath. There are two types of dragon breath brought on from smoking. One is the horrible morning breath. The other is the result of a mixture of coffee and smoking.

-No more hysterical laughter devolving into coughing fits.

-Noticeably more money in my pocket.

-I am FIRMLY convinced that inhaling cigar smoke is less damaging to the human lung that cigarette smoke. I have smoked cigarettes or cigars for years. Each time, I am surprised how much more quickly cigar smoke clears from my lungs, despite how heavy cigar smoke is when compared to cigarettes. I believe the difference is the amount of processing that goes in to manufacturing cigarettes as opposed to cigars.

Again, this isn't designed to convince anyone else to give up tobacco. I am a firm believer in personal choice and personal responsibility. You can smoke or not smoke... it's your choice. I am simply sharing some changes I've noticed as a result of giving up tobacco.

1 comment:

Sunny said...

Not gonna say Congrats...(it might Jinx your progress)...but we noticed a LOT of the same effects when Paul quit smoking a couple years ago. I'm still good with having the occasional ciggie when I get so stressed that it's either go for a walk and smoke a ciggie or kill someone. Fortunately, that's becoming less and less often. I like ALL the benefits of quitting,but I ESPECIALLY enjoy the absence of Dragons Breath. Less headaches are just the icing on the Cake!!! ;-)