How to Stay Nicotine Free in the Face of Pain

Hi Jim.  Great to read your post.  Hit home - well for me about my mom anyway.  I will be sending this her way as soon as I am done with my post.

The thing about my mom - who has been smoke free for 6 or so years - is that she started back up again to bond with my brother - a big time smoker.  She keeps telling me she is not smoking again, but well enough said.  I asked her why she is doing it and she could not tell me.  I asked her what was missing.  She said what do you mean.  I said , well you are clinging to the cigs because something is missing - what or who do you think it is.  Note: my brother crashed with my folks for the winter and is now onto his summer gig.  She still said she did not know.

My observation is this - smoking or the cigarette becomes a person's friend.  When no one else is around - it is there.  And it makes you feel good, and powerful and soothed.  All the things a friend, son, husband, might do.

So I guess my point after this ramble is that people need to reach out and find what it is that is missing.  Maybe it is something new you never even thought you needed.  Or maybe it is your old friend you haven't spoken with in a bit. 

But don't be fooled.  The cig is NOT your friend.

All the best, sue

For more reading on managing withdrawal and living smoke free, see out site's material.

i "stumbled" across your article during a search for a local vendor of "nicotine free" cigarettes (didn't find one)  i was going to order on line, but the heading about nicotine and pain caught my eye.  i have chronic neck pain as a result of herniated disks, multiple surgeries and their domino effect. also, the ubiquitous "fibromylagia".  strangely, i've also had high blood pressure (essential hypertension)  since i was 12.  i started smoking at 17.  during the years between 28 and 43 i was hospitalized for t.i.a.s, migraine like headaches caused by neck pain and high bp.  didn't quit smoking, though.  thought the fact that i was thin, ate healthy, exercised (cough free) 7 to 9 hours a week.  took my meds responsibly.  my cholesterol was 179.  my cardiograms and ultrasounds----normal.  well, it turns out that i have severe peripheral and coronary artery disease.  in a 2 month period i had placed 6 stents in my illiac artery.  and one in my heart.  in the cathertization lab i was considered a "juvenile"patient.  the cardiologist informed me that a decision to keep smoking promised the loss of leg or life within one year.  (i figured give or take;  he was an odd combo of alarmist and phlegmatic)  so it's been a little over 3 months.  the "you go,girl!!!" faded. and the pounds , well, not quite packed, but my jeans are so tight they're shorter.  my resolve is fading.  i wanted to be a "non smoker"  not an "ex smoker".  i'd be ther hugest moron to smoke.  but it's actually gotten so much harder lately.  i wasn't frantic in the beginning.  i was never a stress smoker.  i confused it as an adjunct to anything pleasurable (sex, ice cream, a good workout) i read (3 times) your article.  i'm going to order your book.  i feel like a have a new lease on non smoking life.  some things just read true, plain and simple. i can do this.  i've been doing this.  but i'm realizing that "this"  is just a mind game.  your insight makes me realize that i smoked without thinking.  now i'm not smoking without thinking.  it's not punishment.  it just is what it is.  i feel reinforced.  thank you from the bottom of my healing heart