The First Six Months

Between nicotine withdrawal and recovering from the many associations we have with smoking, the first six smoke-free months are challenging for most people. The ups and downs of smoking cessation are poignantly reflected in the following personal accounts that detail the challenges at various points during the first six months smoke-free.

Settle in and do some reading -- there is no shortage of inspiration and motivation to succeed to be found on these pages!

KerriFrom Kerri
"My name is Kerri. I'm 31 years old, and I have been a nicotine addict for more than half of my life. I was 13 when I smoked my first cigarette. My friends turned green; I got good at it. By 15, I was using my lunch money to buy cigarettes."zSB(3,3)MaryFrom Mary:
"I started on a slippery road
with fear and trembling in my sack,
but once around the corner
I knew there was no turning back."DarleneFrom Darlene:
"Please rejoice with me, because I am one of the lucky ones. I quit smoking and have been given a second chance. I am three months smoke-free as of today, September 9, 2008, and have found a peace and freedom that I've never before felt. I believe it is because I quit smoking and have completely changed my life. I abused my body big time in many ways for most of my life, but no more."StockxpertFrom Kay:
"One thing I have learned here is that all it takes is a single puff to break a quit. By reaching for a smoking buddy's pack after not smoking for a few days or weeks, I actually lost all my previous quits well before the three-month anniversary."StockxpertFrom Marah:
"I hope to encourage new quitters by listing some of the benefits I’ve derived from not smoking these past 3 months. I smoked for 27 years, 20 of those years a pack a day or more. For the last 3 or 4 years, I’d been chewing 5-6 pieces of nicotine gum a day on top of 20 cigarettes, so I had ungodly amounts of nicotine coursing through my bloodstream."LarryFrom Larry:
"Here it is Christmas Eve day 2006, and tomorrow morning around 9 am PST it will be 4 months since I put out that ONE cigarette I had been in search of for the better part of 50 years (the last ONE). How in the world could ONE stinking cigarette be so elusive, so hard to find?"AngelaFrom Angela:
"When I think of a cigarette, I think of the four thousand chemicals that would rush into my mouth and burn their way into my once healthy lungs. I think about that nasty taste, that nasty ring of polluted air I would create in the space around my body."DeeFrom Dee:
"This does not have to be a 24/7 battle. Fact: there is a price to pay(urges, cravings, etc)for freedom. Relax, accept that fact. Keep it simple, take it one day at a time, and move the heck on and enjoy your life being smoke free"zSB(1,2)JaneFrom Jane:
"Long before August 5, 2006, I had been thinking how much I hated smoking, not quitting smoking, just hating it. After all, I had smoked for 37 years. Cigarettes were a part of who I was, how I functioned, and ingrained into my fiber."LeslyFrom Lesly:
'Six months, half a year, and two seasons since I smoked.'(EB) "This is so hard for me to believe! I'd like to take a minute and give my thoughts to people coming up behind me, or people who might be struggling. To get free of this addiction, it is my belief that you have to educate yourself to the "lie" of the cigarette."if(zSbL

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The First Six Smoke-Free Months

There is no better teacher than the voice of experience, and when it comes to quitting tobacco, members of the About.com Smoking Cessation forum have valuable insights to share. An important resource for the new quitter, their stories are full of practical tips about what works when we quit smoking and the benefits we might expect to enjoy.

The personal quit stories I've selected to share here focus on the first six months of smoking cessation. While the journey to quit smoking is a personal one, many of us face similar challenges early on. Learning how others have broken the chains that bound them to nicotine addiction? sets us up to overcome the issues we might encounter successfully.

Settle in and do some reading -- these real life success stories are sure to inspire, and if you're still smoking, motivate you to embark on your own journey to freedom from nicotine addiction.

Reader Contributions:

Image ? Stockxpert

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Three Months Smoke-Free

For most people, early smoking cessation is an emotional roller coaster. We're excited that we've quit; we're saddened by the sense of loss we feel. We're exhilarated at the thought of freedom from nicotine addiction; we're terrified at the thought of never smoking again.

Early cessation is uncomfortable on a variety of levels, especially the first few months. However, with education about what to expect when we quit smoking, along with a good support network, we all have what it takes to weather this temporary phase in the recovery process.

I'd like to introduce Kay, a member of our smoking cessation forum here at About.com. Kay recently celebrated three months smoke free and has been good enough to share her perspectives on early smoking cessation with readers. While her quit program is still relatively new, I can hear solid resolve in her words. Her attitude is where it needs to be and with time, I have no doubt Kay will find the freedom from nicotine addiction that she's working so hard to achieve.

From Kay:

I remember my first post at the smoking cessation forum. In it, I claimed to have had several prior quits of respectable duration, ranging from three months to one year or even longer. The truth is that this present quit is the first genuine three-month quit I have ever owned.

I cheated on all of my prior quits. The most recent quit that lasted more than a few days was from September 6 to October 31, 2006 - not quite two months.

I would begin my cheating by having just one or two per week. After that, I tended to become a weekend smoker, having all I wanted on weekends and going back to none Monday through Thursday. Before long, I would be back to my typical daily quota or even more.

One thing I have learned here is that all it takes is a single puff to break a quit. By reaching for a smoking buddy's pack after not smoking for a few days or weeks, I actually lost all my previous quits well before the three-month anniversary.

I can honestly say that, today, my quit meter is rightfully ticking along, and at present it reads: Three months, 920 cigarettes not smoked, nearly $300 saved.

I have been very upset this weekend. I thought about smoking, but, upon entering the thoughts and inspecting them like rental rooms I might or might not take, I found that I did not experience an actual craving. The thoughts were there and permission was granted. I could have smoked had I wanted to. Quitting does not forbid me to ever smoke again. I can have a stinking puke stick if I really want it.

I don't want it. I do not want my smoker's cough to return. My memory is forever marked by the vivid and hideous pictures I have seen of lung cancer, facial and neck tumors, people with no lower jaw, people with permanent tracheostomies and no vocal cords, some of them so addicted that, even after laryngectomy, they continue to smoke through the surgical stoma in their throats. Last night, I heard one of my favorite songs on the radio and sang along:

"This is the air I breathe.

This is the air I breathe -

Your Holy presence

living in me ..."

The voice - MY voice - is too nice to ruin by resuming smoking. No, I do not want a sickorette. I do not want to take a puff.

The aforementioned are a few of the things that smoking does to addicts like me. I do not want to embrace Nicodemon's chains again. I do not want my nicobinky. It is no pacifier. It is a ball and chain.

During these three months, I have been wondering why I ever took up smoking. I know why now. I began to smoke because I am highly sensitive and, therefore, easily angered or upset. For me, a puke stick was analogous to a binky, a baby's pacifier. Up until I quit smoking, I would always say, "Please pass me a pacifier" when cadging a cig from someone else.

So, here I am, actually marking three months for the first time ever. I have not had even a single puff since June 26. This is the longest-lived quit I have ever had.

Since I have been upset lately, I have been feeling vulnerable. It would be easy to relapse. Three months is a sticky milestone. I have learned here that one is either a smoker or a non-smoker, that there is no in-between, that sneaking one cigarette on Friday evenings will make me a smoker again. Thus far, I have avoided that pitfall and hope to continue to avoid it. If I can make it to four, five or six months without even one puff, I believe that my final peace will come.

It has not yet come. Whenever I am angry or hurt, I experience the full-blown emotions of my childhood, the emotional experience I ran away from when I started to smoke and from which I successfully shielded myself by putting up a continual smokescreen.

Without nicobinky, I feel every synapse tearing when I become upset. I hear the ripping sound, as if fine silk were being torn, and I feel every one of my nerve endings sizzle. I am hot all over. I hear the pitiful cries of all the starving children of this world. This is what one of my emotional meltdowns feels like and looks like. It is not a pleasant experience. The only thing I dislike about quitting thus far is that this experience has been renewed. I thought I had put it behind me, but it was only wrapped in a curtain of smoke, ready to manifest itself again if ever I put my nicobinkies down.

What I must do in order to reach the fourth month is find another way to shield myself from the exaggerated way in which I experience unpleasant emotions. I prefer the natural, holistic approach. Therefore, I shall be looking into herbal remedies, changes in diet and a stepped-up exercise program, in order to release the dopamine I need.

There is nothing more for me to say at this point. I value this quit enough to find my way out of the Icky Three Woods and into the peaceful light.

~Kay

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