Hi mums,
I’m down in the dumps lately and was looking for some advice. About 2 years ago my family suffered an awful tragedy when my brother died very suddenly, very young.
I have never smoked in my life, know all the risks. The night I got the call about my brother (so much trauma having to tell everyone) I slept in his bed and picked up his vape from the bedside. It was the only thing that took the edge off all the awful experiences, the funeral planning, all of it.
Since then, almost 2 years now, I have been vaping every day, ALOT. Full blown nicotine addict. I’ve quit once for 4 weeks and fell off the wagon when I got stressed.
I absolutely hate that I rely on this so much. I feel like I’ve done so much damage to my body already and just feel awful, but can’t seem to let it go! My anxiety and PTSD are getting in the way, although I know quitting would help my anxiety in the long run.
Any other mums out there struggling? Any stories of hope to get me through? I can’t believe I went more than 30 years without ever smoking and now I’m here. I desperately want to quit for good!
6 Replies
You are an incredible human being, dealing with the most unbelievable stress. You haven't failed, you haven't done anything wrong. I'm a strict anti smoker but that's because my kids and I have asthma. But you know what? I'm not going to judge or anything like that because I honestly don't know what I'd do in your shoes, you know? I don't know if I wouldn't have done the same under the circumstances. So please be kind and gentle to yourself.
May be speak with the GP? My husband gave up smokes after 25+ years using patches. 8 years later and he is still smoke free. You can do it.
This comment actually made me cry ❤️ thank you so much for your kind words. It’s been a very hard road and I do think I forget to stop and think about what I’ve endured. I tend to be very hard on myself. That’s so amazing that your husband did it after so many years, I’m determined to stop for my son 🙏🏻 I will do this!
Im an ex smoker and quit by replacing it with coke. I would have a coke every time I wanted a smoke and treat it the same way by sitting outside and really enjoying it, not just having a few sips while going about my day or I don't think your brain recognises it as a replacement habit. Once I had quit smoking it was easy to quit coke.
I would also suggest you seek treatment for your anxiety before you quit as quitting can actually make your anxiety worse. That's why so many people fall off the wagon when they are going through stressful times, it happened to me I had to give up twice.
This is actually brilliant advice, thank you so much. I do think I will need to find some less harmful replacement and commit to that. There are just too many triggers for me day to day to successfully quit cold turkey with no replacement habit. Good on you for quitting for good, I hope I get there too! I’m going to try this ❤️
When I quit, I tried everything. But, failed.
What worked was reaching the point I truly didn't want to do anymore. Not 'i need to stop because of my health/money' etc. I just didn't want to do it anymore.
I breathed through cravings (the replacement lozenges etc made me ill so on my own!) & reminded myself I've been X days without & I don't want to restart again! It was hell, and I had to find distractions that weren't a replacement - like food etc. I exercised, enjoyed the healthy feeling of not smoking, etc. I also put the money away for travel.
You will need a go to for stressful days. A game app on your phone, fidget stress toy - anything that replaces the act of smoking to 'calm' you.
The Quit line is a great resource for strategies to help you quit.