My story: Chris Davis
Town:
Norway
Date quit or quitting:
February 10, 2008 I decided to quit smoking for the 3rd time for two major reasons. One was that I was feeling the effects of smoking - coughing and shortness of breath; I'm an outdoors person and was not wanting to stop doing the things I enjoyed the most. The other reason was that I considered myself a healthy person. What a hypocrite to be eating well, getting exercise, practicing wholistic health practices, and smoking!The problem was that just thinking about quitting made me smoke more; I did not want to be uncomfortable in my nicotine withdrawal yet I was determined to be free of the holds of addiction. I decided to try the patch; I'd quit my last two times using Chantix and Zyban and they worked very well, but I didn't want to rely on medication and their side effects this time. I picked a date and bought some nicotine patches. It is amazing to me how easy it actually was, probably because I was so looking forward to being free of smoking. The patches got me off of the nicotine without feeling miserable and within two weeks I was ready to give up the patch.I have not looked back. When the very occational urge to smoke does rise up, the huge value I have for freedom from nicotine addiction quickly comes to mind and easily carries me through.
Comments
I quit nearly 20 years ago after smoking for for over 20 years. I didn't have too rough a time after the first three days, but I have to warn you, I had mild cravings for cigarettes for several years. Nothing horrible, but every now and then I would have, out of the blue, an intense craving for a few seconds.I also kept dreaming, for years, that I had taken up smoking again. I'd be smoking in my dream and wake up and actually think I had started smoking again!ANYWAY this IBS thing interests me. When I smoked I would often get a sour stomach if I smoked too much, but otherwise I had no digestive problems at all. But I developed IBS mostly just severe gut pain and a feeling of bloating soon after quitting and still have it. It can be quite debilatating and I have gone through a considerable number of prescription, herbal, probiotic and over-the-counter meds for it, not to mention diet changes such as ingesting a lot of soluble fiber, without much success. I looked it up just now and we have a lot of nicotinic receptors in our gut as part of our parasympthetic nervous system, which amoung other things, controls digestion. So it is not surprising that quitting smoking could have impacts on digestion.Has anyone been able to reverse their IBS by using small quantities of nictotin gum?
Thanks for contributing. It's helped me understand the iuesss.
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