i just started quitting smoking. Today at 11 noon it was my second 24 hours without a cigarette. I am 39 and have been smoking since i was 13. I didnt smoke a lot as a young teenager but was almost to a pack a day by my early 20's. The last time i went 24 hours or more without a cigarette was when i was in bootcamp when i was 19, otherwise i havent been 24 hours without a cigarette for 20 years. Recently i started having a bunch of health problems after being relatively healthy - i guess it was just luck since i didnt take the best care of myself and on top of that i smoked. what happened is that back in december (it is now march 2004) i got cellulitus on my left leg. Took antibiotics and it healed. A couple of weeks later i got it again on my left buttock and also treated that with antibiotics, before that one was healed another small on started right near that one but i took another course of antibiotics and it never got really bad. A few weeks went by and then i got another on on my right side in that area below the buttocks thats not quite on your hip or thigh. That one was a bad one and i took antibitoics for it. that one had barely healed and two more flared up. one right near the one on my right side and another on my left buttock. these weren't progressing as fast as the worst ones i had and i called my dr and she begged me to not take anymore antibiotics because she said too many can cause some kind of bad thing to happen in your digestive system or your colon or something. anyway these two havent been getting much worst so i havent taken the antibiotics even tho i am scared because cellulitus can get into bone and blood and kill you or so i have heard throughout all this i have also had the flu or flu like symptoms twice when i havent had a flu in over 17 years i had an ear infection and an inflammation of the eye from something hitting it this last time i had the flu i had a fever of 101 for 4 days and right after that the 4th cellulitus started on my right hip i also developed a small cough with hardly anything coming up but lots of wet sounds when i tried to breath deep i also found out recently that my uterus is so full of fibroids that it is the same size it would be if i was 3 months pregnant and have been having a lot of pain with menstruation and mild cramps pretty much constantly i just visited a womens center last week and they want to give me a hysterectomy since i wanted a tubal ligation anyway they told me my cough was probably something called smokers cough and it can become chronic i am scared to death right now because i feel like something is really wrong with me so for many reasons i decided to give up smoking i asked my boyfriend to help me buy the 21 mg patches and slapped one on and now i have been almost 52 hours without a cig an indian healer who is a friend of a friend recommended i start drinking turmeric and applying it to the cellulitus and i went online and read about it and found out it also has awesome antioxidant properties so right now i am going to start drinking a teaspoon of powdered turmeric in a cup of milk twice a day and also have been taking hot sit baths in it i am a recovering alcoholic - 15 years sober as of this month 2004 and i just sat and thought about what i want and what i am doing - my brain says dont quit smoking now there is too much stress but when isnt there stress? yeah the patch is helping - i hardly crave at all but now and then i get hit hard with a craving anyway - well since i am wearing the patch i know its not a real chemical craving it is just my brain and habit yeah a cig would be really comforting for me right now no doubt but will it fix anything? no just like drinking never did so i havent set any goals for myself i dont even care i just want to try to quit smoking one day at a time cuz every day without a cig is a day without a cig but i can say one thing for sure my sense of smell has already improved i use my empty dry cat food bags for trash by my computer and emptied my ashtrays in it and i have sat here with it for 4 years and it never bothered me - today as i was reading these forums i had to take it outside - it smelled so bad my taste buds are already better- everything i am eating tastes richer and fuller - i dont know how to explain it even and even better i tried to take a deep breath earlier today because i still have a little gurgle in my lungs but no coughing and i was expecting a lot more stuff to be coming up then what is so i took a deep breath to try to make myself cough up and as i sucked in it kept going and going - i guess i never realized how shallow i have been breathing all these years i was almost frightened by how deep a breath i sucked in i am hoping and praying that quitting smoking will help my body have a chance to start repairing itself and for my immune system to be able to start fighting back with all these problems i also wanted to quit smoking because if i am going to have surgery to take out my uterus i want my body to be as healthy as it can be one thing i know is that i didnt really want to quit smoking and i dont think i ever would - i kept waiting and waiting and finally with all this happening i just realized that waiting any longer is going to kill me and i dont want to die i just started a new relationship with a guy who is younger then me - even tho i never liked younger men but i am convinced he is my soul mate and i dont want him to have to deal with me and a bunch of health problems or me dying young and i certainly dont want him taking in my second hand smoke then dying from lung cancer anyway pray for me if you believe and if you dont believe pray anyway cuz psychology is finding now that beleif in something greater then yourself is almost critical to emotional health i also threw away all my ashtrays cuz in the past i kept them in case i started again but screw that and i have gotten rid of anything that smells like smoking or tobacco and aired out the house because those are triggers i am also going to avoid ppl who smoke for a while also another thing thats good about the patch is in order for me to have a cig i have to take the patch off and wait a few hours so i dont have a heartattack and right now a cigarette isnt worth suffering in withdrawal for, for 4 to 5 hours so the patch helps slow you down i am planning on doing the entire step down program tho i may try the lowest patches first after the two weeks of these sorry for the long post and if you are trying to quit smoking go read about turmeric - it doesnt taste that bad and i am a real wimp when it comes to bad taste and also i think you can now get it in pill form good luck to all of you trying to quit - just do it - and use anything you need is what i say - i am eating anything i want i rather gain ten pounds then die of lung cancer or emphysema

It was 5 years old in April. The warranty ran out in April. :( We haven't had any problems with it until this so I am not concerned about the product itself. I just bought an LG french door fridge so I am waiting to see how it does. We love it so far. There aren't many options in our little town.

My husband had two or three bad days (smoked 40 years) and was over it. I was like normal quitters, it was hard work, but I stuck to my guns and am now over it. I've been quit nearly three years. Quitnet.com is an EXCELLENT place to get educated about quitting smoking. Knowing how to quit is as important as the decision to quit, believe it or not. It's knowledge you need on how to keep a quit after you have put the last one out that is most important because if you really don't understand how to stay quit, people usually end up only pausing in their smoking, not quitting it. If you need or think you might need bypass surgery, you need to quit smoking forever more urgently than most who quit smoking. Waiting too long is waiting too late. Good luck!

Good for you chubby rat! I have been smoke free over a year and a half and get so excited when I hear someone else going smoke-free! Moonie 57 have you ever considered NOT counting the days? To me it seemed like counting calories, or pounds and just waiting to fall off the diet wagon. I wouldn't even know that it's a year and a half for me but I co-incidentally quit the day before Christmas Eve so it does make a handy point of reference. If I didn't know, I would have thought years because it seems like years now. Chantix died it effortlessly for me in twelve days. I only had a few cravings afterwards and they went away very quickly. I just tell myself, You don't do that anymore. Because if I did, I think I'd be right back at a pack a day where I left off. And that disgusts me to no end; I love where I am now.