Hi Duer's. My name is debm55. and I have not had a cigarette since March2. I smoked 1 and a half pack a day. As I sit
with my portable Oxygen machine, I am trying to get my Oxygen level to a 93 instead of the 83 it was when I went to the ER for my leg. I am using the patch. from my doctors. Right now I feel strong enough to type. Some days I don;t and I miss you guys. So if some days you don't see me, it is because I am on the large machine in the bedroom.
I also had heart failure.
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Smoking is very hard to give up! Hang in there! 
I used to smoke a lot of weed not cigarettes but joints. I quit about four years ago after a CAT scan showed something on my lungs, turned out to be benign, but still scared the shit out of me. Good luck I hope you feel better soon 
know that and the stomach shots 3 times a day I am glad you quit too.
You have a lot of love and support pumping through your veins from your friends at the DU!
And yes, I do know it is incredibly difficult and will freely admit that the one thing that probably "saved" me many many years ago is that cigarettes incited migraines for me, so I never started. (still get the migraines, though-- so it was not my only inciting issue unfortunately... )
Take it day by day, though. 'Proud of you! 
A minute at a time. 
I know quitting smoking is really tough and I speak from personal experience.
I wish the best for you. Hope it all turns out right.
on a healing path! 
if you feel an overwhelming urge to smoke, PLEDGE TO POST THAT INTENTION HERE ON DU FIRST and give us some time to respond.......DO THAT - we care, we will help.......
(PS I smoke for decades, and have been nicotine-free for 15 years this coming December!)
As a longtime smoker, I feel you.
It's a hard addiction to get past, but our oxygen addiction has to win.
Stay hopeful.
But boy do I remember first quitting! I empathize with what you are experiencing. One thing that helped me, I couldn't do the patch, I was allergic to it, but Nicorette mints, they REALLY help with the cravings, but they give me hiccups. I still use them on occasion, especially during high stress or anxiety.
So, let me say....
CONGRATS!!! YOU DID IT!!! The first step on the cigarette free life has begun! 
My mom was a 1 1/2 - 2 pack/day smoker before I was born. She might have continued smoking (hazy on that memory) till I was 5ish when she got severe asthma later on in '57. Terrifying times.
You're a trooper, deb. It's hour, by hour, day by day. Imagine the good wishes - maybe each like a candle sending lights around you.
Shots in the stomach, like, from serious blood thinners? If so, I know this unfortunately (although thankfully it worked out)
Had a tri-fractured ankle, and living alone I had to go to a rehab place. Around three weeks in (I have my theory as to why) I started to have pain near below my clavicals, than went somewhat downward, and more painful as the hours went by. They started to give me oxygen. I was up to ?nearly 3 or 4 bottles/hrs. I told the aide to keep an eye on me I was in a wheel chair rested my head on the sink. Next thing I know I'm staring at the tiles on the bathroom floor. Wheelchair tipped over. Where the heck was the aide? My only bad experience; and she almost always had a sour puss look on her face (the only one!).
.
So off to the ER! CAT scan I think. Lots little clots in my lungs (little white "dots" in the image) orginating from a leg clot. Up to the ICU.
.
Had the choice of what they called a "clot buster", or i don't remember what. The cb could possibly cause a bleed (maybe brain, my dad had that), but waiting too long could leave temporary, if not permanent heart damage.
.
So I took my chances with it. Within 10 mins the nurses could see the positive changes. (phew!)
.
So while I was in rehab I had serious blood thinner shots ?3Xs a day! Sometimes somewhat painful - certainly more than any shot before.
The only kind of vexing thing was having to give up certain foods, herbs, and spices bc they could thin the blood out too much for 6 months.
Hardly, if any garlic!
Was I glad when those 6 months were up, and I went with my sis to a Greek Restaurant with a big meal that had at least 2 or more "forbidden" items I could freely enjoy again! 😄
You, yourself in X weeks as some here describe from their experiences will be feeling better from these more difficult efforts.
Keep resting, and determined!
Take your time posting.
(and maybe take up crocheting? 😉 Sonething to do w your hands)
I hope this change leads to better health for you. My dad started to smoke when he was a little kid, about 12 years old, and was pretty much a chain smoker (Lucky Strikes and Camels) most of his adult life. He quit when he was 75 and never went back. If he could stick with it, I'm sure you can.
I had a stent placement and felt so horrible I got off cigarettes and on to the patch. That lasted a few years until I was in the hospital with a wonky heart. I could not even handle a patch then. I was told I had heart failure too but a stent in the aortic artery and the dr. took me off of 13 meds (still kept me on 8) and said I no longer have heart failure. I hope you can get relief like that. It is a freaky scary thing to go through, right? It took me a long time to come back from it, but all of a sudden my neighbors told me I finally looked like my old self. I felt like that too - you can get stronger!!
I doubt I ever would have been able to quit smoking - I loved it! I tried many times and went bonky at six months and started again. Now though it has been 5 years.
Wishing you the best!
Jan 2025 was my 7 year anniversary of being 'smoke free'
I read that nicotine is one of the most addictive substances there is, even more so than heroin.
It was hard,,,, I decided needed to figure out what smoking was for me,,,, turned out it was that I needed a break from what I was doing,,,
I quit cold turkey ~ never cheated ~ I made a vow to be done and I was. Today the thought of ever taking a puff of a cigarette makes me shudder. yuck.
There a book full of tips and tricks to beat this addiction,,,, "The Easy Way to Quit Smoking" by Allen Carr it's sold on Amazon and worth every cent.
Good luck.
btw I'm sitting here with my oxygen concentrater on and I also have heart issues,,,,,
I smoked from about 18 until I was 60. Tried to stop several times. Didn't happen until I went in the hospital for some abdominal surgery. When I came home after about 5 days, never had another desire to smoke. Don't know what happen, but glad it did whatever it was.
Good luck to you.
Hang in there, my friend
Don't go back, not even once!
Happy to hear this Deb!
& recommend.
I don't know how many packs he smoked a day, but it was a lot!
He quit cold turkey in 1986.
He was good for a long time but then he began smoking "Pow Wow Blend" which has tobacco in it!
I asked him why he was smoking that crap and he said "Because it feels good".
I told him to just stop now! He did stop but at the end of his life he was having a difficult time breathing and it was from the tobacco use from years prior. 
So sad!
Not even one puff Deb, not ONE.
Hang-in there and I hope you get better soon!
You can do it! I started smoking at 16 and only gave it up on the day I had a stroke. Five days in the hospital (they put a patch on) ........... and I never picked up another cigarette.
YOU CAN DO IT!
Every day you don't smoke, helps the lungs start to heal...
You are the glue to our DU community. Hope you will feel like yourself very, very, soon.
... good for you! I quit decades ago. It gets easier. The last stages were dreaming I was smoking and waking up thinking , oh, No! For a long time after, they made me feel sick. The temptation was gone. At any time, the health benefits are great - and the wealthy cigarette companies don't need any more money!
breathing I went for the sharp pain in the leg. I agree about the price.
I had no idea of your plight, and am sorry to hear. Hugs.
Many of us are former smokers and can sympathize with how difficult the first weeks are without.
In my case I had tried to quit numerous times, and did, but somehow a cigarette lured me back until I found out I was pregnant with my first child. That certainly gave me the incentive to successfully quit 41 years ago. I also have Churg-Strauss which is a type of Vasculitis that attacks the cardiovascular system and have suffered many hospitalizations and scares over the years because of it. The fact that I was once a smoker does not help. I keep an oxygen machine in my bedroom as well and I work hard to need to use it as little as possible--a daily battle.
Please get better. We miss you.
