Current Events Part II

On my last entry I mentioned that I would keep this updated as to my progress (or lack thereof) of quiting smoking;

Well, today would count as day two, so far I have recovered from yesterdays horrible withdrawal symptoms. I ended up smoking a total of seven cigarettes yesterday. Today, I have smoked six thus far. I did end up giving up with the patches as they were causing too much burning and the rash seemed to get worse. The inhalers only work for a short spell.
The pain pills I take make me crave smoking more. I imagine that this would be similar to drinking in a bar, everything makes the urges stronger, especially the more you drink.

As of this moment I have given in and made an appointment with my doctor for monday to pick up some pills that have helped me in the past. I do not qualify for the newest pill, the Chantix, I am told that they would cause a bad reaction to the pain pills that I take.

I am trying to find strength and courage to deal with this battle.
More tomorrow -

Current Events

As of the last few years I have been dealing with some issues, one of those issues is my lower back pain. I have now come to the point where I am able to get fusion surgery.

In order to qualify for surgery, I need to quit smoking.

So for the past few weeks I have been trying to quit. I tried cold turkey approach, failed. Picked up a prescription for the nicotrol inhalers. At first these were working, then failed. So I have decided that I would try cutting back and smoking light cigarettes. This seemed to work for awhile, until my body craved more and more, so I smoked more and more. Feeling pretty upset about my inability to quit smoking I decided to pick up the patch.

So, I got up today and thought that I was doing pretty good, I hadn't had a smoke since one thirty am. I even changed my morning routine as all the 'experts' suggest. I was fine until around twelve thirty when the cravings and withdrawal became pretty intense. The sweating, racing heart, nausea, anxious feeling became so bad that even distractions wouldn't help. I finally gave in and used an nicotine inhaler. If you have never used one, let me be the first to say they are pretty bad, kinda burn your throat and tongue. But, they cut the symptoms down to half. After about another half hour I tried the patch only to notice that a big rash formed under and around the site of where I put the patch. Now I thought, I am screwed. So I moved the patch and so far the rash has stayed minimal.

I wouldn't even think of putting myself through this hell if I weren't planning on having major surgery in three weeks.
I refuse to lie in the hospital for a week going through both the pain and recovery of surgery and going through nicotine withdrawals.

I will be keeping this updated as I continue my journey through the process of becoming smoke free.

Today, Day one. So far it sucks.