Toot toot! My One Year Anniversary

[Instinct]

Congrats! And what a great quit date - enjoy the fireworks!

[smokinsimon]

Awesome!
So after a year do you feel a lot better?

[DrSarcasmo]

Congratulations!! A year is a HUGE milestone!

[JustJulie]

I'm adding my congratulations. I love hearing success stories.

[geeker]

Congratulations to you! I hope to have as much success as you have enjoyed.

[apachedug]

Wow, thanks so much for all the kind words here guys! (And Vapor Wizard, you have every right to toot your horn--6 months is a major deal!)

But truth be told, for everyone here who's given up analogs completely--be it a year, or six months or even a WEEK--you know what that feeling is like, to finally get that "tobacco noose" off your neck...man there should be a lot of proud people here.

[kinabaloo]

It seems like it was just a week ago--on July 3, 2008 at 11:56PM (trust me, I remember the time) I was doing my customary "go out on the apartment balcony and have a final cigarette before going to bed routine", and to this day I don't know what it was, but I suddenly got very mad and squashed out my smoke and said "NO MORE."

I was a pack-and-a-half smoker from the age of 17 to 45; I changed brands a couple times over the years but never quit once for 28 years, not a single day. But the last couple years of smoking had really taken their toll--I couldn't make a dash for the bus in the morning, laugh at someone's jokes in the office or even lay down at night, without a loud, hacking cough.

But anger at oneself isn't a cure-all for addiction, and if I hadn't found this great site (in my quest to stay smoke-free) & these wonderful e-cigs, I never could've gone an entire week, let alone one year.

I never cheated & went back--not a single time. (It took me a month to finally give away the 5-6 cartons of analogs in my refrigerator though!)

Anyway--I use the low-nic or zero juice now, and don't even feel the need to puff on it all the time. I can go to dinner with a couple friends, or visit family or see a movie without any craving sensations dancing around in my head.

It seems kinda fitting that July 4 2008 was my first day of being a non-smoker, my OWN "Independence Day"! Anyway, just wanted to say a sincere thank you to the people of this board, the mods and members and suppliers, who helped me to kick that godawful habit.

Nicely said

I understand about the noose/chain

How about your health now - any improvements and in what timescale? Cough gone?

[harmony gardens]

Awesome Apache,,, thanks for the inspiring words, too. I hope I can do what you've done!

[sendit2mybb]

Congrats! What a huge achievement! Thank you for the inspiring words. I've just started 9 months of my journey w/out analogs on July 1st and look forward to my 1-year anniversary! Maybe I'll treat myself to a Prodigy when I hit the Big 1-Year Mark Anyway...I'm happy for you Apache. Enjoy your Independence Day!

[apachedug]

kin, the health changes have been remarkable. (I'm not a religious person, but it's amazing how the body can repair itself if it's not too late.)

I lost the "laying down at night" cough within a week, but to be honest it took me a couple months before I realized I wasn't gasping when I was going up and down the stairs (I live on the 4th floor of my apartment building, all steps).

I used to feel my heart racing half the time, even when just sitting on my couch watching tv. That's been gone for at least 6 months now.

Everyone talks about "return of taste buds", but to be honest I didn't notice that so much, as I had an annoying habit of brushing my teeth (and tongue) and scrubbing my hands everyday.

This may sound dumb, but here's the biggest thing for me--I was really obsessed with minimizing the smell. I used to scrub my face and hands several times a day. When you do that for years on end... my hands were so rough and chapped (and the area around my mouth) that I thought these were "permanent scars" from all my years of smoking--but they're NOT. My hands and lips are smooth again, no more cracked knuckles or bleeding lips. I can take a deep breath of air without suddenly starting to hack, and laugh myself silly without a single cough.

It's actually amazing how you can fool yourself into thinking "well, its not just smoking, I'm 45, it's age too..." but I know better now.

(Sorry for all the rambling here--but it really is like taking a jump back thru time, when you quit for good isn't it...)