Made It

200 lbs headed for 180, ran a half marathon November 2011, training for first marathon April 2012.

Yay me!

Nicotine Withdrawal Symptoms

Since I'm currently experiencing several of these, let me list the mental and physical symptoms I've experienced when quitting nicotine:

• Irritability
• Oversensitive hearing and skin
• Inability to concentrate
• Nervousness
• Depression
• Muscle tension

Sounds milder than the side-effects of some of the more heavily advertised anti-depressants.

Also, the nicotine seemed to hinder my RLS (Restless Leg Syndrome). It's coming back, but hasn't gotten too sever yet (severe for me is having to get out of bed and walk around for several minutes).

Day 8 Feels Better

Almost forgot I was still addicted for a while this morning. That's a good sign. Slept in and blew off exercising this morning. That felt good too. Neck is still stiff, maybe a day of rest will let me get up and try again tomorrow. Weight is down a couple of pounds - surprised at that. Sailing tonight - will try to keep the number of beers below five.

Day 7 - Depressed

Day 7 not going so well. Spent Saturday and Sunday drinking. Monday was recovery, but could feel a lot of tension in my shoulders. Woke up this morning and decided I needed to go for a run. Somehow pulled a muscle in my neck doing pushups, but went for the run (more like a shuffle). First time running in several months. Body wasn't too happy with me, but I did a mile and half. Took some ibuprofen and extra-strength acetaminophen for the pulled muscle but it still hurts like hell and I still have a lot of tension in my shoulders.

Angry and depressed. But this is a sign the part of my brain thats addicted to the nicotine is realizing its not getting anymore. And its fighting back.

Past experience tells me it will be like this on and off for the next couple of weeks. Just have to take it day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute.

I know I can do this, because I've done it before.

Another Day 3

. . . and I want a smoke.

This will be a daily occurrence for about two weeks. Then the cravings will taper off, but they never, ever, really leave. In a year it will be like a mild tickle. Right now its a teeth-grinding pressure-cooker of irritability and restlessness.

I'm trying to think about it like a long run - it hurts when you first start but by the end the endorphin rush makes you forget how bad it was in the beginning. You just have to push through the beginning.

Pushing. . . .

Another Day 2

48 hours since my last cigarette. Wish I could say the same about alcohol. Last night was sailing, and sailing and drinking, at least in this area, seem to go hand in hand. I did moderate though, not having a beer until the race was over and the boat put away. My usual practice was to start drinking as soon as I got home from work and continue until going to bed several hours and twice as many beers later.

By most definitions I would be considered at the least a problem drinker. Seems like polite society likes to define anything more than two alcoholic beverages a day more than once or twice a week as problem drinking.

Well, by my own definition I've been problem drinking these past few years. That fact was reinforced when I woke up Monday with a hangover, grabbed the trash under the sink to take outside, and saw the empty fifth of tequila surrounded by empty beers cans.

Now, I had some help, but still two people putting away a fifth of tequila and beers on a Sunday afternoon is what I would term excessive.

Certainly for a 48 year old man. And his 45 year old girlfriend.

So I only had five beers last night. That's an improvement for me.

24 Hours and $8.00 Richer

$8.00. That's what a pack of Camel non-filters costs. Most days I smoked a pack. Heavy drinking sessions can raise that to two packs a day.

I created a large space on the white board in my office cube where I wrote a big 8 when I came in this morning. Tomorrow morning, if I don't buy any cigarettes, I'll change it to a 16. And so forth.

Maybe by having this large, visible proof of the money I save by not buying cigarettes I'll find the motivation to stay off them.

Too simple? Sometimes simple is the most effective.

We'll see.