I Quit! (I hope for good) And I feel like Sh*t
Last week, I think Wednesday, this adorable guy I met on bear411 several months ago invited me down to Albuquerque. Being that I didn't have to work that weekend as I originally thought I did, I thought why not.
While planning the trip down there in my head, I came up with this brilliant idea! What if he's a non-smoker? Could I not smoke all weekend long? Can I turn this weekend of fun into a quit smoking weekend too? Well, I tried this idea with marvelous success so far! The last cigarette I had was around 8:30 Saturday morning before getting in the car and driving to Albuquerque, and now it's late Tuesday night. :)
The amazing thing about the whole trip was that I didn't really get any cravings. Maybe it was because the experience was new and unassociated with smoking, but going the weekend without a cigarette was pretty easy sailing.
However, Monday (Memorial day, yesterday) hit, I started feeling kinda achy, but I didn't think anything of it. We went out to a restaurant before I had start the drive back, and I felt fine for the most part, just my skin was feeling slighty sensitive.
After starting my drive back to Denver, I stopped in Las Vegas, NM to get gas. While walking from the car and into the store, I noticed that I wasn't okay. My balance was off, my head was throbbing, I was VERY achy at that point, and my throat was sore. I felt like I just got an all out flu, and I still had about 6 to 7 hours of driving to do.
As I continued my drive, my flu like symptoms continued to progress. My achiness got pretty unbearable... I would get too hot with the sun beating down on me, but would get too cold with the window open or AC on. My headache continued to worsen, and it felt like my throat swelled up, making it hard to breath through my nose. When I got to Pueblo, CO to fill up on gas again, before making the last 100 mile stretch of my trip back to Denver, I thought I was gonna die. I was feeling deathly ill at this point, could barely walk straight, and was having concentration issues while purchasing water from the store clerk. All I wanted to do was lay down and make all that I was feeling stop, but I had 100 miles more to go before curling up in pain in my bed. I thought something was seriously wrong with me, I've never felt more sick in my life.
That last 100 miles completely sucked! Not only was I desperately trying to concentrate on driving, desperately wanting to get home so I could lay down in my bed, but I ended up having to drive through the middle of the largest thunder and lightning storm I've ever been in during dark evening hours. The rain was so insane that traffic slowed to 20 miles per hour because you just couldn't see in front of you because of all the water showering onto your windshield. No one could ever make a windshield wiper's speed fast enough to create any clearer visibility. There was lightning and thunder everywhere! I was worried with how hard it was raining, I would end up driving right into a flood, or be flooded away from home after driving 400 some miles, so close but so far. And recently. the office staff was briefed about what to do in a Tornado! And in my mind, if a Tornado were to form, this storm sure would be a good candidate to create one.
The last 70 miles was slow and painful, my brain hurt from all the bouncing, thinking, and concentrating... My skin, well i just wished I could have gotten rid of my skin... I wanted to inject pain killers into my throat.... It probably took two hours to go the last 70 miles, and the speed limit along I-25 is 75 mph! I must say, that throughout all of this, although cigarette's may have made it all stop, I was feeling so ill that a cigarette was not even considerable.
When I finally got back home, I crawled on top of the bed, went online to look up what I was going through while trying to keep my head as still as possible, and read that what I was going through is normal in some cases of nicotine withdrawal, and it's called "quitter's flu." I was totally wierded out during the drive, thinking I was dieing, cause the last several times I've quit, the withdrawals were never so horrible, just an annoying cough that took forever to go away. I proceeded to try sleep, waking up about half hour throughout the night.
Today, I feel much better than yesterday. My body is still slightly achy, my head still hurts, especially when I cough, which is often, and my sore throat is not nearly as sore. I'm still very uncomfortable, but atleast death doesn't feel like it's within reach. The awkward thing about today is that my cravings were so much more intense and frequent than they were all weekend. Fortunately, I resisted, and hopefully I can continue saying this for the rest of my life this time around. :)
While planning the trip down there in my head, I came up with this brilliant idea! What if he's a non-smoker? Could I not smoke all weekend long? Can I turn this weekend of fun into a quit smoking weekend too? Well, I tried this idea with marvelous success so far! The last cigarette I had was around 8:30 Saturday morning before getting in the car and driving to Albuquerque, and now it's late Tuesday night. :)
The amazing thing about the whole trip was that I didn't really get any cravings. Maybe it was because the experience was new and unassociated with smoking, but going the weekend without a cigarette was pretty easy sailing.
However, Monday (Memorial day, yesterday) hit, I started feeling kinda achy, but I didn't think anything of it. We went out to a restaurant before I had start the drive back, and I felt fine for the most part, just my skin was feeling slighty sensitive.
After starting my drive back to Denver, I stopped in Las Vegas, NM to get gas. While walking from the car and into the store, I noticed that I wasn't okay. My balance was off, my head was throbbing, I was VERY achy at that point, and my throat was sore. I felt like I just got an all out flu, and I still had about 6 to 7 hours of driving to do.
As I continued my drive, my flu like symptoms continued to progress. My achiness got pretty unbearable... I would get too hot with the sun beating down on me, but would get too cold with the window open or AC on. My headache continued to worsen, and it felt like my throat swelled up, making it hard to breath through my nose. When I got to Pueblo, CO to fill up on gas again, before making the last 100 mile stretch of my trip back to Denver, I thought I was gonna die. I was feeling deathly ill at this point, could barely walk straight, and was having concentration issues while purchasing water from the store clerk. All I wanted to do was lay down and make all that I was feeling stop, but I had 100 miles more to go before curling up in pain in my bed. I thought something was seriously wrong with me, I've never felt more sick in my life.
That last 100 miles completely sucked! Not only was I desperately trying to concentrate on driving, desperately wanting to get home so I could lay down in my bed, but I ended up having to drive through the middle of the largest thunder and lightning storm I've ever been in during dark evening hours. The rain was so insane that traffic slowed to 20 miles per hour because you just couldn't see in front of you because of all the water showering onto your windshield. No one could ever make a windshield wiper's speed fast enough to create any clearer visibility. There was lightning and thunder everywhere! I was worried with how hard it was raining, I would end up driving right into a flood, or be flooded away from home after driving 400 some miles, so close but so far. And recently. the office staff was briefed about what to do in a Tornado! And in my mind, if a Tornado were to form, this storm sure would be a good candidate to create one.
The last 70 miles was slow and painful, my brain hurt from all the bouncing, thinking, and concentrating... My skin, well i just wished I could have gotten rid of my skin... I wanted to inject pain killers into my throat.... It probably took two hours to go the last 70 miles, and the speed limit along I-25 is 75 mph! I must say, that throughout all of this, although cigarette's may have made it all stop, I was feeling so ill that a cigarette was not even considerable.
When I finally got back home, I crawled on top of the bed, went online to look up what I was going through while trying to keep my head as still as possible, and read that what I was going through is normal in some cases of nicotine withdrawal, and it's called "quitter's flu." I was totally wierded out during the drive, thinking I was dieing, cause the last several times I've quit, the withdrawals were never so horrible, just an annoying cough that took forever to go away. I proceeded to try sleep, waking up about half hour throughout the night.
Today, I feel much better than yesterday. My body is still slightly achy, my head still hurts, especially when I cough, which is often, and my sore throat is not nearly as sore. I'm still very uncomfortable, but atleast death doesn't feel like it's within reach. The awkward thing about today is that my cravings were so much more intense and frequent than they were all weekend. Fortunately, I resisted, and hopefully I can continue saying this for the rest of my life this time around. :)