fwiw: OT: LDN update/smoking cessation

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just posted to my continuing thread :

Re: Day 2932 – 04/26/11 ( & Day 1492 for my Dad)

oh wow, my last post/update to http://www.larrygc.com/mystory ( http://forum.ldnresearchtrust.org/index.php?showtopic=362 ) my story thread was 4/17/10, the year just zipped by.

And today made 5 years with no cigarettes (__((_____()

Since 042606: Five yrs, 6 hours, 24 mins & 56 secs. 54788 cigs not smoked, saving $15,066.70.

Life saved: 27 wks, 1 day, 5 hrs, 40 mins. // $24,707 billed on lawyers fees since 080807

Another year gone by, now 8 years on LDN. Still in Florida. My dad & brother are both doing well, still stable & in remission.

Someone asked me How I Quit cigarettes, and I smoked for 28 years.

I don’t really Have an Answer for that, but this is what happened... I guess there’s no going back, so I can talk about it...

2/21/06 was my first night on my own after 23+ yrs of marriage. I was smoking 20-30 cigarettes a day... pack, pack & a half. The next day I only had 8 cigarettes. The day after, only 7. I guess my mind was just so blown, instead of smoking 3 packs, I Just kinda LOST interest. I was down to 3 a day in mid March, and then I had a set back. At 1 in the morning, just 3 weeks in a new apt in someone’s basement, I saw something flying. Then another. Then another. Then Thousands. A Swarm. That kind of knocked me back to reality, but I only went back up to 7 a day, and pretty much stay there while these termites were bugging me out, surely kept my mind off of things though.

In April I started cutting back 1 at a time, down to 2 a day for a few days. My friend Tom was over for a visit, leaving at 1745 on 4/26, smoking what turned out to be my last, he asked how many I was down to. That was only my 2nd one since 2AM. He suggested I just Don’t Light Up at 2AM. So on 4/27, 2AM, I took out a cigarette and just sucked on it for a while. I didn’t light it up, and haven’t lit one up since.

I’m not sure the role LDN played in my quitting, I feel like I Just “Lost Interest†in smoking, and kept smoking a little just to keep from Withdrawal. I Heard stories about Withdrawal symptoms, but I think what I went through was quite different than anyone I mentioned this to. I think the LDN Played a BIG role in my Withdrawal. The end was quite bizarre.

The last 4 days I didn’t get much sleep. Every time I would lay down, 60 minutes later, my bladder would be Full. This wasn’t the ‘typical MS bladder’ frequency, this was a full bladder. I lay back down, 60 minutes later, Full. The first night this happened, this repeated 5 times, 60 minutes, to the minute. If I stayed up 2 minutes after emptying, 60 minutes later... if I stayed up 10 minutes, still, 60 minutes from being horizontal. While awake, sitting or standing, normal bladder... horizontal, 60 minutes later.

Half way through the 2nd night this happened, I went into the recliner and got 4 hours. Then I thought I’d better live through this or it would never end, so I spent the next 2 nights with a full bladder again after 60 minutes of horizontal time.

My saliva also tasted metallic for these few days, and a lot of saliva was flowing. I got the idea that it was like a Toxic Flush and had to be triggered by the LDN orchestrated immune system. After the 60 minute full bladder issue stopped, it went back to normal 2-5 hours sleeping without interruption, and no metal taste. AND I haven’t had a Craving for a cigarette since those 4 days. It suddenly felt like I never smoked, not just quit.

I think the LDN helped once I decided to quit. And the withdrawal is not something I’ve read or heard about from anyone else. I don’t know any other on LDN that had quit smoking cigarettes. But this was surely and experience I never had before... that alone will keep me from going back, the withdrawal is crazy!

Just this week I went to have allergy testing done. Part 2 is next week. Will see if my allergy profile has changed down here in Florida and can compare to 9/07s results.