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154927 tn?1205242851

Vitamins

Hey everybody! I wanted to share this in hopes that it might help somebody else out there on tx.

About 2 weeks ago, I started taking a multivitamin (no iron) and vitamin E every day.
I also quit smoking. It's been 5 days now since I quit (after about 35 years)

I am also back on the treadmill every day for half an hour.

I have to say that I have felt EXTREMELY better this week than I have felt in months. My general mood is better, less coughing, more energy & less dizziness. Plus I'm really proud of myself for quitting smoking.  In my mind, I didn't think the patch would help me..I was convinced that smoking was more of a mental dependancy/habit. It has REALLY helped me...I haven't had a real urge to smoke in 5 days..it's awesome. And I would recommend it.
P.S. I asked my doc first if it was ok to use the patch & he said it was fine.

I FEEL GOOD!!! Yippee!!!!

Also, I DO believe that my fingertips are finally getting better too. The shriveling & soreness & cuts are going away. I don't know if it's from the vitamin E.. it could be that & the crack cream I've been using on them.
-E
13 Responses
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173930 tn?1196338398
The results of VL and geno are still not out--I called them today

Hopefully they should be out beginning of next week.... and then will meeet the hepatologist about the course of tx..will keep you posted on this once I know

My 10 year old daughter is excited and is already rehearsing to take part in the dances at the wedding...thats what is driving me to go...

You keep up the good work of avoiding cigarettes....the intial stage is the most difficult but I guess you already know that!:)
Best Wishes
Shastri
Helpful - 0
154927 tn?1205242851
How did it turn out with your conversation to your doctor about traveling to the wedding/reunion vs. starting tx a couple of weeks later than planned?   I've been wondering. :)
-E
Helpful - 0
173930 tn?1196338398
Congrats for quitting.....I salute you. Been on cigarettes for 28 years and plan to start tx shortly
Have thought about quitting several times but never got started
But your thread has inspired me and hope I can break this habit which we love so much but hate it even more!
Best wishes
Shastri
Helpful - 0
154927 tn?1205242851
Thanks for your support everybody. :)
Helpful - 0
163305 tn?1333668571
Congratulations for kicking a very difficult habit. I've been told many times that its harder to stop tobacco than heroin. You'll find your breath returning as well as your stamina. Hurray for you!!
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
WAA HOO for you. Thats great news that you quit smoking and feel so much better. That is encouraging news for sure.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Thank you both for sharing.  The human spirit is so amazing.

I too watched my mo in law die of emphazema(sp) and my sister die of liver failure.  But, your stories are enough for us all.  Thank you for taking the time and the emotional energy to share them with the rest of us.

miss
Helpful - 0
86075 tn?1238115091
congrats! wonderful that you've changed your lifestyle (and I guess it goes a long way to change your general attitude about your own health) and youre feeling much better...to me health and well-being is a lot of things, and it sounds like you've ticked off some important ones! best of luck to you!
Helpful - 0
12773 tn?1328913186
We have so much more in common.  From the dogs to the dentists to our parents.  I am sure had we lived in the same towne, we would have been friends for sure.  I am so proud that you are doing it.  I knew you could.  Just keep up the good work, and you will be so happy you stopped.  Its easier then you think when you put your mind to it.  Keep you hands and mind busy and you will be fine thru the first couple of months, as those are the hardest.    You will learn to adjust.. do something else, rather  than smoking one after dinner.   Well getting ready for shot #3.  Hope you are feeling ok today and have a great weekend, or a restful one.

Dana
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I too smoked for 26 years and for 15 of them worked in a smoky bar and then I smoked about 5 more years after that.  I was so sick of waking up with my mouth tasting like **** and coughing. It now has been 15 years and I am so glad I have quit.  Its hard and it took me years but you know...why pay those kind of prices to kill yourself. I made myself a promise.  If I quite I would buy myself a new car... and I did.
Helpful - 0
146021 tn?1237204887
Your stories are soooo sad. I'm about to cry but I have to leave for work. But o.k., today I'll try to stop the cigarettes. Maybe something good will come out of those sad stories.
Janice
Helpful - 0
154927 tn?1205242851
That is a very touching story. I went thru something similar 3 Christmas' ago. My setpmom was on her deathbed from emphazema(down in Fla). My dad kept calling me asking me what he should do, pull the plug? Let her suffer? I decided to fly down 3 days before Christmas to help him & see what her quality of life was.  When I arrived there, my dad was also in bad shape, but he had never told me. His stomach was distended & full of fluid (which they had drained 7 liters of fluid out of the week before) My Dad was very vague about what was wrong with him. He was only concerned with his wife. Also he was using a walker to get around. I agreed that we should pull the plug on my stepmom, and she passed peacefully a few hours later. That day, they raised the terrorist alert to Orange for travelers. I cleaned my dad's house, got him set up with an appointment with a visiting nurse & started the procedure to get him on of those Safety Life Alert necklaces. I rushed home to Maine Christmas Eve day to be with my regular family. As we sat down for Christmas dinner, the phone rang. My dad had fallen & the new visiting nurse found him on the floor unconscious & they took him to Intensive Care. His doctor told me that he had less than a 1% chance to live due to his liver failure. He died the day after Christmas in the exact same room that his wife had died exactly 1 week before. I was unable to get down there the day after Christmas to be with him, so he passed away by himself. He was in a coma, so he wouldn't have known if I was there or not, but it will always eat at me for the rest of my life. *sigh* So sad.
As I look back now & read things in the forum about fluid in the stomach & liver failure, I wonder if he had suffered from the final stages of liver disease. He never told me he was suffering from anything. :(
I guess he figured that since I was so far away, I would never know about his disease & he didn't want me to worry.
Helpful - 0
12773 tn?1328913186
I am so proud of you.  Its not an easy thing to do.. Trust me... I know too.  Although I have wanted one more than ever this week, I too managed to make it without the patch even.   I watched my mom struggle to take her last breath, and die from emphyzema.    Even after she had not smoked for a month, due to the fact she was in the hospital from xmas eve till 1/24 when she passed.  This was kinda funny if you knew my mom, but it was sad the same time.. such a terrible addiction.  

She was in intensive care, and had the monitor for her heart on her index finger.  The lights were off, as it was about 3 am, I could only stay in for 20 mins at a time, and would leave go downstairs , talk to family on the phone as I smoked outside in the freezing weather.  Then I would go scrup up to try and get the smell of smoke off of myself.  before going back up.  When I got back this last time,   she scolds me to put the cigarette out.  I said , theres no cigarette mom.. I was holding her hand.   She was seeing the little red light from the monitor on her finger in the dark.  As she says yes and lifts her hand, as if trying to show me, we were holding it together.   I said no Mom thats not a cig.. she says....yes it .. now put it ou.....noooo wait.. give me a drag !!!.   I laughed so hard, and so did she after she realized it.   We both cried together, and said asked for each others forgiveness,   I left a bit later, to return to her at 7 am, and she never woke up again.  That next evening at 3 am, she passed.  I was talking to her and saying the lords prayer.. her favorite one..  

Well enough.. but she was a funny lady..  But cigs robbed her of many happy years, and its not fun to watch that happen.  So please everyone.. Please try and succeed to quit smoking now.   Think of your loved ones.
Helpful - 0
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