An update. Since I changed the name of this feeling I�ve been having from �crave� to �pollution allergy� a couple of weeks ago, its accompanying junkie thought of �[i]A cigarette would make this feeling go away[/i]� is slowly being replaced with �[i]Sheeeze, will this ever end?[/i]� and �[i]I really need to get out of this nasty place![/i]�, which I consider to be progress. It would be easy to get into an abstract discussion on whether this is reality replacing illusion, or vice versa. The truth is I really don�t care since this is becoming easier to deal with mentally. Hey, Luna! Is there still room on your island? (jk, ... [size=1]mostly[/size]). Shevie [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 5/23/2005 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 288 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 5,773 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $1094.4 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 53 [B]Hrs:[/B] 19 [B]Mins:[/B] 34 [B]Seconds:[/B] 26

Hummy, we'd love to move somewhere else. But we are in pretty good situations here, so we're going to stick it out until retirement. Webster, congrats on 100 days tomorrow. That's an awesome accomplishment. I remember mine - Becky had to tether me to keep me from floating away, LOL. I read your other post and don't have any explanation for why you're still having this problem this far into your quit. My lungs are clear. There's no pleghm and X-ray showed one little spot at the top of my right lung that is probably scar tissue from an old infection (valley fever?). That's where I had a rattle/gurgle with every breath when I smoked. I never went through the coughing-up-stuff phase that many do. Shevie [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 5/23/2005 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 273 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 5,469 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $1037.4 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 50 [B]Hrs:[/B] 23 [B]Mins:[/B] 34 [B]Seconds:[/B] 48

Hi, all. This is long, but hopefully if someone identifies with it, it will help. If not, my fingers got some well-needed exercise. I live in the so-called Valley of the Sun (the Phoenix, Arizona metro area). We have a serious pollution problem, primarily from vehicle exhaust. Dust blown in from the desert contributes, but the exhaust is the biggest offender. The worst time is during the winter with all the "snowbird" visitors and inversion layers that trap the brown cloud against the ground. Back when I smoked high pollution days would make me smoke more. Never could figure that one out, but the pattern was rock solid. I would go from just under a pack a day to 1 1/2 or 2 packs a day. I would simply feel "the need" more often and, of course, would satisfy it. Also, back when I smoked sometimes my heart would pound a few times a day at about 110 - 120 beats per minute so hard I could see it moving my chest. Every couple of days during one of these pounding sessions it would stop at the beginning of a beat and sort of flutter for a second or so, then resume. All this would happen at any time, even when the most strenuous thing I'd done for a couple of hours was sit in my recliner watching TV. After I quit at the end of May, I found that when the pollution would go up so would my craving. We don't have many high pollution days during the summer and early fall, but there are a few and those days were really rough. Then came the holiday season with all the snowbirds, people driving in to visit families, sightseeing, shopping, etc. Plus the EPA relaxed the requirement for oxygenated fuel in the wake of Katrina so the cars' exhausts were dirtier. And we haven't had any rain in the last 124 days to wash the air. The result is that I've been in a low-level crave since Thanksgiving. With the exceptions of a couple of days immediately after Christmas Day and a few day-trips out of the brown cloud, this has been constant along with the junkie thought that having a cig would make it go away. Now don't anyone get upset! The quit is in no danger. It's like my clothes are really uncomfortable: very annoying, but I'm not about to go naked. ;) Anyhow, right after Christmas the pounding heart started again, happening once every several da

Redrosie, I just pointed to your picture and told my wife "I want to live there!" The positives here are few, but strong. I was raised in the country (rural Alabama) and I do really miss it. Doodle, you don't know how good it is to hear I'm not the only weird one around (smoking more on high pollution days). :) Does the pollution make you crave now, or just give you headaches? Thank you, N2k. You're sweet. :) Being indoors helps, but there's no way to keep it all out. But someday it will rain and wash this crap away. [i]The rain will come down tomorrow. Bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow there'll be rain.[/i] Shevie [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 5/23/2005 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 274 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 5,482 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $1041.2 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 51 [B]Hrs:[/B] 2 [B]Mins:[/B] 22 [B]Seconds:[/B] 52

Thats very interesting and wierd. Too bad you can't move, but I did read your answer to Hummy. Good luck to you. [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 4/21/2005 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 332 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 8,319 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $2490 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 43 [B]Hrs:[/B] 12 [B]Mins:[/B] 21 [B]Seconds:[/B] 56

Makes sense to me. Ever think of moving? [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 5/5/2005 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 291 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 11,653 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $1891.5 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 37 [B]Hrs:[/B] 18 [B]Mins:[/B] 44 [B]Seconds:[/B] 12