14 Likes
Welcome back to your own body!
10 Likes
Amen to that. I took the baby with on my run this morning. Call me a bad mother or whatever, but I didnāt enjoy it as much as being alone. Semester starts next week; I think Iāll just start getting up at 6 to get a little alone running time.
13 Likes
I tried the exercise with your baby thing and found it a huge hassle. I knew women who were good at it. Especially when she got older. Iād be trying to get my steps in and midway through sheād crawl out of the stroller to have a little walkabout.
8 Likes
Sounds like a good call to leave this job if this is how your colleagues are.
Sometimes people lash out at people who are leaving because they will miss them and itās easier to think āI hated that guy anywayā than to acknowledge the loss.
Iām concerned about all the smoking.
A big hug and Iām glad you are getting out of there.
15 Likes
Iād actually be interested in talking with you. The course that I just finished building is about yoga breathing techniques, and I think people trying to quit smoking is a good market for it. I havenāt had anyone to talk to about it.
Nicotine is actually a stimulant, but people use it to calm down because the big long drag of breath is calming.
15 Likes
Good luck! Sounds like a big transition; hope it goes well.
12 Likes
For me it was a stimulant that anesthetized my burned throat. The lack of a genuine ācalming effectā is part of what made it possible to quit this time around. When I noticed that I was in meltdown-panic mode when coming back into the building after a smoke, I began breathing to counteract it. Then I just quit. Now Iām just breathing and sad about the lie that is the anticipation of the relief of having a smoke.
13 Likes
I wish I was a smoker just so I could take smoke breaks. Get away from the desk, hit the reset button, and come back refreshed. A shame that thatās only really tolerated for smokers.
7 Likes
I have heard of a guy and a neighbor company who took up vaping with 0,% nicotine to get his āsmoke breaksā
11 Likes
When I was working, I would fill my mug with water and a tea bag, put in the office microwave, then walk the corridors for the three minutes it took to heat. Boy that really helped recharging my batteries. (I know, not the optimum tea making method but it worked for me).
12 Likes
We arenāt built to sit for hours at a time, thatās for sure.
10 Likes
At one company I was at, breaks were frowned upon unless you were a rock star dev or sales guy. Then you got to use the ping pong table in the kitchen.
Unless you were a smoker. Then you could take smoke breaks.
So I used to go out with a cigarette pack-sized bulge in my jacket pocket. It was my sock knitting. Iād do a few rounds, clear my head, and then come back inside.
15 Likes
At my first job, the whole tech docs team would occasionally take nonsmoking breaks. But I havenāt done it since then. My doctor recommended keeping apples in the car and taking a walk to get them.
11 Likes
Thatās a great topic to discuss over a few drinks.
9 Likes
Gah. Iām glad I donāt work in software. It sounds like such a dysfunctional industry. ārock star devā lol.
6 Likes
Hmmmmm?
12 Likes
The last time I was trying to quit, that was what made the difference for me. I would go out, same as I did previously for smoke breaks, walk around the parking lot, same as I had when smoking, and just inhale deeply as if smoking, but fresh air instead. It did help tremendously, got me through the days (I got from a pack a day down to 3 cigs a day - one after each meal).
I relapsed after awhile (as expected for quitting smoking attempts), but I would definitely say that it was every bit as effective as my attempts with a vape pen and more so than the patch or gum (which arenāt really a substitute and do nothing for your lungs).
Iāve seen a lot of posts around the internet like that, but Iāve never been in a job that doesnāt have breaks (aside from the one time I worked shuffling produce with migrant workers). Even in entry-level fast food or retail, they made sure that we got one roughly every 2 hours. In office jobs, you just go whenever you need to. I have seen non-smokers who seem to brazenly refuse to take breaks, sitting at desks for 8-12 hours without even getting up to go to the bathroom or get a drink. I donāt know why. Maybe they think they need to ask permission since no one told them to? They seem to be trying to be heroic, and seem to be the ones that make those complaints. Honestly, their work usually isnāt as good as it would be if they took breaks (no offense if youāre in that position), and a decent employer will recognize that.
At my old job we had a ping-pong table in the warehouse (for some reason) and would try to push the nonsmokers to at least go play a game or something. The job before that, weād drag them outside for a walkaround or a wiffleball game. That wasnāt perfect since the nonsmokers going outside with the smokers meant that the nonsmokers who were nonsmokers because they had quit had a tendency to start again.
9 Likes
Thatās easy. History.
Back when smokers could smoke in the office, smokers didnāt take breaks either. Itās not actually true office workers can take breaks whenever they want ā there are regulations and policies, even if some people break them. I know people who have been fired for taking too many breaks.
If you read accounts of old project death marches, itās not unusual for writers to note the ash trays were overflowing as a way to indicate how long people worked without taking a break.
Enter smoke-free offices. Smokers howled about it. Not just the going outside part, but about how their productivity would take a hit.
But instead they got breaks, which it turns out is a good thing.
Non-smokers donāt take breaks because theyāve never had them, and they donāt have the medical reason of nicotine addiction to take them. Where I work now, the main excuse for a break is āletās get some real coffeeā ā addiction again.
I wonder how people who are against safe injection sites feel about smoke breaks.
15 Likes
Ok,
Another quick update, Iām starting on a low dose of an ACE inhibitor before bed tonight. There is a chance that will get the kidneys under control.
If Iām still leaking too much protien and have a high anti body count next step is immunosuppressants.
Although my doctor touched on it I actually donāt know what the next step would be if Iām free of anti bodies but still leaking too much protien. Still waiting on that blood test.
The apparent weight gain I had when I saw the endocrinologist was probably water weight because it disappeared in just a couple days. But still not having serious edema again, it was just a 5-7 pound menstrual spike.
But my endo blood work was great and Iām keeping the same dose of anti-thyroid meds for 3 months before my next endo check. TSH should show improvement by then.
So mostly ok news for now but itās definitely been exhausting.
21 Likes