Thread: My giving up experience..... Hope it helps

Ok.

It is in my nature to waffle on for ages but I'll keep this brief

My stop smoking day was 10th Feb after 11 years of smoking at least 20 a day.

I read the Allen Carr book before I gave up and found it really interesting and I really thought what he said would do it for me.

The first 4 days I was in the most foul mood and quite frankly if Allen Carr had still been alive I would've sought him out and inserted his book up his bum.

So, I tried NRT in the form of the inhalator thing. It quite frankly saved my sanity and enabled me to at least smile a little bit as I sucked on that plastic thing as if my life depended on it.

A few days after that I was in Sainsbury's and saw an offer on their own brand nicotine lozenges. After over an hour in the supermarket I was going to buy 20 Marlborough Lights but instead I bought those. And I haven't looked back since.

They are ace. They last about 30 - 40 mins. That's 30 - 40 mins of nicotine delivered directly into your blood stream and that's more than a cigarette does. I never thought I'd get this far but these things have helped.

You get a craving - you pop one in. You want to have a drink and instead of missing the alcohol and cigarette thing the lozenge does the job better than fag

Now - I have slipped up a couple of times and smoked whilst out. I was gutted. My beloved and beautiful cigarettes tasted horrible

But that did help to remove the 'romantic' smoking bit because now when I think of smoking I just remember that having that thing that I'm not allowed is just not as good as I thought it would be.

I loved smoking - it was my thing. I cannot believe that I've done this well. And Allen Carr has helped a bit - I do remember some of his stuff.

What I love more than anything is the fact that I can come home after work and not worry about whether I have enough cigarettes to get me through the time before I go out again.

I know I might sound a bit evangelical but the lozenges are a lifesaver. they taste better than gum. They allow to you satisfy a craving by putting it in your mouth and sucking it. Patches are a bit too passive and do nothing for the smoking 'itch'.

I am now only using them when I drink - which is a good thing for me.

I can't promise I'll never smoke another cigarette in my life but at the moment I don't want to - and I carry around a packet with me all the time - the fact I don't need to smoke one boosts my confidence every day.

And when a smoker gets near me on a bus or wherever - I cannot believe I used to smell like that. Well, to be honest - I didn't care!

Good luck all of you!

P xx

How much money have you saved so far?

it was seven days yesterday when i had my last ciggie.
i went cold turkey.
i dont believe in putting nicotine back in your body with nrt.
you are trying to get the stuff out.
if it works for you though, all the better.
one thing i can say is smoking and the addiction is all in the mind.
make the decision and stick to it.

i totally agree that i never realised that smoking smelled so bad,

give up the weed people, not just your health but kill that smell