Help me stop

[Risky1]

What's the best way to stop seems i tried it all an can't afford to pay for this addiction no more

[huggys boss]

The 25mg patches worked for me for a while, even when OH was still smoking. Gave up for 2 months on them. Unfortunately my will power is not so strong so fell off at the first sign of stress.

 

Good luck with it.

 

If it helps, I have gone from almost 40 a day to less than 20 by starting to smoke outside. Bought a huge bucket of white paint and started decorating my house, and the difference between the white walls and the old nicotine yellow ones was unbelievable.

 

Again.......Good Luck

[mrsseabs]

Go to your doctor and ask him to prescribe Champix if you are on benefits it is free if not it is the normal prescription charge( cheaper than a packet of cigarettes !!!) you take it for two weeks whilst smoking then you cut the smoking out works a treat !!!!

[mrsseabs]

Go to your doctor and ask him to prescribe Champix if you are on benefits it is free if not it is the normal prescription charge( cheaper than a packet of cigarettes !!!) you take it for two weeks whilst smoking then you cut the smoking out works a treat !!!!

[Risky1]

I have some at home last time they made me sick I shall maybe try again

[reallymadwoman]

My stop smoking advisor told me to take them with food and this often solves the problem.

[jude207]

Go to your doctor and ask him to prescribe Champix if you are on benefits it is free if not it is the normal prescription charge( cheaper than a packet of cigarettes !!!) you take it for two weeks whilst smoking then you cut the smoking out works a treat !!!!

Hi, I smoked for 50 years and recently did manage to give up with champix. The most important thing is to eat something before taking it.

Then I started smoking again ( due to some tragic news ) But the doctors wouldnt risk giving it to me again (due to depression)It can cause depression. I really wanted to give up again, and found you can buy it online. However, it is very expensive, so I have bought Zyban which is cheaper.There can be side effects as with Champix, but I'm 7 days into it. As with Champix you smoke until it gets into your system so I shall stop smoking any day now. So far so good. Good luck "mum"

[reallymadwoman]

I would strongly advise against taking Champix or Zyban without medical supervision. The side effects of either can be serious (and even fatal) and both should only be prescribed by a doctor who knows your medical history and can monitor you for problems.

 

Having said that, I gave up with Champix - 11 weeks today.

[jude207]

I would strongly advise against taking Champix or Zyban without medical supervision. The side effects of either can be serious (and even fatal) and both should only be prescribed by a doctor who knows your medical history and can monitor you for problems.

 

Having said that, I gave up with Champix - 11 weeks today.

Lol reallymadwoman(me too!) I was prescribed champix by the doctor and I too gave it up with no side effects. Because of tragic circumstances I started again. This time the doctor would not "risk" giving me champix again. However I bought zyban on line and 8 days on it so far, no side effects.

Tomorrow is my first non smoking day. I have tried EVERYTHING but nothing worked, inspite of having emphysema I still love my cigs. I know I MUST stop so here we go! Congrats on you giving up.. keep it up and wish me luck for tomorrow.

Anne x

[reborn71]

Hi Jude,

 

how did the stopping smoking go?

[Alancc]

The best way to stop is to refrain from smoking for a week or so, and then go to the pub when its raining and wait! Pretty soon you will see people outside smoking freezing and sucking on a stick as if their life depended. Shortly after they will come back in to wait until they can have another one, but the smell will hit you far harder than the extra money you have in your pocket and the extra energy ooh and the lack of colds as your immune system starts to get back to normal. Seriously I gave up after 35 years and was smoking 20-30 per day, all because somebody stood next to me when I hadnt smoked for a few days. Now 4 years later I feel 10 years younger than I did 10 years ago.

[stockport6]

My name is Ian, I have been quit now for almost 10 years. I still come back to these boards as I haven't stopped learning about smoking and quitting since I quit and like to try and share what I learn with others.

 

I think that may people struggle at first because they think quitting is just a case of out willing the part of you that wants to smoke. In other words trying to muster enough willpower to resist smoking. I have a different approach and theory to what may be required. There are two things you have to achieve before quitting. One is to change your perception about what a cigarette can actually do for you and the second is to gain the permission from yourself to let go of smoking as a safety net.

 

Perception.

I had many attempts to quit before I finally quit for the last time. I know it is the last time because something changed inside me. It was what some people may call a reverlation. A bolt out of the blue, A bang on the head. Whatever you want to call it it was an awakening experience. It started after someone asked me a question. "why do you smoke ?" a simple, innocent question that had me reaching for the answers I always gave, I am addicted to nictoine, it is a habit, I enjoy it. But on this occasion I said nothing. I just stared into space and thought.

 

What was it about those dried leaves that had me so miserable? I don't enjoy smoking, I tollerate it. It is not a habit it is a security measure against anxiety and if I am only addicted to nicotine then every smoker should be able to stop with NRT. For the first time since I started smoking at 11 years old I asked myself the question. "What do cigarettes ACTUALLY do ?" not what do I THINK cigarettes do but what do the really, actually do ?

 

The answer I have since discovered is absolutely nothing. Oh, apart form one thing. They actually give you anxiety.. That may sound strange to people who smoke as the one thing every smoker believes is that smoking relieves there Anxiety. What I had to do was go back to well before I smoked my first cigarette.

 

Most people will perhaps only look as far back as their first. But for me it all happened well before then. I saw most of my family smoke. My mum, brother, aunties and uncles. all smoked. They would tell me time and again, " never let me catch you smoking, It will kill you" followed by them turning around and lighting one up. So the clear message to me was. " Wow, they know cigarettes will kill them yet they still do it. Smoking must be fantastic". Then there was the many films and T.V programms that showed beutiful, successfull, tough, rebelleous often rich people smoking their heads off. At that age I wanted to be like that.

 

So by the time it came to eleven and that first cigarette was put in my hand I was alredy a smoker. In my head I had a vision, a concept, a perception of what i thought smoking was. So when I did finally light that first cigarette and it made me sick and dizzy, afraid and excited I was sure I had done something wrong.

 

As the chemicals and additives in the cigarette started to react with various hormones in my body it made me feel something that should have only been reserved for the moments in my life that are very rare. The chemicals in the tobacco had triggered the primal reaction called the Fight or Flight response. It is a thing that should only be activated in extreme danger. It is there to make sure you can stand and defend yourself or run away to ensure survival. But here I was in the midst of full blown fear with no way of switching it off. normally when the threat has gone the body will naturally react by secreting what is known as the ' all clear ' hormone into the body. Hovever. I could not see what I was afraid of. what the danger was.

 

At that point I convinced myself that I had smoked the cigarette wrongly. Surely this was not why millions of people risk their lives to feel like this. So I light another. Now this is where the real problems start.

I was in the full throws of the fight or flight response. and can see no way out.

I mentioned a hormone above known as the 'All clear' hormone. It is this I was trying to get to. That calm state again as I was before I lit that first cigarette. That hormone is called DHEA (it has a very long chemical name but it is most commonly known as DHEA) Nicotine has been found to stimulate DHEA. So by lighting the cigarette I was giving myself the impression that the cigarette had just made me safe. However what I didn't do was link the two things together. The fact that the first cigarette was the cause of these extreme feelings in the first place. All I now remember is that smoking a cigarette made it all go away.

 

That is until the levels of the good hormone (DHEA) start to fall again and the levels of the bad hormone (cortisol) start to trigger the same fear response again. So what I now had was a distorted memory for what a cigarette actually did. I forgot about the anxiety and fear it created and focused on the relief it appeared to give. All this at an age when I was changing from a child to a young adult. And the thing I know now is that the main difference between a child and an adult is your ability to cope with stress and anxiety. What I did by smoking is give all of the responsibilty over to a cigarette. I never developed my own coping strategies or technicques. Why would I when I could just light a cigarette and it would appear to vanish.

 

The second part of the quitting process for me was the ending of smoking. I had to link the two events together. The smoking of the previous cigarette and the feelings I got when I wanted another. (the reaction described above) I always thought that to quit smoking I had to want to not smoke more that I wanted to smoke. Which is true but if you force this issue to much you will struggle. I used to fight like a dog not to give in and have a cigarette but the more I faught the more tired I became until like ,many, in a moment of weakness and vulneribility I sucumbed.

 

But this time I realised something. Willpower is not an external fight, I was not fighting any one or anything outside me. It was the internal fight between my concious mind and my sub conscious mind. The conscious mind is the part that says I want to quit, I do not like smoking. Whereas your subconscious mind can not decide what is right and wrong or good and bad. It is like the opererating system in your computer. It will do the same routines over and over again until the program is changed. What you are doing by just saying you are going to quit is like asking your computer to change is routine without permission. If you do not have permission or more importantly you do not show it or give it a new program it will just carry on doing the same thing. You have to convince your subconscious mind that it is not cigarettes that are making you feel better. Then there will be no conflict. The conscious and subconscious mind will agree and you will not have to fight anymore. Your perception and permission are there and you will see that smoking does nothing for you. Only then will you be sure that you will never smoke again.

 

Thanks

[rinfrance]

Hi, me being a big headed conceited barlamb wanted to stop. Reasons were that I then realised that it was doing me no good, that I could no longer afford it and that I did not like the brands that were now available to me.

So I decided to give up., I told everybody the day I was giving up, went out on a binge with my brother in law and had a stinking hangover so bad it lasted several days. I did not want to look at a cigarette let alone smoke one. Hung a no smoking notice on my door and that was it.

Well I went on holiday and had a cigar and I realised that if I were not careful it would start again so I threw them out and have not smoked since... 35 years ago. I now detest the smell of cigarettes, have to wash my clothes if I go too near a smoker as the stench lasts for days and days.

My daughters other half thought I was being an arsxxole but he gave up the same way and after a few weeks started to realise what I meant, now, several years later he is as bad as I am.

Health, at 30 started to realise I had climbed some stairs, gave up. At 34 felt loads better no wheezing and could run again, no signs in chest, 55 raced cadets down the ranges and beat most of them, 65 still absolutely clear and no heart problems, however, my cousin (younger), my friend (same age) and several others I knew have saluted the weed and gone to feeding it.

Other people smoking killed my dad at 89 he died of smoke related lung cancer. Knowing that you will die young is a great assistance in giving up, write yourself out a card with I dont want to die written on it and put it in your cigarette packet, and anywhere else that you go to smoke. Eventually you will get the point.

Incidentally, think, painful to breathe, suffocating slowly, severe pains in your chest, coughing up blood, not being able to walk without sitting down and trying to breathe, knowing that you are putting love ones thru unneccessary pain. wanna fag....

[Mia777]

hi all...........how's it going?

 

In order to stop smoking YOU HAVE TO WANT TO GIVE UP !!! No messing around.

 

My whole family had nagged me for years about my 40-a-day habit but it wasn't until one morning I stepped out of the shower and found myself gasping for breath. I was taken to the surgery, put on a nebuliser, given an inhaler and advised to stop smoking. I thought I had emphasema and was so scared that day that I threw out all my cigarettes, told myself that I was a non-smoker (it helped!) and never looked back. That was 22 years ago.

 

As luck would have it, after 2 weeks of no cigarettes, I detested the smell of anyone who had just smoked. I also knew, despite a few years of no smoking, that if I ever smoked even just one cigarette, I'd be hooked again. Today I take no medication of any sort but best of all, my whole extended family are non smokers now too.

 

You can do it.....IF YOU WANT TO !!!!!! :whoo:

[asif121]

cold turkey...... hardest but best way

[asif121]

but hardest if u got friends around u too to go cold turkey

[asif121]

ive gone months at a time longest 5 months but then firends mess it up

[woad]

As Mia said. You have to WANT to stop smoking. Any other reason is doomed to failure, if you do not WANT to. If your reason for stopping is "its too expensive", "its killing me", "its stupid", "its for my kids", etc - you will fail. Because these are excuses, and do not reflect the fact that you no longer wish to do something. If your reason is "its too expensive", then in reality you wish to continue smoking but can't afford it (or struggle to afford it; the key point is that really, you wish to smoke but cant afford to.

 

Then it simple one day at a time, one craving at a time. I suggest starting in the morning. A monday morning. You know how many you smoke, and when you buy a pack. So carefully time it so that you have the last fag in a packet just before bed time Sunday night. You go to bed with no fags left. When you awake, you have no cancer death stick to put in your mouth ;-) Most smokers are allegedly able to go several hours before the first fag of the day, so use this to advantage. When the craving kicks in, do something to distract yourself; clean teeth, or if you able, press-ups and sit-ups.

 

It is NOT easy. BUT if you want to stop, its easier.

 

I dont say "quit" smoking. Quitting has negative connotations. Everyone asked me when I quit smoking; I say "never", because I have never quit at anything before in my life, why start now. I'm simply choosing not to smoke today.And tomorrrow, and the next day.

 

And forget about trying to stop by cutting down. You either smoke, or you don't. No excuses, no half-way house. It's like trying to be a little bit pregnant; you can't be. You are either pregnant, or not pregnant. You smoke, or you don't smoke.

 

When the craving gets too much, and you think "I'll just have one" and you do, then you are back to being a smoker. Because no matter how many days you "lasted", you will have another one much much sooner. And if you bought a packet,you'll be telling yourself "I'll just smoke this packet". And without realising it, you will have bought another "on autopilot". So dont do it. When you really really really want a fag... do 10 sit ups. Clean your teeth. Run the hoover round. Anything to take your mind off it.

 

It also helps if you break any routine associated with smoking. When do you buy your fags, and from where. Change that routine; if you buy them from the corner shop on the way to work, go to work a different way. Ditto on the way home. It helps break the automatic habit of buying a packet. If you know the shop staff, tell them not to serve you fags. Is there a stressful occurrence at work? Can you change the routine there? For example, if you have a fag every hour, as part of a break, go for a brisk walk instead. If its a coping mechanism with an idiot boss or annoying co-workers, find a way to defuse, perhaps using a stress ball.

 

Get a large glass jar. Everyday, put the money you would spend on fags inside it. And be honest. If you buy 20 Embassy No1, thats over £6 (they were less than a fiver when I stopped, and 75p for 20 when I started...). Dont put a fiver in, or £3 (for a packet of ten). Put the exact amount in. Every single day.

 

The first three days are "easy". The next ten days are hard. Very hard (YMMV). But look at how much dosh is in that jar. What are you going to do with it? After a month, there is nigh on £200 in there (or £100). After 3 months there is between £300 and £600 in that jar... that's a new PC, maybe a new TV. In six months, you have possibly saved enough for a decent holiday, or a high end Panasonic 3D hi-def plasma TV (much better than LCD/LED). And that's just from 20/day.

 

Tell yourself you can do it, that you will be gutted if you give in and have one. And you will be, believe me. If it helps, use patches, put on one each morning. Use a nicarette "cigarette" if you need something to do with your fingers. Use nay and every prop you think will help. Tell yourself it is a dirty, disgusting habit. It makes your breathe stink, actually stink like an ashtray. Your hair smells. Its all a means of positive re-inforcement, but who else is better placed to do so.

 

After three weeks, stand near a smoker; prior to this you'll have been breathing the 'second hand smoke' in, maybe making a bit of a "gasping" production about it (we've all been /there/! ) But after a while, you wont. In fact, you'll find the smell dry, sharp, and unpleasant. After a few more weeks, you'll recoil from it. You'll notice smokers have a stale odour about them; the smell really is stale tobacco, and takes more than one wash to remove from clothing. There are people who's hygiene habits are not as fastidious as others, and some who's habits are not all they should be. You will really notice them; to the point where you prefer they dont look at you when they talk... you never noticed this before. You will.

 

Food will taste better. Much better. This is a really great boost. Its also a little warning; smoking suppresses the appetite, so you *will* put weight on. So, now is also the time to exercise a little more. Right from Day 1, start walking more. Want a fag - do 5 press ups. Still want one? Do 5 sit ups. At work? Go for a walk round the building or up and down some stairs. If you catch a bus to work, then start waking to the next stop. Get off a stop sooner. Each day, leave a little earlier and walk to a further stop. Catch a tube? Then get off a stop early and walk further. Ditto in the evening. There are always little ways you can exercise more. And don't retort "I'm unfit/cant do situps/pressups/whatever. Yes you can. We all can. Physiologically, your body starts to "improve" within 24hrs of not having a cigarette. The oxygen levels in blood rise within 8hrs (!).

 

All of this helps, but first and foremost, you have to WANT to stop smoking. Not think you'll give up because you cant afford it, or because its bad for you, or your clothes stink. There is only one reason that works. If you don't WANT to stop, then don't try, yet. Because you don't have any real reason, any real motivator. You will find it too hard, and then that will dissuade you from trying again.

 

Sorry if this seems negative, but its like everything else in life; its why many young men fail basic training in the Army, or fail the Cdo course, P Company, or Selection. You have to WANT it. No other reason is strong enough.

 

But good luck, and everyone here will help and encourage you as best we can.

Edited December 28, 2010 by woad

[vengeancedemon]

Having a triple by-pass is a rather good incentive to stop

[Tawnyowl]

Sorry wrong thread

Edited December 28, 2010 by tawnyowl

[pepproducts]

To my experience it is hard to get rid of smoking any way even if you use some alternatives as well. It is the matter of habit and there is no more addiction if you don't use it for two to three days.

[brightontess]

I don't know what day I'm on anymore, but I know that every Friday at about 11:45pm I'll have done another week. I'm on week 6 at the moment, and I'm taking Champix. I was scared to try and quit again as I've tried a few times before and failed miserably.

 

The longest time I quit for was about 6 months, after I was rushed to hospital on my 21st birthday coughing up blood. I couldn't breathe and I was ****ing blood too. I had goodpastures disease, an autoimmune disease that attacks the kidneys and lungs. It's a very rare condition and the doctors couldn't pinpoint what started it, although they said smoking would definitely be a contributing factor.

 

I managed 6 months without a single puff, repulsed at the smell, sight and thought of even going near a cigarette, but after 6 months when I went out for a night with my best friend (who chain smoked), I had one. Just one. And then another. And then nothing for a few weeks, and then another.

 

Before I knew it I was smoking more than I ever did, 20+ a day easily. I always had one as soon as I woke up, with a cup of tea. In fact, every single cup of tea I'd have one. And I'd roll a fag any chance I got, often making myself late for work just to stand outside furiously puffing away.

 

New year comes in 2010 and my boyfriend and I decide to give it another go. Only this time I actually want to. I went on Champix because I've tried patches before and failed. I have had some of the side effects, sickness (usually for about 20 mins after taking), and when I went up to the 2mg dose I developed crippling stomach pains for about 4 days until the nurse advised me to go back down to 1mg a day.

 

The stomach pains and sickness have gone but I still think about smoking. Not craving, just thinking. I've been out drinking a few times and still haven't had one, which was a massive thing for me, but I know I can NEVER have another roll up ever again, or I'll be right back to square one. Every time I think I might crack I think of my boyfriend who's done it cold turkey.

 

If I can do it, anyone can. Keep it up quitters!!