Stopping smoking

[bethrob99]

I've bitten the bullet and vowed off the evil weed but I'm going mental already. I know it CAN be done it just feels so hard. Everything in my life involved fags. Phone calls, computer, driving - all performed fag in hand. If it wasn't possible to smoke during the event I chained to get enough to carry me through and topped up afterwards. I feel I should be sedated in rehab for a few weeks. It doesn't help when friends say it wasn't a problem at all. It is for me!!! I've got the patches and a nasal spray but the gum tastes vile.

Have any of you been like me and survived? Only positive experiences please. I need to know there is light at the end of the tunnel.

 

[notb665]

Well done. Keep it up.

I can now sit next to you and enjoy your company!

 

[bethrob99]

Well done. Keep it up.

I can now sit next to you and enjoy your company!

Thanks for the sentiment but NOBODY enjoys my company at the moment. Being smeared in honey and staked on an anthill is preferable to being in my presence.

 

[hermes]

I gave up about 6 years ago. Didn't find it easy but stuck at it. Easier to take 1 day at a time, tell yourself you just need to get through today and see what happens tomorrow. It also helped that I had a sizable bet with some friends- 5 smokers each put in £50 on New Years Eve, and the cash was to be divided amongst anyone who was still not smoking 6 months later. I won the lot, but 2 of the others have since given up.
Try putting money in a jar for each pack of fags you would have bought and decide what you want to spend it on in say 6 months.
Another thing, if you give in and have one, or a pack, don't stop trying, quit again the next day but try harder.

 

[bethrob99]

I gave up about 6 years ago. Didn't find it easy but stuck at it. Easier to take 1 day at a time, tell yourself you just need to get through today and see what happens tomorrow. It also helped that I had a sizable bet with some friends- 5 smokers each put in £50 on New Years Eve, and the cash was to be divided amongst anyone who was still not smoking 6 months later. I won the lot, but 2 of the others have since given up.
Try putting money in a jar for each pack of fags you would have bought and decide what you want to spend it on in say 6 months.
Another thing, if you give in and have one, or a pack, don't stop trying, quit again the next day but try harder.

Well done for having such honest mates. I thought about mine and reckoned only one would have admitted falling off the wagon. Maybe I've really got my cynical head on.

And you managed without criminal conviction, major bloodshed, divorce, etc?

 

[hermes]

They wouldn't have been able to hide it for 6 months!

It gets a little easier each day, although I didn't smoke as heavily as you.
One side effect is that if you're not careful you can put some weight on as you compensate by snacking. I put on about 20 lbs but I joined a gym and thats nearly all gone now. If you try to do a little excercise as well as quitting smoking it's really amazing how much fitter you can get. Personally I didn't bother with patches, gum etc. I told myself that I was going to quit by will-power alone and if I felt I was slipping I told myself not to be so b****y weak. Maybe different things work for different people though. I wish you luck.

 

[notb665]

Well done. Keep it up.

I can now sit next to you and enjoy your company!

Thanks for the sentiment but NOBODY enjoys my company at the moment. Being smeared in honey and staked on an anthill is preferable to being in my presence.

As long as you ain't smoking, that'd be OK!

 

[markie]

hermes

It took you 6 years to loose 20 lb, what do you do in the gym, sit and watch the women,

 

[hermes]

No about 1 year, but I still can't shed the last few lbs. Don't generally look at the women in the gym. It's not one of those where they all wear lycra - more of a spit and sawdust establishment; mind you, it's a step up from the last one I went to, where I only ever saw one woman and where the owner's pitbulls used to chew bones on the floor and one day I found some airgun pellets embedded in a wall next to one of the machines!

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Things that worked for me, but after a few failed attempts only worked within the context of a mindset of genuinely wanting to give up, not giving up because I knew I had to, or knew I ought to, or because I was afraid of the consequences of not doing so:

Day at a time - you can avoid a lot of the despair and tension that comes from "OMG I'm giving up smoking" by telling yourself that you are not going to smoke today.

When the urge to smoke gets very strong, try telling yourself "OK - I will have just the one, but not now - I'll have it in an hour". The knowledge that you are going to have one soon does relax you a bit.

And then guess what happens when the hour is up? It's not so important any more.

Another thing that worked for me was to tell myself not that I was giving up smoking, i.e. that I was engaged in a task not yet completed, but that I had given up, and I was no longer a smoker.

And if you fall off the wagon, don't think "that's it I've failed" - think "OK - I had a cigarette. But I won't have another one today". And then on the tomorrow, think "OK, I had a cigarette yesterday, but I won't have one today".

It's all about being positive, and not regarding it as an impossible task, just something that you have to do for the next few hours or just for this one day, and not regarding it as an all-or-nothing at which you've failed if you do have a smoke.

Good luck - you will get there!

 

[paulbrown]

I gave up about 25 years ago and have never had one since, although I was tempted for a long time. There were no potions or patches then and BAS is right, you have got to genuinely want to stop. Hermes's money in a jar is also a good idea, indeed anything that works is, but willpower is all really.

Things do get worse before they get better, in particular the coughing etc as your body clears the c**p, (worse in the early stages).

Do try your best though and remember the ultimate reward will be both better health and quality of life.

Best of luck.

 

[keyplayer]

Lol. Read Easyway to Stop Smoking by Allen Carr.

 

[joe-90]

I gave up 25 years ago.

I did a deal with myself and bought some of the most awful cigars I could find. If I was desperate for a smoke I was allowed to smoke the cigar - but only if I inhaled it. I soon associated smoking with feeling ill - and gave up the cigars. Never had one since - but I'd love to know what happened to all the money I've saved.

 

[jbonding]

i gave up smoking cigs 3 years on 1 jan, ive smoked cigs for 20 years and weed for about 7 and gave up the cigs but carry on with the weed. im 34 and thoght ive been smoking cigs more then half my life and im only 34 I know what your thinking i still smoke weed so i smoke and your right but if you cut out the 20 cigs on top then i think its a big accomplishment in my life considering ive been doing it for more than half my life. Heres how i looked at it, i looked at when i smoked and noticed the habit. get in the van light a cig.have brew light a cig. have a meal light a cig. pint in one hand cig in the other.start the van light a cig and so on. sometimes i would question my self wether id just put a cig out or not so i would light one just in case. I noticed the habit and thought it was stupid so new years eve i stopped, that day me mam brought back 200 silk cut silver i was on the lowest tar cigarettes, they have their benefits no one wants one but then you smoke more

 

[bethrob99]

i gave up smoking cigs 3 years on 1 jan, ive smoked cigs for 20 years and weed for about 7 and gave up the cigs but carry on with the weed. im 34 and thoght ive been smoking cigs more then half my life and im only 34 I know what your thinking i still smoke weed so i smoke and your right but if you cut out the 20 cigs on top then i think its a big accomplishment in my life considering ive been doing it for more than half my life.

Did you not notice a sizeable increase in your weed usage then? When I tried that route I was permanently stoned. Similarly when I tried the 'I'll only smoke when I'm drinking' I was heading towards alcoholism. BTW do you still buy your own baccy for the spliffs?


Anyway, I haven't murdered anybody, so far even though I have to worry about the weight gain as well. I have discovered there are only 150 calories in a kg of pickled silverskins - anyone know what the calorie content of Gaviscon is?
I've tried exercising but I feel like I'm suffocating on fresh air. How long before that eases?

I daren't use the 'I'll wait an hour method' again. There are 3.600 seconds in an hour and I tick every one off until sparking up time. If I fall off the wagon, it'll be ages before I have the stamina to have another go. I know its not impossible – my grandmother went from 60 a day to nowt purely by willpower

And Joe - I did once smoke a cigar, a King Edward Imperial, provided by a BF. It's really difficult trying to be kewl while turning a delicate shade of green. Maybe aversion therapy would work but with my luck I’d be on 20 Hamlet a day by the end of the week