Giving Up Smoking

[CBRoad]

Is anyone else giving this a go? I had already decided to cut out drinking in January and after a cold over Christmas I am left with a hacking cough that?s not shifting and now I?m afraid it never will and I will end up a wheezing, grey skinned wrinkly old lady with a 20 a day habit.

So, as of the 2nd of January I want to start my new life as a non smoker. Does anybody have any top tips? I have tried to give up a few times but never last more than a few days. I?ve never tried patches or any other nicotine replacements. I?ve heard good things about Alan Carrs book, has anybody given this a go? Any success stories people want to share? Anybody else giving up the evil weed?

[Annette Curtain]

I've given up January

Way easier.

NETTE;-)

[DulwichFox]

Giving up Smoking is easy.

I know people who have done it loads of times... :))

Fox

[peterstorm1985]

Nicorette Gum. Couldn't have given up without it. I used far more than the supposed equivalent to the cigarettes that I used to smoke, so I effectively became addicted to the gum. But then it was a lot easier to give up the gum as there's no risk of anyone offering you any in a social situation.

Patches lack any activity (part of the addiction) so they would never have worked for me.

[ratty]

Champix. Also, go to the groups run at the smoking cessation clinic.

[Supe]

Electronic cigarette did magic for me.6 month with out cigarettes now and was really easy with those.You can find more information here http://ukvapers.com/ Good luck

[Sonners]

Alan Carr worked for me. 14 months and counting.

[2degreesfrommadness]

6 years in Feb for me; just decided I'd had enough - oh and getting rid of husband and the stress he induced helped as well ! Then get a new partner who is strongly anti tobacco and there's no going back!

[Jah Lush]

peterstorm1985 Wrote:

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> Patches lack any activity (part of the addiction)

> so they would never have worked for me.

Put them over your eyes. That way you can't see where you've put your fags.

[binary_star]

Partner and I both gave up using Alan Carr's book. I had a 20-30 day habit for years and quit about four or five years ago now. I have a sneaky cig every now and then if I'm on the lash but I can live with that. My other half hasn't touched a cigarette since she quit though and that was six years ago. It's worth a read, even if you only stop for a few days the book will have paid for itself in the cigarette's you didn't buy :D

[jollybaby]

My dad swears by the nicotine gum - he still chomps on it 14 years on!

[Sally81]

Getting pregnant did it for me! But my friend is using the Nicorette spray and says it's very good. Good luck!

[sheilarose]

I used Alan Carr's book and haven't had a cigarette for well over 6 years. Still miss smoking though...

[Huguenot]

I'm sure that one of the clues is NOT to tell everyone else how difficult it is, how you really want one, and how you're struggling with it, and 'just about managing'.

Instead, tell everyone else how easy it is, how you feel better, and there's really not that much to say about it...

Tell people how you're quite happy to have a fag if you wanted it, but you don't really want it, and you don't feel stressed about it.

[woodrot]

move to Singapore - everything is illegal and enforced out there, You will find it easy to give up on pretty much any vice. dont take in any Nicotene gum though.

[HAL9000]

I had intended to attempt giving up at the end of 2011 but managed to stop in mid-August. I still can't believe I've quit. I am determined never to smoke again.

BTW, the book referred to above is probably The Easy Way to Stop Smoking by Allen Carr.

[????]

I think you just really have to want to do it, then it's easy. As I got to 40 after starting at 13 I thought, mmm better knock this on the head...but puffed on. Got a horrible sinus infection when I was 42, and just couldn't smoke during it so after 3 days of not smoking I thought what's the point of smoking again. Never had one since, ever. The occasional fag out on the lash makes you a smoker still better than smoking 20 a day but still an addict in some ways. I found it surprisingly easy, very very rarely get any cravings just very occasional random ones (not when drinking), the cravings last for seconds. Don't miss it and feel pity for the addicts auddled outside the pub in the rain last night!

NB unintended consequence was our first kid, after 4 years of not bothering with the contraception thing and 5 months after giving up we got an unexpected benefit by finding my missus(GF then was pregnant):))

[reggie]

As someone who makes his living out of helping people to stop smoking (and other issues) this thread is very interesting.

I am curious if ???'s assumption that 'giving up smoking is easy when you really want to' is shared by others. Or are there others out there who really want to stop but struggle.

[????]

Reggie if someone put a gun to your head and said next time you have a fag I'll blow your brains out, you'd never smoke again. I'm sure your services etc are very useful and helpful but only because a large number of people lack much self discipline ;-). Not your fault and good luck to you and anyone else trying to give up however they are trying.

[reggie]

????,funnily enough I have used the same idea of holding a gun to the head to make the same point....with enough motivation anyone can stop smoking.

On the reverse side of the argument,I would not accuse an unsuccessful client of lacking self discipline, especially when they have parted with a load of cash and are still smoking!

[Huguenot]

But surely the failure is what they're buying? The more they chuck cash at it, the more they can claim to have made an effort? It's a payment to assuage the guilt.

[Mick Mac]

My father struggled to give up smoking and tried many times without much success until the doctor told him he had cancer. Then he gave up immediately but it was too late for him and he died age 67.

That's my personal experience of the damage that smoking does - Good luck to those trying to give up, its worth the effort.

Edited to say that this shows that for some its remarkably easy to give up when the risk of death is imminent. But until then you are just playing russian roullete and probably think you are going to be one of the lucky ones.

I know its not a very nice post - but hopefully it helps someone to give up.

[reggie]

Mic Mac, sorry to hear about your Dad. Stopping smoking is a serious business even if it does boil down to 'self discipline'.

The Allen Carr method, in my view, is excellent as it reframes smoking in a hundred different ways which hopefully the reader picks up on and finds it easy to quit, otherwise it's one big struggle.

Huguenot... I have to take the client's words on face value (that they really wanted to stop) even if what you say is true. If I dont trust my client how could they trust me?

[Annette Curtain]

???? Wrote:

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> I think you just really have to want to do it,

> then it's easy. As I got to 40 after starting at

> 13 I thought, mmm better knock this on the

> head...but puffed on. Got a horrible sinus

> infection when I was 42, and just couldn't smoke

> during it so after 3 days of not smoking I thought

> what's the point of smoking again. Never had one

> since, ever. The occasional fag out on the lash

> makes you a smoker still better than smoking 20 a

> day but still an addict in some ways. I found it

> surprisingly easy, very very rarely get any

> cravings just very occasional random ones (not

> when drinking), the cravings last for seconds.

> Don't miss it and feel pity for the addicts

> auddled outside the pub in the rain last night!

Well done ????'s

All you have to do now is apply the same logic to your gambling addiction.

NETTE(tu)

[????]

Why apply that to something I enjoy and doesn't kill me?

...you could do it with Foie Gras

Quids (tu)