Rob_Impreza99

iTrader: (3)

I`m just wondering how many of you have actually managed to stop smoking as i need some tips to beat the urge, in the past ive been a 20 a day smoker but during the last 3 days ive had just the 4 cigs but its still 4 cigs to many. Its that urge that is so difficult to crack.

Once somebody stops smoking can the body recover to a certain degree, ive smoked for about 20 years but ive kept myself fit during that time with playing various sports like rugby etc, its something i want to try and beat if i can but it isn`t easy, its just that urge thats the hard bit.

PeteBrant

Go out and buy Allen Carrs "Easyway" book - You can get it from Amazon for about a fiver. It is quite simply the most effective way to stop smoking there is, in my experience.

STi wanna Subaru

iTrader: (1)

It Kills you.

Motivation enough I'd think.

I love these threads for drug addicts

jimmyv

for me it originally came down to sheer will power, managed to last the best part of a year and then ended up caving after a **** day at work (not the first though i might add) now ive taking up running again i really need to cut out the crap again so id be very intersted in what everyone elses suggestions are.
Will power can be great but evidently i have a limit to it. Biggest regret i have was starting again.

zip929

Hi Rob

You can beat it but you really have to stick with it.
My wife and I gave up 01/01/2007 after smoking for 27 and 29 years respectively.

I lost count of the number of times that I tried before but it must be in treble figures.
I had tried all of the usual smoking cessation aids. This time I just went cold turkey. My previous no smoking record was 1 month!

I still occasionally think about cigs but it only lasts for a couple of minutes at most.
My wife and I have saved 3.000 quid since giving up

Just take it one day at a time. Don't try to think about next week or next month, just focus on getting through today.
Before you know it you have done a month, 2 months etc.

I wish you luck with your quit.

Dave

Spoon

By just doing it and not asking others or making a big fuss and building up expectations. If you want to quit you'll quit.

Hypnosis works or did for a 40+day smoker close to me.

gotmashed

The way i gave up was to make one last roll up and every time i had a craving i took one small drag over 1 day just to stop the craving but while doing this i made the most rank roll up i could by this i mean i picked apart any in the ash tray and used it. I didnt smoke it i left it on my desk and every time i had a craving i picked it up and knowing how dry and rank it was i just smelt it that was enough to not want it and the craving went. This went on for some time but it stoped me smoking within one day.

Leslie

No need for me to tell you that is no picnic giving up. I did get through it but it started with a stay in hospital where I could not smoke and when I came out I decided to have a go at kicking it. The motivation is not hard to find, as someone said,"It kills you". I did find it hard to resist another one but that is when it all fails so you have to stick with it. There were no aids to doing it when I stopped. I about cornered the market in Maltesers! I actually dislike the smell or the thought of smoking now I am glad to say. You really have to stop completely right away.

Yes the body will largely recover over time. Not completely and you have to keep your fingers crossed that the nasties don't catch up with you. You will probably be that bit more susceptible to sore throats etc for a good many years and it takes time to get the deposits out of your system. The sooner you stop however, the better your chances.

I wish you luck, its well worth the hassle and you will have so much spare cash you won't believe it!

Les

Rob_Impreza99

iTrader: (3)

Thanks for the input, its certainly one of the hardest challenges to overcome. I`ll try some of those patches later and see if they help with the urge.

SiPie

Totally agree with Pete but I'd go one step further and buy the version above. Deals with a few more issues in depth, but the psychology is mainly the same

Amazon.co.uk: The Only Way to Stop Smoking Permanently (Penguin Health Care & Fitness): Allen Carr: Books

Three years tomorrow, to the day since I smoked my last

Good luck with the attempt

speedymonkey

Thats when i gave up to

Had been a heavy smoker for about 14 years, and wanted to give up not just for me, but my girlfriend as she hated the *** *** smell

I went cold turkey too, IMHO its the only way as all these patches still release nicotine into the body, and the moment you don't replace a patch, the craving will kick in

I took it a day at a time, and found the first 3-4 days were a nightmare, but then it was pretty much plain sailing
(the pub was a killer tho, but since the ban, it should make it a lot easier )
I always bought myself something around the £200 mark at the end of the month as a well done treat, just adds that extra incentive

Tell you what, after over a year of non smoking, ive had a drag on a ciggy since, and can honestly say it tasted horrible, my fingers stank,
and i felt green round the gills, why i didn't give up sooner ill never know

Good luck to you fella, aim for a week, then a month, youll do it

Dan W

I smoked for about 12 years continually then spent another 4 years trying to stop. i tried all methods then found one that worked for me.
I obtained sufficient numbers of 21mg nicotine patches from local NHS 'give up smoking group'

For the first few days I wore a whole patch each day.
Then after several days I started cutting a small segment 1/8 out of each daily patch. I know the manufacturers say dont cut the patches but dont' listen to them.

For several days i would wear 7/8 until i felt ok, went down to 6/8 5/8/then 4/8 (1/2) a patch.

From there I began reducing by 1/16 every couple of days, using the segments I had cut out previously. I had put them back in the packet they came in and selotaped it up.

I had tried loads of time to give up but the sheer shock to my body as the nicotine left rendered me useless.

I truly believe the method i employed can work for others.

But if you try it take your time.

As I said nicotine patch manufacturers don't wnat people cutting patches as you will need less of them to give up smoking which ultimately loses the companies money.

In my view anyone using 21mg patches who then drops to using 14mg patches will definiately notice the absence of a 33% reduction in nicotine, which reduces a further 50% if one goes from 14mg to 7mg.

reduce the dose slowly and you wont miss it so much. In fact the reduction is barely perceptable. Trust me.

SiPie

Nope

Totally disagree with NRT as a method of stopping

Remember that what works for one person, won't necessarily work for another.

Urge anyone wanting to quit (without continuing to fill themselves up with the drug that they are trying to give up........ ) to read the book that Pete mentions above...

Then if you want to spend another small fortune on patches, go ahead, but worth remembering that nicotine isn't harmless, it's a poison in itself

Nicotine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

swampster

iTrader: (1)

For me I think he biggest key was preparation, not the practical stuff.. but mentally. I had decided I was going to give up smoking, and took 6 months convincing myself that I was going to... my target quit was going to be in and around the time they banned smoking in public places.

So that time came and passed, and I was stood outside a pub one night last year, in the middle of our lovely summer.. basically getting p*ss wet through and smoking a cig.. I remember at that point thinking to myself.. I must be f*cking nuts to be stood out here just for a cig.. and made up my mind to quit at that point. 3 weeks later I had stopped a 40 (or more) a day habit..

So without that self belief, I really don't think you can succeed (hence my 'mood' bar below). Anything else and I believe you're just kidding yourself.

On the practical side however I did seek help and support, from my GP. I was eventually prescribed Champix tablets. Now, while I have successfully stopped smoking (if I start again I think it would have to be a concious decision) I REALLY don't know if it was the tablets or my own self belief that conquered the habit, or somewhere in between. One thing I am sure of is that the tablets were NOT the 'miracle cure' that a lot of people expect them to be however.

When I initially stopped smoking, being a 40 a day smoker.. instead of buying the cigs I pinned a £10 note to a notice board every single day so I could physically see the money I had been spending mounting up. This is a great visual incentive. Now I just have money in the bank..

So far with JUST the money I have saved from not smoking, I have bought various bits and bobs I've been wanting for a while, a 24" Widescreen Colour Monitor, a Laptop, A Holiday, some stuff for the car.. and a new set of alloys coming soon.. which is nice

PeteBrant

The problem with NRT , as we Allen Carr evangelists know, is that you are simply prolonging your torture.

Nicotine is not a massively addictive substance. Thereofre why do you need to "ween" yourself off it?

Do you wake up in the night needing a ***? Do you manage to spend 8 hours on a plane without smoking? Do you manage to sit in the cinema?

Of course you do - And you do it with no side effects whatsoever.

If you were, say, a heroin addict, you couldn't do it. The withdrawal symptoms would be too much.

In the scheme of things, Nicotine is not very addictive at all, and your body will no longer crave it after about 2 days.

Then it's the much tougher beast of mental condition you have to beat.


SiPie will know excatly what I'm talking about

SiPie

Swampster is spot on with this

And that is exactly what the book does, he gets you psychologically in the correct frame of mind for doing it, then it's relatively easy

Obviously as long as you succeed in quitting, then it doesn't matter how you do it, but perhaps the title of the book gives you a clue......

The EASYWAY to Stop Smoking ??

£5.95 versus ££££££££££££'s on Nicotine Patches, gum or whatever, it's a no brainer

PS Cold turkey IMHO is a much better way of stopping than using NRT.
ie. It's like saying to a Heroin addict, 'So you want to give up Herion, here you go, have some heroin

Spot on

swampster

iTrader: (1)

BTW... I just thought I'd point out (if anybody was wandering) Champix tablets are not a form of NRT

finalzero

Find something else to distract you, its especially hard at work but you should just try quitting 1 cig at a time.

I am quite active fitness wiese but my only vice is smoking which I do now and then. When I was injured and out of training I got onto 10 a day habit however I made a decision one day to just give up.

The cravings were not an issue however the psychological effects were because for me smoking is a social thing i.e I like hanging out with work colleagues and having a good banter over a cig or down the pub with mates at the weekend (or round a game of poker which we do often).

I found just doing something different helped, e.g nowadays I just go for a stroll for the time it takes someone to smoke a cig, do a few laps around the block or down my street helps clear my mind and gets me feeling fresh.

Getting into the gym helps as well, gets the crap out of your system and also helps you get stronger to cope.

Rob_Impreza99

iTrader: (3)

Some great input and ideas, to be honest i think ive known all along that the bulk of it is down to your own will power in wanting to kick the habit. Ive not had a ciggy all day so far on the cold turkey method and it drives you nuts at times lol, its worse after you have food or during a cup of coffee as a cigarette and a coffee go side by side together to a smoker, it feels a bit odd with a cup of coffee in one hand and nothing in the other hand.

zs_phil

iTrader: (1)

ive been stopped 5 months now ,i bought some patches 24 hour 21mg and put 1 on ,the next morning i forgot to change it but still didnt crave so i thought ill try it another day i took it off in the bath/shower and then put it back on a different place after .the next day came and i was still fine i just kept doing that but changing the patch every 3 days instead of 1 and eventually i didnt need a patch .
i still have 2 out of the seven in my cupboard and my lass smokes and it doesnt even bother me except the aweful smell its good seeing her out of the doors freezing her backside off in the snow while im warm inside

Billgtt

Whenever I tried to give up I couldn't do it. The thing that made me quit in the end was not trying to quit, but just to see how long I could go without having a smoke. Whenever I felt like one, I asked myself if I wanted one or if I needed one, and what would happen if I didn't have one. Would I drop dead? Would I have a breakdown? The answer was always that I wanted one.

I still say now (nearly 2.5 years later), if ever I truly NEED a cigarette, i'll have one.

Also, I was told by one of the scientists that developed Nicotine patches/gum for a rather large pharmaceutical company , that they're useless in giving up smoking, and are just a money making, psychological gimmick.

CharlesW

Rob

"its worse after you have food or during a cup of coffee as a cigarette and a coffee go side by side together to a smoker, it feels a bit odd with a cup of coffee in one hand and nothing in the other hand."

You have seen the crux of the problem right there. After the physical addiction, which you can get over in a couple of weeks, you have the psychological cues that you have just mentioned.

I gave up 'cold turkey' 20 years ago and I haven't smoked a cigarette since.
Once you are over the 'cold turkey' you have to come to terms with little cues that before meant you took out a cigarette and sparked up. It only lasts a moment or two, but for a year or two these moments keep cropping up. You just have to do something else eventually the memories fade and you no longer think about smoking. For me the hardest one was the urge to smoke after a swim in the sea.

You should have finished coughing up gunge after a year. Smoking kills the little hairs in your 'tubes'. So when you stop smoking they gradually start working again and over time drag up all the tar from the deepest part of your lungs.

It's great to breathe deeply again. You can smell things again and taste food properly. It's worth it for that. As regards your health I think that after 20 years your life expectancy is back to what it is for non smokers.

You should pay less for life insurance. On the downside your pension may be less, though you should benefit from it for longer.

Good luck and as others have said take it a day at a time.

Scoobychick

iTrader: (1)

That's exactly how I did it

I'd been a 20+ a day smoker for 20 years up until then. It's the best thing I ever did

Rob_Impreza99

iTrader: (3)

I bought some Nicorette Patches earlier the 15mg ones, i put a patch on at tea time and since then ive had a meal. Normally after a big meal i would be gagging for a ciggy, at the min i feel really relaxed. Its the first time ive used any of these patches, i`ll be chuffed if it helps me as much as it is at the min. Maybe its a psychological thing, who knows ?

Ive only had 4 cigarrettes in 3 days and none so far today, touch wood i can stay this way. The toughest part seemed to be the cold turkey and the initial craving and hopefully ive cracked that, i must have spent around £6 so far on Fox`s glacier mints in the big bags and sugar free chewing gum

jaytc2003

iTrader: (1)

guy I work with managed to cut out 60+ a day just like that. His nickname used to be Billy 5 - 1 as he would have 5 **** to everyones one.

He managed to quit by having a massive heart attack in front of his grandson, and the look of fear on his grandsons face as he was being wheeled into the ambulance persuaded him to stop. (I imagine the fact he nearly died helped as well)

Been over 5 years and he hasnt had one since, still trying to find a nickname for him

Dan W

True some methods suit some but not others. I read the Alan Carr book but it didn't help.

I tried cold turkey but went off my head after about 3 days.

NRT worked for me. But agree its not for everyone.

Dream Weaver

NRT also worked for me and I disagree with what the ALlen Carr lot are saying - fine, if you have hours to spare reading that book then try it but I bought it and just didn't have the time to read it.

I gave up last March and have done over a year now. My son being born was the motivator for me, I gave up the morning he arrived and haven't looked back since.

NRT worked for me - strong patches at first, then reducing down until I started to forget to even put them on, that is the point I was clear of Nicotine. Do them through the NHS, costs £6 for 2 weeks supply so hardly expensive, plus the support workers are good.

Its not a case of shoving the drug back into your system, you are adding less than if you smoke 20 a day with NRT, and then gradually decrease it so is a weaning thing.

If you can do cold turkey then brilliant, what a legend you are, but for me with a new born child to sort out I had enough going in in my life, so NRT was excellent.

I dont miss smoking now (the activity), but I do get the odd craving for nicotine, but just ignore it or eat a Kit Kat.

Only problem is I've put a stone or 2 on in weight, but that can be shifted.

Leslie

Good advice from Swampster and several others too-good luck and stick with the iron will!

Les

m1cks

I stopped 12 weeks ago with the Champix tablets. They are not NRT. the worst part is definately the habbit. Best thing to do is try and change your routine in some way. I remember for the first few weeks, whenever I passed a shop I would check my pockets to see if I needed to buy any.
I have noticed that before I would go in a shop and spend £10 just getting 1 pack of ****, but now I will only spend a couple of quid as I'm not trying to justify going in there.
Good luck with it.

NotoriousREV

I stopped at the beginning of September last year by going cold turkey. The months that followed were some of the hardest I've been through, not because I gave up smoking but due to other things going on in my life and I managed to stay off them. Over 6 months later, I don't get any cravings at all now.