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Stop Smoking Idea's, Suggestions or Advice !!!
Anyone got any advice or suggestions to help a 20+ year nicotine addict kick the habit? I am really struggling at the moment with even starting to quit, yet I have what should be the perfect reason to quit. Thanks to a change in personal circumstances I am now in a position to start planning and prepping and then finally to take 'the big trip'.
Even if I did nothing else but stop smoking and put the money from the smoking to one side I would easily be able to save in excess of £3000 per year, add on to that 3G's the money that could also be saved using normal saving methods and the dream is so close to becoming a reality. Yet somehow that isn't enough, I always find myself thinking, oh I'll stop next week, next month, whenever, and I just have visions of myself sat at home 4 years from now puffing away on the evil weed thinking "If only I had stopped 4 years ago, I could have been half way around the world now". Anyone got any advice? I have pretty much tried everything I can think of, from hypnotherapy (quit for 2 days), NRT (stopped for about 6 months then started again, pillock!), Champix, Alan Carr's Easyway.......Tried them all with varying degrees of success, and yet for whatever reason I keep coming back to the weed. :( |
Keep Going
Hi there,
It's taken me five years + to quit, and probably over 50 serious attempts. Like you I had smoked 20 years plus. Still I am an addict! It's a terrible addiction, and it remains forever as far as I can see. There is nothing I can give you to make it easier, but it can be done - by an average low will powered guy (like me). But you just have to realize that the process is long, and everytime you go back to smoking it's not over, it's just another set back. Try and make each set back last less each time, and slowly, but surely you will move to the position I am in now ... the set backs are only every six months or so, and never last longer than a day .... JUST KEEP TRYING is what I am trying to say. Thats the only way. I like to exercise like crazy when I am in withdrawal - this helps me escape the fog for a while, and of course you see the benefit. it also cancels out the chocolate bars you reward yourself with. I used patches, but only to get me through a couple of days that I knew would be tough, say I'd been smoking at the weekend, and knew Monday at the office would be hard - I'd use patches until Thursday, and then try and get back on it. This is just a brain dump by someone who recognizes what you are going through. Good luck! And remember you never fail at giving up, just get back on that horse! |
My advice would be don't go around the world - I always smoke tenfold more when travelling -cheap fags, new people to meet and drink with, policemen and guards to bribe and chat with, environments where you are allowed (or encouraged) to smoke. It's a recipe for disaster!
On a more constructive note, have you tried the e-cigarettes? I found them pretty satisfying, as you get the feeling of smoking, as well as the drug hit. The only problem is, they are nearly as expensive as smoking, and I'm not sure you can get them on the NHS. As a stop gap, maybe you could switch from smoking straights, to smoking roll-ups to save money. I know it's not a long term answer, but it could be a short term fix to save cash. I would probably rather give up eating to save that cash, but each to their own! Good luck mate, and remember that it's a long process, each time you try it's another step along the road to quitting. Each time you relapse, it's not a failure, just a minor setback along that road. Birdy (Oh, in the time I took to post that, Ollie said most of my important points. Bugger. Damn my slow fingers.) |
Hi i stopped smoking with "champix". My Doc was gave me this medicin. after 4 weeks i was a free man! i was smoking for 12 years. in november 2010 is it 3 years ago...
steve |
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I just can't believe that I can't somehow manage to use the idea of saving to travel to help me stop (I know I could save and still smoke, but the idea of stopping and using the money saved to travel should make it easier, and build up the old bankroll quicker). I may have to go the Trainspotting route and nail myself up inside a room with a bucket and lots of chicken soup for a few weeks :laugh: |
Well, step one is achieved, you actually want to give up and that is the most important for whatever reason. Mine was because I was sick of spitting up lung oysters after 25 years smoking. The last half of that was rollies, with no filters, so that was straight crap going down.
Anyway, in 2001, I used Zyban, which has some negative effects on some people, it was free via our Aussie health system and I can tell you, it was amazing that after only a few days I was not even feeling the urge to smoke, but I kept up the full course until the end. I never suffered from any of the documented side effects I have on occasion thought I could do with a smoke, then after about 1 second thinking about it, said, bugger it, I can do without. I think thee is a newer one on the market now, it may be that Champix stuff mentioned above, I would get a check up with your doctor, and see if that will work for you. Stuff I would never use. Patches, I was trying to give up nicotine, I had no need of a substitute Chewing gum, for ****s sake, that should be enjoyable, don't try this, yuck!!! Anyway, Zyban worked for me and a few others I have met over the years, but I have also met quite a few who did it cold turkey, they have to be tough people! Good luck, but you have a world ride to make it worthwhile, and a healthy body to boot :) Cheers TravellingStrom |
I smoked a pack a day for ten years. To be honest, I think the most important factor in quitting succesfully is really wanting to quit.
I quit cold turkey after a mountaineering trip to the alps. I realised very suddenly, with the help of the altitude, the terrible damage smoking was doing to me. I didn't use any special patches or gum, I just quit. To be honest, nicotene replacement is of limited effectiveness, as you naturally get over physical nicotene addiction quite quickly (a few days). The thing that is really difficult is the psychological addiction - how good is that first tab after dinner, with a pint, or on a mountain top etc? That's the thing you really miss, and some people miss it for years. Everyone is different, but for me the way was quite simple. I made an absolute commitment to myself NEVER to have a SINGLE cigarette ever again as long as I lived. And, ten years down the line, I haven't and by now, I know I nwever will. What always seems to trip people up is getting a bit drunk one friday and thinking 'what the hell' or going to a wedding, or having something bad happen to them. And, hey presto, Johnny is a smoker again... Good luck. It's one of the best things I ever did, hope it will be for you too. Matt :) |
PS - If it helps, I now find the smell of cigarettes revolting and have no desire to smoke again. For me this took about 6 months.
Matt :) |
Give this book a read, it's very famous for helping people stop smoking (and it's free in pdf form):
Allen Carr's Easy Way To Stop Smoking (Download free PDF E-Book) | Joga sveikatai |
I quit 7 years ago after smoking the best part of 2 packs a day for 40 years.
I decided I would stop on my 55th birthday. I went to a Stones concert in Twickenham and on the way home, stopped at a motorway services, had a fag and a cup of coffee. Left my fags and lighter on the table and walked away. Nicotine is only active in your brain for about 5-8 days. the rest is pure ASSOCIATION. finish a meal, have a ciggy. Get off your bike/car, have a ciggy. Find the reasons why you light up. Normally if you resist this urge for 10-20 second, it will go away for maybe 30 mins. Have a drink of water instead or a sugar-free sweet - don't want to be a fat bastard do you! These intervals will get longer. After a month I was mostly OK. I now have ONE cigarette, every 5 years on my birthday. They taste like shit but I like it:laugh: Only 3 years to go till the next one:clap: Do NOT get sucked into the nicotine patches/gum or dummy ciggy... you are supposed to be giving them up!! ANYONE can do it. You just need to want to. John |
I'm 2 months nicotine free. After doing a small amount of research before my stop date it seemed to me that the cold turkey was the only way to go. Also just one drag and bang the nicotine receptors kick back in and you're back to square one!
I had smoked a pack a day for 30 years. After 2 months I feel a little better but still have cravings and I'm sure they will continue for a long time to come but as said above I will never smoke again and I'm sort of playing a weird game with myself over it. Durning the first 2 weeks I kept trying to find information on when my head would be clear, as if one morning I would wake up like someone who had never smoked, now I know that will never happen and I'm always going to be an ex-smoker, this is something you have to live with, the other option is going back to smoking. Cheers Pete |
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First off, I think you are dead right - this is the best way to go about it. It's the 'oh, one can't hurt' that gets people back into smoking again. Secondly though, I'd argue with your last point. I don't feel like an ex-smoker. I feel like someone who doesn't smoke, has no desire to smoke and finds cigarette smoke foul. i.e. - I feel like a 'non-smoker'! I know this doesn't happen for everyone, but it does for some -I'm a case in point! :) |
Matt :mchappy: Here's to you being right, I looking forward to being a non smoker rather than an ex smoker.
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I don't have many practical suggestions I'm afraid, other than to second what's already been said about wanting to stop.
I quit 6 months ago after 20-odd years. Not my first attempt by any means, I once stopped for 18 months only to fall for the "I'll just have the one" foolishness. 2 weeks later I was back on 30 a day... As has also been said, the biggest hurdle is pyschological. If you can vary your routine to avoid the situations you associate with smoking as much as possible, that can help initially, and also keep busy, distract yourself, anything to take your mind off it. I actually found, like a lot of things, that the thought of giving up was worse than the reality. As for the savings, maybe try putting the cash away every day/week in a jar labeled "Big Trip Fund", where it's tangible and you can see it grow. A nice feeling of achievment when you go to the bank to pay it in, no..? Just keep at and you'll get there if you really want to. :thumbup1: |
My head seems to work differently to many perhaps. I've never smoked, but my mum and dad both have all my life. Both of them talk about trying to stop all the time. Heart failure made my dad stop a few years ago for a fortnight. His lung collapsing six weeks ago made him stop for as long as he was in Intensive Care.
Redboots post above fits my way of thinking the best. Or, to quote Yoda, talking about raising an Xwing from the swamp if I remember; Do or do not. There is no TRY. Redboots decided to quit and did. My Dad keeps talking about trying to and continues to keep trying. Not stopping. As long as he continues to try society and his girlfriend keep off his back as he's doing the right thing. Its kinda obvious his health could be better, but he likes to smoke. Trying to quit allows him to keep doing smoking. Read the above posts and most who use the word trying havn't stopped, or took ages doing it. Stop now. |
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I'm not a smoker and never have been..
What I am is a passive smoker. One of the many who are made to feel ill and poisened by smokers who don't feel the need to smoke outdoors or in their own room etc. Now, this is by no means an attack on you smokers. Do what you like, its a free world (mostly). My point is (yes there is one), is that if you could understand how antisocial smoking is and how the majority of non smokers really HATE it (but are usually too polite to say so), then you might stop smoking to increase your chances of making friends and being welcome into a social situations rather than being the guy who stinks out the place and clears a room with a ploom of carcigenic fumes.. I've been in many bars and hostels where you can smoke. The smokers are usually wildly unaware that people are avoiding them because they choke the air and make the place unpleasant to be in. I understand that smoking is more addictive than heroin and you have my respect for trying to quit. You will be more liked for not smoking though... Let us breath easy :thumbup1: I hope this will give you a little motication.. Feel free to ignore me at your leisure !! lol |
I've been smoking for 10 years, I know I should quit but my main problem is that I don't want to, I enjoy it. I feel that if I wanted to quit I probably could but the main issue for me is actually making myself want to.
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just get p!ssed off.
at the lying, p!sstaking corporate arsehole that's stealing your money and shortening your life. not to mention killing your time. i mean christ, think of how much of your day you spend buying smokes, earning money to buy them, thinking about whether you've got any, rolling them, waiting for a conversation to be over so you can smoke one of the filthy little pieces of 5h!t. just flick them, literally. what total shite.
you're letting an inanimate object rule your life! break out, GROW UP, take control, throw them away! and you'll be so, so stoked one day, that you got rid of them. just as i am. i decide how i spend my time, thanks very much. not some marketing 'expert' who just trots out the same old crap about being 'a man', 'cool', 'independent'... etc. f him and the horse he rode in on. and his pristine, white, ten-gallon hat. wanker! oh and as the market has died in western nations, the cigarette industry has moved camp to developing nations. just what they need. f them. is that enough? i could go on. |8-) |
I agree,
Week ten for me and smokin again is not an option, i'm pissed about it and totally bloody minded. **** um and the horse they road in on. I chuffed away for thirty years and I would love to go to a moto gp race, walk over to the Ducati tent, find the Marlboro man and stick a red hot ****ing poker in his eye. I love my life and it's taken 30 pissin years to realise these cocks are happy to kill me AND charge me a fortune for the pleasure. [/SIZE] |
I smoked a pipe for many years , a bit different from cigarettes I admit .But I really enjoyed the quality tobacco flavours .
Then one day the dentist told me I had leukoplakia ,which can be a precursor to cancer .Tests proved that it was non malignant but I decided to quit smoking . I considered it was a warning to smarten up . I really miss the old pipe but I prefer life . A good way to give up smoking [which is a life changing event ] is to use another lifechange as a distraction .For example, take up a new hobby and channel the money you would have spent on smoking into the new hobby . Treat yourself to gifts you would not normally buy for yourself ,make it a self reward . But you've got to want to give up ,cold turkey worked for me ,it also helped that I was able to stay away from smokers ,they always seem to want to get you hooked again . Apparently smoking kills 120,000 Brits a year . |
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I was an avid 20 a day man for 20 years or so. Thought I was indestructible until I had a stroke last year in September. I was only 45 years old and had lost the ability to ride a bike. Until this fact dawned on me I hadn't even considered giving up. Yes ...cigarettes are bad for you. Please don't wait for something like a stroke to happen to you to realise this. Simply put them down and fight the craving until it goes away. I did it "cold turkey" and have been free of nicotine for almost a year with no cravings. I regained almost all of my sensation and strength down the LHS of my body and rode my GSA to Inuvik (Yukon) and Prudhoe Bay (Alaska) this summer in aid of the Heart & stroke foundation. Please read my blog at www.mytb.org/nevil to see some articles if you wish. I truly wish you and anyone else reading this the strength and determination to give up. Good health to you and may this keep you riding! Kind regards.......Nevil |
It was'nt the fear of killing myself that made me stop smoking. Or the money. Or being worried about offending someone who did'nt like the stink of smoke.
I just wanted to stop smoking so I told everyone I knew, everyone I worked with, everyone who'd listen that I'd stopped. So........the one thing that's kept me from starting again is the fear of failure. Twenty one years since I packed in and I know that, if I smoked one, somebody would say "knew you could'nt do it, loser" doh |
Awesome story NEVIL (in a slightly odd way.) That is the kind of motivation that actually works. I don't know about anyone else, but you are an inspiration to me.
After my earlier post, I decided to cut back. I still smoke socially, but have kicked the 20 a day habit I had. If I was more sensible I would quit entirely, but if I was more sensible I would be an entirely different person. Kudos. Birdy |
I have tried many many times,, but yesterday I said anm sick o this smoking.. I want tae quit but I do enjoy them here an there,, but most times its out o habit........ i want to stop.
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I think my biggest problem is boredom, which is kind of mad really, it's not as though smoking is hugely entertaining! Still it at least gives me some avenues to explore in my attempt to quit.
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I'm now 3 months off um. The not being a failure is doing it for me, I've always been the doer never the spectator and friends have said "you'll do it" for that reason there's no way I'm going to smoke.
I'm always the winner :thumbup1: (please read in a non arrogant tone of voice). Cheers Pete |
Steved1969....and anyone else who may be interested.......
I've smoked for the last 30 years and in probably the last 15 of those I've smoked 30 a day, more if I've had a few pints. About 2 months ago I started to have difficulties with breathing and went to the doc. Basically he told me to stop smoking and I'd be fine. He gave me those Champix tablets. Problem was....I didn't really want to stop. I've always liked smoking. I like the actual act of smoking...the lighting up, inhaling, blowing smoke out....I like it. Can't help it but that's how it is. People say you have to REALLY want to stop, otherwise none of these tablets etc. will work. So I decided to try Champix and I have to say I did so with only half a heart and I had no expectations of going beyond the first day or two with them. I tried them anyway and I continued to smoke for the first 11 or 12 days. I felt nothing. No sudden desire to stop smoking, no sudden bad tastes....nothing. Then I woke up the next day and something in my head told me I didn't smoke any more. Don't ask me what it was but that's how it happened and I can't explain it any further or in a more accurate fashion. I simply had no desire to smoke. However I have had a few difficult days where I've had a craving for the habit of doing something. Could have been anything, it was just the habit thing. All I've had to do is go somewhere, do something, talk to someone about anything any the desire passed instantly. Believe me, there is no-one more baffled by this turn of events than me. I could never have imagined myself as a "non-smoker". It has only been a few weeks now so I won't get too carried away with my boasts....but believe me, and trust me, when I say........IF I CAN DO IT THEN ANYONE CAN. I'm one of those people who has an addictive gene to nearly anything if I like it. These tablets have taken away the need for willpower. I have little if any of that but still I find myself not craving a cigarette. Good luck to anyone who's considering stopping. I have to say my house smells so much better....as do my clothes....and my hair....and my breath...and pretty much everything else too. I have much better breathing than before so I do hope this in itself will be enough of an incentive for me to stay off them. After all, it's difficult to have fun on a bike if you're dead! Chris PS......Forgot to say....try and stay away from other smokers for a week or two if you can. Might be too much of a temptation, and another smoker will nearly want you to start again coz it makes them feel less guilty about smoking themselves! |
Every time I quit I'm just fine until I drink again! It's a real pain in the ass. Actually going to go volunteer in this remote location of Bolivia for a few weeks which has a ban on alcohol, hopefully will be able to kick the habit there!
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Champix seems to work for almost everybody........... except me!!!!!
2 days into the the course the side effects were too much so did the cold turkey (now 3 months off the fags). The thing that keeps me in check is that I read somewhere that one fag and you're back to square one, so I never have the "oh it's OK to have one fag, it's a slag night/birthday party/weeding/etc", I know I can never smoke again and I have to get my head round it. It helps me to look at smokers like a NON SMOKER would rather than a RECOVERING EX SMOKER. I find myself looking across the site at people chuffin away and thinking, you twats, I brought into that for 30 years and can't believe it's taken me this long to realise! Cheers Pete |
Wife and I both quit with Champix after being smokers for 20+ years. After 2 weeks we were free. Did the whole cure of 12 weeks to make certain. That was 3 years ago.
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A lot of encouragement from ex smokers, I'm an ex and like many absolutely detest the stench of cigarettes, regardless of fresh or stale, lingering on clothes or peoples breath, they stink. I used to stink just like them.
I met a stage hypnotist, it was my mate who wanted the session I just sort of sat in, deep down I knew I should give up but I couldn’t be bothered with the cravings and the agro I’d had on previous attempts anyhow I listened and tried to concentrate then at the end he said “on one you can open your eyes” From then on I could be bothered with smoking it was too much effort. During the night I kept laughing, I was confused, normally I’d be ripping doors off to get out for a fag but I couldn’t be bothered. I finished working about 5am and sparked up as usual out of habit and was nearly sick. 6 years down the line I’ve never touched or wanted to touch another cigarette. My mate stopped for nearly 9 weeks then started again whilst on holiday, and still smokes. Find yourself a good stage hypnotist or someone who practises the Dave Elman technique, you’ve nothing to lose Any way you go do it for yourself every cigarette is another 5miles of fuel |
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