How to help a loved one quit smoking?

Slang_Tang

Hi all,

Is there anything you can do to help a loved one quit smoking? I used to smoke myself, and when I quit it was my own decision. Any protests against my smoking just fell on deaf ears and caused resentment, so I know the difficulties of trying to get through to someone.

My mum is in her fifties and has been smoking for thirty years. Lately I've noticed her cough in the morning and throughout the day. It sounds like chronic bronchitis, I think? It really sounds as though she will need supplemental oxygen to help her breathing in a few years. This has got me very worried.

She has given up before for a few months, but always gone back on them. I'm thinking of trying to get the family together to encourage her to give up. In the past she has always gone cold turkey. I've read about how GPs can help. Champix, for example? Is this available in Ireland?

Any help/advice appreciated guys, especially from ex-smokers.

Thanks.

Rochester

Champix is available here but I have to say an elderly parent on it experienced hallucinations and nearly died having fallen down the stairs so if she is on other meds, be careful.


It is hard watching a smoker get to grips with the morning congestion but does she want to give them up herself?

Slang_Tang

Rochester wrote: »

It is hard watching a smoker get to grips with the morning congestion but does she want to give them up herself?

I think so. She's always been able to get past the physical cravings; it's the long-term psychological crutch that seems the problem. I might recommend smoking cessation sessions because she's never tried that before.

You're right. It is really awful to watch/listen to. I remember my grandmother had the same thing when we stayed with her on holidays and she was a woman in her seventies at that stage.

Arthurdaly

I'm off the smoke 2 years now having been seriously addicted for 20 years. Allan Carrs Easway to stop smoking is an amazing book and I have not touched a cig since I completed the book.

It really is an amazing book and I didn't believe it could possibly have any impact before I read the book. I've never been healthier thanks to that book.

I'm trying to convince my uncle who is in his lates fifties and has a teenage daughter to read the book. His opinion is that he may as well enjoy his life and continue which is so selfish when he has a young daugher who has yet to finish school!

The book has a brainwashing effect which dispells alot of concerns a smoker will have. The evidence for me is when I see people at shop counters buying cigs, previously when I attempted to give up I envied these people, now I look at them with genuine pity. Make your mam read the book, it may not work for everyone but something clicked for me and I was confident after finishing the book that I would never touch another fag and I haven't and quite certain I will never.

trigger26

Hi,

I work as a hypnotist helping people give up. Unfortunately, nudging or pushing someone to do something they do not want to do usually is met with resistance as you highlighted. No one likes being told what to do. The desire to quit must come from the person themselves.

It's nice that you want to help a loved one, perhaps if you were to explain this and that you are concerned about your mothers health, that would start the idea of giving up in her own head. Hope that helps,

Trig