advice on quitting...

sillisome fiend

Hey,
Just wondering can anyone give me advice on how 2 quit smoking...I've been off them 5days now but it hasn't been easy(esp. when i have parents constantly smoking around me)

Tusky

you could give patchs a go ? there are also some great books out there ! or just look at pictures of smokers insides after 50 years of smoking !

Repli

Anyone I know who quit smokes and still off them have read the book by allen carr or whatever I think his name is..
Gie it a try

sillisome fiend

It ain't that easy when I can't let my parents see the patches or books....I'm only 15! They're murder me!

rubadub

im off over 3 years and couldnt imagine myself back on them they sicken me.

how many did you smoke?
when?
in batches? (ie 20 when out drinking in a few hours)

John2002

Originally posted by sillisome fiend
It ain't that easy when I can't let my parents see the patches or books....I'm only 15! They're murder me!

I think your parents would prefer to find the patches or books than to find out you smoke at a later stage. At least these would show them that you want to give up.

bombidol

Best tip ever for giving up cigarettes is really easy ...........

























Just STOP!

WhiteWashMan

Originally posted by Repli
Anyone I know who quit smokes and still off them have read the book by allen carr or whatever I think his name is..
Gie it a try

bingo.

i read the allan carr book, and i have been off them since christmas.

i have been off them for up to 10 months before, but it was always a struggle and a lot of willpower.
now, i simply dont want to smoke.
to be honest, i just think about the times when i used to smoke and i would almost get sick, like first thing in the morning, after smoking 3 packs on a night out, that sort of thing, and it turns me right off.

the physical need to smoke is 2 weeks. thats all nicotine stays in the body for. the actual pangs themselves dont last longer than 5 seconds, and you manage to go through a night without smoking, so giving up really sint that hard.

the hardest thing to learn is that you can actually enjoy yourself without them, because smoking is the biggest crutch in history. people think they cant enjoy a night out without smoking and that rubbish. after all, all non smokers manage it!

it really is easy to give up, but you have to want to give up. its no good saying, oh i think i will give up, but id really love a fag. i go out with smokers all the time and it still doesnt bother me. in fact, it just reminds me how disgusting and smelly and expensive it really is.
oh, and i can breath now and run longer in sport and i dont hack up big gobs of black or brown phglem every morning either,
which is nice

patches...
big no no!!!!!!!!!

the nictotine cravings arent really why you smoke. so patches are a placebo at best, and at worst, you are still putting nicotine in your body. whats the fúckoing point in that?
i dont know eanyone who has used them and given up.
not a single person.

it doesnt take willpower, god knows i havent got any.
it doesnt take strength.
all it takes is for you to convinve yourself that you dont want to smoke.
and you wont

and you know what, i feel really good about it too.

Kell

The little book of quitting by someone or other. I must get around to reading it. As far as I understand it the patches only delay your giving up as you are still getting above normal dosages of nicoteine into your system. Cold turkey I think is the best way to go. Having said that I was off them for three months last year in cold turkey, no cravings nothing, then I was holidays and I thought, ah sure one cant hurt. It did and I am still on them!!

Trebor

i agree just stop, your only 15 which means you have not been smoking that long so your body would not be physically addicted to nicotine yet. it all in your head that you want a smoke, also don't accept any drags off anyone as you are prolonging it.

re parents:
just leave the room when the start smoking most of my family smoke which is why i am never in the same room as them

John2002

Originally posted by Trebor

most of my family smoke which is why i am never in the same room as them

That's quite convenient really

Saruman

Originally posted by sillisome fiend
It ain't that easy when I can't let my parents see the patches or books....I'm only 15! They're murder me!

I dont see how they can kill you since its clearly their fault you are smoking and anyone who says otherwise is talking through their arse! Fact is they were probably smoking when you were born.. at the least you have lived with it a lot of your life.. they cant expect anything BUT for you to start smoking.

As for quitting? its not easy since noctine attaches itself to the part of your brain that tells you to do stuff you need to live.. like breathing, your heart beating, eating, etc etc.. You are not physically addicted to nicotine like other drugs... they are easy to stop comapred to nicotine.

Try the gum... Try hypno tapes.

seamus

Heh, seeing as you're 15, your parents won't kill you for smoking, you're only a year off being legally allowed. Parents usually go mad at kids for smoking cos they're mad at themselves for letting it happen.
Come clean, tell them you smoke, but that you're trying to quit, and they'll help and support you. They won't kill you. And your life will become a whole lot easier.

As others have said, get your hands on "The Little Book of Quitting" by Allen Carr. My Dad (30 years smoking) and my brother (6 years smoking) have both been off the smokes since Chrimbo, so apparently it's the best thing to help you quit.

Mercury

Originally posted by Trebor
i agree just stop, your only 15 which means you have not been smoking that long so your body would not be physically addicted to nicotine yet.

Unfortunately, not quite. Tobacco is considered the most addicting chemical in terms of tolerance. Just a few hours of smoking (less than a pack of cigarettes) is sufficient for nicotine addiction to occur.

Originally posted by WhiteWashMan
the physical need to smoke is 2 weeks. thats all nicotine stays in the body for. the actual pangs themselves dont last longer than 5 seconds, and you manage to go through a night without smoking, so giving up really sint that hard....

...the nictotine cravings arent really why you smoke. so patches are a placebo at best, and at worst, you are still putting nicotine in your body.

Again, not quite. Nicotineuses a mechanism responsible for learning and memory to enhance the connections between one set of nerve cells that are sensitive to the drug and other nerve cells that register pleasure.

The brain reward areas serve to acknowledge and reinforce beneficial behaviors, for example eating when you're hungry. The system encourages the body to repeat pleasing behaviors by releasing dopamine, the neurotransmitter associated with the pleasant feelings, in the reward areas. Nicotine appears to cause addiction by strengthening the excitatory connections on the neurons that make dopamine. Thus, the neurons are more excited, which means that more dopamine is released within the reward areas.

shaolinsu

I found it very tough for first 2 weeks. Got easier after that but constantly set goals. Like must reach 1 week, must reach month etc. Made it much easier to visualise progress and give pats on the back !!!:D

Trebor

Originally posted by Mercury
Unfortunately, not quite. Tobacco is considered the most addicting chemical in terms of tolerance. Just a few hours of smoking (less than a pack of cigarettes) is sufficient for nicotine addiction to occur.

it might be the fasted chemical to become addicted to but the actual nicotine only lasts in your system for about 2 hours which is why people smoke so many in a day.
but they are not physically addicated to the substance in that if they stop then their body has fits or a phsical recation. They just become upset and angy because they are not getting that dopamine which is why most smokers who try to quit get stressed and upset.

flyz

Originally posted by sillisome fiend
It ain't that easy when I can't let my parents see the patches or books....I'm only 15! They're murder me!

Where there's a will there's a way.


I stopped smoking about a month before christmas.
I never admitted to my parents that I smoked and I managed to read the book. (I'm sure they knew alright though )

If you really wanted to quit then you wouldn't be using that excuse.

You can read it at night before you go to bed, or in the evenings when you're doing your homework.

Hide the book / patches in the same place that you're hiding your ciggies now

Read the book, I highly recommend it.
I finished it on a wednesday evening, was in the pub on the thursday through to the sunday night without a bother.
I looked at other smokers and pitied them

Victor

Originally posted by seamus
Heh, seeing as you're 15, your parents won't kill you for smoking, you're only a year off being legally allowed.

You aren't allowed buy cigarettes until you are 18.

John2002

The way my da gave them up was to take each day one at a time. Every day he would say to himself "I'm not going to smoke today", and then he wouldn't. This worked for him and he used to smoke 40 Major a day for 20 years. But everybody is different so what works for one might not work for another.

Saruman

I was not joking about the hypnosis stuff by the way... think about what everyone else has said..

"I'm not going to smoke today", and then he wouldn't.

This is a form of hypnosis like telling your arm to life over and over and eventually it does but its numb and you have no control over it.,.. its your repeating words that do it... (does not have to be spoken, thought is the same!).

So if that works then maybe listening to a quit smoking tape at night is a good idea.. if you cant afford it... download off the net! Hell i have one on mp3 i got for my sister. She does not have the will power to even listen to it.
My brother was repulsed by her smoking but then he goes and starts himself.

I get physically ill when im around smokers so i wont ever be lighting up for any reason.

Doodee

WWM, whats the name of that book?
Full title like?


Cold turkey is the best way to go, but like WWM said, its not actually the cravings, its the whole idea behind em, i find myself smoking when im bored,depressed or on a night out, its the whole idea of having it in my hand, and that it relaxes me, which i know is a lie cause i gave up smoking when i was your age and was off em for years.

needa give up again

Trebor

Allen Carr's:

The Only Way to Stop Smoking Permanently
and
The Little Book of Quitting

can be found here

i've read it, not a smoker myself use to when i was 12, but it is very good, no scare tactics or statistics

rubadub

Originally posted by WhiteWashMan


patches...
big no no!!!!!!!!!

the nictotine cravings arent really why you smoke. so patches are a placebo at best, and at worst, you are still putting nicotine in your body. whats the fúckoing point in that?
i dont know eanyone who has used them and given up.
not a single person.

the point is that nicotine in itself is not very harmful. a pure nicotine patch addict (who never ever smoked) could go through life with hardly any risk of getting the diseases smokers get.

i dont like the idea of patches, i gave up using the micro tablets that go under your tongue. i asked what type of smoker he was earlier. this is important

i only smoked when i was drinking, they actually made me sick before or after a meal. so i didnt want a patch making me sick all day. i got the tablets and only used them when i couldnt handle the cravings and was reaching for a smoke in the pub, the tablets work intensely after about 2 seconds (no messing, that fast). it goes straight in your bloodstream.

i only used about 5 tablets from the entire pack and have been off since xmas 99

Typedef

The thing that finally put me off smoking... and it is a pedantic thing, was getting dizzy when I stood up.

That's what really let me know that smoking was fuking me up.

The Corinthian

Everyone who gives up does so in different ways. I smoked around thirty a normal day on and had been a smoker for around 14 years when I quit a year ago. It’s the only attempt at quitting I’ve made and tbh, I doubt if I’ll go back on them (I admit that I do smoke the odd cigar every few weeks though) as I just don’t want to or really fell like smoking. I’m not even particularly bothered by others smoking around me (as long as it’s not too smoky).

I used chewing gum, patches (which in retrospect didn’t really help all that much and were a hindrance after the first two weeks) and managed to get bored with Allen Carr's writing style by chapter 2. But what I have realized is that is just me, what worked best for my temperament and others deal with it in other ways.

Regardless, there is one commonality, being that you have to want to give up. Otherwise, you’ll just be back on them the moment you feel under the slightest bit of pressure. It’s only a big deal, if you decide it is.

thedrowner

i've heard people swear by the one day at a time method too. that books sounds really good, what does it say that makes u want to quit.

i quite last november, coz of my singing (it destroys your voice). i was also a social smoker, and i'd been trying to give up for 3 years after i went back on them after 3 years. the worst is when you say to yourserlf, ah sure one wont hurt....you just can't do it like that!!!! (well i can't anyway)

patch

There are three versions of that book, I've read them all(!!)
The one you want is 'Allen Carrs Easy Way To Stop Smoking'.
You can also get it with cd's, which have the man himself chatting to you for a couple of hours.

The 'permenant way' is a follow on book for guy's like me who mess up, but can see it would have worked If I'd followed the instructions.

The book makes you see the reality of smoking, shows you the trap your in, and tells you how to get out of it. It doesn't preach to you, or tell horror stories.

I've just about every method going, over the years, with mixed success. The book is the best, and cheapest of the lot.

It's based on his clinic by the way, their all over the world.

Washout

Im off them 10 days now and I went Cold Turkey...I personally think Cold Turkey is the best way to go.

Apart from one or 2 moments of wanting to smoke its been pretty smooth sailing.

shaolinsu is right on the button...setting goals is very important. but the point should not be trying to think in the lines of "oh god how am i gonna get through the next hour without a smoke" its to be completely natural and confident.

remember the add that ITV used to show and keep telling yourself i dont want to end up like that.

retneil

I gave up on the day after new years. The technique i used was the cinema. I seen every film that there possibly was and kept stuffing my face with popcorn until the cravings stopped. Remember been in the cinema and really dying for a smoke if there wasnt a film on i would have cracked. Now i do smoke the occasional cigar however i have been fully of the fags since then. Did the cinema thing for around 2 week's. At the start every night and then dropped back as there wasnt many more films to see..

flyz

When you stop smoking don't focus on the fact that you're giving up something, focus on the fact that you're gaining so much by not smoking.

Whenever you get that craving for a smoke ask youself "Do I
really want nicotene to control my life?"

- Enjoy the fact that you can taste your food again.

- And that you don't wake up every morning with a mouth tasting like an ashtray either

-Hangovers are significantly less severe too I've noticed


I actually enjoyed the first few weeks not smoking. The physical cravings stopped after a few days and all that was left then was the psychological battle.

Everytime I got a craving it strengthened my want to keep going.

uberwolf

cold turkey