Support for those quitting smoking

Fingers Mcginty · 20-11-2008 6:06pm

Alan Carr...Off them 4 years. Never looked back. Dunno how but it was the only thing that made me give up.

Da Bounca · 20-11-2008 7:56pm

I selected cold turkey, but to be honest I could have chosen 'other' as well. I told all of my mates and family and had been harping on about it for ages that I was gonna give up. Made sure they all knew what date and even what time of the day I was giving up. I had to give them up or else I'd have never lived it down.

Felt benefits to my health within a month of giving up. Larger lung capacity, less coughing, and less dark matter being spewed! So gross, couldn't go back to that. Over a year and a half down the line now, I still catch a whiff of a ciggie and think, hmmm that smells quite tasty, but I'd never go back on them, they are death. Literally.

I tried Alan Carr's book and didn't get passed the first few pages(and i'm an avid reader).
I tried Niccotine patchs and turned into an(even bigger) as$hole.

I suppose everyone just has to find their own technique to giving up. I had some great support in the form of encouragment and slagging, which was what I needed obviously.

dioltas · 22-11-2008 1:11am

I tried nicorette (gum, losenges, microtabs) a few times, swithing to lights, cutting down, but none of it really worked. But in the end it was just that my chest was bad from them. Id be weezing after a bit of exercise etc. I just said fcuk this, I don't need these fcuking things they are costing me a fortune and ruining my life.

I made out a list of reasons for not smoking which I think was the main thing that helped me quit. It went along the lines of don't need them, the chemical nicotine telling your brain that you need it, messing up your chest, their a social crutch, if drinking makes you into a spineless fool then dont drink (to stop me smoking after a few pints which was the hardest for me), and a few more things that I can't remenber. I kept this in my wallet and read it from time to time, especially before I went out and sometimes in the jacks on a night out if I felt tempted (sounds riduculous but it worked for me).

As well instead of saying to myself I was off the fags, I said I don't smoke, because saying i was just off them suggested I would go back "on" them.

I didn't tell people that I was off them in general because it seemed like there would be less pressure on me or something. If someone offered me one I'd just say "no im grand".

One of the best things I think I've ever done for myself. That's just what worked for me, but everyone is different.

siudek · 23-11-2008 3:22pm

Well. I quit smoking with the very first attempt 1.5 month ago . I was smoking for 5 years though, nearly 2 packs daily. It was so easy to quit because i used very good pills branded "tabex". My mate from Poland recommended them and brang me some. They are made in Bulgaria though, but as I'm working in pharma industry i went through all excipients. That tablets are absolutely safe (you can get them only on prescription).
So now I can enjoy my life without this stinky aura around me

It was so easy.
Highly recommended !

vodkadub · 03-12-2008 3:01pm

cold turkey and allen carr by far.
cold turkey means your not using substitutes to prolong your addiction but breaking out of the cycle of wanting nicotine, allen carr's book abolishes all of the myths of cigarettes. the hardest part i found was the first few withdrawal pangs this last typically up to three days after your last cigarette.
definitely recommened allen carr's book alot of sceptics will say its just another self help book, but when all of the information is factual how can he be wrong.

RoosterIllusion · 30-12-2008 4:42am

Since the end of September 2007, cold turkey. Thirty marlboro a day for six years.

I quit because I couldn't handle the pains any more. I had a thyroid problem (regulates blood pressure and metabolism) so combine the heart palpatations, shaking hands and constant nausea (imagine having indigestion 24/7 for 6 months) from that with the effects of smoking and you basically get all the feeling of a heart attack at least twice a day, every day, indefinitely.

I couldn't handle it any more, I used to wake up at 4am in the morning, my heart racing (150 bpm or something like that), sweating, completely unable to relax and afraid that I was going to die. I went to A&E three times in a three month period worrying.

It actually damaged my perception of my own health a lot, something I still suffer from. I find it very hard to have faith in my health, though I am healthy, I am at a good weight, I eat well and I exercise four times a week.

leadinglady · 01-01-2009 2:42am

off them 8 years. Pregnancy made me give them up and an incentive - i saved the money every day and paid for all our holidays from the money. I still do every day, into a tin beside my bed. It pays for all flights/hotels and then all we have to add is spending money. Id recommend this method (not necessarily the preggers bit, but thats ok too!!)

moonbug33 · 03-01-2009 1:25am

3 Years at end of january.......the New Years resolution didn't work for me so I quit at the end of January 3 years ago......after several previous attempts that lasted from between 1 day to 6 months. Combination of things helped. Awareness of incentive type things such as- just becoming a Dad, the crackle in my breathing, the money I was spending on 20 plus a day, turning 40; Alan Carr's book really helped- I like that his book explores all the angles including how the Tobacco industry works; Cold Turkey will power. My attitude is that I am addicted to Cigs and I always will be......if I have only one cig I will be on 20 that day every day again, so I have accepted that I can never have even one cig.

rua1972 · 04-01-2009 5:56pm

i started smoking secretly when i was 15 or so. When my parents found out a couple of years later i went up to 20 a day. One day i had a bad cold, the smoking hurted and i suddenly noticed the smell from the ashtray. First i blamed the beerbottlelids for the smell but then it occured to me it was the cigs itself. I decided to finish the cigs i still had left and told no one about it. The last cig tasted like the best i ever had and when i stubbed it out i could feel something falling from my shoulder and i knew i was off them. That was july '02, only smoked 2 or 3 sigars since on new years eve.

Rb · 05-01-2009 11:24pm

I quit four months ago after smoking since I was 15 (I'm now almost 23). I'd tried to quit before but just kept making excuses, trying to set dates and then breaking it when I got there. I sat my driving test for the first time on the 15th of September, passed it first go and thought to myself "Right, I've done that now let's quit smoking".

I quit that night, woke up the next morning and had one of those arguments that we smokers start in order to make an excuse to smoke, went down and bought twenty and came back to the house and chain smoked through about 3 until, when standing out in the cold, I said to myself "**** this, I'm standing out here in the freezing cold filling my lungs with crap and paying 7.30 to do so". Chopped them up, stuck them in the bin and haven't even thought about touching one since.

cullig_jp · 14-01-2009 5:11pm

Am currently off the cigs 2 weeks. Have been smoking for 12 years. Made a couple of botched attempts at giving up before but always ended up smoking again, usually as a result of alcohol:(
Haven't been near a pub in the last 2 weeks but that wont last forever im afraid!
Am compenplating hypnosis but not sure yet.
Has anybody used though nicotine inhalers?

emma6606 · 14-01-2009 6:07pm

Im off the smokes 2 weeks.. .15 days to be precise

I was doing fine, I had the flu so it was easy enough to give up at the start - my lungs were in bits so I couldnt smoke anyway...

Its very hard today though - stressed out in work and no way to take the edge off it...

Im going cold turkey cos my Mam has been on Nicorette for 20 odd years... Its a subsitution more than a solution

Im sure the craving will pass anyway... just have to try and stick it out and remain calm in the meantime

togster · 27-01-2009 1:12pm

Im off them a week and having no cravings...but i have it very hard to sleep, i fell sick sometimes and dizzy. Just wondering if anyone else experienced this?

howamidifferent · 30-01-2009 3:14pm

howamidifferent wrote: »

Jerry - Free and Healing for One Month, Five Days, 16 Hours and 59 Minutes, while extending my life expectancy 2 Days and 13 Hours, by avoiding the use of 734 nicotine delivery devices that would have cost me €295.95.

36 days off the fags at the minute...Patches at the minute...

Smoker for the last 30 years except for a 5 year spell between 1995 and 2000 when I was doing so well I decided to "just have 1"

Promising myself a pioneer plasma if I can stay off them for a year!

Woohoo...

Jerry - Free and Healing for Three Months, Fifteen Days, 14 Hours and 15 Minutes, while extending my life expectancy 7 Days and 11 Hours, by avoiding the use of 2152 nicotine delivery devices that would have cost me €875.38.

And I bought the Plasma to keep me enthusiastic...:D

jtsuited · 30-01-2009 3:34pm

howdy folks. I just gave up yesterday (twas my 25th birthday and always said I'd give up when I hit 25).
Have tried giving up before but never lasted longer than a few hours. Got nicorette gum and it's bloody great. Tastes horrible but stops the cravings. Gonna do the whole nicorette quit plan.

I've read most of the quit-smoking books out there and tbh found them to be the usual self-help bull**** full of bad science and inaccurate claims. Most recently I read Neil Casey's 'The Nicotine Trick', which was truly terrible.

fixernixer · 30-01-2009 4:25pm

Nearly 1 year now!! (Feb 1st)

:D:D
All I can say to anyone who has just given up is: stick with it, it gets easier.

1 year, 20 a day@ €8 a pop = €2920 (half of which goes to the poxy Govt)
I look and feel healthier too, granted I've put on 2st but I needed it

After the third or so day its all in the mind. Focus on the benefits and on how far you have come. I went cold turkey so I couldn't tell you if patches or that work. Just tell everyone you know you're giving up and throw out all ashtrays/lighters etc. You have to give them up mentally first, pick a date and stick to it. (I chose Feb1st because its about now you hear all the new year resolutions that have failed)

This is my last post because I feel I well and truly have given up for good.
Thanks for all your words of support, this thread has helped lots.

Happy Fookin Days!!
:cool:

-mr.x- · 23-02-2009 11:51pm

wat i did was i used to smoke 10 a day.......

i thought thiswould never work but it did........

i have a coulple of smokes when i go on the beer which now is only once every two weeks....
i thought i would go straight back on them after the first night out but 5 years on no change, still smoke a couple when i go out....weird:):D:)

howamidifferent · 24-02-2009 1:44pm

That woudlnt work for me..It was actually my downfall last time...I was off them for 5 years then told myself in a pub one night that I could jsut have one...not so slowly crept back up to 20 a day again in a very short time...

-mr.x- · 24-02-2009 2:45pm

ya i wouldnt recomend it ..but somhow its working for me

whitneysegura · 01-03-2009 12:35am

None of the above help, if you don't want to do it then your not going to do it period. Man up and stop.

overmantle · 01-03-2009 12:38am

Cold turkey - willpower and day by day - that's what I tried 11 years ago and it's still working.

overmantle · 01-03-2009 12:40am

The other bit of advice is to substitute something for smoking - be it walking or whatever. One of the things I used as a substitute was crisps!

glenq · 01-03-2009 11:58am

glenq wrote: »

I gave up on the 1st September. Just stopped cold turkey. I've had the odd urge to have one, but honestly, it's not been too bad (yeah, you're really gonna wanna heard that ).
Smoking for about 10 years, and I've tried giving twice before, both were incredibly poor efforts. But I think the difference this time is that I really wanted to give up. Before I always thought it would be nice to give up, you know, likes it what I should be doing. They were half ar$ed efforts and in reality I didn't really want to give up.
But as I said, this time there would be nothing stopping me, I just had enough of them. I was embarassed by the smell, by my lack of fitness and by the act (huddling outside a in the rain having a smoke :rolleyes:).

Anyhow, it's almost two months and I feel great. I'm determined to make it happen this time.

6 months now. Don't have any pangs. Actually the thought of one does not appeal at all.

howamidifferent · 03-03-2009 11:19am

Jerry - Free and Healing for Four Months, Nineteen Days, 10 Hours and 19 Minutes, while extending my life expectancy 9 Days and 16 Hours, by avoiding the use of 2789 nicotine delivery devices that would have cost me €1,135.88.

Plasma nearly paid for...Bluray player next...:p

Makes it all worthwhile...

Jamfan · 05-03-2009 4:56am

For me it has to be a mix of cold turkey and Allen Carr.

For what it's worth, I think that nicotine patches and gum and whatever will in time be exposed as 'snake oil', ie, as being of use to neither man nor beast. I know so, so many people who are doing great 'on the patches' or 'on the gum' and then go back to smoking EVEN MORE when they go back on the cigs. I know exactly ONE person that quit using patches, and I really believe he quit in spite of and not because of the patches. And he was still on the things ten years later. I think that if you let yourself rely on 'snake oil' that you have failed before you even start.

I know that people may have a go at me because of what I just said and who have quit successfully with gum and what not. So, if you have please let me know.

If I believed in conspiracy theories I would say that the nicotine patch and gum makers - hidden behind pension funds and holding companies - actually belong to Altria/Philip Morris. They are still making money from the few weeks that people are off the smokes and then earn even more when you start back again smoking furiously, and from my experience you smoke even more after a failed attempt.

What worked for me was:

http://quitsmoking.about.com/ ... have a click around. Have a look for the list of reasons that people quit and use it as an inspiration for your own one... such as... I no longer feel that whenever I feel some sort of discomfort that it is an impending stroke, heart attack, blood clot, or that it is due to lung cancer.

Talking to my mam... it is frightening to hear how many people in their 50s/60s are being struck down with lung cancer and emphysema.

Listening to my 55 year-old aunt with her emphysema wheeze and bronchitis cough. This is my mam's baby sister that I always remember as being an ardent disco-goer. My 57 year-old uncle also died recetly of COPD and lung cancer. They actually are not sure if it was the cancer or emphysema that was to blame, or a combination of the two.

Reading Allen Carr. The man is a legend. This is brain washing, but in the absolute best way. Go with the flow of the book!

Download a 'quit meter' such as at http://www.dedicateddesigns.com/qk/

And lots more reasons beside... oh yeah, how about giving up for a couple of days and noticing how strong the smell of smoke is off your ex smoke buddies. You used to smell like that.

Peile · 05-03-2009 9:58am

Jaffman it's obvious you've read Carr's book..you're using his lingo and ideas. I've read it myself and found it was brilliant, gave up after 25 years heavy smoking and got cocky and was back on them 18 months later. However, book and all the psychology didn't work the second time. Convinced myself I wasn't enjoying them, decided to try again and asked for doc for anything besides patches, gum etc. Prescribed champix...am now two months off them and confident...still need a bit of willpower but the tablets actually work.

Jamfan · 05-03-2009 7:55pm

Hi Peile

Is it that obvious? lol

I guess that different things will work for different people, but I have seen so many people not succeeding with the patches.

Well done on your quit, by the way!

Evil-p · 10-03-2009 5:33pm

Since it is not recommended at all that you ever buy prescription drugs off the internet i really don't think its a good idea for you too be posting links to sites that sell it. If someone wants to quit using prescription drugs they should go to their GP and be monitored properly!!!

thebouldwhacker · 10-03-2009 5:45pm

Ahhh here now if the post above by willow43james isnt an ad then I give up.

Anyway Zyban is an anti depressant which has a side effect of calming cravings. If you want to mess with your brain chemistry thats your own decision

sfhoping234 · 11-03-2009 12:29am

I'm completely new to all of this and to be honest, tomorrow will be my first day of the ciggies. I have smoked for 15 years and I am only 27!!! Wondering does anyone have any tips for the next few days. Have patches but don't think they will be enough. I have tried them before but I think I am alot more determined now!! Any advice would be appreciated:D

Support for those quitting smoking

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