Stop Smoking Discussion

i'd like to discuss the NHS approach to helping people give up smoking. It all seems to be based on the physical symptoms of nicotine withdrawal, ie patches, chewing gums inhalers etc. I managed to give up for a week once, and the worst I had from the actual nicotine withdrawal was dizziness. It's the psychological aspects that are the worst- ie, smoking when depressed/anxious/bored. To a smoker, smoking is pretty much the same as breathing, it's not just a case of 'oh you can give up just whack a patch on'.
i have tried the patches, fake fags, zyban, inhalers, lozenges and chewing gums, none of them work. I feel that i'm made to feel guilty because i have this dirty habit, non smokers just don't understand at all. If it was a choice between smoking and eating, the money would go on fags because i just cannot get out of bed in the mornings if i know i don't have any. The thing they always say about youll have more money is rubbish too, if you work it out , 20 fags a day= a fiver, well personally i would probably spend double that on food, i'd have to do something. There is simply nothing to replace holding a fag, lighting up when nervous, it's second nature to a smoker.
i could stick on how many patches now it wouldnt do a thing, i'd still smoke with the damn things on. It;s all very well people complaining about smokers clogging up hospitals, saying they don't deserve o be treated etc, but where do the taxes for the nhs come from...cigarettes in the uk are one of the highest taxed products (just compare the price of fags here with abroad)
Why is it as well that people who have never smoke decide you are evidently idiotic and need to be told things like ''where's your willpower'' ''if you want to kill yourself that's up to you'' ''don't you care about other people?''
I don't care what anybody says. Shock tactics, guilt, lectures on willpower DO NOT WORK. The psychological effects of smoking need to be addressed far more than they are at present and the emphasis shifted from the physical cravings. Until I get help with that I know I can never give up, call it lack of willpower whatever you like but I simply cannot function without a cigarette (I started smoking 8 years ago whilst going through a terrible time btw, i was totally anti smoking before that and yes i do regret it now, I am totally dependent on the things because subconsciously I think, ''feel bad have a fag''.
I would like to know how other people on here have dealt with the psychological problems of smoking. What did you do while walking around if you couldn't smoke? at bus stops? in pubs? when anxious? half the time i don't even remember lighting them, I just notice i am smoking the thing it's like its subconscious! this is why it is so hard to give up, it's like saying to a non-smoker to give up thinking!

I find that the patch works quite well for me, I can keep the patch on all day and not smoke in work - I can do this without a patch also - but when I get hom I feel the need for a smoke. Especially when sat on the computer.

It is a habit, I would say if you can find something else to do - like cleaning - or chewing gum, everytime you need a fag sit on an exercise bike. You do need to want to quit though.

My husband gave up a few weeks back and all he does now is eat snacks all night, but he's been under a load of stress also these past few weeks and still didn't light up! He can do it so easily. He was irritable, but now he's just irritating. He occasionally, smugly says, 'I'm a permanent non-smoker'. He brings free fags home from me from his job, which would be great if I could smoke them as we'd save money, but quitting fags is so much more than the money.

The smoking ban wont affect me, I never go to pubs and dont feel the need to light up when I've gone out for the day.

Good luck, you can do it, have you tried hypnotherapy?

Patches and steely determination did it for me (35-40 day a habit, smoked for 25 years). Gave up in 2000. The truth is, until you're stopping for yourself rather than because you know you should it just won't happen!

However, it's my OH I'm really impressed with. This is only an option if you've tried giving up before, but he's been using Champix thru his GP's nurse and it's worked for him. He's only three weeks into his course and says he has absolutely no cravings at all. Seeing his blood pressure and carbon monoxide readings drop is a good incentive for him.

It's a brand new treatment......if you're serious about quitting why not give it a try?

But what do you do when you can't get the thoughts out of your head, or am i just odd? the first thing i do when i wake up literally still half asleep is get out of the bed and light a fag, i smoke every time i come out of a shop, i smoke when im bored (which is all the time) they are my (sad) life, i don't see how i can function without them. If i know i haven't got any fags i just won't do ANYTHING, it's not physically possible. I have nothing to replace them with. I drop my son to school in the morning, sit in the house all day doing nothing (all my friends moved away) that's all I do...people say get a hobby but nothing interests me, smoking feels like all i've got, i need something to replace it with. i'm not one of those people that can go to mother's meetings and stuff to pass the time, i spose i just feel depressed and miserable, if i didnt have fags i just don't think i'd bother getting up!

Pumpa, I so agree with you!! I find smoking is as natural as eating and I so want to give up!! But when I get my head in order to stop All I think about all day is smoking . Then I get thoroughly miserable and have a fag. Then I feel bad because I have failed!! Definitly a psychological thing.