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The Giving Up Smoking Thread!!

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  • jo1972
    jo1972 Posts: 8,901 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Go feed your children!
    DFW Nerd no. 496 - Proud to be dealing with my debts!!
  • TNG
    TNG Posts: 6,930 Forumite
    jo1972 wrote: »
    Go feed your children!

    I've just made them a cup of tea - does that count? :o
    :dance:There's a real buzz about the neighbourhood :dance:
  • jo1972
    jo1972 Posts: 8,901 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    TNG wrote: »
    I've just made them a cup of tea - does that count? :o

    Depends, did you put sugar in it? :rolleyes:
    DFW Nerd no. 496 - Proud to be dealing with my debts!!
  • TNG
    TNG Posts: 6,930 Forumite
    jo1972 wrote: »
    Depends, did you put sugar in it? :rolleyes:

    yes. one in each :)
    :dance:There's a real buzz about the neighbourhood :dance:
  • jo1972
    jo1972 Posts: 8,901 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Ah well, there you go, a complete balanced healthy breakfast/lunch alternative, well done :)
    DFW Nerd no. 496 - Proud to be dealing with my debts!!
  • Well I managed to fall of the wagon again after a miserable 14 hours. I don't know why I can't give up, I am by no means a weak willed person. In the past 12 months I managed to give up alcohol which was no small feat for a person who binge drank for 10 years every weekend. I also gave up caffeine and also went on a diet and lost 2.5 stone in weight so I am not weak willed.

    Last night I don't know if yous experienced this but I actually dreamt about smoking, then you wake up and realize your of them and you get depressed, I had a very disturbed nights sleep. Allen Carr talks about this in his book but he refaires to it as a nightmare and you feel a sense of relief once you wake up and realize its only a dream and I know what he means as I went through this when giving up alcohol but its the total reverse with smoking.

    The more methods I try and fail at the more frustrated and angry I get, you look at all the reviews Allen Carrs and Paul Mckenna's books get, some 90% positive yet they do nothing for me, and looking at these horror stories on these smoking websites also make me frustrated as you know you do need to give up but can't, so I am lost as to what to try next.

    I had a friend who gave up by smoking 10 fags in a row and making himself violently sick, I suppose it stands to reason as he created a neurological path linking smoking to pain instead of pleasure and basic psychology tells us that humans do more to avoid pain than we do to gain pleasure.

    So basically I am no further forward.

    Hi nirelandguy,

    I can empathise with you as I'm in exactly the same boat.
    Been trying to give up smoking now for nigh on for 10 years.
    Got really sych'd up for stopping on 2nd Jan and failed after 19 hours...it's just so depressing.
    I find the whole process of quitting just sooo stressful and my life is pretty stressful which is why I think I fail. I'd love to have the luxury of going away for 2 weeks by myself to quit as I'm pretty sure that would work.
    I now don't bother with nicotine replacement as, in my case, it doesn't really help although I did stop the first time I tried patches for 6 months but that was nearly 8 years ago now!
    I promised my kids I would stop and they are impressed that I've managed 2 weeks without wine; they were convinced I would fail. Now they are really putting the pressure on about the cigs which, although I can understand, isn't actually helping.
    I'm trying to pluck up the energy to set yet another quit date for next week; thinking being 2 weeks off the wine so body/habit is getting used to no alcohol but the constant failing is making me :mad:.
    I don't understand really as I've been a single Mum for over 10 years holding down a full time job & a part time business reasonably successfully. I hate being beaten by anything and in all other areas of life when challenged I rise to it but the cigs are literally killing me
  • JoeHel
    JoeHel Posts: 446 Forumite
    ooooh bacon sarnies!!! no, I will not get distracted.... ;)
    day 13 :o

    Well I was having a read of that why quit website last night - ended up in tears from 1 of the stories on there. I was reading about the NRT patches and their not too brilliant success rate. From what they say on there I have been duped yet again and I wonder if that is the reason why I am never successful with my quit attempts :confused: but it is Sunday morning and at least I am not smoking now so that is the main thing. I think that instead of staying on the patches for 12 weeks I will use them for 6 to 8 weeks ( depending on how I am feeling ) I will do 4 weeks on the high strength then cut down to middle strength for 1 to 2 weeks then the same for the lowest strength. I know I can do it - actually have done it so many times. I think I need to read up more as my problem is staying quitted (is that a word) so if I read up more and hopefully it will help me 8 months down the line when I become complacent and have a stressful time and have 'just one' and am then hooked again.

    Hope everybody has a great no smoking day :D

    Morning hun! I would say that WHATEVER works and keeps a person off ciggies it is a good thing!!! There are hundreds of thousands of people who have successfully quit with NRT products. It's a case of finding what works for you. You've not smoked for nearly 2 weeks and I would definitely say that is so far so good!!

    I am a very impatient person. Whatever I do in life, I want results NOW!! :D When I used NRT patches I couldn't tell what was different (except for the actual not smoking ciggies of course). With cold turkey I did have three days of feeling a bit spaced out but I could actually FEEL myself changing. I loved it! I drank lots of fruit juice to keep my blood sugar as stable as possible and I joked to my colleagues about not giving me anything sensible to do because I had the concentration span of a goldfish!! They were all so supportive. But I honestly revelled in all these changes I could feel happening. Then on day four I woke up with an amazing sense of calm. I know that is how I used to feel when I was a schoolgirl but I'd forgotten how it felt. That for me made the whole 3 days cold turkey worthwhile and I honestly feel quite privileged to have felt such a huge change take place. Hardly the caterpillar to butterfly metamorphosis but definitely the biggest change I'd ever felt my body go through.

    I loved the speed of cold turkey and the withdrawal wasn't nearly as bad as I expected. But I totally understand how the gradual quit with patches is quite a comfort too. Just go with whatever works for you. Keep reading and educating yourself about addiction and if you change your mind about using patches it's only a case of taking it off and not putting another one on!
    QUIT SMOKING 4/11/07 :j
  • JoeHel
    JoeHel Posts: 446 Forumite
    lesley_rod wrote: »
    Hi nirelandguy,

    I can empathise with you as I'm in exactly the same boat.
    Been trying to give up smoking now for nigh on for 10 years.
    Got really sych'd up for stopping on 2nd Jan and failed after 19 hours...it's just so depressing.
    I find the whole process of quitting just sooo stressful and my life is pretty stressful which is why I think I fail. I'd love to have the luxury of going away for 2 weeks by myself to quit as I'm pretty sure that would work.
    I now don't bother with nicotine replacement as, in my case, it doesn't really help although I did stop the first time I tried patches for 6 months but that was nearly 8 years ago now!
    I promised my kids I would stop and they are impressed that I've managed 2 weeks without wine; they were convinced I would fail. Now they are really putting the pressure on about the cigs which, although I can understand, isn't actually helping.
    I'm trying to pluck up the energy to set yet another quit date for next week; thinking being 2 weeks off the wine so body/habit is getting used to no alcohol but the constant failing is making me :mad:.
    I don't understand really as I've been a single Mum for over 10 years holding down a full time job & a part time business reasonably successfully. I hate being beaten by anything and in all other areas of life when challenged I rise to it but the cigs are literally killing me

    lesley, stop beating yourself up. Even the strongest willed and most intelligent people get stuck in the nicotine trap!! What I said above still applies.

    Nicotine is reputedly the most addictive drug on the planet
    You are addicted to nicotine
    You are a drug addict, like every other smoker

    The key to quitting is education about why you smoke in the first place. It's certainly not because you are stupid or weak!! Go to WhyQuit.com and understand why you smoke. The only way to free yourself from anything is discover why you do it and the best way to escape!

    I posted on here within my first week of quit and knew then I would never ever smoke again. That's after 22 years of 30 a day. I still feel the same, 9 weeks later. I love feeling this free and I will never ever take another puff!
    QUIT SMOKING 4/11/07 :j
  • ZTD
    ZTD Posts: 24,327 Forumite
    BrickingIt wrote: »
    i'm beginning to have a sneeking suspicion I may (as a male) be in the minority somewhat on this thread.

    As a male you are a tiny minority on this board. There was a poll a few months back about "male or female?" and males are outnumbered well over 10 to 1...
    "Follow the money!" - Deepthroat (AKA William Mark Felt Sr - Associate Director of the FBI)
    "We were born and raised in a summer haze." Adele 'Someone like you.'
    "Blowing your mind, 'cause you know what you'll find, when you're looking for things in the sky."
    OMD 'Julia's Song'
  • System
    System Posts: 178,347 Community Admin
    10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    lesley_rod wrote: »
    Hi nirelandguy,

    I can empathise with you as I'm in exactly the same boat.
    Been trying to give up smoking now for nigh on for 10 years.
    Got really sych'd up for stopping on 2nd Jan and failed after 19 hours...it's just so depressing.
    I find the whole process of quitting just sooo stressful and my life is pretty stressful which is why I think I fail. I'd love to have the luxury of going away for 2 weeks by myself to quit as I'm pretty sure that would work.
    I now don't bother with nicotine replacement as, in my case, it doesn't really help although I did stop the first time I tried patches for 6 months but that was nearly 8 years ago now!
    I promised my kids I would stop and they are impressed that I've managed 2 weeks without wine; they were convinced I would fail. Now they are really putting the pressure on about the cigs which, although I can understand, isn't actually helping.
    I'm trying to pluck up the energy to set yet another quit date for next week; thinking being 2 weeks off the wine so body/habit is getting used to no alcohol but the constant failing is making me :mad:.
    I don't understand really as I've been a single Mum for over 10 years holding down a full time job & a part time business reasonably successfully. I hate being beaten by anything and in all other areas of life when challenged I rise to it but the cigs are literally killing me

    Hi,

    Yes I'm the same, I can do anything else I put my mind to but giving up smoking is a nightmare. They say Nicotine is a powerful drug in the sence that one cig can get you hooked, however according to Mr Allen Carr the cravings when giving up is actually ment to be minimal
    This is a system account and does not represent a real person. To contact the Forum Team email forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com
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