Giving Up Smoking

4Chickens · 4 September 2006 at 11:20AM

Can you help me?

I am a fairly intellegent lass but this is the first time I have decided to try. And these are my reasons (not necessarily in order of importance):

Money - I have calculated that its costs me £1642 per year to smoke. Now if somebody took a wad of my cash and set light to it I would be pretty upset but lighting up a cigarette is technically no different.

Health - I am 34 years old and weigh 16stone. Now I have lost weight before whilst smoking and I had no problem with the exercise. Something has changed, I only have to go up the stairs and I am huffing and puffing. I am trying to lose the weight by diet but I can't do the exercise.

I am not going to buy the patches because of the cost. I am going cold turkey and here are some questions:

How long will it be before I stop wanting to rip somebody's arms and legs off.
How long will it be before I can run up and down the stairs without turning blue?

Any tips and advice to get me through this will be gladly received. And any of you out there that have succeeded, congratulations

TNG · 4 September 2006 at 11:35AM

Hi Cindie,

I am in my fifth week of not smoking. I don't think I have had the urge to rip anyone's arm off (but you'll need to check that with my nearest and dearest).

I would strongly recommend that you get Allen Carr's book (the only way to stop smoking), along with 'The Nicotine Trick' by Neil Casey. This is what I did and it seems to have worked for me.

They both complement each other and what they do is to change your mental attitude to smoking, so that you don't have terrible 'withdrawal symptoms'. If you think about it, the actual physical feeling is next to nothing, so the 'problem' of withdrawal MUST be mental.

I think you're doing right in not getting patches. Good luck, whichever method you choose and the health thing I think is probably gradual. You will turn round after x weeks or months and think 'that used to leave me out of breath!'

HTH

xxxdarlingxxx · 4 September 2006 at 11:40AM

Hi there

I was a 20 -30 a day smoker for about 25 years. I stopped on March 8th this year and have to say it was really really easy to do. My doctor gave me the drug Zyban and it was great. I had no cravings at all it was just that I lost all interest in smoking, I felt like a non smoker.

Also you just pay one perscription charge for the 12 week course so much cdheaper than using patches or gum.

I don't think it is safe for everyone but worth asking the doc about.

good luck

xxxdxxx

mynamesnotdave · 4 September 2006 at 4:07PM

I'm interested in giving up smoking too, my dad managed successfully with Zyban, but I had an alergic reaction to it.

I'm specifically interested in using a hypnosis, but its hard to tell which hypnotist to go to? Can anoyone recommend one in Manchester?

TNG · 4 September 2006 at 4:12PM

mynamesnotdave wrote:

I'm interested in giving up smoking too, my dad managed successfully with Zyban, but I had an alergic reaction to it.

I'm specifically interested in using a hypnosis, but its hard to tell which hypnotist to go to? Can anoyone recommend one in Manchester?

Dave,

At the risk of repeating myself, try getting in touch with an Allen Carr clinic (I think there is one in Manchester). They are a couple of hundred quid but you discuss stuff with one of their people for a couple of hours and I believe they have a hypnothrerapy session at the end - maybe someone who has been can confirm. Or ring them and ask.....

angeluk69_2 · 4 September 2006 at 4:20PM

:wave: hello!!!

I gave up smoking on 21st Nov 2005, so it has been just over 9 months:T

I called our local stop smoking service(try the link)

http://www.dh.gov.uk/PolicyAndGuidance/HealthAndSocialCareTopics/Tobacco/TobaccoGeneralInformation/TobaccoGeneralArticle/fs/en?CONTENT_ID=4002192&chk=5Xx9q6

Not sure if its the right one but will keep looking this is the manchester service:

http://www.smokingprevention.co.uk/

I used NRT (nicotine replacement therapy thru the inhalator (fake ciggie with capsules) I only used this for a couple of weeks cos it tasted like old fags.
Since giving up, i slipped a couple of times and in total only had 3 cigs in that time but do not even think about it now.

I was smoking 20-30 a day and now i have that extra money in my pocket which actually goes towards paying off the debts.

With the right support it is possible to give up for good

Bambywamby · 4 September 2006 at 5:08PM

My mother had a 40 fags a day habit of 40 years and she kicked it after reading Allen Carrs book on stopping smoking.
She had tried oodles of times before with patches, self will and even zyban.
For some biazzre reason this book worked and she has been "clean" for 2 years. :T

Good luck on giving up.

Bams x.x

A11yson · 4 September 2006 at 5:19PM

I gave up smoking on 22nd September 2005 - so nearly a year for me. I had hypnotherapy - but you also have to want to do it - others I know who have had hypnotherapy have started again within a short space of time. As it says on the tin - also requires willpower. :rotfl: Hypno helped enormously and I didn't feel irritable.

Good luck!!

humfer · 4 September 2006 at 6:10PM

Haven't got any tips on best way of giving up, but something some of the blokes have done is stick the money saved in a glass jar which will really add as a visual pointer of how well your doing. Also why don't you agree to spend of fixed percentage of what you save on something to treat yourself and that can add as a really good memory of doing this

Eagle_1 · 4 September 2006 at 9:59PM

Hi, because you are wanting to quit things should be a bit easier for you. I had my last ciggy on New Years Eve (just gone). Id had it in my head i was qitting but didnt tell people (not even my hubby).
So after I had my last ciggy I put a patch on. I knew that the morning would be the killer for me. When I got up in the morning i totally changed my routine, so instead of cuppa and ciggy I just had water, then started washing up, tidying basically anyhing so that I didnt light up.
I found the worst times were after meals so I just changed my routine, I think its all in the head. You have a meal so after a meal you need that smoke so now after a meal I sit outside for 5 mins on the bench, or come on the PC.
I only needed the one patch, how I saw it as if I could get through a whole day without a ciggy I should be able to cope. I remember the first few nights after I stopped smoking id go to bed, one night I even went to bed about 7:30PM, it stopped me wanting a ciggy because I was asleep.
You can get patches on prescription or at least you used to be able to. For me even though I only used one patch I dont think id have managed to quit if I hadnt had that one initial one.
Alan Carr has been mentioned, personally I dont feel this method helped me at all. A couple of years ago I had the book, read it once and was still a smoker. It was after bad family news that I packed in smoking, Id give myself 6 months to quit but it took me 7 though.

Good luck in packing in, the main thing you need to do is change your routine. Try to keep yourself busy, that helped me a lot, cos if I was bored then chances are I would have lit up.

Edit to add : here is a link to another thread on mse which might help you http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=38742&page=50

Giving Up Smoking

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