The Giving Up Smoking Thread!! Part 2

SandC

This is a really good point for me. I went 2 weeks when I had hypnotism I think somewhere around 1997 and haven't really attempted stopping ever since. Just a few days here and there.

It is pretty much cold turkey as there are no nicotine replacement therapies at all. They are something I never considered to be honest. What is the success rate like?

I'm feeling good, I get the occasional pang but it's not at any particular time. The sensation passes in seconds. The cough is virtually gone and no real other ill effects that I can think of at all.

I do miss having my chats with the girls and guys at work who smoke on breaks but that's life. Smoking isn't worth it.

I feel like a non smoker, I really do.

I have already got my holiday booked for this year but am looking at a nile cruise in November time with some of the money I have saved.

SandC

I've just googled above and it also led me to a site that I think might be very useful for a lot of you.

From having a quick read it has the same sort of values as the Allen Carr method uses - basically getting you off nicotine!

It's called whyquit.com and is worth a look.

mumofcookers

Chrissy61 wrote: »

Hi
You are doing brilliantly, nearly a month that is fab. What made you decide to go cold turkey ? I decided to because the patches made me itch so much my skin was bleeding, plus I wanted to get the nicotine out of my body as soon as possible. Generally, I feel okay, but sometimes getting towards the end of the day, I maybe get a bit fidgety (like last night) I just come on here and read the posts and it spurs me on as they are so many others on here going through the same thing. Its a well trodden path, thats for sure.
I want to wish you every success, youre doing great

Thanks, the reason I am doing cold turkey is the same really, I just wanted it out of my body quickly, also I have a terrible time sleeping on patches, the 16hr and 24hr ones.
You are doing really well!!

Chrissy61

Morning All
Hope youre all okay this Friday morning. Regarding NRT, I can understand why people use it and if it works for you why not ? There are no prizes for having the hardest quit, but Allen Carr raised a point saying that why, if youre addicted to nicotine, (which we all were )when youre trying to come off it, would you put more into your body ? Its like an alcholic who normally drinks whisky , trying to quit, but having brandy instead of whisky. Anyway. if it works for you , why not ? I would probably use the patches myself if they didnt make me itch so much. Plus this time I wanted to get the nicotine out of my body as soon as possible .
Anyway thats my opinion for what its worth.
Have a good smoke free day all
Chris xx

I have been quit for 2 Weeks, 4 Days, 4 hours, 1 minute and 55 seconds (18 days). I have saved £106.72 by not smoking 454 cigarettes. I have saved 1 Day, 13 hours and 50 minutes of my life. My Quit Date: 16/03/2009 07:45

mazza111

well, went on the stronger tablets today, coffee now tastes horrible, fags now taste horrible, so hopefully i'm finally getting the effect of these tablets now. If they fags are still awful I may have to stop faster than I anticipated

SandC

Never a bad thing mazza.

With the nrt issue, I just haven't ever been able to convince myself that it could work if I'm honest. It must work for people but would they find it just as easy to go cold turkey - after all, they are still going to get nicotine withdrawals some time. They are perhaps playing on the psychosomatic issues of the act of smoking.

Anyhoo, as chrissy says if it works for you then why not -what matters is we stop smoking and more importantly - stay stopped!

Chrissy61

Yep, just go for it Mazza whenever you feel ready
Chris xx

Neenie_o

Hi all,

Good discussion about NRT vs Cold Turkey (Allen Carr). I am all for getting nicotine out of your system as quickly as possible (surely the best way to beat the addiction) but I did try that method a few years ago with no success (admittedly I also tried gum later and failed with that too). I just found that I couldn't make the arguments from the book stick in my head properly (I didn't have a counter argument, I think I just buried the information in some dark corner of my brain and ignored it :rolleyes:)

Perhaps it's a question of being ready to face it, and able to deal with it. I know the effects of nicotine withdrawal are fairly minor, but I'd like to prepare myself for these by using NRT and weaning myself off gradually. I already don't get the swift delivery of nicotine that a cigarette gave me with the inhalator, so it's not like I'm enjoying the "buzz" I used to get from smoking - and all in all it's got to be better than poisoning myself with the 4000 chemicals I used to (yes I know nicotine is a poison, but thankfully by itself it's not a carcinogen).

However, I have been given the Allen Carr's Stop Smoking Coach (Nintendo DS Game) which I intend to give my full attention to after 8 weeks of not smoking. Hopefully then I can crack the nicotine addiction altogether then.

Hope everyone's doing really well - I'm coming up to my fourth weekend as a non-smoker! Woohoo!!

Chrissy61

Hi Neenie
Yes you have raised some very good points there. I bought and read the Allen Carr book myself quite a few years back, but couldnt stop so I think I gave the book away. I bought the book again 2 years ago and read it through, and although it did change a lot of my perceptions regarding smoking, and raised some really good points, I still couldnt bring myself to stop. It is true to say that fear kept me smoking for nearly 32 years. The only thing I have not tried is Champix. I have tried in the past, patches, Zyban, lozenges, inhalers, hypnosis, read books, listened to tapes etc. Now I am doing this cold turkey and I am flying because I really want to do this for me. I am not stopping because I think I should, I am doing this because I want to and I feel 100% committed and ready. This is my time. I was looking for a "magic button" to press that would make me stop smoking, and all the time it was here in my own hands. I had to make it happen.
Sorry if Im rambling, whatever method you are all using, it doesnt matter. We have stopped we just need to stay stopped.
Love
Chris xxx

Neenie_o

Hi Chris,

You are so right! I think the only time anyone will ever succeed is when they are completely ready and 100% committed. I think my previous attempts were marred by the fact that I wasn't committed properly.

The first time (Allen Carr) I was looking for that "magic button" that you talk about, and because I didn't find it (or wasn't looking hard enough) I gave up giving up.

The second (gum) I managed a few months, but as I was a student at the time I really only did it because I had no money and was saving for a little holiday in Newquay. The moment I was on holiday, with money in my pocket, back came the cigs :eek:

Now, I am determined to stay quit for good. I've realised I've made excuses for smoking that just don't exist, and I know it won't be long before I stop missing my "old friend" and start seeing it as a deadly enemy and a narrow escape for me. My reasons for quitting are simple; I don't want to die young, I don't want to waste my money (let's face it how could I smoke and convince myself I was using MSE and its tips to the full) and I want my future to be bright not murky and smokey.

This thread is invaluable for the support it offers, as it's not an easy journey by any means. Smoking was so natural to me as I started so young, it was almost a reflex. Checking myself daily by reading this thread really helps reinforce the fact I am a non-smoker.

So thanks everyone :beer:

xxx