The Giving Up Smoking Thread!! Part 2

Sue-UU

Great news mazza! It does you good to know people are 'for' you and prepared to help all they can, others in giving their support to back you up too. A bit like us!;) I think from how you talk you have a fantastic amount of courage and determination and it's that which'll help you so much with all your dealing with right now. All the very best!

I'm so very pleased your OH is so much betternow Mimi. It's really tough when we can only watch them helplessly, but it's us they rely on to be strong for them, bit of a problem to always be that way, but.....! I truthfully hope you can get that plumbing problem fixed before next week and that you can get away for a much-needed break for you both. Fingers crossed that you're luck will change! Either way, your health will!!! :T

Hiya joop and good to see you too!! Congratulations once more on all that you've accomplished, you did so very well!! :T

Many congratulations on inspiring your boss SandC!!! :T You've already done amazingly well, it'll be so good for you to 'be there' for him with advice and support if he needs it. However, if he doesn't then at least you can pat yourself on the back for having achieved it all for you as well as him. I sometimes wonder if we ever inspire others that we never even know about, what a thought, I so hope it's true!

Have a very good Thursday everyone and notch up yet another triumphant day of once again getting back great health! The journey's a fantastic one, at moments of weakness remind yourself just how far you've come and how brilliantly you've done!!:j

Sue x

Jamie88_2

I've been an avid user of this site for a while now but never got round to registering, however, I desperately want to pack up smoking. I've been smoking for about 20 years (oh the money I've wasted!). Yesterday I took the plunge and went to my GP and today I have started a course of Champix to help me stop, no luck with the patches. I will find the time to scour this thread for inspiration but I wish my fellow quitters all the best.

J.

SandC

Hiya Jamie, best of luck with it. We were all where you are now. The support on here helps.

larmy16

You can get patches of Nicotinell very reasonably off Ebay. However they don't adhere that well but if you wear them under a tighter piece of clothing they are fine. I got three packs of the 24 hours for under £20.

I used one week during day only. Nicotine patches give you very vivid dreams! The following seven I cut into two halves and used two weeks.

The rest I just was forgetting to use them anyway. Still in the drawer.

mazza111

Good luck and welcome aboard Jamie88. Champix are great for a lot of people, they take the craving away completely for most, they did for me anyway. Just take care if you get any of the side effects, especially the suicidal thoughts, IF you do get them, seek medical advice. Although I'm pretty sure your GP has already gone through that with you. I didn't have any side effects whatsoever on them until I had been on them for 6 weeks, then all hell broke loose. I would still recommend them to anyone who wants to give up, but with caution. Really hope they work for you:beer:

shimmershelly

Welcome aboard and good luck on your journey Jamie88 :T
I quit on Champix also, and found them like a magic wand. I did have side effects though, nausea and vivid dreams, but combatted that by going on a lower dose. I came off them after about 4 weeks or so because I ended up on only .25mg and I kept forgetting to take them. They got me through the hard first few weeks like a dream though.
Shelly x

graemecarter

little_lily wrote: »

I just wanted to support graemecarter in what he said, if not necessarily the way he said it! I have been quit since December 3rd, so nearly five months. However, I have reached the five month mark before - only to succumb to the 'just one drag won't hurt' trick.

The problem is, that one drag DOES taste horrible - it actually nearly made me physically sick it was so vile. Which was why, two weeks later, I felt OK to have another drag. My mind was saying 'it's fine to have the odd puff because you didn't enjoy it and so there's no way you'll go back to being a smoker'

I am sure you can guess the rest - lulled into a false sense of security, and not realising that each time I had 'just one drag' it got less and less digusting, the occasional drag became the occasional cigarette and before I knew it I was smoking every darn day again.

To be honest, I wish someone had given me a real kick up the backside a la graemecarter. I was so busy telling myself that it was OK because it tasted foul and that there was no way I would ever become a smoker again I didn't notice that was exactly what I was becoming.

Don't shoot me down - I sometimes think that we need tough love if we are to quit and stay quit. How many of us have tried to quit in the past only to fail after 'just one drag'. I think that that is all graemecarter was trying to say.

Thanks - you articulated what I was trying to say very well.

I would hate anyone to start smoking again.

My advice is: Never ever have another drag again in your life, ever.

Jamie88_2

Cheers for the advice Mazza, I've been feeling queezy and light headed practically since I took my 1st one this morning so I'm not looking forward to doubling up in a few days! But nothing else is working for me so these are my last resort.

mazza111

You only think they are, stick with them as long as you can, even if they get u past the first hurdle of actually stopping. I felt like you 6 weeks ago, had to stop the champix because of the weird thoughts (but let's not go there again). and although i could kill for a smoke now, i am determined not to let myself down (again) and like you, I had tried everything over the years. Confidence in what you are doing seems to work too, believe in your product and your product will work well for you. Well that's my motto anyhoo. Now my NRT is apples, apples and more apples:p

shimmershelly

Jamie88 wrote: »

Cheers for the advice Mazza, I've been feeling queezy and light headed practically since I took my 1st one this morning so I'm not looking forward to doubling up in a few days! But nothing else is working for me so these are my last resort.

I managed a week on the higher dose, the first week of not smoking. That was all I could bear with the nausea, so dropped down to taking the .5mg tabs twice a day with the nurse's agreement. The difference in the feelings from the white tabs to the blue tabs was immense for me, I couldn't function normally on the blue ones. They got me through that bad first week though, so if you get bad nausea, try and see it through for that week. If you go back to the white ones for the second week of not smoking you will need a bit of willpower on top of the Champix, but it gets easier day by day.
I was determined I was going to need the whole 12 week course, but it ended up only being about 4 weeks I needed to be on the tablets.
I don't even think about smoking now (hand on heart I don't) I really should stop coming on this thread now as it's my only reminder of smoking , I'm busy getting fit now so I should stick to the couch to 5K thread instead!!!