The Giving Up Smoking Thread!! Part 2

adydye

Hi,

I'm posting to recommend www.whyquit.com.
It reminds me of this website because there are no ads and it is non-governmental. Also, it declines donations.
I had cancer in 2003, but luckily it was removed and that's that, although I now don't have a spare kidney! The hospital tried to "help" me stop smoking, and I ended up using nicotine nasal sprays for 2 years and then went back to smoking to get my nicotine.
Nicotine Replacement Therapy is a con, and only a miniscule fraction of people stop through using it. If you wish to know how nicotine really works, visit www.whyquit.com.
The only way to stop for good is to never take another drop of nicotine into your body - full stop.
This website arms you with all the knowledge and motivation you need to quit.
Don't wait; do it now! You'll wish you hadn't waited so long!
Ady
(I've been clean since April 17th, 2009)

larmy16

Sadly there are people who get hooked on NRT. Luckily I was not one of them - I ended up forgetting to use the patches which was good in my case.

I must say I used to think it was a crazy idea to be putting nicotine back in your body when you were trying to stop, but it works for some. Not only that there is huge money to be made from them for the pharmecutical companies.

In the end though, if you do successfully give up, even if you did use NRT it has to be a positive thing.

Sue-UU

larmy16 wrote: »

In the end though, if you do successfully give up, even if you did use NRT it has to be a positive thing.

Hi adydye, glad to hear you recovered from cancer, that you're trying to quit smoking too; though I think the illness itself would have frightened me into quitting right then!

I agree with larmy, if NRTs work for folk then who's to knock them. They've certainly been the reason that so many on here managed to quit and stay quit.! The same old thing though, we're all individuals and what doesn't work for one, may be all that another person needs to achieve the dream of being a non-smoker once more. Personally, I'd never thought that NRTs could help me and they didn't as I quit by cold turkey 10 years ago. Just the thought of putting nicotine in by another means seemed a bit Irish to me and I still fear that others use it, especially inhalators, for far longer than they should do which may well mean they won't/don't succeed, but who knows?

We've also had folk go to whyquit who have failed, so as with everything else, what's suits one.......! The main thing most people need is a real determination to quit.That along with moral support from loved ones, medical help via the NHS, and threads like this and they're half way there. We've had many people quit just from help on this thread, and the one before it, alone and to hear how proud they are of their achievements is brilliant. However, no matter how they quit, if it does the job, takes away their fears, provides them with cash in their pockets AND helps them to be as healthy as possible....that is all they wish for and all that matters!

All the best in staying quit for life, YOURS!!!

Sue

larmy16

Good morning all quitters and would be quitters!

A brand new shiny week has arrived - the kind of week where it would be a good idea to grab your courage in both hands and quit smoking!

My resisting comfort eating kind of went pear shaped at the weekend (what's new?) but nevertheless I weighed one pound lighter this morning. I think I am in for a long haul!

Have a good smoke free week y'all.:)

lynette_sherburne

Hello, brand new here, you all sound so positive & kind, hope you don't mind me joining?

I am 49, short of breath and sick of chest infections!

I started smoking at 14/15yrs old - I had my last one at 11pm last night & am on day 8 of Champix.

I keep wanting a fag and it's only 10am! - HELP!!!!!! Please tell me this gets better?

Lyn

Also, strangely - on Champix - after a few days kept feeling sickly, am not today - was it the smoking???

adydye

Isn't the Champix meant to make you feel sick if you smoke? I don't know.
If you need something to read go to www.whyquit.com and it will help you understand what is causing the craving and how to deal with it.
I found breathing exercises really helpful when I got a craving. They don't last as long as you think - 3 mins I think - and they get fewer and further between the longer you go.
Remember the first 3 days are the crucial ones, and then it starts to get easier until the end of two weeks when you should have cracked it!!
and voila.
It's no small thing you are trying to do, but once you have achieved it, you'll feel so good about it all and so you should.
Stick with it and read as much as possible!
Ady

warehouse

I had multiple attempts at giving up the evil nicotine until I found a site called quitnet, (www.quitnet.com). I joined a group who gave up in the same month and we supported each other through the first year, we all understood each others highs and lows and celebrated days, weeks and then months of no smoking. Without it I would have failed again, it really is a wonderful place to be when giving up. I have huge respect for any ex smokers now who have gone through this tough process. Good luck to everyone going for it.

larmy16

Lynette I am on my lunch hour and in a rush, but I just wanted to say Hi. Yes it will be tough for the first few days. Try to keep in mind all of us on here who have been through what you are experiencing and are now coming back to post we are still smoke free.

All the best and have a good day. X:)

gizmo0205

Thanks for the email Sue, there is some really good advice there and I don't feel so alone now in my quest to to give up. Had a little weak moment today where it did cross my mind to buy some whilst we were out (poor girls have been locked in the house for days so I can avoid temptation lol), but I resisted as I knew it was just out of habit that I felt the need to buy some and after not smoking for a week did I really want to mess it all up now. So I left the shop with just my two loaves of bread so am very pleased with myself.

Will be starting a diet tomorrow (bran flakes for brekkie & lunch then light dinner), just to get me out of this habit of snacking as have already gone up two dress sizes due to medication so don't want my weight getting too out of control through quitting smoking as well.

larmy16

Very wise Gizmoo about the weight thingy. Don't be like me and quit smoking, gain weight, get depressed about weight, start smoking. Lose weight, quit smoking, gain weight, start smoking......................you get the picture?

I firmly believe it was smoking in the first place to deal with an imagined weight problem, that I now have a real weight problem. Yo-yo-ing my entire life.

Now I have the weight to shift and cannot run back to smoking (as I have no illusions left of it helping in anyway) and it's going to be a long process due to my age and the apparently slow metabolism I now have (even though I have an active job and am doing physical stuff for at least 6 hours a day)! I will get there......some day!:D

Thing is, you do have to like yourself as you are (v. difficult) - as if you (we) do not, you (we) will always be turning to something to ease our uncomfortable feelings.