The Giving Up Smoking Thread!! Part 2

stevedavies

Morning all, hope everyone is well today!

A tip I've been using which people might find helpful is to associate bad feelings with smoking...I'll try to explain below...

Think of something you cannot bear the smell of...you can let your imagination go wild here!..then squeeze your thumb and forefinger of your right hand together while thinking of this smell...you need to go over this a few times until when you squeeze your thumb and forefinger together you can recall the thought of this smell!!..Ugghhh...Next....think of a taste that you really despise....again, you can let your imagination go crazy with this...the worse, the better really!!!....again, squeeze your thumb and forefinger of your right hand together and think of the taste....Now, put these together, the smell and taste of these things you hate....again, do this again and again, associating squeezing your thumb and forefinger together on your right hand while doing it, until when you squeeze your thumb and forefinger together you start to feel a bit squiffy!!..this can take 10 minutes or so..sometimes even more, but keep at it!!!!.......Now, the important bit....when you squeeze your thumb and forefinger together think of taking a puff on a cigarette....small at first then deeper...keep doing this while thinking of the smell and taste of your chosen horrors!!...This does take some practise but it is worth spending half an hour or so on it.....and then everytime you fancy a cigarette, you need to squeeze your thumb and forefinger (right hand) together and you will know if it's working as you will feel quite ill!!!!!!, and hopefully associate the thought of smoking with these things you despise!!!

Hope this helps, and hope you understand my ramblings!!!!

skintandscared_2

Well I'm half-way through my second day without the ciggies and feel absolutely fine. It hasn't hurt, there haven't been any pangs of actual pain and all I've had is the occasional urge to have a ciggie. Funny thing is, that urge is not really any stronger than it always was, 30 times a day. I'm taking deep breaths or having a drink of water and the pang goes away pretty quickly. I know that this time tomorrow the pangs will probably reach their peak and by Thursday it'll all be gone. Can't wait!

Couldn't go to work today as there's been a fatality on my train line and I've no way of getting in. So I've been stuck at home all day with my smoking partner! heh. Actually, it doesn't bother me. He smokes roll-ups and they don't smell nearly as bad as the ciggies I smoked.

skr80

I have a small (380k) pdf book by a chap called Allen Carr. If its allowed, and you would like a copy, please pm me with your e-mail address...

fabulous_girl

Grrr, I AM SO ANGRY! I desperately want to quit but seem unable to, stopped from 1st - 4th then as soon as i got back to work i was back on the fags. Ive tried everything but zyban or champix. I was so upset last week and i had a read up about these two and decided to give them a go, so i made an appointment and waited a week Now the surgery has just rang and told me that they have to cancel my appointment as the nurse is sick and they cant see me til next week. Was unable to make new appointment as my rota for next week wont be done til tomorrow so i dont know when i have free to go. im SO annoyed, of course its not the nurses fault shes sick but i was really looking forward to getting in there to get the stuff and get quit. GRRRAAAAA!

nikzGfx

fabulous_girl wrote: »

Grrr, I AM SO ANGRY! I desperately want to quit but seem unable to, stopped from 1st - 4th then as soon as i got back to work i was back on the fags. Ive tried everything but zyban or champix. I was so upset last week and i had a read up about these two and decided to give them a go, so i made an appointment and waited a week Now the surgery has just rang and told me that they have to cancel my appointment as the nurse is sick and they cant see me til next week. Was unable to make new appointment as my rota for next week wont be done til tomorrow so i dont know when i have free to go. im SO annoyed, of course its not the nurses fault shes sick but i was really looking forward to getting in there to get the stuff and get quit. GRRRAAAAA!

In good time you will, you don't need to see a nurse, you perhaps don't need stuff like Champix etc, it's about the mind most the times. If you haven't already, read Allen Carr's book, perhaps that may give you a little more insight into stopping and it does hurt when you read that book but does work for certain people.

Just don't let that monster take control of you, remember it is just wanting it's fix, you don't need it, it does.

Good luck and let us know how it goes

fabulous_girl

Thanks niks, but it didnt work for me! ive read it about 5 times! it worked but then i got cocky and thought i could have a cig on a night out, and then carried on. i've tried willpower, allan carr, patches, gum, inhalator and hypnosis. nothing has worked

nikzGfx

fabulous_girl wrote: »

Thanks niks, but it didnt work for me! ive read it about 5 times! it worked but then i got cocky and thought i could have a cig on a night out, and then carried on. i've tried willpower, allan carr, patches, gum, inhalator and hypnosis. nothing has worked

what makes you smoke? why do you smoke? is it that you are in the habit mode and are use to doing it, if ou dont mind me asking how many do you smoke a day?

fabulous_girl

nikz, i have 5-10 a day usually. I think a lot of it is habit. Once i get it in my mind that i could have a cigarette, i have to have one, cravings seem to only happen when i think about it, but then i cant not think about it as often i wake up desperate for one. A lot of the time i drive to work thinking "i will not smoke, i will not smoke" then i end up detouring by a garage to get cigs. i tend not to smoke at home as my boyfriend hates it, so its only during the working day or even if im off work by myself. This is my train of thought on a day off like that:

"I will not smoke today, I don't have any cigarettes or any access to them....I wonder if my neighbour is in....does he have any? He's not. No bother. I COULD go to the shop around the corner.... but I have no cash and they dont take card. Oh well. Maybe I could just walk down the road in the freezing cold and go and get some from the co-op instead. Where are my shoes?!"

Even if i get to work without cigarettes, ill end up 'borrowing' one from a colleague, even if they are on the other side of the building.

MoonRose77

fabulous_girl - I have been there just like you tried everything on the market, on prescription, read the book and nothing worked either. This time however I don't know why but something just clicked - and I have had years of trying and failing behind me, know all the triggers, done the same daily train of thought as you but for some reason this time I have been able to do it. I guess it could be a case of having had enough of them and not wanting to be a slave to them anymore - I really can't tell you why its been different but something just has felt different about it. That might end up being the case with you and it will just click into place. Good luck with it - you will do it hun. xx

nikzGfx

fabulous_girl wrote: »

nikz, i have 5-10 a day usually. I think a lot of it is habit. Once i get it in my mind that i could have a cigarette, i have to have one, cravings seem to only happen when i think about it, but then i cant not think about it as often i wake up desperate for one. A lot of the time i drive to work thinking "i will not smoke, i will not smoke" then i end up detouring by a garage to get cigs. i tend not to smoke at home as my boyfriend hates it, so its only during the working day or even if im off work by myself. This is my train of thought on a day off like that:

"I will not smoke today, I don't have any cigarettes or any access to them....I wonder if my neighbour is in....does he have any? He's not. No bother. I COULD go to the shop around the corner.... but I have no cash and they dont take card. Oh well. Maybe I could just walk down the road in the freezing cold and go and get some from the co-op instead. Where are my shoes?!"

Even if i get to work without cigarettes, ill end up 'borrowing' one from a colleague, even if they are on the other side of the building.

I understand where you are coming from I was like that a couple of years ago in my uni days, proper smoker, will find ways of getting a ciggie etc etc. Quite a few of us probs go through the same thing and feelings.

Not sounding harsh but you have to be in these scenarios, you are an addict of nicotine which has brainwashed you, because it's the feeling your getting from the smoke and nicotine from a ciggie the whole experience of it which NRT's etc don't offer to you. It is hard not to think about it but our brain keeps playing tricks on us because that evil substance has overtaken our brain. I read it takes 7 seconds after 1 puff for the nicotine to reach the brain that is FAST! That makes us happy for a split few seconds and then we go back to the worry of when are we going to have that next ciggie to make me feel the way I did on my last one.

What if the next one you smoke makes you seriously ill? You’re taking a risk with your life with each fag you have. We've all been stupid to do that. There will come a point when you realise you have to stop, until then don't force yourself to stop this will just cause you to fail and start smoking again. Only when your frame of mind is right should you stop, when you realise it's nothing but a waste of money, something that is ruining you and your life, once you have overcome certain barriers then you will be a happy non smoker, just don't go into it thinking you have to this will be more negative.

You will stop when the time is right until then just write down why you smoke, what you are getting out of it, what it makes you feel when you have that puff etc. It will get easier but don't make it harder for you.

It's good to share some of the experiences smoking has caused. I'll share something. When I was with my ex gf, I was with her for 2 and a half years, a year and half into our relationship, she got fed up of me smoking, she gave me an ultimatum, smoking or her? She came out of it, and told me to choose one. I got angry that she even thought that way, but hey she was serious! Of course I didn't want to lose the one I loved, so I gave up smoking! (That's what she thought, sadly I became a secret smoker, I was still smoking while I was with her behind her back of course, while being with her I would not smoke and I could go without smoking, but when not with her I would continue to smoke, what's even bad, I took her to Paris for a weekend holiday, I use to sneak out the hotel to smoke and then go to the bar to have a drink to take the smell away! That's what it does; I got use to the fact of smoking then hiding my tracks. Even my parents thought I had given up and continued to smoke behind their backs. It's bad, I became a liar I felt guilty and still do. We broke up few months ago not relating to my smoking but other issues, but then started smoking even more after the break up but that didn't help at all! Good riddance!