The Giving Up Smoking Thread!! Part 2

ameliarate

Thanks zartub and neenie-o.

I keep trying to think of the reasons why I don't want to smoke and the control is a big thing. Being there in the future for my daughter is the other.

I think I just need to know that eventually there will actually be a day where thoughts of smoking aren't running around my head ever second of every minute of every day, which is what it feels like right now.

larmy16

Amelierate. I feel for you I really do. Have you asked yourself if you really want to stop smoking? I mean for yourself and not just because you feel like you should?

It sounds to me like you are in a real conflict in your mind. Nicotine is telling you you want to smoke, and you are responding (quite naturally) as if you are having to stop when you don't really want to.

Try to remind yourself that while you are protecting your home from the smell of smoke, when you go outside, you are taking your most precious asset - yourself!

Why not sit down and list all the advantages of smoking and then the disadvantages. The only advantage that comes to my mind is relieving the craving. Anything else is a negative.

Can you recall how disgusting you felt when you were smoking? I hope I am making sense Amelierate. It's just that nicotine promises you so much, but when you actually cave in and have a ciggy, you are left feeling disappointed and guilty that it has fooled you once again.

Please remember we all went through this and came out the other side.

It will get easier - if only you can gain the upper hand of your mind, so to speak. All the best to you. Relax and know it will pass.

ameliarate

larmy16 wrote: »

Amelierate. I feel for you I really do. Have you asked yourself if you really want to stop smoking? I mean for yourself and not just because you feel like you should?

I do want to stop smoking BUT the smoking part of me doesn't, if that makes sense?

It sounds to me like you are in a real conflict in your mind. Nicotine is telling you you want to smoke, and you are responding (quite naturally) as if you are having to stop when you don't really want to.

I think you are right, I do want to for all the right reasons but I have to admit I enjoyed smoking so it makes it difficult

Try to remind yourself that while you are protecting your home from the smell of smoke, when you go outside, you are taking your most precious asset - yourself!

Why not sit down and list all the advantages of smoking and then the disadvantages. The only advantage that comes to my mind is relieving the craving. Anything else is a negative.

Can you recall how disgusting you felt when you were smoking? I hope I am making sense Amelierate. It's just that nicotine promises you so much, but when you actually cave in and have a ciggy, you are left feeling disappointed and guilty that it has fooled you once again.

I used to go outside when I was at work, have a quick fag and think, what the h£ll was that all about? I keep trying to remember that.


Please remember we all went through this and came out the other side.

It will get easier - if only you can gain the upper hand of your mind, so to speak. All the best to you. Relax and know it will pass.

Thank you,:T this post has made me stop and think a bit. Somehow yesterday it was like a big heavy cloud was in my head and no matter how I tried I couldn't see the positives of stopping, all I could see was that I wanted to smoke. Today it has lifted slightly and I can see a bit better so I am trying to "get my fingers in" so that I can rip that cloud apart.

larmy16

Amerlierate you are going to be just fine. I think we forget just how much we used nicotine to deal with just about everything going on in our lives. It is part habit and part addiction and for most of us, we cannot just switch it off instantly, much as we would like to.

If you can just get clear in your head that you really do not want to smoke and what you are dealing with is a nicotine addiction and not something that helps you, your mind will gain the upper hand over the nagging feeling.

Have a good day.

jammy_dodger

hi ameliarate , i hope you are managing to stay strong i know exactly what you are going through . i had to have a hard think before i gave up this time i didnt want to put myself through all the trauma and swings of previous attempts only to start again . i enjoyed smoking and was giving up more or less for others ,beacuse i thought its the right thing to do , that wasnt enough ..
this time i had gotten really fed up being a smoker . standing outside in the cold , driving 20 mile round trip for cigs cos i'd run out , feeling a slave to nicotine not to mention lining the tax mans pockets hell no i pay enough duty on fuel without adding to duty on cigs ...so i now feel a little triumphant when i see mounting up what i have not spent , how IN CONTROL i feel . trust me it gets easier ..stick with it good luck x x

ameliarate

I feel a little better this morning. I have been giving this a lot of thought, particularly because both my sister and my OH seemed to find it pretty easy to stop smoking.

This is about choice and I think I am having a crisis because whilst intellectually I want to stop and know I should stop, I can't deny that I get pleasure from smoking though I do realise that that is due to the addiction. Having never stopped before I don't know what it's like not to smoke whereas I do know what it is like smoking.

Tomorrow it is 2 weeks and it would be ridiculous for me to start again and I think that knowing that has created an element of fear(?) which has pushed me into this crisis.

I suppose the question is whether my intellect is stronger than my addiction? Certainly the cravings are relatively minor. What's going on in my head is not a craving as such.

I apologise for waffling, I think if I have written it down it may be that I can try and make some sense of it and make the right decision. It may also be helpful to anyone else in a similar situation.

I am on Champix.

Neenie_o

Hi all,

ameliarate I'm pleased you're feeling better. I can't say I'm feeling the way you are this time, I'm just not, but my previous quit attempt last year I was feeling very much like that. I knew it was ridiculous to start again after being quit for months, but I couldn't stop myself; I constantly felt I was depriving myself of something enjoyable and for someone who has never been on a diet and never really restricted what I've put in my mouth (steady!) it was a totally alien concept. Even people on here telling me that it would get better didn't help, even knowing that I'd worked so hard and it would all be for nought didn't matter - I wanted a cigarette. Simple as that.

This time it has been different. I have tried a different method, so I could put it down to that (no nicotine in my body any more), I could put it down to the fact that I want to stop more than I did last time (I haven't any children, but do want them one day and don't want to be a smoker with kids - and I'm not getting any younger!).

Despite what I've said above, I'm still going to say that yes it does get easier and it would be stupid to start again after two weeks - but I'm also going to suggest that maybe you alter the method you're using (got it, Champix ). Maybe have a read of Allen Carr's book just to reinforce your decision to stop - there really is nothing nice about smoking, except relieving the craving for nicotine but I only recently came to that realisation and no amount of people telling me so made it stick. Perhaps I'm just a stubborn, petulant little brat? I know the OH would say so

Good luck ameliarate, I really hope you take the decision to stick with it - it's the best feeling when you conquer it!

xxxx

Emma133

Hi all,

Well here I am on day 1 and I must admit it has been a truley awful day I feel very down have had an argument and would quite happily have lots of cigs - not that it would help really.

The patches I am using now are not the same as I have used before and they don't seem to be doing much.

Sorry to be such a moaner

Emma x

ameliarate

This really is a roller coaster ride for me.

Had my carbon monoxoide (?) breath test yesterday, down to the same level as a non smoker. :j

Feeling much more positive today, and by the end of today will have saved £70.

Emma, you can't be as much of a moaner as I have been. I have found this experience to be truly awful some days. Good luck with getting free of the evil weed.

Emma133

Thank you Ameliarate, this morning I felt like I can't do this, now I kicked my own butt into gear and got busy I can and I WILL do this!!!

Not sure I like these patches though.

I'd do anythingggggggg for you!!!