The Giving Up Smoking Thread!! Part 2

choille

Another day smoke free.

Another day going somewhere that was a challenge but did it.

I do hope I get a good sleep tonight as my sleeping has not been good & that is starting to stress me.
It's a side effect of the Champix that is not great for me.

Night night all.

Clean_Living

Just found this thread and thought that I wanna piece of this! I am 30 and have been smoking since I was 16. Terrifying thought! Hope its not too late. I am from UK but have lived in Asia and now in the Middle East where the price of ciggies is about one pound. In the countries I have lived in they are smokers paradises where fags are cheap, everyone does it, and smoking inside pubs, offices etc is the norm! I have always seen Alcoholics Anonymous groups and rehab centers like the Priory and thought about why there isn't groups to help with kicking the chokers! I read Alan Carr's book a few years ago but have never quit properly. I got 6 cancers sticks in mt packet right now and once these are gone that is it. Finito. I am not going to use any nicotine replacements, just gonna do good old fashioned exercise and healthy living. Think I will post a lot in the next three days as I try to clear the nicotine from my body. I almost think that the idea that it is so difficult to quit is a story invented by the ciggie companies in order to plant it in your mind. I use to do lots of adictive things like playing computer games, smoking weed, playing football but managed to quit those! Im sure Im going to be able to do it and I like having thhis forum to let you know how I go. ok thanks for reading if you are still with me:)

Clean_Living

Ok. Just had my last cigarette and chucked the rest. Time where I am is 7.41am 6th March 2010. Lets see how this goes

choille

Best of luck clean living.

oldreekie

Hi choille, so sorry to have missed your birthday. Hope you had a great day and are enjoying the present you gave yourself .... a smoke free life! :beer: I can't drink beer so please have a cup of tea for me...and a slice of birthday cake, yum!

Re gums: I have started using a sonic toothbrush and a toothpaste called Xyliwhite. My dentist is extremely pleased with the improvement. An expensive outlay but I will save on the cost of cleaning etc.

Hope you manage to get a good night's sleep soon. Have you tried herbal sleeping tablets or valarian? My daughter swears by milky, warm oats at bedtime. My pharmacy recommended Avena Sativa for cravings, depression and insomnia. Sadly, I have coelaic disease so can not take it.

jammy dodger, please let me know when you find a miracle filler. Maybe I should search the MSE health and beauty board.

Hi ameliarate, so many opportunities passed (past?) up because I could not smoke .... absolute madness .... I refused to fly for more that 2.5 hours

Hi netskii and good luck. Here in Scotland the NHS tries to get folk onto NRT before an op. Does your OH have a pre-op assessment? If so, they may have a chat with him. You have made me think about this male/female thing. Here, most of us are female though the odd male does drop in .... am I right? wrong? Men seem to get on better with Allen Carr's method....does not involve talking about feelings.

Hi clean living - hope today has been easier than you expected. Come here as often as you like - writing it all down does help. I admire you for being able to give up in your present environment. We lived abroad for many years and everyone around us smoked - it was so cheap. On our return to the UK we were amazed to discover that smoking was considered to be unacceptable..... and so expensive.

Well done everyone!!! I have had a bad couple of days; the cravings seem to be coming thick and fast aswell as moments of depression/yearning (?). Find it difficult to explain. Oh well, soon will be bedtime and that is another day I can notch up.

Sue-UU

Hi everyone! Yes, I'm back at last. Been quite poorly and not even on the PC let alone here with you. I've not had chance to catch up with the posts, but I'm hoping you're all doing really well and have travelled some way along your journey.

A really warm welcome to ALL new members. Like everyone else, I wish you all that you'd wish yourselves; to be smoke-free and have renewed health.

Every day you travel is a day closer to you goal and is SO worth doing.

Sue x

FEE_100

Hi sue uu how nice to see you back, Ive been popping in a bit less these days but had noticed you weren`t around, so glad your back with all your wisdom to help the newbies! :A

ameliarate

Good morning all. I hope you all had a wonderful, smoke free, weekend.

I certainly had a better weekend than the last one :eek: I only wish now I could stop thinking about cigs. My dad, my OH and my sister, all assure me that suddenly one day I will realise I haven't though about them for hours but I am a bit impatient. Still at least I'm not smoking them.

Hi ameliarate, so many opportunities passed (past?) up because I could not smoke .... absolute madness .... I refused to fly for more that 2.5 hours

Oldreekie I could go four hours. Definitely saving my cig money on going on that Caribbean cruise next year. Luxury and far away places, things I couldn't afford/couldn't do because of cigarettes.

Setme3

Hi guys!

I'd like to share the approach I used to quit. The bottom line is, there are valid reasons not try to quit forever right in the beginning, but rather quit for predefined periods of time, which would then increase in length so one has the chance to experience the benefits of a smoke-free life.

For example, I first quit in September for only one week, after which I allowed myself to smoke. Then later on in November, I decided I'd quit for one month. This time it was much easier, and I only wanted to smoke when I was drinking, so not that often. Now I'm on my 6 month challenge, which started on January 1st and going strong.

Anyway, this drinking and smoking thing is still giving me a tough time, but I will figure this out too. Other than that, I might say that I don't have the desire to smoke anymore, no cravings. This is what this approach does for you:

a. When I decide to quit for a week/month, it is easier for me not to smoke, because I know I will be allowed to smoke again soon. You are released of the fear that you will have to endure misery forever, until you realize that you won’t be deprived of anything, that you’re actually gaining freedom, control, etc. This can be seen as a trial, to test the ground, to see how you will live and feel if you stop smoking, but knowing that you will have the freedom to smoke again without the burden of destroyed confidence of another failed attempt.

b. Most of the benefits of not smoking are only visible after some time i.e. I will not stop coughing the first day I stop smoking, and I will only start noticing the money saved after some time has passed, etc.

c. It allows YOU to convince YOURSELF of the benefits of a smoke-free life. This is in my opinion a very important issue for smokers. Most of them/us have long forgotten how wonderful it feels to live in a healthy body. Also people do not like to be convinced. Not even by the loved ones. They will accept to change, but only if it is their decision, not if they feel that they have been convinced.

Let me know how it goes if you decide to try this!!

Femme456

Hi Everyone,

Newbie to this board!

Up until last Thursday I was smoking at least 10 cigarettes a day. Since Thursday Ive had a particularly bad bout of tonsillitus and havent smoked, thought about smoking etc. Now the antibiotics are kicking in and I have throat numbing stuff Im thinking I might like a little cigarette but that would be ridiculously stupid of me. Ive been wanting to give up for ages and even had an appointment booked at the doctor this week to get me on Champix or similar. Ive gone past the 3 day mark of not having a cigarette so is it just my mind being silly? Or is it possible to still have cravings? Im not going to have one, just wondering if the cravings ever stop or will I always want a cigarette?

Thanks