The Giving Up Smoking Thread!! Part 2

ectoplasm

Hello everyone,
I have been inspired by the posts to help with becoming a non-smoker again. I have decided to give up and join in this quest. This is my first ever post, so a bit nervous.
I started smoking when I was 24 (stupid idea). Most of my friends at uni back then were smokers, I started smoking trying to deal with severe depression. I am now 38 years old and I have tried several times to quit smoking. I almost succeeded in 2005 and I was a non-smoker for 7 months! So I know I can do it. I have tried several times to quit since then and every time something really stressful happens. I must point out that I was doing my PhD from 2005 and completed last year. So it was really stressful alongside with my personal issues. I hope that writing this post will help me disassociate bad luck and smoking. Any comments or helpful suggestions will be welcome.
My main reason for stopping smoking is starting afresh. In two weeks time I will be starting my new research at a university in Austria and I really want to stop now. I want to start afresh and definitely as a non-smoker!
My quit time and date is 22:30 (GMT) on the 23rd of April 2010. I hope to use this forum to report my progress and I wish everyone the best of luck with becoming and remaining non-smokers. Thanks in advance for all your help and support.

oldreekie

Hello ectoplasm and welcome!

Well, you have smoked your last cigarette and are now a non-smoker. :j How does that feel?

You have not said which method you are using but, no matter how you do it, do come back here as often as you need to.

You have such an exciting time ahead of you, and Austria is a wonderful country - are you into outdoor sports? The walking and skiing are fantastic!!

A fresh start and a new you - none of the old associations and distractions. Good luck

oldreekie

SilkQuit says

2 mths 1 week 5 days

1430 cigarettes not smoked

£400.26 saved

On the lower strength patches now but have not noticed any difference. Rarely think about smoking, hate the smell of smokers and feel so much healthier.

Strange observation .... when I smoked it seemed as though everyone around me was a non-smoker. I belonged to a minority. Now, when in our nearby market town it seems that there are smokers everywhere and the smell hangs in the air. Weird.

whathavewedone, you are doing so well. :T:T

ectoplasm

oldreekie wrote: »

Hello ectoplasm and welcome!

Well, you have smoked your last cigarette and are now a non-smoker. :j How does that feel?

You have not said which method you are using but, no matter how you do it, do come back here as often as you need to.

You have such an exciting time ahead of you, and Austria is a wonderful country - are you into outdoor sports? The walking and skiing are fantastic!!

A fresh start and a new you - none of the old associations and distractions. Good luck

Thanks for your support. I will be using patches. I don't smoke during the evening/night, however, morning will be a bit difficult but I will persevere with it. A combination of will power and the patch (and of course everyone's support) should do the trick. I was not a heavy smoker, but there were times when I smoked a lot more. I used to get through 12.5 g of rolling tobacco in 9 days. How did you cope in the first week?
The nurse told me that since I was a moderate-light smoker I could cut the patch in half. Because the previous times (about 1 month ago, 5 months ago, and several times in the last 2 years) the patches were too strong and I felt sick. The doctor told me to discontinue the patches and have a break. So I started smoking far more than I used to!!!! I slowly cut down over the last month and now I am going to cut the 7.5 mg patch into half and will put it on before I sleep to help me remain a non-smoker.
I am feeling optimistic about tomorrow, and looking forward to my move to Austria. I am not really sporty (mostly live in the library and laboratories) but I am certainly going to try joining a walking club at Uni and make new friends. Its exciting and I feel very nervous at the same time. My elder brother will be driving me to Austria and he does not actually know that I am (WAS) a smoker!! Well my family live in another part of the country since I have moved at least once every 18 months on average (mostly in the UK though). So I am definitely going to remain a non-smoker and enjoy the drive through the mountains with my brother. Looking forward to it. Thanks for your support once again and its brilliant that you are a successful non-smoker.

waccoe_2

I am a new boy, please treat me gently.
I am a 53 year old man who has been addicted for 40 years. I have only tried stopping once before about 5 years ago. I did this with the help of patches, I never managed to come off the strongest ones and lasted 3 months. At 3 months my wife suggested to me that I wasn't myself and insisted I went to the Doctor, he diagnosed me with depression and gave me a prescription for anti-depressants. I have never been down in my life, my glass is always half full. I binned the prescription and went back to smoking 25 a day.
Two years ago I read the Allen Carr's book on stopping smoking, very interesting, held it in my memory bank.
My wife and I take a lot of holidays abroad and I always stick a patch on when flying, this got me thinking, if I can last 6 hours without a cig while flying, then perhaps I can stop altogether.
17 days ago I was checking my diary to try and find the least stressful time to stop, there wasn't one. I suddenly realised that this nicotine addiction had such a hold on me it ruled my life.
I got a patch out and slapped it on and haven't touched a cig for 17 days!!!
I realise that I do not miss having a cig in my hand, I have never smoked in our house, there is no smoking in pubs, football grounds and just about everywhere. I hardly know anyone that smokes and so have not been tempted.
But the craving!! I am on the strongest patch but my whole body constantly craves nicotine, I know I won't give in but it is so uncomfortable, from your experience, does this feeling start to ease or should I be using something else with the patches or should I try something instead of the patches?
Sorry for the long post but I just need a little advice, any future postings will be short and sweet.
Thanks
Andrew

oldreekie

Welcome waccoe

17 days is fantastic :T celebrate that achievement.

Hopefully, someone more experienced than I will be along soon to offer advice and encouragement. Sue-UU sends an extremely helpful private message to all new members.

Your history of smoking, failed attempts and depression are very similar to mine. My OH begged me to have a cigarette last year after 9 weeks of misery - for both of us.

This time I have used every possible aid and will tell you what has helped.

Joined up at the pharmacy for their smoking cessation programme - no advice offered, no pep talks just a "well done" each week and if the carbon monoxide reading it below 8, they give me patches and lozenges. That weekly check in takes a few minutes but it gives me a weekly goal.

Patches alone were never going to be enough so I started with the inhalator - gives you those few minutes outside with a coffee and a cigarette substitute.

Found that boring after awhile and decided that I would rather be inside reading the messages on here, so switched to lozenges. They take about 30 mins to dissolve, take away the craving/longing and stop me putting any food in my mouth! I use the niquitin minis for a quick fix.

Joined the Nicorette Activestop and Niquitin Quitmasters online programmes - very good support. Activestop is fantastic - they text you a couple of times a day and tell you how well you are are doing.


But the best support has come from the folk on this board - read through all the messages and post as often as you need to.

Apologies if this is garbled ... trying to get down as much as possible because I know you need help now. Hope I have helped in some way.

oldreekie

ectoplasm wrote: »

How did you cope in the first week?

Morning ectoplasm, hope it is going well?

I coped by coming on here - and posting "needy" messages Still do! Lived in a bubble but that soon passes and eventually, we all get on with living as non-smokers.

Good luck!

larmy16

Hi Waccoe

I just wanted to share with you a story about a couple I know. I was what you might call a light smoker - never smoked in the day, and had long spells of trying to quit, three years, two episodes of 10 months, smoking only at weekends etc.

Now this couple were chronic smokers. Probably 40 a day and had done so for most of their lives.

Both of them started to have breathing problems and I think their doctors were more or less fed up with them going in for this and that while continuing this deadly "pastime".

I could barely believe it, when the pair of them, using patches for a couple of weeks - quit, just like that and have never ever had a puff since.

My point is, that they were far more successful at quitting than I was, as I used to keep having one here and there and keeping my self in addiction.
My addiction was probably 95% psychological. I had to exercise iron will to not be a 40 a day smoker - helped by the fact I was a secret, deeply ashamed smoker!

So I tell you this, if they can do it - ANYONE CAN!!!!!

waccoe_2

Thanks oldreekie and larmy16
It was very kind of you to take the time. I will do it, I am in control of everything in my life apart from this addiction and I don't like that!
The habit of smoking isn't a problem, which really suprised me, it is just the craving.
Keep up the good work and support.
Andrew

Sue-UU

A very warm welcome to ectoplasm and waccoe!....all being well, to a healthy life ahead for both of you! Don't worry, we always treat folk gently here, if they're brave enough to want to quit then they deserve it anyway! ectoplasm, you have the best opportunity ever to stay stopped for life now, but please, don't let yourself think about bad luck and quitting again. We all get stressful times in life, it happens that way, and you'll get such times again too, just don't link the two in future. Put it this way, you get another stressful time ~ BUT ~ if you were to give in and have "just one" or "just one puff" would it honestly make things any better?? It wouldn't and never will, it's simply a temporary, short-lived psychological thinking that it will that, all too often, makes us cave in, but having had one puff/cig is when the stress really kicks in as it's the nicotine and chemicals that start the whole stressful thing off again, even worse too. Mind over matter is what it's all about!!!

At times such as these, start sipping water, eat an apple, breathe deeply though n a relaxed manner, but most importantly for both you ectoplasm and Andrew get outside and go for a walk, make it as brisk as you can and walk out the stress and the cravings. You can both win this, you've done so before so you KNOW you can do it again. For the immediate first few days and possibly more weakly for a few weeks, it really is you fighting "old nick" the remains of the nicotine that's gone from your body but still lurks in your mind trying to push you towards "go on, have one!" Spit back (not literally please) at it and don't let nick win!! You both have a PM with quite a few other helpful tips and baths/showers and cleaning your teeth all help so much as the cleaner you feel on the outside helps so much with how your cleansing yourselves inside. So, whenever a craving strikes think water, fruit, walking! Keep with us here on the thread and read through as many posts as possible, it's amazing mow many other tips you'll get from that alone. If you're having a bad day, or a good one, sometimes it really helps to wite all about it, any time, please come and join us. One other thing (for now) Andrew, for the times your cravings are worse, alter things around with daily, morning or afternoon etc routines, changing drinks and what you do after meals etc really do help. Be wary of using any other NTRs as they're putting more nicotine inside you, however,if it's a cas of using them or going back to the cigs then give the NRTs a go. Cleaning the teeth helps such a lot, and if you're tending to make them sore, just put a pea-sized bit of toothpaste on your tongue and 'wash' it all around your mouth, you see if that helps. One thing to remember is that in general, chaps seem to get through it all far easier than women. 17 days is amazing! All the very best for you both! Enjoy the journey with your brother ectoplasm, drink in that beauty in such a wonderful country. Austria could give you so much more than education, it could give you your life back IF you let it, and I think you will!!

Brilliant news whathavewedone! You sound really good and doing well. The coughing is good as you're getting yourself free of all that 'orrible muck!! Try not to concern yourself about 'heading for a mighty fall', some folk are fortunate in finding it relatively easy, so long as you don't become complacent then you'll be ok. Work on the extra energy you have and the fact that people are telling you you're looking well, stay positive and keep focused! :T

Excellent stats oldreekie, you're doing wonderfully well!! :T Some great advice you're giving to others, you too larmy. Thanks so much, it really does help others, yourselves too!

All the very best for another very successful day ALL. Keep strong and do things that make you feel good, it really does help so much when you do. Water, fruit and veg, deep breathing and exercise! Have a lovely smoke-free Sunday everyone!

Sue x