giving up smoking

random456

ive tried everything. is there something i have never heard of that isnt gum patches zyban lozenges inhalers? ive tried all of these but i just cant cope if i havent got a fag!!! i know im clutching at straws but maybe theres something i dont know abt. ta.

mikewebs

I used the microtab - a little Hermeseta sized tablet that you place under the tongue and leave it to dissolve. They taste awful - reminding you of why you are giving up. I managed to go from 25-30 ciggies a day to 1 microtab every 2 hours and even managed to come off the microtab within 4 weeks. I have now been nicotine free for 8 months.

You do need will power with any of the replacement therapies (nicotine is more addictive that heroine) but persevere - it's worth it. If you've got kids just look at them and keep telling yourself you want to be around to see them grow up.

You might also try any local smoking cessation progammes your local health authority run. I went to a six week course - in conjunction with my microtab - and found that thinking about not smoking until the next session was far easier than thinking about not smoking for the rest of my life.

I tried a few times to give up, cut down, switch to cigars but always failed. Now I have a bit more money in my pocket and also have a slightly longer life expectancy.

Go for it... give it a try you've got nothing to lose.

Best of luck

cheekymole

Good luck pumpa, you know what you want to do so do it...
My OH gave up 3 years ago now, he was HELL to live with for about 4 weeks but life smells so much nicer now.
You will succeed, go on, give it your best shot

random456

all i seem to think about is fags, if i wake up in the morning and i know i havent got any i literally cant function-seriously, not even to go to the shop to buy them! its not so much the nicotine i think its a subconscious thing that i notice straight away if im not smoking, does that make sense? lol?.....if i come out of a shop my brain tells me to smoke, if i go downstairs, basically all the time unless im really concentrating on something, then i have friends who can smoke 15 a day some days and other days fine without any? makes me really angry! id like to hear from people that sound similar to me in the first respect, the literally not functioning unless you know u have fags. the worst thing is when you know you are going to run out and for some reason you smoke the remaining ones even quicker to compensate??? i must like torture!

Doonhamer

The only way you will stop is if you really want to stop. It takes tons of will power. You have to decide that you are a non smoker.

A friend had a similar problem to you, getting stressed when he had no fags. What he did was amazing, he stoped smoking but had a packet with him for over 3 months with just the 6 that were in it when he decided to stop. It was like a comfort thing knowing that if he really wanted one he could have one. He has never smoked again and that was 7 years ago. The times he tried before he ended rushing to a shop and buying some.

Good luck, it will happen if you really really want it to.

tigs78

I used to smoke at least 30 cigarettes a day for over 10 years, if I went out for the evening I would take 40 - 60 cigarettes with me. Every waking moment revolved around when I would have my next cigarette, at work, at home, in the car or out for the evening. I would panic if I had less than 10 left and used to buy in bulk to make sure I always had some.

A lot of people that want to give up want to do so because thay don't actually enjoy smoking anymore but are addicted to the nicotine. I was the opposite, I really used to enjoy smoking and had no thoughts of giving up. My Dad had to have a triple heart bypass purely due to smoking , he gave up but I continued to smoke, I enjoyed it so why should I give up?

I decided to try and quit in April 2004 as I needed to pass a fitness test for the job that I wanted to go for. I went to my Doctors and said that I had tried patches and willpower but they had not worked and would he consider prescribing me Zyban (I hadn't tried these methods but I was set on trying Zyban as I wanted the 'easy way').

My Doctor informed me that there were POSSIBLE side effects and prescribed me an eight week course. For the first 11 (I think) days you continue to smoke as normal but take two tablets a day. On the 12th day you just stop smoking and you continue to take the tablets for the remaining time, 8 weeks in total.

It worked like a miracle for me, although I had the odd cheat day where I might have had two cigarettes and I still smoked when I went out for a drink I considered myself a non smoker. I had virtually no cravings or withdrawal symptoms.

After finishing the Zyban course I realised that I still smoked when I went out for a drink out of habit and that I didn't enjoy smoking anymore I stopped smoking completely. The only side effects that I experienced where a slightly dry mouth - a great excuse to drink loads of water, and a slight 'scatty' feeling in the first day or two.

I have now turned into all the irritaing people that used to lecture me on how bad for my health smoking was, I can't stand the smell and cannot comprehend EVER wanting to smoke again. I would honestly rather drink my own urine than ever have another cigarette!

I'm not saying that Zyban will work for everybody and you need to be aware of the possible side effects/risks. My sister also gave up using Zyban although she went back to smoking briefly. She had another course and now is a non smoker.

P.S Smoking is bad for you and makes your breath, clothes and hair smell!!!

Nxxi_3

pumpa wrote:

all i seem to think about is fags, if i wake up in the morning and i know i havent got any i literally cant function-seriously, not even to go to the shop to buy them! its not so much the nicotine i think its a subconscious thing that i notice straight away if im not smoking, does that make sense? lol?.....if i come out of a shop my brain tells me to smoke, if i go downstairs, basically all the time unless im really concentrating on something, then i have friends who can smoke 15 a day some days and other days fine without any? makes me really angry! id like to hear from people that sound similar to me in the first respect, the literally not functioning unless you know u have fags. the worst thing is when you know you are going to run out and for some reason you smoke the remaining ones even quicker to compensate??? i must like torture!

I know exactly what you mean - I felt I was reading about myself after looking at your post. I'm desparate to give up too, but my willpower is zero, I just can't stop thinking about cigarettes, from the moment I wake up.

mclaren_2

doctor will give you a prescription for somthing. but i will say, good luck and i hope you can manage it. one of the hardest things you can do

Strepsy

pumpa wrote:

ive tried everything. is there something i have never heard of that isnt gum patches zyban lozenges inhalers? ive tried all of these but i just cant cope if i havent got a fag!!! i know im clutching at straws but maybe theres something i dont know abt. ta.

I'd say go cold turkey pumpa. Honestly. If you go cold turkey then you know that your physical craving will peak and then subside at the 72 hour mark. I think education is the key. When you know exactly what's happening to your body and you know the time frames and know that comfort will come then you can do it.

I actually smoked a few herbal cigarettes from Holland & Barrett just to get the feeling of smoking on the first day but basically they taste and smell so bad it really puts you off.

This is a site I found about two and a half days into my cold turkey quit, I don't know if I could have done it without them. Hope it's ok to post the link here? If not I'll pm it. It's totally free of course. Just lots of invaluable information.http://groups.msn.com/FreedomFromTobaccoQuitSmokingNow

Best of luck!

Steph - Free and healing for 1 Year, 8 Months, 6 Days, 22 hours and 19 minutes (616 days). I have saved £3,701.57 by not smoking 18,507 cigarettes. My Quit Date: 08/06/2004
(Quit keeper from dedicateddesigns.com)

Nile

Hello Nxxi


Welcome to the MSE site.:wave:

Good luck to all smokers who are giving up.

callansdad

I smoked 20 a day for 7 years. I tried hypnosis, it worked for a couple of weeks, patches it worked too but you need willpower. I actually stopped last year for 3 wks but my parents had a messy break up and the stress sent me running to the corner shop for a ten deck of menthols.

A month ago i enjoyed fags, i didnt want to stop even though it was costing me a fortune but 3 1/2 wks ago my aunt was admitted into hospital. She has blood clots in her lung - shes 24 - im 22 - i dont want to be lying in hospital in 2 years time, i have 2 kids that need their mum. Same with my aunts 2 kids, she has a 6 yr old boy and a 6 month old girl, they both need mummy. I stopped smoking immediately but surprisingly enough she is still smoking.

My old boss used to smoke 60 a day. He suffered a heart attack a few years ago and he stopped smoking a couple of months after that. He went cold turkey. I asked him how he did it and he said "the doctor told me that by all means to have another fag, but it could be my last one"

This time i have no nicotine replacement and i will admit sometimes i have felt like i would chew my arm off for a fag but i get through it. Another thing that helped was the Paul McKenna " I can make you thin" show. They used a tapping technique in that which i used to help me stop.

If i can do it then so can you!! :smileyhea