Index to Stop-Smoking Threads (and a poll)

IvanOpinion

Sure. I should make it clear that from the outset I was the last person most people thought would give up, I smoked about 20-30 a day (sometimes though I could go through 80 a day) ... I know of a couple of £100+ bets that changed hands because I succeeded.

You have to keep smoking after you start taking zyban for anything from 7-14 days. Apparently (as it was described to me) the zyban follows the nicoteine around the body and then plugs all the receptors looking for nicoteine. After about 3 days I found I was actually forcing myself to smoke ... I wasn't enjoying the cigarettes, I wasn't really getting a kick from them .. I was just totally nonchalant to tobacco. On the Saturday I realised I only had 3 cigarettes left (or so I thought) so rather than buy a new pack I decided to give up but have one on sunday night, one on Monday night and one on Tuesday night, ... DW kept me busy with various jobs (keep it clean people), but I was really looking forward to 8PM when I had said I would have my one ciggie. I lit up did not enjoy it, put it out half way down and threw the other two ciggies in the bin. That was actually the last ciggie I smoked (29/10/2000).

You then had to remain on zyban for a month (I think). That is when I started getting the side effects .. my skin started feeling like it was crawling around my body ... I became a total insomniac .. I mean I woulod go for several days without sleepng at all ... when I did sleep I had some really weird dreams (can't remember them now). The one thing though is that I did not crave or particularly miss the ciggies ... I did get some withdrawal but it was manageable (not like when I had tried patches and gum before .. the withdrawal was awful). I would claim to have very little will power.

Because I was actually going through a very stressful time (work, moving house, unexpected guests arriving etc.) the doctor offered to prescribe me another 28 days worth because he said the withdrawal from zyban could be bad (I had seen a workmate have awful problems with coming off the zyban .. he had beaten nicoteine but stopping zyban hit him quite hard). I started cutting the tablets in half and in the end into quarters and weened myself off exactly 21 days after I took the first one (two weeks after giving up smoking).

I was worried that coming off the zyban would give me even more problems but nothing I couldn't handle .. yes I was on a bit of a hort fuse but I don't know if that was nicoteine or zyban related .. I never once though felt like that I needed to light up a ciggie during this period. I was dreading the first night out that pub (something I had deliberately avoided during this time) ... my mates tried keeping their smoke away from me .. but it did not matter .. I just did not crave a ciggie .. I suppose it could have been very easy to give in and have one, but there was just no craving.

The one side effect that has remained with me though is that I have never regained my sleeping pattern (even now 6 years later) ... I sleep from about 11PM to 2AM (if I am lucky) and then all I do is doze off and on while watching the clock. Unlike other ex-smokers I am totally ambivalent towards people smoking near or around me ... the smoke does not annoy me or give me any cravings. Most people expect me to be a massive anti-smoker .. I am not .. people smoke .. if they are in an area that is not designated as 'non smoking' then it is everybody else who needs to get over themselves .. not the smoker.

I owe an awful lot though to DW and family who took me living on a very short fuse for a while (about 6 weeks). I also owe a lot to a great bunch of friends who did not give me stick, or play silly games with me but respected that I was attempting to give up. That is why I keep saying you need to get all your friends and family to buy in to the fact that you are giving up and that you may not be the same person for a little while ... if they are good friends they will help you through this.

I now firmly believe there is a technique that will work for everyone .. it is just a case of finding out what that technique is.

Ivan

squirreltufty

Thanks Ivan. That's really fascinating.

I experienced (mildly) some of the symptoms which you attribute to zyban, but which I'd attributed to nictotine withdrawal... interesting. My skin felt peculiar (alive!) for a couple of weeks, and I found it really hard to sleep through the night for more than a couple of weeks. I'm convinced that part of it was the sheer excitement and joy that I'd kicked it! My sleeping has improved now. I wish I'd kept a diary of the process (apart from on here of course).
Like you, I'm not an anti-smoker, and other people's smoke doesn't bother me, and I hate nagging, because I know what it's like to be on the receiving end of it. However, I wish more people could realise that quitting needn't be hell (what a good advertising slogan that would be).
:beer:

squirreltufty

dawn2dusk wrote:

meant to say that they are. Been very difficult today but thank God have scraped through today.
Will put in quit date tomorrow.:)

And your quit date is...?

j-baby-scotland

Time to say hello!

I've read on & off, gave up on the 3rd October so stopped for 53 days & a bit, till this afternoon...

Bought some tabac.....

Trying to see it as a blip... been very stressed, crescendo over the last week, lost someone in a car crash ten days ago. Thought I'd be able to see it through... haven't.

Never stop giving up is what they say so, more successful news from me soon.
Taking encouragement from you all as I go.

squirreltufty

j-baby-scotland wrote:

Time to say hello!

I've read on & off, gave up on the 3rd October so stopped for 53 days & a bit, till this afternoon...

Bought some tabac.....

Trying to see it as a blip... been very stressed, crescendo over the last week, lost someone in a car crash ten days ago. Thought I'd be able to see it through... haven't.

Never stop giving up is what they say so, more successful news from me soon.
Taking encouragement from you all as I go.

Hiya - nice to see you here. It is only a blip, which you are allowed, especially after such a traumatic experience (I read your thread last week). There are lots of good people tagging along here, so you will get lots of support. Stick with us.
xxx

RichyRich

j-baby-scotland wrote:

Time to say hello!

I've read on & off, gave up on the 3rd October so stopped for 53 days & a bit, till this afternoon...

Bought some tabac.....

Trying to see it as a blip... been very stressed, crescendo over the last week, lost someone in a car crash ten days ago. Thought I'd be able to see it through... haven't.

Never stop giving up is what they say so, more successful news from me soon.
Taking encouragement from you all as I go.

Hi there

Firstly can I say that I am very sorry to hear about your situation.

Secondly, can I say welcome to the thread, we're very helpful and friendly here and will do our best to support you.

Thirdly, you know that it was a mistake, you have had a blip and now you can get on with stopping again . You're now better-equipped to deal with what to do next time you get a craving - keep to the positives. Very good luck and an invitation from me to become a regular poster on this thread.

Best wishes
Richard

IvanOpinion

In my post above I mentioned that I thought I only had 3 ciggies left ... well over the last 6 years I have found half-packs, full packs, empty packs all over the place. I found these in the glove box of my car (last year when I was trading it in .. shows how often I am in my own glove box) ... and in various jacket pockets. The most recent of which was this year in an old denim jacket that I obviously had not worn in 6 years ... I think there were 18 ciggies in the pack.

j-b-s, you are going through a very stressful time as of late so it is very understandable ... what you now need to do is stop immediately .. do not set up another date ... just do not light up another ciggie. Good luck.

Ivan

PS: I still have a full pack of ciggies I brought back from Mexico with me. They are 'donkey !!!!!! cigarettes, guaranteed no mule !!!!!!' ... seriously, that i what it says on the pack (never did have the nerve to light one up)

squirreltufty

IvanOpinion wrote:

In my post above I mentioned that I thought I only had 3 ciggies left ... well over the last 6 years I have found half-packs, full packs, empty packs all over the place. I found these in the glove box of my car (last year when I was trading it in .. shows how often I am in my own glove box) ... and in various jacket pockets. The most recent of which was this year in an old denim jacket that I obviously had not worn in 6 years ... I think there were 18 ciggies in the pack.

j-b-s, you are going through a very stressful time as of late so it is very understandable ... what you now need to do is stop immediately .. do not set up another date ... just do not light up another ciggie. Good luck.

Ivan

PS: I still have a full pack of ciggies I brought back from Mexico with me. They are 'donkey !!!!!! cigarettes, guaranteed no mule !!!!!!' ... seriously, that i what it says on the pack (never did have the nerve to light one up)

and they let you back in the country with that !!!!!!???:rotfl:

squirreltufty

sad news - he helped so many people

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6194670.stm

RichyRich

I thought he died a few weeks ago

Maybe that's when I got the news he had cancer.

May his memory live on and his books, CDs, workshops etc help many more people.

Richard