Quitting smoking

RainbowDreamer

I would love to hear success stories & what worked for you. I had my last smoke at 11am. Not bought anymore and coping quit well.

I do this often though & I always get to day 3 then it gets to much & I go buy some

I have nearly every nrt product in my house due to going back & forth to the quit smoking nurse.
Patches give me nightmares and mess up my sleep. The inhalator used to help, but now doesn't ease the cravings. The spray is great for the cravings, but kills my mouth & throat & gives me hiccups.
The lozengers and Mints I don't like and the gum helps. But why can't I get past day 3?

I've downloaded apps on my phone to count the days, work out how much time I've added to my life & how much i have saved.

Has anything different helped you?thanks.

Jessie11

I'm afraid I can't offer and support but I'll be joining you in the attempt to quit and keep an eagle eye on this post

Armchair23

I think three days is about the peak for the physical withdrawal symptoms from nicotine, and it's over in about two weeks. Though there seems to be a lot of different timescales bandied about. After that it's do with the habits you've formed around when you smoke, and the triggers that you responded to with a cigarette. It's very similar to heroin addiction in that many people are no longer physically addicted after a detox but the craving remains.
Well that wasn't any help was it !
I just stopped, I wanted kids and decided it had to happen and I sure as hell wasn't going to go through the misery of stopping more than once.
I used to dream of smoking (literally) for years after I stopped, and used to walk behind people smoking a Marlboro (sad I know).
OH had the Allen Carr treatment which worked for him, he'd tried a few times with no success (ear acupuncture etc.,), but that did the trick.

DD has just stopped after a bout of whooping cough and tonsilitis. She reckoned the physical addiction was already over as she was to sick to get out the house and have a fag . So she might as well do the snapping at everyone for a few days and come out the other side. So far so good and it's been almost a month.

The most important thing is to just decided that you are no longer a smoker. I know that sounds like the most useless thing anyones ever said, but you really need to get your head round it and not say or think 'I'm giving up'. But 'I don't smoke I'm a non -smoker'.

When it gets unbearable get up, go and do something, anything at all that you wouldn't associate with having a smoke. Have a bath, keep your hands busy.

Mostly Good Luck and look around at the halfwits you know who have managed to stop, I'm sure can do it . X

polkadot

What's your motivation?Having a clear reason why you want to do it helps.I tried loads - and like you I kept hitting day 3 and saying things like "being a social smoker cant be all bad",but that works just like the money snowball.

In 2008 I was sat with my now 5 year old doing something "quality timeish" when I heard myself saying "hurry up DS-mum wants to go for a smoke".Saying it out loud made me realise how often I had thought the same thing-because I thought I was "doing him a favour" by going outdoors to smoke-and my need to smoke was taking me away from him,literally.

I went the route of patches and seeing the quit smoking councelor at my local chemist.It was also in allowing myself to spend the money on something else that I discovered I have a talent for cake decorating...and if I smoked,I couldnt afford the tools I needed to decorate,now I earn a bit of pocket money making novelty cakes (and have more quality time with DS who likes to play with sugar paste too:D)

Superbiatch

Have you considered using champix? Its as effective as NRT products but isn't suitable for everyone, google it.

Good luck in your quit attempt, i work in a stop smoking service and expect to be very busy in the coming weeks

Mrs_P_Pincher

I was a smoker for 38 years and was convinced I would be a smoker for life. I wobbled a bit when a family member died in his 40s from mouth cancer, but the pleas of my husband and children counted for nothing. 40 came and went, 50 came and went and still I was putting away my 15 a day.

And then...

And then...

They went up to over £7.00 a packet and I finally cracked. Just like my grandad, who stopped buying whisky when it went up to 12/6 a bottle, I had reached my ceiling.

I stopped dead in April. No cravings, no nothing, and no more money to the Treasury.

Like the poster who wanted children, find your motivator and it will be easy. Without a motivator, your chances of success are considerably reduced.

Good luck

Mrs P P

antronella

I gave up 12 weeks ago using an e cig. Started on high nicotine cartridges, then medium , now on low but am hardly using it now. I had smoked for over 20 years and tried numerous times to quit ...
:j I'm very happy!

RainbowDreamer

I want to quit for me & my kids. What I find hard is that I haven't been smoking for that long. But yet I'm finding it harder to quit.
I smoked from high school. When I feel pregnant I quit cold turkey. My eldest is now 3 & a half. I stayed smoke free until 5 or so months ago.
I have quit in that time for 2 weeks & several times for 3 days.

My will power just isn't what it used to be.

choille

Go on the Stopping Smoking thread here - that's how I stopped & a wee shot at Champix to start with & a visit to a smoking cessation person after haranging my GP to see one.
I smoked about 30 a day for over thirty years & stopped nearly two years ago. I never, ever thought I would but it wasn't that hard surprisingly - the thread helped massively when the wobbles started, BUT keep saying to yourself I won't smoke today, don't say I'll never smoke again - too scary to start with, just start off saying that you won't smoke today.

viv0147

A 102 days ago I went to see my Doctor because I was having severe pains in my legs after walking just a short distance I had been having them for a while but this particular day it was really bad after the Doctor examined me he said I had a circulation problem and he said if I don't stop smoking I may lose a few toes or my foot or even my leg well that was enough for me! So I had a prescription for Champix that day, now the idea with the Champix is you take the tablets and continue to smoke until it kicks into your system then you stop smoking in my case it was 10 days. So I have been smoke free for 92 days and free is the right word in fact its FREEDOM, I also took a photo of my naked leg and I have it as a screensaver on my iPhone so every time I use my phone I am reminded why I stopped smoking. I started smoking at the age of (14) I am now 64 so thats 50 years of smoking on average 20 a day and when I now look back I can now see I was a prisoner for 50 years well no longer! I am now free I just hope no one else allows themselves to be a prisoner for such a length of time. PS The good news is I can now walk pain free over distance so my Doctor was quite right.

flissh

RainbowDreamer well done for giving it a go:j

I gave up about eight years ago, give or take a year!! I had tried to give up over and over again. At times I had been quite successful, (once I managed a few years!!!) but always went back. Like you I had tried NRT products too.

I finally did it with hypnotherapy. Went to a group session that I think cost about fifty pounds and all seemed like hocus pocus!!

I have managed to not smoke since. I did try a fag or two in the early days after a row with my other half, but found I didn't really want it!

I now feel like a non smoker as opposed to someone who has given up. It feels great to be free and I would never go back. I know this for sure because in times of stress a cigarette would not even be the last thing on my list.

I know that champix is very good, my Son gave up with this and friends have too.

Good luck.