giving up smoking

absolutebounder

Well there is no nicotine left in your body so any craving is all in your mind. its just a case of breaking a habit. If you get cravings at say a certain time or place be ready with something to distract yourself. cravings only last about 3 mins.

Fire_Fox

Are you getting one-to-one or group support from the local NHS Stop Smoking Service? It's worth identifying what your triggers and associations are - obviously low nicotine in the blood is an issue but that can be addressed with nicotine replacement therapy. You are not breaking one habit but 10, 20 or 30 habits a day depending how much you smoke. It's also helpful to think about any times you tried to quit before, what was successful and what was not.

People find all sorts of things helpful from switching up their morning routine - shower before breakfast instead of after - to sitting in a different chair with a different drink after the evening meal to avoiding even walking or driving past particular shops not just avoiding going into them.

Toto

Well done!!! I'm 15 months quit now. It's hard but totally do-able, if I can do it anyone can I did allow myself to nibble when I wanted to smoke, I figured I could lose the weight at any time and if a bag of haribo would get me through a day smoke free then that'd be ok.

When I was really struggling I took myself off to the whyquit website and read stuff there. I read the why we died stories a few times. They reminded me that I was choosing to live. I reminded myself that the cravings would pass, cancer wouldn't. I kept telling myself that the next cigarette I smoked could be the one which gave me cancer. All of those people who died from smoking related illnesses would I'm sure choose a different path if they now could. Sadly they can't, but, you and I do have that choice. I chose to say to hell with the cravings, I'm tougher than they are

I'm really glad I've done it, I don't really miss it at all now. That took a long time, about 9 months or so, before I could say that. Good luck, keep busy, reward yourself (we have a 55" smart telly which is paid for with fag money) do whatever it takes to get through that 3 minutes or so of a crave.

Pennylane

sexyshark wrote: »

I hope I don't replace it with eating as I am big enough now lol

Buy in some low cal snacks and lots of fruit and veg.

Also, try and have a good brisk walk every day, it will take your mind off smoking and also help you not to gain weight. Even if it's only a walk round the block ... do it!

I gained weight when I quit but the GP said that's better than smoking and I am now quite a bit LESS than I before I quit.

The idea of putting money aside is a good one. My friend replaced all her kitchen appliances when she quit. I have bought weekends away, a summerhouse, CDs and books galore, expensive beauty treatments (I'm SO vain!!:rotfl:), some antique items ad I always have spare cash now.

Jox

Be strong, you can do it!

The best thing I ever did was give up and the silliest thing I ever did was to start in the first place

On Dec 4th it will be my 8th year as a non-smoker and I'm still so grateful I gave up

I look younger. I have more money. I don't need to stand in the cold to smoke. I can sit on a plane for hours and not be dying for a fag. I have fresh breath and hair and my clothes smell like fabric conditioner and not smoke. I don't feel guilty giving my baby nephew a kiss on the cheek because there aren't any faggy chemicals coming from my mouth. Random scary people don't come up to me asking me if I have a spare cig like they used to when I used to smoke at bus stops and outside pubs and work. I don't cough or cough up nasty stuff. I don't have to think about how black and full of tar my lungs might be. And so many more liberating and happy reasons Can you tell I'm a happy bunny even after 8 years

bacardi66

Well done! I stopped smoking 3 years ago and the hardest thing isn't stopping - it's staying stopped! I had done a few months before but this time I really put my mind to it - what kept me going was the thought of having to go through the whole "giving up" process all over again!

The cravings will become less frequent, I used to drink a cup of tea or have a sugar free polo until the craving passed.

And I know this sounds a bit silly but I wrote down in a notebook all the reasons I wanted to stop; to save money, to be more healthy, not to smell of smoke, not to have to stand in the freezing cold by the bins at work to have a fag etc etc and I kept looking at the list whenever I felt myself weakening and it really kept me strong.

Good luck - it really is the best thing Ive ever done, I feel so much better for it.

absolutebounder

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Are you getting one-to-one or group support from the local NHS Stop Smoking Service? It's worth identifying what your triggers and associations are - obviously low nicotine in the blood is an issue but that can be addressed with nicotine replacement therapy. You are not breaking one habit but 10, 20 or 30 habits a day depending how much you smoke. It's also helpful to think about any times you tried to quit before, what was successful and what was not.

People find all sorts of things helpful from switching up their morning routine - shower before breakfast instead of after - to sitting in a different chair with a different drink after the evening meal to avoiding even walking or driving past particular shops not just avoiding going into them.

The NHS track record for getting people to quit long term is pretty dismal. This is largely due to the fact that NRT in the real word is ineffective. Often no better than a placebo

In an online Harvard University news story article posted on Monday, January 9, 2012, by Marjorie Dwyer from HarvardScience in the Harvard Gazette, involving researchers in a study from the Harvard School of Public Health and the University of Massachusetts Boston (UMB),: "Nicotine replacement therapies (NRT), specifically nicotine patches and nicotine gum, did not improve smokers' chances of long-term cessation" ... "The study appears Jan. 9 in an online edition of "Tobacco Control" and will appear in a later print issue.

When someone has given up for a few days the last thing they need is to reintroduce nicotine into the body.
The best thing they can do is to learn to hate the cigarettes control over them.

Jox

Read Allen Carr's easy way to give up smoking book and refuse to pay money to the government in the form of taxes on cigs and stop contributing to the cigarette bosses' enormous mansions and fancy cars!

The guys at the top of the cigarette companies don't smoke, they are drug pushers profiting from the addicted masses

Give up cold turkey, prepare to suffer for a few days and if you don't succeed first time try again, it can be done!

Fire_Fox

absolutebounder wrote: »

The NHS track record for getting people to quit long term is pretty dismal. This is largely due to the fact that NRT in the real word is ineffective. Often no better than a placebo

In an online Harvard University news story article posted on Monday, January 9, 2012, by Marjorie Dwyer from HarvardScience in the Harvard Gazette, involving researchers in a study from the Harvard School of Public Health and the University of Massachusetts Boston (UMB),: "Nicotine replacement therapies (NRT), specifically nicotine patches and nicotine gum, did not improve smokers' chances of long-term cessation" ... "The study appears Jan. 9 in an online edition of "Tobacco Control" and will appear in a later print issue.

When someone has given up for a few days the last thing they need is to reintroduce nicotine into the body.
The best thing they can do is to learn to hate the cigarettes control over them.

Yawn: read the entire post instead of cherry picking half a sentence. Did not suggest NRT in isolation, neither does the NHS Stop Smoking Service.

absolutebounder

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Yawn: read the entire post instead of cherry picking half a sentence. Did not suggest NRT in isolation, neither does the NHS Stop Smoking Service.

Well I could have said see your local Austin trained hypnotherapist as we can literally pee on the NHS track record but she has already stopped. low nicotine in the blood is bolox since it will all be gone by now. If nicotine is so addictive why are you trying to reintroduce it into the system?
The cravings are psychological and as time goes on get less and less and more easily distracted. She is doing fine and is well over the worst of it.
She will come up against 2 types of people. Those that want her to carry on because they want her to be one of them. These people are dangerous and the best thing she can do is look at them and say to herself something like "well I have problems but at least I no longer have that one" the other group will encourage her. These are the best people