The Giving Up Smoking Thread!!

dlb

Thanks oops a daisy, i know they will let me have the 16 hour patch as we could pick what brand we wanted not just what strenght, are the nhs smoking things different in other parts of the country?? They told me about all the nrt and then let us pick which we thought would suit us best and has told us we can swap from week to week if they are not working.
I went for the 24 hour as thought mornings would be the hardest but its turned out the evenings are the times i have to keep busy!!

in_debt_again_but_dealing_with_it

Karensteps wrote: »

Hey everyone! I'm about to quit smoking in about 3days (when my cigs run out,be a shame not to waste them since they were free) Im wanting to do it cold turkey, Im on about 25 a day, and most of the time I don't even CRAVE one, It's just habit, my house stinks and I dont want my daughter growing up to think it's okay to smoke, the crunch point came the other day (shes 20months) when she picked up mummys cigs and popped one in her mouth. I realised then, IM QUITTING. Not to mention Im spending £35 - £40 a week on the foul things.

What kinda of discomfort can i expect, sore heads, nausea?

Hi Karen you're in the right place for advice, support and also a bit of a laugh!! Page one is a great place to start with lots of internet links, I can highly recommend the silkquit metre, download it for free and it tics away on your computer telling you how much you've saved, how long you've been quit and how much time you've added to your life - I've found this invaluable and sooo reassuring! Our founder Jo, also TNG, Joeh and many others are always arround to offer more advice so visit as often as you want/need. At the beginning of my quit I don't think I ever left :rotfl: !!! Good luck!
IDA
x

tattycath

Hi everyone. well done so far. Welcome Karensteps-you've come to the right place. I had my last smoke on 1st december 2007 and I feel so much better. I used to smoke around 20 a day and I went cold turkey. As was posted earlier JoeHel will be along at somepoint and she will give you the low down on the what's what and what to expect etc etc. She's an absolute mine of information!!!!
Continued good luck to everyone.

Boatie_Bird

Hi Karensteps and well done for making the decision to quit.
I'm on day 12 now and I quit using a combination of cold turkey and support from this thread!
I really do feel so much better already and I've got loads more energy.
But the best thing isn't the physical wellbeing - it's that lovely positive mental lift I get everytime I think about how I'm free from my nicotine addiction.
Keep posting Karen and let us know how you're getting on.

BB

JoeHel

Hiya Karensteps! There are quite a few on here who have quit cold turkey and you will get heaps of helpful advice and support here. They are a fantastic bunch and I honestly can't believe how well all of us are doing. I'd say that looking at the national average for quit statistics, we are WELL above average!!!

Quitting cold turkey just means that you will feel the benefits of quitting loads quicker, because you are getting nicotine and the other 4,000 chemicals out of your system on one go, and replacing them with pure oxygenated blood and your own hormones. It can feel a bit funny for the three days it takes for the nicotine to go (yes it's ONLY 72 hours!), but it doesn't hurt or cause any physical pain I promise!!

You already know what a craving feels like. You have one every morning when you wake up and, to a lesser extent, you have one just before you light up every single ciggie after that. Well the good news is that the cravings don't get any worse than that, even if you might THINK they do!! I'm sure that some of us (me included) felt our cravings as badly as if we'd had our arms and legs cut off, but looking back I think I might have been exaggerating just a tad... The cravings are really just an emotional "itch" that you need something. They are easy to deal with - you take a deep breath and find something to take your mind off it. Cravings only last 3 minutes at the most. Take it one craving at a time and just breathe deeply and keep yourself busy. The more you do it, the stronger you feel and the more in CONTROL you feel!!

Concentration does go a bit out of the window for those 3 days too. If you expect it, it's no problem. One good tip is to have some fruit juice ready. Cranberry juice is best but whatever you like really. Some of the concentration dips are NOT about nicotine or cravings, they are actually your blood sugar levels dipping. Drinking fruit juice will help steady your blood sugar and make things easier. Fruit juice also speeds up the elimination of nicotine from the body. I have no idea how it works, but there is some scientific explanation on WhyQuit.com that went totally over my head but explains how acidic substances "draw" nicotine from the body and flush it through to the kidneys.. Every little helps!

You'll probably find you are unusually tired at first. A lot of the chemicals in ciggies, and nicotine itself, are stimulants and increase your heart rate. Your own adrenaline will start to pump round your body soon (trust me it is a fantastic feeling!) and you won't need artificial stimulants like nicotine any more.

Oh - talking of artificial stimulants - please be aware that smokers have double the tolerance to caffeine that non-smokers have. So when you quit, you only need HALF for the same effect. I didn't know that and wondered why diet coke had me like a rabbit in headlights when it never used to!!

Any questions - just shout! I learnt everything from the brilliant site WhyQuit.com and there is a ton of useful information there if you can't find an answer here. What you always will find here is fantastic support from quitters at all stages who are doing brilliantly. We've all had our wobbly moments and come on here and talked about them. I don't know how many have NOT gone back on the ciggies because of a good chat on here but I think there are a few. No question is stupid and you will always find a warm welcome. Best of luck!

JoeHel

dlb wrote: »

Morning all.
Day 4 almost done here!!! Im feeling great this morning, seem to be getting so much more done, didnt realise how much time smoking took up!!!!!!!

Still not had a bad craving and i am going to talk to my nhs smoking adviser tommorow about going on to the 16 hour patches instead of the 24 hour, i took it off last night had a bath and forgot to put one back on until this morning and i feel fine, so cant see the point of having 24 hour if i can manage on 16 hour ones. Does that make sense??

Hope your all doing ok, keep going!!

I have never understood the 24 hour patches to be honest. You never used to smoke while you were asleep. It seems a bit crazy to try and wean yourself off a drug by giving yourself an even longer dose of it... I would DEFINITELY see if they'll give you the 16 hour patches or just do what you are doing now - take it off when you go to bed and put a new one on in the morning. There won't be much difference in the actual patches, after all they are just nicotine.

TNG

^^^^^^^^

What she said

Howdy regulars Welcome Karen



and a big HI :hello: to jo1972 - 'cos I know she's [STRIKE]lurking[/STRIKE] reading

skintnow

Took my first champix tablet today, nothing major to report, just feel a bit fuzzy headed.
Weirdly enough i lit up a few minutes after taking the tablet and it tasted weird, kinda nothing happened, no buzz nothing, so if this is like it is then bring it on!!!

oops_a_daisy

:T Good luck skint now - do keep us posted with your progress.

:hello: Hiya to everybody else :hello:

JoeHel

skintnow wrote: »

Took my first champix tablet today, nothing major to report, just feel a bit fuzzy headed.
Weirdly enough i lit up a few minutes after taking the tablet and it tasted weird, kinda nothing happened, no buzz nothing, so if this is like it is then bring it on!!!

Wooohooo! That sounds like a step in the right direction! So how does it work, do you have to smoke for a certain amount of time or do you just stop when you feel ready? Really interested to hear what it's like and how it makes you feel. I would love to get Joe to give it a try!!