stopping smoking

[xgemmax]

i would really like to stop smoking, i've cut it down to when im at work and when im drinking (usually just a friday or saturday). its not bothered me not smoking when im at home etc, but i think whats getting me at work is the boredom and the habit of having a ciggie in my hand, going for a smoke gets me away from my desk and breaks up a long boring day.

what methods have folk on here used, and do they work?

cheers

[-pogo-]

I came up with this idea.

Start smoking Menthols, try cutting down when your on them. Then every time you need a fag eat a mint, then have a fag, then the next time you need a fag eat a mint, etc until all you crave is Trebors or the Polo variety!

[G-Stud]

I used the little inhalator thing. It's like you're smoking a pen but it's good to have something in your hand. And you don't need to go outside

I used that for about a month in January '07 and quit until Christmas '07 (the party season caused me to relapse!) But after new year I quit again and I'm going to stay off them this time!

[kly]

I gave up for about 7 weeks using the patches but started smoking again the very day I stopped using them.

I've heard good things about hypnosis and know a couple of people who have done it and never smoked again so it might be worth ye looking into that.

[tHomBleached]

Cold turkey. Just acknowledging your last cig is as powerful a tool as any nicotine replacement product. nicotine's out of your system in a few days (3ish) anyway, so why bother with replacement products that cost a furtune, when after a few days its all in your head anyway?

Alan carr's little book of quiting is great, if a tad arrogant!

[Ryu]

Get to know your addiction (real Cessation class type phrase that) and understand that you are physically and mentally dependent on a drug and that you need to combat that using a combo of will power and medical support (patches etc)

I'm 3 weeks into giving up and its the easiest attempt yet.

I figure I'm gonna save myself until retirement age, at which time, me and the missus will break out the bong and relax into the next world!

Oh and agree that the Alan Carr book is good. He did however die of Lung Cancer so....you know.....pinch of salt and all that.

Edited May 2, 2008 by Ryu

[Katster]

I just kinda quit one day when I realised they are pointless and stinky and a bit gross. Try telling my head that when I'm drunk though

I still smoke greenery but I used to smoke that every single day and now I don't even have it once a week. It really is something I now only have for special occasions or just as a one off because I feel like it. Going to Italy for two months working with kids helped me kick that habit into touch.

I don't drink as much as I used to either anymore......although I still find that once I start I just can't stop. I think they call it binge drinking

Good luck with quitting, hopefully something will work for you

[AndrewD]

I have never smoked, but I can imagine that is really hard to stop when you have started. Good luck

[tHomBleached]

He did however die of Lung Cancer so....you know.....pinch of salt and all that.

[Goblinz]

I came up with this idea.

Start smoking Menthols, try cutting down when your on them. Then every time you need a fag eat a mint, then have a fag, then the next time you need a fag eat a mint, etc until all you crave is Trebors or the Polo variety!

[Chocscoffer]

I have been a non smoker for nearly 6 years and I tried everything hypnosis, tablets from the doctor, cold turkey, patches, chewing gum and accupuncture!

As a last ditch attempt it read ALLEN CARR - EASY WAY TO STOP SMOKING and I went from a 20 a day smoker to none at all with only minimal cravings which only lasted minutes. You really want to have to stop, it is no miracle book. I haven't wanted, craved or thought about having one since. Oh and the upside is you don't actually have to stop smoking initially. He advises you continue to smoke normally while reading the book, i found this part really weird but by the end of the book (when he actually tells you smoke your last cigarette) I couldn't wait to smoke that last cigarette knowing it was going to be just that, my last.

I cannot praise this book enough. You can pick it up in ASDA for about £5.00.

[RABun]

I went cold turkey and talked myself down everytime i wanted one. I gave up for 18 months then started again so it did work for a while.

I also used to continue going out for fag breaks at work because i liked the social bit of smoking with the other social lepers but the smell was enough for me i found i didnt need to actually smoke.

I'll give up again at some point.

[Katster]

Alan Carr isn't dead!!

Was there another Alan Carr besides the one off Friday night project?

Edit: Allen Carr you dimwits

Edited May 2, 2008 by Katster

[Ryu]

wasn't he on like 40 a day or something ludicrous like that? I don't think he quit until he was in his 40's, and then he wrote the book, unfortunately for him, the damage had probably been done by that point.

[Ryu]

This could be a bad idea. I can#'t find the source, but i read that there was a study done into addictivity of smoking and it was shown that people who smoke menthols are up to 50% less likely to be able to quit.

I've tried the mints and gum and they taste rank. A friend of mine is on Champax, but because it's costs the NHS £400 for a weeks worth he has to go to bi-weekly meetings to discuss smoking and how crap it is.

g

[tHomBleached]

See, this is the thing, like Bill Hicks says "Newsflash....People Die Every Day" (or words to that effect)

Smoking surely increases that chance, but smoker or non smoker, if the Big C is gonna get you....

Either way, my reasons were that I was bored with feeling breathless, My missus not liking how I smelt, and worst of all, my little one having a harmless cough with her cold (I didn't smoke in the house, but there is always that paranoia that there is SOMETHING about my smoking which may be affecting her....oddly, since I've stopped, she has)

[xgemmax]

thanks guys

think i'll pick that book up, see how that goes, i had managed to stop for a couple of months but it got the better of me DAMN FAGS!!!!

its getting harder aswell coz my boyfriend thinks i've still stopped (oops)

[RABun]

Totally agree, my reasons we're pretty similar. Son had just got to the age where he could pick himself up and peer out the windows, and see mee chuffing away the guilt made me quit instantly and the gf followed suit a few months later

[Goblinz]

Champax? Isn't that Scouse for Tampax?

[sifi]

I think that was the one my mate was on. He seemed to think it was dangerous and changed his personality, especially if he had a drink.

I'll check with him, but there is one that is dangerous.

edit : f**k he's in the States. There was one that made him go loopy, and it was on prescription - and I think it's almost a recognised side-effect.

Edited May 2, 2008 by sifimaster

[Ryu]

thats the trouble with parenting and what people don't get when they first become parents is that its a lifelong guiltfest. Whatever you do or dont sdo you feel guilty about. Sorry i really do love my son and wouldnt change things for the world..its still a guilt fest though. hehehe sorry thread hijack over!

[xgemmax]

[PeterD]

Last time I mentioned smoking I came in for the worst abuse I have ever had on these boards, shocking it was, absolutely shocking.

That said, I gave up almost exactly 6 years ago, I gave up using a drug called Zyban. I had minimal if any cravings with this and in 6 years I have had a drag of one cigar and 2 toots on a bifter and both made me cough and feel like throwing up, basically no relapses.

Zyban was prescribed to me after going to a help to quit clinic. The side effects for me, and it varies obviously, but for me it shot my short term memory, midway through a sentence my mind went blank, I would trail off not knowing what I was on about, and also night terrors, I was suffering a little bit with them anyway but in 2002 they got worse.

I would recommend Zyban, I was a 30 a day smoker, my mother, a 40 a day smoker gave up via hypnosis, it worked for her and she hasn’t gone back in around 5 years.

[Ryu]

Last time I mentioned smoking I came in for the worst abuse I have ever had on these boards, shocking it was, absolutely shocking.

That said, I gave up almost exactly 6 years ago, I gave up using a drug called Zyban. I had minimal if any cravings with this and in 6 years I have had a drag of one cigar and 2 toots on a bifter and both made me cough and feel like throwing up, basically no relapses.

Zyban was prescribed to me after going to a help to quit clinic. The side effects for me, and it varies obviously, but for me it shot my short term memory, midway through a sentence my mind went blank, I would trail off not knowing what I was on about, and also night terrors, I was suffering a little bit with them anyway but in 2002 they got worse.

I would recommend Zyban, I was a 30 a day smoker, my mother, a 40 a day smoker gave up via hypnosis, it worked for her and she hasn’t gone back in around 5 years.

Edited May 2, 2008 by Ryu

[Atlanteanlost]

Avoid fire