smoking

loftus

Trying to stop smoking any help/tips?

Matfinn

One big tip I can give you when it comes to giving up smoking is not to use nicotine patches or gums. If you do use these, you will still maintain your addiction to nicotene, and you are then far more likely to cave in and take up smoking again.

Second, if you dont think you can give up, then just persevere and reassure yourself that you are free from smokes forever, and you dont actually need to smoke. You just need strong willpower and this advice.

Just remeber to keep off the cigarettes, and under no circumstances should you smoke one, even if its just the one. After about 3 weeks, you will stop thinking all the time about smoking, and you will be over the hill.

30% of cigarette addiction if the physical nicotene addiction and the other 70% is the psychological addiction. Nail that last one and you will be sorted. It sorted me anyway. I was once the worst smoker in the country, and I have been off them for 7 months now without looking back. Im certainly over the hill. Hitting the boozer hard without smoking is childs play.

Take my advice and you should be ok, it helped me anyway.

Good luck in your endeavours.

Matt

loftus

Thanks alot matt

vac

One big tip I can give you when it comes to giving up smoking is not to use nicotine patches or gums. If you do use these, you will still maintain your addiction to nicotene, and you are then far more likely to cave in and take up smoking again.

I don't agree here, theres not as much nicotine in patches and gum as in cigarettes, and its not as addictive either. I remember reading about it before i gave up. My dad used the gum when he was giving up, and it worked for him. I didn't use any sort of gum or patches when i gave up and im still off them.

jabaroon

IMHO......

Im off the smokes for a year now. No interest in smoking again (except when in the pub after a good few pints.....but its not that hard to quell the urge!)

If you REALLY are determined to quit, then you dont need anything other than will power. Patches, gum, etc...etc... are just easy ways out! They may work, but in my experience (from friends), there is more of a tendancy to go back on the smokes when using devices such as patches. It all in your state of mind.

If you are ABSOLUTELY DEFINATLEY going to give up, then you need nothing! Yeah, sure, you will be in bits for a few days (3-4 in my case), but after that, the body is starting to get the message -- no nicotine today!!

Just my 2c. Ive been there and never look back. The very best of luck to you!

Jab

LegacyUser

Read "Allen Carrs Easyway to Stop Smoking".
It worked for me.
I go out to pubs/clubs now and I havent even the slightest urge to smoke.
Havent had withdrawal or cravings at all.

literati

why not try the Bill Hicks method of quitting? For those who don't know, Bill Hicks was probably one of America's best ever comedians. He was vehemently pro-smoking. When asked once if he had ever contemplated quitting he said: 'Of course I have! I have a plan, I mean I'm gonna quit gradually..... First I'm gonna lose my left lung....., then my right.....'

I know this is precious-little help as regards quitting but I hope it at lest made someone laugh! Bill Hicks died of cancer aged 32 in 1992.

The Corinthian

Everyone has their own way of giving up cigarettes that works for them.

Nicotine substitutes such as gum or patches can help if you’re concerned about the effect of trying to tackle both the chemical and psychological addiction to cigarettes. However, as has been pointed out, you can also end up simply replacing one addiction for another.

As an aside, I found that normal chewing gum helped, in that it gave my mouth something to do other than puff on a cigarette.

Allen Carr’s book seems to help many too, although I personally found it too boring to read beyond the first chapter or two.

Nonetheless, good luck in kicking the habit.

Sleepy

Motivation...

Put €5.80 into a change jar a day (assuming you smoke 20 a day). Watch it build. Realise how much money you're wasting. Stay off the fags for a year you've got over €2000 in that jar.

WhiteWashMan

there is only one way to give up smoking.

its really easy.
just decide you dont want to smoke anymore.

anyone who says you need will p[ower si wrong.
using will power means you want to continue smoking, and at some stage or another you will go back on them.
using will power i was of smokes for 8 months before.

now, i read allen carrs book, and im a big fan of it. but reading a book doesnt make you stop smoking.
only you stop smoking.
realising why you smoke is important, and i find most smokers are pretty afraid to give up because the cigarettes are just a crutch of one sort or another. naturally, most smokers will deny this

but giving up is really easy. just dont want to smoke. and you wont, after all, you dont want to eat shít do you?
and do you eat shít?
i guess you dont.

patches and gum are just placebos. they dont help you give up smoking, they just give your will power a boost, and they dont get rid of the nicotine addiction either. and thats not realy helpful considering nicotine is one of the most addictive substances known.

im sure the corinithian, as an ex smoker, will not mind me saying i think he is wrong for not reading the book, or saying its boring. i mean, i would like to see people give up, not try to retard their efforsts with negative views. i think reading the allen carr is worth the whole 6 quid it costs. after all, its not like its going to hurt. all you can do is stay smoking, or quit.
but again, it just shows you why smokers smoke, and why they dont need to. thats all it does. and lastly, you just want to want to stop smoking. it really is that smiple. but understanding why you smoke helps.

and remember, smokingh makes baby jesus cry.
and makes your willy shrink in size

Sleipnir

wow, I was just coming here to ask if anyone had quit smoking using Hypnosis?
I read Allen Carr's book and stopped for a year and a half, the most stupid thing I have ever done was smoking a cigarette again. Dumb, dumb, dumb.
I think the book does use some suggestion techniques; I noticed exactly the same sentences being repeated.
My GF read the same book and has been clean for 3 years now.
I've read it again since but had NO effect on me this time around so I was wondering should I give hypnosis a go (after all, that's how Allen Carr stopped!)

Club_Med

coincidence !!
Last saturday I ve decided to stop smoking and here s a thread about it comes up.
Damn it`s no easy way....I ve been chewing airfresh gums since 8.00am. eventually i wont` smoke anymore, but whos listen at my dentist afterwards ????

The Corinthian

Originally posted by WhiteWashMan
im sure the corinithian, as an ex smoker, will not mind me saying i think he is wrong for not reading the book, or saying its boring. i mean, i would like to see people give up, not try to retard their efforsts with negative views.

Well, I think anyone looking to give up doesn't want to feel that they're being protected either. As I said, the book wasn't for me, but it might work for others - the same with patches, hypnotism, gum or whatever.

Personally, like wwm, I just decided I didn't want to smoke any more. I used patches for a few weeks, but went off them as soon as I could and probably would not have used them in retrospect. Normal chewing gum helped, though. That and pigheaded arrogance :rolleyes:

Originally posted by Kananga
I read Allen Carr's book and stopped for a year and a half, the most stupid thing I have ever done was smoking a cigarette again. Dumb, dumb, dumb.

About three months after I'd quit I went for a pint with a friend of mine who had been a fanatic ex-smoker to find that she’d gone back on them. When asked why, she sheepishly admitted that she’d had one.

So I asked her for one, smoked it and haven’t had another since.

Regardless of how you initially give up, there is a misconception that if you have one you’ll be back on them. You won’t. If you have one, give yourself a slap and don’t do it again. Simple as that.

Sleipnir

Yeah I don't mean I had one and then ran out, bought and box of cigars and smoked them one after the other!
It sort of went like
"gimme a drag offa that"
"I'll only smoke half!!"
"Ah just the one"
"Sure I'm out drinking, I'll just get 10"
"Aragh just one pack cos today is gonna be a bad one"

Just fell back into the trap.

littleninja

Originally posted by vac
I don't agree here, theres not as much nicotine in patches and gum as in cigarettes, and its not as addictive either. I remember reading about it before i gave up. My dad used the gum when he was giving up, and it worked for him. I didn't use any sort of gum or patches when i gave up and im still off them.

That may be so vac, but there IS still nicotine in the patches/gum and as such, is still keeping the addiction for the drug alive in your body, it does take a lot of will power, or as allen carr said break the brainwashing of the nicotine and it should be easy.

Found the allen carr book good - agreed it is kinda boring at the start, but once you pass the first couple of chapters it dispells each of the myths of smoking
e.g. "i cant concentrate without one"
Many non smokers don't find themselves all stressed and can concentrate v well without the ciggies - what's the difference only an addiction to a VERY addictive drug.

I have to admit that I did give in and have a cigarette last week after almost 7 weeks off the cigarettes *hangs head in shame*. That was last week and I haven't had another one since, haven't really felt the urge strong enough to have another one since though, so here's hoping

jabaroon

Kananga, Its sooooo true. Ive been in that exact same place on many an occasion!

Interesting stat I heard recently.....apparantley, if you give up smoking an end up back on them, on average, people wait 18 months before trying (in earnest) to give up again! So next time your tempted to just 'have one', remember, you could be signing up for another 18 months of smokes!

Jab