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Off the rails

£112 pound a week on cigaretts ,a weeks shopping for a family ,don't get it!
 
Most would agree with you ... after they give them up :)

As Chicago once sang "you're a hard habit to break" :).
 
JH2432 said:
Hi Ally,

In my opinion the important thing is to stop smoking and this is something you have suggested you want to do. It will do wonders for your health even if it might set back your diabetes in the short term.

I was a really heavy smoker from the age of 11 until I packed in last year after 40 years of smoking. I was smoking 40+ cigarettes a day. My breathing is much improved and I do not cough as much as I used to. I used patches to help me stop. Also, I read the book by Alan Carr "Easy way to stop smoking" I found this book really helpful.

I did gain some weight but as my diagnosis with diabetes was 3 months after I stopped smoking, it is difficult to know the cause of the weight gain. I like to blame it on the meds!!

I can honestly say that the best thing you can do for your health is to quit the fags for good. Please get in touch if you feel I could support you with this.

Jacqui
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HI Yes I agree with JH2432 I gave up smoking in 2002 smoked 20 a day, maybe more if going out, besides joining this site it was the best thing I ever did, can breath better can walk a lot further, my house is smoke free my body my hair everything is smoke free and guess what when I look back if I had stopped smoking early on in life I would have saved so much money. You can do it , I did it with patches too, and also used to save the money every day that I spent on cigarettes. be strong you owe it to yourself. :)
 
Back in the day, smoking was something Alan Ladd done in a big auto with a blonde next to him, a cigarette was a must have .people know better now ,don't get it
 
It can be incredibly hard to stop any habit... And understanding is needed because any habit even gambling, drinking, smoking, drugs can all have dire consequences to the individual and to families.
Our electrician can't work in a house where people smoke as it gives him severe breathing problems and headaches...if he tries to help people out and enters these places he ends up having to take the next day off from work!!

However, understanding, support and help is desperately needed with persons that struggle to give up.
 
donnellysdogs said:
It can be incredibly hard to stop any habit... And understanding is needed because any habit even gambling, drinking, smoking, drugs can all have dire consequences to the individual and to families.
Our electrician can't work in a house where people smoke as it gives him severe breathing problems and headaches...if he tries to help people out and enters these places he ends up having to take the next day off from work!!

However, understanding, support and help is despeserately needed with persons that struggle to give up.
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"Dire consequences for there families" well there,s the motivation what else do is needed, if you cant do it for your family ,I don't get it
 
I stopped smoking many years ago ,had to be cold turkey then and I struggled ,it's a wonder the kids didn't leave home !! but it is worth all the effort .Just one thing that I would say is that to kill an addiction you have to starve it to death so every time you take in nicotine (even one puff) you feed that addiction and it won't die
CAROL
 
You could try waiting five mins before lighting your cigarette .. in that time the craving should have passed ..
You stay strong Ally, we all fall off the rails now and again ... Don't beat yourself up ... just start again with the knowledge we are all behind you, willing your bs to return into the normal range .. without cigarettes :)
 
carty said:
I stopped smoking many years ago ,had to be cold turkey then and I struggled ,it's a wonder the kids didn't leave home !! but it is worth all the effort .Just one thing that I would say is that to kill an addiction you have to starve it to death so every time you take in nicotine (even one puff) you feed that addiction and it won't die
CAROL
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Yes by reducing the amount of cigarettes smoked you are just kidding yourself,
 
Southbeds said:
Yes by reducing the amount of cigarettes smoked you are just kidding yourself,
Click to expand...

Southbeds, I'm not feeling a lot of luuuuurve or support in your posts to Ally. Personally, I will never be one of these people who favours the constant positive affirmation route to problem solving. I too tend to tackle things head-on, for myself, but we all differ in our coping mechanisms and also how the grip of an addiction takes us.

Many, many of us on this site have been in the grip of addictions at one time or another in our lives; some patently being more serious than others. For some it will be time spent on Candy Crush (I can't see the attraction to that one myself), for some it will be or have been alcohol, tobacco, carbs, chocolate, gambling, eating in general, not eating (anorexia, bulimia), not taking life saving medication (such as diabulimia) or a million and one other things. Any one of us who can stand up and say they've never struggled to change a behaviour in our lives is deluding themselves as their lives would have been otherwise perfect.

Life has a way of trundling along and derailing us from the good ways of living - an extra flutter on the gee-gees leading to a regularly extra flutter, or a glass of vino in the evenings "just to take the edge off an horrendous day" leading to a bottle a day. You get the drift. Smoking is no different to any of those things in its simplest form, and scientifically is akin to hard drug addiction in terms of cessation.

Many moons ago, I worked with a lady. One of her sons was the black sheep of the family and mentioned little. It transpired he had drifted with the odd puff on a cannabis cigarette through the gambit of options to a serious and heartbreaking heroine addiction.

As a family they tried everything to get him off it, and eventually, last I heard, he was doing OK, but that was years ago. Along the way, this lady made a pact with her son's counsellor and her son, that she would give up cigarettes alongside his heroine cessation. The counsellor warned her of what she was taking on-board, stating it was almost as strong an addiction grasp as heroine. She did it, with a gargantuan effort.

In support of Ally, I can understand how Ally's smoking may have escalated over the last year or so (although I don't know if that is the case), because she has certainly had more than her fair share of troubles to cope with, including the sudden passing of a close relative in very tragic circumstances. In Ally's shoes, I could easily have lost sight of the rails, never mind wavered from them a bit, but over all of that period she still wrestled with her bloods and got them to a decent place in the end. I take my hat off to Ally, and may be joined by several others who have observed her journey, whilst counting their own blessing to be spared some of the challenges she faced.

Of course you are entitled to your opinions on topics wide and diverse, but until each of us strolled a mile in each others Gucci loafers, we really don't know the whole story (and I include myself firmly in that group).

Ally - stick with sticking with it. Giving up is your ideal, but not all things can be achieved in one fell swoop. I'm rooting for you.
 
EdMac said:
This isn't truethere are clear health benefits associated with reducing cigarette intake. Anyone who has cut down from 40 a day to less than 10 will testify to this. in fact anyone who has even just watched someone else do it can testify to that.

But not only are there health benefits. By cutting down to a much smaller number the smoker cuts out all the simple habit fags. The ones that may be smoked out of boredom or simple routine. The ones that are left are the ones that serve a purpose - and these are the ones that will need focus to remove. Cold turkey is simple (not the same as easy) but for many people is just a short term fix.
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The health benefits of smoking 10 cigarettes a day ,thanks for that, brilliant
 
carty said:
I stopped smoking many years ago ,had to be cold turkey then and I struggled ,it's a wonder the kids didn't leave home !! but it is worth all the effort .Just one thing that I would say is that to kill an addiction you have to starve it to death so every time you take in nicotine (even one puff) you feed that addiction and it won't die
CAROL
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As a former smoker, I agree with this 100%. Such is the nature of the beast nicotine. It is just too addictive for half measures.

Good luck Ally :)
 
EdMac said:
This isn't truethere are clear health benefits associated with reducing cigarette intake. Anyone who has cut down from 40 a day to less than 10 will testify to this. in fact anyone who has even just watched someone else do it can testify to that.

But not only are there health benefits. By cutting down to a much smaller number the smoker cuts out all the simple habit fags. The ones that may be smoked out of boredom or simple routine. The ones that are left are the ones that serve a purpose - and these are the ones that will need focus to remove. Cold turkey is simple (not the same as easy) but for many people is just a short term fix.
Click to expand...

I quit and went cold turkey, just like that after decades of smoking, but then I asked for help from my GP who put me in touch with the quit smoking team and then I went on patches which were gradually reduced in strength, it was very difficult the first week :arghh: Cutting down would not of worked for me, as I see it as still doing the same habitual things. Whichever way a person quits smoking must be tailored for them, but it will always come down to will power, determination and sheer guts to succeed and I haven't touched a cigarette in 6 years , I stopped in January 2010 :happy:
 
EdMac said:
This isn't truethere are clear health benefits associated with reducing cigarette intake. Anyone who has cut down from 40 a day to less than 10 will testify to this. in fact anyone who has even just watched someone else do it can testify to that.

But not only are there health benefits. By cutting down to a much smaller number the smoker cuts out all the simple habit fags. The ones that may be smoked out of boredom or simple routine. The ones that are left are the ones that serve a purpose - and these are the ones that will need focus to remove. Cold turkey is simple (not the same as easy) but for many people is just a short term fix.
Click to expand...

40, 30, 20, 10 a day is still smoking and I would like a health professional to tell me and explain how cutting down has actual health benefits, I cant see it myself !!
 
Southbeds said:
"Dire consequences for there families" well there,s the motivation what else do is needed, if you cant do it for your family ,I don't get it
Click to expand...

My then 9 year old was so supportive and made me posters and well done mum leaflets, she was and still is a star ( she told me later she didn't like me smoking and that really made me feel bad)
I redecorated her bedroom, a new carpet too with the money I saved and I have never looked back, only wish I had given up sooner.
 
AndBreathe said:
Southbeds, I'm not feeling a lot of luuuuurve or support in your posts to Ally. Personally, I will never be one of these people who favours the constant positive affirmation route to problem solving. I too tend to tackle things head-on, for myself, but we all differ in our coping mechanisms and also how the grip of an addiction takes us.

Many, many of us on this site have been in the grip of addictions at one time or another in our lives; some patently being more serious than others. For some it will be time spent on Candy Crush (I can't see the attraction to that one myself), for some it will be or have been alcohol, tobacco, carbs, chocolate, gambling, eating in general, not eating (anorexia, bulimia), not taking life saving medication (such as diabulimia) or a million and one other things. Any one of us who can stand up and say they've never struggled to change a behaviour in our lives is deluding themselves as their lives would have been otherwise perfect.

Life has a way of trundling along and derailing us from the good ways of living - an extra flutter on the gee-gees leading to a regularly extra flutter, or a glass of vino in the evenings "just to take the edge off an horrendous day" leading to a bottle a day. You get the drift. Smoking is no different to any of those things in its simplest form, and scientifically is akin to hard drug addiction in terms of cessation.

Many moons ago, I worked with a lady. One of her sons was the black sheep of the family and mentioned little. It transpired he had drifted with the odd puff on a cannabis cigarette through the gambit of options to a serious and heartbreaking heroine addiction.

As a family they tried everything to get him off it, and eventually, last I heard, he was doing OK, but that was years ago. Along the way, this lady made a pact with her son's counsellor and her son, that she would give up cigarettes alongside his heroine cessation. The counsellor warned her of what she was taking on-board, stating it was almost as strong an addiction grasp as heroine. She did it, with a gargantuan effort.

In support of Ally, I can understand how Ally's smoking may have escalated over the last year or so (although I don't know if that is the case), because she has certainly had more than her fair share of troubles to cope with, including the sudden passing of a close relative in very tragic circumstances. In Ally's shoes, I could easily have lost sight of the rails, never mind wavered from them a bit, but over all of that period she still wrestled with her bloods and got them to a decent place in the end. I take my hat off to Ally, and may be joined by several others who have observed her journey, whilst counting their own blessing to be spared some of the challenges she faced.

Of course you are entitled to your opinions on topics wide and diverse, but until each of us strolled a mile in each others Gucci loafers, we really don't know the whole story (and I include myself firmly in that group).

Ally - stick with sticking with it. Giving up is your ideal, but not all things can be achieved in one fell swoop. I'm rooting for you.
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We are talking about two illnesses here both are deadly so I think there is not time to lose , I do care ,one illness reversible the other avoidable so reverse and avoid ,The moving finger writes and having writ moves on I lived my life by that,
 
AndBreathe said:
Southbeds, I'm not feeling a lot of luuuuurve or support in your posts to Ally. Personally, I will never be one of these people who favours the constant positive affirmation route to problem solving. I too tend to tackle things head-on, for myself, but we all differ in our coping mechanisms and also how the grip of an addiction takes us.

Many, many of us on this site have been in the grip of addictions at one time or another in our lives; some patently being more serious than others. For some it will be time spent on Candy Crush (I can't see the attraction to that one myself), for some it will be or have been alcohol, tobacco, carbs, chocolate, gambling, eating in general, not eating (anorexia, bulimia), not taking life saving medication (such as diabulimia) or a million and one other things. Any one of us who can stand up and say they've never struggled to change a behaviour in our lives is deluding themselves as their lives would have been otherwise perfect.

Life has a way of trundling along and derailing us from the good ways of living - an extra flutter on the gee-gees leading to a regularly extra flutter, or a glass of vino in the evenings "just to take the edge off an horrendous day" leading to a bottle a day. You get the drift. Smoking is no different to any of those things in its simplest form, and scientifically is akin to hard drug addiction in terms of cessation.

Many moons ago, I worked with a lady. One of her sons was the black sheep of the family and mentioned little. It transpired he had drifted with the odd puff on a cannabis cigarette through the gambit of options to a serious and heartbreaking heroine addiction.

As a family they tried everything to get him off it, and eventually, last I heard, he was doing OK, but that was years ago. Along the way, this lady made a pact with her son's counsellor and her son, that she would give up cigarettes alongside his heroine cessation. The counsellor warned her of what she was taking on-board, stating it was almost as strong an addiction grasp as heroine. She did it, with a gargantuan effort.

In support of Ally, I can understand how Ally's smoking may have escalated over the last year or so (although I don't know if that is the case), because she has certainly had more than her fair share of troubles to cope with, including the sudden passing of a close relative in very tragic circumstances. In Ally's shoes, I could easily have lost sight of the rails, never mind wavered from them a bit, but over all of that period she still wrestled with her bloods and got them to a decent place in the end. I take my hat off to Ally, and may be joined by several others who have observed her journey, whilst counting their own blessing to be spared some of the challenges she faced.

Of course you are entitled to your opinions on topics wide and diverse, but until each of us strolled a mile in each others Gucci loafers, we really don't know the whole story (and I include myself firmly in that group).

Ally - stick with sticking with it. Giving up is your ideal, but not all things can be achieved in one fell swoop. I'm rooting for you.
Click to expand...

Thank you for this @AndBreathe
I just want to say I want to support you @ally1 and encourage you in any way possible. It is very hard to be as open as you have been. Take care.
 
For those of us who have given up or are trying, we know that there is no 'one size fits all' approach. We all find our own way to cope. It's not just about the addition to the nicotine, but it's the habit, when we smoke, where we smoke, why we smoke, the action of putting the smoke to our lips and the deep inhale. All of those aspects are habits to be broken, changes to make and that's sometimes so much harder than the addiction to the nicotine. So to reduce from 40 to under 10 is a fantastic change in habit. I applaud that. The reduction is retraining the mind and the body to cope with less nicotine and also to breaking the habits of a lifetime (30 years for me)

Ally you are doing great, keep doing the best you can, change will come
 
Hiitsme said:
Thank you for this @AndBreathe
I just want to say I want to support you @ally1 and encourage you in any way possible. It is very hard to be as open as you have been. Take care.
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Snap...one of the most beautiful, moving posts from @breathe that I have ever read on any forum.

@ally1.. Please come back to us... We have a huge amount of love and support to give. Thinking of you...Sx
 
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