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smoking

I like what @Squire Fulwood has said! I have tried numerous times to give up smoking, embarrassingly I kept going back, I tried patches, puffer, gum, the lot and he is right you should just go cold turkey! I listened to the audio book version of Alan Carr, Stop Smoking Now and It made me realise it is really mind over matter! Yes the first few days are a little tricky but that is usually when your resolve is quite good, so if you can get past that then it does get easier and I didn't actually find it that hard and remember wondering why I found it easier now than on previous attempt which seemed like torture! Best of luck! You can do it!!
 
ally1 said:
in the past, I tried patches but found they didn't, t help ne
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I found the patches worked for me but I wasn't a really heavy smoker- about 10 a day mostly evenings when I went out. Good luck with the cape thingy. Hope it works for you. After a while you will start to feel the benefits
 
Ally, some people need more support than others. You've had great suggestions here, and I'm sure everybody would give support to you if you found it hard. But there is also the option of going to see your GP or your pharmacist. There are lots of things available to help you quit, plus phonelines you can ring, and groups you can go to - why not see what's there in your area? You're a very determined lady, we have all seen that and I'm sure you can manage this - and just think what you can do with the money! Getting some nice things for yourself, maybe day trips out, even a short holiday..loads of opportunities. It's a subject very close to home so I really admire you and wish you well x
 
ally1 said:
I,m a heavy smoker and want to stop. I,ve just bought a vype pen and cartridges to go in it. I will stop smoking tomorrow.the thing that I, m worried about is that I, m worried that I will start comfort beating and eating all the wrong things
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Do you really want to quit that's the real question?

Do you want to be messing around with a vype pen in 12 months time (not sure what this pen is)? Not interested what the pen is, a crutch perhaps?

I was smoking up to 3 packs a day and I had no problems with that at all, everyone around me was smoking. However, we know in our own hearts it's not healthy and there's enough information around us to confirm that.

THIS IS WHAT I DID

1. I DECIDED I wanted to stop. That's me telling me I want to stop, not me telling everyone else first. I decided!

I did it Cold Turkey. I made a decision not to drag it out.

2. I picked a day and I picked first day of the week.

3. Then I told everyone, even warned everyone around me. Now everyone is aware and supportive, if you want them to be.

I didn't know how I was going to feel. There was only one incident in a work meeting where I got annoyed. This guy was not supportive.

4. When I had done what I said in (1) above "I decided", you have cracked it! After 2 weeks I could say I had cracked it. Over the months you may get the odd memory or craving and that's to be expected..

5. Since the day I quit, over 6 years ago, there has been endless reasons to start smoking again, loss of savings, loss of job, loss of property, legal cases, loss of friends from cancer, heart attacks.......

The point is we all have our problems but the key is when YOU DECIDE to quit, nothing will rock you. You make your decision and be proud of that decision.

I had a list of illnesses, including mini strokes, diabetes, cholesterol and incident after incident.........These days I feel great!

I used to sit in surroundings, amongst friends, that would have a beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other and tell me how well I have done to quit smoking. They further go on to say why they would never quit? Each to there own as they say.

My circle of friends changed slightly and the way I socialise because I was sick of inhaling smoke and smelling like an ashtray. I still have good friends and family that are avid smokers but that's they're choice.

There is so much more I could talk about but simply I would say "don't make a song and dance about it". It's all in your capable hands ally.

Well done in advance!
 
It's now 6 years since I stopped smoking and it was one of the best things I have ever done, only wish I had done it sooner. I just went cold turkey to start with then I went for help at the Quit smoking groups and was given patches, which were gradually reduced, in strength, over a few weeks, It was really very hard for the first week, but with sheer guts, determination and willpower I did it and I have not wanted or touched a cigarette, in fact, the smell of someone's smoke males me heave. Also I kept busy, went to bed much earlier and bought packets of sugar free polo mints for the first couple of weeks. My son is using a vapour thingy, not something I would use, as you are still holding it like a ciggy and inhaling too, but it seems to be working for him, time will tell.
God luck and wishing you all the very best for a smoke free 2016 and remember to give yourself a little weekly treat. I'm sure you can do it
RRB
 
ally1 said:
I,m a heavy smoker and want to stop. I,ve just bought a vype pen and cartridges to go in it. I will stop smoking tomorrow.the thing that I, m worried about is that I, m worried that I will start comfort beating and eating all the wrong things
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A LAST NOTE ON COMFORT EATING

Don't worry about comfort eating, no one will be as bad as me, this is what I did.

There was one time I made a promise to myself. The promise was that I would only have a cigarette after every meal, at one point I was down to 40 meals a day!

There is always a lighter side to all these seemingly serious decisions we make in our lives.

If you take one day at a time and like anyone just be aware of what you're eating and try to relax. There's so much support for you and that's just from what I can see in this Forum.

If you begin tomorrow, you'll be like a new woman by Valentines Day!

Relax and enjoy everyday
 
I was a non-smoker until I reached my early 30s as I was mindful of the unhealthy aspect of it plus I tried it a few times and just didn't like it. I was the outsider as everyone smoked, even my then husband but it didn't bother me. I then got a very boring job which involved a lot of sitting about and one of the girls offered me a cigarette and I liked the social aspect of it but was still worried about tarring up my lungs. Then, hey presto, the government decided that it would be a good idea to introduce "non harmful" cigarettes which nobody seems to remember apart from me but if you can't remember them here is an article on them from flickr.

1977 New Smoking Material - No Thanks!
It was the loudest ‘No’ in Bristol’s smoky history after tobacco giants Wills announced the biggest revolution in smoking since Sir Walter Raleigh introduced tobacco from the New World to the Court of Queen Elizabeth.

By the 1970s the anti-smoking health campaign had reached such proportions that Wills and other cigarette giants decided that if you couldn’t beat ‘em, you could try to woo 'em. And Wills did so with NSM or New Smoking Material. The idea was cunningly simple. Cut down on tobacco, give cigarette smokers a substitute to puff on and, hey presto, smoking could be acceptable as a healthy pursuit once more. In June, 1977 the new-style cigarettes were launched in a fanfare of publicity.

It didn’t work. In fact it failed so catastrophically that within three months of the much-advertised launch of safer ciggies, Wills’ directors realised they had a huge turkey on their hands. What to do with all those unwanted packets of fags? Set fire to them in the biggest bonfire in Bristol’s tobacco history when more than 100 million NSM ‘gaspers’ were cremated. Wills claimed foul, accusing the government of torpedoing their new products by not allowing a price advantage over the more tar-filled standard cigs.

The public didn’t agree. NSM lacked the nicotine kick that smokers crave. . . it was as simple as that.

Now never having been a smoker they tasted OK to me so I'd got used to being in with the crowd and having a cigarette in my hand like everyone else in those days. When they pulled them off the market I started buying normal cigarettes I carried on smoking until 1996 when my dear mother had a health scare and was told that she must quit so we both went cold turkey. Unfortunately she died of a stroke the following year and I went to pieces but I still didn't smoke. Then 2 years later I lost my beautiful son to a heart attack at the age of 36. Having still not got over losing my mum you can imagine what a state I was in (anti-depressants, suicide attempt, panic attacks .. living hell) and I still didn't smoke. I had gained 3 stone in weight though. I was divorced by then and my current partner decided to take me to his brother and s-i-l in Wales for a break. We were out shopping one day and my s-i-l said "hold this while I pop in this shop" and handed me her cigarette. It had been 5 years and yet I couldn't resist taking a puff and then I kept "borrowing" one off her and had to buy some to pay her back of course and by the time I came back home I was a smoker again

When they became priced out of my reach I took to rolling my own and as we live on the South Coast it's easy for us to do a day trip to Belgium and get ridiculously cheap baccy. Even though I started smoking the weight never came off and I always said I would tackle the weight loss and then think about giving up. So I've now lost 2.5 stones and keep thinking about packing up again. Thinking about it is as far as I get though. I know it makes sense. I think those 5 years of hell as a non-smoker are acting like a sort of "aversion" therapy and I associate it with bad things. I know that's just an excuse really

Sorry about the length of this post - I got carried away once I started.



 
I went cold turkey after 40 years of smoking I never tried before didn't think I had the will power to do it but one day I decided I would give up and I never smoked another cigarette that's over ten years ago now since I stopped. I did not find it that difficult really no where near like I thought it would be I surprised myself. I chewed normal chewing gum the few times in the first couple of weeks that I got a craving after that I didn't need it. I didn't want to use any nicotine replacement stuff as I think they just remind you all the time how much you enjoyed smoking.
I think the reason some people put on weight is that they do eat a lot of sweets etc to replace the cigarettes I never had a really sweet tooth so didn't do that and I didn't put on any weight.
If you really want to give up that is more than half the battle so stay determined think of the extra money you will have to spend and you can do it. Good luck

I do believe that if there is no family or friends around you who smokes then it is easier I know that it helped me. My husband gave up smoking over 30 years ago and none of my 3 children or grown up grandchildren smoke. It is amazing how soon after you give it up that you find the smell of cigarette smoke really horrible
 
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Even though I'm a smoker I still hate the smell of it, especially on my clothes. It's coats and things that don't get frequently washed that tend to smell

My biggest admiration goes to my 23 year old grandson who was brought up surrounded by smokers, his mum, dad, me and my partner, even his sisters and a lot of his mates and he's never been tempted. Kudos to him.
 
I found 'What's in it for me' was the incentive to give up. I had a new grand-daughter in August last year and was told that I couldn't cuddle her if I'd had a ciggie within the last 30 minutes. Bit harsh I thought, but then I did understand, my son and DIL not wanting her inhaling smoke fumes from my clothes.

That was the incentive I needed. No amount of health warnings, price rises and the fact that I was now doubling my chances of heart disease after being diagnosed with diabetes put me off.

My new grand child did it in want foul swoop.

I'm now a happy ex-smoker of 5 months, can smell a smoker before I see them (hate the smell) and at last, after so many years, I and my home no longer smell like an ashtray.

It can be one hell of a battle, but it's worth it.
 
Hi Ally1
I am 63 days off the smokes, here's what's happened, I got my diabetes diagnosis on a Wednesday and that weekend I got food poisoning !! So for four days I was laid up feeling like *****. But I didn't smoke (I usually smoked outside the back door) because I hadn't the energy or inclination to go outside. So 4 days became 5... Then a week !!! Never in 30 years of smoking had I made that choice. Now I will say this, I wasn't a heavy smoker (in recent years my smoking had reduced) but I was a very habitual smoker, I had very specific times that I smoked, that was the hardest bit for me and still is. The thing is, I know that if I have a smoke now, if I give in, it won't be what I want/need it to be. It won't be this mythical fantastic cigarette I imagine. So I don't bother.... I smell smoke and I wonder why I enjoyed that smell, I get more than one day out if my clothes, everything tastes and smells better and the wheeze is going. At first I thought about them ALL the time, now not so much. I haven't used a vape but I have used a few patches. I've been watching my food intake due to the diabetes so I can't use food to replace the ciggies...

I wish you good luck, and really do take it one day (or half a day) at a time

Paula
 
Sometimes that's the most effective deterrent.

Mrs hay-char was brought up in a household where her dad was on 40 a day (before he kicked the habit, as above). It put her off fags for life.
 
Hi @ally1 - How you doing? Have you smoked less since starting using your vape?
 
Well Done @ally1 - That is fantastic news.
 
Very well done. I bet you'll be down to zero by the weekend
 
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