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Have you stopped smoking recently? Do you feel you need to stop but havent quite got there yet? Need a little push, or a great big SHOVE or just somewhere to write down how you are feeling? Heres the place...
I really must stop......am going to try again in the summer. I have heard of a new drug that you can get prescribed so am going to make an appt at the docs soon.....
Been quit 10 weeks but slipped a disc in my back over the weekend and ended up in hospital yesterday. The pain drove me back to fags again yesterday when I came out
30 is a really good age to give up@southeastra. It's your 30s where the balance starts to tip from 'young, carefree, having a fag with my wine' to 'old hag with smoking wrinkles' . I gave up completely last year (was a 'with wine' smoker for about 2 yrs before that, had given up when pregnant, pre-preg was a 20 a dayer for 14 yrs). It was tough, but has got so much easier.
Ok. Well I must direct you all to whyquit.com. Read it till you know it in out, back to front etc, I know at least one other Mnetter has cracked it via whyquit. It changes the way you think about fags and smoking until you have no choice but to stop smoking, you cant justify it anymore. Lush! Get back on the wagon...did the fag help the pain at all? Bet it just SHATtered your confidence in yourself. Also a copy of Allen Carrs Easy Way to Stop Smoking wouldnt be a bad thing, cheap on ebay SEA did i read you were saving your tesco vouchers to go to an AC clinic?
I've made a pact with someone at work to quit on the 7th which as DD just pointed out is Wednesday. I'm going to give it another go. Had lots of attempts.
Why Quit was great. It really drove the message home that smoking is stupid, that I kid myself about it, that it will kill me, etc.
Stop Smoking Center was also very good. It has a very supportive message board. Read through their 'program' before you quit. And start your 'mileage'. Mine is:
My Mileage Smoke-Free Days: 126 Cigarettes Not Smoked: 1,262 Amount Saved: ?327.60 Life Gained: Days: 10 Hrs: 17 Mins: 41 Seconds: 5
I would have smoked 1,262 cigarettes since 1 Jan if I hadn't quit! And I smoked only half a pack a day.
The reason why quit is anti patches is because you are still addicted to nicotine, no matter how long you dont actually have a fag for....the minute you take the patch off you are going to reach for a fag....its the nature of the beast. Cold turkey, as murderous as it is, gets that part of it over and dont with, and you can and DO forget for moments at a time, whereas with a patch you are still addicted to the fecker that your trying to get away from. Its doable with the right frame of mind. I read somewhere, could be wrong that the patches were originally made by the tobacco companys.
Exactly, now if you have just endured the Ow <pain> to begin with, then you wouldnt be in that place...and its something I would never ever ever want to go through again! Which is also a powerful mental tool. But with the right frame of mind you can see it as a cleansing...honestly
You can do it, DH and I gave up in October, he had been smoking for 25 years me for 8 so far we have saved £2k and the money we haven't spent we are using to go on holiday in November, 2 weeks in Antigua with children.
whyquit is like the conscious(sp?) version of hypnotherapy...if you read it you will get what I mean, it changes the way you think abut fags. So instead of the nicotine going to a pleasureable place in your brain - you dont want to do it anymore and its only a matter of time before you take the plunge into This IS gonna be my last Fag and im never gonna have another one.
I stopped completely for 18 months when pg and bf'ing... Started to have the odd cig with drinks over Christmas and have been stopping and starting ever since (didn't smoke in January - started again mid Feb - stop for a week or two - slowly start again yadda yadda yadda )
DP and I have stopped again as of today. Will read why quit
you can use the tesco vouchers as part payment every £10 voucher is worth £40 towards the course which is now £220, but you do get your money back if it fails.
i know it's the nicotine i'm addicted too, the patches are fab, but they really reacted badly to my skin constantly itching until they fell off.
Just nosing around and wanted to say do consider going to GP and getting Zyban. It is fab, completely removes the desire to smoke. You just don't want or need to. I was on 20-30 a day for more than 15 years and it was just amazing! (I don't work for the drug company I promise!). Also I am Allen Carr fan, gets your head in the right place for quitting.
i've heard horror stories about zyban, that it can cause depression and suicidal thoughts chukkypig, though that was a while back. how does it work?
i'm waiting for my vouchers but hopefully i'll get about £20's worth which tesco quadruple so that's £80 off which is probably the only way i could afford to go to the clinic cc.
Another vote for www.whyquit.com This is the Mumsnet of quitting. I have been quit for 7 months. this was my zillionth attempt - I have done every other method and failed. I directed other MNetters there who have quit and stayed quit.
forget patches, zyban, champix, etc. etc. this is the way to go - it is FREE and it works.
Best of luck!
quit Stats:quit for 7 Months, 2 Days, 20 hours, 55 minutes and 54 seconds (215 days). I have saved £1,464.68 by not smoking 4,965 cigarettes. I have saved 2 Weeks, 3 Days, 5 hours and 45 minutes of my life. My Quit Date: 02/10/2007 21:27
oooh, i'm in. quit when pg and my very-brief BF'ing, but am starting (gradually) to smoke again. have bought about one pack of ten a week for last month.
i used to be a v heavy smoker. one of those people who lit up with their morning cuppa - never ever thought i could quit.
silliest thing is that i found it's not that tough and that life without fags is not only ok but really quite good in many ways.
BUT need motivation. now is crunch time and really dont want to end up a shrivelly hag
Oh you would need to check that out sea, some dont have names on....i dont know if these do or not...ebay sellers often sell the vouchers unchanged then you email and say what you want them to swop them for...but you would need to make sure these vouchers are nameless....
I stopped (13 years ago!) using hte nicotine gum and a helluva lot of willpower. DH stopped with me which made it easier (although I did have the odd sneaky fag out of the bedroom window!)
southeast - stick with whyquit - have a look all around the site. Pick a date. Look at Joel's videos. the site itself will be your divine revelation! - I'm rooting for you!
SEA waffle away....that actaully sounds quite good...except you will enjoy each one MORE. If you can cram them in they arent so nice. Its when you cant have one suddenly they take on a godly being.. Glad we have a load starting to STOP, super stuff. Come rant here!
Carrot sticks are great to munch/suck on in the early days when you don't know what to do with your hands/mouth.
I also quit coffee & alcohol for a month. 4 months after quitting cigarettes, I can now enjoy coffee & wine without a cigarette - something I didn't think would be possible.
hi charliecat. i currently have no ciggies, but smoked .... ugh.... get this... a half fag from an ashtray this morning. omg - cant believe i 'fessed up to that.
littlewonder - i too used to smoke when i woke up in the night. makes me smile that anyone would think that was strange.
i am going to check out whyquit. my main prob now is that i never thought i'd be able to stop or that life could be bearable without ciggies. now i know i can quit, i feel like i can smoke, because, well, i can just quit again. sorry, ramble ramble.
Oh Tyaca - that is exactly normal addictive thinking - you will find exactly those thoughts on the site - plus people who take fag butts out of bins etc. NORMAL for an addict, and this is all people who quit. Good luck!
Oh thanks for asking. I had some left over from last night so smoked them today!! Finished them a couple of hours ago and not buying anymore. Thats it I'm quit from now on.
Obviously it hasnt hit yet but I will get through it.
Go eve! Those Oh i Can quit So Im ok to smoke, yes very normal. I used to smoke through the night and im bed first thing in the morn and remember once going outside in my nighty looking IN THE GARDEN for a fag butt to smoke...at 3am...with a torch
I am another serial quitter. I've quit so many times, including for both pregnancies but stupidly relapsed between. I then relapsed again last August and quit again at new year. I'm now 3 weeks into another relapse.
I'm not knocking whyquit or Alan Carr but I find the gum is the easiest way to get through the first week and I just find that I chew it less and less every day until I suddenly think great I haven't even had one piece today.
My big problem is staying quit. I need to accept that I can't smoke socially, I am an addict and this time (2 days in) my mantra is "not even one ever"
I have got to quit. Please let MN support be the one this time . . . Allan Carr didn't work. I had hypnotherapy and crashed my car on the way home (too relaxed methinks!!), Done NHS group (v good for a few weeks, best yet - not including pg). I didn't like the whyquit site. Sorry. My big problem is that Its too easy for me to just say ah stuff it and go and buy fags. I cannot afford it anymore, colds last a lifetime and DH hates it. I want to see my girls grow up. But that smoker mentality of I'll be fine is just so addictive isn't it. I've done the hunt for smokeable butts too . You'd be horrified to do that with food, yet with a fag . . . . madness. Got to do it. got to do it.
Lol chrissnow Alan Carr worked for me once but not a second time, even though I went to a clinic. Hypnotherapy was a waste of time for me, I had my first ciggy in the car after leaving the appointment. Zyban made me feel ill (although it worked for a colleague) I don' like the whyquit site either. For me it's either willpower or NRT.
The most important thing though is having the motivation to give up and everybody's is different. My brother gave me the spur I needed the other day. He asked me why I was smoking when I had given up in pregnancy, I said it was easy to give up in pregnancy as I didn't want to harm my child. He then pointed out that I would be harming my children beyond measure if I died young from smoking related illness (our father died at 52 from cancer of the mouth) This really hit home and was just the talking too I needed.
I do the really want to give up when I've finished this pack. Smoke like a demon, feel sick, and all I accomplish is making my nicotine levels higher and therefore harder to break!!! grrrr.
I relapsed on Tuesday and Wednesday after AGES without even the urge.
DD was being uncharacteristically screamy and when I finally got her down I thought godDAMN it I need a fag. There's a courier service here that delivers meals from restaurants, flowers, wine, ice and (fuckity fuck) fags, so I ordered a pack and sat there drumming my fingers until they arrived.
Yesterday afternoon I ran the remainder of the pack under the tap. I know myself well enough to realise it's not completely beyond possibility that I would fish them out of the bin in the middle of the night if they were dry .
I've turned down an invitation to go out tonight because I know I'll just end up smoking. Won't go out again until I'm well and truly over the urge.
I do that ninedragons, buy some tobacco, smoke one or two and then scatter it in the bin in guilt so I can't smoke anymore of it. It's expensive I inevitably go out and get more. Repeat until fade "not even one ever", no more relapses.
Urgh. The irony of it is that the reason I was awake in the middle of the night was that all the years of smoking were preying very heavily on my mind.
I read somewhere on MN (it may even be earlier on this thread) that somebody's colleague died of lung cancer at 39 and left three small children motherless.
Tobacco really is my Nemesis. But I haven't had a ciggie in over 24 hours so with any luck I am back on track.
Mine too (nemesis I mean) That advert with the 30 something woman dying of lung cancer and telling her kids plays over and over in my mind when I relapse but still I do it My husband is a can take it or leave it type of smoker and smokes on and off. I would find it easier if he didn't bring them home during those times but ultimately it is my responsibility to give up.
I haven't seen the advert but from the sounds of it I'm quite glad.
Can you ask your husband not to bring them home? I have the good fortune to have a husband who doesn't, so I don't get obsessed about fags. I quit (unsuccessfully, obviously) a few years ago and the smell of cigarettes was like when you walk past a Mrs Fields and they're wafting the scent of freshly-baked cookies into the metro station.
A good friend of mine has tried to quit many times but her partner smokes and she says she feels like a pariah because he's always going outside for a ciggie.
Just checking in. Its been 24 hours for me too. Got to do it this time. NOPE is my motto. Cravings seem to be coming thick and fast and I've burst into tears twice. Still it will get better and I wont feel addicted in a few days.
lol at ahe chucking baccy. the other day i bought ten ciggies when i was at shop, lit one up for the way home and gave the other nine to a shocked looking couple somking outside a pub.
am basically smoking again. need to remember why i want to quit. soooo stupid.
Its not easy this caper, dont give up giving up. Learn something new everytime you stumble....forget thinking its going to be a walk in the park...it is HARD. But slowly, each thought of fags gets longer and longer and you will think OMG i havent thought abut a fag for 10 minutes! Then 15, then 20 and one day it will be an hour...its like mourning a lost love..realy, time heals your mind of the thoughts...
sea, are you finding any fags pleasurable or are you hating every one? when are you having a crack at this caper? I have just shown my dds a few pages of whyquit. The horrific pictures... Never too early to learn.
i don't sit and smoke a whole cigarette, i can be on a fag break for 30 seconds. but i just have to have that fix. it sounds so desparate but nicotine is so addicitve (states obvious)
well its filling your nicotine tank isnt it? doesnt need to be long and drawn out...just to get your nicotine level at bearable is enough. God wish i could do it for you. Come stay with me for the weekend. I will nag you for 48 hours and send you home begging not to be seen within 10 metres of a fag packet ever again;)
Still going. Ended up drinking a little too much last night and really wanted a cig. Was quite unpleasant too. Didnt have one and feel much better today. Poor DD she keeps asking when I will be back to my old self. I tell her to bear with me and I will be my new improved self soon.
I think it was Alan Carr that said that waking up knowing that you dont need those disgusting cigarettes today is like waking up and finding everyday is Saturday. I know it is Saturday but I do agree its a great feeling.
opps sorry havent been home...hope you are still doing well, i spent the first year patting myself on the back saying that no matter what happened that day it was a good day because i hadnt smoked
It doesnt g hand in hand;) you have just been brainwashed to think it does. I have drunk non stop for past 3.5 years and not had a fag lol Hows everyone getting on? Very quiet...
Ooh can I join this please. I am gearing up to giving up.... Was heavy smoker in teens/early 20s, Stopped for both pregnancies and bf, started smoking socially again, then last September had really really stressful period and started again in earnest. Am on 4-8 a day. Am not quite ready to give up yet - am in the midst of crazy stress atm - but want to do it in next couple of months. Before I turn 38 anyway.
I'm still going strong, its been a week today. First three days were intense but I've been fine since, found it easier than other quits. Just have to stay off them now for good this time.
If I dont give it a go I will end up smoking for the rest of my life. That's how I looked at it and one of these attempts will be the last, hopefully.
Good luck to anyone who wants to try a quit. Thanks for the advice and encouragement.
yes please join grace...get over to whyquit.com, good while your hving s fsg reading WELL DONE about eve, now, remember you need never do this again if you never hve another fag.... and whatever excuses pop into your hed you are ALWAYS going to want to be a non smoker. You are going to wake up one day wanting to spend the rest of your life smoking, so dont even go there! This is the way forward
i can recommend Champix - many less side effects apparently than Zyban . am on about week 6 of the course and have no desire to smoke and was formerly 20 a day-er since i was about 17 ) now 45), dont feel quite out of teh woods yest as i do still think about having one but can reisist hte urge .....have saved loads already and the dc are so chuffed . i dont think i could bear to disappoint them if i started again .. good luck to all quitters . we can do this!
Ok, so I didn't have that last fag in the garden - so have now been fag free for 36 hours.......half way through the withdrawal...........that site is GREAT - it really retrains your brain to think differently about smoking which Alan Carr completely failed to do for me.
And those stories about people dying in their thirties are just horrific.
No, ok atm, I really like not having to go into the garden and lie to the dcs about why I am doing it, and my cough is already going. (HAD HIDEOUS RASP EVEN ON ONLY 4-8 a day). I have however eaten a packet of biscuits, but that's ok I reckon. I won't do it every day.
here charlie, feeling virtuous and already a little lardy. Cough has gone, already! Mouth less sore! CHest less tight! Oh the wonder of being fag free!
How are you getting on Grace? I must confess I've failed again. Had a strange time of it recently. Anyway I am starting again tomorrow! Back to 3 days of cravings. I was doing so well and really didnt miss it but one stupid puff and a bit of turmoil spoil my quit.
Will do it again though. I know I can!! Fecking nicotine.
you can do it abouteve, YOU CAN. Why were there fags around you?
Am still fag free. I think the fact that quite a few aspects of my life are not great atm is quite helpful. It makes me more determined to have one thing that is good iyswim. But am not feeling cocky about it AT ALL. Bit scared in fact.
Can I join you? I stopped smoking in Sept '03, but eat nicotine lozenges by the dozen these days. Oh for a packet (or 10) of fags!
Anyway, so far it's been roughly 1700 days 51,000 fags I haven't smoked, which is about 2550 packs, which at about a fiver a pack would have set me back £12,750
. I gave up completely last year (was a 'with wine' smoker for about 2 yrs before that, had given up when pregnant, pre-preg was a 20 a dayer for 14 yrs). It was tough, but has got so much easier. 
And I smoked only half a pack a day. 
