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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to want some help giving up smoking

66 replies

AuntiePickleBottom · 01/08/2011 23:44

i have been to the doctors, which gave me an inhaler but i couldn't get along with it, it made me have a dry sore mouth and i coughed every time i used it.

the patches gave me a reaction and i can not chew gum... i can't even chew normal gum as the texture make me feel ill.

so i asked for the tablets, but because i have a history of depression the doctor will not prescribe.

is there anything else that could help

OP posts:
CRS · 01/08/2011 23:47

I do sympathise - I am trying to give up at the monent too. Inhalator may be worth another try, plus hypnotism? I am planning to try the hypnosis next week, will let you know if it helps.

sunshinelifeisgood · 01/08/2011 23:49

Hi Auntie, I have not yet given up but have cut down from 20+ a day to about five. I have banned smoking in the flat, do not smoke in the car, after dinner I get up and wash up instead of lighting a cig.

I also brought a "intellicig" it is about £20 but it really is like a real cig

good luck
x

PelvicFloorOfSteel · 01/08/2011 23:51

Alan Carr's book? I've just done cold turkey every time I've given up (serial backslider) but have been clean for nearly 18 months this time and over a year on previous occasions. If you can get through the first 48 hours you've done the worst of it with cold turkey, I've always thought nicotine replacement just prolongs the agony!

Original poster
AuntiePickleBottom · 01/08/2011 23:51

off to google intellicig

OP posts:
sunshinelifeisgood · 01/08/2011 23:53

honest auntie it really really helps i promise :)

I also agree with pelvic Alan Carr book is good and the cd that you play as your are going to sleep is excellent.

Original poster
AuntiePickleBottom · 01/08/2011 23:57

can you get the book from the library

OP posts:
sunshinelifeisgood · 02/08/2011 00:00

yes auntie and the cd is in the back :)

moonferret · 02/08/2011 00:01

Quitting smoking is easier than you might think.
Think "health" and "wealth".
Get to the gym regularly..exercise puts your body right off fags.
And keep a track of your spending (or non-spending!) on fags...
You have to want to do it though...

wherearemysocks · 02/08/2011 00:03

You don't want to do the tablets - my BIL did and had terrible mood swings. My dh has been trying to give up for a while, he didn't get past the first chapter of the Alan Carr book and the hypno cd lasted about a week. I saw a nicorette mouth spray in Boots today so got it for him (he hasn't tried it yet so have no idea if it is any good or not).

Original poster
AuntiePickleBottom · 02/08/2011 00:05

perhap i should put the money in a tin and save up for a tummy tuck...maybe a motivation.

off over the library in the morning

OP posts:
moonferret · 02/08/2011 00:06

Taking nicotine replacements is the biggest mistake...you're substitiuting one source of nicotine for another, when you need to actually stop the addiction to nicotine!

twolittlekittens · 02/08/2011 06:25

Moonferret, with the greatest respect, are you actually a smoker?

I recently moved to England and one of the first things I did was make an appt with the GP to find out about the magic tablets. He said he would be happy to prescribe them, but I needed to do a smoking cessastion course first.
I went for my first appt and the counsellor agreed they would be ideal for me.
My GP won't sign the scrip until he has my notes which could take another three weeks to turn up Sad
OP, good luck.

fastweb · 02/08/2011 06:36

Taking nicotine replacements is the biggest mistake...

OR

The best move you ever made.

I didn't manage to give up until I went on NRs.

Giving up the fags was rough but doable with the lozenges.

Giving up the lozenges was a doddle compared to giving up the fags.

I just cut them up smaller and smaller and lengthened the time between consumption.

moonferret · 02/08/2011 06:42

twolittlekittens
With the least of respect, I'm not a smoker.
I am an ex-smoker and have been for six years.
By the sound of it, you're a smoker...so that means I have succeeded and you have not.
Blimey!!

Tortington · 02/08/2011 06:44

i gave up 6 weeks ago cold turkey.

it was hard. you have to be in a place where you really want to do it.

the best way not to smoke fags

is not to fucking buy them Grin

if you really want to do it - you will and thats that = i dont think you do cos your pissin and moaning about reaction to patches and how rank the gum is

i had a reaction to the patches on my arm when i gave up a few years ago - so i moved them to my arse - that worked fine
the gum is deffo rank - but your not supposed to chew it like wrigleys. its about weaning you off the nicotine to enable you not to smoke longer.

anyway another suggestion is those fake cigs that blow smoke.

seriously though, either do it or don't - but dont use your whinging in the op as an excuse.

moonferret · 02/08/2011 06:48

fastweb if they helped you, it was clearly psychological. The case against NRs is far, far stronger than the argument for. Allan Carr is (was) very strongly against them and explained his case well. But if it worked for you, great.

fastweb · 02/08/2011 07:16

fastweb if they helped you, it was clearly psychological.

That doesn't really ring true to me, not saying you are definitively wrong, but I was so leery of the products efficacy that a placebo effect would have had something of a damper put on it.

Mainly because I was utterly determined that they weren't going to work and kept chuntering about how I'd had a patch before and it was all useless and I wanted a fag not a fucking sucky thing.

I'd given up before and the major will power killer for me was the withdrawal from nicotine (am pathetic with physical discomfort). Battling through the other aspects of the habit was still there, some major teeth gritting going on, but having the edge taken off the lack of nicotine was surprisingly helpful.

Not that you could have got me to admit it at the time, having made such a fuss about how NR wouldn't work for me.

Is there a good sized, peer reviewed body evidence to suggest that the nicotine provided by NR products is absorbed and processed by the body in a way that makes it unequivocally incapable of taking the edge of the physical sensations caused by nicotine withdrawal when you stop smoking ? Or is it just somebody with a different product to sell saying it ?

NoobyNoob · 02/08/2011 07:20

I managed to give up on NRT - without it I wouldn't have managed.

moonferret Why the shirty response?

Good luck OP, hope you find something that works best for you.

valleyqueen · 02/08/2011 07:21

You have my sympathies I am in the process of stopping, on Thursday I am going on holiday to a cottage in the sticks, I have checked it's far enough from a shop that I can't run out and by some. Only non smokers are coming with me. It will be the week I beat nicotine for good.

sixkids · 02/08/2011 07:49

I always end up addicted to nr so have to go cold turkey,the thought of giving up is actually the worst bit,the first day i stop smoking i realise its not as hard as i imagined,alan carr is brilliant and also google the benefits of stopping smoking,it makes you feel much more positive,sadly my problem is staying stopped :( i stop for 2 months or more and start again,i may join you on this attempt,best of luck ;)

spookshowangel · 02/08/2011 08:34

allen carr book is a great idea helps you through the physiological reasons behind smoking, your triggers etc and then helps you to stop and encourages you to smoke whilst you read. which stops you feeling that massive i have to stop fear.
nrp never worked for me really you just have to wean yourself off them, my granny pops the little lozenges like they were ciggies one after a meal etc she just has a fun new addiction.

spookshowangel · 02/08/2011 08:38

oh and i should say its really easy, not hardly a pang. no big oh my god i have given up smoking tragedy, were i was a nightmare to live with for a few weeks and i craved them all the time. they would cross my mind occasional but i was generally really chuffed i had stopped. no over eating either.

Poweredbypepsi · 02/08/2011 08:39

No personal experience but BIL took up bike riding as a way to get over some of the worse side effects of quitting. It has helped his fitness no end as well (he is only 26 and used to get out of breath walking up stairs!)

sybilfaulty · 02/08/2011 08:45

I did Allen Carr and have now been a non smoker for 10 years!

Good luck OP. Allen does not advocate NR therapy for the reasons already stated so I would not give it a go

sybilfaulty · 02/08/2011 08:47

sorry, child pressed post whilst I was out of the room!

I would not use NR therapy but know many people who have had great success with it - if you use Allen, follow his method but if another method works better then go for it.

All the best - it was one of the most fantastic feelings finally to be free of wanting a fag. I must have saved £000s over the years as well as being healthier. Good luck and all the best.