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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:
joric · 02/08/2011 08:54

NiQuitin minis not the tablets or gum... These little things are good when you are trying to stop.

SmethwickBelle · 02/08/2011 08:58

I read Alan Carr, then did cold turkey combined with six sessions of private counselling (it was 30 quid a go so less than I'd have spent on cigarettes). The counsellor (not a special Alan Carr one, just a private psychotherapist out of the yellow pages) specialised in addictions and compulsive behaviours (of which smoking is both).

Unpicking the moments leading up to a cigarette... unpicking the last 20 years of what cigarettes used to mean and what they mean now.... what has changed... of course it was all very personal but it just cracked it for me, six years on and there is no way I am ever smoking again.

Good luck, you can manage it, you might have to find your own way of doing it but I promise you it is a LOT nicer without cigarettes in your life. Promise x

SmethwickBelle · 02/08/2011 08:59

Oops, point of information - I was smoking for 10 years not 20!! I started when I was 20.

fastweb · 02/08/2011 09:17

NiQuitin minis not the tablets or gum... These little things are good when you are trying to stop.

That's the ones I used.

I got jaw ache with the gum.

NeverAttributeToMalice · 02/08/2011 09:19

I gave up at the same time as Custardo . My GP refused to prescribe the tablets because of the awful side effects. He said if I was to use a NR, go for the patches because anything else was just reinforcing the habit of putting something in your mouth. I bought patches but after spending ?23 on a week's supply, I decided to go cold turkey (the package reckoned 3 months weaning time Hmm) I felt exactly no difference when I stopped using them.

2 things that helped me: 1. I really wanted to give up smoking. I was fed up of it, didn't want/like smoking any more. If I knew how to get you into that frame of mind, I'd be as rich as Allen Carr. It's the most important thing. Do you want to quit? Why? Focus really, really hard on the reason and it should carry you through. If your heart isn't in it, you probably won't succeed.

And 2. I have been at the gym 3-4 times per week and I have a programme to work on at home. I am getting some cardio exercise every day. I reckon part of the reason it helps is that I feel so much better. I'm not breathless and I find physical activity easier (except for a misguided decision to climb a mountain with SIL thatmade me want to die)

LyingWitchInTheWardrobe2726 · 02/08/2011 10:02

Another Allen Carr advocate here. I stopped first time and it's about six years for me now.

The NRP works against the point of Allen Carr's system and I think the book is a better bet, the NRP can just swap your addiction into a different form.

I'm wondering why WhereIsMySock's DH didn't get past the first chapter? It might be because Allen Carr says that by the time you've finished reading the book, you'll be a non-smoker. I was terrified of reading it, I thought it had mystical powers.... Confused..... and it DID. Grin

Good luck, AuntiePickleBottom, there's nothing like the feeling of elation when you realise that you're free of smoking at last.

joric · 02/08/2011 10:49

:o @ fastweb!!

TeenieLeek · 02/08/2011 10:59

NiQitin minis are great. I also got jaw ache from the gum, couldn't stop myself chewing on it when I wasn't supposed to, and it gave me heartburn.

Also google Liberro - the Realis e-cigarettes are absolutely brilliant, you get teh proper inhale-exhale feeling- the best thing about them is that they leave absolutely no smell so you can have a quick drag in the loo on a night out if you feel stupid "smoking" one in front of people.

I think that there was a thread on here (maybe in Body & Soul) on e-cigs, it was called "We smoke indoors" or something.

Good luck.

EvenLessNarkyPuffin · 02/08/2011 11:09

I used the patches. I chose patches so that I wasn't reaching for eg gum instead of a cigarette. It worked for me. I smoked for years and gave up on my first go. It worked because it lets you deal with breaking the psychological addiction first. Your body is still getting nicotine but you have to fight the habit of smoking; of using cigarettes to punctuate your life. By the time you stop the patches you have broken the psychological hold, so that you can deal with the nicotine itch/ headaches/ stomach cramps etc. Some people find that bit easy. I still found it hard. I could not have dealt with the physical withdrawal symptoms alongside the psychological cravings.

Mabelface · 02/08/2011 11:22

I was prescribed Champix and I have suffered from depression in the past. The only side effects I had was feeling sick, but that stopped when I stopped smoking.

HuntForGalaxyHazelnut · 02/08/2011 11:27

I gave up in April after smoking since i was 14. The most important thing is getting into the right frame of mind, decide you want to quit, decide it's disgusting and then stop.

I have never tried NRP, i gave up cold turkey by booking a week off work and locking myself away, it was like that scene from Trainspotting. It worked though, and after about 4 days the all consuming physical cravings are gone. Gradually the cravings become less and less frequent and easier to resist. Now i think that smoking smells disgusting and i never want to smoke again.

If you want to try NRP though then go for it, do whatever you need to quit smoking, it's worth it. Good Luck!

ILoveSaturdays · 02/08/2011 14:33

Hi, good luck whatever way you try.

FWIW my suggestion is to allow yourself a bit of extra money (saved from not buying cigs) for nice fruit. your newly fresh taste buds will love the taste, also it'll be a luxury you probably couldn't afford/justify on cigs. Plus it feels healthy!

It worked, sort of, for me. I used to smoke about 30 a day now maybe 2 a week when out with smokers.

Other things that worked were setting a date in the near future to quit. From then on you are not trying to quit, you are a non smoker. If someone offers you one say ''no, I don't smoke'', not ''I'm giving up''. Again, it worked for me. Everyone is different though.

Good luck.

EricNorthmansMistressOfPotions · 02/08/2011 15:57

Allen Carr's book is magic. By the end of it you will be a happy non smoker! I couldn't believe how easy it was. Cost me a fiver and I never looked back.

barbet1904 · 02/08/2011 16:02

I have to say I read Allen Carr's book too. I could not wait to stop but the book kept telling me to wait till he told me to stop. I did as it said to the letter and stopped smoking a tthe end of the book. It took me two days to read. I have been a non smoker now for a year and a half and still can't believe how easy it was. Good luck. Don't miss this one, it will save you. p.s. lots of my friends tried to and they succeeded.

wakeupandsmellthecoffee · 02/08/2011 16:33

I went to Allen Carrs meeting in Raynes Park on a Saturday . If you cant quit they give you your money back . Been three years now . yay me .

LyingWitchInTheWardrobe2726 · 02/08/2011 16:42

My mum tried the seminar and the book and it worked for her too. She said the 'block' for her was always the 'wanting to stop', knowing how to do it is the easy bit, it was the actual desire to stop something that she really thought she loved doing.

Allen Carr really seems to have achieved the near imposssible for many people.

PebblesAndWine · 02/08/2011 16:46

Another vote for Allen Carr. There is no other way!!!

wakeupandsmellthecoffee · 02/08/2011 18:44

ok all of you chant on the count of three Allen is our hero . Shame he is dead and cant see what he has achieved .

Yummygummybear · 02/08/2011 19:23

Hypnosis!!

Saw a hypnotist for 2 sessions in Apr 09 & haven't had a cigarette since. I don't even want to smoke & feel like I never did.
I recommend hypnosis to all smokers who want to give up (or in my case, didn't really want to but knew I should)...3 of my friends have also become non smokers since seeing 'my' hypnotist.

Original poster
AuntiePickleBottom · 02/08/2011 19:40

i ordered the book from the library, and also have a little notes on the front and back door reminding me the reason i want to quit.

until then i have Allen Carr's easy way for women to stop smoking, once the DC are in bed i will be reading it.

thanks for all you advice

OP posts:
ThePosieParker · 02/08/2011 19:44

A family friend died on Sunday after finding out he had lung and liver cancer last Monday.....death/life is a good motivator. Good luck, one cigarette at a time. Take up sex to relieve the craving.

Mandy2003 · 02/08/2011 19:49

I gave up in January 2010 having smoked since my early teens.

The key to giving up: to be prevented from buying the ruddy things! While smoking is legal ie openly sold in shops it's too hard to give up. I was snowed in for 3 days and then it was so hard to get to the shop, by the time I did get out most of the cravings had gone.

For moments of weakness for a few months subsequently I used the little Nicotinell mint things in a blue pack (like Smint) - their slogan is "Give up smoking one cigarette at a time". That way doesn't seem such a commitment like putting on a patch and trying to outsmart it!

Good luck Auntie!

happybubblebrain · 02/08/2011 19:50

I'm another Allan Carr fan. You just have to really take it to heart and believe everything in the book and want it to work and then it does. Dpn't bother trying anything else. I gave up 7 years ago.

An0therName · 02/08/2011 20:04

my DH read Allan Carr - gave up 10 years ago - never smoked since

Original poster
AuntiePickleBottom · 03/08/2011 21:39

well today, i have done very well.... 1 ciggie in the morning then none all day :)

OP posts: