To ask you all to stop me

[GreatBallsOfFluff]

going crazy.

Day 5 of not smoking. Have cut down lately using an electronic cigarette but decided to stop using that as thought it wasn't helping due to enabling me to still be dependent on nicotine.

I've got itchy fingers now though. I have put my pjs on to try to stop me going out and getting some cigarettes but the way I feel at the moment I would quite happily walk down the road to the garage in my pjs

Don't do it!

One step at a time. If you get desperate then use the E.Cig but don't buy any more fags.

STOP. This is the hardest time. It get so much easier. I have given up for almost ten years now and it is great. Just think, if George Clooney or insert hunk of choice came to whisk you away to Bora Bora, your first thought should not be, "have I got enough smokes and a lighter".

Keep going you are doing well refocus on why you gave up.

Well done you have saved alot of money approx £30 based on 20 a day and the price is going up by 37p per packet.

I know I keep saying that to myself Worra. I'm looking at the clock thinking "just get through two hours then I've got no choice" (all shops shut at 9 around here)

Keeping going! I've done it and it's fecking hard but will be sooo worth it, I wish you well

Google images of lung and mouth cancer, that'll surely put you off!?

MrsTerryPratcchett " Just think, if George Clooney or insert hunk of choice came to whisk you away to Bora Bora, your first thought should not be, "have I got enough smokes and a lighter"."

That one sentence has given me something much nicer to think about George Clooney in swimming trunks You're so right, would not want to be thinking that

I think Day 5 without some sort of nicotine substitute is maybe a bit over-ambitious - don't most smokers who successfully quit use a nicotine replacement in some form? If you don't want to use the electronic thingy, have you any gum or something? Is there a local supermarket with a chemist open? Really - if you're getting stressy then far far better to have some gum/a puff of the electronic thing than risk falling back off the wagon.

That stopped me smoking

Eurgh, Barebums YUCK

That's just it though Hassled I have spent the last month cutting down from 20 a day to just two a day (last week) substituting the ones that I wasn't having with the electronic cigarette so therefore still getting the nicotine from that instead. Now just want away from the nicotine totally.

I feel if I started puffing away on the electronic cigarette whilst not smoking, I'm getting myself re-addicted to the nicotine (whether any of that is physically possible, or it's just in my mind I don't know, but that's how I feel)

Have you tried the Allen Carr book? It is fantastic for helping you break the nicotine addiction (he doesn't advocate substitutes either). I assume it's on kindle, so if you have one, or an iPad/iPhone with the free app, you could be reading it this evening and getting a lot of strength from it.

leBof is right his book is great, really makes sense, and breaks it down into simple chunks, I almost felt foolish for bothering to smoke at all

I gave up without nicotine replacements. I knew that the psychological addiction was the part that was hard for me, physical addiction was not the real issue. I kid about the George Clooney trip but it was a real incentive for me to imagine that I was free. I didn't have ties (no baby at the time) and the only thing that was stopping me be independent was smoking. Before I went anywhere or did anything, I had to think about smoking. Pissed me right off. It was a real incentive. Imagine how nice not to have to think about going to the shops in your PJs.

I have literally finished reading Allen Carr this afternoon. I gave up before (for 3 years) through sheer will-power and in recent months have been an on/off smoker. I've been really struggling with the psychological aspect of just not having that odd one at the pub etc.
The book has really helped me change how I think about smoking, and it's given me a much needed boost!

Imagine if George was just bending down to kiss you and then winced and pulled away because your breath smelt of stinky fags. Devastating eh?

I am on week 7! Don't give up.

Keep using the nicotine replacement for as long as you need it - ANYTHING IS BETTER THAN SMOKING!

(I still use about 8 bits of nicotine gum per day, but they are not cigs and aren't killing me). Seriously - smoke as may electric cigs as you need, just don't have a fag! PM me if you like.

I am on day 3. On champix but still struggling with the habit.
I could literally eat my own head at the moment.

Just don't give in. It will get easier and easier the long you go without. Find a little online game that you can get addicted to for a while, something to keep your hands busy and your mind off cigarettes, and also give you the 5 minute break that cigarettes used to give you.

I'll second the Allen Carr book, its the best book I ever read. I gave up 6 and a half years ago because of it.

When I gave up I used to treat myself every day to something that cost the same as a packet of cigarettes (I was a 20 a day girl, yuck!)...haven't smoked for 12 years now
You're doing brilliantly, and it will get better....just hang on in there

Sorry everyone got sucked back into Zelda having got frustrated a while back and threw it out the window put it aside until I calmed down.

I've tried looking for the Allen Carr book, and if anyone can find it online for a sony ereader rather than kindle (it's an inherited ereader) then let me know.

AnnieGetYourGun that is the most horrible thought in the world

Well done diablo you've done fantastically keep it up!

Seriously well done everyone who has stopped smoking. It's so hard to imagine myself as a non-smoker without having to think about it (does that make sense at all?). For example if being at the pub with friends for drinks, and they invite me to go out for a cigarette with them, then saying "no" without having to struggle to say "no". I know that sounds so stupid.

Thank you everyone for the messages.

It doesn't take that long, I promise. I gave up when you could still smoke in pubs. That was torture!