In thinking there has got to be a way.....I can give up smoking.....tell me how PLEASE

[shelikespinacalada]

I just have got to.
How did you do it?

I've tried vaping, hypnotherapy, patches, gum, champix, willpower, doing it for others,doing it for myself.

30 years now of smoking.

I'm baffled as I don't want to smoke but continue. Doesn't matter if I'm stressed or not. I just do it.

Keep trying!! Took me 3 attempts but havnt smoked now for over 10 years. I will never be a non smoker just one that’s ‘not using’ at the minute. Good luck!!!!

ALAN CARR.

If you want to stop then read it / get the audio book & listen.

(I stopped a 13year 20 a day habit after listening to the audio book)

The Allen Carr book worked for me short term (a week or so). Not permanent though. Patches gave me horrific night terrors...it stopped me but I started again after a few months.

Vaping has been the one that did it for me.

I agree the Allan Carr book was good, I found this website really helpful: whyquit.com.

Another Allen Carr book-reader here. It really works. 20 a day for 20 years and I've been quit for 10+ years now.

Best of luck, I hope it's not as terrifying for you as you fear it is. The book is brilliant.

I only spelt his name right as PPs had already corrected their spellings...

Remind yourself about this truth: if you psych yourself into believing that it won't be difficult, it won't. And if you believe that you won't miss certain smoking occasions as much as you used to think you would, then you won't.

I absolutely know this to be a fact. I discovered it the third time I gave up, after years also.

40 plus habit. I knew if I didn't stop it would probably kill me. Nicorette, hypnotherapy worked for me. 14 years and counting.

I reached a point where I knew I was stopping but needed a fail safe because I knew it would be hard and I'd buckle. I thought it best to take away all chance of getting a cigarette.
To prepare I bought tonnes, literally more than you'd think, of fruit and veg and rivita/rice cakes type things. I had a week off. I stayed in the house all week, locked myself in. Watched tv played games and spent time dismantling broken stereos and other small electronics....and ate all the food non stop to help with the cravings and fidgetiness! It worked. After the week I no longer felt cravings and it was easy to keep going. Perhaps not a conventional way but I knew what would work for me and it did. It was 15 years ago. Still dream about smoking now and again!
Good luck op. The only way it will ever work is if somewhere in your mind something clicks and you decide you will not be smoking. Then find the way out that suits you best.

I’m sad to say That the only thing that worked for me was getting a lump in the roof of my mouth. The dentist who checked it out described in detail what it would be like to have cancer in the soft palette of the mouth, where my lump was.
I walked out of her office that day and never smoked again. Thankfully the lump was not serious and went away by itself.

I have a friend who is going through having half her jaw and her tongue removed due to mouth cancer. She gave up smoking in December and was diagnosed in July.

Until it happens to you, you never think it will happen to you ☹️

It took me a long time, but a few key steps were:

• Breaking up the routine - one day upon waking, next after breakfast, etc.
• Putting it off for '10 minutes' - just try to keep putting off the next one
• Not saying 'I'll never smoke again' - just trying to constantly reduce
• Not thinking I'd failed and therefore have to buy another pack again if I gave into temptation one night
• Getting Nicorette inhalers for emergency situations, and gum for less emergency - patches only worked towards the end Good luck - it's worth it. Don't miss it at all now.

Can anyone recommend a vape or e-cig? I'm so confused about all the brands/methods. I want to be able to have a fag without having a fag iwsyim.

OP, my dad smoker from the age of 17 to 70. Not heavy, not in the house or the car or the office but a certain amount every day. He always said he could never give up. At 70 he had a health scare where he was off cigarettes by necessity for about 5 days and afterwards he just lost the taste for them. Was cigarette free for another 10 plus years and never missed them.

I think the most important thing is for you to accept that you CAN give them up. All the other failures don't matter. You can do it. My dad thought he couldn't but he could. It probably added years to his life.

I had just bought a new car and didn't smoke in it. I did LOT of driving in the first 3 months of quitting.

I also read Allen Carr and did hypnotherapy.

Do you drink? I found what helped me stop after 20 years smoking was breaking that association as your some receptors in your brain becomes “activated” by drink when you smoke - there’s a connection. It takes a while to “de-activate” these receptors (sorry I’m not a scientist!). I went completely cold turkey on booze as well as cigs for 2 months and it worked. Now when I drink I don’t want a cig. My social life around the pub etc was crippled for a short period but it was totally worth it and 5 years on i never give smoking a second thought.

actually, 5yearplan, that is interesting. My dad was a person who had 1 or 2 pints in a pub, 1 or 2 times a week at most - mostly less. When he gave up the cigarettes, he also lost his taste for a pint.

Alan Carr’s book (excuse spelling) is a very strong motivation but ultimately op you’ve just got be very fucking strong here.
Cigarettes kill people , and before you die at a very early age, you will find that you can’t breathe properly, look like shite, go yellow and wrinkly, smell like fuck.
Then there’s leaving behind all those that love you.
Find a way that works for you, and stick to it

Can anyone recommend a vape or e-cig? I'm so confused about all the brands/methods. I want to be able to have a fag without having a fag iwsyim.

Vype e pen. Sleek black dude. Costs about £20 for the starter pack and Superdrug often have it on special offer for about £13. The Vype e pen refills are £7 for 3 from Tesco or Superdrug. They come in 18 mg or 12 mg strength and cherry, mint or tobacco flavours. There are other flavours and strengths online. I don't get the tobacco one as it can trigger a yearning for a cigarette. It doesn't produce huge clouds of smoke but it works for me and I was a heavy smoker who adored my ciggies. You have to use a bit of willpower too in the early days.

1. Set a date and stopped.
2. created a spreadsheet that calculates how much money I hadn't spent on fags. Looked st it every time I had a craving
3. every time I saw someone smoking , said to myself 'there is a cigarette I haven't smoked, well done Me'
4. spent the money nevsnd DH had saved by not smoking ON A HOLIDAY TO CALIFORNIA. Us and the kids. Open top mustang driving up highway 1. Awesome. All paid for by not smoking. Gave 10 years ago. Consider myself a smoker who hasn't had a fag in 10 years (gave up before for 12 years then restarted, nuts!) Good luck. It was the hardest thing ever but so worth it.

There is no magic cure. There is no trick. You quit cold turkey and walk through the fires of hell because YOU want to quit.

That's it.

Thank you for all your great advice
The Alan Carr book (how ever it may be spelt) seems to have a lot of support so I am going to purchase that and take on board all the other suggestions too.

It's got to happen.

Cold turkey worked for my dp. It helped that I don't smoke and never have, but I was proud of him when he just stopped. He was determined, after 40 years of smoking, that it wasn't going to beat him.

The book didn't work for me i read it twice.i stopped with patches and an I am not smoking today attitude and that seems to have worked although i have had blips but i don't beat myself up about it.

You start getting used to not smoking and the smell did bother me if somebody was smoking and if i have a blip i smell my hands they stink puts me off again. When you smoke you don't realise how much it smells how antisocial it is even if you are standing away from people and wafting the smoke drifts and it is revolting.