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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Aibu to ask for your success stories in giving up smoking...

54 replies

StartingGrid · 08/10/2018 22:38

... and also your reasons? I've smoked for 17 years, never a day without one, and I just don't want to kill myself any quicker than I need to anymore but I can't seem to break the habit.

So how and why did you manage it please? (I appreciate this isn't the right place but the appropriate boards are so quiet!)

OP posts:

EyUpOurKid · 08/10/2018 22:42

I got pregnant appreciate that that might not be the most appropriate course if action for everyone though!

Soon as I saw two lines, I've never had another cigarette since. Coming up to almost three years without one. Greater good and all that is what did it for me.

Faster · 08/10/2018 22:45

I got pregnant too.
Had a ‘holy fuck I’m pregnant I need a cig!’ moment. Then realised I couldn’t do that.

Won’t lie, I’ve been really REALLY tempted on nights out, but I just removed myself from the situation. Forced myself. Cos it’s just not worth it.

JaceLancs · 08/10/2018 22:45

I smoked for around 25 years and gave up fairly easily by hypnotism
DP tried and failed about a year later he tried again using patches and stopped quite easily he weaned himself off the patches over 2-3 weeks
Neither of us have ever smoked since or wanted to (15 years plus)

UpstartCrow · 08/10/2018 22:45

I used the Alan Carr book, Easiway to quit. I didn't really want to stop smoking, but they put the price up and I was worried about how I'd afford it.
You don't need any will power, patches, vaping or gum. Its been about 8 years now and I don't have any cravings, I can be around people that smoke and it doesn't bother me, I'm a non smoker again.

dawnacorns · 08/10/2018 22:46

I stopped for health reasons and having dcs. Aaages ago now and I don't miss it and no my life is not worse in fact it is better
I remember ex smokers telling me this and I didn't believe it. Now I just think why didn't I stop sooner.
I tried all sorts of ways but what worked for me was a book by Gillian Riley, how to stop smoking I think it's called. Also, I wrote a list of the reasons I wanted to stop, and looked at it when I felt like smoking. I accepted there would be a difficult patch while I stopped initially, but was determined to push through it.
The other thing that helped was that NHS list of the benefits of stopping, which breaks it down into benefits after one day, one week and so on. Very motivating.
Good luck OP and you can do it!

Faster · 08/10/2018 22:47

Since I’ve stopped I haven’t had a single chest/throat infection and they were an annual treat before

SheRaTheAllPowerful · 08/10/2018 22:47

Not me but a close friend, she couldn’t even give up when she was pregnant, she really cut down but still smoked throughout her pregnancy. A few years later she read the AlanCarr book on giving up smoking and literally never smoked again! I was quite similar with the Jason Vake drinking book so it’s definitely worth a go!

JellieEllie · 08/10/2018 22:47

I used a book by someone called Allen Carr. I'd smoked for 17 years 20 a day.
Never looked back best thing I ever did.

Bambamber · 08/10/2018 22:47

I quit because I was sick of smelling of smoke, not being able to taste food properly, always being wheeze and I just generally needed to get healthier and didn't want my body to age quicker than it would otherwise.

The biggest motivation for me was I wanted a baby. So I wanted to have quit for at least a year before TTC. I started vaping instead and gradually cut down how much nicotine I was using. But vaping itself turned into a habit so it took a while to be able to stop vaping, but I got there. It took me a year from my last cigarette to my last vape. That was over 3 years ago and haven't touched a cigarette or vape since. I still get occasional cravings but I would never go back there

KatharineHilbery · 08/10/2018 22:47

Smoked 15-20 a day for 20 years. Woke up one morning with yet another chest infection and thought this is stupid and disgusting. Finished the packet and haven’t had one since.

Hattifattner · 08/10/2018 22:48

I quit 22.5 years ago. I was pg with my DD, and decided it had to be done. It was very tough. I craved a smoke on and off for a couple of years and eventually the desire to smoke almost disappeared.

What kept me going was the idea of having to quit all over again if I started again.

It did help that I suffered terrible morning sickness and could not drink tea or coffee without feeling really sick. SO the things I usually associated with smoking were out of the picture for months.

gamerchick · 08/10/2018 22:48

I used the quick mist spray. The only thing that worked.

flashria · 08/10/2018 22:52

I smoked - not very heavily - for many years but was determined to give up at 40. A few months after my birthday I noticed that a few cigarettes over a couple of days made me feel a bit sick. It was not severe and I'm sure had happened in the past and I would just have powered on through! However, because it coincided with my intention to give up I just focused really really hard on the feeling sick, and every singe time I thought about cigs over the next few days I tried to reproduce the feeling and kind of 'force' a link in my head between the cig and feeling awful. A kind of amateur psychology I think! But it really worked and I have not had a single one since...about 9 years ago. Don't know if that helps...!

Sandyfeet101 · 08/10/2018 22:52

I quit at 29 after smoking since my teens. I was TTC so knew it needed to be done. The first few days were the worst but my saviour was sucking lollipops. No patches or gum. Been nearly 4 years now and I’m so glad I did it when I did.

Sandyfeet101 · 08/10/2018 22:53

Meant to add - good luck!

ScurrilousSquirrel · 08/10/2018 22:54

I got fed up with smoking. Hated seeing my toddler put cigarette-shaped things in her mouth to imitate me. Spoke to GP about the best way to give up & she recommended patches. Bought a pack of patches and nearly collapsed at the price: nearly as much as a week's worth of ciggies. Never put another one in my mouth. 7 years and counting...

MrsRhettButler · 08/10/2018 22:54

Alan Carr's book worked for me and I'd smoked for 20 years when I quit.
I've never looked back AND I found it easy.

MrsRhettButler · 08/10/2018 22:55

Seriously try the book, what do you have to lose?

WhatsGoingOnEh · 08/10/2018 22:55

@gamerchick - how did you manage to then quit the QuickMist spray? I stopped smoking using that, but now I'm hooked on it! Two years later.

Any tips?

MadameGerbil · 08/10/2018 22:57

I went to the Allen Carr clinic about 7 years ago had a 5 hour hypnosis session for £250 and just haven't smoked since. Mind you i went to Jason Vale and that didn't work for me.

whyhaveidonethis · 08/10/2018 22:58

I gave up when pregnant with Ds2 12ywars ago but was always a social smoker for years after that. Three years ago I started again quite regularly and so I bought a vape. The vape ended up more of a habit than the smoking. I decided I needed to give it up a week ago and so flew away to a foreign country without my vape. It's been 7 days and apart from the occasional craving all is good.

gamerchick · 08/10/2018 23:00

gamerchick - how did you manage to then quit the QuickMist spray? I stopped smoking using that, but now I'm hooked on it! Two years later

The lonzeges, first the 4mg and then the 2. The relief of the craving isn't as quick as the mist but they do the trick. It was a relief because those sprays aren't cheap.

annaste · 08/10/2018 23:03

I gave up in 2011. I joined a stop smoking cessation group which provided things to help, such as patches, sprays and lozenges. I decided to use patches (had some success with them previously) but was going on holiday so thought it best not to try to give up til after the holiday. It was a 10 hour flight home, so thought that would be a good kick start to my giving up, seeing as I wouldn't be able to smoke on the plane.

My last cigarette was in a manky smoking room in Male Airport, complete with stinking, overflowing ashtrays and yellow stained walls. I stuck a patch on and got on the plane.

It was the hardest thing ever to not have one when we landed, but I kept reminding myself that if I had one, I'd have to do those 10 hours again. Everytime I was tempted I would remind myself that I'd have to do 24 hours again or 48 hours or a week, etc.

So my recommendation is to go on holiday!

Ohyesiam · 08/10/2018 23:05

4th time lucky.
Just keep trying

Banamara · 08/10/2018 23:05

I do realise this can be believed or dissed.

My lovely NDN has just had a massive stroke. She is in her mid fifties. She never smoked or drank any alcohol, she walked for an hour a day.

She is in a terrible state now poor love.

I just don't know anymore. Sorry I am probably a bit emotional, she is lovely and I hope she recovers, but it ain't looking too good atm.

Seems to me that no matter what you do, fate will intervene for some people whether you smoke or not.

But anyway, I know I haven't added anything to OP. Sorry for that.

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