To think that 5 fags a day is not that bad?

[Banjax]

I've quit and it was easy.

I am thinking now I didn't actually smoke that much - it only went up to 10 if I was really pissed. We share a bottle of wine on a friday and apart from that I dont really drink much.

I know that no fags are obviously better - but when I reflect - maybe it was easy to quit because I was actually quite a light smoker?

How much did you used to smoke?

I was like you - could actually go days without one but smoked a lot when I was drinking. I didn’t find it overly hard to quit but that might be because I was doing it to TTC- and fell pregnant that month so obviously didn’t smoke again.

Yes I quit 2 years ago and I only smoked 5 a day (more when drinking). I did smoke a lot more in my teens and early 20's but once I had kids it was just an evening thing (I stopped during pregnancies and when BFing of course). It was easier to quit because smoking is just a habit (the nicotine addiction passes in about 3 days). Getting out of the habit is harder if you smoke when you get up, after breakfast, during your walk to the bus stop etc etc. If it's just a couple in the evening then that is the only thing you have to deal with not constant different trigger points over the day.

IME the people who smoke the fewest in a day do it as a habit/ritual rather than to feed an addiction like a 15-20 a dayer is

They generally find it harder to quit as you can't get mental fortitude in patch form or a vape.

On the flip side of that, when those people do make the decision to quit, which is a very necessary part of quitting for either addicted or habitual smoker, then they don't have the requirement to taper the addiction and in theory should find it much easier

Was a 30-40 a day smoker for 20ish years, quit about 5 years ago with vaping

Yeah ethel when I quit I stopped drinking for 3 months too as I knew I wouldn't be able to not start smoking again if I did. In time I introduced drink slowly back and it was fine as the habit was gone.

If you only smoked 5 a day you probably weren't that addicted so yes it would be easier to stop.

A seperate point worth raising though is that even a light smoker significantly increases the risks of certain smoking related illnesses. Cutting down is not nearly as beneficial as a lot of smokers would like to believe.

I was a heavy enough smoker - 15 a day or so. I stopped each time I was pregnant but started again when I returned to work after maternity leave. I would now smoke about 10 a week give or take a few. I can go for days on the bounce without a smoke and have went away for a week's holiday without smoking.

I would usually have one in the afternoon nowdays, I suppose the same way some people would have a bun. I very rarely drink now, my ability to enjoy alcohol greatly reduced with non sleeping children and now that they're older I've just lost interest apart from the odd beer on holiday.

Well done for quitting. No, five fags a day is not that bad but quitting will still work out to be very beneficial for you, especially in later life.

Love your username!

I smoke 6 day and yes it's a ritual thing for me rather than an addiction. I can sit there and watch tv and not think about smoking. I can be awake for 4 hours before I feel the need to have one.

I'm the same as implantsandaDyson . Was a fairly heavy smoker and really enjoyed smoking. When I quit (about 6 months ago), I told myself that I will have a cigarette when I feel like it and it seems to have worked. I didn't demonise smoking which obviously then make you feel like your GIVING UP something.

I would say I smoke about 2 a week now. I never, ever thought that I could be an occasional smoker, but it's working.

Im hoping I havent done loads of damage (but am 44)

I used to smoke like a chimney years ago (20+) - always think of myself as an awful person for smoking - mentally I still smoke loads, but throughout december only made it through three packets.

Ten years ago I was a FORTY A DAY smoker. Giving up was the best thing I ever did for my health and my wallet! My addiction ruled my life in that everything revolved around making sure I got my nicotine fix. Which meant meetings of over 30minutes duration had me twitchy and incapable of concentrating fully on the matter in hand. So I am happpy I finally (after many many attempts) gave up. But...if I knew I could have two or three cigs a day, without fear of the number escalating, I would do it! Because I loved the fags... I tried cutting down but it never worked. All or nothing with me and I am so jealous of you couple a day folk 😐

You'll have done some damage, but after a few years of quitting your risk of smoking associated illnesses will drop closer and close to that of never-smokers.

I stopped smoking straight away in both my pregnancies (and many times in between that). I realise now I smoked out of habit/routine rather than being addicted. Cigarette after each meal, walking to the shop etc, before bed. If I was hungover I would go the full day without smoking. I always have a packet in the house for if I ever have the urge and will have one if I'm stressed. The past couple of weeks I've had a few as I have a lot going on at the moment and it's the only thing that calms my nerves but after that cigarette I don't feel the urge to have another.

well done everybody for stopping but I have to day, 40 a day, Marmite, HOW did you quit? That must have been fucking hard.

Thanks Banjax.

It was a combination of psychology and medication. I read Allan Carr’s book “Stop Smoking”. And I took the drug Champex which works by gradually (titrated dose over many weeks) preventing nicotine binding to the receptors which give you the pleasure you receive when smoking.

The book got me into the right frame of mind before and during this process. It teaches you how to see it not as giving up smoking, but to see it as ridding yourself of a vile and toxic addiction. That you are not losing something...you are gaining freedom and health. Even my spectacularly cynical ex partner, a smoker of (I kid you not) 80 fags a day was converted after reading the book.

If you only smoked 5 a day you probably weren't that addicted so yes it would be easier to stop.

Actually, in Allan Carr's book, which I read nearly 20 years ago so exact details are hazy, he said that the most addicted person he'd ever met at his clinics was a woman who only smoked one day.

He said that the addiction to nicotine is so small that if you were receiving the same amount of nicotine in some other way (e.g secretly put in your food) and it was withdrawn, you wouldn't even notice it had been withdrawn.

He says that the real addiction is psychological and you can quit easily if you smoke 1 a day or 40. That's why, for him, nicotine patches and gum are a waste of time.

I used his book to quit (I smoked the same amount as you OP) and then I bought it for my DH who smoked much more and he also quit.

Allan Carr is talking nonsense, there's a solid and well understood biological addiction with nicotine, based around a pathway that ends up as a dopamine release. Withdrawal has real physiological symptoms, and can last up to four months before your body loses the craving.

Psychological addiction is on top of that, and usually lasts far longer. So both need to be managed.

I'm no expert, SpoonBlender, I can only go by my own experience and things that I've read.

He doesn't say nicotine addiction doesn't exist. He says that it's so small that it's practically imperceptible. You are right that it releases dopamine but then so can sex, exercise and many other things which do not (normally) cause withdrawal symptoms so I don't know if that's the best evidence.

I'd be interested to hear from anyone who smoked large amounts and quit using the book and whether they noticed nicotine withdrawal symptoms.

Just to follow up from what I just said, if some of the symptoms of nicotine addiction are claimed to be anxiety and irritability, how can we know that those are not the psychological symptoms of breaking the habit, rather than actual nicotine withdrawal?

Many people get anxious and irritable on a diet because they find it difficult to not eat what they want; it's not that the food itself was addictive.

Not sure if I've explained myself well!

I'm a smoker so have no interest in bashing other smokers! But last year I had a (secret as it wasn't allowed!) tour of a place that also had the bit where medical students learn anatomy, the person who ran the place was showing me around and for some reason we had been talking about smoking (both of us were trying to give up) so he asked if I'd like to see the reality of what smoking does to the lungs, he showed me the lungs of a woman who smoked only 5 a day and they were definitely black! Not as black as a 20-40 a day smoker but they had been blackened.

It was a real eye opener to me that even smoking a small amount the damage is extensive, he did say though that most of the damage is reversed in time after you give up (as long as you haven't gone on to develop copd etc)

I'm incredibly ashamed to say that it hasn't yet made me give up but I'm determined I will, it does play on my mind seeing the damage I'm doing to myself with my own eyes.

Ginky - that;s terrifying! Thought I might really only have lightly tanned lungs

Not to take away the damage that smoking indisputably does, but I would be interested to know the environments those people lived in as well to have a proper comparison. For example living in London compared to a remote welsh valley must have some effect in terms of air pollution.

Again, I’m not trying to take away from the damage smoking does but I do think that the health risks from air pollution have been overlooked due to smoking.

Please give yourself the credit for making the choice to stop even if it was easy. You have done the best thing ever you could do for yourself and will not regret it. I often say I cheated when I stopped because I was in hospital for a week and couldn't smoke and I felt so ill that nicotine withdrawal was the least of my worries, so in that respect it was "easy". But I still made that decision not to smoke when I came out when the psychological urge was still there and I am proud of myself. I couldn't imagine ever smoking again. Well done you!

Well done!

I gave up cold turkey 20 fags a day. I found it easy, weirdly. But I had only smoked for a few years, it was just a silly habit. I didn't even finish the cigarettes when I smoked them. It was ritual, light them, smoke them...

I gave them up while pregnant so knew I could do it.

Yep, apparently 5 a day is 5 a day and just as damaging (according to Alan) It is also hazy for me too! He died of lung cancer didn't he?