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Original poster

help needed giving up smoking

125 replies

buttercup · 11/09/2002 13:26

I am a not very heavy smoker trying to give up. Its been one week and I'm feeling all sorts of pangs and temptations. Any tips from people who have been successful?

OP posts:
star · 11/09/2002 14:22

This reply has been deleted

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threeangels · 11/09/2002 15:57

The only thing I can recommend is have a good supply of gum around. It was one of the few things that kept my brother on the path from not smoking. To conquer it he used those cigarett patches.

Lucy123 · 11/09/2002 17:10

I found fruit really helps. Apparantly giving up makes your blood sugar level drop, so the fruit helps there and also gives you something to do with your hands. Lychees are good for that but also anything you can have in your mouth (I hate gum).

i gave up for 2 years but then started again during my baby-blues period. must give up again.

Lucy123 · 11/09/2002 17:12

ps if you've already done a week don't start nicotine patches or nicotine gum now - you're over the worst part of the physical nicotine addiction (only the psychological part and the habit aspect to break) - nicotine substitutes will only start it up again.

leander · 16/09/2002 23:44

I've done it thats one day over with, I stopped smoking today will the help of patches so wish me luck.
I AM GONNA DO IT THIS TIME

Willow2 · 17/09/2002 14:20

Leander - doing likewise - today second day too. Keep it up!! Maybe we should "buddy" up for support? Think it's helping that I have the most disgusting cough at present as woke up this morning, having coughed all night, absolutely determined not to have a ciggie.

nics1stbaby · 17/09/2002 16:17

Hello Buttercup

I am very proud to say I gave up over two years ago

The night I stopped I had just a couple of fags left in a packet. I was off to a wedding reception and I was umming and arhing if whether I should buy some more, when something inside of me said, nope, no more.

I had a very sociable job at the time, as in we would all go out and get leathered after work! I decided the only way to get over my addiction would be to master getting tipsy and not smoking. ..and well, it did get easier. A lot of my friends have succumbed to smoking after attempts to stop because they tried to stay away from places that tempted them... I think however I succeeded as I went through the 'pain barrier' and dealt with these places.

The things that made me carry on were:

  • feeling really proud of myself each morning
  • fresh smelling clothes
  • knowing that I never saw myself as smoking all my life, so right now was as a good a time as any
  • smokers need to have a fag to feel as relaxed as non smokers do all the time

My words of encouragement to you are that I did get over smoking after a while, and I now never ever want a fag.

Smoking is like being a prisoner, it really is.

I also read Alan Carr's 'how to stop smoking permanently', and although i found him irritating - he really underlines everything that you already know, and he forces you to think about them seriously.

p.s. how you feel now doesn't get any worse, it just gradually eases up, then disappears.

You can do it.

oxocube · 17/09/2002 18:49

WWW, did you manage to give up? Iknow you were really trying a while back?

WideWebWitch · 17/09/2002 20:57

Oxocube, fraid not. Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow..

prufrock · 17/09/2002 22:18

Buttercup

When I gave up a year ago I found that the only way I could do it was to avoid the situations in which I smoked for a while. So for two months I stopped going to the pub, and stopped lunching with my smoking friends (i did explain why to them) If you are not a heavy smoker it is likely that it is more habit than real nicotine addiction. It's still hard though. If you do slip and have a cigarette, don't think of yourself as a total failure and stop giving up - just start again. Good luck - you will manage in the end and you will feel so much better for it.

Willow2 · 18/09/2002 10:18

Still hanging on in there.

leander · 18/09/2002 11:04

hi Willow2,
glad to hear it, its getting harder and harder for me instead of getting easier but like you still hanging in there

Willow2 · 19/09/2002 10:27

still there - aided and abetted by the fact that I sound like I've got consumption. So would be extra stoopid to light up.

Willow2 · 19/09/2002 10:27

PS - meant to add well done too!

WideWebWitch · 19/09/2002 18:28

oh Willow2 I sound like that too. Have had a cold and rattly chest and am giving up at the weekend. Definitely. Keep it up, I'll join you soon!

Willow2 · 19/09/2002 21:13

WWW - you know you want to - then we can sit in a corner at the xmas do and pretend to smoke instead.

Willow2 · 19/09/2002 21:14

PS - do you feel really exhausted and emotional? Not sure if it's the bug or combination of no fags and bug, but am waste of space at present.
Hope you feel better soon.

Original poster
buttercup · 19/09/2002 21:21

two weeks and one cigarette which is one too many. I was at a meeting and got all excited about something and just had to have a fag. But that was three days ago and i've been clean since. Even managed not to have one when the car got stolen!! I agree though it seems to get harder rather than easier as the novelty of feeling virtuous wears off. keep it up!

OP posts:
prufrock · 20/09/2002 12:59

Buttercup

One cigarette in two weeks is so much better than what you were having before. Don't beat yourself up over occasional slip ups. I had a sneaky cigarette after leaving dd at nursery for the first time. It was either that or a v. large vodka and seeing as I was on my way to work..

WideWebWitch · 16/12/2002 09:14

OK, I've finally done it! Haven't smoked since finishing the Allen Carr book yesterday at 1pm. Was managing fine yesterday but this morning was harder as I'd have normally had a cigarette by now. But I don't need em...

Lucy123 · 16/12/2002 10:22

congratulations www! I must give up again soon. Present paln is after Christmas. But I think I gave the Alan Carr book to someone else after I gave up last time (for 2 years - never ever have "just one"!).

Anyway last time I found the first 24 hours the hardest - you're doing well.

tigermoth · 16/12/2002 17:10

keep going www - hope it gets easier as the hours go by.

bossykate · 16/12/2002 19:19

good luck!

i'm going to quit in the new year, definitely, definitely, no excuses!

Cadi · 16/12/2002 21:06

Allen Carr is the man I smoked for 20yrs and stopped after reading his book - at first I thought it was a loud of pop psychology twaddle - but I eat my words because it worked for me!!

2 years later and I love being a non-smoker, I don't cough in the mornings, I don't look for an ashtray the minute I sit down somewhere, I don't sit uncomfortably in restaurants wondering if I'll p*ss people off if I light up, my kids don't stare at me in that bemused way, I look in the mirror and can see how much clearer my skin is, my mouth feels clean - it is wonderful

So to all those currently 'giving up' stop 'giving up' and start 'being' wonderful wonderful non-smokers Seriously it has made such a difference to me - go for it - you can do it

One thing to watch - when I stopped smoking I carried on with all the same things, I didn't avoid situations etc. but I didn't think of how much my smoking used to slow down my alcohol consumption and ended up embarassingly legless a couple of times!!

jessi · 17/12/2002 14:25

Good Luck WWW, hope your coping OK. I have quit now for 6 weeks and I am sorry to say, for me the first three weeks were the easiest. As dh says, its easy to stop, just staying stopped thats hard!
Sorry if thats a downer, but its true for me!