help needed giving up smoking

[buttercup]

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?

Good luck WWW keep it up.Stopped for good now(fingers crossed) a few weeks ago.Still addicted to nicotine gum yum yum.

Well done WWW - keep it up.

Well done WWW - keep it up.

well done www. I have also stopped. Two whole days now. Unfortunately I knowtaht as soon as I have a drink I will get an uncontrollable urge for a fag! Maybe I should just get pregnant again

I have stopped, two weeks now except for a little weakness last weekend due to immense stress. I went to a hypnotist (great, stopped all those deprived feelings) and like you you Prufrock thought I would need to smoke when I drank. I have now had several nights out with some quite heavy drinkies and Im proud to say no fags and not even the thought for fags. I always felt before that I was really missing out and was depriving myself and being very virtuous giving up, now I am actually enjoying it.

Well done all you now non smokers ! Wallow in it, I am

have searched on giving up smoking and this is the thread with most recent messages, so....

have quit smoking today! has gone well (i.e. no terrible cravings or horrid mood swings) until about 5pm. now i'm in an absolutely foul mood and have already had a zinger of a row with dh

well he has been nagging me to give up so he can live with it now!

have been working myself up to this for some months - it has taken that long to get to the right frame of mind, i.e. seeing giving up smoking as nothing to lose but my chains rather than depriving myself of a treat. the smokers and ex-smokers will know what i mean!

of course this is only day 1, but i'm just so sick of smoking now and i'm sure my health and energy levels are being affected - i really think there's no choice but to kick the habit. not to mention the cost - the savings are going all to me, me, me!!! and not into the household pot! and not to spend on anything sensible either - it is all going on frivolous pampering things!

thanks for listening

Yey to frivolous pampering BK - am on day 11 so have already saved over £50. Which, now that I've just actually written it down, only serves to remind me just how ludicrous smoking is. I am so sick of being exploited - both physically and financially - that I think I really will do it this time. Have to say I have gone the easy way -patches (which you can get on prescription by the way) - they have worked for me in the past and I have weaned down on to no patches with no trouble. The only problem has been hitting difficult times and then reaching for a fag as a crutch. Hopefully this time I'll do it for good - really have no desire to smoke and as DH is doing it too do not have the added problem of seeing him puffing away while I'm trying not to. Also seem to be past the "I'll eat a piece of chocolate for every fag I would have smoked" stage - so next week it's back to Slimming World to address the second NY resolution. In for a penny in for a pound (well, a couple of stone actually).

Anyway, good luck BK and anyone else who has stopped.

Good luck BK. I slipped over Christmas - actually I just gave up iving up, but have now not had a cigarete since Jan 1st. Having said that I haven't been out and had a drink since then, so 'm not really testing myself.

Best of luck, bossyk. I will be following in your footsteps and those of the other ex smokers here, v soon I hope! Well done those, women.

Oh bossykate, you know how much I've gone on about this. I really do know the feeling. I managed 1 day and then bought some so hate myself for it. I'm relieved as I'm pretty sure I'm not pregnant this month (period pains all morning) because if I was I would be feeling guilty for smoking in the last month. Even without that, I still feel guilty and stupid for smoking. I will join you very soon I promise. Keep it up, well done so far. Thinking of patches too to wean myself off slowly.

Patches really helped me through the early stages, then I went and got pregnant so had to go cold turkey...

I used to find my weakest point (apart from the pub) was getting petrol, I was so used to picking up 40 B&H at the same. I used to try and fix it so I'd always fill up at a 'Pay at Pump' station, that way I avoided all the sweets too.

I stopped going to the pub unless dh would be there too (not that he's scarey at all !) and pretty soon hated going at all as I couldn't stand coming home stinking of smoke.

A word of warning though, after the inital physical withdrawal symptoms stopped (which is quite a short period of time, around 7 days I think) my brain used to play tricks on me
'well you've lasted this long so you've proved you can do it, so just having one every so often will be fine'
NO IT WON'T, everytime I've thought that (I've 'given up' 4 times) I've been back on to 20+ a day in less than a week. I have to think of myself as a recovering ex-smoker not a non-smoker, even after 4 years of not smoking (I once went back to it after 6 years, how stupid am I ?)

Good luck to you all, you really can do it and it's sooo worth it in the end

i too quit smoking yesterday..my dp bought me a huge pack of gum last week as it was on special in sainsburys.it tastes foul and actually gets worse the more you chew ,as a heavy smoker -30 a day i was worried the 15 pieces of gum your allowed to chew a day wouldnt be enough but i only used five bits allday.my worst time is when im sitting doing nothing.then i turn into a gibbering wreck.
i must confess i sneaked a very thin roll up this morning from my friend but it has made instantly feel very sick so although i was naughty for smoking the half i smoked-i chucked the rest in a bin it has made me more determined to keep going with the gum and beat the smoking habit once and for all.
please keep it up and dont give in im now incredibly determined not to let it beat me.

Good luck to you all - bk, why not try a glass jar or transparent moneybox and put in the amount you save every time you don't buy a pack? Then you can actually see the savings mount up. And definitely spend it all on yourself, you deserve it. Think it definitely helps having a partner who doesn't smoke - my parents went cold turkey together 20 years ago (successfully) but they were a bit trigger-happy for a few weeks.

good luck everyone, and do spend that saved money on yourself - you're worth it!

I posted this on New Year Resolutions but probably should have tried here first. My dh smokes part-time. I have never smoked so I personally hate it. I am not anti-smoking, I let friends smoke in the house as it's a one-off, but I hate dh smoking. He has given up in the past, but as he loves it so much, it doesn't last. The pattern is that he'll scrounge a few fags from mates whilst out drinking at the weekend. Then he'll have a cigar and a couple of fags after playing squash during the week, then he'll have some roll-ups after wine at home, etc, etc. He is trying to give up again this year, but I know his resolve is poor, he has already admitted that it may only last a couple of months.

I don't know what to do to help him! He doesn't spend much money on them, as he usually only smokes roll-ups cadged from mates. I have pleaded with them not to lend him any, but to no avail. I honestly wouldn't mind the odd one, but it never stays that way and he has even smoked in front of dd before now, which really does annoy me. He doesn't have that much excuse, most of our friends have either given up or are non-smokers. So if he's with friends that don't smoke he'll buy a cigar! He just loves smoking and I hate it when he does. So how can I convince him to give up for good?

hi everyone, thanks for all your positive comments. it is day 3 now. i have been using patches but unfortunately forgot this morning! don't know if patches have a real or placebo effect, but i have definitely felt worse today than other days!

well done, willow2 and prufrock, hope things continue to go well.

scummy and www, maybe we'll see you here again when you are ready.

thanks again everyone

Rhubarb

Difficult situation. I don't think you can convince him. He's got to want to do it himself and if he doesn't nothing will sustain his efforts to stop if he doesn't want to do it himself. I have been an on an off smoker or only two or three a day and do enjoy it and didn't really want to stop but felt so guilty about smoking and my dd that I decided too. I never smoked in the house or anything like that but always felt very bad that I was damaging my health and very selfish. If you told me tomorrow that it wasn't bad for me I'd take it up again in a flash.

Sorry can't be of more help but I really think he's got to want to stop. I stopped about 6 weeks ago now.

Perhaps I can convince him then not to smoke in front of dd. Is there any research that proves passive smoking is bad for you?

Rhubarb I would definitely stop him from smoking in front of your DD - for her sake, not his. Its not just the passive smoking but also that children are impressionable and I wouldn't want a child of mine to see smoking as acceptable/commonplace. I'm sorry about sounding so self-righteous and I don't really mean it like that - I'm sure those of you are smokers wouldn;t want your children to smoke. Having said that some of the most fervent anti-smokers are the children of smokers so maybe I'm wrong.

Rhubarb, there is a wealth of information, including summaries of many studies linking passive smoking to a variety of childhood health problems here . You will need to click on the Health page. The section on passive smoking and children was updated quite recently.

Well done those of you who are stopping.. I am like Tillysmummy a 2 or 3 a day smoker and so tell myself I cd stop anytime, and I have done, but really must again. Its not a good example for the children, even tho i never smoke in the house. It is a bit of a furtive 'slip out into the garden' kind of thing, but they know and comment sometimes. Dh is a heavier smoker, also only outside but he finds it v diff to stop. He did for 5 mnths tho, but started again at Xmas, prob. my fault as I had some in the house. I used to blame him when he was smoking and I started again because he had them around, so we really must both stop.. Waffle waffle. I guess I dont worry too much abt my own health as its 'only' a couple a day, but it also seems so pointless when its obviously not a real addiction like he has. It does make me eat less chocolate, biscuits and general rubbish tho. Anyone conquered that one?

bk - did you see tonights Standard - lots of positive reasons to carry on with your NY resolutions - including smoking. Apparently after only 1 week you reduce the risk of coronary disease, so only 4 dyas to go. Keep it up.

This thread made me decide I really will stop, and dh has gone to get patches so we will stop together on Saturday...Wish us luck