Smoking cessation

[Judystilldreamsofhorses]

I know Mumsnet hates smokers so I am not expecting any support here - more just that I wanted to create a sort of log. I started smoking at uni when I was 21, I'm now 48.

I've joined Boots smoking cessation programme and have patches and a spray thing. I also have a vape. I think the habit of smoking - the punctuation points in the day - is going to be really hard to quit, but I realise I have everything to gain from stopping and nothing to gain from smoking.

Reasons to stop:

Health
Wealth
It's embarrassing to smoke and I am ashamed to be the last raver still at the party!

I have not smoked today.

Well done, I know it's not easy. I haven't ever smoked but my Dad has since he was a child (!) and it's a miserable journey watching him go through advanced COPD. He stopped finally a year ago but life for him would be very different if he'd stopped before.

@OverFebruary I am actually going outside to vape, treating it exactly like a cigarette. I know a big part of it for me is the routine of doing X and then going and having a cigarette, so I am trying to stick to that. Enjoy your night out!

@AlwaysLatte so sorry to hear about your dad.

Day six - tick.

@Judystilldreamsofhorses You’re doing brilliantly! Is the vaping helping? I’m on day 9 and I’m now feeling really proud of myself, the only issue is I’ve replaced every cigarette with all the crap food I can eat!! So tomorrows mission is to get that under control. I’m already overweight and the part of me that was scared of stopping was scared I’d get even heavier, so I don’t want that to happen.

Really well done, @PaulineFowlersCardigan - nine days is fantastic! The vaping is definitely helping. I am generally not a snacky person but I think without it I absolutely would be in amongst the biscuit tin. That said, I am just replacing one habit with another I suppose?

Today I have been pretty grumpy and quite teary. I woke up with a sore throat and had obviously been sleeping with my mouth open, so I thought it was just that, but I have felt a bit off all day. Negative LF so must just be a cold or something but it is enough to knock me off my stott.

Hey op, I gave up a 10 year codeine addiction 7 days ago and for my next trick I want to give up the cigarettes. I have got over the worst of the codeine withdrawals but feel very low on energy. Anyway I just wanted to hop on this thread and ask about your very first smoke free day. Did you wake up having no cigarettes left and start from there? I keep telling myself it will be the last pack but then I get scared and buy another so that I'll have them when I wake up but then I don't quit because I have cigarettes to smoke and on it goes. I'm not being too hard on myself as it's been a tough week (honestly the codeine withdrawals have been one of the hardest things I've ever been through) but I do want to start getting my head ready for giving up the cigs and would love to hear your experience.

@Judystilldreamsofhorses I cried on and off the whole day Thursday, was so emotional, maybe it’s a day 6 thing! I’m going to replace tomorrows snacking with water.. it’s weird though, I keep dreaming I’m smoking, and I keep thinking I’m forgetting something, but I actually don’t want one. I think I know that it was so hard to get through this past week and I don’t want to do it again! Hopefully the way you’re feeling is just everything coming out of your system.

@Slabadabbadooby fantastic work on the codeine - you are clearly a very strong person.

I smoke - now vape - in the back garden, and we have a utility room between the kitchen and back door. I always kept cigarettes/lighters in there. Last Sunday DP went to bed before me, and after my last cigarette I left lighters/cigarettes on the kitchen table, and moved my vape into their spot. He knew to take them away when he got up and left for work. In the morning I went out with the vape, then put a patch on as soon as I had showered. I suspect there is an almost full pack of Marlboro Gold in this house somewhere…

@PaulineFowlersCardigan drinking water is supposed to be good for clearing out your lungs I think, so double bubble. I’ve tried to drink more but I really hate it! I have also tried to drink coffee instead of tea at home (I’m 50/50 home/work at the moment) but found I was totally hyper. I got some herbal teas last week but they are not really floating my boat either.

@Judystilldreamsofhorses how are you getting on today? Today is day 10, and it’s the first day that’s been pretty easy so fingers crossed!

Ahhh, these posts have made me a bit teary, thank you all so much. Maybe DP isn’t wrong waiting on a meltdown! I am so used to the “smokers are the actual devil and if I sit beside one on a bus I need a full scrub down with bleach” posts on MN that I really did not expect people to be kind.

Well, it would be bloody hypocritical for the anti-smokers (including me - I was brought up in a smoking household and hated it!) to do anything but support people who are trying to give up! Good for you, OP - keep at it!

@PaulineFowlersCardigan really happy to hear day 10 is an easier day! Day eight here, and I felt really fed up in general - WFH, quiet day, and I just wanted to go and sit at my wee table in the garden with a cigarette. I sat with my vape but it wasn’t quite the same! I also feel really hungry today which isn’t great. How did you go with the water?

Thank you @Fairislefandango. It’s funny, my mum smoked when I was a kid, and at that point people did smoke at home indoors, and I absolutely hated it. I vowed never to smoke, then got suckered in at university when I really should have known better.

Well done! It’s like the coughing is the crap coming out of your lungs now you’re not lining them with tar and all the other crap. Keep going! I switched to vaping 102 days ago and although it’s been hard sometimes on the whole it’s been very easy and it’s only my first attempt

In my early days, I noticed so many changes. After 4 days my fingers were no longer nicotine stained from the rollies. Then my sense of taste and smell started coming back. After about 3 weeks there was a huge difference with my skin. My fitness is improving all the time, I don’t stink and I’ve so much more time because I’m not stopping for a smoke.

Use the money you are saving to treat yourself at certain points as a reward - giving up smoking is hard so reward yourselves!

One piece of caution though to the OP - if your vape juice has nicotine in it, be careful with the patches and spray too because of the amount of nicotine you’re having.

I found the posts on the stop smoking board on here were brilliant and were a huge part of me making the decision to stop so have a look through

Does your vape use have nicotine in it. If it does after a couple of weeks, go down lower and then move onto nicotine free.

Well done @Judystilldreamsofhorses ! I stopped about 8 years ago, using an e cig. At some point you need to make the switch in your head that you are now a non smoker. When that happened for me it became much easier not to constantly think about cigarettes. In those 8 years I've had 3 half cigarettes - all at funerals! Last time it tasted so bad I knew I'd never have another.

What are you vaping?

@guestusername - you are an inspiration, that's fantastic. I wonder how long it will be until we stop counting days? I have a gate-style tally on my list of reasons to stop on the fridge. Day nine today! I actually haven't used the spray at all, just the patches and the vape. The spray felt like a weird addition to me, but the pharmacist insisted on giving me a stock of them. She also said she was not allowed to give me anything as part of the programme if I was vaping, so I said that I wouldn't use that - in reality I think the vape is really key for me.

@Loopyloulou007 that's my plan, thank you. @Auntieobem do you remember roughly when that switch flicked for you? I'm using a Vaporessa pod thing, so I don't have to fiddle about with coils (?) and it is pretty simple. I bought quite a few different liquids to try and so far the one that's working for me is actually tobacco flavour. The vanilla one I had expected to like made me cough like I was about to die, and I am not a fan of fruity flavours in food/drink so didn't think I would like those. I have a couple of menthol/mint ones which are okay too. I have two vapes - the actual e-cig thing, is that what you call them - so I am not going to run out of charge.

I threw out all my lighters/ ashtrays etc the day after I started vaping. (It's still an annoyance to my MIL who used to depend on my lighters for lighting birthday candles.....)

I gave mine to DP who presumably hid them somewhere here. I didn't have ashtrays as I smoked only in the garden and used a flower pot. God, how grim!

@Judystilldreamsofhorses thank you 😊 I don’t think I’ll ever stop counting the days, number of cigs I’ve not had or the money I’ve saved. They are all massive achievements and are a good way to reminding yourself when you’re struggling. I carried my pack of tobacco, papers, filters and lighter around with me for a month but after that I realised that I could go out without them and I could trust myself not to “need” them. I never thought that I could go a week let alone this far! I was on 20 a day. I thought the habit smokes would be the hardest to stop but they really weren’t any harder than the other ones

Flavourwise I’ve tried loads and the only one I get on with is spearmint 🤷‍♀️ I like to add a few drops of menthol to the mint and that works really well for me. I have two vapes for the same reason - I need to know that I’ve a spare for when one is on charge or if one breaks. I started out on 12mg nicotine and dropped down to 6 a few weeks ago. Next will be 3mg when I need to buy my next lot

You're doing brilliantly, OP :) I stopped smoking 2 and a half years ago and switched to vaping. It was probably my third proper attempt - and if there's one thing I learned from the previous ones - it's to resist the temptation to try 'just one' cig to see 'how it feels' after you've not had one for weeks or months. You get hooked again so easily.

I now vape 0% nicotine, just because I enjoy the taste(s) and the hand-to-mouth habit. It's now a choice to pick up the vape, not a necessity. I wish you all the best - the freedom is great!

@Judystilldreamsofhorses you’re doing so well!! Loving read of everyone’s success stories! I did do a double take on your last couple of posts though, as I always smoked Marlboro gold, and I always sat in the garden and used a flowerpot for an ashtray 🙈!!

Day nine, done.

I am so glad I started this thread, I really didn’t expect the support but you have all been so kind, thank you so much, I honesty can’t say how much I appreciate it. A lot of my friends don’t even know I smoke(d), and I have only told a couple of people I have quit in case I fail(ed).❤️

I didn’t tell anyone for a week, in case I failed. After a week I told a few close people and a couple of people at work and as time has passed I’ve told more people but I still haven’t told everyone.

I had to fill a couple of weeks ago and was able to put an X in the no bit of the “do you smoke” question 😀

@guestusername I have a checkup at the dentist later today, and put no! I did write “recently quit” in the box below that asked for more details though. I am hoping she will give me a good scale and polish afterwards. I am lucky that my teeth are very white despite smoking and drinking far too much tea, but there is a wee bit of staining between my lower front ones. Every time I have a clean it looks great, then I go off and smoke again. Not this time.

Just wanted to say bloody well done OP! Quitting smoking is really hard (been there!). You’re doing amazingly, keep at it!