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Original poster

I AM giving up smoking (AGAIN) tomorrow, please support me

142 replies

mosschops30 · 13/10/2008 23:51

I hate it, I am stuck in a rut of feeling stressed, smoking more, which is making me feel even worse.
I dont go to the gym anymore, mostly because i feel too rough, used to go 4 times a week.

It smells, its killing me, its too expensive.

God I hope i can do it this time, I really do want to NEVER smoke again

OP posts:
BoysAreLikeZombies · 13/10/2008 23:58

You can do it

I ain't going to list all the benefits, you know 'em all anyway

Have you got

Patches
Gum
Mints

IIRC the cravings last for a short while each time they come, and should be mostly over in a few days.

Good luck

pipsqueak · 14/10/2008 00:15

i recommend champix which i got from gp - removed all cravings and have still given up months after stopping teh pills - good luck whatever you decide

Original poster
mosschops30 · 14/10/2008 00:24

I am using my inhalator again, I find its better than patches. When I start again Ive usually finished on the inhalor so its totally my fault

OP posts:
unknownrebelbang · 14/10/2008 00:27

Good luck.

You CAN do it.

expatinscotland · 14/10/2008 00:31

my dad had to use champix.

it really worked for him.

Original poster
mosschops30 · 14/10/2008 00:44

Im still up just tryingto smoke all my fags before tomrrow

OP posts:
MrsMattie · 14/10/2008 00:57

Course you can do it. You can. I was a heavy smoker for years. I loved smoking. You have to get to that gri stage where you bloody well hate yourself for smoking before it's possible to give up. And then you have to reisgn yourself to the fact that it is hard in the beginning. But it is NOT impossible. Anyone can do it. Go for it x

MrsMattie · 14/10/2008 00:58

gri = grim

Original poster
mosschops30 · 14/10/2008 01:00

thats how i feel mrs mattie, I dont enjoy it, I feel disgusting, unhealthy and ill. I really want todo this

OP posts:
MrsMattie · 14/10/2008 01:02

Have you read Alan Carr's book? I know not everyone likes it, but it worked wonders for me. Completely changed the way I felt about giving up.

bleurgh · 14/10/2008 03:14

Mosschops I'm going to try too. Good luck. x

Original poster
mosschops30 · 14/10/2008 13:22

I have read it a few times actually, I find it works initially but then I always find a way of talking myself back into smoking!

The day is going well so far, have had a few puffs on my inhalator but really do feel like this time is for good. I have had a nice long bath, pampered, moisturised, painted my toenails and reminded myself that smoking is dirty and how much cleaner I feel

how you going bleurgh, did you give up?

OP posts:
Tillyscoutsmum · 14/10/2008 13:25

Well done mosschops. I am forever stopping and then starting again. i must have done it hundreds of times (longest for almost 2 years but usually for a few days or so). Anyway, I'm on day 11 of stopping again and I am really really determined this time.

Big glass of water everytime I get a craving seems to help

Original poster
mosschops30 · 14/10/2008 13:28

well done tilly thats amazing, wow I can only dream of day 11 . I definately feel different this time, Im not even thinking that I'll smoke when Im out for a drink which ive always done. For me this is IT!!!

OP posts:
londontipton · 14/10/2008 13:38

good luck! I am also on day 3 with the fab inhalator.

Have also given up dozens of times (longest being 3 years, shortest being 1 hour!)

Try not to drink for a good week, I always find I crumble if wine is in the equation!

Tobermory · 14/10/2008 13:49

moshchops....good luck.
I gave up 3.5 years ago/ It was the best and also hardest thing i have ever done.
Fpr me, success and i know i will never smoke again has been 'one day at a time'. A cliche i know, but it works for me. The worst time for me was the first few days, maybe as long as a week. During that time i was a complete btch, horrible to live with....That week was bloody hard going. There have been many times since when i could have given in and smoked (although these have been much less intense and fewer as time has gone on) in the months since i gave up but each time only one thing stopped me. That thing was the knowledge that if i had another, even just a sneaky drag then i wouldnt be able to stop myself havign any more. I knew it would be a slippeery slope and i would be a smoker again because i enjoyed smoking so much. I also knew* that i couldnt do that first week again so, in my mind therefore couldnt smoke.
However i now think of myself as a non smoker and i honestly never thought i would. Standing down-wind of a smoker no longer makes me sniff and think 'what if', to me now it doesnt smell nice. While i smoked - 14 ish years - i never believed that i would find myself in this position and not 'need' a fag.
One other thing i did, i mnade a chart. And for each time that neither me nor DH smoked (we gave up together) we put a big cross through and totted up how much we had saved to date, ie. how much we had not spent on cigarettes. Before too long I was horrified at how big the 'saved' number had become.

Wishign you lots of luck and inner strength mosschops..

Original poster
mosschops30 · 14/10/2008 13:59

Well although I only smoke 10-15 a day thats still £80-90 a month, and thats a whole new pair of shoes, or m=xmas outfit or night away for me and dh.
I also hate the way ds(3) now looks at me when I smoke, he always follows me outside and I hate him seeing me, I dont want his memory of me to be puffing away outside in the garden. And I always want to be here for my dc's for as long as possible

OP posts:
eekamoose · 14/10/2008 14:05

Well done mosschops.

I am on day 25 of giving up. Its going well so far. Am doing loads of exercise (long fast walks and cycle rides) in an attempt to not gain weight, so therefore feeling extra healthy.

A fellow quitter said to me the other day "how many cigarettes have you not smoked now?"

"over 200" I replied (I was on about 10 a day)

"how many of those did you really really want?" says he

and I thought about it, thought back to the times when the cravings have been quite intense over the past 25 days and replied, in all honesty,

"about 10"

So it was shocking to realise that in order to have the 10 cigarettes I think I really would have enjoyed over the past 25 days, I would have smoked another 190 for no good reason at all.

The problem is accepting you cannot/will not ever smoke again. I still can't say I'm happy about that but I believe in time that feeling will come.

Giving up is hard, but then so is being pregnant, giving birth, having children. Life is hard. We can do difficult things, can't we? Who said life had to be easy? eh?

Chin(s) up my fellow quitters!!

Original poster
mosschops30 · 14/10/2008 14:28

fab post eekamouse and youre so right. I was enjoying less and less each cigaratte, it was becoming a chore.

We will all get there

Im going back to the gym tomorrow, then starting spin again on thursday because Ive really missed it but just havent been well enough to do it, and I know now I will feel better every day

OP posts:
Tillyscoutsmum · 14/10/2008 14:32

eekamoose - definitely the way I have been thinking about things as well. There were 2, maybe 3 cigarettes a day I actually "enjoyed" - the rest were all just habit. So, for the sake of a sum total of 10-15 minutes pleasure a day, I was putting myself at risk of all sorts of diseases, wasting loads of money and making myself and everything around me smell hideously. Really, really not worth it.

MurderousMarla · 14/10/2008 14:36

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
mosschops30 · 14/10/2008 16:08

do you still have the cd maria?

am still puffing away on my inhalor, dont feel too twitchy or ready to kill anyone yet

OP posts:
BlingLovin · 14/10/2008 16:15

4 years and a few months non smoking for me. Hard as hell, but brilliant and best thing I've done.

My advice is 1. try not to think of it as "giving up" . You're not giving up something you love, you are stopping something you hate. [although having said that, a friend pointed out that it's a bit like a bad break up - you desperately want to go back, even though you know it's a mistake. And then there's drunk dialling... ]

  1. you mention the smell as being a reason to stop? Spend money on smelling nice. You're saving all that cash by not smoking, so use the first bit of saving to buy yourself your favourite soap that you don't normally buy because it's too expensive/new perfume/ gorgeous hand soap or whatever else works for you. I showered three times a day with my gorgeous products so that I always felt and smelt yummy! On similar note, spend money on delicious healthy snacks you wouldn't normally buy to compensate for first week - in my case posh dried fruit or gorgeous expensive cherries etc. Plus I did cheese (not so healthy I know but...)
  1. Do you REALLY only smoke 10-15 a day? I used to say that. But when I was honest, I realised I NEVER smoked less than 15. if you are smoking more than you can acknoledge to yourself, then you do admit it, you will feel better.

Oh, and try the NHS stop smoking website, I found it quite useful.

GOOD LUCK! You can do it. I cried on a train in rush hour day 3 because I was so unhappy. But I got over it!

Original poster
mosschops30 · 14/10/2008 16:17

Yes I really did only smoke 10 a day, 15 on a bad day.
Im going to do all those things (p.s. I love cheese )

OP posts:
BlingLovin · 14/10/2008 16:25

Me too. Just accidentally bought a LOT of it from ridiculously overpriced cheese shop in city. Not sure what happened?!

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