The PSB Quit Smoking Help thread

[Shortfuse]

Hey all,

The Smoking Poll replys have had quite a few responses from people who are giving up the Durries.

I am an ex-smoker, and hope that all peeps that try to give up manage to kick it for good.

So, if you are struggling with cravings, or just need a little support, post it in here and other PSB'ers will help get you through!

You can Quit, sometimes you just need a little help.

[Rat750]

I promised the mrs i would give up smoking when i get my new bike. In QLD there is a program that costs around $500 for the session but is guaranteed success or they do it again free. It involves laser treatment plus some other things like vitamin supplements etc....is there anything like that over here as i am only a couple of weeks before i get the new ride

[polonY]

did you say exactly what you would stop smoking?...

[Captain Starfish]

I've quit bazillions of times.

A few of those times it lasted longer than a week and through sheer effort of will I got that far before falling down in a crying heap and crawling to the servo for a pack of fags.

Twice, I've quit for a longer period. First time was about 4 years and a combination of being drunk, divorced and depressed led me to "just one". I know better now.

This time, I can't remember how long it's been because I honestly don't think about it much any more. Occasionally the craving hits, usually when someone else lights up, but I can laugh it off and get on with things, it's no biggie.


Short version of all of that is it's all in your attitude. The two times it's lasted, it was easy. If you smoke up to a packet a day, the physiological addiction - the chemical craving - is pretty much gone in two or three days. The hard one to beat is your own head and how you've spent years building your life around your habit.

This last time, I read "the book", Alan Carr's "The Easy Way" and it pretty much reminded me of where I was the first time. Get your head right, get your attitude pointed away from "giving up smoking" and past the pain to being "Oh, I used to smoke" BEFORE you quit, and it all gets pretty easy.

Great idea, shortfuse!

[T-roy]

Quitting is great!!

but you can only do it once.

[Rat750]

and " Nobody likes a quitter "

[gravy]

I smoked for over 20 yrs, and tried that many times to stop, I thought it just wasn't going to happen. Then I tried the patches, and bingo, worked for me. Definitely worth a try if you don't want the cold turkey feeling....

[T-roy]

On a serious note if anyone smokes and is looking at this thread thinking "yeah maybe its about time i quit smoking" but you just don't know where or when to start. now is a good time even if you don't start now, just getting it out there helps. people will point you in the right direction and will encourage you to quit. You don't really have much to lose if you quit.

JUST DO IT!!

[mcmurray]

gravy: are you off the patches now?

I quit for 2 months using gum but the mrs would not do it with me and kept asking "want a smoke?". Now I'm a full time smoker again.

[taint]

gravy: are you off the patches now?

I quit for 2 months using gum but the mrs would not do it with me and kept asking "want a smoke?". Now I'm a full time smoker again.

bitch needs a backhand to put her in her place

edit: you will more than likely need the help and support of those around you

[potato]

week 5 on the nicabate lozenges here. they taste better than ciggys.
had a winnie red yesterday and it blew my head off.

i give in once or twice a week and smoke an op, and im pretty happy with that.
it was a packet+ a day habit for a long long time !

you gotta want to quit just like starfish says, if you dont want to dont waste the effort.

[PatB]

When I gave up for good, it was all part of a general change in lifestyle that just kind of happened. I had a partner who didn't smoke, socialised less with friends who did smoke and more with those who didn't and more or less stopped going to the pub, which always used to set me off. This all happened for various reasons unconnected with tobacco, all of which suddenly came together. Then, one day, I realised that my last half ounce of baccy had lasted me 10 days (usually 2 days at most) and I figured I might as well knock it on the head entirely.

I've had the odd cig since, but not really gone back. A few years ago, i cadged my last one and was violently sick, so I won't be trying that again .

[Ferris]

I can turn the habit off and on like a lightswitch. I feel like smoking at the moment coz I hang around people at work who smoke. But when it's time to quit, I just cold turkey and be done with it. Longest period of quitting was 5 years. It all just depends on my circle of friends, I don't tend to like being the only smoker I know.

As has been said already, it's all about the attitude. The chem addiction only lasts 2-3 days, TOPS. It's the habit forming and attitude that's the reason you go back for fags. Hell, I spend most weekends in nicotine withdrawal, as I don't smoke around my fiance, unless we're drinking.

[BigCat]

I smoked for 20 years and tried giving up heaps of times with patches, cold turkey, Alan Carr's book, gum, the whole lot, but i always caved in and started again - longest i lasted was 13 weeks, then my dad died which didn't help

So anyhow, I recently bought my new bike but i made a pact with myself that it was the bike or smokes - can't afford both. That was a pretty good incentive to start with, but then i saw the doctor and got those Zyban tablets - after the first week they made me pretty sick so changed across to the new Champix tablets. These things are awesome - it took about 3 weeks for me to get off the ciggies completely but its been 3 months now and i don't even think about smoking. I do have the odd cigar now and then but to be honest i don't really need one and i certainly don't want another an hour later or anything. Its more of a social thing when everyone is standing outside faggin it.

Tell you what though, in the first month i was on and off the ciggies and i noticed that if i lit one up i'd be craving another a few minutes later - those things seem to be a lot more adictive compared to cigars. Knowing that i won't touch another even if offered.

So anyway, get your ass down the docs, get on Champix for (i think) $90 all up for about 10 weeks supply and bob's your uncle. I've had a few mates that went on it and they have quit no problems too. The only side affect i got was feeling a bit emotionally flat for a while, but no physical side affects at all. Can't recommend them enough to someone who's tried everything and still can't quit.

[Captain Starfish]

The killer is the one cigar, or cigarette.

Which is fine.

And then it turns into one every now and then, when you're drinking and at a party. Then you forget about it.

Then you smoke a packet in a binge drinking night, rip your throat apart and next day the last thing you want is a smoke.

Three months later, you do it again and realise that you can do it occasionally.

A year later, you look back and discover that you're on the piss hard every weekend and smoking a packet a night on those binges.

That's cool, you're not smoking at work so you're still not _really_ a smoker.

After that realisation, it only takes a stressful morning at the office and standing next to a mate who smokes before you're back again.

Your life changes subtly at first, then more and more, so that you can get more of the weed.

A successful quitting attitude means the temptation to a cigar shouldn't require sacrifice of saying no. It should mean that you laugh at "the old you having a last try to come back" and forget about it.

Me? A preachy ex-smoker? Hell yes!