Giving up the Fags?

I smoked for 20 years and was on 25 to 30 a day

I just decided one day that I wanted to give up so finished a pack and never bought another one.

I went cold Turkey.

After all it take 5 days at most to get the nicotine out of your system so grin and bear it and get it out of you. Don't keep your self on the nicotine with patches , gum or other things.

It's not the nicotine that's the hardest part of giving up , that's the easy bit.

The habit of smoking is the hardest. The habit of a fag with a drink or on the way to work or on the way home from work.

But do it you won't regret it , but the other secret to giving up is that you want to give up and not give up due to everyone telling you to give up.


I gave up 6 years ago and have not touched one since ( well part for a cigar when the kids were born ) but do not want one either. I can stand around others smoking and not have a problem at all and does not make me want one.

Best of luck and keep to it.

Hi
I gave up two years ago using patches. 30+ a day for 20 years.

Cravings were softened a bit by patches and gum. Found the first 12 weeks hard going then it got better quickly after that.

Well worth it though. Food tastes better, can walk/jog/ride bikes. Skin lost that grey tinge too.

Saved thousands a put it in the Landy.

Clive

Reads has it right...

"... but the other secret to giving up is that you want to give up and not give up due to everyone telling you to give up..."

Yep, don't even bother unless you're doing it for purely selfish, 'nothing to do with ANYone or anyTHING', reasons...

This was part of my rage... I suppose I'd let myself be persuaded that this was a 'cool' and 'mature' thing to do, be seen to be part of the society I felt a little intimidated by...moving from boarding school into the work-force. - Ever noticed how the physical actions of a smoker imply self-assurance, importance, arrogance, don't-give-a-stuff, ??? Especially Women who smoke in social settings.

IF by any chance you fall off the wagon, NO-ONE here will think the less of you.

Edit: What you save in the first day or two could pay your AULRO subscription.....

Hi Jonesfam,

I found it hard & tried several times over 30+ years. With postings lasting an average 3 -4 years & to many different countries made it hard. Gave up in Germany went to Brazil, cheap & plentiful! Then to Australia quit for 4 years then Singapore where everyone in the office smoked & it was cheap. Finally in Korea my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer & that was the trigger. I never smoked indoors or in the car but I guess living in big cities like Singapore & Seoul comes with its own pollution issues.

I ended up buying Allan Carr's book Easyway to stop smoking & that did it for me. Takes a few weeks & easier than cold turkey. I have kept my pipe collection though as I always thought it would be nice to start again when I reach 80, sort of incentive as that was my favourite bad habit, just hope I remember to do it.

Nigel

It helps to understand (maybe!) that the pleasure pathways in the brain have been chemically altered... so the craving etc is an enhanced addiction. The R&D folk working for BIG Tobacco discovered years ago that by adding certain ammonia-based compounds to the cigs, they could enhance the addictive properties, get customers hooked quicker and...sell more cigs. This was some of the evidence they tried to destroy so it would not be brought before a parliamentary enquiry here, and various class actions here and in the USA. Sometimes if you understand why you get these cravings, then you can adopt personal strategies to work around them... like "a few minutes" mentioned above.

It's a massive act of the will to ignore the cravings and quit... I don't envy you.

FWIW My BIL (mid 50s) had some teeth removed last week, more next week, so the medicos can start radiation therapy for his recently diagnosed mouth cancer...(20-30 /day habit for the past 40 yrs)...just when his grand kids are beginning to appear:(

I wish you well!

Two tricks helped me give the coffin nails away. One is not exactly ideal but I found that when at the pub , when it was still legal to smoke indoors, that a beer in each hand made lighting up difficult. The downside was things could get messy by the end of the night. The breaking of the hand and oral habit was accomplished with keno pencils. Within a short time the foolish feelings gained by "smoking " a pencil soon eliminated the urge to have a ciggie, as did the awful taste of chewing them. This worked for me , but for others I dont know.

"Giving Up"??...Easy for some, impossible for others?....Not really "impossible", but I understand.
Everybody is different, smoking never really got a "hold" of me, and I believe I'm lucky it didn't, 'cause if it did, I might still be smoking...and I'll tell you why.
Smoking fags was just "OK" for me,....I did enjoy it, but after a couple, I'd always think, "why am I doing this"?...I was always thinking of giving it up. On the other hand, Wifey & I love our champagne (alcohol!)...some would say, just as bad (as nicotine).
If someone said to me, ya can never have another glass of champagne, I don't know whether I could cop that......so I say, if ya can't give it up (cigs), I understand. It's VERY hard to say NO to something you like,....Just lucky for me that I never ever liked it that much,.....but champagne, well,...that's another matter,...in fact, wifey's just cracked another bottle!
Cheers, Pickles.

Try and remember that the chemical addiction only lasts 3 days they say. After that it's just the habit. A lot of people have had a lot of success with Zyban. Probably not the right spelling. Apparently it makes you feel sick when you have a smoke. Certain jobs won't allow it though. It does have side effects. Maybe take some time off and change your routine.

From the age of 15 to 22 years old I use to smoke not less than 20 cigarettes a day, then my girl friend (my wife now :) ) asked me to stop smoking.
I managed to stop for 2 years but suffering every day to have one.
At the end I start smoking pipe and it was easy to stop.
I stopped smoking pipe in 1984 without any problem.
I am convinced that cigarettes have something more than tobacco for being so hard to stop smoking :(
If you smoke pipe only try to not light the pipe when go off and this will help you to stop the habit.
The taste of the cold nicotine in your mouth will help you to stop.
You have to try, the food taste much better and is a wonderful experience.
The bad news is that perhaps you put some weight :D

Good luck mate, you can do it ;)

Find a book by Allen Carr... The easy way to stop smoking.

My partner didn't finish it and she hasn't smoked for over 5 years now.

The girl at work I told to read it is now almost a year without a smoke.

They each never had cravings, and so far haven't looked back.

The book is worth every cent.