Coffin nails

Ngalbrai

Maybe not a strictly commuting post but since this is the forum I visit and read most frequently I thought I would post here.

I am a smoker.

And I hate it.

I know from previous posts that some of you were too.

I'm 32 and have smoked on and off since my teens.

I have tried to quit using willpower, I have read Allan Carrs Easyway - and failed.

Trouble is even though I know all the reasons not to I still do it, about 5 a day - that’s five too many in my view, addicts can always find some misplaced justification.

Aside from that I am pretty healthy, do 120k min a week on my commute, scuba dive and various other things.

I just cant seem to quit the coffin nails.

So, for those of you that have, what was the clincher, what made you quit - and STAY quit?

Horror stories don’t seem to be enough, my mother, grandmother and grandfather all died of cancer (only lung in one case but that’s hardly the point!).

prj45

From my personal experience and that of others the only way to stop something like this is to not actually want to continue doing it.

always_tyred

Seems to me that most scuba divers smoke.

So give up diving. Thats the answer.

Rich158

Your situation is pretty much a mirror image of me 8 years ago.

What worked for me was convincing myself I don't smoke. n the run up to actually quitting I just kept telling myself I was a non smoker over and over again. I didn't announce I was giving up, and if anyone offered me a cigarette I didn't say 'no thanks, I've given up', I just said 'sorry, I don't smoke'. I extended this to leavng little poste-it notes for myself reiterating the fact that I was a non-smoker. I found that once I had got the phsychological side sorted, the physical cravings were pretty easy to deal with, and I managed to stop immediately with very few relapses.

Good luck with the quitting, it'll be the best thing you can ever do for your body.

balfie

Ngalbrai,
I smoked for years, gave up 3 yrs ago by using champix. It just made me not want to smoke (whilst my wife & daughter continued)
Never touched another one.
Go for it, it's the most liberating thing that you will do!

il_principe

Try writing "this will kill you" on each ciggy
:shock:

I only smoked for a few years but gave up very easily - my girlfriend simply refused any kind of contact if I'd been smoking. When that happens it's fairly easy to decide what you are willing to give up.

edhornby

I went on a dive trip to cuba and came back with a box of Cohiba no1s

I went on a dive trip to Scotland and came back with bottles of Single Malt

yep - diving's bad for you !!!

getting into freediving made me healthier...

Seriously though, I understand where you're coming from, I was an occasional smoker at university and for about 5-10 years afterwards I would still find myself having occasional cigarettes in the pub when drunk... huge amounts of willpower are requred whatever method you use

best of luck

always_tyred

jashburnham wrote:

Try writing "this will kill you" on each ciggy
:shock:

As opposed to prominently on the box they are stored in? This strategy appears not to work.

Withholding sex does promise to be more effective, although you need another willing non-participant.

page23

try not buying any and not hanging out with the smoking crowd. the latter is far easier these days given the smoking ban in pubs etc.

just stop. simple.

if you wnat to kick the habit bad enough you will.

gtvlusso

I smoke cigars now - very occsionally, but I like to keep my hand in!

I only smoked with beer or in the car with the window opened, but had enough of coming home at night stinking of fag smoke (from being in nightclubs and so on). Just weened myself off gradually......

lost_in_thought

I used the pride method, set a date, and told everyone I knew several times that I was stopping smoking on that day. I would have been happy to stop earlier, but pretty much forced myself to stick to the timetable I'd set.

Once that day came around, I would have been ashamed to start smoking again and go back on my word.

I also looked at the timeline of the positive effects kicking in on the NHS website, which really helped, and I started knitting again to give myself something to do with my hands when sat in front of the telly.

After the first few weeks it became a lot easier, and now, 18-ish months later, I wouldn't smoke if someone paid me.

schlepcycling

I gave up 6 years ago using patches after trying unsuccessfully many times trying the willpower way. I did the whole course starting with the highest strength and worked my way after about 3 months to the lowest strength and then nothing at all, really worked for me and haven't had any inclination to smoke since.

BUICK

To be honest it was cycling that really stopped me smoking. I had cut down on smoking to the point where some days I'd have one, other days it might be anywhere up to 5 but I felt I 'couldn't' quit. I wanted to, and worried about what it might do to my health in the future, but just couldn't see myself not smoking.

Then I got back into cycling a couple of years back and after a humbling beginning began to make some real progress with my riding - and it became important to me to make sure I was hydrated, not to drink too much booze, to make sure I was fuelling up well and keeping healthy so I wouldn't get ill and miss out on rides. And one day after a sluggish ride home on a day I'd had one cigarette (when the day before I'd had none) it struck me that smoking wasn't just potentially bad for me in the future, it was bad for me right that minute. My lungs felt smaller, my heartrate seemed to be up although my output was diminished. I felt the bad sort of 'dirty'. And it struck me how inconsistent it was with all my progress to willingly sabotage my body.

I reailsed that when I came back from a good ride I was all smiles and happiness and 'high' whereas when I came back from a cigarette I generally felt a little worse than beforehand - the ONLY positive was that it took the craving away. Otherwise it often made me mildly nauseous and slightly headachey if I really looked at it. I realised I genuinely didn't want to smoke and I never did again.

marchant

I apologise in advance for digging up an old thread (couldn't see the point of starting a fresh one), but having recently given up smoking I was wondering if anyone had experienced any strange (but positive) consequences? I ask, because I'm at about 10 weeks now and my psoriasis has virtually gone Whether it's the giving up, the patches, or psychological, I don't know, but I thought I'd throw it out there.

Jay dubbleU

I was so hacked off with the government increasing taxes on cigarettes I refused to pay the increase - problem solved

Gypsum_Fantastic

Il Principe wrote:

Try writing "this will kill you" on each ciggy

I write that on my clocks

Rediscovering mountain biking helped me finally quit, it became my reason not to have a tab because I didn't fancy coughing my guts up whilst watching non smoking mates I used to be fitter than ride past me.

Grapefruit helped too :shock: I used to go to work armed with a bag of grapefruit and every time I used to fancy a tab I used to peel and eat a grapefruit, it gave me something to do with my hands and also by the time I was finished I no longer needed the tab.

Stick with it and pack a large bag of grapefruit !

Canny Jock

As mentioned above unless you are absolutely set on giving up then you will probably fail. It took me a few serious attempts before I was really ready, been off them for 3 years now. Like LiT, I set myself a date (new year) a few weeks before and told everyone. It's also worth finding someone else to compete with, then treat it like a serious competition - if you feel the urge to have one you know it's failure and you're weak!

downwardslide

Like with any addictions its about breaking habits. Think about the situations where you smoke and try to avoid them or do things a bit differently.
For example, I used to work in various locations around london and would always have a cigarette when transfering between train and tube, so I would alter the route I walked to avoid going outside where I could smoke .
Also, quitting with willpower alone is very difficult, I tried several times and failed until I used patches (I also tried gum, but this didn't work for me). Don't get disheartened if you fall off the wagon, if you have a smoke, don't give up on quitting, see it as a minor setback and promise yourself it's not going to happen again.
In the end it's well worth it. Aside from the health benefits, five a day equates to about £400 a year which equates to plenty of nice cycling kit or a nice holiday.

MadammeMarie

Smoked on and off for a bit less than 20 years. Never a heavy smoker.

The clincher for me was my mum having a kidney removed. Even though what damaged the kidney is very likely to have been her addiction to diamazepam pills, and her knowing this she said once that she might light up the ocassional cigarette. I said to her that if I saw her with a fag in her mouth she was going straight to a home! I thought if cancer didn't scare her, a care home had to!

But I felt like a totaly hypocrite telling her not to smoke while lighting up myself, so I decided to quit. But didn't do the nicotine patches or anything. Following advice from my neighbour, I threw away all my ashtrays.

Still might have a quick fag with a drink when I go out, but it all depends who I am with.

The sad truth is that I looooove smoking. It's a shame that it's so bad for you. Wouldn't it be great if somebody invented a cigarette that didn't kill you?

bails87

To all the smoker, and ex smokers, why did you start? Was it an "all the other kids are doing it" kind of thing or something else?

I only ask because I've never once been tempted to start, it stinks, it's expensive and it's bad for you. And I knew that from a young age, I'm just curious as to why 'younger' (i.e. not from the Dr-Marlboro-says-it's-good-for-you generation) people start.

cat_with_no_tail

Don't know what made me start tbh. I just remember being offered one and thinking why not? Stupid, I know, but there we are.

I stopped over 2 years ago now. Had tried willpower, patches, gum, tapes, books etc. It either didnt work at all, or worked for a couple of weeks/months then I'd start again. Got the tablets from the docs and boom, just didnt want them anymore.

plonk

I smoked for years and years, with a few periods of quitting and then slowly starting again. Finally i was running for a train one day when i started coughing up blood. An hour later i was in a hospital bed with a doctor telling me i had a shadow on my lung and they would be keeping me in overnight. That night i promised myself, my kids, my wife and whatever unkown deity was listening that i'd never smoke again.

Fourtunately it was just a touch of pneumonia, but my desire to smoke has completely evaporated. I play in a band who all smoke, but i can happily sit outside after a gig with them all puffing away. The only struggle i have to deal with is not being outwardly smug and evangelical.

Dont leave it too late. Just stop.

Sewinman

I think i am over a month now since i last smoked. The reason i am not sure is I have not being paying attention to not smoking. I became a non-smoker rather than giving up. I have not bothered working out what i have saved cahs wise...its just something I no longer do. I read that Carr book. I have got drunk, stood with smokers outside pubs...I even went fishing which I could never have imagined doing in the past without smokes.

All going well so far.

The only change i have noticed is a huge amount of small change...might start up my old fruit machine habit to deal with it! Someone said my skin looked healthier.

My poor old sister gave up and got bronchitis a month later!

lost_in_thought

bails87 wrote:

To all the smoker, and ex smokers, why did you start? Was it an "all the other kids are doing it" kind of thing or something else?

I only ask because I've never once been tempted to start, it stinks, it's expensive and it's bad for you. And I knew that from a young age, I'm just curious as to why 'younger' (i.e. not from the Dr-Marlboro-says-it's-good-for-you generation) people start.

Yep, all the other bad kids at my boarding school were doing it!

It's coming up for 3 years now. I have to say, those who 'haven't given up, but have become non-smokers' have the right idea.

What I find really funny in retrospect is how convinced we all were that our housemistress wouldn't be able to tell we'd been smoking if we washed our hands and had a mint. Or wouldn't know we'd been smoking in our room as long as we opened the window. Ah, youth. How foolish you are. We never got into trouble though.... maybe she wasn't as strict and evil as we thought!

HamishD

CHAMPIX.

It's absolutely brilliant. Can't recommend it highly enough. Go see your doctor.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varenicline

oscarbudgie

I did it with the NHS patches thing - I was only 'on' about 10 a day but couldn't shake the habit on my own. The patches worked well enough - its been about 18 months since I last bought a pack. I've had the odd cigarette in that time if someone's offered- no big deal. TBH I don't feel markedly different other than much better lung capacity.

bails87

lost_in_thought wrote:

bails87 wrote:

To all the smoker, and ex smokers, why did you start? Was it an "all the other kids are doing it" kind of thing or something else?

I only ask because I've never once been tempted to start, it stinks, it's expensive and it's bad for you. And I knew that from a young age, I'm just curious as to why 'younger' (i.e. not from the Dr-Marlboro-says-it's-good-for-you generation) people start.

Yep, all the other bad kids at my boarding school were doing it!

Boarding school? Lah dee dah

Sorry, that just conjures up images of public school boys in smoking jackets sneakily lighting up a pipe :oops:

You probably got away with it because the housemistress (whatever that is) was smoking too!

MadammeMarie

bails87 wrote:

To all the smoker, and ex smokers, why did you start? Was it an "all the other kids are doing it" kind of thing or something else?

I was sitting for exams, was a bag of nerves and on top of that, splitting up with boyfriend. I was quite at a low eb at that time. Oh, both parents smokers; guess that didn't help, but my brother hates the stuff. So...

Headhuunter

I started smoking at uni. Away from home for the 1st time in my life, I tried everything. I left home at 18 to uni having only been drunk I think once in my life previously and by the end of the 1st term I had been smashed out of my brains a number of times, started smoking (tobacco and weed) and taken LSD and other "substances".... :roll:

I calmed down a bit later in the 1st year. Had a HORRIBLE bad trip on LSD and decided to cut it out, or at least cut back. So I joined the university fencing club and the moutain bike club. I had been a keen cyclist and swordsman before I went to uni. After that I was out every weekend offroading it over Canock Chase and at races in the depths of Wales.

Smoking however remained with me for almost 15 years and even now I have the occasional drag of someone else's for old times sake, but god does it taste awful now! What did it for me was that I had started running a lot (5k and 10k running events as well as a running club) and going to the gym and it used to make me cough.

Also whenever I got flu or a cold I always ended up with an awful lingering cough. Eventually I got one of these coughs that wouldn't go away so I decided to stop at least til the cough went, which took a week or so, then I was back at my parents' for Christmas (back in 2005) and I never smoke in front of them. When I got back 2 weeks or so had passed without a ciggie so I just decided to see how long I could do without and I never ever went back to regular smoking.

Headhuunter

Oh I used the nicotine gum for a while which seemed to help a bit, but it was very hard when out having a drink. This was before the smoking ban....

lost_in_thought

bails87 wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

bails87 wrote:

To all the smoker, and ex smokers, why did you start? Was it an "all the other kids are doing it" kind of thing or something else?

I only ask because I've never once been tempted to start, it stinks, it's expensive and it's bad for you. And I knew that from a young age, I'm just curious as to why 'younger' (i.e. not from the Dr-Marlboro-says-it's-good-for-you generation) people start.

Yep, all the other bad kids at my boarding school were doing it!

Boarding school? Lah dee dah

Sorry, that just conjures up images of public school boys in smoking jackets sneakily lighting up a pipe :oops:

You probably got away with it because the housemistress (whatever that is) was smoking too!

She didn't... the 'boarding' bit was relevant because we all lived together with no parental input. If I'd lived at home I probably wouldn't have smoked.

And it was more like public schoolboys and girls hiding around the school in Cambridge furtively smoking in corners. There were several places, all of which had codenames. It was such fun!