Oh god what have I done. I stopped smoking

Nik_B

I don't even know why I just put a patch on yesterday.

Made it up to the night but after a few glasses of wine I crumbled and had a cigarrette. After my lungs felt good all day, because of that cigarrette I woke up with my usual weezyness. I'm asthmatic so I probably get worse effects than many people.

I didn't even prepare for this at all so I'm not sure if I will succeed..I guess we'll see.

p.s just soaked all my rizlas in water so hopefully I cant cheat this time

The Northern Monkey

Mate, keep with it. Its gotta be the best thing you could possibly do or your body.
Having never been a smoker I can't comment on how hard it'll be to give up, but wish you al the best fella.

Motivation - http://www.nhs.uk/livewell/smoking/page ... lives.aspx

You'll reduce your risk of CVD by over 1/2, save cash and have more energy... can't be bad!

Anonymous

I have been clear since the smoking ban came in and have never felt better I still get tempted every now and again especially around old friends I used to smoke with but so far I have been good stick with it it's worth it trust me

camerone

it really is worth it. i am only a month in but feeling so much better. as motivation use the saved cash for bike spending its great. stick at it.

Nik_B

Good Idea, I think if I can do it a month I'll buy myself a new bike as a treat. I put on a medium patch earlier but was feeling a bit light headed so gone for the full strength one instead. I'm keeping a picture of a smokers lung open on my firefox browser so every time I want a smoke I look at that instead.

The funny thing is that I had no intention to stop yesterday but I do have an emergency supply on patches because I do relatively long flights on a regular basis so I used them for the 12 hours when I couldn't smoke...how dumb is that

Gonna hunt round the house for rizla to make sure I cannot smoke tonight.

Jetlag

OMG, I quit smoking 5 years ago and haven't missed it a bit.



Just remember: you don't want to be an addict anymore, you don't want to be an addict anymore, you don't want to be an addict anymore.



it's hard as hell, I know, it took me loads of attempts to finally get it right, but if you get your mind in the right place, you'll be laughing.



You just have to believe, unmovably, that you don't want to smoke anymore. Don't let yourself think, even for a second, that you miss it. As soon as you get a craving, or you let your guard down, get right back in the mindset, "I don't want to be an addict anymore. I want to be free. I want to smell good. I want to breathe clean air".

It works, better than any patch.

Good luck. Not that you'll need luck, of course, because you don't want to be an addict anymore You know you have nothing to be afraid of, I can tell. You know you, like millions of people that don't smoke, can enjoy yourself with smoking. YOU know that life is BETTER without smoking. I can see that

Nik_B

The crap thing is that I've got a shoulder injury and cant go out and ride which would do me the world of good. Might go and potter round the garden or fiddle with my bike to keep busy. To be honest the day times are pretty easy its after a few glasses of wine where I'm at my weakest hence my removal of smoking paraphernalia.

You are all right though I don't want my health trashed by smoking and I love riding so it makes perfect sence. Hopefully by writing this post I've made a comitment, I wouldn't like to post on something in 2 months time admitting I smoke again.

Ditch Witch

While you're drinking your glass of wine, take a sip and savour the flavour then tell yourself how rank it would taste if you had ashtray taste in your mouth.


I had a single drag on a rollie (I used to smoke GV) and nearly threw up. It was just like licking an ashtray.


Your addiction has masked that from you.


The secret is to start associating smoking with negative thoughts. Negative reinforcement is the key. Don't let thoughts of missing it enter your head. You HATE smoking! YOU HATE IT!

M1llh0use

no smoke = new bike! mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm shiney bike!!




remember the anti-smoking ads a while back? the ones with all the fat dripping from the end of the ciggies?

nasty wasn't it!! that's your arteries with you smoking...



hope you get on well!

Where are my stabilisers?

Hang on - you had a medium patch on and felt light headed so you put a full strength one on?? :shock: - Steady on you'll give yourself nicotine poisoning! The light headedness could have been caused by the patch being too strong - like when you ain't somked for a while and get a headrush when you start again.

I gave up about 3 years ago and used patches followed by gum. I remember after about 3 months I was off the patches and had the gum for times off stress. I only had the high strength gum on me once and had it in my mouth for about 1 minute before I had to spit it out coz it gave me a headrush and palpitations - So, you've got to watch the dose a bit if you know what I mean!!

Apart from that, it's the best thing you can do - keep it up, I still fancy ciggies sometimes but I don't need them anymore. It's well worth sticking too it!

Nik_B

When I've not had a fag for ages I get this feeling, it isn't really light headed but I don't know how else to describe it.It's withdrawl and I was getting worried I'd crumble. I'm not going to lie I am feeling like crap, dead edgy every hour I suddenly get a big nudge from my brain reminding me to go outside for a smoke and then I realise I can't

What really sucks is that I would have loved to get out on my bike, as an asthmatic I would have been able to tell the diffence allready but I've knackered my neck and shoulder muscles which on top of a torn rotator cuff injury is stopping me getting out. So...asfter cleaning the kitchen for the 5th time I'm just sat here like a muppet watching other peoples mountain bike videos.

I want to cry

Pokerface

Coming up to 3 months of not smoking now. Feel GREAT. Totally worth it. Just get past the first week and it gets a LOT easier. Good luck mate!

Where are my stabilisers?

Yeah, I know what you mean there - It's like you don't know what to do with yourself then it suddenly dawns on you that your gagging for a fag. It's a weird feeling, but that will happen less often. Best thing is to keep busy, but that's easier said than done when you can't get out and about as much as usual Gutted for you there!

Stick to it though, keep the patch on

Ditch Witch

Nik, you're doing so well. Have a good cry, it will be cathartic



Ditch Witch's message of the hour:



Smoking does NOT HELP YOU COPE.

It keeps you down.

You WILL be able to enjoy yourself without smoking.

You will be able to get through stressful times because you won't already be stressed through your hourly, interminable, inevitable, perpetual nicotine withdrawal in which you live as a smoker.

One day soon you will be smoke free. Keep telling yourself that that's what you really want.








As an aside:

Personally, I hate the idea of patches because I think it just prolongs the agony (and it is agony, no doubt about it) of quitting. But, if it helps you get through this first (and it is the worst) period, go for it. It's all good.

Nik_B

Cheers all feel much better today it seems like it si just the devenings that are the killer...wierd hey?

I'm definately sticking with the patches even though I've done cold turkey before. I just want there to be some distance between me and the cigarrettes before I takle the next stage. I can't imagine the nicoteen is that bad for you compaired to the effects of the tar in your lungs. It's probably as bad as drinking tons of coffee. Soon as I start to see my performance increase this will be a massive boost.

Ditch Witch

I suspect there is a little nicotine withdrawal in there, but that's OK as it will make coming off the patches easier LIke I said, do what you have to do. I couldn't use any nicotine replacements as the patches made my arm swell up and burn and the gum hurt my mouth, so I had to go cold turkey.

It's probably worse at night because you associate it with relaxing. Just try and turn the craving into a positive thought.

I know I keep harping on about that concept, but it's how I got through it. Changing my mindset made the last (and, it turns out, final) attempt the successful one. I'd tried loads of times and it was only when I changed what I thought about smoking, did I succeed



DW's thought for the hour:

if you stick to your guns and take control of your addiction, rather than letting it control you, then you can be free of it once and for all. You can. You really, really can, I promise you.

Nik_B

Cheers

Today I don't smell like an ashtray

Ditch Witch

Hurrah!

dvoodoo

I stopped for 7 months last year and had a lapse over christmas but stopped again and have been smoke free for 6 weeks. I have gone cold turkey on it as dont believe in the patches or gum. I read the alan carr easy way to stop smoking book last year and it seemed to hit the right messages for me and i stopped and didnt use anything just chew a bit more normal wrigleys chewing gum but the pub is the hardest time of all so i have taken a month off the drink to help kick start the stop smoking as the first couple of months are the hardest.

Ditch Witch

The Alan Carr book is what did it for me, too. He talks a lot about changing your beliefs about why you smoke.

For example, smokers believe they enjoy smoking when, in fact, they are satisfying a very real addiction. Your brain tricks you into thinking you enjoy it in order to keep you doing it.

He also talks about the fear of quitting. Smokers are afraid they'll never be able to enjoy life once they quit. Meals, nights out, socializing, coping with stress, having breaks at work; all of these things have smoking intrinsically built into them. But he points out that billions of non smokers fully enjoy all of these things and you don't need smoking to help you.

Awesome book; I can't recommend it enough.

Nik_B

Think I'll get a copy. I do agree with the drink...it makes you weaker.

I Survived last night but at one point started panicing and rifling through the draws etc to find a cigarette paper but I'd done a good job making sure they had all been bined.

Funny thing was once I'd accepted that I couldn't have one I settled down.

Day 4

Ditch Witch

Well done!

Next time, though, don't tell yourself you can't have one, tell yourself you don't want one. There's a big difference, and, just like with "false memory syndrome", if you tell yourself something often enough, you'll begin to believe it.

We're very good at subconsciously reinforcing negative beliefs about ourselves ("I'm weak, I'm fat, I'm useless, I'm lazy") so use that to your advantage and reinforce some positive beliefs! You've gone four days, smoke free. That's awesome! It's hard as hell, but you're clearly strong and determined and don't want to be a smoker anymore.




You will NOT feel like this for the rest of your life, though I know you feel like it now. I've been "clean" for 5 years and don't miss it for one second. You can have that, too

camerone

I have a thought that contradicts majority of posters here. I have found in the past I always tried to give up on the basis its horrible, smelly, will kill you, expensive - all the usual and perfectly obvious reasons. To my mind its fooling myself to pretend its not enjoyable though. Its abit like cream buns and easter eggs, i love them but dont eat 20 a day as i would be a fatty. I know the addictive element is missing from them but nicotine only makes you want to murder Nuns for 3-4 days - after that its habit/mind games.

i am a month into my current period of smoke free - and am entering my dangerous 'oh i could have a ciggie now and just have the one' feeling which has caught me out so many times before. Determined now its so stupid to go back.

Ditch Witch

To my mind its fooling myself to pretend its not enjoyable though

Ah, but that's where you're wrong. It's not enjoyable. Did you really like smoking your first cigarette? Taste nice did it? You didn't cough up a lung or want to throw up all over the place?

You get used to smoking. The only enjoyable part of it is the satisfaction of your addiction. You are actually fooling yourself that you DO enjoy it. You have to for your brain to get it's nicotine hit.


Maybe the clue is in when you say, "I have found in the past I always tried to give up on the basis of it's horrible, smelly, will kill you.....". You're right, those are all valid reasons. But it's not ENOUGH, otherwise, it would have worked the first time for you. It's not enough because you don't BELIEVE it's horrible, smelly (you said "trying to pretend it's not enjoyable") so you're lying to yourself and you KNOW you're lying to yourself when you say "it's horrible".



By changing your mindset, all you're doing is reprogramming yourself to tell yourself the truth. What's the harm in that?

Besides, if you keep believing you like it, you'll always miss it, which is probably why you're doing battle with yourself over whether you can have "just one".

Why the hell would you want to?



Loads of people give up using your approach. It's true. To get a whole month down the road is awesome. The physical addiction is well and truly gone. What harm can it do to try a different approach with your emotional addiction?






p.s. I know this is really sensitive subject I'm just trying to provide a second point of view. I tried to quit countless times, but it only worked when I stopped lying to myself and telling myself I still wanted to smoke. That's all I'm saying. Ultimately, you gotta do what feels right for you

Nik_B

The enjoyment is in reality relief from the withdrawl we are suffering. I am very much aware of this and the ironic thing is I have never liked the taste or smell. I haven't smoked inside any building including my house for 8 or 9 years, even more daft is the fact that I'd struggle to have a smoke without a cup of tea to take the taste away

What I don't get is why do I still get mad cravings rarely but they still happen when I've got a 21 mg patch on my arm? Last night was much easier but there was one point where I got desperate. I tried to remind myself that the average time a craving lasts is only 3 minutes and it did pass.

Day five

If I keep this up I hopefully wont get emphysema or lung cancer and make my kids watch me wither away to a skeleton in a matter. I don't smell and I breath better. That's me trying keep possitive

The Northern Monkey

nice one mate

Keep it up

camerone

i have to disagree. a month without a ciggie and no nicotine craving, but ii know if i smoked one now I would enjoy it. i appreciate its ludicrous but thats how it is. I am not going to have one because I am determined and really want to stay smoke free. And thats the key. If you really really want to give up you can. how you go about it in your mind everyone is different - and by teeling myself it is an enjoyable thing I cannot do it works for me.

Ditch Witch

Camerone, Like I said, you gotta do what you gotta do. I'm just trying to give a fresh perspective on quitting. I've been free for 5 glorious years after many many failed attempts at quitting. You're totally right in saying that you can only quit if you really want to. You have to want it with everything you have.

I'm not you, I can't tell you what to do, nor do I want to. Your method seems to be working for you, that's the ONLY thing that matters.

I, however, only succeeded because I changed my beliefs about smoking.

In my defense, when you discover "the secret" to quitting easily, you want to tell everyone. I only keep going on because I've helped 2 other friends quit permanently, too. Ironically, they were the only ones prepared to change how they feel about it. Those that insisted that they enjoyed smoking have all started again. My ex mother in law, though, quit smoking 20 years ago through sheer bloody mindedness. To this day she still misses it and knows she would start again at the drop of a hat. She wants one every time she smells cigarette smoke.

I personally don't want to live like that.

Maybe I'm lying to myself or maybe I'm finally admitting the truth. Who knows, who cares. I'm smoke free and love it It's what worked for me.


You are smoke free too! And huge props to you It's the hardest bloody thing to do and I have the utmost respect for anyone that can beat the evil weed. I wish I could do it for you. Can you imagine? What a great way to make a living, quitting smoking for people

Nik_B wrote:

The enjoyment is in reality relief from the withdrawl we are suffering. I am very much aware of this and the ironic thing is I have never liked the taste or smell. I haven't smoked inside any building including my house for 8 or 9 years, even more daft is the fact that I'd struggle to have a smoke without a cup of tea to take the taste away

What I don't get is why do I still get mad cravings rarely but they still happen when I've got a 21 mg patch on my arm? Last night was much easier but there was one point where I got desperate. I tried to remind myself that the average time a craving lasts is only 3 minutes and it did pass.

Day five

If I keep this up I hopefully wont get emphysema or lung cancer and make my kids watch me wither away to a skeleton in a matter. I don't smell and I breath better. That's me trying keep possitive

You're doing awesome, too

You get mad cravings because it's not just the physical addiction you're fighting, unfortunately. Like Camerone says, that goes pretty quickly and while it is a very real problem, the mind games are so much worse.

You're stronger than you know. One day very soon, you'll realize you haven't even thought about it. You'll look up, see 6 hours has gone by and you didn't think about smoking once. You'll be like Camerone, a month gone and determined as ever. It's coming! Stay with it

Where are my stabilisers?

Another thing...... Once you get to the stage where you feel like you're getting somewhere and the hard bit is over. You'll have moments where you might think that "one wont hurt" (this is where I failed in my previous attemps to give up).

The best thing to remind yourself of here is that, you've been through the worst stage and it will only get easier from here on. If you fail now and give in, you'll only have to go through that extremely hard first stage again when you next try to give up! The thought of having to go through the initial stage of searching the house for scraps of baccy and climbing the walls etc..... Should give you inspiration to keep it up

Go for it

Ditch Witch

Definitely. I thought of it as it would be wasting all that time and pain and suffering. It would have all been for nothing.

OwenB

Well done on giving up. I gave up smoking for good about three years ago and i've not looked back since. It took about a week for me but I found a noticeable difference in my breathing when training and from then I knew I'd made the right choice.

I used acupuncture therapy to help me when I quit and I would highly recommend it to anyone, the acupuncturist also treated me for other things like stress and some back pain I have and I swear it was effective. If you're struggling ever you should try it.

My girlfriend has also given up smoking in the last two weeks using Champix, she's doing great too, it's a really bad thing to be addicted too and costly! Think of all those extra bike parts you'll be able to afford.

Keep it up