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  • #31
    Hope you're not hiding out because you've had a smoke!

    I gave up when the boys were 6 months old. Haven't had one since. Really can't bear the smell of smoke now. The kids used to come back from their father's smelling of smoke hair/clothes. It was hard. But I survived, and hope to survive to see my grandkids. One of my boys started smoking for a few months. Couldn't work out why he woudn't stay overnight when he came to visit.......ah now I know!
    They don't remember me smoking so he was worried I'd freak out. Not liking it, but by the time he told me, he said he was trying to give up. Told him it was hard, but that I was sure he could.

    At work I counsel people who are interested in giving up. You can't give up because someone else wants you to. But it sounds like you want to give up because you want to set a good example for your children, you want to be healthy and have a great chance of enjoying a long healthy life with them.

    So there are two things to give up.
    1) The nicotine.
    2) The habit. The habit is the hard part.

    So there are ways to do it. Cold turkey as you are. Your cells are calling out for their fix and it's hard.
    Another way (and if you find you didn't stay on the wagon) then you can try cutting down. So you cut out every 3rd smoke for a few days until you can cope with it. Then keep doing that till there are less and then every 2nd one. Dont do this too fast, or you'll end up having to start again. But it works for some people.
    Another way is using Nicotine Replacement Therapy. You get your nicotine, and diminish it slowly (patches, gum, pills, or inhaler like some lung medicaitons) Careful of the pills, they work well but give some people shockingly horrible depression.

    So what ever way you give up the nicotine, the ongoing hard part - which is what is torturing you now, is the habit.
    Easier to swap a habit than give it up. Some people chew gum, some eat a lot of food. When I gave up I used sunflower seeds. Really love the beggars now But they have a benefit of not putting on too much weight, they are small and you can have lots of those little ziplock plastic bags around the home, the car, the work/office.
    They give you something to fiddle with and they are hand to mouth, and then involve chewing. It really can work - unless you hate sunflower seeds, or someother similar.

    So you have a distractor. And that's good.

    But you have lots of triggers for smoking.
    Work out what they are.
    Do you always have a smoke say at 10am, with Dave, at the corner of the garden, with a coffee?
    If you go to that corner of the garden with Dave and a coffee, you will want one RIGHT NOW.
    But if you can meet Dave somewhere else, at 11am, inside, and have a cup of tea, or a soft drink?
    You break up your triggers and it's easiser.
    Alcohol always makes it harder. Try to have as many distractors as possible, and ask you family and friends to not give you a smoke, no matter how much you beg them (or threaten them)

    Is stress a trigger? Do you use it as a way to get away from a difficult situation.
    Lots of people will go out for a smoke when they are stressed at work. You can hold up your smoke and say 'I have to go out for a smoke.' People accept that smoker pop out for one.
    Try holding up a carrot stick and saying 'I have a carrot and need to go out.' They'd be saying WTH?

    But you can practise some relaxation techniques. Practise them at home. I've got a website that has fabulous relaxation tech's.
    beyondblue: the national depression initiative This has a downloadable pdf that can be helpful.

    You can also use those things like tapping, or wearing an elastic band on your wrist and snapping it when you feel like you have to have one. It's another way of making your brain concentrate on something else.

    Remember tho, if you do have a relapse, it's not the end of the world. Just start giving up again straight away. Women are far more used to trying diets and having to start again from time to time. Men sometimes think if they don't manage it the first time that's it.

    Think positive. But be realistic.

    No one wants to give up smoking. It sucks.
    A lot of people would like to be a reformed smoker tho.
    So if you concentrate on where you will be - the end goal, you'll find that it is easier most of the time.
    Concentrating on 'not having' the next smoke makes you think about nothing else.

    And give yourself regular rewards. More frequently in the beginning.
    Make it something you really enjoy, that you wouldn't nomally be doing.

    Best of luck, and drop in often, support is really helpful.

    I've also dreamt of smoking and woke horrified, and then relieved when it was only a dream.
    Ali

    My blog: feral007.com/countrylife/

    Some days it's hardly worth chewing through the restraints!

    One bit of old folklore wisdom says to plant tomatoes when the soil is warm enough to sit on with bare buttocks. In surburban areas, use the back of your wrist. Jackie French

    Member of the Eastern Branch of the Darn Under Nutter's Club

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    • #32
      Thanks for the lengthy posts TS and Feral, you've gone to a lot of trouble. Hopefully other people will get benefit from them too.
      I have a similar dream to the smoking one, only in mine it is that I've gone bald. I'm momentarily relieved when I realise it was only a dream but then horrified when I remember I went bald 10 years ago

      I like a drink but can take it or leave it. It certainly didn't help on Saturday so I'll put that away for a while. In fact going to the pub was a big stumbling block in the past when I had quit, and was where I usually allowed myself just the one and then of course I'd be back on them. I think this time I'll have to make a bit of a hermit of myself.

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      • #33
        Originally posted by redser View Post
        I think this time I'll have to make a bit of a hermit of myself.
        Just change your environment: if you went to the pub to meet friends, suggest they come to a coffee shop instead, or on a walk.

        We dropped our "drinking" friends last year when we were both giving up/cutting down massively. It wasn't intentional, it just happened that way. We only seemed to meet them for drinks, and meeting them made us all drink too much.

        This year we're walking more, with different friends (now that we have a dog) and our social life now revolves around the local dog-friendly pubs & cafes.
        Our other friends have just bought bikes, so we're going to be doing some rides-to-pubs this year, pootling around Suffolk, rather than sitting indoors drinking & eating too much. Being ten, twenty miles from home with only your legs to power you, tends to focus the mind on not getting lairy!
        All gardeners know better than other gardeners." -- Chinese Proverb.

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        • #34
          You're welcome redser. I think having lots of tips to choose from, and lots of support is the best thing.
          And I did like that cheque idea.........
          Ali

          My blog: feral007.com/countrylife/

          Some days it's hardly worth chewing through the restraints!

          One bit of old folklore wisdom says to plant tomatoes when the soil is warm enough to sit on with bare buttocks. In surburban areas, use the back of your wrist. Jackie French

          Member of the Eastern Branch of the Darn Under Nutter's Club

          Comment


          • #35
            You've taken the first step....well done you.

            I gave up on 21st September 2007 (30 a day and chain smoker when I was out "on the town"). It isn't easy and one thing you may have to accept is you may still want one even years down the line. I stopped cold turkey, I hadn't planned to I just decided whilst smoking a cigarette. I stubbed it out and said to myself that is the last cigarette you are going to smoke......And it was. Every so often I get the urge to have one, but my will power is so strong now it is only a fleeting thought.

            Everyone is different so I cannot say what is right or wrong, but the one thing I have found from talking to other ex smokers is you will only succeed if you really want to give up. It is your desire to quit that will help you through it.

            I still like the smell of cigarettes (while they are being smoked rather than the awful stale smell after a smoker as come back into the office or sat next to on the train) especially that "just lit" smell!! Weird, I know!

            Stick with it, you will not regret it.

            Comment


            • #36
              Originally posted by Two_Sheds View Post
              That's another incentive I heard about: write a cheque, a big one, to your worst cause. For me, that would be the BNP or Jeremy Clarkson. If you have a fag, you must post that cheque.
              The BNP are bad and bad enough but JC is the pits
              Endeavour to have lived, so that when you die, even the undertaker will be sorry - Puddinghead Wilson's Diary

              Nutter by Nature

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              • #37
                I will say it again - get out and walk - that's how youncan guage your improvements! You're doing so well!

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                • #38
                  Thanks again everyone. I'll get out tonight and pound the pavement. I do want to stay off them, I can't remember when i last didnt want to be off them. It was just never a good time to try. In the end I just did it. I let the box go empty without having any great plan.

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                  • #39
                    [QUOTE=Two_Sheds;108392
                    That's another incentive I heard about: write a cheque, a big one, to your worst cause. For me, that would be the BNP or Jeremy Clarkson. If you have a fag, you must post that cheque.[/QUOTE]

                    I hate this government every time you buy buy a packet of fags you are giving them money.
                    The river Trent is lovely, I know because I have walked on it for 18 years.
                    Brian Clough

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                    • #40
                      Money can't buy what you are suffering to give your kids.......their Dad. And a good example, not only of not smoking, but the example that if you really try hard enough you CAN do it. Bluddy hard, but then life is sometimes. Keep up the good work!
                      Ali

                      My blog: feral007.com/countrylife/

                      Some days it's hardly worth chewing through the restraints!

                      One bit of old folklore wisdom says to plant tomatoes when the soil is warm enough to sit on with bare buttocks. In surburban areas, use the back of your wrist. Jackie French

                      Member of the Eastern Branch of the Darn Under Nutter's Club

                      Comment


                      • #41
                        Thanks Feral, keep the good vibes coming

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                        • #42
                          I have some bad vibes for you - but they are relevant; I heard today that a chum's Mum passed away yesterday. Lung Cancer.

                          Yes, they knew she was ill, and yes she'd had all sorts of treatment to slow things down. What they didn't expect was for her to go now. Everyone thought she had another year or so, as she was doing so well.
                          All the best - Glutton 4 Punishment
                          Freelance shrub butcher and weed removal operative.

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                          • #43
                            It's often the way. My Dad was diagnosed with a pulled muscle in his back, turned out to be stage 4 cancer by the time he got some proper tests done. He was gone in less than 5 months. I read a story today that offers hope in the near future ...
                            DNA map offers hope on cancer treatments - Health News, Health - Independent.ie

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                            • #44
                              That's encouraging, Redser! I know by now, most people have, have had, or have known someone with, the dreaded disease. It is time they had a breakthrough in the fight against it.

                              I've been thinking about my mate's Mum all day, and I came home and had a right old rant at my Husband, when he was rolling one this evening. He's at the 'belligerent child' stage, as I told him, two weeks ago, that he had two months to give up. He now says he will, but in two months. I'm planning on spending half my forthcoming windfall on a new motor for him. He has no idea the money is coming, and no idea what I'm planning. He really really wants this vehicle, and has no idea how close he is to getting it. My only stipulation is, that he has to give up smoking or no new motor, and if he starts again, I will sell it! His choice!

                              OK, so I'm a cow!
                              All the best - Glutton 4 Punishment
                              Freelance shrub butcher and weed removal operative.

                              Comment


                              • #45
                                Yes you sound like a right cow. Trying to save your husband's life by buying him a new car. Glad I'm not married to you.

                                Comment

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