Giving up the smokes

[Newportnobby]

No! I am not selling all my steamers

I hope this thread will not cause folks to pour scorn and derision on me for having no willpower, but as Phil Hendry's layout thread is based on how he funds his modelling from having given up the weed, are there any ex smokers or would be ex smokers out there who have successfully given up smoking/want to know how best to do it.
I have been smoking for 45 years and would like to bin the habit due to the obvious cost and health implications.
I have tried the nicotine patches but to be honest the side effects were so bad, I'd rather smoke

I'm sure non smokers will say "Huh - no will power", and I guess they're right but it ain't as easy as that

[MikeDunn]

Never smoked, never will ... but was in a smoking household (probably why I never did it myself !).

When my Dad gave it up, he got a quarter of boiled sweets & just had one of those instead of a fag ...  Just make sure you exercise if you do this !  Especially if you're on a 40-a-day habit    OTOH, my Mum just gave up overnight ... of course, being in hospital for a month & then palliative care for another 3 , both environments being non-smoking, probably helped !!!

[AndyGif]

good luck....

every 50 ciggies is roughly one new waggon  give or take 20 either way.

every 300 ciggies is roughly a new loco.....

[daedalus]

Good luck, I found to stop, and now been stopped for 9 years and 3 months and 19 days, that it takes some planning, decide when to stop, and do it. I found having a drink of water whenever I felt like smoking helps, makes you pee alot but not fattening. The craving does subside after a while and becomes manageable. Good luck again and keep at it.

Regards
Geoff

[trainsdownunder]

Damn right giving up ain't easy.

I smoked from mid-teens right up to around four years ago (about 40 years in total) when I seriously started to try and give up. I had good days when it felt so easy not to light up and then bad days when I just chain smoked.

I tried patches - felt  ill.
I tried hypnotherapy - lasted three days.
I tried chewing gum - worked out it was costing more than the damn fags did and I didn't like the taste.

So how did I manage it. Cold turkey, a lot of support from the missus and having the willpower to say " I just don't want one now. I'll wait a bit"

As I was working in a supermarket on nights I think it helped as it meant I didn't go outside at 1 in the morning just to have a fag at tea break/lunch/whatever and by the time I was gagging, and about to give in, it was too late as we had to be back on shift.

I did find that after a while thinking/saying  " I just don't want one now. I'll wait a bit"  and then having a short drink of water became a reasonably easy and a "normal" response.  Don't let me fool you though - there were still times I could have killed for  a smoke. Even now some 3 years on as "non-smoker" there are days when I think " I fancy a smoke". So I say it again to myself " " I just don't want one now. I'll wait a bit" have a drink and the feeling passes. I suppose I've just replaced one habit with a better one.

Unfortunately, I think for all us "seasoned smokers" the temptation never goes completely and until you've been there you have no idea how hard it can be. I know people who quit years ago and are still chewing gum or "smoking"  their pens.

It's hard work and we all have to find our own method. This worked for me, but there's no guarantee.

[Phil Hendry]

I hope this thread will not cause folks to pour scorn and derision on me for having no willpower, but as Phil Hendry's layout thread is based on how he funds his modelling from having given up the weed,

Oh no it isn't!!!    I've never smoked!

[Phil Hendry]

Way, way back when I was a PhD student, one of the other lads in the lab smoked.  It was amazing the jobs he could do, with a fag held between two fingers - jobs I'd struggle to do using all my fingers.  Anyway, one Monday his missus rang in before he arrived, told us he'd given up, and that we were to beat the life out of him if he lit up.  He came in looking even more pale, drawn, and ill than usual, and told us he'd given up.  He never had another to my knowledge.  Cold turkey and sheer willpower - backed up by the threat of physical violence from us or his missus!

You can do it - it just takes guts.

[Rob H]

Hi Mick,
After using the weed for 48 years I decided enough was enough and went to the quacks where I was offered various options to help me stop.
I chose to go on a course of Champix, a drug which dulls the part of the brain that craves nicotine.
I must stress that unless you really really want to stop this drug won't work. It has some fairly well documented side effects, I suffered a bit of sickness after taking the tablet and had some sleep deprivation and crazy dreams but it soon goes away.
I have been smoke free for nearly 10 months now and won't smoke again. I was on 30 a day and loved smoking and never thought I could stop but I have to say the benefits are many,health, financial, not smelling of smoke and so on.
Whatever you decide to use I wish you well and it really does get easier,
Regards,
Rob.

[trainsdownunder]

I hope this thread will not cause folks to pour scorn and derision on me for having no willpower, but as Phil Hendry's layout thread is based on how he funds his modelling from having given up the weed,

Oh no it isn't!!!    I've never smoked!

I think you may have meant dodger112958 not Phil

[jonclox]

Like others I enjoyed smoking for 40-50 years until I developed emphysema and was told that my lungs were at the equivalent age of a non smoking person of 137 years old 
I was sometime later rushed into hospital after I had collapsed out shopping. I gave up smoking at that instant and a 7 week stay in hospital did the trick.
Whether I could have given up without that hospital stay or not I dont know but Ive never regret giving it up then
Mick fight it and quit before it finishes you off

[Adam1701D]

I found patches OK but very itchy and unpleasant, so went onto the Nicotine gum, which was great. Sone of the new ones actually taste quite good and not at all faggy. Thein lay the problem, as I became hooked on the gum instead of the cigs 

When my wife told me that the gum actually smelt pretty horrible and didn't do anything for my breath, I knocked it on the head there and then. After a day or two, the cravings pretty much went away (still get the occasional pang) and I'm back to normal now (though put on a couple of trouser sizes).

Good luck!! 

[dodger112958]

Hi Nobby,
I think it is me you are referring to, giving up smoking to fund my layout. I am now on day 23 without a fag or in my case a roll of baccy. I am using a 'Nicolite' electronic cigarette (available from a chemist) started with the high strength refills. I used two a day to begin with, after a week it dropped to one a day. A week ago I changed to low strength refills, found no difference at all, I now only use it occasionally, after a meal usually or when I have a can or two on an evening.
I, like many on here, tried patches and various other options, none worked because I didn't really want to quit. Now I am ready to quit, I made the decision and so am finding it easier and as you can see from my Ashdon thread I have something to show for my cash, instead of a full ashtray.
Nobby, only you know if you want to stop or are really ready to stop, but believe me I can taste the food I eat for the first time in 44 years, I don't have that cough in the morning anymore or nicotine stained fingers and I,and my clothes, don't smell of smoke.
It would be really nice to have someone else who is giving up to give mutual support to and from, it wouldn't make you or I feel so alone with the problem.
Good luck
Ian

[REGP]

Hi Nobby

 After 20 plus a day for 45 years I finally managed to give it up at the turn of the century after several attempts. It worked mainly by giving myself a manageable and meaningful target, so it's definitely worth persevering!

I gave up on my daughters birthday in early January 2000 used patches and ate a pack or two of Wurthers Originals each day (never eaten one since) and said I would be of the weed by my wife's birthday in early May.

It wasn't easy but I managed it and both the ladies in my life said it was a great (extra) birthday present for them.

Maybe linking it to something else thats important to you would help?

Regards

Ray

[Calnefoxile]

Mick,

Go for it mate, go on give 'em up mate, you'll feel heaps better.

I gave up when the smoking ban came in, but being a truck driver at the time, it wasn't easy. I used the Patches but also Extra Strong mints, so, as Adam has already alluded to, I also put on a few pounds.

The hardest habit to break is the habit itself, I found I had certain markers in the day when I had a smoke, like walking to work, Inspecting the wagon, doing my paperwork, then setting off, so that's 4 fags in the first hour of the day  . Then I would have the next one when I reached the Motorway, 20 mins later etc. etc. When I got to my tipping point, I'd tip my load then have another fag whilst doing my vehicle paperwork, then another one on setting off and the cycle would start again, there would also be markers in my journeys when I'd have a smoke. These habits are the hardest things to break because they are psychological, you don't want/need a smoke, you just say to yourself "I usually have a smoke about now" and 'BOOM the old cravings fire up, you know what I'm having cravings right now, writing this, for a fag, but I've been stopped long enough to fight them.

I will admit the hardest part is when you're out drinking with the lads, even now if we are going to a bbq, I'll take those small cigars with me and have a couple of those, but only if I have them, if I forget to take any with me, "oh well never mind" and I just have another beer instead 

So go speak with your GP, and he'll put you in touch with the NHS Stop Smoking team, who are brilliant and will help you every step of the way, but the most important thing is you have to want to give up.

Above all mate, good luck and stick the £5 or whatever it costs these days, into a jar and watch the money mount up.

Cheers

Neal.

[dodger]

I gave up 5 months ago after smoking for 45 years. You have to want to give up but the best way is to visit your GP surgery and join a no smoking program. At least the nicotine replacement devices are on perscrtption.

Dodger