smoking?

Hi sue1169, please try an e cig. I honestly thought that nothing would stop me smoking. I had tried several times, all dismal failures, until I tried the ecigs. They really do satisfy the cravings, as nothing else can. For me nothing worked, not the gum, not the patches, I tried the lot and felt such a failure as other people around me managed to stop, but I just couldn't do it. For a few months the I was on both the real cigarettes and the ecigs, and then one morning I tried the ecig instead of the real one, and from then on it was quite easy. It is coming up to 3 years now since I last had a real cigarette and honestly I don't miss them. If a hopeless case like me can do it them so can you. Please give them a try!

Oh thanks Aonia.I will!! Which sort do you use..dont know where to start so many of them!

Sue, now is not the time, you are clearly not in the right frame of mind. Set yourself a date in the future maybe 3rd or 4th of January after all the festivities( try thr night before your bin day, have your last cig just before midnight then throw every lighter cig and ashtray in the bin) and start telling yourself that is the day you are giving up and starting a new lie. Every time you light up tell your self this and every morning as you wake tell your self you only have x number of months then weeks then days. In the mean time only smoke half the cig and stop having one when you are on the phone, straight after eating and as soon as you wake. Start smoking outside if you dont already and dont wear a coat as that will mean you will be freezing and wont enjoy the cig. Go on Sue, you can do it , if i can and my DH can give up his 80 a day anyone can.

Three years since I had my last cigarette, too. My health and bank balance are much improved as are the smell of my house and clothes! Like Antonia it was ecigs that worked for me. My advice would be 1) Don't go for the ones that look like real cigarettes - they are expensive and disappointing. 2) Visit a "vape shop" and ask the staff for advice about what kit to try. They will be delighted to help, in my experience.

Firstly sorry Antonia for mis typed name.and thank you.all three of you for goodvsound advice...45yr habit is a fight now...but i will win.? and its good to know i can come on gransnet for back up/advice etc....

Have you looked at the NHS Choices website - there is a great deal of good advice and help on there. I don't smoke but I've looked round the website and I'm using it to try to reduce by risk of Diabetes - good luck with your quest.

Try hypnotherapy or acupuncture. A friend who was a smoker for 30 years managed to stop using hypnotherapy.

I stopped by reading Alan Carr's book, The Easy Way to Stop Smoking. It's very hard because it's an addiction. Good luck.

I have had an e-cig for a long time, but just never got round to using it.
I decided last week to make a proper go of it, so as a long-term smoker, I didn't want to pressure myself, so have started to just replace some of my cigarettes with an e-cig instead. I also keep a notepad and mark down each 'real' cigarette, as I want to get down to ten a day (yesterday I had 12, tut tut) to start with. I work from home, and even though I never smoke indoors, it has been too easy to go outside for a quick smoke.
I am happy to say that e-cigs are the best thing ever for cutting down/giving up. It is always sat on my desk and I take it with me, when watching TV etc.
Anyway, it is working for me. When I feel ready, I shall drop down from ten a day to even less!

My father stopped smoking at the age of 76, having been a 40-a-day man for around 60 years. He said if he had known how easy it would be, he would have stopped many years ago, he just didn't think it would be possible. When I stopped in 1977, I crocheted. In fact, I crocheted so much, I ended up spending more on crochet cotton than I had on cigarettes! Nearly 40 years later, I still have many of the items I made then, and a friend recently told me that she still has a set of dressing-table mats I made for her during that time ☺

Hi sue1169, I have an ego battery and I use 18 strength nicotine liquid. The idea is that you start on a high strength nicotine level to satisfy the cravings and then you can reduce the level until you get to zero strength. I am not at that stage yet but maybe one day I will wean myself off it completely! You can buy a starter kit ( and buy the liquid separately) or buy the batteries and cartomizers ( the top bit that holds the liquid and screws onto the battery) separately. I get mine on Amazon. There are some great ecig forums for lots of advice and for me it has really worked. Good luck with it! As I said, I was a complete failure with all the other methods.

E cigarettes are now proving to cause as many problems as tobacco, and soon they will be banned in public places as the vapour is harmful. Hypnosis is one of the best ways to stop completely. I have helped hundreds in the last 16 years. Not 100% of course, nothing is, but if take some responsibility yourself with the sessions, it can work brilliantly. Find yourself a really good therapist. Look on National Council for Hypnotherapy. Talk to the therapist first and make sure you like what they say before booking.

I forgot to say sue1169, I found my failure to give up very depressing! Everyone around me was giving up, so what was so wrong with me that I couldn't do it? I would also advise against using anything at all that says 'willpower required. ' I was off the planet when they were giving out willpower. For me, ' 'willpower required' means that you will suffer unbearable cravings and probably either end up crying, throwing stuff around and then finally having a cigarette!

Sue, Grannypiper's post above is worth re reading, excellent advice. I did more or less the same tho my date was the following week! I was a serial smoker but knew it was my health at stake. I just didn't buy any more. If you buy them you know you're going to smoke them. If you can get over not going to a counter to buy them you know you're really giving up, not just trying. For me it was amazingly easy once I'd truly made my mind up. There are absolutely no positives in smoking but many benefits in giving up as you know. Now there are very very occasional times when I think one might be nice but no way - couldn't stand smelling of them any more! Apart from that and more importantly, I realised after many attempts to give up that I'm a nicoholic - if I had one filth stick I'd be back on them & that is truly never going to happen. Really lovely perfume costs less than smoking, that's a bonus! You will love not smoking, you CAN do it and I wish you well.

I stopped after ending up in casualty with whooping cough and getting a dodgy x ray result. Thankfully the next one was clear but I never smoked after that. It was so easy to stop after getting a fright. Its all in the mind. I hate the smell now. Just go for it. You will wonder why you never did it before. Truly.

It's over 4 years since I last had a cigarette, and I'm so glad I managed to stop! I was helped by e-cigs, definitely, but more than that I was helped by the fact that all my teeth started falling out due to gum disease exacerbated by the smoking (since I stopped, I no longer have gum disease).
Because I don't want to wear dentures, I'm spending a fortune on implants, but because my bone has receded so much (due to the gum disease) there isn't always enough bone to get an implant into.
I had to have the nerve in my lower jaw repositioned in order to get implants in a little over 4 years ago, and it left my chin numb. I had originally told myself no booze or fags for 2 weeks to allow it to heal, but was so scared by the numbness that I decided to do 6 months, as research told me that it should have healed by then.
I kept telling myself I would smoke again after 6 months, but by then I didn't want to - and I haven't wanted to since. To be fair, I didn't drink during those 6 months either as to me, booze and faggage went together like a horse and carriage. I stopped drinking coffee as well, as it only made me want to smoke; tea doesn't seem to though.
So, stick with the e-cigs, and maybe try telling yourself you'll just do it till Easter and if you want one at Easter you can. I bet by Easter you won't want to any more!
Good luck.

I am another who stopped 3 years ago with e-cigs. I was a completely addicted smoker who had tried everything. I found them most useful when I really had a craving as the sensation is just like smoking. I had no problem giving them up.

So stop. Just do it. But you have to give more than lip service to the notion, you have to REALLY want to stop. Then you will. Forget all the ads for this and that to help, YOU have to WANT to stop, and I mean really WANT TO

I smoked for 30 odd years, I tried and failed many times to stop smoking, one day I went to one of the NHS stop smoking shops and they recommended Champix, I started taking them with instructions to carry on smoking until day 7 when I was to stop, by day 4 of taking these tablets I just couldn't bear to put a cigarette near my mouth, it was foul, disgusting, made me sick and I just couldn't smoke.

Its 8 years since I finished* the course of tablets, I've never had a cig since and never wanted one either, even in times of stress and upset .. I do totally recommend seeing your doctor to see if you can get Champix

I did however have some pretty wicked side effects, the nightmares were horrific .. thankfully I was able to say to myself 'its only while taking the tablets, they will stop, be calm' *but I did stop taking them 2 week early, these tablets aren't for everybody and must be taken under supervision

Good luck!

E cigs every time, worked for both my husband and myself.

Joyfully, I have to disagree here! The vapour is not harmful. That is a fabrication put about by the massive pharmaceutical companies who want people to keep smoking so that they will need their drugs when they get sick or at least buy their anti smoking products. E cigs are 99% less harmful than cigarettes. It has been proposed that they should be available on the NHS.

Good idea about only smoking outside. That's what I started to do after a much-loved Aunt died of lung cancer (she had been a heavy smoker.)
It still took me a few years after that to stop, plus a nasty bout of flu/pneumonia. It's a complicated addiction, I still quite like the smell of cigarettes, especially Turkish.
I have a friend who gave up by hypnotherapy.

There's nothing worse than a reformed smoker! I stopped many years ago and now really hate the smell of smokers' clothes etc.

I associated having a cigarette with coffee so stopped having coffee for a while.

My mum, a 40 a day smoker for over 50 years, managed to stop smoking once she switched to e-cigarettes. She used the disposable ones that have the feel and look of real cigarettes. She never craved a real ciggie once she made the swop. It so much nicer when she visited!
Sadly she died this year from lung cancer, but never smoked a real ciggie again once she'd switched in 2012.
Good Luck!