smoking?

I, like Disgruntled gave up smoking (after 30 odd years) by reading Allen Carr's book, 'Easy way to give up Smoking'. The best £7 I ever spent! I've never tried an e-cig and I know they're less harmful than a cigarette but I do know someone who has used one for about 8 years now - she's never overcome her addiction to nicotine. My recommendation would be to have a go at the book first.

Following two bad chesty colds about 18 months ago, I gave up smoking. These days I use an e cigarette occasionally, and they do help to keep me on track.

Hope you manage to give up smoking, best wishes.

My daughter stopped with hypnotherapy. She was quite a heavy smoker and tried patches, twice, to no avail. However, a friend of mine went to a hypnotherapist to cure her of her fear of heights as she wanted to walk to the top of Machu Pichu. It worked. As she also did hypnosis to stop smoking I suggested my daughter see go to her. My daughter told her she didn't think it would work on her but the therapist said all you need is to really want to stop, which she did. It cost £150, about 3 years ago, and she had one session, the therapist said if it didn't work she would give her another session free. Much to my daughter's amazement it worked and she hasn't had a cigarette since. The best £150 she's ever spent. See if you can get a recommendation from your area.

Smoked from age of 15 until I was 58 2 years ago. One afternoon I dozed of on sofa after work,when I woke I couldn't get my breath I ended up in AE and diagnosed with COPD otherwise healthy and not over weight.No sign of this coming on just happened out of the blue,apparently it's common if you have smoked for over 20 years. I always enjoyed a cigarette and wasn't even a heavy smoker 8/10 a day, I wish I had given up all those times that I'd said "thats it I want to stop."Of course I've not touched one since and now very much regret being a smoker. Amazing how a scare like that can make you stop so suddenly with no desire to touch it again. Luckily I'm healthy and even tho I have copd it doesn't affect my life. Good luck take each hour at a time and start by breaking one habit at a time go for a walk after dinner instead of lighting up.

I started smoking at the age of sixteen, which was a shock to everyone, including me! My dad smoked and I was always complaining about the smell and it making me cough, so why on earth I started smoking is anyone's guess!
I was a 40 a day girl until I was thirty four years old, when DS came home from school aged five and asked me to stop smoking "because it's dangerous and I don't want you to die mummy"! I promised him that I'd stop after the weekend, and I did, I just went cold turkey, no such things as e-cigs in 1992!
I had to do it, because if you make a promise to a five year old child, you have to keep it!
So, sue1169, promise a small person that you'll never smoke again. You won't be able to live with the guilt if you let them down!

I have used Champix successfully to give up smoking twice but for various reasons started again . Didn't help that late DH smoked & found it difficult to quit.

I really should give up again but I'm not in the right frame of mind at the moment although I don't smoke indoors or in the car. I am down to between 3 & 5 a day.

I do use e-cigs indoors but it's mainly for something to hold but does help with cravings - maybe some day soon I'll give up totally just not yet

Good luck giving up

DH has a principle thst he won't smoke except on National No Smoking Day and Stoptober, just because he refuses to be told what to do!

I really hope you can do it. It is hard, my husband and i both smoked and we gave up a few years ago and feel so much better for it. Even more so when i got a message last week from my youngest son to say his partner had found her mother dead in bed at the age of 63. She had suffered with COPD and was on an oxygen machine at home, but still refused to give up the fags!!!!

Oh thank you.ALL of you? just read thro every single reply and had a weep.felt like i wanted to be in a room with you all and soak up all your advice/experiences!!I have taken on board snippets from each of you and have set my day for Friday(personal reason)...i will keep reading your replies during my quit!! AND i will post updates on my progress...thank you friends☺

Has your doctor's surgery got a 'Smoking Cessation Clinic?' It sounds pretentious but actually mine helped me to stop smoking nine years ago. There are dedicated staff to advise you and keep you motivated. I used patches and managed to stop over a six month course. I smoked at least twenty a day and was completely addicted. The patches are on prescription which is cheaper than buying them . Good luck with stopping. Wanting to stop is the first step.

I tried all the usual methods. Patches gave me a rash, gum, lozenges, tabs and spray gave me heartburn.
Tried vaping but that made me cough and gave me a stinking headache.
Finally went to my doctor and started on Champix. I didn't have any nightmares or vivid dreams but my doctor advised taking the evening tablet at about six o'clock and that would stop the risk of the dreams. Not everybody gets them anyway.
I'm now ten weeks into a twelve week course and after 49 years on the fags and many failed attempts to give upI hardly ever think of them. If you don't have success with vaping I strongly recommend seeing your doctor. It does involve fort nightly visits to the nurse to see how you're getting on and to check your carbon monoxide levels and to give any advice and support you may need. Good luck.

I smoked 40 a day for over 30 years. When I found out my first grandson was expected I just stopped! Cold turkey! I shook for 3 days like a junkie and felt so ill. But I am so glad I stopped. You can't smoke round children, its just not fair. If I can stop , anyone can!!

sue1169 (and anyone else reading this for encouragement!) I smoked for 50 years and gave up 3 years ago next month. I'd tried willpower and various NHS suggestions but did not succeed till I tried e-cigs. I bought a disposable one that looked like a real cigarette so I had something in my hand and that was that. Actually preferred it to a real one. No more harmful tobacco, no smell and no mucky ashtrays to wash

The brand I saw in the shop display was this one and you can get them from a lot of chemists as well as some supermarkets and online. Much more discreet too than the ones that look like a kazoo and envelope you in clouds of vapour Other brands are also available, as they say on tv!

I'm in the same boat. I've tried a few times and failed. I'm begining to realise that the thought of stopping is worse than the actual stopping and I'm about to have another try. Good luck.

I found it helpful if I kept my hands busy and my mind occupied. I knit for children, charity and lots more besides. I also made greetings cards which I still indulge in at times. If possible change your usual routine too. It all helps to stop you thinking about cigs and don't keep any in the house.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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

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!

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 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.

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 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.