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No - going cold turkey - used gum and patches last time - and was trying to get off the patches when I started again. Think I'm just gonna have to tough it out and stay away from the pub for a while!!!!!!!!!
Have to say though - it doesn't feel much different from last time when I used the patches - its every bit as bad as I remember it being - If I make a month this time there'll be no going back - this is too grim to keep doing again!
Sharnie thats exactly what I said
You'r doing well
THANKS again for all the support!!!!!!!!
Got the Allan Carr book and am half way through it already - feelin pretty good and still not smoking - suspect I would have had a much easier week if i'd read the book first - seriously anyone thinking about stoppin - give the book a go - its makin sense to me!!!!
Not sure i'm entirely out of the woods yet - but I'm a lot closer than I was this time last week! Thanks to everyone who offered advice and support!!!!!!!!!!!!
Glad to hear the book's making sense Sharnie. I skimmed it the first time, then read it again properly and then it all clicked.
Day 5 now? Well done! Keep yourself busy at the weekend so you don't get bored and light up.
good luck sharnie -you are heading in the right direction. you will at least know that NRT aint much use at all and will have a good chance of success.
a little tip. Get the idea of "cold turkey" out of your headif you can. It is a phrase stolen from "heroine" and hard drug addiction by NRT peops to promote the idea that you cannot go it alone and it would be easier with their product(you know -it wil be "hell" without Nicotinel) . In the right frame it can be easy as Carr said. OK for me it has been easy to start again too but that is nothing to do with NRT , Carr or anything other that how my mindworks.
Thanks Hoose - still off the cigs - but not suffering any less (I know, Iknow I'm not depriving myself of anything etc etc, sure feels like it sometimes though!) - read the Allan Carr book, which is good and certainly puts you in the right frame of mind, BUT the cravings don't go away just cos you tell yourself it ain't physical addiction anymore just a psychological thing!!
Craziest thing is that the time I most want a cigarette is when I come back from a long run!!!!!!!
Hey - ho - has to get easier some time surely!!!!!!!!!!???????????
you're doing great.
I gave up 235 days 20 hours and 15 minutes ago (so my little iphone app tells me
)
The Alan Carr book didn't work for me at all, found it all a bit happy clappy american.
The first time I tried to give up I went to a hypnotist. She was telling me to relax and think of a beach, I was saying I don't think I'm "under" to which she was saying I was and not to worry about it...I spent the last 10 minutes of the session itching to get out of there and light up.
2 years ago I tried something called auricular therapy where they zapped my ears with electrical currents (honest!)- that worked for about 6 weeks but I succumbed once again.
Finally gave up last year without help from the give up smoking industry. Not sure how, I guess I was just ready. The key to me was recognising that I wouldn't be able to suddenly not have cravings and accept that I would get them for a while and recognise them for what they were - psychological. The physical dependence goes very quickly but the psychological one stays around much longer. Even now although I don't have the urge to light up, I recognise the exact occasions when I would have lit up if I still smoked.
It does get easier and it is worth it but it most certainly isn't easy
3 legged pony WELL DONE YOU!!!!!!!!!!
glad its the iphone that's tellin you how long it's bin and not the fact that you're counting every one of those hours mins and secs!!!!!!!!!
Know what you mean about the ALan Carr book - did find it reinforced all my reasons for giving up (llike any smoker really needs that?) and puts you in a good frame of mind to have a go!
I have to say I seriously think the "give up smoking" industry is a huge money spinning con and non of it really helps - the making your mind up that it really is time seems to be the key with every one I've talked to, sure some of the stuff helps psychologically but at the end of the day suspect it's kinda like most things in life - if you really want to do it you can, and the results surely have to be worth the 'pain'!
I'm still struggling along but suspect I'm a long way from the point where I'm not still thinking like a smoker!
sharnie you are doing OK. Keep at it.
Must agree about the money making and I would include Carr in it too-eventually I went to the Carr clinic and it cost. A book I read, which I borrowed but recently bought is Neil Casey "The Nicotine Trick" which artgues that the "craving" is really "fear" (rather the mind takes the feeling as fear and smoking is mistaken as a way of reducing the fear -it partially reduces the feeling). This is subconscious, so even if you are conscious of all the pitfalls you can still be vulnerable if your subconscious still treats craving in that way. His message backs up Carr to an extent but he criticises Carr thinking it is a conscious thing. Casey gives a very powerful visualisation aimed at the subconscious activity, however on last reading, my addictive mind led me to "forget" to do it when I should. My task is to force myself to do the visualisation . One thing though, fags dont feel the same anymore at all.
anyway you are closer to freedom than before. Whatever it takes, you are a winner . If you slip up dont be disheartened, you are a winner for trying.
take care
'closer to freedom' yes.... freedom is a good way to descirbe the feeling once you sucessfully give up. I hadnt thought of it like that - almost seven months after giving up and I most definately fee 'free'
I'v got a cold and cough at the moment and for the first time since I was a teenager, I dont feel guilty or worried about what other people might be thinking when I cough and splutter (nice!!!)
I'm a light smoker (2 a day), though in the past have sometimes smoked 20 a day and when at festivals/on holiday even up to 40 a day. I'm also a reasonably keen runner and have done a few triathlons over the last 10 years.
My 10km PB is 40:21 (Blackpool, September 2008) and I always finish in the top 5%.
Can any fellow smokers beat that?!! Please supply proof (i.e. your race time listed on the internet), although the fact that you smoke will have to be based on trust
I've recently ramped up my training and am aiming to beat both my half marathon and 10km PB's this year... whilst remaining a smoker. After all, I enjoy my daily smoke and let's face it, nobody likes a quitter
If race entrants had to be classified as smoker/non-smoker, I think I might have a decent ranking amongst the smokers!!
I welcome anybody's thoughts on this matter