Smoking Cessation Thread?
 

Would anyone be interested in this?

I'm not real sure how it would/could work.
-exsmokers could leave tips
-we could drop in for encouragement instead of a puff
-we could post each day of clean breathing

I'm currently in a very drawn out and contaminated quit using Champix and Allen Carr's book.

Please leave your thoughts and I'll mull it over with the other mods if it looks like there's interest.

What worked for me is the patch. Also, I wore a rubber band around my wrist and snapped it whenever I thought about having one. My wrist was swollen but then I focused on that, and not smoking. LOL

i'm interested...i would love to quit smoking...and maybe get hubby to quit (again)...i joined quitnet and put in the info..and i could start saving almost $1600/yr by me quitting (and probably almost double that for hubby).....we need the help...and i dont wanna gain a lot of weight doing it like i have before.
thanks for the offer of a new thread.

Dang! I don't know if I'm ready to take that step yet - just getting rolling with the change in my relationship with food and positively paranoid about anything that might get in the way of the better bod. Been feeling decidedly hypocritical though - posting all over the place about getting healthy but still lighting up :smoking:. Kind of felt like it was my "dirty little secret" - and here you come along a drag it out of me ;)

So, Susan, I clicked the link you posted in the other thread with Mr. Carr's book and skimmed the first few pages. I like the part about "Continue to smoke until you finish the book" :D Has the book been any help/comfort to you? If yes, I may have to go buy my own copy - although I'm honestly surprised MIL hasn't already given it to me.

I guess this means you can count me in :yikes: (she says while secretly hoping the mods will decide this is a weight loss forum not a quit smoking forum :o )

I think that this topic does go hand in hand with weight loss because lots of people do gain weight when quitting smoking. I did and it was one of the reasons - scratch that - excuses I used for pushing my quit out longer than I should have.

It was rough but I am coming up on 4 years quit.

Would be glad to offer tips and support if you decide to do a separate thread - I got lots of support here when I finally decided to toss the cigs.

Good luck Susan and ArmyWife. You just have to take it a day at a time. Eventually it does get better.

And Quitnet is a great site. These stats kept me motivated:
1457 days, 21 hours, 46 minutes and 10 seconds smoke free.

43737 cigarettes not smoked. (yep, 43 THOUSAND cigarettes - betcha didn't think you smoked that much, did yah? :no: )

$10,060.20 and 11 months, 4 days, 2 hours of your life saved.

Love the stats there HAPPY2BEME! ~ I quit 11 years ago this coming August...for me that would be...are you ready for this...

200,750!...yep...at 2.5 packs a day...which meant I did smoke 365,000!....

so sad....ouch!

But even if folks like Yoyo weren't ready yet, they could join the thread at any time, right?
We might positively influence some when we're on page seven!

Above everything, YOU have to be ready to do this yourself. Quitting because someone pushes you into it or guilts you out just doesn't work.

For me, I did alot of research and reading before I actually decided on a quit method and a quit date.

I think it might even help someone like Yoyo who is thinking about it but not quite ready yet - even if it's just from a lurking prospective.

And sometimes we can learn something from someone else's failed attempts. I think there are different kinds of smokers with different personality types - the same thing does not work for everyone.

Congrats on 11 years quit Gary! Isn't it amazing when you add up all the numbers? I think the amount of cigarettes not smoked is far more impressive than the money one can say they saved. Although I do wish I had put that 10grand in a mayonaise jar or something :lol:

Susan - what do you mean by a contaminated quit? What are you struggling with?

I tried to quit Mar 5th. Oh a puff here and cigarette there. I've never stopped for an entire week yet. All in all, I'm pretty happy to have cut back that much but ... it's got to end!

Heya Susan :hug:

it's great to see that you are ready to tackle this! As I said in your other thread a few days ago - quitting smoking was probably the best choice I've made for myself, pretty much exactly 4 years ago. And I used to be a hardcore identity smoker, I couldn't imagine that not smoking would ever be normal for me. Well, it is! It can be done! You can do it! And best of all, you already are familiar with tools and strategies for life style changes - a lot of what works with weight and fitness management can also be applied to smoking cessation.

So - to Susan and others who are struggling - what exactly do you think makes you struggle the most? Is it just the physical craving, or is it more of a mental or emotional problem? Or the habit itself? Sometimes it really helps to isolate these aspects even though of course they go hand in hand...

well i thin for me, i use it as a stress reliever, esp while hubby was deployed for 15 months and i was here managing our life/family (two small kids and a dog)...and it was a excuse to go out side for a break from the stress of always dealing with kids 24/7 and bills and mounting debts..etc. and plus most of our friends/neighbors smoke so it makes me want to smoke more. i honestly tried to quit while he was gone, esp after he was able to quit smoking while in iraq for over two months just before coming home....but i couldnt handle the quiting then, i wasnt ready to do i was doing it for him....so when he saw me at my breaking point of stress with the kids and neighbors and stuff he okay'ed me to go buy a pack...whick led to more packs...and eventually (against his own will since he had worked so very hard), he started back....so now we buy the carton because its much cheaper than individual packs...and since he smokes just over a pack a day and i am usually at a pack or just under the carton doesnt last long....but when you compare buying one pack for $4.30 or a carton (of 10 packs) for only $33.54 - the savings are good, esp with coupons ;) but that's no excuse.....it's getting expensive and i have better uses for that money....and i'm slowly getting to where i dont want to smoke anymore, maybe the wellbutrin xl is slowly kicking in now.

The habit ... without a doubt!
In the car, on the phone, with coffee, at break ....

We are actually (in a perverse way) very fortunate in Canada. There is almost no place to smoke any more. The few folks I hang with who do smoke, don't do so in their homes. I can go a long long time without seeing or smelling a cigarette.

In reality, a lot of my habits have been rearranged for me, over the last few years.

My biggy? I've always been a goody-two-shoes. All along folks are surprised that Susan smokes?!? Even when quitting, I get some kind of odd thrill from sneaking one or two and getting away with it.

BTW ... I'm 24 hours again. :D

I absolutely second what happy2Bme said about different smoker personalities and the importance of reading and learning about different strategies and the physical, mental and emotional roadblocks other smokers had to face!

@ArmyWife:

On the stress relief issue... you may already know that, but what really clicked with me was that the stress relief we feel by smoking a cigarette actually only relieves the stress of nicotine withdrawal - the stress you put on top of all your other stress all the time you're not actively smoking. Nicotine from a cigarette satisfies for about 30 min. (not too sure about the exact numbers here, but really not very long), and after that your body is in withdrawal.

So I realized that whether I smoked a pack a day or two cigarettes a day or not at all - my body would spend a lot of time in withdrawal any of those ways, but with quitting completely, the physical withdrawal will end as soon as all the nicotine has left your body.

Of course, the ritual of it - the smoke break that buys you some time for yourself - is in itself relaxing and stress relieving as well. But what is stopping you from just taking those five minutes anyway, to step outside and take some deep breaths... I called them my "non-smoking breaks" :D. It might feel strange at first - to really just claim that time for yourself rather than for your habit - but then that's what it was about in the first place, right? Time for yourself - time to unwind - time to relax... maybe find a mantra or affirmation or isometric exercise or breathing ritual... whatever seems to work best.

:carrot: Yay! Way to go! :carrot:

You know, most people say quitting cold turkey is easiest, and I tend to agree, as it at least deals with the physical withdrawal fast and leaves "only" (haha) the habitual and emotional aspects to deal with.

But quitting in stops and starts is not to be discounted either, if cold turkey doesn't work for you. You can think of it as training a muscle that grows stronger as your quitting times grow longer.

Susan, you said that it's definitely habit for you, and I'm sure that's true for many smokers. Certain actions have just become deeply anchored to smoking and thus will give you that reflex of craving a cigarette.

There are several ways of tackling this problem. First of all, awareness is good - see which situations (or emotions) trigger the habit the most. Then, for some situations it might be a good idea to switch them around a bit if possible, at least for some weeks. If you usually drink coffee at a certain time, switch to tea and vice versa. For being on the phone, have a pad and pencil ready and engage in some serious doodling - or move around when you're usually sitting down, and vice versa.

Find stuff for your hands to do - I got back into playing guitar a lot (and testing my newly nonsmoky voice ;)), friends of mine got into knitting... a friend who is into healing gemstones gave me some worry stones - I kept them in my pockets and played with them when I was nervous.

For those situations that you can't or won't change - simply try to live through them full of awareness for the craving and see how this anchoring will decrease every time you live through this situation without smoking. The first few times are tough, but it gets easier. You may find that in later weeks and months, a craving will suddenly crop up, and it's because you find yourself in a situation you haven't "de-anchored" yet - if you quit in winter, it might be the first time you sit on a patio in the warm sun, or at the beach, or with your first iced coffee of the year... while the stuff you do every day have become completely normal non-smoking activities.

I also hear you on the rebel aspect - I was and am "such a nice girl" most of the time. I guess it's just time to find a less self-destructive form of rebelliousness... :D

Argh, that was long... stop me if I'm babbling too much... :^:

I think this is a great idea and just what I was looking for.Getting my mind set for giving up a pack a day habit. My biggest fear is putting on the weight that I have already lost. I have given up before, for about 18months. Using patches,Oh my gosh you guys only pay $4.30 a pack. the packs of 20 over here are $10.20. And that's one heap of $$$$$'s over a year.
I will keep an beady little eye on this thread over the next few days while I slowly cut down and dig those patches from out of my dresser.
thanks

wow...over $10/pack?! that is a lot! I remember when i first started smoking (at the age of 13) back in 1994, i think a pack of marlboro were only about $1 or $1.25 or something like that.....but with TX passing that new cigarette tax law last year, they raised the tax price paid on the packs by $1 more per pack and $10 more per carton. so here on the army base we used to pay about $26/carton....and right after that passed we started paying almost $40/carton (luckily hubby was deployed and i was only buy 3 cartons/month instead of the current 7 cartons/month)....but prices are slowing down again to where it's usually between $33-$36/carton. still gets expensive. hubby left on a camping trip with our neighbors today and he had to go get another carton, because we were only down to 2 packs for both of us, and i JUST bought a carton a few days ago?! OMG! it's outragous!
thanks susan for sending me that e-book. i am reading it now (while i'm supposed to be working out) ;) lol i'm on page 20 something now....trying to get a few more pages in then i'll walk on the treadmill and get a shower, and read some more before my son wakes up....hope to finish the book before the weekend. i need all the help i can get. Thanks so much!!!!

Thank-you...oh, and heck I don't know what happened to that money! But...that really doesn't matter...I do know what I didn't spend it on! :hug:

Susan, years ago I was in a program called SMOKENDERS...I don't even think they have it anymore. Anyway my first wife did the program and completed it with flying colors...still smoke free today...26 years! I completed it but started again...I did it several years later...completed it...but :( started again....The one phrase I always remembered was "You are just a puff away...from a pack a day!" ....that was so true in my life....:hug:

thanks so much susan for that ebook....i printed most of it off into booklet form (to save on some paper) and have been able to keep reading it while not on the laptop...i am at chapter 25 (pg 69) now...so i'm over half way thru....hope to finish it by tonight....was considering trying to quit over this weekend since hubby and the neighbors are gone (3 of 5 are smokers, to include hubby and one set of neighbors)....we'll see how i do next week ;) esp with another 5 packs (half carton) still in the house...but i've gotten to wear i'm slowing down on them. been trying to focus that energy on cleaning my house (nothing makes my hubby happier than a clean house)...so it might be a better trade - clean house and cleaner lungs :) and more money for things we enjoy more (and good cleaning supplies) :D LOL

Still keeping a eye on this thread and setting mind on giving up.
Susan can I have a copy on that e book? Please.
Anything that will help, would be gratefully appreciated
Armywife, I guess my house is going to get cleaned as well. lol

good luck maryl! she sent it to me in PM ;) good luck...i'm already on pg 80something....

I'm so happy you all are even considering quitting. It's so much better for us all!

i'm about to start pg 94....so only a few more pages left...very motivated too....might quit before the end of today ;) will suprise hubby when he gets home tomorrow afternoon to still find over 5 packs fo cigs here in the house ;) lol he took 6 packs with him yesterday....but i think he might only make it back home with 1-2 packs....considering he'll be outside for 2 days camping (and we only smoke outside, or in his truck) and out fishing on his boat....and they were all drinking last night, so i know he went thru plenty then too....this ought to be an interesting test once they all return and i'm around them again....hubby smokes, and out of the two couples (our neighbors) we hang out with - one couple smokes and the other couple are non-smokers.
we shall see ;) lol

ok, i finished reading the book......I finished my last cig at 620pm CST.....and hubby called before then wanting me and the kids to come out to the lake (where they're all camping/fishing)...but my son was asleep. but he's now awake...i am to call hubby when he wakes up to see if hubby is out on his boat and even around for us to see him....but he'll be home by noon tomorrow, and that's a lot of gas i am not sure i can afford to refill right now (it's nearing $3.509/gal here)....plus i think if i did go out there i would just light up again.....this way i stay home and will be without cigs for almost 24 hours before the 3 smokers (hubby and 2 friends) get back home....i'm gonna try to make it work this time....

I'm intrested in joining this thread! Here is a little background. I worked on quitting while my DH was at a 30 day training in Janurary and I did pretty good. DH smokes and being in the Army, he is having a hard time quitting since everyone seems to smoke at work. So with him having them around, I'd have one here and there and over the past week have ended up picking the habit back up. Everytime I am exercising I keep thinking how can I be doing this and still smoking. I want to be healthy, inside and out. So I am planning on no more starting Monday. I have a problem with putting on weight when I quit smoking. I pretty much put on 15 lbs in the past 3 months with my quit. So hopefully I can find something else to relieve my stress, instead of smoking. I was stressed when I woke up this morning, just a hectic morning in the house, and I felt so good after exercising. I am currently doing WATP so maybe just doing the 1 mile when the stress gets too bad during the day.

Good luck everyone who decides to quit and hopefully this thread can be motivation to others to quit. I know it is hard to quit and just to think about never having another one again can seem like too much, so I'm just going to take it one day at a time.

well i did have two more after that before going to bed...it's hard to quit until bedtime for me...so i had my last one late last night, then came in and brushed my teeth and played my electronic yahtzee game before falling asleep. at least i didnt feel the need to finish the pack, like i normally would (when hubby's gone), since hubby will be home today to finish them....he may or may not decide to quit soon, dunno. he quit in iraq and never wanted another, till he got home and a week later i was beggin for one and i started back which ultimately got him started back.
but i now i was waiting for him to be ready to quit [again] before i tried....cuz it's hard being married when one smokes and the other is trying to quit. either he'll quit too or i'll start back up and wait til he is ready.....hopfully the first option... :)
i've been up for about 30 minutes now (thanks to my two lil alarm clocks waking up) :) LOL and i have so far brought more hangers downstairs to put on the laundry sorter so i can start hanging and folding laundry while my pinks load dries...and need to get all that put away then when i go upstairs to put clothes away i plan to clean those two bathrooms and when thats done, i will clean the kids rooms before letting them come downstairs (into my clean living room, at least till they pull all the toys outta the toy box) :) LOL and once downstairs again, i need to clean this bathroom and unload/reload the dishwasher and straighten up the kitchen and dining room.....
all before hubby gets home....but this is my plan to stay busy for the next few hours to fill my 'void' of smoking, and i will in return have a clean and uncluttered house (and lungs that are trying to become cleaner by the hour)....

This morning is really hard for some reason.

I know that lady across the street smokes and I'm eyeing her up just like a piece of meat :devil:

Best go to church and think on something else.

Hi ladies,

Wishing you the best with your committment to quit. It certainly isn't easy but surely is worth it.

Today is my 4 year quit anniversary. It really was hard because I was a person who was always with a cigarette tho I tried to be a considerate smoker around others including my DH who quit shortly after we met.

Some tips that helped me -
They say smokers are deeper breathers and when you quit you still long for that deep breath in. I found that when I had a craving, I cut soda straws in half and would suck on those and mimic smoking.

Remember that a craving only lasts for 3 minutes. Now at first you'll get a craving 5 times an hour, but they do pass and they do diminish in time. One of my huge milestones was when I realized an entire day had passed without a craving.

Do find something to substitute when you have a craving, after all you will be trading out one habit for another. At first I sipped water, or I'd go climb the flight of stairs in the house 3 times - just try not to use food as a tradeoff. You are trying to distract your brain.

I do recommend the quitnet dot com site. They have a ticker you can set up with how many cigarettes you smoked and the amount you spent and it tallies for you. After a while I found it motivating just to see those numbers roll up.

Susan - I can completely relate to you "eyeing up" the lady across the street. I got to a point when I "romanced" smoking - kind of like having a bad relationship that breaks up. As time passes, you get an occasional weak moment and you forget the bad things about the relationship and think to yourself - gee that wasn't so bad, was it? Well it was, you're just looking for an excuse. So it's good if you haven't already to write down a list of the things you don't like about smoking, keep it with you and read it when you get tempted.

For me, I had a persistent cough that I attributed to allergies (the lies we tell ourselves). Several people had told me over time that they knew I was walking down the hall at work because they recognised my cough. I was so embarrassed to hear that - and from different people. Within 2 weeks of quitting my cough was almost completely gone - so much for allergies.

Anyway - stick with it and be strong! And remember that some days will be easy and some will be harder - sometimes for no apparent reason. Just tell yourself - just for today, I'm not going to smoke. Don't worry about today, deal with this day, this moment.

well hubby came home earlier than i had planned on it....oh well....i'll try to quit soon, as i can convince him of it again too ;) oops.

You'll be happy to know that I didn't accost the neighbour lady.

Happy2bme is right. The actually rush of 'wishing' I had a smoke is very short.

Don't give up Mandey. Know that you can go periods of time without one. That is strong stuff and good to know.

So I went to bed last night with the mind set of quitting...well, I did very poorly today. ugghh, i really wish I wouldn't have started back up.

It always amazed me how I'd end the day with a very strong resolve that this was it, I was done with the cigarettes. Only to wake up the next morning with 3 times the cravings.

Unless you're one of those fantastic people who can put your mind to something and immediately do it (I'm not one of them :o ) then you just have to set a date, realize that it's going to be a struggle and tell yourself that you are stronger than the craving.

And to those who have quit and get tempted to pick one up again I have heard 2 things that seem to ring true - "one is too many and a thousand is never enough" and quits seem to get harder the second time around. This from people who quit for years and started back up again - innocently by thinking they could have just one and walk away.

I'm afraid to have another cigarette because I know I will always long for them and one would lead to another and bang, I'd be back smoking in a minute.

I want to second that. It might be a good idea to set a date and prepare for it. You could, e.g.

• analyze your smoking patterns - maybe even log your cigarettes the way many here log their food
• collect as much motivational reading as you can
• stock your fridge and pantry with crunchy stuff like baby carrots, celery and apples and maybe some sugar-free chewing gum, if you like it (don't go overboard on the last one, though)
• get rid of your smoking utensils, if possible - ashtrays, lighters etc.
• think of alternative things to do on "smoke breaks" and when cravings hit

Heading into battle prepared can give you a much-needed boost!

Thank you for the copy of the book ladies. I will get to reading that as soon as I can. Meanwhile the tracking of habit is a good idea. I will do that as well.
I really have to get back to this diet and gym thing. I have been really off track lately.

Smoker right here. Actually I haven't had one since 4/26 so almost a week :D
Okay so I was sick and that's the reason I haven't smoked but I think I'm going to stick with it. I know it'll help my exercise sooo much and obviously save mucho moola. It's a social thing for me, my two best friends smoke so when I'm around it's natural for me to light up. Also when I have a drink or two - forget about it. I've not been drinking too much since I'm trying to count calories because lets face it I'd rather have a piece of bread then a drink but this girl anyway needs a cocktail or two from time to time! I quit last year for about 3 months but didn't drink at all during this time. I'm at that odd point right now where it actually smells gross if I smell someone smoking but yet I still want one!!
Anyway glad to see I'm not alone! Good luck all!

Good job on the 24 hours!! :bravo:

I actually have quit before - once for almost 2 years but picked them up again (thinking they were going to help me stop gaining weight) :frypan:

Absolutely the habit for me too - especially in the car. There are certain traffic lights that if I hit them red that's where I light up. Guess I'll have to find a different route to work :D I'f I'm really busy or involved in something I can go all day without even thinking about it but the moment my little brain is unoccupied..........

Since you started this whole idea I've been thinking along the same lines as Heffalump as far as analyzing the habit. I may try applying some of the things I've learned about weight loss like the planning, planning, planning. Must say I seem to have tapered off a little though - down to about 1/2 a pack a day for the last week.

Still in the "teetering on the edge not ready to jump" state of mind but I'll definitely be lurking around this thread and I'll let you know as soon as I leap.

I started smoking when I was 15 and now am 31. I quit on Feb 28 of this year. It actually was not by choice. I got really ill with a bad stomach flu.

When I am sick I do not want a cigarette. So I did not smoke for 5 days. Well when I got better I thought to myself I just went 5 days without a cigarette I think I can go more.

So I did. I still have the cravings but mainly after I eat and after a bad day of work. Other than that I am not doing to bad.

I did gain 3 pounds back but what is 3 pounds compared to a lifetime with my husband and kids.

Both my grandfathers died from lung cancer. I don't want to be the next.

My mom was an RN for MD Anderson and worked with lung cancer patients in their treatments and such. She used to come home and tell me all the horror stories but would not listen. I guess you could say I am older and wiser now and I actually listen to my mom. I guess becoming a mom makes you appreciate yours more.