[Closed] giving up smoking tonight

go yunki, go yunki, go yunki - sorry can't provide cheerleaders to go with the sentiment 😕

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Wow. Extreme technique. Good luck.

Just remember the cravings are the tobacco companies trying to charge you to kill yourself?

I quit and I never looked back. Go kill the habit. 🙂

I had an image of the Phillip Morris marketing team meeting, and how they were taking the piss out of me as an addicted smoker.
Something on the lines of:
"OK guys, what's the plan for the new marketing campaign?"
"Well nothing boss, these suckers are hooked, we don't need to do anything."
"Well done chaps, have another pay rise. Right, who's coming to the boozer?"

I wasn't their monkey.

Good luck.

My parents took me to France on holiday with a brother (we were going anyway) and didn't let me smoke anything for 2 weeks. I had my own 'stash' to be honest, but I wanted to quit - and I did, with the odd slip up during those 2 weeks.

If you want to you'll manage it having quit already before...

just think of the money you'll save. And your health of course!

I gave up on the 9th October. I'd been thinking about it and wanting to for a while.
So far it's going well. Although I find I get the notion for it at the oddest of times. For example, I was brushing my teeth this morning and all I could think was "I wish I had a fag right now"... Weird!

I got an app which tells me various things about my health getting better etc but really the one I look at is the 'cash saved'. It's quite a lot already!

Best of luck. The last one is sooooo good as well haha!

I found having a mantra to repeat to myself whenever I wanted a fag helped. Mine was:
'I'm giving up smoking so I don't stink and I don't die early from cancer.'

I also found having something to stick in my mouth helped, care for a chupachup?
Good luck buddy.

Oh **** it - I'm going to join you brother. Been meaning to quit for ages. First one to have a fag has to touch a poo.

'like' button

Finding something to fiddle with ('fnar') could be helpful, I ended up playing my guitars a lot, and then felt amiss getting a lift with my dad and realised I was missing something to do with my hands.

Good luck fella! Oh.... and get an e-cig. They're brilliant! I was a militant smoker until I got an exit and knocked the fags on the head.

18 months off them now and I know I will never have another. In true 'born again' fashion I think they're mingin'!

Good luck to you all, too effort.

Oh.... and if you need a bit more encouragement, the money I didn't spend on fags bought [url= https://flic.kr/p/FyLQip ]This[/url] instead

😀

and get an e-cig

Whereas I'd say don't. If you're gonna quit do it for reals.

It was a piece of piss for me as I'd got to a point where I hated it; sounds like you've got a real desire to shake it off too.

Go Yunks!!

All the best, yunki! And hebdencyclist, too.

I've been toying with the idea of meditation (I'm a regular practioner) and trying to think nice thoughts....
But I know what this is gonna get like so my mantra is 'I will ****ing BEAT you you little bastard'

Go on hebdencyclist... we can do this
We are free men to do as we please on this earth and will not be held slaves to the mistakes of our past

Great decision yunki, now all you have to do is make it stick

Get stuck in !

(read that old stopping smoking thread - by the time you come round, you'll have quit days ago 😀 )

I kicked smack, crack and a few others and nicotine was, without doubt, the hardest drug to kick if for no other reason than it's still socially acceptable and widely available and although they've tucked away the packets, you can still sense their presence when passing. 🙂

For the same reasons I would hate to be an alcoholic.

I hope you succeed, Yunki. Stay away from newsagents etc.

Edit : And you, Hebden.

Good luck Yunki, be strong!

Nice one. Tough thing to do but still the best thing I ever did. When i did it i saw a massive increase in fitness over about 4 or 5 weeks which was a good motivator. Staying muntered also sounds like a plan!

Don't be put off by folk saying it's a hard habit to kick. It isn't.

You just need some determination. And a little bit of willpower.

Been there. Done it. Would never light a fag again.

But good luck anyway 🙂

Crack on! Been there, done that. ****ing mingin habit and bastard expensive.

Knock it on the head, never look back.

Done.

Good man.

other half just pointed out that I will be 'strong like an ox' in the erectile performance department too 8)

Good luck to both of you.

[url= http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/smoking-is-a-pretty-disgusting-habit ]This is the thread that led to me knocking it on the head[/url]

And I possess a pathetic lack of willpower. You can do it! Just think of how smug you'll feel 🙂

I found this point of Allen Carr's to be a great help -

Referring to it as 'giving up' immediately implies that you're somehow sacrificing something - you're not, you're doing yourself the greatest favour you ever can.
Referring to it simply as 'stopping' seems to make quite a big psychological difference, well it did for me anyway.

Hope it works out for you.

freeing myself of oppression is my take on it

And personally I wouldn't pick a date to quit. I avoided New Years's Day, etc as it becomes more of a milestone that you're counting from.

I woke up one day and thought no more tabs. Forgot about the exact date and just carried on life doing my best to avoid temptation, and it certainly gets easier. I still get the occasional urge, don't get me wrong, but that passes after a few minutes.

there is a theory that a craving lasts no longer than 4 seconds if you are willing and able to breathe through it

that's not exactly hard is it?

All the best.I gave it up at 32 after yet another minor cold had dragged out to 3 months & I was sleeping on the sofa hacking up my lungs up into a bowl to prevent waking my girlfriend.
I had a moment of clarify that night.

First one to have a fag has to touch a poo.

oh, and photos of course. Brilliant idea. Sheep poo doesn't count unless you eat it

A lot of its psychological, something to do with your hands, 5 minute break outside work, nice thing to do after food etc. Within 18 months it will seem minging and alien

Don't be put off by folk saying it's a hard habit to kick. It isn't.

🙂

Edit : Though having smirked at that remark, I actually tried to quit on a number of occasions. The second time was really easy - decided no more, stuck to it and kept myself occupied. A week later someone lit up in front of me and it smelled so poisonous. About a month later a friend offered me a ciggie and I thought

[i]"That was so easy I could probably just have this one and be done..."[/i]

Fail...!

Gave up 4 years ago and it is the best thing i have ever done!

Used an ecig where I started on the highest nicotine liquid and every month reduced the nicotine content until I was "vaping" 0% nicotine. Took a year but was easy in the end and that was from a 30 a day habit.

Only other thing I did was to go healthy. Had a fixed fitness plan that i stuck too and could see the tangible benefits every month which motivated me. Found clean eating really helped as well.

Good luck and it does get easier..

I'll give you guys a Whoop Whoop and wish you the best of luck.

Don't be put off by folk saying it's a hard habit to kick. It isn't.

Of course it's not hard, 🙄 I gave up loads of times 😆 Staying stopped is the hard part.

Best of luck:-) Hope you manage to quit.

Staying stopped is the hard part.

I've stopped and failed on many occasions. It becomes more difficult when you declare you're intentions. Just stop quietly when you want to quit and take one day at a time. But just don't listen to folk saying how hard it *might* be. That will just put you off and accept defeat at the first hurdle.

Oh shit, pantomime time!

🙂

I read somewhere that once the nicotine is out of your bloodstream you've halved your battle, and as some someone who has given up an IV meth habit before I have found this to be true..

the first 72 hours is physiological.... the rest is just willpower, determination and motivation

just try not to get too cocky when you think that you've won the battle

thanks for the support by the way 🙂

I've a twelve hour race next July... I really don't wanna quit in the first few hours

just try not to get too cocky when you think that you've won the battle

Wise words. That was my undoing in my thirties. At 42 I quit and didn't look back. Someone claimed it takes 5 years to really get it out of your system (whatever that means) but about 2 years later I felt completely free and indifferent to tobacco and reaping the physical benefits at that time of life was great.

At 48 I wish I'd quit a lot sooner, especially having started at the same age you did.

Well done, I gave up cigarettes 25yrs ago and and it was one of the best things I've ever done 😀 Just don't become one of those boring self righteous evangelical anti smoking ex smokers. Remember live and let live, smokers are human to.

Monde's post says it all.

I was a really heavy smoker..... God I loved smoking....

I bought a good Ecig about a year and a half ago, and like Monde have slowly been dropping the nicotine levels, and will continue to do so until I get to zero%. It is a really, really, easy way to give up. I still have a few real cigarettes if I am steamboats or go on holiday or something, but I always say to myself I will never ever start smoking the real ones again full time, which I haven't. Christ if I can do it anyone can. Jolly good luck.

Of course giving up cold turkey is better, but IF you or anyone else reading this decides to try the E-cig route DO NOT come down the nicotine levels too quickly. I made this mistake and was back on the real ones for a brief period.

yunki - Member
I'm 43 years old.. Have smoked since I was 9

But then you can have one cigarette just to clam yourself down ... or two.

I am not sure why it is so difficult to give up. Several months ago (may be six) I used to smoke nearly 75g (50g and 25g) of tobacco a month then one day I just stopped smoking. I still have 88g (50g and 38g (EU size)) of backup tobacco in my drawer.

I did not take any nicotine preventive stuff but was switching between smoking tobacco and pipe one month before I stopped. The taste was awful when I switched between pipe and tobacco so awful that it put me off smoking entirely. I did try to smoke but I simply could not get back the nice taste so eventually I just stopped.

No cold turkey etc just feel very disgusted with the poor tobacco taste. Coz I did not enjoy it anymore ... arrgghh ...

Ya, I did try E-cig several months before that but it was so bad I binned it ... the taste was shiter but then I bought all my e-juice from PoundShop ...

Good luck chaps. Coming up on 9 years stopped for me, and like a lot of others I'd 'stopped' before (more than once!). Meeting someone who wanted kids did the trick for me, focused the mind somewhat. It's hard, but it is something that's pretty easy to break down into little bits - 1 missed fag at a time, each one gets a little easier.

I like your style though yunki, cold turkey with the edges smoothed off 😉

It was a piece of piss for me as I'd got to a point where I hated it; sounds like you've got a real desire to shake it off too.

That's the key. You have to have reached the point where you really want to stop smoking.
If you haven't reached that point yet it'll be hard. If you have, it's easy!

Mine was cold turkey with the edges smoothed off, my family were eating nice food all holiday, and I had wine to drink. I think that can definitely help.

Good luck! Go get your teeth cleaned at the dentists. It feels great, gets rid of all the stains and crap and is another reason to not start again.

Heavy smokers I've known that have stopped successfully have just made a spur of the moment decision.

Those who planned it have always failed i.e. I will stop at 5pm tomorrow night etc

OP as a motivator- in a little over 10yrs time if you keep smoking you are faced with poor general health 100%, cancer on the horizon, if you live longer an oxygen bottle maybe etc.

What made me quit (I smoked Captain full strength, Galoise and LuckyStrike) was annual chest infections. My GP spent some time with me explaining these infections would become a more regular and longer occurance that are harder to shake off. Maybe one day I'll wake up realising I've got 3months to live.

I stopped immediately. Upto that point I felt I was invicible, would live forever and two fingers upto the uncool and non fast living crowd who were sad and past it.

I'd tried patches, gum, everything. All kept me on nicotine.

Nowadays smokers look like tragic addicts. We all know how deliberating it is so when you see someone with a fag you think k 'weak person'. Smoking is associated with bad parents, bad diet, poor education, bad teeth, low IQ and poor outlook.

Sorry all true.

Woke up this morning feeeling tip top.. looked out the window from my bed thinking yep.. I'm an ex smoker, a non smoker 'what's the big deal?'

Now an hour and a half later, I'm feeling rather unhappy... I've not had my first ciggy of the day..

So what's going on here, scientifically speaking?

As my other half was keen to point out, I'm not exposing myself to nicotine, carbon monoxide, cyanide etc and therefor not restricting oxygen to my body..
This feeling is actually elation.. My cells are receiving more oxygen than usual and it's a very alien feeling that I don't associate with sitting around at this time of day..

I'm not withdrawing at all!! I'm powering up! 🙂 🙂

Good luck Yunki. One day at a time as they say. 🙂

Keep going, one hour at a time.

So what's going on here, scientifically speaking?

Addictions suck.

I feel the same about junk food. Was tough and had cravings.

You can beat it Yunkior replace it with a less damaging habit.

Best wishes.

It's in your head, no science.

errr... I dunno about that

As my other half ( a healthcare professional) was keen to point out, I'm not exposing myself to my regular massive morning dose of nicotine, carbon monoxide, cyanide etc and therefor not restricting oxygen to my body..
This feeling is actually elation.. My cells are receiving more oxygen than usual at this time of day and it's a very alien feeling that I don't associate with sitting around as I wake up and ponderously go about my morning routine..

I'm not withdrawing.. I'm powering up, and my mind is finding [i]that[/i] confusing

I'll be grand by the way.. and thanks for all the support

I think most people have some sort of situation where they are most comfortable smoking and when you can't smoke in those situations it can be hard. For me it was going out to the pub, the wetness of the drink counteracted the dryness of the smoking and vice versa, so when I stopped it was hard going out for a drink as I felt something was missing.

Some people like smoking after food, or with a coffee. The first cig of the day is a shared experience for all smokers though!!

people still smoke 😯

This one small thing your doing is the start of the new fitter, stronger you.

There's a timeline of benefits here, this kept me going at times!

[url= https://www.nhs.uk/smokefree/why-quit/what-happens-when-you-quit ]https://www.nhs.uk/smokefree/why-quit/what-happens-when-you-quit[/url]

And good luck, keep going, it will get easier 🙂

Good luck Yunki. I was a heavy smoker for 15 years...(16-30 yrs old)..have given up for past ten years and for me biggest reward is the fact I don't have that constant nagging internally that I'm doing something bad for me..didn't stop me needing a (very scary) lung cancer test a few months ago because I had unexplained cough*..good luck...

*turned out is was due to using the turbo in a dusty garage!!

Some people like smoking after food, or with a coffee. The first cig of the day is a shared experience for all smokers though!!

I feel quite liberated by the fact that when I wake up, I'm not immediately compelled to be stood outside the back door. I now have a much more leisurely morning routine that isn't being dictated to me by my addiction. Well... one of them. Still a caffeine addict, mind 🙂

I'll echo what other people have said. If you've genuinely reached the point where you say to yourself "you know what? I've ****ing had enough of this!" then you're laughing!

If not, then you're wasting your time

Good luck

just stay on the wagon. that's all you have to do.
well done for stopping. 8)

OP keep going. Nicotine is highly addictive. It's science reinforced by habit and routine forming.

Good luck.

Heavy smokers I've known that have stopped successfully have just made a spur of the moment decision.

Those who planned it have always failed i.e. I will stop at 5pm tomorrow night etc

As my other half ( a healthcare professional) was keen to point out, I'm not exposing myself to my regular massive morning dose of nicotine, carbon monoxide, cyanide etc and therefor not restricting oxygen to my body..

are you one of those 'science must fall'ers? 😉

No, just some fella who put a ciggy out about 15-20 years ago, has never picked one up since and not once had a craving, or more importantly a regret.
I must be special if I avoided the sciency bit. There's a reason you started smoking and the same reason will help you quit.
Understand it you must. 😀
I'm not special, the physical addiction is minute compared to the mental thing.

The way I finally quit was by being distracted. Had tried and failed for two years. Went travelling and stopped instantly without even thinking about it. Mad hey. I was too busy having time of my lfe and away from my normal environment. Good insight into how behaviours are formed and upheld...

How much are fags these days? They were 70p when I first "gave up", but £5.05 when I stopped.

I dunno how much a box of 20 is these days... about a tenner maybe?

I buy my roll-ups in £3 pouches which makes it seem a bit more reasonable..

Anyway... I'll give a wee report on the day so far

Took a valium this morning, popped into town to grab some food and a few beers to restock the fridge.. all good (I noticed that riding on valium leads to increased risk taking though.... food for thought)

The day was panning out nicely so even though I have 5 days off, I thought that I would get a bit of work done (I enjoy my job)

Sadly though.. mrs yunki came home at lunch time to say that her ex husband had been up to his old tricks... spouting the same incoherent pseudo buddhism that he always uses to cover his guilt and insecurity about his having an affair while she had cancer...

apparently, he's moving house and us asking very considerately for her dog cage back cos we're getting a pup is just a symptom of her unforgiving and materialistic obsessions.. she needs to grow spiritually apparently so that she can transcend such trivialities

He then spouted some quasi intellectual collection of words that made no sense whatsoever but sounded sort of like something a dodgy sex offending guru might say to a really vulnerable person looking for guidance

So my chilled out arvo of maybe doing some breathing exercises and getting some work done has turned into a noisy and impotent expression of rage that I can't go and remove the philandering, narcissistic, gym bunny, ex husband's teeth with a hammer..

https://www.mixcloud.com/cutlaroc/breakspoll-2010-cut-la-roc-vs-peo-de-pitte/

this is my soundtrack and it is being brought to you by 10mg diazepam tablets and cobra beer

And that ladies and gentlemen is why it makes a lot of sense for certain people in certain circumstances to plan their quitting smoking date very carefully 🙂

I'm glad for my neigbours that it's saturday

I know... I KNOW the guy needs a hug but.............. I hope he's reading this

Is this level of irritation normal for someone giving up nicotine?

Shit happens.

Are you using the Valium to help you stop smoking or do you take them anyway?

ith all due respect I wouldn't listen to a healthcre professional on matters of smoking

so are you almost saying that maybe smoking isn't as bad as people think? Is it just scaremongering by those nutbag GPs?

Are you using the Valium to help you stop smoking or do you take them anyway?

I'm using them as a one off treat to help me enjoy the next few days with minimal anxiety, stress and soul searching

Good luck with stopping. Took me several goes. I smoked for about 20 yrs and been off them for nearly 20 now.

For me what worked was cold turkey. I'd tried patches, lozenges etc. Just prolonged the pain. Vaping wasn't around then. Possibly a better substitute as it replaces some of the aspects of smoking to some extent and is much less harmful. Better stopping completely of course.

Accept you'll feel shit for a week For me I got physical withdrawal symptoms for a few days. Light headedness, pains in arms.

I found Allen Carr's stop smoking book worth a read though I didn't follow his method. From the book I took the idea of telling myself that withdrawal symptoms were a good thing because it was my body getting back to normal.

I started jogging the same week I gave up - replacing one habit with another. An easy way to see and measure the health benefits from giving up.

In one respect stopping might be easier now. I smoked most at the pub which are of course non smoking now.

Even years later I remember the time I was sitting eating my lunch and realised someone was peeling an orange at the other end of the room because my sense of smell had come back. And you will find smokers do stink of stale smoke.

Aim for a treat.

A smoking pal was admiring my new car, I said that he should get an Alfa as he was always going on about them.

He replied with a comment that he could afford one, I retorted with 'bollocks, course you can. A packet was about £5 and he got through 10 packets a week. He stopped smoking and after a while bought a 156 2.5, then changed it for a Breda 3.2. All paid for by not smoking.

Quitting smoking is easy I've done it loads of times 😉

Seriously though there is no trick just have to not want to do it anymore

I haven't read the whole tread but my advice, which was given to me, was to treat the craving like a toddler which was about to do something dangerous, like run into the road or poke an electrical socket.
Internally and strongly "NO! Don't do that" and them move on to something else.
It worked quite well.