Smoking advice "Help Needed"

[Les Woodard]

I tried many times to give up smoking and was a dismal failure each time. The longest I went for was 18 months and ended up back on about 50 a day. Both of us smoked about the same amount. We where out in the car for most of the day and I spat the dummy over something trivial (of course) and when the wife asked if I wanted a smoke I acted like a kid and said NO. Thought to myself I will see how long I can do this for intending all the time to have one because I was really gagging for a hit of tar. Well one hour led to two and so forth. That was about twenty years ago now and in my mind I still have only given them away for a while and not given up smoking at all. It took the wife another twelve years before she gave them away. I tried to explain to her that I found that the craving for a fag did not go away but the length of the craving got shorter each time and the time between them got longer to the extent that I would get a real urge for a fag for about two seconds twice a year and now I do not even get that and she now admits that I was right as she still gets the odd craving about once a year. So maybe it is all in the mind and if you can convince yourself that you will have one later on but try to see how long before you do could end up that you never have it.

Hands up all those ex smokers that now know what a smoker smells like and can now see why others used to move away from you when you entered a room.

[Jim Brady]

I want to pack up smoking, smoke 1 hour

Tony,Rule number one YOU HAVE GOT TO WANT TO PACK THEM IN it no use going at it half cock.
Regards.
Jim.B.

[Tony Wilding]

am fed up with coughing and all the muck u bring up, plus the expense, but most of all i just want to pack in, maybe wont cough so much, i realise its bad for you, dont really want to be addicted to nicotine.

[John Pruden]

MY QUACK asked me how many do you smoke!!! 10 a day and 20 of a night!!!!!JP

[Captain Kong]

Quiting smoking was always easy, I stopped smoking a million times. easy.
A day or so later screaming up the wall and then starting again.
.
My son a Cancer Consultant, one open day at the Hospital, a few years ago, took me into the discection room.
He showed me the lungs of dead people who had died as a result of smoking, they were a horrible mess.
He said your lungs will be like that if you dont stop. If you wore your lungs on the outside you would never smoke.
I got so scared, I quit instantly, a new unopened pack of cigs was crushed and thrown in the bin.
Then my friends started with Lung Cancer and died horrible screaming deaths at home, no escape from pain even when pumped full of morphine. Death was a welcome relief for them and their families. If I hadnt stopped I am sure I would not be here now.
I had a lung funtion test at my doctors recently, I am 77, the machine computer recorded my lung capacity that of a 60 year old. So I have improved.
Think about it, FEAR is the best deterent,
Good luck to you all.
Brian

[Graham Payne]

Hi All
Its now 5 months, 26 Days since I stopped, I honestly don't crave for a fag But I would very much like one, it is so hard to explain the difference to anyone. (I had one fag in that period)

Good bits 1. Breathing seems better
2. A lot More cash in my pocket, that is until "Managment" spends it.
3. I eat a lot more, for me that is a good point as I was a skinny sod in the first place
4. Sleep better, ie not waking every hour for a quick puff
5. The house seems cleaner "Management" again
6. No Cough ?

Bad Bits Sorry for this, but
1. Excess Saliva, ie When I go to the Pub I need to take a carrier bag and a box of tissues (SORRY)
2. Mucas seeps into my mouth all day (SORRY)
3. My taste has not come back at all
4. Still no sense of smell ( sometimes not a bad thing )

The saliva thing is really embarrasing, 100 mls in a 2 hour period, indoors I have a plastic pot but going to a resteraunt is a no no.
The G.P. has given me something but 3 days on and its not worked so far, will give it another 7 days and see what happens.
It may seem weak I know but I have had these symptoms for 5 months now and I really don't want them for the rest of my short time left on this planet. We shall see.
Good luck to all the others who have stopped.

[Chris Allman]

Hands up all those ex smokers that now know what a smoker smells like and can now see why others used to move away from you when you entered a room.

My hand is up Les. I gave up on 13th March 2000 and have not regretted it for a second. No cough, more money and no horrible smell of smoke around me and in my clothes etc. I can smell a smoker at 100 yards now I find the smell revolting. I must be lucky because I have never craved a smoke since giving up. I credit my success to a book written by an Alan Carr who has since died of lung cancer but who gave me the will power to give up. Anybody trying to give up, get his book and read it, it teaches you how to give up. Good luck to all trying.

Chris.

[Graham Payne]

am fed up with coughing and all the muck u bring up, plus the expense, but most of all i just want to pack in, maybe wont cough so much, i realise its bad for you, dont really want to be addicted to nicotine.

Hi Tony
Go to your G.P. ask for a tablet called "Champix" it's on prescription and It Does Work.
You have to want to stop or nothing will work, (apart from the thing we are trying to avoid for as long as possible)
Go for it you have nothing to lose by trying, have you ?
Best of Luck.

[Gulliver]

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[John Callon]

Stopped smoking four years ago this coming October. My doctor also gave me Champix tablets which after 3 days I washed them down the toilet. The side effects were horrendous - nausea, unable to eat, dizzyness and God knows what else. Went cold turkey and have never smoked again, and I hasten to add,never will. As Chris has pointed out the smell coming off somebody that smokes is pretty horrible. I can't believe that I smelt that way.
Regards,
John