Darn it. I read his book two weeks ago and haven't smoked since. But he was a heavy smoker for a long time prior to writing his famous book.
Allen Carr died of lung cancer today
by ballistic 9 Replies latest jw friends
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jgnat
I didn't know about him. I'm impressed with Wikipedia this morning. They've already updated his date of death.
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Sad emo
If his book has encouraged thousands more like yourself to give up smoking, his path was not in vain
It seems a bit coincidental but I only heard on the news yesterday, about someone else saying that nicotine patches etc are a waste of money and you're better off just kicking the habit and having done with the withdrawal symptoms. Essentially all the substitutes do is feed the addiction by other means. Seems to fit what Allen Carr said, do you think?
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ballistic
Well, yes Allen Carr was against all forms of Nicotine, but that's not suprising as his method appears to slowly building up a hate of the substance and addiction in general at a subconcious level... whereas nicotine replacement is still feeding the nicotine habit whether or not you believe it helps giving up. If that made any sense.
I was taking zyban which is not nicotine replacement and Allen Carr does not directly approach in his book. I found it to be completely compatible with his methods.
By the way today was the first day I "forgot" about smoking, not waking up thinking about it and having forgotten how many days it is. Although I opened a draw here and it's full of cigars which I completely forgot about also!!!
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Nosferatu
Wow, that sucks. I quit smoking after reading his book 8 months ago. He set the path for smokers to quit, and his death actually shows his readers and fans why you should quit.
On the Zyban subject, I quit once with Zyban for about a month, but the side effects were horrible. I was a complete paranoid mess and my heart was doing goofy things while I was taking it. I'd recommend Allen Carr's book before Zyban - it's cheaper and there's little to no side effects :)
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cognizant dissident
Well the reason the nicotine patch is effective is not that it helps you to give up nicotine. Nicotine is the addictive substance in cigarettes but it is not what gives you cancer. It is inhaling all the carcinogens in the smoke into your lungs that can cause cancer in susceptible people. So, if you give people their nicotine fix, then they don't need to smoke cigarettes to get nicotine, which is what their body is really craving. Yes, they will still be addicted to their nicotine patch but that is not really very harmful and will definitely not give you lung cancer. So they can wean themselves off the patch at their leisure.
Cog
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ballistic
Cog, I understand the priciple behind Nicotine Replacement Therapy, however I was discussing how Allen Carr is \ was against it. He really favours the cold turkey approach and very subtely plants ideas in your mind through his book that nicotine is the enemy.
I'm sure it does help some people to get free from smoking.
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Nosferatu
I know one person who quit from using the patch. I know one person who quit cold turkey on his own. I know five people (myself included) who have quit from reading Allen Carr's book. I'd say that's pretty good!
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jayhawk1
I wonder if long term exposure to the Nicotine Patch will cause skin cancer.
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Crumpet
I think he was spot on with his his anti nicotine replacement therapy. I tried patches etc, but I don;t think I ever had a particularly strong nicotine addiction if any at all. I don't crave nicotine and never really have - I just craved the action of smoking, the doing of it when I wasn't. I used his book to quit - its very repetitive in a brain washy type of way and I did worry that I was just being susceptible to another technique like the J dubs use, albeit for a good cause.
This time round illness has been a great incentive, though a bit worried what it will be like when I rejoin the land of the living and how successful I will be, but its been a couple of months now, so I don;t miss it at all anymore, but havent been in any situations (ie socialising) for many weeks where I would miss it necessarily.
Anyway well done Ballsy - its sounds like initially it was a struggle, but I expect you are feeling the benfits already. I havent as yet because of being ill, however I do love not waking up to the smell of smoke in my hair!
And thank you to Allen Carr whose writings definitely helped me have a different perspective on my smoking that has enabled me to stop damaging my body that way.