Stopping smoking - any suggestions?

by be wise 21 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  be wise

  Hi, I smoke, not loads, but I would like to stop. I think I will find it really hard though and was wondering how you stopped if you were a previous smoker. I also suffer from asthma which obviously doesn't make things any better. The thing is I spend all my money within the first 2 or 3 weeks of me getting in it (I don't earn much, I'm at college) and then borrow and really scrimp and save for the last 1 to 2 weeks. As you can imagine I'm gagging for a fag and some booze by the time my next pay check comes along, so I go crazy again (going out, drinking, smoking etc) as soon as I get paid until my money runs out and so on and so on, month after month.

  Any advice please? How did you do it?
• 

  stephaniesays

  Well, I haven't stopped permanently but one time when I quit, a website http://www.quitnet.com helped me immensely...Of course, here I am...a pack a day..(sigh)

  Good Luck!!
• 

  MrMoe

  I quit a while back... cheated off an on, but never gave up hope. Herbal "cleansers" helped a lot...
• 

  KGB

  Let me share some experience with you. I smoked for 32 years. I tried to quit using all the patch mthods and pills etc. They were only temporary aids. I now have not smoked for 10 months and how did I accomplish this ? COLD TURKEY !!! Thats the key....You just got to want to quit and you quit...Simple as that. Good Luck it will be the best thing you will ever do beside excepting Christ and his truth.
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  COMF

  KGB is right... cold turkey is the way to go. I smoked from the age of 14 to 21, then quit for 12 years while I was a JW. When I left, I started up again for another 8 years. How did I quit? I decided I loved myself too much to do that to myself, and I quit. I carred a single cigarette around with me for about 2 weeks. Finally, I acknowledged that I didn't want it, and I threw it away.

  About KGB's Jesus Christ stuff, though... forget it. Don't throw effort away chasing foolishness. Just be your own buddy and counsel yourself on staying strong.
• 

  wasasister

  I've never smoked, and I owe it all to my mother, a woman who took up smoking at the tender age of 17 and quit when she was 55. At the time she quit, smoking was still allowed by JW's but frowned upon. She decided to go "cold turkey" because she wanted to set a good example for her kids.

  My God, did she ever! The sight of the most beloved person in my universe suffering withdrawal was enough to put me off ciggies for good. I was newly arrived at the age when my school friends where giving it a try. I couldn't get the image out of my head of her pacing the floors at night in tears. Powerful stuff for an impressionable youth.

  You're young. If you ever hope to be a parent, to be a positive example in some young person's life, quit now.

  Live long, and prosper,

  Wasa
• 

  Robdar

  I quit for a couple of months earlier this year, started again at apostafest, and then quit again. I have used Zyban/Wellbutrin to stop.

  Also, this time I am following the advice of a hypnotist friend. She says that the subconscious does not understand the concept or the word "not". Therefore, by telling yourself that you are "not" going to have a cigarette, that you are "not" going to smoke, actually makes you want to smoke or have another ciggy.

  The thing that you must tell yourself is that you are "free". Free from the desire of nicotine. Free from the addiction to cigarettes. Free from the desire to harm your body. This is working for me. It will work for you also.

  Robyn
• 

  Francois

  wasa, Robdar, kgb and the others are right. I've heard it said so many times: cold turkey is best. Of course I've never been able to do cold turkey, but I have cut my smoking way, way down by purchasing those cheapie, cheapie ciggies that are really foul tasting. That has cut my smoking at least in half or more.

  Something else. If you use those pills, know that insurance will pay for them if you get them prescribed as Wellbutrin, an antidepressant. If these same pills are prescribed as Xyban, an antismoking preparation, the insurance companies will not pay. Same exact pills, even look the same, but prescribed for different things are or are not paid for by what's on the prescription. Strange, huh? But that's the way the insurance pickle squirts.
• 

  Mary

  If you use those pills, know that insurance will pay for them if you get them prescribed as Wellbutrin, an antidepressant. If these same pills are prescribed as Xyban, an antismoking preparation, the insurance companies will not pay.

  Another wonderful example of the insurance company rip-off is their refusing to pay for any prescription appetite suppressant to help you lose weight. Nope, they won't pay for that but they'll pay for me to have my stomach stapled.............now how much sense does that make?
• 

  Englishman

  You just have to accept the discomfort for a while. Try and get a measure on the discomfort, is it as bad as a migraine? A broken leg?

  Eat plenty of fruit, remember how some foods were great to have a fag after eating, like fish & chips, and avoid these.

  Keep your mind busy!

  A little tip to make you more determined than ever: Get a dry white face flannel or something with a rough texture like a towel. Stick out your tongue as far as it will go. Wrap one end of the material around your finger and rub it on the back of your tongue, as far back as you can so that you are close to gagging. Look at result.

  Englishman.