Allotments 4 All

Nah, not thinking marestail, knotweed or any of the others which can infest our plots, but.......tobacco. ::)

Anyone here struggling with/have beaten the addiction, with hints/ tales to share?

Just wond'ring and have been asked to do a bitov research.......

(me = got a dx of COPD in Jan this year  :'(- shunted into script for patches/gums but no actual or on-line support :-\. .....found my own quitters community who were/are solid and suppportive. Worked for me). 8)

Sorry to hear about your diagnosis.

Been struggling for ten years. I've tried everything except the serious stuff to quit. Cold turkey, gum, lozenges, inhalers, spray (horrible) and next time it's going to be the champex. Every quit is prompted by coughing myself sick too many mornings (sorry, probably too much info) and every relapse is when I feel better and get stuck into the booze.

It really is a horrible thing to try to beat, so well done to you!

My daughter found it hard but did it aided by her 10 year son who saw the adverts on the telly and kept crying 'Mummy, Mummy don't smoke i don't want you to die!' :'( :'( He also cut her fags up with scissors. She used all the aids and finally quit for good. ;)
My brother didn't and got oesophageal cancer. Throat, voice box cut out. Talks with a synthesiser, lives in liquid jej feeds [into gut], had radiotherapy, chemo and starts more radiotherapy in a couple of weeks. Lives with me. Think on and spend your f*g money on something else. ......

I was on about 50 per day. I smoked my last on on the plot more or less 3 years ago to the day.

I used patches for 10 days and a nicotine inhaler for another 5. stopping is the best thing I ever did.

I enjoyed smoking, and had no intention to give up, but one morning decided to see if I could go until lunch time before I had one.....  Then wondered if I could stop until dinner ... And just carried on for one more day.

I'd never tried to stop before, and didn't make a big issue of it - just one day at a time.  For a couple of years I kept a half ounce of tobacco, papers and lighter in a drawer - and said I could always have one - but never did.  Tbh I think its still there - at the back of the drawer, my safety net!

I have said I may start gain when I'm 70 - to which a cardiac nurse friend said at least I'll make it to that age  ::)

Alison

I gave it up for a few years with just the occasional cigar and it was my intention to start again when I was 70, but just in case I did not make it I started again when I retired. Got a pipe now and there is more fiddling, cleaning andjust holding it in my gob.Not a lot of actually smoking it. A small packet of baccy lasts a month, some days I don't bother. If I use an aromatic tobacco I get complemented on the smell rather than being treated as a parasite for puffing away on fags.

Hey, thanks everyone for your input. I've spent the afternoon with the Quit programme peeps - I've been recruited as a Mentor! 8) I've signed up to do a session a week - and I get a BADGE an'everyfink :o 8) ;D

Think the last time I had a Badge was when I was the Lost Property monitor at school - handy that, cos most of the lost property was mine ;D ;D ;D

Alison, when I decided to stop I still had 4 packets of Duty Free in a drawer. After a while I gave 3 of them away but the 4th I kept as you did - a reminder that not smoking was my choice - to me, being in control of what I did/chose not to do was important. It was 6 months before I gave them away. Now that's against the 'perceived' wisdom which tells you to throw away all fags/lighters/ashtrays etc. once you announce your Quit date. "Quit date"? For me I'd decided that I wasn't going to have a cigarette just yet but I could and would change my mind any time ;)

And I think my, and your, experience just proves the point that quitting isn't a one-size-fits-all scenario.

Lish X

Hello ACE, I remember your scare very well :-\.......Lordy how we were all wanting the best outcome for you. And how fab it was when it came 8)

Most of all tho, I remember when you first posted in The Watershed - remember? Thread ran and ran and ran........ You and I were well on the side of the Rights of the Smoker to Smoke. Gotta tell you I ain't moved on that one. Not a bit, not a spit, have I. But I loved the Watershed - thanks Dan for giving us that special place to argue the toss on all-sorts. 8) :-*

I lurvvvvvvve the smell of pipe tobacco and also of ceegars.

ACE, wannan OAS? ( Old-age stalker that'll be........ :o )

I am one of those people that "real" smokers hate.. the casual smoker... I smoke rolling tobacco, like Ace, about a small packet a month, if I am out, with a drink, I might smoke 3 or 4 in an evening, but this week, I ran out on saturday and haven't got any at the mo. And that has no effect on me whatsoever!!! It's most irritating to people that can't quit.
However I fully understand people wanting to quit! My sister in law got breast cancer and she quit over a few weeks with patches and herbal cigarettes, but she was almost a 40 a day... it was tough but she did it. And she got better too :)
Probably one day I will quit for good, but while I still enjoy the occasional one (and there is an enjoyment when you don't feel a craving, or at least that's my sentiment), I will probably continue. Yes it's a vice, but I don't drink much or do much else that is really harmful, so I figure it all evens out.
Best of luck to those trying to quit though. Those I knew who were successful used patches but mostly just strong will!

Quote from: Lishka on June 13, 2012, 18:10:37
Hello ACE, I remember your scare very well :-\.......Lordy how we were all wanting the best outcome for you. And how fab it was when it came 8)

I have to go for regular checks, but they are amazed that I have the scars and blemishes to show it keeps cropping up and cures itself. Loads of blood sent off to find the magic cure, but they can't find it. I told them the devil looks after his own, but they can't put a dose of sin on a prescription ;)

Quote from: Lishka on June 13, 2012, 18:10:37


I lurvvvvvvve the smell of pipe tobacco and also of ceegars.

ACE, wannan OAS? ( Old-age stalker that'll be........ :o )

Just join the end of the queue ;D

Not a very constructive comment I'm sure but as a convert to non-addiction for some 40 years, all I can say is I would not touch tobacco ever again. My wife & I jointly stopped smoking and it was HELL HELL HELL but we had a good incentive - we wanted a mortgage and we saved the ciggie money and got one.
We've never looked back. The bast **d tobacco outfits now ensure that up to 30 chemicals exist in their products to ensure you go through hell if you try to stop consuming their drugs.
That's how they hook the African nations (& others).
Lishka, the one good advantage of our experience is we believe we have a strong outlook & hope for our future health. We ain't young either! ;D

I gave up by doing the half an hour rule.

When I felt like a smoke, I made myself wait half an hour. if doing something after half an hour where I could not smoke ..too bad. Next time I wanted a smoke I made myself wait half an hour.

It is amazing how often  you are not in a position to smoke, eg in the bath, cooking, in a non smoking place.

It didn't take long before I had cut my consumption dramatically and the yearning for a cigarette came after  longer and longer periods..but even if I didn't think about it for four hours, when I did I made myself wait half an hour.

To be honest it was very easy, although I am quick to say it may not be the same for everyone.

My reasoning behind it was...whatever I want I can wait half an hour..but you can't cheat and have the ciagarette after say 40 inutes if in a better place to smoke, you have it after half an hour on the dot or not at all, you have to go back to square one again.

Wait half an hour, it really worked for me.

Good Luck

XX Jeannine

I stopped because of COPD. That was in 2006 just befor I joined this site.It was hard but with patches and few discarded rituals ( getting yer coffee and you ciggies and lighter plus ash tray all set up by yer computer) I did it.
I was quite aware that cigs were a drug but I was in denial.
What I did was put the cigs in the same class as glue. Everytime I got the nadgers I used to tell myself that I could sniff a bag of glue if I wanted a fix. I had only ever seen one lad with a bag of glue and it made me feel so sad.
Here I is 6 years later. Still got me COPD and a few other things but I am still here and of course I have a bit more money in me pocket to spend on seeds instead of weeds
We all use different methods to kick the drug

My wife an I tried patches, gum, inhalers, lozenges, mints, chinese herbs, .. nothing seemed to work - permanently. I smoked for 20 years and had dozens of failed attempts. I went cold turkey on many occasions, and sometimes gave up for a few months at a time, but always lapsed. Then someone told me about champix. You start taking the pills and carry on smoking and then after about a week, cigarettes just stop working. They block the nicotine receptors in your brain. So if you want to smoke again you can try but they just taste wierd and you don't get a nicotine "hit". So if you feel like cracking you have to stop taking the pills for 2 days before cigarettes start working again. On the down side, you still suffer the side effects of nicotine withdrawal; irritability, bad dreams, disturbed sleep, restlessness, mood swings, but all to a lesser extent IMO.

That was 2 years ago and for the first time ever I know that I will never smoke again. It doesn't bother me to be in a room while other people are smoking and when I've had a pint I never think "oh go on then I'll just have one!". It changed the way i think about smoking.

My wife gave up with champix too. It doesn't work for everyone. It's no magic wand and it was still hard work, but it worked for us and changed our lives for the better.