This is my last day as a smoker. When I get up tomorrow I will be breathing clean air, saving money and losing my morning cough. Ive given up before and succumbed again 6 months later, but I can STOP. As SB will continue to smoke Id be grateful for support here, so does anyone else want to stop?

Congratulations. I gave up in January (went cold turkey). With the money I would of spent on fags i put in a pot religously,(remember you always could afford fags so you can always afford to put the money in a pot). With the money i saved i bought a new luxury carpet and the best thing Bradley my 5 month old boxer.
It is tough but with each day it the cravings will be further apart.
Good luck you can do it why have your life contolled by a stick.

Thanks Emma youve given me a great idea for saving - obviously we need another Pointer ! Stocking up on chewing gum and will write Why have your life controlled by a stick on post its round the house.:)

Can't give any advice - but well done and good luck :)

Daisy

Best of luck !

I gave up in Dec after I found out I was pregnant. Haven't had one since ! I do occasional get the urge but just have a talk to myself telling me not to be so weak and stupid and it works !! One of the only people I will listen to !! :D :D

I think if you want to give up you really must want to for yourself. Any reason why SB won't give up as it will be easier if he does. My husband did with me and he has stuck with it as well !

Lucy
xx

Old Silverback dosent smoke as much as me and I just havent asked him. I never said anything to him last time and he stopped as long as me then backslid at the same time! Your fella was great stopping before the baby.:)

Why don't you ask him ? It will be so much easier and will save double the money !

Mike is very good ! He gave up boozing with me as well !! :D

Lucy

Best of Luck - whilst I have never smoked my other half does, my daughter and I both wish he would stop too.
Words of encouragment are always here
Sweep :)

wishing you every bit of luck possible. i'm sure there will be tough times but i always remember something a friend told me. he smoked for 30 years before he gave up - and he couldn't get over how fantastic food tasted !.

Aha, better tasting chocolate more ammunition!

Best of luck it's been 3 months since my last fag and there are certain times that i could murder one but i start bathing or grooming one of the dogs till i get over the craving, they have never looked so good :D. My other half gave up at the same time so must admit it did make things a bit easier as we give each other moral support.

I would like to give up too and i think i could if my partner stopped too, i think i will give it a go!

Well its lunch time and Im chewing the carpet - clean lungs for 12 hours so thats half a day. Im ok outside and we went on a LONG walk up Corstorphine Hill and through the woods today, with very good manners shown by Master Morse. Once home and looking at the dispiriting mess here its a different story I just havent the heart to do anything. I dont need to be controlled by a stick, I can do this......Help!

keep busy, plan things, sad i know but my house and garden were immaculate for months. We had home made meals (takes longer) which i planned madness i know but it takes your mind off your hands and lungs.
Chin up you can do it
emma

I gave up 4 years ago...and now, I wouldn't touch one if you paid me too. First three days are the worst. It does get better though, and every hour you go without your lungs are mending themselves :)

have yout tried the mouthwash. Its supposed to be fantastic. You use it every day (it just tastes like normal mouthwash) but then if you do give into the cravings it makes fags taste absolutely disgusting.

My boyfriends dad who has no intention what so ever of giving up tried it and couldnt smoke a fag for days becasue they tasted so vile!!

No, whats it called? Im flirting with hypnosis but it costs £250. As another incentive SB will buy me an eternity ring if I give up and weve been to choose it. :)

So had did the first day as a non smoker go then?

Lucy

Terrible, I lasted till mid afternoon and succumbed - very ashamed of myself. Still today is another day and outside Im fine its the HOUSEWORK that gets me so Im going to spend more time in libraries or outside with Morse.

Oh dear didn't go too well then :(

Out of one to ten how much do you really want to give up ?

If the number is not ten then I think you will always struggle :(

Edited to say well don't do the housework !! Simple ! :D

Lucy

That's it! No housework then I can really concentrate on meaningful things. I need to make a list of motivating factors and keep em to hand and Im going to see about the free nicotine patches with counselling - that should be fun. Have you stopped smoking today - Yes I just feel like bursting into flames all the time... Spirit willing but oh so weak flesh..........

I'm not sure what its called but it really is supposed to be fantastic

if you do a search for smoking mouthwash it comes up

My brother had hypnosis 4 weeks ago and its worked a treat no cravings and after the intial appointment you can go and get top ups if needed. If you think 'well i spend £40 a week on cigerettes, then £240 is an investment due to the amount of money you will save'.
Its been 9 months for me now, i feel great in the mornings, I can walk up hill and taste food. My teeth are white (apart from red wine staines) breath is fresh and damn i even smell good.

LOL @ Emma re the red wine stained teeth !! :D :D

You know you have had a bad night when you wake up in the morning and look at yourself in the mirror and you have red wine stained lips !! :D :D :D Also when you go down stairs and put the empty bottles out for recycling shocked as you thought there would only be two bottles and there are four and it is not because you are still drunk seeing double !! :D

Lucy
xx

Well done - nothing worth doing is ever easy!

Each one you don't smoke is a success for you.
:)

Hows it going Loreli???? Are you still a non smoker?
And as the ad's say...."Never give up, giving up".
I used the free patches from the GP's and they worked brilliantly. Previously had tried by going cold turkey but it made me a raving lunatic, and I felt soo sorry for the kids. They used to be terrified when I lost my rag.
So after using the patches, I found after a couple of days the cravings totally left me.....it was the habit of 'hand to mouth' that got to me, so I smoked a narrow straw. Passing motorists must have thought I was a nutter D) but it helped me.
To keep my mind occupied in the house, I decided to repaint the living room, and that helped keep my mind and hands occupied.
And after about a week ish, I noticed my awful cough going, and bike riding was soo much easier...could not believe how much easier I could breath
Having said all that, I got too full of my little self.....thought I didn't need the patches anymore, so went without. Then thought I was over the cravings, so very stupidly allowed myself a smoke at a party. (It tasted gross, but even more stupidly, I persevered) and am now a smoker again....aarrrghhh
But at the mo, I don't want to quit enough, so will wait a while.
Good luck Loreli....it's not easy, but using the patches will DEF help. Keep at it. The money you'll save is great...it's how I helped to pay for Henry.
Let us know how your doing, please

hmmm...parties and pubs are the worst for a recently-given-up-smoker - avoid at all costs until you are completely strong enough!!

give up again steph - you know you can do it!

thanks Chloe.......I am very determined when I want to do something, but I have to want it badly enough. At themoment tho, I feel to knackered to do anything. Am sitting with a ciggy in my mouth at the mo, coughing up huge globules of phlegm (SP?), with a chest infection....now wouldn't you think this would make me want to quit???
Jeez, where on earth has my will power/strength gone?
Can't believe you went cold turkey....I nearly killed my family doing it that way :O
Good for you girl
Edited to say,,sorry,got you muddled Chloe.....thought it was you that went cold turkey. How DID you manage to quit?

I did go cold turkey... I was never a big smoker, and I gave up with my first child straightaway... but then started again when she was about 2 and I worked somewhere where everyone smoked and it was a real social thing. Then I got pregnant with Zack and gave up again...and after that I had a couple but absolutley hated the smell and the taste and the guilt more than anything - I never smoked a full one again.

I just kept thinking "you've come this far, why are you letting these beat you???" Eventually as time wore on I just couldn't stand them, and now, I wouldn't have one if I was paid to! I avoided all the places where people smoked...and just kept thinking of the woman who lived next door to me who had breast cancer, and kept smoking... I couldn't understand why someone who was dying would not to anything they could to save themselves - and realised I never, ever wanted to get like that.

C :)

Good for you Chloe.
I was about 28/29 when I first started. Until then I was totally anti smoking. I mean, I wasn't bothered at those who did, just couldn't stand the thought of it for myself. All my family (except brother)smoked and I was determined I wasn't going to follow the crowd, if you know what I mean. Then suddenly one day I really, really fancied a ciggy, so bought ten, then it went from there. I could kick myself now.
I will kick it again tho', just not at the moment. I have to say, I really admire people who CAN quit it. My parents both quit 15 years ago and they were totally disgusted with me for starting in the first place. God, did I get an verbal lashing for that !! :D

My mum had been smoking for over 50 years, then last year she needed a operation on her leg, the consultant asked if she smoked she said yes so he told her to give him a ring when she has stopped and he would do the operation straight away.She went on patches and has been stopped now for over a year, she is 74.

Well done to your mum Britney. The patches really do work if you want them to enough. :)

Rotten is the word, dear, ROTTEN. This has been a stressful weekend with teeny bopper sleepovers and so on and all the usual weak excuses! SB has announced hes ordered a new computer and we need to start paying next month - I could SCREAM but will have to get on with it so tomorrow is the start of my new campaign. Tonight I have the calulator out working how much money we'll save and Im asking myself how I'll feel if the kids have no Christmas because I smoked it all - definitely getting patches now. Dont write me off yet Im going to get there - and itll stop gothboy mooching fags off his mum. Thanks for the thoughts.:) And Steph I did exactly the same thing as you apparently lots of us do.

well Lorelei, tomorrow is always another day...and good on you for not loosing the determination to quit. I've completely lost it at the moment, but am sure I'll get it back again, <<silently hopes and prays that it will come back>>
If you have the want to quit, then keep on going. Just you keep on and on and on until you finally quit for good. And when I finally get that wanting back, I'll let you know my quiting date.
When me and my partner tried quiting together, last year, we found it a bad idea. Both of us were like grouchy bears, screaming at each other and the kids...oohh noo, we try separately now, and fail separately, and then try again. lol.
The money you save is def an incentive to quit. I felt rich when I wasn't having to fork out for smokes. The thing is, we were really skint at the time, so money was tight. Now the money probs are sorted and I'm getting them cheap again, it takes away the incentive to quit.
Keep on at it tho Lorelei, and let us know how you get on.
Good luck <<fingers crossed for you>> :D

While I was in hospital I read just about every magazine you could think of, one had a stop smoking thing and the recommended Liquorice root to chew as it was supposed to give the same effect as smoking without the effects.Never smoked so would not know,but there it is for what it is worth

Lorelei,

Hi....Hubby and I are going to try and give up. We each smoke 20 a day..so you can imagine the amount of money spent on the damn horrible things.

Hubby gave up, about 2 years ago, for 18 months, but has started again. When he was not smoking, I smoked about 5 a day, but since he's started again, I smoke loads.

The thing is, I really hate it. I hate the way it makes me feel (tight chested etc) and I hate being 'ruled' by them, ie...after a meal, I have a cigarette, talking on the phone..cigarette...you know what I mean, I hate the smell of them....everything.

It's not the nicotine addiction part that's worrying me about giving up, it's the habit.

I've smoked since I was 13, and i'm 26 this month. I swear, I would do anything to give up, I really would, I just don't know where to start.
This thread has helped a lot though.

It's very weird, because I have lots of reasons TO give up. I have a cottage that needs renovating....think of what I could do with that saved money!! I also suffer panic attacks...and when they're bad, I think I'm having a heart attack.....that should be a good enough reason to give up...but no....I'll still reach for my fag packet. Ridiculous isn't it?

I'm trying to figure out now, what I enjoy most...wine or cigarettes. The wine is winning at the moment, SO..if I give up smoking, I can afford more expensive wine!! What's the easiest to live without...my lungs or my liver?!!

Being really serious again now....I really do want to give up. Want to try doing it together?? My e.mail is on profile, give me a shout.

Take care, and good luck

Lisa xx

Hi Lisa will email you as soon as I find out how to work the thing - youre dealing with someone who thinks a food processor is arcane. Will definitely find some liquorice root. I tend to smoke as a way of girding my loins to do the ironing etc and dont smoke when Im doing something I like such as training the dog or walking in the woods. However I can change a habit - we have changed habits now we have Morse and now walk out in the fresh air every day and are stricter with kids about where they eat and when etc. Just remember we are all non smokers for 8 hours at night so if I dont wake up to smoke its a habit to break.:)

Ha! Made the call about a stop smoking clinic and guess when it runs 3pm just in time to rule out anyone having to pick kids up from school and the next one is not till the 23rd September at our surgery. If according to the health visitor Im going to be "awkward" I have to make a special appointment half an hour away and probably at a stupid time.. Im so irritated youd think they wanted people not to quit.

...you wouldn't be looking for reasons not to go would you? :D :D

Who,me? No, I just have terrible trouble getting to school on time as it is and Minibeast comes out with a face like thunder and does her Attila impersonation if Im 20 seconds late "MUUUUUUM, Michaels mum is here before you AGAIN and your LATE picking me up!!!" Then demands sweets with menaces. Roll on next year when she can come home with Stinkfoot.

Hiya guys <<reaches for a smoke>> Honestly, I really advise you to get the patches. If you can't get the appt at clinic in which to get them free, then I'd recommend you buy them. If you really have the willpower, and determination to want to quit, the patches will DEF help.
The only downer about them is that shortly after you put it on, it itches like mad, otherwise, brill. The first time I tried to quit using them, I was expecting too much from them. Was expecting them to completely take away my cravings and the hand to mouth habit. They did take away the cravings, but it was the hand mouth habit I needed to conquor. So I got a really narrow little straw, in which I could use to inhale. Problem solved. Really, they are great !!! (I should be on commission for recommending these things :D )
I became a smoker again tho, as the nurse I used to see to get a prescription was going away on holiday for 2 weeks. Unfortunately, I missed my appt as was ill...(was a bad hangover really) and there was no way I could get there. And they won't give a prescription to anyone other than the "smoker". And rather stupidly, rather than buying the patches, I bought the ciggie's and I'm well and truly hooked again.
Lorlelei, and Lisa, get the patches, they really DO help. My killer was the phone calls, the pc, driving...all times I liked a smoke...so like I said, I had a supply of narrow straws, (or a wider straw with some paper rolled into it to fill it a bit) and it worked for me.
Good luck ladies, give it a go...and keep us updated as to how you get on.
Steph xx
Get getting another smoke with coffee :( :(
PS...Don't you just hate being ruled by these little sticks of cancer??!

Guess what SB has STOPPED SMOKING !!!!!!!!! He made it through a whole day without a fag cos he hadnt any and didnt want to ask me for the money! A touch more grumpy than usual and in definite need of bananas but otherwise OK and chewing madly on gum. So ( lighting up) I have no more excuses and can hardly inflict my fags on him. As soon as Ive recoverd from taking Satan Filly to obedience classes with Morse ( big drag) it s all on for stopping. Recovery will use up all remaining fags in the house. C'mon Lisa! We can't allow the males to take the lead on this ( or anything else):)