Why is it so difficult to stop smoking..... this is about my 4 attempt now, and because i failed before the doctor won't help me..... so is all i'm using at the moment is chewing gum.

The first time i quit the doctor gave me zyban..... it's amazing, it completly stops any cravings... but i felt suicidal on them... so that was why i failed the first time...... and since then because the doctors refused to help me, because he says that you only get 1 chance...... i can't seem to succeed.

I really do want to quit as between me and my husband we were spending £80 a week on cigarettes...... my husband has also quit with me....... but sometimes thats difficult because if he says something to me then i answer back and before we know it we're in a full blown rowe.

I quit for 1 week this time... but today i felt so stressed that i went and bought 10.... and now i'm feeling rather guilty..... as my husband said that he wont smoke again..... my husband is on the lozengers which cost £7.99 for 36 lozengers and he needs two packs a week, i know this is a lot cheaper than cigarettes but i could buy a packet of fags for cheaper than that.

Any advice plz.

My Mother had smoked all her life and decided to give up on her 80th birthday - duh???  She used patches and that was 3 years ago!

Her Doctor told her that the nicotine addiction is out of your bloodstream after 3 days so once you've done 3 days, then it's just habit to sort out!!  With that in mind, chuck the rest of the packet away, and get through the next 3 days - you've done it before, you can do it again!!! ;)

good for you for trying to quit again..... i have tried several times but it always ends in failure as the kids stress me out. Hubby tried quitting awhile ago with the patches. He managed to stop for over a month. i was smoking outside so's not to spoil his afforts. the patches caused major irration on my arms so i could nt use them. anyway one day i was outside and he came out to talk to me, he'd had a cpl of beers and he was back to smoking again :-(
i was hoping that if he stopped then i could manage it.

hang in there and dont feel guilty about a little relapse, my mum stopped by chewing ordinary gum (wrigleys, orbit) and by telling herself that after shed finished a job she would go to the shop and buy some, making sure as soon as 1 job was finished she started another... with 2 kids and a house to run she somehow never found the time to go to the shop.

i have cut down the amount i smoke by keeping my hands busy, on the net (typing and smoking is a bit tricky if you use two hands to type lol ) and doing x stitch and knitting.....
maybe having a friend who's trying to stop can help, everytime u fancy one ring them and get some support and you could do the same for them, mind you if your having a bad day the phone bill could get expensive lol :-)

hope you find something to help and i wish you all the luck in the world i know its not easy but think of the money you will save and can then spend on treating yourself :-)

Thanks so much for your replies.... i was also using the patches before and they irritated me, they also gave me nightmares because i got the 24 hour patches that you could sleep in.

I am determined to quit..... the second time i quit i managed 6 weeks, and felt great but i know they said that the nicotine is no longer detected in your body after 3 days but i'm still craving after 1 week... strange.

I've smoked for 15 years now..... and i'm also scared about my weight as everytime i quit i eat more and pile on the pounds.

Take care
kerry xxxx

If you are really serious about giving up but lack will power, perhaps you should try hypnosis? I have seen this done and they could not physically lift a fag to their lips. I am seriously considering it to lose weight, but dont have the money to spare at the moment - it is not cheep! 

I don't think the doctor can refuse to help ...all health care professionals know that it can take many, MANY times before you actually achieve your aim.

Can you ask for a second opinion? Failing that I would call the NHS Quit Line

I gave up smoking 30 odd years ago before the patches etc & went cold turkey, it was h*ll as smoking way back then was cool(especially when drugs were added :( ) I used to smoke over 40 a day & it was a month before I could stay in the same room as someone who was smoking. I haven't smoked since & never had the urge to smoke again

I wish you luck & do try that quit line as my friend has been stopped for a year with their help

Good on you Moonmaiden.....i bet that your so proud of your self... as i will be if i manage to quit for good. Hopefully i'm changing doctors shortly so i'll see what they offer.... if they won't help i'll call that number.

Cheers
Take care
kerry xxxx

Hubby stopped his smoking cold turkey 30 odd years ago too, well done to you (and my hubby.).

LOL there is only one thing worse to a smoker than a non smoker & that is an ex smoker !

I have bronchial(sp) ashtma & was shown a pair of smokers lungs these were the spurs to me giving up. My poor dogs have awful reactions to being near smokers at shows & I also lost two dogs to lung cancer that lived with their co owner & husband who both smoked heavily-LC is very rare in dogs so it begs the question that they were both affected by secondary smoke!

It isn't until you are "clean"that you notice the smoker's perfume & realize that you too must have had the aroma :(  which was yet another thing that "cured" me !

Hi Kerry,

Come on girl....you CAN do it.  I and OH gave up just over 4 months ago.  We had done it once before for 4 years but in a moment of total insanity started again.  It doesn't matter HOW many times you try - the fact that you keep trying show your tenacity and guts.  Keep trying honey, you will get there in the end.....and remember, it's only a relapse, don't get stressed about it, you didn't fail, you just need to repeat the giving up process until it finally works.

When we gave up for 4 years, it was soooo easy.  However, starting again was not LOL - it took a few weeks before I could smoke without feeling dizzy/sick.  The first couple of weeks the old fags taste great and the feeling of euphoria is wonderful.  After that time though, all the "nice" feelings give way to needing a nicotine fix.  Pleasure, in the end, has nothing to do with it.

Never give up trying to give up :) :) :)

Thinking of you!

Vicki xx

Moonmaiden.... i know what you mean, when you've smoked and then quit and you walk past someone who's smoking the smell is discusting....and you get choked... because i remember when i were walking through town while i was quit for 6 weeks and the smell made me feel so sick!!!

Vicki..... Good luck and you and your OH should be very proud of yourselves, i know that i will be proud once i've been clean for a while.... thanks for your very kind comments.

Take care.
kerry xxxxx

I gave up when I had flu - I physically couldn't have smoked or I probably would have passed out. Then 3 weeks later when I was recovered I just thought it would be really stupid to start again. That was a few years ago now and I have never been tempted to restart.

Good luck to all those trying to give up, may you all be blessed with flu! <<<joke>>>lol :D

LOL....Colliesrus,  you should also be proud of yourself for quitting.... i really can't wait until i'm 100% quit.... i will never go back to smoking ever.

I really don't know why i started.... because my nan died at 61 with lung cancer and i always vowed that i'd never do it.... then 1 year after her death, i got in with a group of friends and here i am today 15years later trying to quit.

Take care
kerry xxxxxx

im onto my ninth week of non smoking,this time it has just not bothered me at all, i have stopped smoking so many times before, due to pressure, like being pregnant,  - i gave up for two years for each child, from conception, though to breast feeding etc etc. but this time i gave up because i was not enjoying smoking at all, i was just smoking out of habbit .  my oh gave in at the same time and he just smokes four a day and it is really bothering him.  he has gone out with the boys tonight and will l guarantee he has bought some .  I think there comes a time when it is right and you will succeed.  All the other times i have packed in have been forced - pregnancy - but his time through my own choice it seems right,    mind you i have put on half a stone through nibbling.   any way good luck

I've tried many times myself and i just can't seem to quit, i've tried lozengers, that pretend plastic cigarette and of cause the patches which all so gave me nightmares.  It is a really hard habit to kick, hang in there though at least you are still sticking at it, i try to give up start smoking and end up smoking more than i was smoking.  Good luck.

Warm regards Susan

Like MM I quite smoking circa 40 a day cold turkey, no patches then.  (1989)

If you want something badly enough you will do it, if you don't want it that badly you will not, it is that simple.

There is always an excuse to be found if you want to find a reason NOT to give up.

It all comes down to will power pure and simple.

Yes I agree on the will power but you must also really want to quit rather than thinking you should quit because it is bad for you !  :)

I gave up Nov 2002 which was the day I found out I was pregnant. I haven't had one since and find the smell of fags absolutely repulsive especially on somebody who has just had one, blurrrrrrr.....

Lucy
xx

Oh well done to all of you that have quit...... Susan i found that when i quit last time and then started again, i was also smoking more.

I really do hope that i succeed this time...... if you lot can do it then i'm sure that i can..... and to be honest all your advice is helping me to get through this..... so i really would like to say a very big thank you to you all.  :-D :-D :-D :-D

Take care
kerry xxxxxx

I stopped three weeks ago and I am using the patches its getting easier, I have good reason to stop as my son told me my lungs were going to go black and I was going to die and leave him you cant answer with that can you and he is only 8.
Mary

Surely the risk of children and pets getting cancer from secondary smoke is enough motivation for anyone?

I know what you mean Tohme but many smokers aren't convinced about passive smoking.
My mum is now 86, has never smoked and has always enjoyed excellent health. Yet she has lived with family members who smoke for 58 years. 

No tohme, it isn't :) I am afraid that isn't the way an addiction works...if it did then no one with an animal or a child would ever smoke, or drink to excess either ;)

Addiction or bad habit?

Both ...nicotine is the most addictive drug known ...but the physical addiction passes in 3 days, the habit is the worse thing to break

They've proven that nicotine is highly addictive ...

My mum smoked from being about 16 years old until she was 70 when her lung collapsed.  She has never smoked since that day but has got enpysema (sp) and her lungs are absolutely shot according to the doctor.  She has an oxygen machine and is attached to that all day long and never goes outside at all.  She is 80 now and I know she could die anyday and I dread that phone call to say she has gone.   She actually was in hospital two years ago and died and they resusitated her (her lung had collapsed again) but they didn't give her much hope.  To be honest if she did die it would be a blessing because it is an awful life that she leads because some days she can hardly move from her chair because she is that out of breath.  Fortunately she has a very good next door neighbour who pops in to her frequently and my eldest sister lives just up the road.

None of my sisters or me have ever smoked :-)

My hubby was a very heavy smoker - 100 a day at his worst !  I nagged him for years and eventually he gave up overnight, just like that, as Tommy Cooper would say :)
It was doubly miraculous as we were going through an extremely stressful house move at the time. He never had so much as a craving and when I asked him many years later how he did it he said he didn't know, it was as if he had never smoked. All I know is that my prayers were finally answered :)

Thanks everyone..... Anna i'm sorry to hear about your mum.

The one main reason that made me decide to quit was my daughter who's 6.... everytime i lit up a cigarette, she would ask me not to smoke as she doesn't want me to die......and to hear that tone in her voice was upsetting enough for me.......My daughter also suffers with glue ear and apparently smoking doesn't help it.

Take care
kerry xxxxxxx

I know tohme what your saying but it's still very hard to give up, at the moment i have a cold and a chest infection and i'm still smoking, it costs £260 a month to keep my habit going and i still can't give up, i do hope one day for my own sake and my childrens sake that i give up over night, i've got pains in my back quite high up and that doesn't even scare me enough to stop, also bad circulation, where my hands and legs look like corn beef.  The next stop for me is a hypnotist.  I've been to Roy Castles fall ends to no avail, i know when you get anxious, which is when i'm more likely to smoke it causes you to be more anxious plus lowering your insulin levels and stopping vitamin c from being absorbed.  It's just one of those things i wish i'd never embarked upon.

Warm regards Susan.

Hi Susan.... i understand what your saying, it's very hard to quit.... but you know what scared me most.... the day the doctor has to tell me that either myself or my husband has cancer...... thats what keeps going through my mind.... at the moment because i aint smoking i sometimes cry, feeling sorry for myself i suppose.......but then instead of heading for a fag i think of how i will feel and how much i would cry if the doctor had to tell me that i had cancer and not long to live......and then there's the fact that my daughter begs me not to smoke.

Take care.... when you feel ready.... you'll do it!!!

kerry xxxxxxx

Yep, my son was nearly 3 when he started bursting into tears when I lit up, and said "Mummy I don't want you to die". I never realised how much information they pick up in day-to-day life, because it wasn't something we talked about, and we've never watched much television. Goodness knows where he heard it.

Hi Jeangenie..... I think that they just know, don't they?

I was quite suprised that my daughter at the age of 6 knew that smoking kills.

This is really killing me... but i'm gonna try my hardest for my daughters sake.

Take care
kerry xxxxxx

"This is really killing me... "

It is smoking that is killing you, very slowly.............. :(

Life kills you anyway ...! :p

True JG, but why choose to inflict pain and suffering on yourself and your loved ones?

After all, no one puts a gun to your head and FORCES you to smoke, we all CHOSE/CHOOSE to smoke and we can all CHOOSE to give up.

Yes, but having been a smoker and now being an ex-smoker I can understand how very difficult it is to give up. Being told it's all a matter of willpower may be true but it isn't helpful, just as being told that being overweight is also down to a person's lack of determination. All that does is make people feel like a failure before they even start.

Ain't that the truth :rolleyes:

No one likes being preached at ...but helpful comments and encouragement,  now they are helpful ;)

JG I am an ex smoker too and realising that I was not a victim of addiction but of personal choice was what actually helped me.

You can choose to be a victim or you can choose not to be........... in anything.

It was realising I was an addict and not just weak-willed that helped me conquer it ...

Just goes to show how different people are.

Trouble is it isn't just the nicotine in the cigarettes it's other things in there that cause the addiction & they are put in to cause addiction so that the smoker stays hooked

It takes a lot of will power & some people's withdrawal period can be really really hard

Usually only a smoker would say that Jeangenie!!  My OH has quit, but still comes out with comments like 'you've got to die of something' or 'I could be hit by a bus tomorrow'.  All true, but just because you're going to die eventually you don't have to stand in the middle of the road waiting for that bus to hit you.....

It is really hard though especially when u get bored, my son always tells me to stop cos when i smoke he smokes too! Ive give up before but now have a boring job so i just smoke all the time. I know its no excuse but boredom provokes you to smoke more!!

Seeing him so upset worked for me. I quit before he was 3 - that was 16 years ago now, and I've not had one since. The first month or two were hard ...

I ordered an elliptical cross trainer yesterday cos i want to lose weight too. So ive decided, when it arrives, thats the day when my life changes, lose weight get healthy and stop smoking :D Watch this space :(

i ve got one of those aswell, i love it but i do get out of breath with smoking and i need to lose weight aswell so perhaps when your comes we can give up smoking lose weight and get fit together?

OOh ok then :D

right then let me know when it arrives and ill be ready !!!!

I have now given up for 16 weeks :)

I have a medical condition and I needed to give up smoking and drinking.
Giving up the wine was easy but I used fags as a crutch for when I became stressed or upset. I am sure we all started smoking for different reasons and giving up is different for everyone.
When I now get stressed I reach for a grapefruit....yes...don't laugh!
By the time I have peeled it and eaten it, I have calmed down. It also gives you that nice clean taste in your mouth which takes away my ciggie craving.

Keep going and find out what works for you.
Good luck.

Good luck Tippytoes....... I have been out today and bought myself some slimming tablets, as to make me feel better i also need to lose the weight.... that i've put on due to quitting smoking..... my OH also bought me Angela Griffin's dvd so i'm gonna give that ago..... and hopefully in the end, i will of quit smoking and lost weight :-D :-D :-D
Take care
kerry xxxxxxx