trying hard to quit but fearful of patches

[texasblu]

i have bought nicotine patches but someone just told me they can also cause stroke/heart attack. i am on oxygen, have been forced to become homebound and have become obese due to this. i want to use them and finally quit but am i asking for more trouble?

[Toci]

Whatever risk patches may offer (and I have never heard of anyone using them dying of a heart attack) it is far less than the risk of continuing to smoke, especially whilst using oxygen.

[Suzy6]

I used them the first time I gave up. My only comment is I had to put them on a different place each day or I got a rash. They worked well for me.

[davidmil]

Try an E CIG , it gives YOU nicotine BUT nothing else , will give you a sore throat at the start , but Great for helping to stop/continue to smoke , I use one Now Down from +20 Cigs a day to -5 and a few puffs of an e-cig ,when I feel the urge , Next Stop NO E-Cig, hence no nicotine

David

[broadband1 in reply to davidmil]

yes its the same for me its so hard

[Kathygwanny]

I got free patches from my local Quit Smoking Group 11.5 years ago. Gave me very vivid dreams so took it off at night. I wouldn't have been smoking at that time of night anyway! Stopped smoking before getting as far as the lowest strength patches. Never touched one since. I am on 24/7 O2 as well now.

[helingmic in reply to Kathygwanny]

Brilliant!

I've never smoked, but my father did, hence I got bronchiectasis because I already had a weak chest when small.

People used to replace the ciggy with food. I fancy and E-cig !

I think a little bit of exercise is good too, to escape the computer.

I did once the chair workout of Rosemary Conley, they were good (it was part of a whole DVD on workout, but the rest was very energetic).

[tomc]

I tried patches but they left me with a square red patch on my arm which is still visible a year on although it has faded a lot.

So I went on to ecig electric cigarette and haven't smoked a real ciggie in 16 months.

When I saw my doctor recently I told him I was Vaping as he asked how I was doing with smoking.

great your doing really well he said, I asked, but I am still technically smoking, he said they don't count and he is quite happy for me to continue using them as long as I try to stop completely when I feel mentally able to try.

The expression is, don`t stop trying to stop but you have to be in the right frame of mind to do it.

I have been a lot better since I started Vaping I started eating healthily, sleeping better and exercising even with the ecig which has kept me off fags.

But do ask your doctor if it is a viable option for you, they must be better for you as they do not have the 4,000 and odd toxic chemicals that a real ciggie have.

Tom.

[texasblu]

thank you all, such valuable info.

[AbbyRudi]

Nicotene does not cause heart attacks, smoking does. Nicotene is addictive, but it is not harmful. It's the addition of the literally hundreds of other chemicals and substances that collectively WILL kill you. Now, I am going to be rude. You can be like my husband and continue to smoke, but you may not find a lucky escape like he did. My husband was on oxygen and continued to smoke, so his COPD worsened very rapidly ... Like yours will in comparison to a nonsmoker. Eventually my husband was too breathless to leave his bed, but he still smoked. The doctor told me he was a few weeks from death, so I started to plan for a funeral. You see, my husband would not listen to any of the medics who said if he stopped smoking he would improve. He was certain that the damage was already done and smoking was his only real pleasure, so he was not going to stop. Then lit ash from his cig must have dropped on his duvet and luckily I saw it. The duvet had just caught on fire in a spot above the oxygen tubing, so a real blaze started. I managed to put the fire out in his room, but the smoldering duvet I'd dropped in the bathtub whilst I poured buckets of water on the fire in his bedroom set the bathroom on fire. I called 999 and the firemen (and women) put it out.. Whilst the paramedic was completing her report my husband asked me for a cigarette. I told him I was not going to die so he could continue to smoke, so that night four years ago he became a nonsmoker.

Instead of being dead in weeks his breathlessness began to improve within days. His lung function improved for the next year before it leveled out. Instead of being confined to his bed he was out of the house every day to our local for a chat with his mates. Four years later, it's the same. He is still on oxygen, he still has very severe COPD, but he has his life ... and a good one.

The moral of this story? My husband chews nicotene gum every day, it's the one thing he cannot give up. Neither his consultant, GP, or any of the resp care team see nicotene as a problem. So, you can either listen to rubbish from people who know nothing and continue to smoke because you're afraid nicotene or any of the other stop smoking aid will be harmful, or you can do what you know in your heart you need to do.

[texasblu in reply to AbbyRudi]

thank you for your frankness. when i voiced the concern over the patches because of a gal telling me they can cause stroke/heart attack..it wasn't concern over dying, it was concern a stroke would put me in worse shape and i am alone which means i would end up in some cheap nursing home dependent on others. i want to stop smoking because of what it's done to my life, i used to be a very active outdoors person and now i haven't even been out for over two years. i have wonderful gal who shops groceries for me. i miss my trees, the river, the mountains, my garden. thank you for your help, the patches are here and i feel good about using them now. thank you so much

[Suzy6 in reply to texasblu]

Good luck tex you can do it. Keep us informed of your progress and for us to give you encouragement.

[AbbyRudi in reply to texasblu]

You will do it. I know you can. I also know that you are well aware that smoking is a leading cause of stroke and heart disease; not nicotene. The fear you have is that you'll fail. The fear you have is because you are giving up something that has been a comfort, smoking. In my life I've learned that you have to recognize and respect your feelings, whatever they are and whenever they appear.(I was in my 40s before I figured that out, I'm a slow learner.) It's easy to deflect fear by directing it at something else other than the real source. When (not if) you quit I am sure that you will once again be able to enjoy many of the things that have been taken away from you. <<<< hugs>>>>>

[rambi]

I gave up in 1998, I'd stop then start again. I played that game for a long time. I then said one day " I don,t smoke anymore" for me that worked. It was the hardest thing I've done. I had the" RIGHT FRAME OF MIND " as tomc said. I wish you well, I know if I can do it you can xx

[onamission]

I really feel for you and anyone trying to kick the habit I smokes 20 a day for a very long time then I was told I had COPD and my daughter dragged me kicking and screaming to the quit clinic the skid marks can still be seen on the path. I was given champix that was about 8 years ago, it is very difficult to do and I do hope you manage to give up the cigs. x

[texasblu in reply to onamission]

thank you ,

[hufferpuffer in reply to texasblu]

Good luck texasblu!

[thatcham1939]

IIf you are worried please ask your Doctor