Giving up smoking

[angela12345]

Hello all

I am trying to give up smoking ( I know it's killing me as I have COPD and Emphysema . What are the most succsessful aids please

[elian]

You and me both Angela I'm having some success with the e-cigarette, but I know that the greatest aid there is, is willpower and the desire to quit.

I wish you success

[libby7827]

Hi Angela, there is another question about giving up smoking that was asked earlier, just below yours, you will be able to find some hints and tips there. Good luck with giving up, it's so hard but once you do you'll wonder what all the fuss was about! Libby

[angela12345]

Thank you both very much

[Lynne1955]

For me Champix really helped after many failed attempts. Whatever method you chose, doing it through your GPs cessation clinic will give you a much better chance of success.

Lynne xx

[hufferpuffer]

Hi Angela, you can get 3 different strength nicotine patches from your gp and perhaps an e-cig, ( they weren't around when I gave up!) I started on 6 weeks mid strength then 4 weeks on the low strength and I cracked it and so can you! choose a 'date' to give up and the evening before smoke away like there's no tommorow, knowing that it will just be a distant memory one day,because you are giving up for good! say your goodbyes to the 'friend' who is NOT your friend and Kick 'nic' into the middle of nowhere! make sure you have plenty of healthy nibbles....a giving up buddy is good, I found not telling anyone worked for me..its a truly wonderful gift, life , being able to breathe... so give that gift to yourself , you are your own best friend, do it for you, BE STRONG, because you know you are worth it!!!! I want to hear good news, let us know how it goes and Good Luck!!!! Carol XXX

[angela12345]

Huffer , what a fantastic reply . Thanks very much x

[hufferpuffer in reply to angela12345]

webmd.com/lung/copd/feature...? you are very welcome, I wish you every success and here's some more tips!

[nixy]

I am taking champix tablets, quite good but still getting cravings. 16 days without the dreaded weed and feeling stronger every day. Just keep at it whatever method you choose is bound to help. Oh and the best thing of all is the help and advice you will get from the good people here on this site, they have helped me a great deal. xx

[Polly63]

Hi, I have not smoked for over 2 months now. It is not easy. Over the years I must have spent hundreds of pounds and attended a few stop smoking clinics. So, what is different this time? I was rushed into hospital copd flare up , respiratory failure, put on Bipap etc, there for 2weeks, nearly died. Somehow not smoking in hospital has given me the help I needed, I use an inhilator and an e cig when the urge gets too bad. The guys on this site are fantastic, supportive, if I start to drop my defences, I just have a read of comments. I wish you the best of luck, it will be worth it. If you do succumb, don't batter yourself around the head, just start again. We are all behind you.

[Hidden]

Patches did it for me, good luck and keep trying.

[WeymouthJohn]

My own success was with a book "The Easyway to Stop Smoking" by Allen Carr. You read the book under strict instructions not to stop until you have finished it. He encourages you not to stop until you have achieved the right state of mind. Basically you need to reach a realisation that you are not "giving up" anything any more than you have "given up" crossing roads in front of oncoming buses.

Once I got into the right way of thinking I went from fifty a day to nothing overnight. That was over sixteen years ago and apart from the first few days of physical withdrawal I've never missed it.

I have friends who have achieved similar success.

I firmly believe that for every smoker there is a way to succeed in stopping. Incidentally never say "giving up". It means that you think you are losing something. You're not, you are gaining something really valuable: freedom from smoking.

Good luck.

[angela12345]

Thanks very much x Yes, I have heard about that book andmay very well go and buy it

[kimmy59]

Hello

I used the e-cig I tried a few to be honest and they just had a sweet taste, then my sister said try one called 10 motives that was 13 months ago tasted like a real cig.

Kim

[abbiematt]

hi i smoked for the best part of forty years and was on 40-50 a day i gave up two years ago with the help of champix ive heard of the side affects the only one i had was i cant look at anyone who is smoking makes me feel sick everytime not a bad side affect thou give them a try worked for me

[wishoz]

I too followed Alan Carr's methods and never looked back - found the only aid is your own determination to stop, and apart from the initial yearning it didn't hurt abit. Well worth the effort please try it -try and get the book, Wish you well Angela.

[Ozzygirl64]

Champix helped me through the first time and then I started smoking again. I tried Champix again but nothing. I now have maybe one or two a day with a view to quitting altogether. This is better than what I was smoking up to 30 a day at times but the lungs cannot differentiate between 1 fag or 30, they just know they are being poisoned. There is also a spray but I am not sure if that is available on the NHS or not as that is a fairly recent addition to quitting aids. I tried Nic minis but because I suffer with a painful tongue I found they made my tongue burn so I had to stop using them. Now I am just trying to use will power and I feel although 1 or 2 a day is not good it is better than before xxxxx

[Katlover]

I think state of mind is the only way to succeed in giving up. I have not read this Allan Carr book but from my own experience, I think I have been successful because my state of mind is not that I want to or am trying to give up. I have stopped smoking and there is not the option of picking up a cig, the only options there are if I am craving, no matter how desperate I feel is to deal with the symptoms.

I have used patches and a spray, I only use the spray in the mornings maybe 4 times and I am going onto the lowest patch dose tomorrow and in a week, I am stopping the patches and will just use the spray to combat any intense urges.

My frame of mind, I suppose is like there are no cigs available anymore so I have to just try and reduce the cravings with the spray and ride through any residual feelings of need.

My GP surgery tested my breath for carbon dioxide, around 1 - 2% is normal for where I live and mine was 13% the day before I stopped. My next appointment it was checked, such a feel good factor when it was 1%. Getting support from the stop smoking service at your GP which to be honest, I was cynical about is the best, I was one of those 'I am an ex nurse, what can they do to help ME'.

Going to these appointments are the best thing ever, they don't lecture you, they don't pressure you, they help you and they support you and the best thing is that you can get any replacement therapy on prescription and at over £14 for a week supply of patches and £15 for one spray, that is a big help too.

Giving up is the best thing I have ever done, 8th jan when I gave up, quite possibly one of the best decisions I have ever made in my lifetime.

Just a little side issue Angela, COPD and emphysema are one and the same, emphysema is one of the conditions covered in the term COPD, the other main one being chronic bronchitis

Good luck, you really are making a good decision

Kat

xxx

[angela12345]

Hello All

So far I have bought the Allan Carr book and fully intend to read it.

I asked my GP about it and he has given me the NHS number , apparently there is a ' Patch' that also helps you to cut down and then I can go on whatever the Clinic think is the most successful way of helping me to quit.

I will share a little story here... my sister went to her GP and came away with Champix, Nasal spray, Lozenges, Inhalator and something else ( can't remember what it was though).... As she answered the phone she said' hold on a minute, I'm just going outside for a quick fag'.... I couldn't stop laughing.

I never realised about all lung conditions coming under COPD . I remember when my Asthma was very bad my GP said completely different , Oh well , we live and learn. Thanks again so very much for all the help. I know when I have finally made the decision to quit, I can keep coming t this forum

[ambridge1030]

Champrix did it for me after smoking forty five years and having COPD,i never craved nicotine but i did the habit of it,when you sit down with a coffee or after lunch etc.Patches and sprays contain nicotine so the drug is still in the system.Good luck to all those trying its just a pity we cant buy new lungs with the money we save.So glad i found this site and enjoy reading blogs from the many kind and encouraging folk who are members.

[elly1]

I could never give up smoking I would get on phone and smoke 20 fags talking to mum or sister I have tried champix so many times and it never worked I think this time I took them them like they were going out of fashion and then realised i had missed one but thought well i never got up and wanted fag so took tab then realised how often it had happened and decided it was time to stop asked the doctor if it was atrick plauying on my brain cos I could not beleive it I am still not smoking now and my fellow smokes vapour cig and we r so rich now richie rich only poorer

[CyprusPat]

I agree - it really is Mr Will Power. After 45 years of smoking and being told you have emphysema really does give you a kick up the butt to help kick the habit For me the motivation was to live a few more years so I can see my twin grandsons who are now 8 months old and my new grandson of two weeks grow up. I tried Champix three years ago and they did work (although I used to spend all morning lying down as I felt so sick) what possessed me to have that "just one" ciggie 6 months later I'll never know because I was smoking 20 a day again within a week. So good luck and i hope you manage it.