Well, what a day yesterday was - stuck here in Bratislava with work - the smoking capital of the world - seems that way anyway and had to go out for dinner with some smokers last night - combine this with a day when cravings hit an all time high - you can imagine it was a rollercoaster but........I didn't give in and for that I am so proud - it would have been sooo easy to give in - my mantra - "Not going back to Day 1" was on replay in my head!
Today is feeling abit better - still on an incline of cravings but it is better - I find the whole battle morbidly intriguing - two days ago it was ceasefire - yesterday it was a full attack and today it is sproadic fighting.
A question for you all - the more I read about NRT (I am on patches) - the more I lose faith in them - I am on the "full fat" versions - hoping to go to "Semi Skimmed" in a couple of weeks - but there is this nagging voice saying - get rid of them (to quote Karl Pilkington) and get all the Nic outta your body....any comments on if this would be a wise move?
Thanks and good luck to everyone!
Chris
Chris - Free and Healing for Eight Days, 8 Hours and 56 Minutes, while extending my life expectancy 20 Hours, by avoiding the use of 251 nicotine delivery devices that would have cost me £72.87.
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i am on day 11 so i am by no means an expert on stopping, however I am an expert at quitting (can't remember who said it but some one said 'giving up smoking is easy I have done it a hundred times!!)
I have used patches before but this time chose cold turkey and have to say from my opinion I do not see the point of patches, also I have read the allen carr book in privious attempts and that states that you shouldn't use NRT as it further reinforces psychologically that you NEED nicotine, when in fact you don't and that it simply draws out the process of giving up....
Saying this... I am a firm believer of each to their own and would not like to say stop the patches and be responsible for a failed attempt, You will know what the best decision is for you.
I feel for me that this is the end of my battle with smoking and that I have broken the spell and that this has come through years of education, strong motives to stop, and learning from all of my privious attempts... Ultimatly I believe smoking is all on the mind so stopping requires re-conditioning your brain to that of a normal person (ie a non smoker rather than an addict!) and then making your decision to stop, rather then trying to stop.
However as I said it is early days for me too, soo keep in touch and good luck you are doing really well and have broken the back of it now so WELL DONE keep going and keep in touch!
Could you consider stopping the NRT but being prepared to start again if you found yourself strongly pulled to smoke again?
After all, the way you do your quit is quite trivial compared to actually quitting...what a victory that is!
Surely the secret we all need to learn is that we are sitting at the controls..move over nicotine, you're not the boss...so if you chose to move the rudder a little to the right or to the left...why, you're the boss!
Cheers...and well done on the Bratislava resistance! Sounds heroic!
I went on patches the first time round and as soon as I stopped using them the urge to smoke got me and I did just that.
This time round I'm cold turkey, it's been no easy ride and every day at first was a struggle - now I completely forget about 65% of the time but I have ordered the Alan Carr book only this morning cos I know it's lingering about somewhere and I want to be prepared to fight!
Were all so different and like you I found the symptoms quite intriguing just on how much of a hold Nic had on me and my way of life.
Stay strong and use whatever method get you through it.
Well done you for getting through last night with all them smokers
Tracey x
tracey - Free and Healing for Nine Days, 7 Hours and 2 Minutes, while extending my life expectancy 1 Day and 6 Hours, by avoiding the use of 372 nicotine delivery devices that would have cost me £92.60.
I've asked myslef the same question, I suppose I feel alot safer with NRT. Going cold turkey scares the hell out of me! I suppose it's a fear of not being in control of how I feel.
I'm thinking of exactly the same thing, although I'm only at day 5/6 but have been here before, do I try and stop the NRT?
I think give it a go and see! You can always go back to NRT if you feel it's too much, just remember to stay positive and keep telling yourself your no longer a smoker so smoking a cig isn't an option.
Well done for getting through last night, keep it up!
hi Chris...great respect for surviving a night with smokers at such an early stage in your quit...
if you want to come off patches, why not have a box of lozenges or gum handy "just in case" - I always think that with those you only use them when you need them whereas with the patches they're there all the time...
but...everyone is different as the others have said...I used champix and swear by it having tried to quit (and failed:()a zillion times before with every method known to man!!!:confused:
good luck look forward 2 hearing how you get on...
Well done you seem to have a really positive attitude, and can quite obviously fight.
My advice to you would be read the book in my sig if you are not sure about NRT.
One question your post has made me think of.
Why do people wearing patches still crave?
What is the point in wearing them if you are still going to crave?
Something to think about!
Good luck to you
Great post Tomatpots and a question well worth asking.
many people say that the patches take "the edge" off the craving, but i honestly found that after 3/4 days CT that the edge was off any cravings anyway.
I have said this a lot, that its where your head is that matters, and i stick with that. A positive mental attitude to quitting (e.g. i am not missing out on anything and i am not giving a good thing up) is the thing which will get anyone through the quit.
The Allen Carr book helps people to get that PMA.
some people do manage to quit using NRT....good for them, but for so many others it just doesn't seem to work.
A few quid spent on "Easyway" may just be the answer to many peoples prayers.....
There has been some really valid points made on the whole patchy debate! For me, the patch does "take the edge" off the cravings - for example, when I was forced into not having a cigerette for a long time (flights etc - we have all been there) - the cravings were far worse then than when I have been wearing the patch.
I suppose, there are almost two types of addiction cleansing that needs to occur - the physical and the phsycological. By wearing the patch, you are doing the converse to CT, dealing with the mind first and as you reduce your nicotine patch, you then deal with the physical. I like this way as I believe that my addiction is more in my head than anything else. If I can go through a time-period of reaching triggers and not smoking - thus reconditioning my brain - then the physical withdrawal of stopping/reducing the patches will last the three days and I should be ready for it.
That said, as I mentioned in my orginal post, the more I read Joels library - the more convining the arguement may be for cold turkey - just thinking that I may be subjecting myself to a longer term physical withdrawal than need be.
Anyway, I blahing up - so will shut up now!
Chris - Free and Healing for Ten Days, 8 Hours and 32 Minutes, while extending my life expectancy 1 Day and 1 Hour, by avoiding the use of 311 Cigarettes that would have cost me £90.13.
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