Fags vs me and Allen Carr: There appears to... - No Smoking Day

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Fags vs me and Allen Carr

nsd_user663_14598 profile image
8 Replies

There appears to be a lot of people still having bad cravings and crawling up the walls etc. even after being quit for 2+ months so I feel slightly guilty in not having any of those anymore, or at least not as often as I was getting them at first. Saying that, I don't get the cravings as such but I do instictively reach out for my fags every few days but that soon passes once I realise I don't smoke.

I've lost a stone in weight since I stopped, sleep like a log, don't wake up craving a cig in the morning, and don't get bad tempered, upset or feel sorry for myself :D

It can't be just me who feels this way so I was wondering what methods people are using to quit? and whether those getting the bad cravings should be looking at possibly other, better ways to stop. I was the worst smoker I know and could never see myself as a non smoker but after reading the Allen Carr book and listening to his CD's it made me realise why I didn't need a cig or enjoy smoking. Whenever i've tried quitting in the past using the replacement methods i.e. patches, chewing gum etc. I've always had the bad cravings etc. as I was still addicted to the nicotine from the patches so I think they only way to realistically quit is to stop the nicotine immediately.

The problem with cutting down, or using nicotine replacement is that it just prolongs the agony; it's virtually impossible to reduce the nicotine intake without going through hell as your body is still craving the drug.

The craving never goes away until we get rid of the nicotine altogether and understand that we didn't enjoy smoking in the first place. Whilst still putting nicotine into our systems and believing that we enjoyed smoking and that we have given up a pleasure, we are simply putting off the day when we start smoking again.

"The only way to quit is to quit!"

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nsd_user663_14598
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8 Replies
nsd_user663_15147 profile image
nsd_user663_15147

Hiya,

I'm so happy that you're feeling so good about things :)

I didn't use Allen Carr (reading bits and pieces now but didn't know about it when I quit), however, I do see how smoking is not actually ENJOYABLE. Also see why I've been made to think its enjoyable.... my problem is that every now and then I have to remind myself of that - if I don't keep reminding myself then I start to get cravings.

Eitherway, I'll let you know after I finish the book if I feel infinitely better!

nsd_user663_17920 profile image
nsd_user663_17920

Hi,

Glad both of your quits are going well. I think everybody is different and whatever method they use to quit is brilliant as long as it helps get rid of the weed from their lives. Maybe some people need to experiment to find the right way, but the instant removal of nictoine isn't always suitable for everyone, in the same way that not everybody can wear the same size clothes.

Past attempts by myself have included:

Hyponotherapy (was smoking by the time I got to the end of the therapist's road!)

Nicotine gum (about 3 days on four or five occasions)

Champix (made me sick as a pig, feel depressed and didn't help at all)

Allen Carr easy way book (1 day)

Allen Carr easy way CDs (2 days on 3 occasions)

Allen Carr only way book (1 day)

Patches (4 months, 6 months, 8 days currently)

The last two times I quit after using patches, I didn't crave cigs at all after coming off the lowest doses after 10 weeks. The reason I started again was stupid, to be sociable and have one last hit, after all I could be a social smoker now I wasn't craving. Make no mistake, this is the worst thing to think. You cannot have one cig every now and again.

However, the methods which didn't work for me have worked a treat for thousands of others.

I work in publishing and the way Allen's book is written goes against everything I've ever been taught about constructing literature. This annoyed me in the back of my mind and was probably what prevented me from taking his message in. Don't get me wrong, I think he has everything there, it just wasn't presented in the correct format me as an individual.

I had the opportunity to discuss this with Allen before he passed away. He told me his repetitiveness was to make sure the message got across to the reader, but with my background, it just didn't work for me. He suggested I go to one of his clinics instead, but they were just too difficult for me to get to as a, at the time, non-driver.

So I am back on the patches, I get cravings but it's not really a craving for a cigarette, it's more for something to do, it's habitual. EG, I used to have a cig with a cup of tea, so when I sit down with a cup of tea my instant reaction is to reach in my pocket for my lighter. It's not that I actually want a cig, it's just that my brain knows that this motion has meant that one for 20 years. I think the thing with NRT is that it gets you out of those habits, and once you've broken that chain, then the nicotine weaning can really begin. It works very successfully for some, not for others.

Anyway, my point is that you just need to find the right key to breaking free for you as an individual. It doesn't matter how you do it, just as long as you do. We all have ups and downs in our lives and it's so easy when we are trying to stop smoking to blame it on that for making it 10 times worse. It isn't, it's just the way the drug, combined with often decades of "this happens, cig; that happens, cig;" works.

If you are having a bad day, just remember it will get better. You have not lost anything by getting rid of cigs from your life, but rather gained so much more x

nsd_user663_7469 profile image
nsd_user663_7469

We all have good days and bad day, just some can deal with the bad days better than others, I am just glad to be a non smoker now but as far as I can see the danger will always be there so the best way to quit is how ever you personally can do it and stay feeling positive and smoke free.

I went CT because I knew that I didn’t want to replace one drug with another and I am lucky that it has worked for me at the moment, never say never is also my motto.

Allan Carr works for some, but I think it’s you not the books or cd’s that have made you quit, your will power is the answer always, so just keep telling your self that you can do it and you will.

PS plenty of water LOL

nsd_user663_4859 profile image
nsd_user663_4859

CT for me

I went CT this time and it has been the easiest quit ever. I have quit 50 million times but this time was way different. As I posted beforeI felt on Oct 17, 2010 that I was having a heart attack for women, all the symptons were there and it just freaked me out so bad I almost had my mom take me to the emergency room but I didn't. I am only 43 and so I thought about it and just told myself at 6:30pm that day I would never smoke again and I haven't, it will be a month this Sunday.

What is also carzy is that I haven't had any major cravings. Once when I was irritated I thought about it but that went away quickly, then two times when I have drank of course the though crossed my mind but as quick as it came into my brain it was that quick to leave because I don't want to go threw the quitting again. And I haven't strangled anyone or bi them out, it's been really weird for me to not have the anxiety either but I am taking it as a great sign that it was my time to quit.

Before I have done Champix - didn't like the way I felt on it.

Patches 20 times and just always seemed to fail.

CT a blessing.

Good luck to all those trying to quit or in the quits early, we can do this.

nsd_user663_9220 profile image
nsd_user663_9220

Firstly well done on your quit!! Thats brilliant that you are so up beat about everything and feel great :D

The problem with cutting down, or using nicotine replacement is that it just prolongs the agony; it's virtually impossible to reduce the nicotine intake without going through hell as your body is still craving the drug.

But this bit i have quoted you on has kinda pee'd me off!!

For those of us on the patches and feeling great that we have finally managed to stop putting the nasty white sticks in our mouths, will find this very off putting... well i do in particular :mad:

Yes we all know that nicotine is a drug and a hard one to stop having,

but now reading this i feel rather "urgh" to me it was getting easier each day and thought positive about the comming weeks and now i am just scared!

Sorry dont want to rant about it, but just feel like everyone is now saying the only way to quit is by CT! Kinda makes me feel like poo ...........

Snowie x

Levs profile image
Levs1000 Days Smoke Free

Yes we all know that nicotine is a drug and a hard one to stop having, but now reading this i feel rather "urgh" to me it was getting easier each day and thought positive about the comming weeks and now i am just scared!

Sorry dont want to rant about it, but just feel like everyone is now saying the only way to quit is by CT! Kinda makes me feel like poo ...........

Snowie x

Please dont think like that because of one persons opinions (and thats all they are) NRT is PROVEN to help. The hardest part of stopping smoking is breaking the habit, the actual physical nicotine bit isn't as hard as everyone thinks, its just that they are trying to break the habit bit at the same time which makes it really hard.

You are doing so well snowie !! Yes I have gone cold turkey and, for me, that is right this time. The only other time I have quit successfully was when I was on patches, they made a huge difference to me. The only reason I ended up smoking again was ironically my nan got cancer and died.

Don't let the opinion of one person shake your quit!!

Sian xxxx

P.s I dont' count my last quit of 2 mths as successful as I never wanted to quit and did it out of guilt the time on patches I wanted to stop IYKWIM

nsd_user663_13507 profile image
nsd_user663_13507

So mant topics here, and I can relate to most of them.

Except the weight loss!!! I am so depressed I am going to a wedding reception tomorrow and I have nothing from my normal OR my large wardrobe that fits!!!

I have also tried everything.

Hypnosis, useless.

Patches, not for me.

Gum, yuch.

Zyaban, depressed : (

Acupuncture, didnt work.

Losenges, worked for a few days.

Champex, first time, 3 months stopped.

This time made me so sick I stopped them.

This time Cold Turkey the day after I stopped the Champex.

I still think that CT is the easiest for me.

But I have been struggling, not that I am going to smoke, Im not, but OMG its hard at times.

I was getting so upset and stressed at work today that normally I would have been chain smoking, but I sucked a lollipop and did a lot of swearing instead.

I am finding that I am really quite down, low mood, sad, lonely (missing being one of the gang), nippy with OH (no one else).

I came onto the forum to ask about going onto NRT, I have gum, patches and losenges, but have decided after reading that I am going to keep going for a while.

I do not intend smoking, just finding it hard to feel the benefits just now.

I Have the Alan Carr book and will try to start it over the weekend but will probably manage to busy myself doing nothing and not get around to it. ;)

nsd_user663_14598 profile image
nsd_user663_14598

Sorry if I pee'd anyone off... certainly didn't mean to :( and as someone said, it's only one persons opinion! I just wanted to get people's thoughts on other methods as there are other ways that may have been dismissed as too hard but may actually be better.

We all have our ways of stopping and I agree that the NRT methods do seem to work for some people (eventually) but it also seems to take a lot longer and involve more pain, which is fine if that's the only way to stop. I see a lot of people here on the forum who are getting disillusioned and seem to be still going through hell 2 or 3 or more months after quitting and the only thing I can put it down to is that they must be taking the NRT route i.e. patches, chewing gum etc. and expect all the cravings to disappear as fast as other methods.

My point is that I've tried many times to quit but never had a forum like this to show me that there are other ways to stop. I wouldn't want someone to start smoking again simply because they didn't have the opportunity to discuss other methods.

tia, glad to hear you are going to revisit the Allen Carr book and michellebise67, well done as I know you have tried a few times to quit :D

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