hi all been fighting off some wicked urges of late also landed in hospital must go hand in hand with quitting lol but seriously not sure what it is or why but been struggling of late these are not the normal run of the mill urges (as i call them as they are not cravings as they are mental not physical) hope they stop soon even went back onto the champix for a couple days and they helped but hey i havent come this far to want full time champix now aaaarg they piss me off but hey im not folding NO WAY im on the first landing on the steps of the penthouse ive got this beat look out make way im comin on in (if im allowed lol)
thanx for listening
cheers
gra
Eleven months, two weeks, two days, 19 hours, 57 minutes and 14 seconds. 21169 cigarettes not smoked, saving $12,066.83. Life saved: 10 weeks, 3 days, 12 hours, 5 minutes.
I know EXACTLY what you're saying. I am experiencing exactly the same thing. It's a hunger but it's not necessarily a food hunger. I think it's a dopamine "hunger". I went out tonight to a Christmas function and I had about 3 glasses of wine and I ate about 2 large bars of chocolate ( they were presents). Before I quit I wouldn't have had the wine and chocolates the way I did tonight. I could have gone on drinking but I had to leave the function, and I don't have alcohol at home so I had to stop.
To tell you the truth gra, I think that smoking is a very complex habit, and the chemical hunger ( as opposed to craving a cigarette ) can rear it's ugly head at many times. The subconscious mind is unfathomable and all we can do is be educated as to it's motive: it wants us to smoke since it hates change.
Well said Nonico, I have been thinking of late, would hypnotism or cognitive behavioural therapy help .... even after we have stopped?
You've earned it!
Take care
Greg
Hi Greg, strangely enough I've been thinking the same thing. I have recently been thinking it would be good to smoke. I know it isn't a craving and that it is my subconscious playing up. Hypnotherapy works well with the subconscious, the only problem is finding a good hypnotherapist. I'll have completed 6 months on Monday so I will not give in to this demon
Hiya Una, the National Smoking Cessation Institute has listings of all approved hypnotherapists in all the different areas of england. They also have listings for accupuncturists.
I think the subconscious has everything to do with stopping smoking, and any activity that tunes into the subconscious has a chance of working.
Activities I know that tune into the subconscious and hence can help "reprogramme" the mind if we set an intention include:
Deep breathing - alternative nostril breathing as in yoga is said to be good.
Meditation & / or praying - both are the same with affects on the mind.
Hypnotherapy.
Psychotherapy - Carl Jung's theories are "layman" friendly and a search of the net gives his take on the subconscious. Knowing how the subconscious works can be a good weapon.
I have been a smoker since I was 12 (when I thought it was cool)
I've been on Champix for the last 5 days and whilst when I am smoking there is a really really nasty taste in my mouth I haven't yet got the urge or rush of saying to me now is a time not to go for a fag so I am still smoking but just half of the fag before I throw it away because the taste is sickening and was wondering whether any "champerts" could give me some advice as to what will happen on my quit date it is in Friday and I am hoping to get up take the tablet and say no I don't need a fag it is also the start of when I start the blue tablet the advisor has said the earlier I set my quit date the better.
The side effects I am experiencing so far is that I keep waking up at a particular time I'm the night everyday since I have been on the Champix and takes forever to get back to bed. I also get the morning sickness once I take the tablet and feel headaches and irritated through the day am I right in saying that because I have had the side effects the withdrawal symptoms that are usually felt are less.
I am determined stop any advice would be appreciated.
I have been a smoker since I was 12 (when I thought it was cool)
I've been on Champix for the last 5 days and whilst when I am smoking there is a really really nasty taste in my mouth I haven't yet got the urge or rush of saying to me now is a time not to go for a fag so I am still smoking but just half of the fag before I throw it away because the taste is sickening and was wondering whether any "champerts" could give me some advice as to what will happen on my quit date it is in Friday and I am hoping to get up take the tablet and say no I don't need a fag it is also the start of when I start the blue tablet the advisor has said the earlier I set my quit date the better.
The side effects I am experiencing so far is that I keep waking up at a particular time I'm the night everyday since I have been on the Champix and takes forever to get back to bed. I also get the morning sickness once I take the tablet and feel headaches and irritated through the day am I right in saying that because I have had the side effects the withdrawal symptoms that are usually felt are less.
I am determined stop any advice would be appreciated.
I used Champix and thought they were brilliant. Yes I felt sick after the morning tab(just made sure I had something to eat and it stopped) I didn't have disturbed sleep but cigs tasted awful so no pleasure from smoking. I think they are a really good stop smoking aid if they suit you. They suited me because the side effects were worth it for the end result. the end result is I have been quit 10 months
thanx all for the replies i agree they are not withdrawals or cravings im experiencing and how could i light up now that I AM A NON SMOKER im barging my way into the penthouse (with permission of course lol) haze the champix worked great for me too this is testament
Eleven months, two weeks, three days, 8 hours, 50 minutes and 9 seconds. 21202 cigarettes not smoked, saving $12,085.19. Life saved: 10 weeks, 3 days, 14 hours, 50 minutes.
smoker i found the first time on champix i had some pretty bad ordeals with them but went off them for a while and the second time around they were fine everything you listed is from the champix although could also be from withdrawals too but i would say from side effects, best advice i can give is
nausea - take tablets with a full meal (eat half then take tablet then eat other half)
quit date - a quit date is better sooner rather than later
bad taste - champix are supposed to make things taste bad thats their function the theory is if it tastes bad the brain will tell you oh no dont have that you could do what i did when the taste gets bad enough ... quit
champix are a good way but they are by no means a magical cure they are called a stop smoking AID aid being the point they will aid you but no pain no gain - you can do this i know as i have done it i will never go back to that smoking shite again yes my subconsious is playing with my head (am i the only one that sees this irony lol) i went from 60 - 70 per day to 0 you can do it oh other advise is simply dont give up and dont beat yourself up if things dont work out just jump up dust yourself off and jump straight back on the quit wagon
hi all been fighting off some wicked urges of late also landed in hospital must go hand in hand with quitting lol but seriously not sure what it is or why but been struggling of late these are not the normal run of the mill urges (as i call them as they are not cravings as they are mental not physical) hope they stop soon even went back onto the champix for a couple days and they helped but hey i havent come this far to want full time champix now aaaarg they piss me off but hey im not folding NO WAY im on the first landing on the steps of the penthouse ive got this beat look out make way im comin on in (if im allowed lol)
thanx for listening
cheers
gra
Eleven months, two weeks, two days, 19 hours, 57 minutes and 14 seconds. 21169 cigarettes not smoked, saving $12,066.83. Life saved: 10 weeks, 3 days, 12 hours, 5 minutes.
:eek: How long do these feelings go on for? I thought it was suppose to get easier!!! It some how feels like a mamouth task when you read that peeps are still struggling months down the line
Or have I just taken this the wrong way?... It's always great to see and hear from the long term quitters, and to congratulate them, but starting to feel very disheartened by reading that so far into a quit and still having urges/ craves/ healing moments or whatever you want to call them.
hello may please dont be disheartened yes we can still get urges this far down the line however they are not as intense or we know they will not hang around or they are easier to deal with i guess im looking for however lets not forget that we are trying to undo as in some cases decades of behaviour and thought these are not going to be undone in just 1 year but by the 1 year mark we know we can fight the demon and we CAN win we know we DONT need the nicodemon we know we can starve him and life goes on as the saying goes as non smokers we are only 1 puff away from being a smoker as an ex alcoholic is 1 sip away from being an alcoholic the fight gets easier to control but doesnt mean our subconscious wont try to recall decades of bad behaviour remember we taught our mind this way of thinking and we can untrain it but it takes time and patience but we can however we do need to remain always vigilant is all it does get easier.
on a slightly different note i went to see my doctor today and the antiscichotic meds ive been on and started back on recently they can make people smoke more the doctor was saying this after a nurse told me that mental patients seem to be heavy smokers i mean you have to wonder at the close correlation of the two therefore its possible that the reason i was such a heavy smoker was due to meds that i was not informed about .... WTF how is this right .........
cheers
gra
Eleven months, two weeks, three days, 12 hours, 34 minutes and 41 seconds. 21211 cigarettes not smoked, saving $12,090.51. Life saved: 10 weeks, 3 days, 15 hours, 35 minutes.
Don't worry. It isn't that bad. It isn't a craving just a fleeting feeling that it would be nice. I find it hard to believe I haven't smoked in almost 6 months. How on earth did I manage that. After smoking for 50 years I'm bound to think of it sometimes. It isn't as if it happens all the time and usually on a gloomy day.
I agree with the fact that these feelings are not cravings, so you people new to quitting don't get the idea that giving up cigarettes will have you craving for them forever.
I don't think the feelings that well up at time are even about cigarettes. When I try to describe it I find I'm saying that there is something missing: nostalgia not for cigarettes, but for a state of mind when I was deluded into thinking I was happy and complete.
I do not miss cigarettes & I never want to smoke again. However, I do feel like something is missing, and that's why every now and again I'll do things like gorge on chocolate, exercise to exhaustion or just generally feel restless. 90% of the time I'm fine and I think gra is going through something similar.
Gra, we're warming your penthouse seat up for you!
New quitters, please don't be disheartened. As others have already said these feelings that crop up a long way into the quit are nothing like those agonies you suffer at the beginning.
But hey, we all spent years - decades, in most cases - honing our smoking habit. It was ingrained in us, at a deep subconscious level. As time goes on and we get used to life without smoking, it does get easier and easier, and the 'prompts' to smoke get fewer - but now and again, a memory stirs, or a situation crops up, and that old habit rears its ugly head and your brain goes 'smoke?'.
But a year down the line it's perfectly easy to tell your subconscious 'no!' - and it goes back to sleep again in no time.
I reckon Gra, you might be feeling like this *because* you're approaching a year. Your subconscious is going 'what? A year? But I'm a smoker, I can't go that long without smoking, I must need a cigarette!!'. It's just a momentary mental panic.
I totally agree with Una, Nonico and gra. I think we all think carefully before we post anything that could be construed as negative. But, it is the story of our quit, warts and all.
I have smoked for 48 years. I have now been quit for six months. Fact. I will not smoke again. Fact.
Any physical cravings are gone. The mind games linger on, but only in odd brief moments. These odd brief moments are becoming more infrequent. But they do creep up on you now and then. 48 years is quite an ingrained habit after all.
My good points this week - a two hour hair appointment where I didn't even think about a smoke. Ditto when having my nails done. Best of all was my hygienist, who was so pleased with me I nearly blushed.
(I'm not really high maintenance, just coincidence it all came in the same week, honest).
I agree with Hellebelles as well, who was typing at the same time as me!)
im in awe, im 2.5 months in and to be knocking on a year seems forever away, you rock
im off to visualise me in 12months
thankyou all for your replies
yes i must stress that these feelings im having are NOT cravings any physical withdrawals died an ugly death months ago this is now the psychological side and definately easier to say no too just at the moment either from stress, meds or whatever my brain has gone i need something im not sure what maybe a smoke maybe just something is missing but is it as bad as early on no way will it make me cave in and light up no way all of us have fought far too long and put up a good fight to even think about going back now no way that will happen as others have said as well farther and fewer between and even when they do come a couple seconds and gone as we are now starting to learn how to instantly dismiss them just sometimes they can be ruthless but not enough to go back to that ugly smelly expensive habit again as we are non smokers and we are doing a fantastic job i dont care if you have quit for 1 day or 1 year good on you we are all doing well
i feel my probs are coming in from my meds that would explain alot
my 20 cents worth lol
cheers
gra
Eleven months, two weeks, three days, 23 hours, 3 minutes and 58 seconds. 21237 cigarettes not smoked, saving $12,105.45. Life saved: 10 weeks, 3 days, 17 hours, 45 minutes.
I'm a bit late to this thread but wanted to say congrats on your achievement. Well done!
I'm only 3 months into my quit and recently, I'm totally preoccupied with thoughts of when the cravings go away. This thread has really helped reassure me that I'm not going to feel miserable for the rest of my life and that there is a life without cigs.
Save a place for me.....I'll catch up with you in nine months, xo
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cravings leading up to 1 year mark
A Day off...
