I am a very heavy smoker ( 40 a day). I have copd and Asthma. I am on day 5 of Champix. At the moment I am wondering if I'll ever stop: :confused::. Despite my health and wealth problems I appear to be hopelessly addicted to this horrible fags! My whole life seems to be geared around smoking. I live on my own and hate admitting I smoke all around the house. I answer the phone with a fag , I sit looking out the window complete with fag.
I desperately need to stop, financially and medically. Neither of my kids smoke ( they hate me smoking) In fact , everyone I know trys to encourage me to stop and still I smoke.
I had a Cannabis habit and yet managed to stop so why am I finding stopping smoking so hard.
Thanks for reading
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I'm not a Champix expert but there are many people on the forum who have successfully quit via Champix and I am sure some more of them will be along soon to advise you. However, I know that as Deb has said, it takes time for the Champix to kick in properly (but I am sure it will do).
The main thing is that you want to stop and if you're mentally geared up for it you're half way to a sucessful quit already. The Champix will help with the craving but you still need to be determined and focussed on quitting for good. That's something that being a member of the forum will really help you with because we're all in the same boat no matter what stage of our quit we're at.
Just keep reading and posting GG and join the family
I have worked with recovering drug users and ex heroin addicts have told me on numerous occassions that giving up drink/heroin/cannabis etc in comparison to cigarettes is a breeze.... Nicotine has got to be the most addictive substance known to man..hence it being so difficult to quit smoking.
I have no experience of Champix but take on Debs advice she has used it so hopefully you will start to feel better soon, ride the storm my friend, sunnier skies are not far away xx
.... Nicotine has got to be the most addictive substance known to man..hence it being so difficult to quit smoking.
...or not...
Nicotine is so addictive that you can wake up one morning, denounce it, and never smoke again for the rest of your life. An addiction that you can choose to partake of is stretching the definition of the word.
Understanding tobacco dependency is paramount in an easy quit.
Nicotine is so addictive that you can wake up one morning, denounce it, and never smoke again for the rest of your life. An addiction that you can choose to partake of is stretching the definition of the word.
Understanding tobacco dependency is paramount in an easy quit.
Surely if it was that simple everyone would quit smoking with ease and there would be no need for this forum?
I hear what your saying though, reading up about the addiction itself can help make it easier as the "pleasure" you get from smoking obviously isn't real it's just satisfying the withdrawal from the last cigarette.
Yes ! I do want to stop. I think I want it to be easy but appreciate it may well be harder than I want it to be. With the Cannabis, what I was trying to say was that I truthfully believed I could never go a day without out . I had been smoking it for 10/12 years and loved every minute . I went into hospital , had not even thought about giving it up , but, I just did.. Yet ! the fags seem to be a different story.
I have been attending a smoking cessation clinic and the people there are lovely and believe it or not not one of them has missed a fag ! The craving they have are small and only last a few minutes.. When I went Friday a woman said to me ' you still smoke don't you? ' I said 'yes' .... she said I can smell you from here ( opposite side on the room)... That's the other thing, I hadn't really appreciated how much I smell and my home must smell. Hopefully my sister is going to set a quit date with me
Helene , I genuinely want to stop. I am sick and tired of smoking and everything that comes with it. I know the copd will not get any better but then neither will it get any worse. I long to have more energy plus more breath. I hate myself for smoking. There is nothing good about killing yourself especially as I have a family. I cannot remember the last ' year' when I could go out and buy anything. Even new clothes ( this is how much money I spend every week)... I have just moved and honestly cannot even afford a mattress ( springs are coming through mine) and all this is because I smoke. I have 1 set of bedding that isn't full of fag burns...
This year I want a nice home a nice garden and maybe even a trip down to St Ives ... I can achieve all this when I stop
Surely if it was that simple everyone would quit smoking with ease and there would be no need for this forum?
I hear what your saying though, reading up about the addiction itself can help make it easier as the "pleasure" you get from smoking obviously isn't real it's just satisfying the withdrawal from the last cigarette.
Alas no, and it is that simple. There are millions that have done exactly that.
In reality you only need one person to do it to destroy the myth.
It's easy to regurgitate stuff found on the internet, especially stuff that is repeated so often it is taken as factual.
Sometimes you just have to look at yourself in the mirror and enquire as to how you smoke.
Physical withdrawal from nicotine takes a while to be felt and smokers light up long before it occurs, so often in fact that the only time they experience withdrawal is when they actually quit smoking.
Smokers smoke in response to many triggers and only one of them is nicotine withdrawal.
Of course, it's a free country. If people want to believe they smoke for nicotine then there's a well trodden pathway of gradually easing off the intake and having a comfortable quit with no desire to smoke, well, that's what we're told...
I am a very heavy smoker ( 40 a day). I have copd and Asthma. I am on day 5 of Champix. At the moment I am wondering if I'll ever stop: :confused::. Despite my health and wealth problems I appear to be hopelessly addicted to this horrible fags! My whole life seems to be geared around smoking. I live on my own and hate admitting I smoke all around the house. I answer the phone with a fag , I sit looking out the window complete with fag.
I desperately need to stop, financially and medically. Neither of my kids smoke ( they hate me smoking) In fact , everyone I know trys to encourage me to stop and still I smoke.
I had a Cannabis habit and yet managed to stop so why am I finding stopping smoking so hard.
Thanks for reading
Hi GG. I'm a recent 'quitter' - 8 days in also with Champix. Hope my very recent experience can help. I decided my quit day would be day 14 (took it right to the wire) and went to bed after my last cigarette last Sunday night having panic attacks at the thought of not smoking the next day, never mind the rest of my life. As far as I was concerned I still wanted to smoke so how can these Champix work :(. Monday morning before work I changed my routine totally that first day, coffee instead of tea, the dog got a longer walk, anything to keep myself occupied and busy. I took one smoke free hour at a time. I found these forums lunchtime my first day and everyone's experience helped me so much.
Went to bed that first night singing in my head yaaay I made it through the first day. Now taking it one day at a time and haven't smoked yet. My statistics may not be accurate but I think within 72 hours all the nicotine has left the body and I convinced myself when my 72 hours were up how could I crave something that I didn't have in my body any more. I still would have and still would like a fag but like you I also have COPD. Within 2-3 days I found climbing the stairs so much easier. In the early days I was glad to read the success stories on here but was also thinking I hate them smug so & so's they don't know what it's really like to be addicted - oh hang on YES they do, everyone will know what you are going through, your anxieties etc. Use us, take one day at a time and all the best and good luck.
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