My problem is not quiting its staying off smoking always end up back smoking .

[Liz63]

[monky Administrator Cake sniffer outer]

Hiya Liz, I welcome you to this lovely quit smoking support site I'm Pete one of the quitters on here

So your saying that you can quit the fags, but cant stay quit !! erm may I ask you how many times you have quit ?? and how long you have quit for ??

The more information you can give us about your quit, the better all these lovely people on here can help you

Emjay, is one of our lovely quit support advisers and she posted this a few weeks ago, just have a read eh Pete

Is changing your behaviour really that important?

Asked by EmJay ROY CASTLE

14 hours ago

1 answer

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It really is important to try and understand both the physical and psychological aspects of stopping smoking.

For many years now I have always argued that the smoker needs to understand their behaviour first and then work on changing their behaviour where it needs to be changed, this includes working on their thought process etc.

In an ideal world I would ask everyone to set a quit date around 2-3 weeks away and during those first couple of weeks we would work together on behavioural change and understanding everything first. This is why I'm always saying about planning beforehand. However, because everyone tends to want to go it their own way, we will work with every smoker individually, walk with the walkers and run with the runners - so to speak.

Sometimes however, there are smokers who really cannot get through the initial few months, weeks, days or even hours alone and so using certain therapies of their choice will help.

NRT and other therapies, when used correctly can help - it will never 'do' for the smoker what a cigarette will 'do', but it will take the edge off. Whilst it does this, the smoker can then concentrate on changing their behaviour. When the time comes, (and the smoker feels more confident) then they can work towards reducing and then stopping using their NRT or other chosen therapy.

If NRT alone worked so fantastic, then the smoker would be able to 'just stick a patch on' say and never smoke again. However, each time they wake up, put the kettle on or have something to eat (common triggers) then this is when the cravings etc set in and no matter what therapy they are using, the eyes still see and the mind still recognises these triggers. Working very much in the same way as Pavlos dog experiment.

Evidence shows that if a smoker uses a service such as Quit Support, their local stop smoking service or NRT (or both), then they are more likely to still be stopped at 4 weeks. If they stop for at least 28 days, then they are more likely to stay stopped longer.

However, further evidence shows that a high number of people go back to smoking with 12 months. Ths is largely due to those people not thinking and planning beforehand and getting 'caught out' just when they thought they were safe.

More time and effort needs to be focused on behavioural change to guarantee a long term smokefree life.

There's no reason at all why this can't be you who does this

Failing to plan could mean you may be planning to fail... Without meaning to

[tomc LONG TERM WINNER]

I had the same problem when I tried to get off smoking.

Part of the key is to retrain your brain, the mind is a powerfull thing and can easily rule you, this is the wrong way round.

You take control be determind to beat the habit, use tools to help overcome the cravings but do do stick with stop smoking.

I am just over two months now without smoking, dont use any form of NRT now and am rigid in beating the beastie.

I cant say that I dont get the urge anymore, I do, I just think of the health benifits the savings and not giving more than I have to to the iInland Revenue.

The plus over £400.00 saved Dont pay the tax man an extra payment on fag tax clean breath, better breathing.

Downside! Heartburn but hey, I can live with that!!!.

Good luck and if you feel down the community will throw you a life line.

[EmJay Partner]

Hi Liz, welcome to our happy place

There are two parts to becoming smokefree;

1. Stopping smoking

2. Staying stopped

They have to be done in that order and one at a time, they can't be done together. It just takes a lot of planning (planning makes it easier), willpower (not everyone has this to begin with), maybe some nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) and some good friends and good support.

I hope you found the sound advice above from everyone helpful. Let us know where you're up to, whether or not you've already quit or are planning to and we'll help you to get to where you want to be

You really can do this if you believe in yourself

[Liz63]

Ohh alot i have wuit before for 2 years alchohol being the worst time