Trying hard to give up the smokes...open to suggestions

[Nephew]

Gidday Craig,
the two blokes I was talking to rolled up a smoke like ya do. Well I was pattin' my pocket, and no smokes,

Yeah, I know that situation, well!
Your doing really well, Rod, good onya matey!

[Chase N. Nocks]

Time for an update old fella. What has been happening?

[Nephew]

I do' wanna talk about it.

[Bill]

Well spill the beans, I have big pockets that hold big paperbags full of jellybeans.
I was a packet and a few more a day smoker, whilst working for the Government. I had a couple of go's at giving away the fags, but when new department members would arrive and light up it was over.
It finally was a do or die situation with two very young children in the family to consider, I had one last fling and the next day just stopped. The only thing that pushers me evey so often is the lighting up of a match, that smell lingers, but that doesn't happen alot these days so the craving has gone. I and I gather you will have to watch what you eat and how much for the weight will come on fast and strong for the taste of food is now very nice. I walk every morning at 5:30 for 45 minutes this keeps the weight on par. So all the best, chew lots of low sugar gum. ...........Bill

[AndyD]

Don't feel bad Morton - back on the bike mate.

I'm reading this after just popping outside for a you-know-what.

[Nephew]

Thanks fellas, I was really only kidding around saying I don't want to talk about it, Chase, it was just a dodgy way of saying I busted after 10 or 11 days, depending on perspective, and I just gotta try again. I liken it to an old mower..you gotta pull the starter string quite a few times before it sparks up and runs, y'know?

[Chase N. Nocks]

Mate that is exactly what you need to do...you bet it for 10-11 days. Every day without is a victory and those victories will come more and more often and easily.

Craig I was one of those fellas that could light up at 5am in the morning in the car on the way to work...I see people do that now and I nearly have to pull over to vomit just thinking about it. Keep going mate. And congrates to the other blokes doing it as well.

And I still don't think you should give up on the Huntsman bow. Just take a little longer. Afterall looks like you'll be around a little longer.

[GrahameA]

Hi Craig.

.... I busted after 10 or 11 days, depending on perspective, and I just gotta try again. ...

If you lasted 10 days then you can last 11 ... and if you last 11 then you can last 12 .... etc.

In essence - become stubborn with yourself and do not give in.

Grahame.

[wal]

How you goin' with the gaspers Craig ??

I'm about to step up to the plate and have a crack again myself, so I was curious how you got on.

Cheers
Wayne

[Jeffro]

Its not actually giving anything up because smoking does nothing at all for you.So there is nothing to give up.
It is an addiction to nicotine-a poison.nothing more
I smoked for years and I like to smoke when I go camping.theres that round the fire having a beer thing .Trouble is I end up still doing it when I get back.
I have been on that chewing gum for years aswell.Now its a matter of becoming removed from the nicotine addiction with the chewing gum.
At least on the gum its not hard to not smoke but you will never really get off the nicotine .
I just read this book on advice from a friend and It really puts it into perspective.I feel confident now about how to go about it.I reccommend reading it.
Its called The easy way to stop smoking by Allen Carr

[wishsong]

Cool thread . Trying to give up myself !

[Nephew]

How you goin' with the gaspers Craig ??

I'm about to step up to the plate and have a crack again myself, so I was curious how you got on.

Cheers
Wayne

Bloody hopeless, to tell the truth, Wayne. Ah well, just keep trying again once I'm ready. Might have to go bush for a couple of months to escape 'em!

[wayoutwest]

Good luck craig, its been 4 months since ive quite and never looked back. There have been times when im havin a beer and someone lights one up for me thats the hardest thing.
In the end its all about will power, if you want something bad enough youll get it.
Luke.

[Antonio]

cigarettes where my best friends they where my buddy's .these days I see here in the city healthy looking office girls with lipstick their lips around the filter of a cigarette puffing away and I think let me give you my cigarette


under estimate the cigarettes ? think its just a matter of will power ?
Just look at the cigarettes and say no ? Just try will power next time you go to the toilet and see how long you last with willpower .

When I Gave up nicotine was in 1990 I was a 2 pack a day 25 year old felt like an old man found it hard to walk up the stairs . Long story short I was homeless and we where waiting for a ban to take us to the social security to put our forms in there was about 15 of us .one guy came up to me and said something and then slapped me .I cowered down and latter on asked a friend for a cigarette .
He said get lost scab . I felt so low .that latter on in front of every body I attacked the guy that hit me right in front of my so called friends .

But the feeling I had for cigarettes was very strong .had some one given me a cigarette .I probably would not have attacked the guy back for lots of reasons he was much bigger ,he just got out of jail his arms looked like he did push ups or something .seriously I probably would have let it go .
Self preservation does not send you out to attack some one that looks like you would come out second best .

I remember going without cigarettes for a day or two in the homeless mens shelter and they where horrific withdrawals .So when I got myself ok two years latter I never forgot how low I felt without a cigarette .and felt a need to never feel that low again over a chemical like nicotine .

Cigarettes where my best friend any city I was in nicotine was there in the romantic feeling of puffing on a cigarette .walking out of a cinema I could not wait to light up .

I was on a plane I would be smoking I was in a coffee shop having breakfast and coffee I would be smoking .I would be shooting the rifle I would be smoking .I was on a date I would be smoking .I was carrying bricks I would be smoking .I was having a shower I would be smoking .

But at the end I would chain smoke 3 cigarettes one light from the other before it went of .and that for me was one cigarette.

So at the end I was fully addicted years and years of nicotine in my body rarely did I not have nicotine in my blood .

I went mad when I gave up for a few months very emotional plus a massive withdrawal .
My head was going crackers .so much I stopped paying attention to it for about 6 months .

All so I knew that you cant give up an addiction unless you replace it with something .
So I used to walk or run for about 45 minutes every day .i cant remember whether I walked or ran .
But it was a feel good

every body gives up differently .but what helped was lots of water and exercises to get the nicotine out of my body .and also getting used to feeling my feelings .but nothing is perfect I still over do it on coffee and food some times big time .but I have been seeing a nutritionist for that but that's an other topic .

So every body's motivation for giving up is different .my motivation for me was not feeling what and how I felt when I did not have a cigarette and times where not so good .

These days every time I get stressed emotional or what ever difficult thing .I up my excercices I up my communication with people . To be honest an other thing I use for lot of reasons is meditation .
These days I live on food water sleep exercises and if that's all I get I'm good .I am not saying I don't need other things in my life .but I can still function with food water sleep exercises .

I used to smoke Winfield red ..escort...Benson and hedges ….Camel ...Marlborough....Chesterfields
L&M .Chesterfield and L&M where probably my favourites .they where unreal cigarettes.
Still miss them some times .

I would light one of these up and I would be like Humphrey Bogart ,John Wayne ,Al Pacino ,Robert Deniro . Clarke Gable with a cigarette in my hand I could say Frankly my dear I don't give a dam.

I would be with some chick having a scotch and Coke and lighting up her cigarette .flick open the Zipo lighter and say Here sweetheart let me .


At night I might wake up and be having a thought and I would light up a smoke ashtray ,always next to the bed .

But I got to remember that at the end I had nicotine stain on my fingers for years and that my skin used to peel of where the nicotine stains where .I was a smoker and I could smell the nicotine smell on my clothes .and even on my breath my mouth smelled strong of nicotine .
When I remember that I understand why such a strong withdrawal.

I think there's a lot of reasons why I gave up ,one of them is my freedom .I don't like being dependant on something .but there is lots of other reasons I gave up .some I probably forgotten .
I even question coffee some times as I can withdrawal from it to some times .
I better leave it there some times I don't post for a long time and then I over do it like this .

In the last 18 years I probably had about 8 packets of cigarettes picked up on some a cations a and smoked for a week or two max then not smoked for 5 years had one cigarette
then stopped for 3 years some thing like that but my main thing is to stay stopped .

I am a wimp as far as I cant stand the madness of the withdrawals
so I rather withdrawal and get it out of the way and stay stopped for me the withdrawals are a real nightmare and don't like them .so for me the dread of in the back ground if I was smoking would be what happens if I run out .there's a certain madness that comes with the withdrawal
.and I wouldn't go throe it for any one .

So I think that a person is blessed If they can give up .
For me its a feeling like my life depends on a cigarette and my head telling me No thats not rational its not true but my feelings feel like its true . I don't like that space I get irritable when I am in it .and If I feel that I am going to depend on cigarettes like that the cigarettes can take a walk .

[wayoutwest]

He's tryin to give up smokes not CRACK.

[dawallace45]

I gave up around 23 years ago ,

When I worked as a mechanic I smoked about 30 to 40 a day , when I went to driving a fuel truck I cut down to about 20 a day but when I stoped driving fuel went back to 30 a day ,

Around the time I was 30 I managed to catch Q Fever , glandular fever , Ross river fever , Barmah forest fever and Tick fever ,and a chest infection that turned into Pneumonia , also developed asthma and severe arthritis , doctor told me that my asthma and pneumonia was that bad that if I didn't give up smoking right away it wasn't a case that I may be dead in 6 months it was a case that I'd certainly be dead in six months , I had a half pack in my pocket and 3/4 of a carton in the cupboard at home , I threw the pack in the bin on the way out and the carton stayed in the cupboard for over 10 years before it was tossed , never had a problem , didn't have withdrawal , for many years just the smell of them made me gag but now days the smell still makes me gag but I also get a craving for one but if I move away from the smoker the craving goes in minutes

I'm still a bad asthmatic and over the last 23 years have had several bad bought's of Pneumonia so at the moment I'm really not game to smoke

David

[wal]

An update...feelin' a bit up myself at the moment, three weeks off the gaspers ....on the drugs (Champix)to get off the smokes, doesn't really figure, but hey it's working.

Chewin' that many Eclipse mints that I can **** through the eye of a needle at 20 paces, I didn't know the suckers were a laxative It was a long week fly fishing at Eucumbene without them, but once I got through that I started to be confident that I can roll this.

Keep tryin anyone who has tried before, I;m starting to thing kicking the habit gets easier the more times youy try, and I will win this time.

Cheers

[wishsong]

Wal...
been there mate ... I think its called Zorbitol or similiar ...... through the eye of a needle all right !

[bigbob]

Keep at it, the end results are more than worth it, and as I mentioned in an earlier post I used to smoke a PACKET of Drum a DAY! Havent had a gasper for 25 years and unlike some quitters I NEVER want to have another one and cant stand someone smoking close by. Seen to many of my mates go down from heavy smoking.

[piggy]

Mate I smoked a packet to a packet and a half of Winfield Blues a day for 15 years, got the patches when they first came out about 10 odd years ago used them to take the edge off and have never smoked since. It's one of the best things I have ever done, your self esteem will improve you will feel physically better and you will start to smell things you never knew existed. If not for yourself do it for your kids and wife.
When I gave up the psychological addiction was the hardest part, during morning tea at work my hand would be trying to get the non-existent smokes out of my pocket without me even realising I was doing it quite funny really.

Keep at it mate you will win in the end.

[bigbob]

Can relate to the psychological part as I used to roll my own and eventually found that having a mintie was what I needed as the act of getting one out, unwrapping it and putting it in my gob was near enough to the same process as rolling a fag. Worked for me . The only downside is as you mentioned the sense of smell becomes far more acute and unfortunately food tastes that much better that a new battle emerges. The Battle of the Bulge! .Still exercise fixes that.

[Nephew]

That's one of the problems I have, Bob. I'm so used to rolling a smoke when I'm talking to someone it feels weird when I don't. Like Ben Chifleys pipe, it gives me time to properly consider a reply sometimes, too.
Anyway, you blokes are inspiring me to give it another shot before I head out West again. Back in the saddle!!

[Stickbow Hunter]

Anyway, you blokes are inspiring me to give it another shot before I head out West again. Back in the saddle!!

Great idea mate!!!

Just think of this - it's a long time listenin' to Livin next door to Alice between stops without the added angst of needing to have a smoke!!!

Now as an added incentive if ya give up the smokes I'll leave the Smokie CD's home! Now ya will have to give up.

Jeff

[Chase N. Nocks]

That's one of the problems I have, Bob. I'm so used to rolling a smoke when I'm talking to someone it feels weird when I don't. Like Ben Chifleys pipe, it gives me time to properly consider a reply sometimes, too.
Anyway, you blokes are inspiring me to give it another shot before I head out West again. Back in the saddle!!

Well Ben, they must have been the ones that never got typed here.

[Nephew]

That's one of the problems I have, Bob. I'm so used to rolling a smoke when I'm talking to someone it feels weird when I don't. Like Ben Chifleys pipe, it gives me time to properly consider a reply sometimes, too.
Anyway, you blokes are inspiring me to give it another shot before I head out West again. Back in the saddle!!

Well Ben, they must have been the ones that never got typed here.

Oh,Touche!

I wont make any rash promises, but you've got a bloody good chance of seeing that, Jeff. On $ alone, I just can't keep it up, let alone health!
Abstaining from both Smokey, and smokes will be equally beneficial , I think matey!

[Stickbow Hunter]

Abstaining from both Smokey, and smokes will be equally beneficial , I think matey!

Jeff

[bigbob]

If all else fails Moreton get someone to tie your hands behind your back and put sticking plaster on your gob! That would be a good weight reduction deed too.

[ozzy]

patches worked for me moreton,i smoked for 25 years and was getting up to 80 smokes a day in the last few years of smoking but have been off the durries now for a year and a half and not going back it feels to good not to smoke.

main thing is mate you have to want to give up

best of luck and hope you kick them

mick

[sambar]

mate i have just given up and i used the electric smokes called elusion electric cigarette they are a little costly but still cheaper than smoking you get the nicotine your body is craving but non of the nasty chemicals. they are as harmless as a cup of coffee and you can step down in mg but the good thing is you can use them anywhere, inside, wherever you want they have no smell at all.and as stated above you can break some of the triggers like having to go outside for a smoke. they helped me quit before my bub came along look them up mate.

[Gilly]

I used to smoke 30 Marlboro a day but I gave it up 30 years ago, I did it cold turkey, it was hard but it was my boyfriend at the time that kept me honest, he did not smoke and I did not like the idea of him basically kissing an ashtray so I did not have any, I must admit I did try one about a month later but the nausea and slight roomspin made me stubb it out!
Just take it one day at a time Moreton, maybe mark down every smoke free day on the calendar, its a bit of encouragement that way!

I have every confidence that you WILL do it eventually if YOU want to.