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

[Nephew]

Hey blokes,
Out at Cunnamulla I was a little dismayed to find I was the only smoker in camp! When you get four working class fellas together and only one is a smoker it's a sign of the times...and also a sign I may be lagging behind my peers. It's time the smokes went...after all who knows how many $ I've wasted, literally sending my money up in smoke, since I first smoked a cigarette at 12? I'd hate to know the real figure, actually!
Now, this is not the first time this notion has taken me, I've failed almost as many an attempt to give up as there are brands of cigarette! I've tried patches...they wont stick to me for some reason ,I've tried gum...the best method so far but still some unpleasant side effects, I've tried "cold turkey"...I could write a reference book on failure with that particular research material, take it from me ... and this time I'm trying inducement. My partner, Sharon, who has no interest in archery other than it gets me out of the house and so is therefore a force for good, agrees that if I were to successfully give up then a Mark Kimber Huntsman would be an appropriate reward for what will be, I believe, one of the hardest tests of willpower and endurance any person can face (No, I'm not kidding or being sarcastic, it really is! ).
I rang and spoke with Mr. Kimber, whom I had never met nor spoken to before, and he also seems to deem it a good idea and thinks it should be sufficient motivation, especially once I've abstained three weeks and the deposit is lodged (Sharon's one condition...three weeks without a smoke before we pay the deposit, and fair enough, too!)
I'm serious here. I really think this will be damn hard, but I am determined to succeed!

So, first step...set it in concrete by announcing my intention in public! Embarrassment at not keeping my word is a very strong motivator for me. Then, get rid of all smokes, lighters, ashtrays, etc, anything that suggests smoking. Step three ask all visitors to respect what I'm trying to do and refrain from smoking here in my flat or even in the yard...ok, so what's my next move, folks?
I'd reckon there would be one or two reformed smokers on here, how did you finally get the monkey off your back once and for all? Did it take multiple attempts like me? Or did you just make your mind up and that was that?
You'd think the promise of a Huntsman in the New year would be enough, but I need backup to make sure!
I'm ready to consider all sensible suggestions, thanks to all.

[DylanK]

Mate I'm not a smoker and never was, but something that tends to help me when i'm faced with a problem, is to analyze it.

Think of why you want a smoke, and why it gives you satisfaction?

What are the side effects of having one/many smokes?

Will I be happier in the end or is it a short lived happiness?

How much could I save if I stopped?

How far have I come since not having a smoke? (rewards are good especially in a form of a bow:)

Will my partner be happier if I stop?

Might sound a bit cheesy, but honestly after considering the downfalls of having a smoke, it kind of makes you wonder why you would want to and whats the point?

Having said this, I don't know the feeling of craving a smoke so this could all be smoke out my rear end (pun intended .

Dylan

[hue]

Dylan, with all due respect to you mate, BS!!!!
smoking is an addiction, pure and simple.
it starts as a physical one, with the brain craving nicotine and then becomes psychological as the brain needs something to do with your hands etc etc etc and all the associated cons that the brain feeds us so we don't stop smoking!
Morton, go to your Dr. and ask if zyban could work for you and if not that drug, try champix. either one will work.
these are heavy duty meds and both get rid of the physical/psychological cravings. talk to your gp mate!

Hue

[Nutgrass]

Yer mate, Hue beat me to it, an appointment with the doc offers many new options to beat the fags these days

[Nephew]

Thanks Dylan, appreciate your efforts mate. It is a little difficult to understand just how badly the smokes can get under your skin without having smoked them, though Bud. Trust me, they can keep me awake at night if I accidentally allow myself to run out after the local kiosk shuts. Incredibly insidious addiction... anyone reading this that has so far not succumbed don't ever let y'self get involved with them!! No-one ever regretted not taking up smoking, I'm sure!
Hue and Gidget, I reckon you're both onto something here, although I'm told Champix can be a bit iffy, folk having strange experiences with mood changes and temper problems. Have either of you heard anything like that? I agree on the G.P. and will make an appointment for A.S.A.P.

[hue]

Moreton

of the two, champix is the better, the meds are milder than zyban. they are both, mind altering to a certain degree!
talk to your gp mate

Hue

[AndyD]

Moreton,

My quit success is somewhat tainted by the last few months - but I gave up for 3 years and I've just quit again.
Suggestions:

1) For the 1st week avoid the "triggers for smoking". For myself I avoid a beer for the first few weeks
2) I use the tablets at first - use them to control the cravings for the first week(s)
3) Make a rule that you will never give into an urge unless you have waited for 10 minutes - within that time the cravings pass.


Good luck - let us know how you go. I'm 72 hours into my latest quit...

[hue]

that's pretty good advice Andy!
booze is probably the worst trigger, followed by empty hands!

Hue

[Nephew]

That IS good advice, thanks Andy! Good luck in your endeavours too, mate, and let us know how you end up, hey?

[AndyD]

that's pretty good advice Andy!
booze is probably the worst trigger, followed by empty hands!

Hue

Yes I definitely agree with the empty hands part. Last long time quit I started building models at night to distract myself and keep my hands busy.
Likewise with the nicorette lozenges I used - I would put them in my mouth, get them out again, put them back in etc etc.

And I was never even a particularly heavy smoker - maybe 1 -2 packs a week max. It gets a powerful hold of you.

Any kids reading this - avoid it like the plague.

[Stephen Georgiou]

Smoked from the age of 12 against the advice of my father who said I should wait until I was at least 16....

Gave up by becoming an expert at giving up.

The only way I found to give up was to stop putting them in my mouth and coming to the decision that to be an ex smoker would be one of the bravest things I could do.

One word of caution. Once you stop you are only one cigarette away from being a smoker again. So if you intend to give up you have to remember that one cigarette a year will turn to one a month and then a pack a day.

I had 2 people in my life who said things to be that disturbed me about my smoking.

One was from an old friend who said.

"Every time you are putting one of those things in your mouth you are killing the father of your children"
He used to s#it me to death saying this!

The other was from a doctor at a conference I attended many years ago.
When he walked on the stage he addressed the audience and said, especially to the smokers who where leaving for a smoke before the next interesting speaker turned up. "Hello gentlemen, before you leave I want to make a statement." Some stopped and turned around, I was one of them."You are leaders in your industry and I have no doubt, you are clever, motivated, inspiring individuals, but I have to let you know that," and here it is.... "There is no such thing as an intelligent smoker."

He went on to say that there are different intelligences and mentioned Debono's thinking hats and the 7 intelligences and explained his position.

I could of punched him in the head!

I did wait for him afterwards and instead of punching him I told him how upset I was that he could say this, as I considered above all things that I was in fact intelligent! He then said to my face that, he admired my courage and that the first step to understanding what he meant was to think about the process of smoking, apply my intelligence to logically establish a reason for doing it and then assess his statement again.

It took me years to manage to give up. The whole time with these 2 people walking around in my head.

We all have our own battle to be fought in our own way and to be man enough to take the challenge and win will be the bravest things you will ever do. If you don't believe me, ask an ex smoker.

Your passion and energy comes through your posts and I know you have the will.

"The only time you will lose is when you give in!"

SO

In the words of Winston Churchill, in his famous speech to the final year students of Harrow school:

"Never,
never,
never,
never,
give in"


Cheers and good luck.
Stephen

[longbow steve]

Go for it Craig!
For me I chose to join a totally new soccer team and made the decision to become the fittest I have ever been rather than make my focus giving up the smokes. I used the patches for the first week and then just ran my butt of.
Joining a new group of some sort was good because it was interesting and there was less chance of me relapsing due to the fact that I had turned up and socialised then trained etc as a non smoker.
Have strategies in place ie a bottle of water on the go at all times, carrot and celery sticks, your bow ready to fling some arrows.
Write a new agenda for the day that is different than what you normally would (Lay down new neural pathways), start walking and pushing yourself as endorphines from exercise give you a buzz and will keep you motivated.
Do it Craig. Steve

[Nephew]

Hey, thanks so much fellas, I really do feel, and appreciate the support I'm getting from you blokes! I haven't had a drink in twenty years ( another bad, out of control habit I once had, but beat! ) so I'm safe there, but the "what to do with my hands" thing is spot on! I smoke White Ox and have always used the roll-up as a device to give me time to compose replies in conversation, a trick I learned from Ben Chifley who did the same during Question Time in Parliament, but in his case, with his pipe. When a statement or question deserves more than an immediate but less than thoughtful answer I roll a smoke and consider the options. I'll have to work out another strategy as conversation and rolling a smoke have become synonymous for me!
I keep telling myself that without the smokes I can walk that one more ridge, or bend in the creek, etc, to find the big game and will be able to spend a few more years out West than I would if I continue smoking. I started hunting late in life so have much motivation to prolong involvement.

Hunting as a "Give up smoking" device, I love it!! Find something bad and wrong in that, P.E.T.A.!

Craziest part about all this is? 17 years ago I watched my father take his last, rasping, laboured breath due to smoking...a death I wouldn't wish on the most rabid, froth-at-the-mouth, bigoted, hate everyone that disagrees with them A.L., it was so horrid!! I still get angry when I think of the profit Big Tobacco made out of killing him, and so slowly, painfully and torturous, too! You would think that would be enough to make me throw smokes out forever! To deny those greedy, grabbing vultures the profit, if nothing else! Yet, once it was over and he was finally out of his agony I went outside and lit up a smoke before I had even noticed what I had done!! Make sense of that...if you can!

[longbowinfected]

Moreton,

I loved my smokes but gave up cold turkey the one and only time I tried....lucky me.
I did this because my kids asked me to because of Bob Hawkes Govt advert campaign.
It gets easier it just takes time.
Work out and run....endorfins required. Be careful that you do not get fat like I did because you supplant one vice for another.
Get rid of every stimulus situation that is associated with smoking. Do not go to the pub or the coffee cup which you enjoyed with a smoke.
Reward each successful day with something small but special.
Reward each week with something bigger.
Reward the family/partner with a special outing worth half the money you save each month.
Put the other half into either a quarterly holiday or annual holiday.
Plan each reward in every detail with your family.
Soon you feel healthier.
Your body actually gets rid of all the crap. Three months later your lungs begin to heal.
A year or two later they are clean.

Two out of three blokes gets cancer.
I have it [not lung cancer]. Decisions and change might help later but why not try to be the minority guy who gets lucky. I would not wish the big C on my worst enemy
......think about what it would do to your family to die early.

Sorry mate. A bit blunt but no value if sugar coated. You are already talking the right way and your head is working towards this. I admire you for it. Age 30 I went down this path and I have never regretted it.

Power on.

Kev

[Nephew]

No need for sorry, Kev, you may be blunt, but you're talking the truth!

[bigbob]

I smoked rollies for the best part of 20 years and got to a packet of drum 'baccy a day. My revelation finally come whenIi was at an ABA shoot that was all up and down hills. Each target I had every body in the group shooting before me, while I tried to get my breath. I was the sort of guy who if I woke up during the night for a leak would roll a smoke on the way, and any time I was short of coin and had to choose between a feed or a smoke, muggins went hungry. At that shoot I realised things were only downhill from there, so I gave myself a week to decide if I wanted quality of life and the ability to pursue active hobbies like bowhunting and fishing without a wheelchair and a respirator.Didnt take a week. As much as I craved smoking I equally loved my active pastimes. I tried those horrible niccotine replacement gum thingos, but threw them away after 2 days and went cold turkey. 3 weeks later I tried one puff from a mate's fag and nearly fell of my chair with my head reeling and feeling dizzy , etc. Just the realisation of all those chemicals surging through my blood stream turned me off completely. It's been over 20 years now and I still cant stand the smell of a fag and my throat hurts immediately i have to breath someone's smoke. Best thing I have ever done in my life and I implore you to really give it every thing to succeed, BUT you MUST be absolutely sure in your own mind that YOU really want to give it away for your own reasons, and not just the thought of what it might do for you other than your health. WE've only got one go at things bucko and you want to make the most of it.Best of luck , and just do it.

[excelpoint]

For me the patches worked. Tried many methods before but in the end the patches were it for me. What ever way you go the MOST IMPORTANT thing is that you must be completely honest and be 100% ready to give up. If you are not 100% ready to give up you will most likely fail. Good luck mate.

[Stickbow Hunter]

Go Bowhuntin' and leave the smokes behind mate.

All the very best with giving them up; it will be really worth it in so many ways mate!!!

Jeff

[jaselpool]

Everyone does it differently. I can only give you my experience. I smoked 30 a day for a long long time and started when I was 12. I gave up when I was 36 and tried everything under the sun including hynotherapy during those years.

I eventually gave up by reading a book by Alan Carr on how to pack in. This didn't make me stop but it changed my mindset totally. You aren't born a smoker and it takes a long time for you to condition your body to accept the smoke.

After everything I tried over the years I finally came to realise you'll only really pack in if you really want to. It's in your subconcious and that thing is serious about giving you what it thinks you need. On New Years eve 6 years ago I smoked my last cig at midnight and then threw the pack in the bin. I forced myself to go the pub (not hard I know) and do all the things I would normally do in smoking circumstances. This is how I broke the cycle by confrontation and sheer bloody mindedness!

Every now and again when I least expect it I'll reach for a non-existant pack or feel like putting one in my mouth but so far I've stayed strong. Hardest thing I've had to do in my life and I've had quite a few hard things to deal with lol

My full respect to anyone trying and all I can say is hang in there it's so worth being free from the addiction and the mindset plus the spare cash comes in very handy for bows and arrows ;P

Jase

[dawallace45]

I gave up smoking about 20 years ago , doc told me that my asthma was so bad that if I didn't give up smoking it wouldn't be a case that I might be dead in a year it would be a certainty , I just put the packet I had in my pocket in the bin and the other half a carton stayed in the cupboard for another 10 years before my wife finally threw them out , with in 2 weeks of giving up I found the smell of cigarettes made me gag , just couldn't be around them , made me sick to my stomach , even now 20 years later the smell of cigarettes makes me gag , unfortunately it also makes me want one ,

Now Cigars are a different thing all together , I love the smell of a cigar , I will have a cigar now and then , I used to average about one a year but it's been 5 years since my last one , I figure if I'm going to have one I may as well make it a good one , but in all honesty I probably won't bother to have another cigar ,

I had been lucky in that most of my mates didn't smoke so I didn't have the constant reminder of them , after that visit to the doc I had no problem giving up , just didn't think about them any more at all

David

[Roadie]

Craig the most important issue is you must want to give it up. Will power is a must. I gave up over 38 years ago, and I took up swimming and Kayaking, its hard to smoke in the water. Remember You must want to stop, taking medicine etc can have other issue. I went Cold Turkey, threw the cigs away, became active and have never looked back. But I will say their is nothing worse than a Reformed Smoker when surrounded by other smokers. Good Luck Cheers Roadie.

[muntries]

I gave up smoking about 20 years ago , doc told me that my asthma was so bad that if I didn't give up smoking it wouldn't be a case that I might be dead in a year it would be a certainty , I just put the packet I had in my pocket in the bin and the other half a carton stayed in the cupboard for another 10 years before my wife finally threw them out

My old man has exactly the same story as this and he's the same with them making him gag. Last cigar I smoked a few months ago with a mate while we were bottling a batch of Pilsner we made and the bloody smoke must have affected the beer because most bottles came out flat despite conditioning and our meticulous cleaning!! So maybe better to smoke a cigar when drinking them rather than bottling. Plus the cigar gave me a cracking headache!

[wal]

Apparently Mark Twain once made the statement, "giving up smoking is easy............I've done it hundreds of times"

Sad but true, I know it has been probably the dumbest thing I have done (and I've pulled some stupid **** ), good luck with it mate, I agree with the blokes that say you must want to, not just know you need to, for me when I have felt like that I have been able to stay off them the longest (7 weeks) that was a few years back, Stephen is spot on with his analogy of one a month etc, that's where I stuffed up, thought I had it beat, next time round you find it harder (I did anyway). Worst bit for me is that you are a grown man capable of looking after yourself, a family, and all the crap that life can throw at you, yet you feel like you are going insane without getting a banger into you at least once an hour, not a drug someone said, BS to that from my point of view.

Cheers
Wayne

[slvrslngr]

I'm not a smoker so don't have any real world advice, but good for you to make the decision to quit. Seeing your GP and getting active seem to be good advice. Several of the people I run with are recovering smokers and they all say that running really helped them quit and these guys are marathoners now! They gave up one addiction for another, LOL! Anyway, press on and think of your kids when you get the urge to light up. Good luck mate!

[Nephew]

Thanks fellas, this week has not been a raging success, seems I get a bit cranky without meaning to , but I'm not letting that stop me. The best metaphor I can come up with is an old mower that you need to pull the rope on again and again, but...eventually it will start! I have begun today without smokes, lets see if I can't end it the same way.

[Gringa Bows]

i havent read the other replies yet Craig,but there's a hypnotist up here that hypnotised my wife two years ago,she'had been smoking over 35years and was smoking up to 80 smokes a day ,anyway it cost $200 and she has'nt had a smoke since.

[Nephew]

Y'kmow, there's more this than some people think, my brother in law had the exact same experience! Smoked for 30 years, heavily, had one session with a hypnotist and never smoked another one! May have to look into this...

[Gringa Bows]

yep if it dont work he either redoes it or you get your money back

[TEX]

Moreton I smoked for ten years. The day I gave up was a few days after my son was born 20 years ago. I remember I was out on the back patio having a smoke while he was just inside the back door in his baby capsule. I had just lit it and as I was looking at my new boy I thought to myself what the hell am I doing, what sort of role model am I. I put the smoke out and the next day I gave away the packet to a bloke at work. Cold turkey was the way I kicked the habit. I believe you need to have a good reason to quit. My son was mine.

It was funny how I've always found it hard to put on weight and before I gave up people would say if you give up smoking you will put on weight, well when I gave up I lost a few kilos but I was a lot fitter.
Now I know that 10 years isn't long but I smoked a lot back then any thing from camel, hand rolled to cigars and I mean the big fat cuben kind of cigars full inhale as well. My lungs and fitness never got back to 100% but they are a lot better.

If you want to give up you will give up. The mind is the strongest tool we have. Mine is a little slow but I did it, so can you.

Im not sure in your area where the big pigs hide out but where I hunt the pigs hide out on the tops of mountains so if you want to get one you have to get up there with em. So get to it and juck those things away. Every packet is another arrow mate.

Regards Tex

[rodlonq]

Moreton, avoid rum at all costs. I have been a smoker for about 30 years and have managed to give it away a few times. Every time I come unstuck it involved lots of rum and even after a two year spell I went back to a pack a day. The worst part is the pain my family goes through while I am in the quitting stages, they reckon I am the crankiest bugger ever for the first month or so.

I have been told Champix is very good by a couple of blokes that have had success with it. I am planning to give it a go next time I'm in to the docs to get some barnacles removed.

Good luck with it mate and I really hope you are successful. It really is an all consuming addiction and to quit for good would be a great achievement.

Cheers....... Rod