Hi All

Probably shouldn't raise this subject but does anyone else out there smoke ?

Unfortunately it is something I have done for many many years, started when I was very young and never stopped.

About a six weeks ago when I was feeling very poorly and before I was diaagnosed with RA saw the pharmacist and he prescribed me champix the smoking drug, but on the day I was meant to stop completely, failed miserably.

I smoke about 20 - 30 a day.

I am not proud of this but don't think I will ever be able to stop. I know the risks and harm it is doing to me.

Anne x

Thanks Melly

Tried patches, gum, inhaler but you really have got to want to stop and have will power, which I havn't got at the moment.

Maybe one day.

Anne

Hello Annie - good on you for being brave enough to seek support! My mum stopped after 50 years! She also was on about 20 a day. Here are some of the things that helped her:
* first of all, she said she wasn't going to stop, just cut down to 15 a day for 2 weeks, then 10 and see how she felt
* she didn'y bulk buy - just went every other day or so and bought what she was allowing herself. The extra expense was compensated by buying fewer.
* then she started to delay the first one of the day by completely changing her routine. She got up, showered, did hair and makeup, had breakfast, fed the cat etc - anything to avoid the expectation that she would be sitting down with the paper and smoking.
* her diabetic nurse then drew up a list of alternative treats for when she was tempted so that she had a list of other things to do. Things like call a friend, clean teeth and put on lipstick, bake, go for a stroll, even suck on a lolly or ice pop! etc
* when she felt she had tried absolutely everything and the need was still there, she had to think very clearly how she felt before she smoked, then have a cigarette, then think about how it made her feel afterwards.

She stopped 12 years ago now and still says it was the hardest thing she ever did. Do what you can Annie to cut back, gain your confidence and keep trying. Like dieting, I think the main thing is not to do that "Well, I've blown it now - I may as well eat what I want / smoke all day!"

Good luck XX Ailsa

Hello Anne , You can stop smoking. If i did anybody can. I was a heavy smoker after a few failed attempts to cut down i set a date. I bought the special chewing gum. All the money i would have spent on ciggies went into a jar. Every few weeks i bought something i liked and normally couldn'nt afford. It is very hard but i found the gum helped. I started using normal chewing gum in between. for a few years it would have been easy to start again. You have to be very detemined . Its one of the best things i have ever done.It is now about 28 yrs since i stopped . Never had a ciggie since that day. Good Luck you can do it ! If you fail keep making a new date date maybe next month or week and you will do it ! Kathleen Mc.

Hi Anne

Of course we won't reject you - we'll help and support you, but reject you - no way!

I'm almost 67 and smoked from being 18 to 40 - sometimes 40 a day. One day I realised how the whole house (and me) stank of smoke and I suddenly realised it wasn't fair to the rest of the household! It wasn't easy to stop and I even tried herbal ciggies at first (yuk) but I have now been a smoke free zone for almost 30 years.

Stick at it girl - you'll get there. Come on here anytime you need to.

Love Jeanxxxxx

Hi Anne

Excellent post from Ailsa with lots of good ideas. I have never smoked so can't really comment but I reckon there's probably never a 'good' time to start so today is possibly just as good as tomorrow!

Good luck with it Anne ... you can do it! (just like I can lose 17 lbs, pronto!!)

Lyn x

I started smoking when I was 15 and I'll be honest in that I liked a cigarette... When I met my first husband, he didn't smoke so when we brought our first home together we agreed that I would smoke in the garden.

Over the years I was nagged by my rheumatologist, my husband and his family and although I wanted to give up, it was more for them than me. I tried a few times but always went back to smoking. Every time I went back to smoking I felt like I had failed, esp when it seemed that everyone else around me was disappointed.

It was only after my husband and I had divorced & I had my own place that I realised that I'd not succeeded because I was doing it to please other people. I still wanted to give up but I didn't feel ready.

One day, after I'd had my 2nd knee replacement, I suddenly felt ready. I only told a few people to start with and asked that they left me to it... I didn't cut down, I just stopped. To then keep my mind of it, I got rid of all my ashtrays & lighters and tried to keep busy.

The hardest times were in the morning, missing that first cigarette... Often I'd wake up feeling completely crap, coughing my guts up and honestly thought I was better off when I was smoking. My dad even suggested I start smoking again but I kept at it, realising that it was my bodys way of cleansing itself.

Slowly and over time, I started feeling better, food tasted different, it had more flavour, my sense of smell improved... in fact when I visited my parents I started to realise what a smokers house smelt like... It wasn't nice...

7 years on and I'm still not smoking plus my Mum has since given up and its been 13mths for her

If you want to give up, you can do it but it needs to be for you, no-one else.... If you can do it for yourself, you're one step closer to succeeding

no rejections at all

I dont smoke but my husband is a heavy smoker has tried before to give up but
to no avail either. The time has to be right,

Rose x

Oh Julie - at long last I know how you got the huge burn mark on your new tassels!

Anne, I started smoking when I was 11. Over most of my adult life I smoked 40 a day. Like most other smokers I tried giving up loads of times and the best result I got was when I read the Allen Carr's book - I actually managed to stop for a whole day. That may not seem like much but during that day I actually felt glad I wasn't smoking, whereas I'd normally spend the whole day longing for a cigarette.

When I was 58 I went to an Allen Carr clinic, and that's what did it for me. I haven't smoked now for 3 years, 6 months. 23 days and 6 hours. Counting? Me?

Seriously, it cost a fortune, but I don't think I'd have stopped by any other method. I'd already tried hypnotism (I lit up as soon as I got out of the building), taking tablets that were meant to make cigarettes taste foul (they didn't), and nicotine patches provided by the smoking clinic at the hospital (I still smoked, even though I was wearing them), so it wasn't as though I hadn't been trying.

Good luck.

Anthea x