[soi 2]

I've smoked for years. I've got used to the odd cough and wheeze for the most part. But after smoking LM Blues in Thailand, light cigarettes. I've moved back to rolling baccy in the UK. Cigarettes are too expensive here for me so rolling baccy is the only choice.

Have to say I've really noticed the difference puffing away on Golden Virginia after the light cigarettes. Two months down the line - coughing and a bit of a wheeze has come back. Time to listen to the warning signs I think and pack it in.

Just wondering if there are any ex-smokers who could share any advice or tips on how they gave up ?

Seems to be a whole industry now of nicotine patches, medicines like Champix and Zyban etc. Just wondering what people used. I appreciate the will power has got to be there but I think some assistance could be useful in the initial transition stage.

Any ideas or suggestions you think I should try ?

[techno kev]

do you smoke all the time or only when ur on the booze m8 ?

[soi 2]

All the time Kev. I smoke a lot when I'm drinking as most smokers do. But first one of the day is ten minutes after waking up !

[gonzo]

My old man used to be a heavy smoker and packed it in in the 80s before all the patches and gum and other aids to quitting were around. What worked for him was working out how much he spent on cigarettes in a year and then he spent close enough the exact amount on getting something he wanted for the family, a video recorder in his case. Any time he had serious cravings he just thought of how he'd better spent the money and used that thought to bolster his willpower.

Good luck with it bud

[tom]

Originally Posted by soi 2

I've smoked for years. I've got used to the odd cough and wheeze for the most part. But after smoking LM Blues in Thailand, light cigarettes. I've moved back to rolling baccy in the UK. Cigarettes are too expensive here for me so rolling baccy is the only choice.

Have to say I've really noticed the difference puffing away on Golden Virginia after the light cigarettes. Two months down the line - coughing and a bit of a wheeze has come back. Time to listen to the warning signs I think and pack it in.

Just wondering if there are any ex-smokers who could share any advice or tips on how they gave up ?

Seems to be a whole industry now of nicotine patches, medicines like Champix and Zyban etc. Just wondering what people used. I appreciate the will power has got to be there but I think some assistance could be useful in the initial transition stage.

Any ideas or suggestions you think I should try ?

I've been stopped for 4 months now and reckon I've just about got it cracked. I'd tried all sorts of ways to give up in the past, some of which didn't last a day. I just woke up one morning, coughed my guts up as normal and thought "This is fucking crazy!" I got hold of some Zyban (Queomem in LOS - costs around 2k Baht for 30 days) and started on that. The first week was a pain but I just kept reminding myself about the cough and wheezing and thought "there's no way I'm going back to that". Where I live has a good gym and 25m pool, so I've joined that recently and the difference in stamina is amazing from what it was while I was smoking. I cancelled a holiday to the very north of Vietnam that I had got flights for last Songkran simply because I realised that I wasn't fit enough to handle the itinerary. I'll rebook it for next April. The big motivator is that your health can only get worse if you continue.

I wish you the best in your attempts.

[kuranda_bagman]

In general I believe the most important thing about giving up is that mentally, you must really want to. If you're only half hearted about it then you will not succeed. Each ex smoker has their own path to success and they will vary considerably.

For me it's the nicotine patches but I don't use them as directed. I simply use them to get me through the first five days and then it's cold turkey from then on. If I'm not mentally ready to quit I'll only make it to the second day before I'm back on them.

I'm also a firm believer in the 3 days, 3 weeks, 3 months theory. I keep a spreadsheet (I know typical fucking bean counter !) and once I've made it to 3 days I then target 3 weeks and so on. I've found that if I can make it to three months I'm confident I can keep going, providing I stay clear of temptation.

And that's the kicker – Temptation - In Australia it's now easier to avoid the temptation with all the anti social smoking rules and I find that to succeed I need to keep away from places and friends that will expose me to smoking, especially in the first 3 weeks. I've lost count of the number of times I've been with a friend who smokes and said "Hey mate can I pinch a fag of you" thinking it will only be one!

It just doesn't work – If you were a 20+ a day person, you can't just have one because if you do you will be back on them before you know it. And don't try and kid yourself that an occasional cigar will be alright, before you know it you will be buying the small tins of 10 cigars and then be back on the fags.

For me tomorrow will mark the 24th week since I last had a cigarette and over the last 85 weeks I've fallen off the wagon 3 times - June 2010 (2 weeks Pattaya), November 2010 (2 weeks Philippines) and February/March 2011 (4 weeks Thailand & Cairns).

Mentally I'm confident I can stay off them when I'm home but I know I'm weak when I hit Thailand and will almost certainly be smoking within 2 hours of landing at swampy, however I also feel strong enough now to know that when I return home again I will leave then alone – It really is just a state of mind that you need to control.

Lastly the encouragement of friends is also invaluable – I recall putting a post on the board a few years back about giving up smoking and received an awesome PM from Mack praising me for trying and encouraging me to keep going but not to beat myself up if I failed. To this day I still think about that PM.

So Gary the only advice I can offer you is to give it a go. If you don't succeed the first time, don't beat yourself up about it, just think about the future and give it another go when you feel you are ready – It really is all about your state of mind.

BELIEVE IN YOURSELF - YOU CAN DO IT !

[soi 2]

Originally Posted by gonzo

Good luck with it bud

Thanks gonzo. Well done to your Dad going cold turkey and just stopping on will power alone. That must have been hard going at times. I'd like as much help as possible, just to kill the cravings off in the early days and then try and get out of the habit.

Originally Posted by tom

The big motivator is that your health can only get worse if you continue.

I wish you the best in your attempts.

Thanks Tom. I've been googling Zyban since reading your post and it sounds like it would be a good help. I know one or two people who've taken Champix and that sounds a bit harsh. Making them feel ill some days.

For me it's not about saving money but my health. I can buy cheap rolling baccy at work. £75 for ten 50 gram pouches that would be nearly 17 quid each in the shops these days. I'm just sick of the chronic cough and wheeze that is turning into a shortness of breath. I work in a gym and I'm fine doing weights but stick me on a treadmill and I'm struggling. I'm 37 and I'm thinking if I keep smoking like this for another ten, fifteen years then I'm going to wreck myself.

Good luck staying off them and thanks for the Zyban tip.

Originally Posted by kuranda_bagman

In general I believe the most important thing about giving up is that mentally, you must really want to. If you're only half hearted about it then you will not succeed. Each ex smoker has their own path to success and they will vary considerably.

Thanks for the advice John. Lots of good suggestions there. I've thought about stopping before but never really had the drive to go and see it through.

One or two things have happened in the last couple of years. I watched my aunt die slowly over a week, on oxygen, in hospital last November. That was a long lingering death to watch. The penny started to drop that if I don't change my lifestyle I could end up like that one day. So that's my motivation.

Temptation wise, I should be OK at home. I work in a gym/ health club so no smoking at work anyway. I don't go out much here. Just finish work and go home. So I'm not hanging about pubs. I can see how Thailand could be hard though. Drinking and smoking 'in your face' every night.

Thanks everyone for the ideas, I'll do a bit more research into nicotine patches and Zyban and see which option would suit me best and then go for it.

[Taltos]

I have never smoked, so maybe not the right one to give advise.
However there is a guy here with a method were you start out by still smoking but not doing the other things. By that I mean that you can smoke and drink your tea or coffie but not together and so on.

[old crust]

Cold Turkey for me. Had my last tab on the last day before the smoking in pubs ban hit England (June 2007). Not smoked at all since. Oddly, my motivation was a determination not to be forced to go outside the pub to spark up.

[gonzo]

Originally Posted by soi 2

Thanks gonzo. Well done to your Dad going cold turkey and just stopping on will power alone. That must have been hard going at times.

Great for me as a kid, not only did we suddenly have this video recorder (He let me pick the first 2 films the day he bought it, Deathrace 2000 and The Wanderers ), but every time he had a bad day with cravings he'd rent a load of films on his way home from work.