I have come in search for some support & advice of people who've been through the giving up. I gave up new year's day. I have been talking about quitting for 2yrs. I was so hungover I just couldn't smoke new yr's day before i fancied a cig i'd gone over 30 hours so decided to use this to my advantage & try to give up. In 25yrs of smoking i've never tried before. I feel it's a one time chance for me can't see me doing this again if i fell off the wagon therefore i'm desperately trying not to have a smoke. I cant' stop thinking about smoking is this psychological now?? i've gone cold turkey so don't see i can suddenly start using help aids. stopped coffee but had a few glasses of wine which again triggers the cravings..... WHEN does it get better??????? sorry if i've waffled but it helps!!

Thanks
Micki x

Hi mate,

I just signed up here to ask about nicorette mints, I gave up about 10 months ago but cant stop with these mints!

Just read your story, been there loads of times. I must have tried to give up 20 times before being (i think/hope) succesful.

It gets easier with time, after a couple of months you wont miss it.

I used patches for I think 12 weeks and the losenges I still carry round and have too many to be honest - its just an alternative to a fag. I think different ways work for different people.

Good luck.

Hi there Micki
I broke my leg on 23rd Dec drunk and snowball fighting with my business partner after saving the business from doom this last year, initially i was in hospital for 6 days, 4 of which i was starved for you, see they kept putting higher priority
people in font of me for thier operations, Every time i was told at 11pm that i was not to be operated on that day i freaked out
and stole a zimmerframe from the ward to go for a cigarette. You must understand i was not allowed atall i was literally beaking out. My leg had been snapped and was not properly in place, it took me 30min to get outside the hospital with my drip attachments flapping and my arse hanging out. after a cigarette i was so blown i couldn't get back.thankfully i charmed my way back after every event, somehow. On top of this i had been told that smoking would lessen the healing of my leg by up to 35%. Why did i do it.
Well the truth is i didn't after the third time, i realised that "stuff" happens and youv'e gotta get on with it, Dont wanna get all stupid but its a bit like life, get on with it you'll be proud if you do. I'm 6weeks free of smoking and still am not allowed to walk, talk about boxed in. my friends call me pablo, my names paul, now they call me pablo meccano due to the titanium pin in my leg and they're all pretty proud of me.
So to answer your question, Get some 5mg patches from the chemists or go to your surgery, I was 2 weeks in before i did and they helped alot, 5mg is the smallest patch and there's no going up from there, dont put one on 1 day a week,and if you forget to put one on your on your way. stick with it, i've been lucky enough to have a broken leg to take my mind off of it.I know this is a late posting but hay valid if anyone else is out there in the same position( smoked since i was 14, tabbaco and all the naughty stuff and am now 38) so break a leg.( not lierally).Now thats waffling,

Going cold turkey is probably the hardest way to actually stop. Smoking is as habitual as say, brushing teeth or cleansing oneself with a bath/shower on a daily basis, for someone who had smoked for so long.

Have you considered a chat with your doctor? They might be able to assist you in finding a group of 'smokers on quit street' who are in a position to quit but need extra support. Sounds like you only need encouragement to keep going, and believe me, encouragement is probably one of the things I need too. If drinking wine triggers cravings, is there something else you can drink instead? more juice/squash/water perhaps?

As with all things, practice makes perfect and patience is a virtue. Keep going - even jot down in a diary of some sort the time and date of each craving, to see if that assists you. It might show a pattern which could give you an idea to 'fill that time frame where you are most likely to crave a cigarette', with something of opposite nature, like gentle exercise (go for a walk/jog/swim perhaps).

Support is always there. Encouragement is too if you find the right places. And Congratulations on starting the process by actually stopping for 10 days. (as the topic title suggests).

Gary.

Hi

I have been stopped 6 weeks now and feeling pretty proud of myself, no cravings, just a feeling of like a hunger pang. When it comes on don't think of it as a craving, think of it as a healing, the less it is there the less you are craving.

I used Allen Carrs book and it was brilliant. I have tried everything and never felt as easy as this. Best advice - you are not losing a friend you are wiping out an enemy.

Think of the freedom.

Congratulations. 6 weeks may not seem a long time, but to a smoker, it could be as bad as, um, let me see, 42 days, 20 a day, 840 cigs or more...