The PSB Quit Smoking Help thread

[SpeedTrip]

I lasted about 3 weeks last month it was a new years resolution, I never really craved one in that time, I was just getting irrationally angry at pety things, to the point I would have told my boss where to go, so I decided, I am just gonna cut down. Only having one every few days now.

Good luck on your quitting speedtrip If I bum a smoke on an LNR I will try not to entice you by smoking next to ya :p

I must say I hadn't noticed, but some of my work mates did, but over the last couple of weeks I had become a bit short tempered,angry and agrssive with them.
This is not me, or normally not me.
So I apolologise to anyone else I may have been this way with them.
I hope they understand it's not me, but hopefully it'll only be for a short period.
Because being a bit irrational at times, still is not a valid or good reason to start again for me.
Rob

[darkfibre]

They stop talking about you being grumpy shortly after the first disappearance

[Sventek]

They stop talking about you being grumpy shortly after the first disappearance

Especially if you leave a hand showing out of the shallow grave. It makes it more dramatic.

[RT]

i found patches stopped me 'losing my shit' as often

[fredie]

i found patches stopped me 'losing my shit' as often

they say the patches are hard to lite up

[MADOGA]

Anyone tried E cigarettes? can they be got in Perth and do they help?

[Diesal]

Fark I feel pathetic - two days in and I'm struggling. Easier than I thought considering I have been dreading it for the 18 years I have had those nasty little fuckers in my life, yet easier than expected as I am still functioning. I'm about five seconds off scooping out someone with a desert spoon before finding a nice lil corner to rock back and forth in while sobbing like a baby.

Thread is great TY Shortie, posts below are particuarly encouraging for me. Anyone got any recent stories?

BTW - I haz 2x $50 off vouchers for Allen Carr's course if someone can use them. Despite my sense of loss and homicidal tendencies, I think that the approach of the course is actually very, very good; after trying a few different methods and having a few scares I do think this is the first time that I can see an end in sight.

29 January 2012 - the best gift I ever gave to myself and my people...

It's all your fault Cap

Good luck with it RT.

I quit last May or June, (2008) don't remember quite when. Caved on the twisties trek in Adelaide, too many memories of another trip through there when I was chainsmoking. Bleagh.

An occasional twinge now when there are other smokers lighting up but that happens less and less.

I've now got a very light head cold and it's the first I've had this year.

Last spring, I took antihistamines maybe 6 days. Normally I'm a total mess for 2 months with hay fever.

My SAC (surface air consumption) for diving has dropped from 11 litres a minute to 7.

I notice the stench in my hair and clothes on the nights we're with smokers in an outside area at the pub.

I can taste my food, my coffee, and it's pretty nice to be able to do that.

I can kiss my woman without feeling guilty.

I can run 5km without coughing.

I feel more awake and alert most of the time.

My skin looks and feels better.

I don't get stressed as easily, I don't get the angries because "I gots to have a fag" when I'm stuck in at work.

I have an extra $20 - $50 a week to spend on stuff that I want.

Yep. The whole quitting thing was pretty good akshly.

Quitting isn't depriving you of anything, it isn't sacrificing anything, it isn't giving up anything good. It's deciding to discontinue something that's insidious, self perpetuating and self destructive.

Worth doing. Worth making the decision that you aren't going to be an addict and a helpless victim to the greedy little monster inside you any more, that you're going to kill that fucker dead, that the cravings are his little death song as he wilts and dies.

Get joyous about the cravings - they're good news, they're the sign that your body and mind are purging toxins. Get happy about the immediate benefits - you will smell better within a couple of days, you'll start tasting food again in a week or two.

BEST thing I've done for myself in the last ten years, no question.

Do it mate! I was a full on loving smoker since I was 13, even smoked when surfing once lol did everything with a smoke in my mouth haha.

I use to worry about losing a part of my personality if I gave up, because I thought it had become a part of me....if you get my drift. Anyway, because I started smoking from such a young age, I didn't realise that getting every cold or flu that went around was unusual.....I have been off the smokes for almost a year now and haven't been sick since!

I have finally been able to take up training muay thai, something I have been wanting to do for 10 years, but never had the energy, or lung capacity. It took me a while to give up smoking and occasionally I will cave and a the odd smoke when I am having a beer, but that is becoming rarer and rarer these days as I find the healthier I get the less I want to spoil it with things like cigarettes and alcohol.

I haven't put any extra weight on, because the longer I have quit the healthier I have become because the more exercise I can do. I am finally starting to see the way others have lived, and I am starting to thrive on it, instead to weighing my life down with extra burdens from an unhealthy lifestyle. Because it only leads to the overweight and puffed out middle aged man that there is no shortage of...... I believe I have changed my future, and my interest and motivation for life have started to change to suit. I gave up the smokes when I was 24 years old and felt like 40 at the time. I am now 25 and feeling younger and fitter than I did when I was 15.......

It not a quick trip to quitting and I still consider myself on the path to quitting, so don't think that overnight you will be a non-smoker, gradually try to change your whole lifestyle slowly and make sure you enjoy the benefits you receive from your new healthier lifestyle instead of dwelling on the unhealthy cravings of common peoples living habits, which will eventually lead you to becoming a common person...........it is one of my biggest fears

Good luck!

[Rider]

Fark I feel pathetic - two days in and I'm struggling. Easier than I thought considering I have been dreading it for the 18 years I have had those nasty little fuckers in my life, yet easier than expected as I am still functioning. I'm about five seconds off scooping out someone with a desert spoon before finding a nice lil corner to rock back and forth in while sobbing like a baby.

Thread is great TY Shortie, posts below are particuarly encouraging for me. Anyone got any recent stories?

BTW - I haz 2x $50 off vouchers for Allen Carr's course if someone can use them. Despite my sense of loss and homicidal tendencies, I think that the approach of the course is actually very, very good; after trying a few different methods and having a few scares I do think this is the first time that I can see an end in sight.

31 January 2012 - the best gift I ever gave to myself and my people...

It's all your fault Cap

So did you go to Allan Cars clinic? How did you go? I read the book and it does help. I have tried different ways and so far Allan Car is the be3st even tho that i stared again afer a month.

I think for me the trick is to read the book wait 2 to 3 weeks and then read it again.

[Captain Starfish]

Jesus.

I'd forgotten this thread. Smoked like a chimney on the weekend, seems I go ages and then for some reason I have a pack in my hand on the way to any dive trips away.

Akeracat must be saving me from teh cancerz. Fanks babe

[Diesal]

@ Rider. I went to the clinic (aka a half day session at Ossie Park Lawn Bowls). I bought and read half the book after hearing a few positive rec's. While it seemed okay and I appreciated the 'philosophy' of it, I knew that it wouldn't be enough for me and registered for the course. Attended last Sunday - I was almost beside myself with the "I will never smoke again, what will I do with myself." It is really early days - part of the reason why I post is to hold myself (publicly) accountable - so I am reluctant to comment too much atm but I can say at the time I thought ... the course was brilliant and just what I needed. Four hours of non-stop talk about smoking - the perceived 'good,' the definite bad and the confirmed ugly. Being delivered by a former smoker helped, as did the probing of 'What do you actually get from smoking?' And there was no hypnosis. There was a 'relaxation' sesh at the end but this was more of an affirmation type thing - from my understanding, the method for quitting (Book and course) is based upon Cognitive Behavioural Therapy.

We had two peeps out of nine that had done the course previously and resumed smoking, but one of the guys had quit for 10 years due to the course (can't remember the span of the other one) - this was still a positive indicator for the course IMO. It is pricey - currently $550, but another peep said they spend that on ciggies in a month. And there are 'booster' sessions too that are free of charge (up to two in three months following the course); and you can get your hard earned back if you do the course and the boosters and have no success in three months. It boasts a 90% success rate too.

As I said, very early stages for me but I would recommend the course for anyone who's struggling.

[fredie]

good luck . all the best

[agrid]

Jesus.

I'd forgotten this thread. Smoked like a chimney on the weekend, seems I go ages and then for some reason I have a pack in my hand on the way to any dive trips away.

Akeracat must be saving me from teh cancerz. Fanks babe

Smoking ... dive trips!!! Get your priorities in order FFS. What would you rather be doing diving or dying?

[Captain Starfish]

Reducing my air consumption. Most effective.

[Old frt]

Pffft, I quit New years Eve 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, and again in 2011.

[mekon]

30 months now. Still quit.

[Desmo]

Off and on but this time it's for good; Last week Zach handed me a smoke and a lighter and said "Here Dad, this is for you".
Done, finished, game over. Pity I was such a slow learner and he took notice though, feel guilty as fuck about that but it's the best motivator.
Chewing the gum like a motherfucker.

[Desmo]

I've beaten it this time.
I know it in my head. Hardly chewing gum, craving but not even linking it to smokes oddly enough.

[Old frt]

I've beaten it this time.
I know it in my head. Hardly chewing gum, craving but not even linking it to smokes oddly enough.

Keep it up mate, it will also raise your wife's self awareness.
Mine didn't realize how many faults she had until I stopped.

[Murley]

I've not had a *sober* cigarette since December and don't ever actually feel like one at all until I'm drunk then I bum a few but the next morning I'm back to not smoking or wanting one at all. That seems normal. That I don't want one at all when sober is really strange, I just told myself at the start of the year that I don't smoke anymore and now I just don't. Weird? Cold turkey in December, been smoking for ~14 years...

[McGoo]

Fuck. I just went 5 days without a smoke and had one. Fuckit. oh well, start the clock again. I do feel relaxed, but it tasted like shit.