Been toying with the idea of giving quitting another go for a few months now. I don't know whether it's the wheezing in the morning, the appalling lack of fitness, or the sense that at 37 years old, the habit is starting to have an effect on me that I can now feel, and which I have no wish to continue into the future.
On a mate's recommendation, I got myself an audiobook of The Easy Way to Stop Smoking" by Allen Carr. Started playing it in the car on the commute a couple of weeks ago. Virtually no mention of health risks, premature death, ruined lungs or any of that nonsense. Just a careful, methodical exploration of why people feel the need to smoke, and a logical and no-nonsense pulling apart of the excuses we all make as to why we need to smoke, and why we reckon we enjoy it so much.
Last Wednesday, I finished the book. I went outside for the "final cigarette". I smoked it consciously. I then walked back indoors, poured a near full 25g pouch of baccy into the bin, along with the Rizlas, filters and lighters. And not only have I not touched one since, I haven't felt in the least bit tempted. SWMBO will also confirm I have been very even tempered, and haven't been comfort eating.
One single side effect - slightly disturbed sleep patterns. Apparently normal in the first week of nicotine withdrawal.
Anyone here who smokes and is ready to quit, and who can approach the task with a completely open mind, I strongly advise you read or listen to this book.
I have no link with the publisher or author of the book. Just recommending it as a great tool for quitting smoking.
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Well done and good luck.
I hope you carry on as successful as you are now.
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At nearly £9 a pouch every few days, by this time next year you`ll be able to have a week in Tenerife as your reward! - and be fit enough to enjoy it!
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Funnily enough a topic of conversation in the Office this morning - the manager gave up recently - he now saves 45 pounds per week. A FB friend has saved £38.00 per week. If my brother in law had stopped it would have probably saved his life (died after 8 years of real suffering of COPD two weeks today at the age of 57).....
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Not easy to give up smoking you have done well up to now.Keep it up don't start on the booze do.>:)
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>> Been toying with the idea of giving quitting another go for a few months now.
>> I don't know whether it's the wheezing in the morning,
It's years of breathing those Golf Tdi fumes :)
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>> It's years of breathing those Golf Tdi fumes :)
Dammit, you got me. I'm starting that up twenty times a day now and breathing deeply! :-)
Seriously though, it's actually been remarkably easy with the book. I've been like a bear with a sore head on other attempts.
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Nine pounds a pouch? No wonder smuggling is so profitable at half the price.
Samson and Drum the favorites.
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Well done so far, DP. Best of luck with seeing it through.
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>> Nine pounds a pouch? No wonder smuggling is so profitable at half the price.
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>> Samson and Drum the favorites.
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Of course it's profitable. 50 gram pouch of Drum, my poison of choice, is over £16 in UK shops. Not only is it over 3 times more expensive than the same brand in Luxembourg or Belgium (5.20 Euros), but the rubbish they sell over here is also considerably inferior in both taste and burning quality.
That, by the way, is the legal price for a single pack in both instances, not a discount for bulk buy.
I am going to Antwerp in November and shall be returning with sufficient tobacco for my own personal consumption, as the law permits. Mr Osborne can go take a running jump if he wants the extra tax. And the difference will pay for my fuel.
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Sometimes I am tempted to start smoking, so that I can give it up and save up to £45 a week....
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Pure applied man maths - used that to buy something a few months ago
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Drum is lighter tobacco.Van Nelle halfzwaar is also good.My favorite was Samson roll your own.
Plenty of small tobacco shops outside Antwerp for a good price.Enjoy the patats in Belgium tasty.>:)
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I started with the odd puff at age 5. I reached 20+ per day at age 42. That was 40 years ago but I have permanent lung damage. A standard test 2 years ago was to expell as much air from my lungs as I could in one minute, the average being 80%. I got only 60%. Carry on not taking the fags!
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I had a lung function test done at the gym about 18 months ago and it was about in line with expectations for my age. Hence, I'm hoping I've stopped before any permanent damage has been done. That said, it would be naive to think I'd completely "got away" with almost 20 years of dependency.
Apart from the sleep thing, which is now becoming annoying, I haven't had a single negative side effect from quitting. The change in energy levels, ease of exercise, and general feeling of wellbeing is remarkable even after just a week.
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>>Apart from the sleep thing, which is now becoming annoying,
I found that nearly half a bottle of Grouse helped me through this stage! ;-)
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This is what the ole woman has before getting between the sheets:
www.pukkaherbs.com/night-time.html
It seems to do the job and she's as bright as a button come the morn.
I started giving up the fags 20 years ago but would still buy a pouch of bacci for years afterwards.
I used to empty it down the kharzi or soak the bacci so I couldn't smoke it, and then go out and buy another pouch :)
Good luck me ole son - you'll get there in the end (wherever there is)
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Congrats DP. I hope you keep it up. I'm the same age as you, started the ciggies properly at 16, gave up at 23 cold turkey as my girlfriend at the time threatened to dump me. I was on 30 odd a day at the end, sometimes more.
Anyway, now that girlfriend's my missus and we have two great kids, so I reckon I made the right choice! My health is not great (and the fags may be partly to blame), but I'm under no illusions - keeping smoking only makes things worse, so giving up is always giving you an advantage over the alternative.
I'm not sure you ever completely get over being hooked to nicotine though. Even though it's been 14 years since I last smoked, I still sometimes get the feeling I'd like a ciggy, or maybe find myself holding a pen in that way, and making like I'm taking a drag.
But I'm never tempted to go back, especially with 20 fags at £9 a pack or whatever it is now!
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Keep up the good work DP - its worth doing.
I started at school aged about ten....behind the bike sheds.
I gave up cigarettes 13 years later in 1972 after a bout of pharyngitis and seeing a good friend die of smoking related diseases , so breathless he could not walk more than five steps..
I did enjoy a couple of good after dinner cigars a week until the law changed .
The last cigar I smoked was a Cohiba at a wedding about two months before the ban and have never felt the need to smoke cigars since.
I do still enjoy an occasional 'sheesha' ( its a hubbly bubbly pipe ) sitting in the Souq Waqib in Doha watching the world go by with a cup of strong arab coffee...
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How is progress ?
I had a small reminder this morning about the subject.
Two guys arrived to investigate why one of our double glazing units had suddenly cracked.
I now have windows wide open to release the smell of baccy that came with them.
The smell soon reached up stairs so more windows open!!!
We will have to freeze til the smell goes.
Please smokers, pack it up and I really do hope you succeed.
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Giving up smoking - No FM2R
