Oh has decided to stop smoking.. and question for reformed smokers

Dark Storm

Dark Storm

Well I'll be a Krampus's Auntie! :D!
Jan 4, 2009
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Hadfield
He told me yesterday that he's not had one since he fell ill, and hasn't even thought about it.. he's decided that's he's just going to stop, as he knows what it's doing to him at the moment, and has given me full permission to kick him up the bum if he starts lighting up again..
He said his granddad, who used to be a heavy smoker did the same after he was ill, and never touched one again..
Now, I need to find away to keep his mind pre-occupied when we're at work, because I've already told him, that if anything's going to set him off, it's that place:banghead:..
Don't get me wrong, I'm glad he's doing this (estatic:dance:), I just hope he can go cold turkey without turning into the grumpy monster a:)..
I have a question for you reformed smokers.... how did you handle the withdrawal symptoms? And what tips can you give him to help him, once he's over this virus, and 'forgets' how he felt?

Cookies and a really nice cream tea for reading:smoke:
 
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Good for your OH. It will be the BEST thing he has ever done if he manages to give up. I smoked for over 21 years - started when I was 14 - yes 14 years old!!!!!!!! It will be four years this Christmas but every now and again I could murder a fag still!!lol. I was more or less forced to give up because I had a health scare but I had wanted to quit for a while anyways. OH had already given up a few years prior so it wasn't like he was still smoking and tempting me!
I went cold turkey, I just decided that it wasn't worth the health effects and I HATED lying to the doctors that were trying to help me (I had a small heart problem / blood pressure type problem). Not saying I didn't miss it, but it was Christmas and I managed to get through it, and I thought well if I can do it during the festive period then I can dam well keep it up throughout the following year!
The only thing I did do which was naughty, I tended to partake of one or two more lagers than I ought - I guess you can't wipe out 21 years plus of having a "prop" that easily!!!!! I did gain weight too - not much but enough to make me question at one point whether or not it was worth giving up!!!!
They say giving up the fags is harder to crack than giving up cocaine or at least on a par, I don't know how true that is, but I'd say it is difficult (not wanting to put your OH off trying) and you have to stay strong and focus on something positive. I'd never have managed to quit without the horses, I love them so much and being around them, I just kept on focusing on the positive points, like feeling fitter and less out of breath after a good canter!! I've waited all my life (well, 30 years) to own my own horse, so I figured I could let the fags go - as part of the deal!
 
My OH has recently stopped, for the first week he was trying to do it cold turkey but was so vile! He's got one of those nicorette inhalators now so it gives him something to do with his hands and he's doing great on those and is just starting to wean himself off them so the next week or so could be interesting again!
 
Trewsers said:
started when I was 14 - yes 14 years old!!!!!!!!
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I work in schools and thats old now a days to start :timebomb: Good luck to your OH its a good move. I do stop smoking and alot of the problem i have found is the habbit breaking? The having one at lunch, with a brew ect ect rather than the addiction.
 
I smoked from when I was 14 until I was about 22, (gave up during my first two pregnancies at 19 and 21 but returned to it after)

I went cold turnkey as well, but did for a few years have like one or two a year eg. xmas. After a while though it just tastes rank so you don't even want to do that.

I do agree you need to replace it with something to start with though, I replaced it with eating lots which probably wasn't the best idea :giggle:

My OH smoked a lot when I met him but now, 10yrs later he only has about two a day, one in the evening and one before bed but he doesn't smoke in the house so has to go out in the cold for them. He found it esaier to cut down rather then cut out. For some odd reason though he carries a pack of fags in his pocket all day, even some mates he worked with asked him why he bothers lol.

ETA: So I've given up for 8 years now
 
Yes, cutting down can be a good move. I don't think I'd have managed to go cold turkey unless I'd already gradually cut down. Over the years, I'd managed to stay off 'em during the daytime.
 
He already has cut down, and hasn't smoked nearly as much as he did before he met me, this is just the final push so to speak:biggrin:
 
For me the real problem times were breaks, whenever someone riled me and when others were going out for a fag - as well as the inevitable alcohol fuelled lighting up.

I tried to combat these by increasing my tea intake (but that only works if you don't associate tea with smoking). I tried to combat the whole hand to mouth fixation (I was often found holding my pen like a fag in meetings) by chuppa chups lollies.
I had a goal of getting to a month without having smoked and if I made it then I knew I'd broken the habit. I was extremely conscious thereafter that if I went anywhere I used to smoke for the first time since I had given up, that I had to watch myself and be very careful.
I had one fag, an emergency, and kept it in my bag and used a scale so that if I ever found myself approaching ten then I could smoke it (but I never did). AFter four weeks of not smoking I actually then decided to smoke it and it tasted vile. WEighing up the pain of going through the first few days of giving up versus smoking enough fags for it to start tasting nice again stopped me from even having one (cause inevitably it tasted disgusting.)
Sorry thats a bit of a ramble but hopefully you get what I mean.
 
I went cold turkey as well.

My tip is to separate the cravings into 2 aspects and pre-plan what areas he thinks he'll be more challenged by and those he'll have no bother with.

The first is the physical craving your body has for the chemicals. Think carefully about whether it would be right to go cold turkey, or whether it would be better for him to have something to replace the nicotine with. He can then go and discuss this with a doctor/chemist if needs be.

The second it the actual habit of lighting up. Again my tip is to think now about what his triggers are and plan what he can do to made things easier for himself for when they do happen. Consider now what the where, when, who and emotional cues that would usually get him lighting up and think now about how he can cope better in those situations. It could well be that initially it would be prudent to change habits to avoid these cues. However, at some point he'll need to learn to deal with them so as he becomes stronger then working out a plan to reintroduce these triggers so that he overlays experiences without the triggers would be very useful.

Just to clarify that, I gave up smoking some 15 years or so ago. I still very occasionally get the odd craving now but don't ever feel I'll return to smoking even so. My challenges now only when I come up against a cue I am not exposed to that much and so haven't got as much experience of the cue not resulting in lighting up. For example, being sat in the car at night down the beach watching a storm come in over the Ilse of Wight. Hubby and I used to do that a lot before we had our daughter. We don't get the chance much now but once when we did I couldn't understand why I wanted a fag so desperately when I hadn't felt that urge in literally years! :giggle:
 
As somebody who has miserably FAILED to give up I wish him all the best.

However also being somebody who had a flu type bug a few weeks ago that
went on and on and also not smoking at the time because I just 'couldn't'
light up because I felt so sick just a word of warning.....I ended up with
the start of a chest infection, Doctor told me it was because I had just
'stopped' and ended up with Antibiotics AND A FAG a few days later:redface:

I have another appointment next week at the 'GIVE UP SMOKING' Clinic, so come New Year, you won't be seeing much of me on here for a while, because
I know sitting at the Computer is one of my 'triggers' to light up:redface:

I WISH HIM EVERY SUCCESS:biggrin:
 
I gave up 10 years ago but I'm paying the price as I compensated with food so put on 4 stone. OH did the same but he still has the nicotine gum. I still smoke when I'm dreaming but I don't give it a second thought. I carried an unopen packet in my bag for 6 months so I new if I really wanted one they where there, my mate smoked them in the end.
 
All this talk of fags is making me want one.......hehehehehe, only joking. Only time I could do with one nowadays is after a huge Indian meal and several lagers...........
 
patches worked for me with the cravings the rest was willpower. I have not had one for over 10 years and do not think of them at all now. I brought a brand new out of the showroom car with the money that I used to spend on fags. The installments every month were not as much as I was spending of fags. Food for thought there. Good luck with it.
 
I have smoked since I was about 15, I am now 31. I am what my freinds describe as a 'proper' smoker, and they are all quite astonished that I have managed to quit (my motto has always been 'no one likes a quitter'!)

Its been about 4 months and I did did with Champix tablets. I quit for 3 months with them earlier in the year but I think I stopped the course too early and it kind of crept back in gradually.
This time I have done it properly and I would highly recommend it for real die hard habitual ciggie lovers, more than the occasional smoker.
They did mess my sleep up for a few weeks and I have some really vivid and quite exhausting dreams (which could have been alot to do with withdrawl symptoms anyways) but I have had no cravings and am amazed how just one day you really dont fancy one any more.
I think the main thing however you do it is to distract yourself with something, get up and go for a walk, do the washing up, change a toilet roll and you will surprise yourself by lasting a bit longer each time before you think of it again. My thing (without the champix) is the little voice in your head that changes from 'i can do this' to 'If I want to smoke I will bleedin smoke, I am a grown up'
Best of luck to your OH, it is not easy but probably the best decision you can make to improve your health (god I am sounding like the reformed people I used to loathe!)
 
He told me yesterday that he's not had one since he fell ill, and hasn't even thought about it..
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That's a very good start - after a break that already happened by accident. My OH gave up more than 40 years ago when we first married.
He stopped when we were abroad and had to stock up on duty free ciggies which went quite stale - So good luck to your OH.
.
I didnt have to nag him or anything - We had been reading Elizabeth Longford's biography of Queen Victoria and how desolate she was after Albert died. I told him I didnt want to be widowed like that and that's when he stopped smoking. Cut down on the drink too. I wasnt a heavy smoker myself, but I stopped smoking the same day he did.
May be its like with horses, positive reinforcement works better than negative?
My OH never looked back - and I think in retrospect he has got on better than friends of ours in the UK who began to use patches and other stuff which always reminds you that you are an ex-smoker.
The other person I know a cousin by marriage who gave up smoking totally did it completely, after hypnosis by someone who specialised in that.

Good wishes to your OH.
 
i smoked for about 12 years (20 a day)and tried to quit using the patches a good 4 or 5 times. Each time i failed miserably and even carried on smoking whilst on the patches. :redface:
Someone told me about the champix tablets 3 years ago (this week actually)..so booked myself an appointment with my GP who prescribed me the champix.. set myself the "quit" date and started my course.
After 3 days i couldn't bare the taste of cigerettes , and actually stopped smoking before my official "quit date". I suffered from mood swings & had some very very odd dreams :giggle: to start with but these subsided after a short while. I think the course was meant to be 16 weeks and i stopped taking the tablets after 8 weeks i think. I have not touched a cigerette since ( am fine whilst being in the company of smokers & whilst drunk) & have no desire to start smoking again.
Thats not to say i won't do , but i don't miss it and have turned into one of those "annoying ex smokers" and i can't bare the smell of smoke :redface:

The way i combated the cravings was to do a puzzle or go & make myself a cup of tea or do something else fo 10 mins.... i struggled mostly first thing & after my dinner

Wish your OH lots of luck Dark Storm...
 
I read somewhere it takes four attempts to quit forever, so don't be too hard on him if he starts again! I stopped completely on the fourth attempt - mind you, being diagnosed with a mild form of cancer could have had something to do with it! I wasn't even told to stop - my oncologist asked me if I smoked and when I said I did, she said she'd ask me the same question at the next appointment 1 week later, and she hoped I'd say no. She also warned me that if I didn't quit there was a 20% chance it'd come back.

My OH had wanted to stop for some time so we did it together.

Anyway, enough of my cautionary tale! OH went cold turkey, but I used inhalators and gum because it was stressful time for me, and I knew it'd be really hard without a substitute.

I found that with the money I'd save I could easily afford to buy and run the horse I'd promised myself for years, so get him to focus on something he'd love but could never afford before (I was staggered to learn that 20 fags now costs around £6 - my basic horse costs are around £25-£30 a week, give or take the odd fiver, so a working week's worth of fags will easily keep my horse, and the other couple of days pay for extras, or just get left in her special bank account, so it was better for me financially to keep a horse than to smoke).

As has been said before, the habit can be harder to break as the addiction (sometimes I could reach for a fag and smoke half of it without even realising what I'd done), so tell him it takes approximately a month to form a new habit, so his new non-smoking habit will soon be established!

It didn't apply to me quitting the fags, but there's a piece of useful advice that was given to me at a slimming club - if you fall off the wagon, don't panic, just tell yourself it was a minor setback, and resolve to do better tomorrow - it's so easy to just throw the towel in and go back to your old habit, but get over it and move on.
 
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