[noopster]

Originally Posted by carboy

Did you want to quit smoking because smoking is harmful or did you want to quit smoking because smoking is addictive? A lot of people want to quit because it's harmful.

Truth? I went through some stuff that made me question some basics. And any form of addictive behaviour came under heavy scrutiny.

Flashback: I didn't even like smoking for a long time. Made it to 21 before I even had my first puff. Even when I did it was merely out of curiosity but, when I found I liked it, started smoking regularly. My attempts to cut down date back to my first year of smoking, can you believe that! I KNEW it was bad for me but I liked doing it, and nobody around me knew any better so it continued.

Back then you could smoke indoors in any nightspot pretty much. And our office had easily accessible smoking zones. There was no particular social compulsion to quit. I had some rules like no smoking inside the home which kept pretty much everyone I cared about satisfied. Mind you, I was not unaware of the harm it was doing to my body but in your 20's you pretty much assume you're immortal.

Turned 30, had a kid, slowly perspective changed. Toll on the health started showing: had a typhoid infection that left me hospitalized for 4 days once (nothing to do directly with the habit but the recovery forced me to revisit my lifestyle choices, significantly). For about 5 years before I finally quit, I was truly an occasional smoker. Most days of the week I would not light up. I stopped buying cigarettes or keeping them around the home. Some triggers were hard to resist: after a filling meal, or when a light rain pattered down, or meeting an old friend.

So what changed? Somewhere along the line it had stopped becoming ENJOYABLE. I was lighting up out of some sort of conditioned reflex and not because I genuinely needed or wanted to. I started realising that alarmingly my frequency of smoking went up proportionately with stress, at work or at home. Was it becoming a crutch, I asked myself? Sometimes I would light up and immediately feel like extinguishing the cigarette. The ban on smoking in public places played its part: it made me conscious about every cigarette smoked. People around me started quitting, some among them lifelong smokers.

One day, when a close friend was treating us to a sumptuous lunch at a nice Mumbai restaurant to celebrate his elevation to MD, something just clicked. It was a lovely poolside location, gentle breeze blowing, some amazing food and drink on offer and I told myself: this is it. It's over.

No "one last cigarette", "let me finish this pack", "stash some in case I get desperate" stuff. I didn't announce it out loud or anything: even my wife didn't find out till a few months later. I just quit.

To be absolutely honest, I still miss it and would be lying if I said I wasn't tempted to light one, now and then. But I like that I don't NEED to. It was an addiction, whether physical or psychological I don't know, but very very real. Is my health better because of it? Probably. Am I proud that my kids have never seen me light one up? Absolutely. But by far the biggest victory for me has been putting the demon to rest, with the full awareness that it may rise again, unbidden.

[Sawyer]

Originally Posted by noopster

Somewhere along the line it had stopped becoming ENJOYABLE. I was lighting up out of some sort of conditioned reflex and not because I genuinely needed or wanted to.

Almost every smoker has smoked for many years in that mode. The enjoyable ones were the first of the day, the ones after a meal, and on a few days, some rare others in a day.

My AHA moment in 2015 was sitting down with one of those not enjoyable ones, reflecting on what was really happening and seeing that it was the cigarette that was smoking me and not the other way around.

The other very important realisation was from the Carr book; that once addicted, the ONLY thing that every cigarette does for you is set you up to crave the next one. Nothing more. Other than the college nonsense of looking cool of course, which isn't a lasting pleasure.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Sawyer, couldn't agree more about addiction. I absolutely avoid any kind of tobacco product, smoked, chewed, sucked or whatever. It's been 25 years, but it could so easily suddenly be just like yesterday!

[vinay kamath]

Wellness: ‘C S’ TIPS FOR A HEALTHY HEART – Dr C S Rajan (St. Martha's hospital, Bangalore)

A healthy heart implies ‘Cardiovascular fitness’. Cardiovascular fitness is the result of your heart,
lungs, muscles and blood working together in concert, while you exercise. Cardiovascular fitness is
inextricably linked with health. Listed below are 10 Common Sense (CS) Tips to ensure the ‘CS’ of
Cardiac Strength.

1. Cease Smoking. Besides its potential to cause cancer, smoking is very injurious to the health of
your heart.

2. Curb Salt intake. Prolonged use of additional salt in diet raises the blood pressure.

3. Control Sugar inputs. India is fast becoming the ‘Diabetic capital of the World’. Our
Carbohydrate (sugar) intake needs modulation to reduce chances of becoming diabetic, which is a
condition associated with increased heart disease. If you are already a Diabetic, please monitor
your sugar levels and keep them in normal range with proper diet, and medications

4. Combat Stress. Learn to walk away from stressful situations. Plan, prepare and do your work
systematically, so that stress factors are reduced.

5. Correct Size to be maintained, in that keep your body mass index within normal limits. Excess
weight adds strain to the heart’s pumping ability.

6. Cholesterol Status to be monitored. The hype on the use of drugs to reduce Cholesterol has
now been challenged, but we know that high levels of the cholesterol and triglycerides in the
blood are associated with increase in cardiovascular incidents

7. Commence Stretching, implying get into some form of regular exercise. A simple brisk walk
every day for about 40 minutes a day is the best. If you have been sedentary for a long time, are
significantly overweight, are suffering from any form of cardiovascular or metabolic disease or
have any joint problems, seek medical advice before beginning any sort of new workout routine.

8. Customised Screening, referring to a regular annual check with your doctor for your general
health status, blood pressure and monitoring of the blood sugar levels.

9. Cheerful Smiles, have a good laugh, meet up with friends (Join the OBA!!), and recollect good
times, which, by far, is my best ‘heart tonic’!

10. Comfortable Sleep. Sleep deprivation over time leads to early cardiac fatigue and poor health.
Anything less than 8 hours a day is unhealthy.

With best wishes for healthy hearts to all.

[Rohitj92]

Guys, I'm a 24 year old guy who is smoking since 4-5 years, was planning to quit from this year but failed. Now have planned to quit from 1st March, any tips or guidance ?
PS: I smoke around 10 cigarettes per day. Hope tomorrow will be my last day.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by Rohitj92

Now have planned to quit from 1st March, any tips or guidance ?

Planning* is not enough: you need an absolute, firm decision. Practical help you will find throughout the thread.

Hope tomorrow will be my last day.

Hope is not enough. You can add wings and prayers, but they will not help you either. You must make that decision.

This was the difference between my failures and my success: what I call my absolute, irrevocable decision.

Looking forward to welcoming you to the non-smokers club


*Actually, I think you should plan. I think you should read several pages of this thread, consider your options such as cold turkey or using some of the things that can aid you. Tomorrow is bit soon for that. But what you can do right now, is make that decision: how about being a non-smoker by 1st April? But if you are set up for tomorrow, then all the best: go ahead and do it. Don't let yourself fail!

[Sawyer]

Read the Allen Carr book on quitting once you have decided to stop, but before actually stopping. Read the book from end to end before deciding whether or not it works for you. In my case, it made things very easy. No guarantees of course, but the book is cheap.

If you have decided on March 1, buy the book today and read it end to end today!

The adage - Attitude determines your Altitude - is the key to success. Including the fact that stopping will be as difficult or as easy as YOU decide it is going to be.

And key to the attitude is how you approach this:

If you are choosing to be free of the cigarette that smokes you, it is easy - who will have a problem with being free?

If you see this as "giving up" the associations then are largely with sacrifice and denial.

Both ways can work, but the second involves a lot more will power and pain.

There is some pain in the first way, in the first 72 hours after choosing to be free, but that is seen to be a small price to pay for freedom.

The financial outcomes are then just a welcome bonus.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by Sawyer

The adage - Attitude determines your Altitude - is the key to success. Including the fact that stopping will be as difficult or as easy as YOU decide it is going to be.

After giving up, I had two thoughts...

1. It was one of the most difficult things I ever did.

2. I don't know what all the fuss was about.

Both are true. Whilst there is a certain amount of physical withdrawal discomfort, the worst aspect is the mental aspect. Nicotine uses all the tricks against the addict: the addict must use them against nicotine. Words count, thoughts count. Indeed, attitude is vital. Have the right attitude and nicotine cannot win.

Originally Posted by Rohitj92

Guys, I'm a 24 year old guy who is smoking since 4-5 years, was planning to quit from this year but failed. Now have planned to quit from 1st March, any tips or guidance ?
PS: I smoke around 10 cigarettes per day. Hope tomorrow will be my last day.

Hope you are doing ok.

One of the main reasons for my several failures was that, after just one post-giving-up cigarette, I would give up giving up. I accepted failure too easily. Don't call a lapse a failure: get back to giving up. But know that every lapse makes it harder: a cigarette, when you haven't had one all day, feels great, and the withdrawal symptoms start again from scratch after the lapse.

Repeating highlights of my experience: I gave myself a date three months ahead (it was my birthday too, so I could not forget!). This coincided with a full reducing-dose of patches. I allowed myself to take it easy with an occasional cigarette for a few days, but absolutely not with the decision and the date. As the date approached, I realised that I had forgotten about the patches for a few days: the physical symptoms had gone.

I made it, as have several other participants in this thread in the ways that worked for them. Everybody can!

[luvDriving]

This is not about me but the father of my best friend. Btw I am a teetotaler and non smoker. My father used to smoke till he passed away 15 years ago but fortunately I have never felt the urge to smoke or drink.

Well this friend's father was a heavy smoker, regularly consuming a packet a day, sometimes more. Super brilliant scientist working in the x-ray machine domain providing his expertise in electronic devices.

So one day he fell sick (don't recall the exact nature) and the condition worsened each day. One day he felt that he was going to die and he called my friend to have a last chat and there was much rona dhona. But he managed to come out of it. The recovery took a long time and his doctor told him that had he not been a smoker, his body would have responded to medication much sooner.

From that day onwards, he quit smoking. Just like that - in a day. He faced withdrawal symptoms but he is the only smoker I know who decided and quit in a day. Fortunately his son, my friend, has also never felt the urge to smoke till today.

[Sawyer]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

the withdrawal symptoms start again from scratch after the lapse.

I agree with your thoughts; and if I might pick on another A HA moment that arises from the quoted words, that help get the right attitude:

It isn't just after every lapse that this is what a cigarette does for you - the withdrawal symptoms, once an addict, start afresh EVERY time you put out a cigarette, or even take just one puff. The ONLY thing that a cigarette does for you that isn't just imaginary, is that it keeps the addiction revved to the max. Every thing else that it does for you is a made up fiction by your mind. And anything that your mind can make up, it can equally easily unmake.

The Allen Carr book works by helping the attitude change happen rapidly - often in the first reading of the book. Thinking different can happen literally like a light switch turning on.

Why is stopping then so hard to do?

That is another myth. Consider the fact that far fewer people in the West now smoke compared to twenty years ago. It isn't just that smokers have died out; millions have given up. Many many millions. Ordinary people, not heroes.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Withdrawal symptoms don't happen because a person gives up.

They happen because they smoked in the first place.

[Rohitj92]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

After giving up, I had two thoughts...

1. It was one of the most difficult things I ever did.

2. I don't know what all the fuss was about.

Both are true. Whilst there is a certain amount of physical withdrawal discomfort, the worst aspect is the mental aspect. Nicotine uses all the tricks against the addict: the addict must use them against nicotine. Words count, thoughts count. Indeed, attitude is vital. Have the right attitude and nicotine cannot win.



Hope you are doing ok.

One of the main reasons for my several failures was that, after just one post-giving-up cigarette, I would give up giving up. I accepted failure too easily. Don't call a lapse a failure: get back to giving up. But know that every lapse makes it harder: a cigarette, when you haven't had one all day, feels great, and the withdrawal symptoms start again from scratch after the lapse.

Repeating highlights of my experience: I gave myself a date three months ahead (it was my birthday too, so I could not forget!). This coincided with a full reducing-dose of patches. I allowed myself to take it easy with an occasional cigarette for a few days, but absolutely not with the decision and the date. As the date approached, I realised that I had forgotten about the patches for a few days: the physical symptoms had gone.

I made it, as have several other participants in this thread in the ways that worked for them. Everybody can!

I'm afraid because I have already given up two times, first it was 1st of January 2017, then February 2017. Now finally this time I have decided today is the last day. Although I have cut down on the numbers in these two months but hardly by 2-3 a day.
Today I have decided I will smoke as much till my heart content and finally give up from tomorrow.

[Sawyer]

There is nothing about failure/s that says that success isn't possible. But the important thing is to recognise that unless you do different things this time around, a different result is not likely.

You can keep trying different things each time with a hit and miss chance of success, but quicker/surer results are obtained if you research the subject a little first.

[Rohitj92]

Originally Posted by Sawyer

There is nothing about failure/s that says that success isn't possible. But the important thing is to recognise that unless you do different things this time around, a different result is not likely.

You can keep trying different things each time with a hit and miss chance of success, but quicker/surer results are obtained if you research the subject a little first.

Frankly speaking, I'm quite worried about what am I gonna do in my break time at work. I smoke 4-5 cigarettes at work whenever I'm free.

[Thad E Ginathom]

You have to get through all those habitual-smoking times. If you can find something else to do, it helps, but, in the end, it is another of those things that you just have to do.

Please note: You will get repeat episodes, but the worst of the nail-biting phase is over in two or three days. Really! So hold in there

Sawyer, I think you are now elected Chief Counsellor Of The Thread!