I must quit smoking. Any suggestions welcome

[radiantquest]

Let me first start by saying that I enjoy smoking. I look forward to my next cigarette. They have been there with me through everything. When I celebrate my cigs are there. When I am heartbroken my cigs are there. When I am nervous... I feel that they are the best friend that never leaves you. Always there for you.

However, I need to quit. My husband has quit, and compains that it stinks. I am getting to the age where I must choose between my contraceptive and smoking, my grandmother and my mother have both had strokes. The list could go on and on.

The problem that I have is that since I like smoking I have a very hard time quitting. I am thinking of hypnosis. My husband tells me that it is a scam. I have tried the gum, patch, pill, cold turkey all of it. It turns into a fight with myself.

It is very easy to buy another pack when I talk myself into it. No matter how hard I try I want to smoke, I like it. If a psychologist could reprogram me to not have this desire to smoke I know that I could get through cravings.

Has anyone tried hypnotism for quitting smoking? This is like a last resort.

 

[noelwr]

don''t know about hypnotism, but I had a colleague who had this thing on/behind her ear which was supposed to take away the desire. don''t know if it worked or not.

my husband used visualisation. whenever he felt like a cigarette, he would picture himself with disgusting shriveled up skin and black rotten teeth falling out, and then he wouldn''t smoke.

I stopped. most people I know who quit just stopped. it''s about really wanting to stop. I stopped 6 years ago but I still dream about smoking and how good it feels. so even though I''m no longer addicted to the nicotine, I will always like smoking. I''m just strong enough not to do it. I guess I know that if I smoked one I''d probably be violently ill.

 

[dani2142]

Date: 10/5/2009 12:48:23 PM
Author: noelwr
don't know about hypnotism, but I had a colleague who had this thing on/behind her ear which was supposed to take away the desire. don't know if it worked or not.

my husband used visualisation. whenever he felt like a cigarette, he would picture himself with disgusting shriveled up skin and black rotten teeth falling out, and then he wouldn't smoke.

I stopped. most people I know who quit just stopped. it's about really wanting to stop. I stopped 6 years ago but I still dream about smoking and how good it feels. so even though I'm no longer addicted to the nicotine, I will always like smoking. I'm just strong enough not to do it. I guess I know that if I smoked one I'd probably be violently ill.

+1

 

[tap02150]

Theres new medicine that helps people stop smoking by literally making them disgusted and not WANT to smoke. I''ll see if i can look it up, but I had a friend who didn''t even really want to quit, and he stopped smoking after taking this treatment.

 

[radiantquest]

Date: 10/5/2009 1:26:00 PM
Author: tap02150
Theres new medicine that helps people stop smoking by literally making them disgusted and not WANT to smoke. I''ll see if i can look it up, but I had a friend who didn''t even really want to quit, and he stopped smoking after taking this treatment.

If you are talking about Chantix I tried that. It didn''t disgust me. If it is somthing else that you are talking about it would love to know what it is. That sounds like something that would work.

 

[westjenn]

What about the E cigarette? There are a couple of people at work that use it to help them quit...

 

[shimmer]

I second the E-cig, they are awesome. I also took Wellbutrin to quit smoking. It is an antidepressant but it actually heightened my sense of smell and made the smell and taste of smoke really bother me. I am still on it in fact, if I go off of it I start to smoke again

 

[cindygenit]

FI used to socially. One day he just decided it wasn''t cool anymore and just stopped. He also said it was an expensive habit LOL.

 

[stone-cold11]

How about overloading? Instead of going cold turkey, force yourself to go 2-3 times over your daily max? Like torture, so that it build a fear response into your subconscious? Not sure how much you are smoking so that might cause some health problem, best to check with a health expert.

 

[violet3]

Hmmm....so you''ve tried Chatix - that worked for my mom. The other drug as mentioned above is wellbutrin - it IS an antidepressant, but it works for quiting smoking. My dad used it to quit and hasnt'' had a cigarette in years. A few years back it was marketed in another name for smokers - it was called Zyban i think because so many people had success in quiting on the wellbutrin.

I had a friend who was hypnotized - it worked for her and she was a pack - two pack a day smoker. Never smoked again - i would definitely recommend trying it - i don''t think it''s a scam.

Good luck!

 

[Steel]

Date: 10/10/2009 1:28:04 PM
Author: violet3
Hmmm....so you've tried Chatix - that worked for my mom. The other drug as mentioned above is wellbutrin - it IS an antidepressant, but it works for quiting smoking. My dad used it to quit and hasnt' had a cigarette in years. A few years back it was marketed in another name for smokers - it was called Zyban i think because so many people had success in quiting on the wellbutrin.

I had a friend who was hypnotized - it worked for her and she was a pack - two pack a day smoker. Never smoked again - i would definitely recommend trying it - i don't think it's a scam.

Good luck!

+1

I was hypnotised in 2002 (I think, it could also have been 2001) and my last cigarette was the one I had before I went in for my appointment. The best €60 I ever spent.

Best of luck radiantquest.

 

[noelwr]

just remember the thing with hypnosis is that they can''t make you do something you don''t want to do.

so if you REALLY don''t want to stop smoking, then hypnosis isn''t going to work.

and if you REALLY do want to stop, just stop.

 

[akmiss]

You really need to be committed to quitting. If there is always an internal dialogue about having another cigarette than you will NEVER quit. I have been smoke free for two years now and never will go back. But, I must have tried to quit four or five times unsuccessfully before I got it right. I have heard that hypnotism works but it may take more than one session. I would give it a try if you have tried everything else already. Good luck

 

[tlh]

get a nag.

Being nagged constantly might help...

but in the end... you''re going to have to WANT to make the change.

 

[sunnyd]

I saw a guy get hypnotised at a fair once to stop smoking. He went under and the hypnotist associated the taste to tar or burning rubber or something. He woke up, lit up and spit it out because it was gross. I don''t know how long it lasted, but hopefully that gives you some hope.

FI quit before we got together (I''m allergic, and find it repulsive anyway) by reading The Easy Way to Quit Smoking, by Allen Carr. You have to want to quit to begin with though.

 

[sctsbride09]

I have to ditto the other posters that say you have to want to quit. I smoked from the time I was 13 til about 23, in that time span I tried to quit at least 10 times. When I finally WANTED to not smoke anymore, thats when success came! I guess I just realized that my health was so much more important than something that is just a crutch. Not only that, but my teeth were getting yellow and my bf at the time (now DH) used to complain of how bad I stunk, yuck! Not to mention that lovely hacking cough you get..

. Anyhow, quiting itself was pretty easy (once I wanted it), for about the first 6 months or so I would buy myself a *small* gift as a reward for not smoking as well as buying myself the best perfumes and shampoos for motivation. Anytime I even thought about a cig, I would smell my hair, or my wrists. I know it sounds soo stupid, but it worked for me. Also, realize that if you slip, its OK, it doesnt mean you go back to smoking full time, just a slip.

Good Luck, you will feel so much better!

 

[Dancing Fire]

a woman in France quit smoking when she turn 108 yrs old and she die the following yr.

 

[cara]

My aunt used hypnotism to help her quit, she gives it some credit. Who cares if it''s an enhanced placebo effect or a real thing, if it helps some? Either way, I think you really have to want it for it to stick. Good for you to want it, and good luck.

 

[packrat]

I quit by just stopping. I concentrated on staying as busy as I possibly could and trying to keep it out of my mind. I cheated a few times, and it always made me feel terrible. It''s a mind over matter thing. I loved smoking. But, I planned on having kids at some point, and I didn''t want to smoke while pg but didn''t want to choose that time to quit, so I figured it was a now or never deal. It sucked, and it was really hard. It''s worth it tho!! Good luck to you!

 

[Haven]

I'm not trying to be a smart*ss when I say this:
Spend time with people who are dying of lung cancer. Volunteer in a hospital, a hospice, or something similar.

My grandmother smoked for something like 30 years, and she quit cold turkey with my mother when my mom found out she was pregnant with me in 1980. She spent the last several years of her life suffering horribly from lung cancer and died on May 6th of this year. It was painful and ugly and heartbreaking, and my mom just kept saying "If I hadn't quit back in 1980, *this* would have done the trick."

I know that for me, seeing what *could* happen to me if I continued on with a bad habit, especially the horror that is cancer that attacks your lungs, I'd be able to quit pretty easily.

Good luck!

 

[Circe]

Electronic cigarette. Seriously. I smoked about a pack a day for almost 8 years, and these made it easy for me to quit.

njoy.com - I really do recommend it highly. It''s been a year and a half without smoking, now ....

 

[vc10um]

My mother successfully quit smoking with the aid of hypnosis.

Well, until she and my father got a divorce. But the quit with hypnosis lasted over 7 years...

Hope that helps a bit!

 

[Cehrabehra]

IME there is only one way to do it - and that is to not smoke. I know you''re thinking well yeah - duh... but all of the gimicks and tricks and hints and rituals in the world aren''t worth the determination to stop. Once you have that, any of them will work to help you just walk away. Yeah it''s hard but only you can make it happen. If you really don''t want to stop - you won''t. If you really do - you just do it and refuse to inhale.

I speak from experience.