FAO former smokers

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I'm gearing up for another attempt at getting off the smokes and would really appreciate any former smokers telling me about their experiences of getting off the weed. Thanks.Starfish

It's self destructive

You dont say..

That's just one of my modivational things of the day. I don't hand them out too much, if you don't like the message you're going to have to stick to it.

It's not that it's a bad message; it's just that it's rather obvious, kind of like saying, "Ice is cold."

Yea I realized that, that's why my last post was a joke. Must've of been hard to understand that though.

Sarcasm and subtlety, when not carefully framed, are lost in this medium. If you need a smiley face to get the idea across, then a fine-tuning of the message is in order.

Didnt realise that was a joke Kiwi, so sorry. It felt like being preached to; I figured out it was self destructive long ago, so it's a pain in the arse when people tell me that. Knowing it's harmful dosent make quitting any easier though, more's the pity.

Nah don't apologize.

Not a smoker myself, but I do know some who did stop. The common theme for those that I know who've successfully stopped has been that they replaced it with something else.My mum switched to nicorette gum and then gradually switched to normal gum.My dad switched to diet coke (no BS), he would go outside for "cokos" instead of his ususal "smoko". He said that the noise the can made when he opened it had the same effect on him as taking the first puff. Now of course he's addicted to diet coke, we've started weining him off (he was on 5-6 cans a day) and now he's drinking a lot more water.An old teacher of mine did it by using tic tacs, everytime he wanted a cigarette he popped out a tic tac.I read in another thread that you don't have time for substitutes, that seems odd to me. If you don't have time for them then how did you have the time for smoking? Maybe I just misinterpreted what you meant.Anyway... try to identify what part of smoking is addictive for you (of course I know nicotine is), many people do get addicted/in the pattern of just smoking itself.

Thanks for responding, it seems there are not too many former smokers around here!"I read in another thread that you don't have time for substitutes, that seems odd to me. If you don't have time for them then how did you have the time for smoking? Maybe I just misinterpreted what you meant"That was very funny to me; it's a good example of how on an international site we can misunderstand each other because of the cultural differences in our lingo! To 'have no time' for something here means you have no regard for it, like I'd say 'she's a bloody cow, I have no time for her'.All of the attempts I've made at getting off the fags (there’s another term thats meaning is different around the world, I know in America it is used to refer to gays; here if you say your about to have a fag your not about to get down to some homosexual sex, you're about to light a cigarette lol. In fact I know an Irish bloke who earned himself a smack in the face in an Australian supermarket for saying he was 'just looking to have a root around', which is taken to mean masturbation or some sort of sex act there; the poor bloke, he hadn’t a clue why he'd just been clattered, here it merely means to browse around, ha ha, of course his Australian friends tied themselves in knots of laughter when he explained the situation to them)Anyway I got way off topic there; these last few years I have always gone cold turkey, and though I haven’t been successful yet I know in myself it is the only way for me to go. I made many attempts prior to that using NRT (Nicotine Replacement Therapy for anyone who doesn’t know) and all it did for me was to keep the addiction alive. I feel nicotine, like any other physically addictive substance, has to be purged from the body as quickly as possible, and NRT of course does not allow for that. I think that substitutes which don’t contain nicotine, like regular gum or cola, only serve to enforce a psychologically dangerous idea in the mind of the recovering addict, and it is this: 'I must have nicotine, or something to replace it'. I don’t think that is a good idea, or very conductive to breaking free. In fact I'm very annoyed with myself because towards the end of the month I spent off cigarettes the withdrawals were almost gone and I was really starting to feel fine (if I'd been on NRT for example, it would have been many months before I'd got to that point) Anyway, people who've quit successfully to my mind are people who neither need nicotine nor anything else to replace it. I read Alan Carr's 'easy way to stop smoking’ before my first non-substitute attempt and was startled to read that many of this theories about smoking are similar to my own. Heroin was very prevalent around the area I grew up in and many neighbours, friends and a few family members were unfortunately caught in the trap. In my observations those who quit the hard way stayed clean, and those who took the methadone route continually slipped back, some of them are dead now; it's part of the reason why I have no time for substitutes in fighting an addiction that is physical in nature.

Actually, we do use that phrase here in NZ, I just assumed you were using it the other way. Hah. You may not subscribe to the whole replacement idea, but I vouch for it, as I've said it has worked for people I know.

Well, I'm always glad to hear of someone getting off drugs, regardless of the drug or the means they used to break free; so fair play to them, I just know it's not the way to go for me. I suppose I'd better get the calander out soon and pick a day..

"This isn't from the temptation, but the stench!"Well thanks Rad; there's a bit of motivation if ever I got it, thanks, ha ha!