A week later ...

I am not chewing nicotine gum, using the patch or swallowing those new pills many of you rave about.

I may yet fill that prescription if the side effects of quitting become more difficult to manage. Just to have the drug handy in a moment of weakness is not a bad idea, my doctor says.

I am eating crappy food fairly consistently. It has never occurred to me, not once, to run out and buy a bag of carrots or a chunky, bottled fruit-shake. I want burgers and fries and pizza.

I am spending more time in front of the mirror, checking to see whether this junk food is adding any flabbiness to my jowl area. Can't quite tell yet.

I have trouble sleeping. I cannot read in bed because suddenly reading is boring and annoying. My skin starts to crawl when I do the same thing for more than five minutes. So I toss and turn for hours. The dog looks at me like I need to be walked. I am getting three hours of sleep each night.

I am buying packs and packs of sugary gum, which I chew into a rubbery tastelessness before my jaw starts to swell and I have to spit it out.

A big help has been the incredible response to the blog.

I am humbled by the number of readers who are sharing their thoughts. Even the haters.

(One wrote: "Sounds like you ... ran out of story ideas for your editor, so you thought you'd pretend to quit. True?"

Oh yeah, totally true. The best part would be when someone discovers I actually still smoke and then I would be utterly discredited and fired. Yippee. All part of the thrill of journalism.)

I am encouraged by those who share their quitting stories.

I appreciate their advice. I have been invited to a session with a hypnotherapist. Should I do it?

I am determined to quit. I have an angst pushing me. I am furious that I have let cigarettes hook me for half my life.

But the quitting will only get more difficult.

Because the angst will fade.

The real test isn't the first week or next week. It will come in a few months, after the physical side effects have passed. It will be a warm night, sitting in my back yard with my ne'er-do-well friends, drinking beer and bourbon, and I know how it could happen because it's happened before.

A Jack Daniel's-soaked internal dialogue will start, and it will go a little something like this ...

"I been quit for months. I proved I don't need to smoke. So why not, on this bootiful summer night - is that Labatt 50 dribbling down my chin or a mosquito? - while my a*****e friend is opening a pack of Benson & Hedges, why not have just one smoke as a reward?"

Comments

[OwenMeany1]

David,
Whether you admit it or not, you have quit!
7 days is an eternity for some, and others just a flash of light.
The past seven days now are just a dream, a pile of moments,it is up to you as to how you choose to imagine them.

The fact is at this very moment, you are a non smoker.
BREATHING SMOKE FREE!!

You have come such a long way, congratulations, how does it feel to really breathe for 8 days without smoke?
Please don’t smoke, and selfishly better yet, don’t stop this blog.
I was a panicked when I dialed up my internet to the stars webpage and your journal was gone.
A quick click on the Blog section, and relief, there is your blog.

I think my decision today to start journaling is inspired by your blog.
One thing I have noticed in reading your comments section, Am I the only one commenting on the fact that I am still sitting on the fence to becoming a non smoker?
You are so very lucky to have this blog, so much support.
I am isolated, and don’t have a large circle of support people around me, so at this point your blog is my only outlet.
Selfishly, I also like the anonymity, of being real with what I am feeling that your blog offers.

Rereading my thoughts that I jotted down yesterday was surprisingly filled with clarity and very, I don’t really have the word, freeing? We shall see if I keep it up.
I will not bore you with the full journaling, perhaps excerpts that may apply.

8:34 a.m. And 2 ½ fixes, and ½ as much coffee as yesterday, foolishly I look at that as progress.
There was an intermission between the first 2 cigarettes that lasted long enough for me to notice yet not crave. While going outside with the dogs the ½ fix was because my cigarette went out on its own!
The auto pilot addict in me would have lit it up, today the awoken co pilot in me look at the dead cigarette as destiny.
Am kidding myself?

Waking this morning, with yet again another “smoke head hangover.”
I laid in bed for a short while again knowing that I did not want to mechanically go downstairs to make coffee and smoke. I was as though I was a co pilot, standing beside the autopilot that is my addiction.
The co pilot actually looked out the window this morning.
We are having what I like to call “Hollywood Snow” and it is so beautiful.

As I have mentioned before I live in a charming old farmhouse in the country.
There is a 10 minute drive to the nearest a little Village.
It is quite charming, however part of the charm of this Village is to the fact that there is a General Store where you can by very basic essentials.
To me the Village is where my Dealer is, it is where I go to get my fixes.
I am deathly frightened of being isolated out here in the country without a fix?
I always buy a pack a day whether I need them or not, I need a back up.

So daily I take a trip into the Village “to pick a few things up.”
That is the lie I tell myself, actual fact “a few things” a newspaper, DVD, milk, I can do without. The real purpose that I make the trek to the Village is to get my fix.
While at the counter, I casually add a pack of cigarettes with a underlying hint of shame in my mind while I pay for my purchases.
“Oh, and a pack of Large Matinee Extra Mild,” pause, “I mean Mellow” as they changed the name.
Pretending to be very casual, when the reality is there is a very serious transaction for me, a moment of relief to the inner panic that would overtake me if I couldn’t get my fixes.
I only buy one pack at a time, never a carton. A carton represents addiction, just one pack gives me a small sense that I might one day keep the broken promise that I will quite after the next pack.

Who am I kidding, I am a Junkie.
No different, I just live in a nice house, drive a new car, where nice clothes, get proper grooming including a good teeth cleaning and bleach every 4 months,oh and smell nice I have lovely cologne.
My income is one that I can hid the expense of my addiction as it won‘t put me on skid row.
This addiction will put me in hospital and eventually into a grave.

I know the first step in overcoming nicotine addiction is to accept the fact that I have the addiction.
Okay, I HAVE ACCEPTED, I KNOW IT, I AM A NICOTINE ADDICT.
There I said it.
Second step is to set a date and begin a quit plan.
I know this, I have done it so many, many times before, and it has brought me to where I am today.
My frustration and anger with my addiction is one that it is really with myself first and then the addiction.

I just want to stop now, FULL STOP.
Choosing to breathe free and overcoming nicotine is a process.
I have gone through this process so many times that I could give seminars and run support groups for people wanting to break free.

I can “talk the talk,” yet there is one thing, I have been crippled so many times when it is my turn and time to “walk the walk.”
My attempts have been with the help of hypnosis, patch, gum, drugs, Easy Way, all of which numerous times and all have led me to where I am today, still addicted to Nicotine.

I have to confess to something, I have been so lucky to take time off from work and move into a semi-retirement at 44!
One of my main goals while being off was to quite smoking.

Harsh reality check, I have been off since June of 07, hear I sit in February of 08 nine months later, still smoking. Those nine months, hell, the past 30 years of smoking I can never get back.
I am angry, no dammit, I mean it, really angry.
Why can't I accept all I have is today, all I have is this present moment.

[Cate]

Any chance you can think about this as a psychology experiment?

From a behavioural science perspective, your cravings are triggering events. Your response to this trigger has always been to have a smoke. The immediate consequence of the smoking response is that you feel better – the craving goes away. These things have become connected over thousands and thousands of repetitions.

So now you have a craving, and you are choosing not to use the same response that your system, physically and psychologically, has come to expect. BUT… by not providing the expected response, you are actively weakening that association, or “extinguishing” the response (pun incidental).

So each moment you spend in the midst of a nic-fit without satisfying it, your body and your mind are doing the difficult work of breaking that connection. You’re teaching yourself that B doesn’t have to follow A. Each time you ride out a craving, you gradually move farther from dependence, one slow step at a time.

Congratulate yourself for having this pain, in the same way that you get satisfaction from sore muscles after a hard workout or a day of hiking. The pain means you’re doing hard work, and you’re getting stronger for it.

Good luck, and hang in there!

[Karen]

My friend sent me your blog on Tuesday. I cant believe we quit smoking on the same day! Each day I play the countdown game until your colum appears. I laugh out loud at the way you word all MY emotions. I loved your article on the RAGE & I agree with the fact that those "I quit 7 years ago" people are grating on your last nerve. You have given me so many things this week so let me give you a line that I use on all the reformed smokers in my life its 3 simple words GOOD FOR YOU !!! Seriously if you say this with enough TONE they quickly back off the rest of their do gooder speech.
Good luck over the weekend my plans are to get up off my fat bum & actually go for a walk. Anything has to be better than these dam sunflower seeds, oh by the way reformed smokers THEY DONT HELP so stop with the useless information.
Until Monday
K

[kate]

would advise against the hypnotherapy - didn't work for me, whole thing was actually just kinda creepy and cultish and somewhat laughable. meditation would have been just as effective. But that's me. It could work for you. It's worked for others. But it's a very expensive gamble, because hypnosis is NOT cheap. ($1000 plus)

[Gayle]

Hello David, WTG, wishing you well. Wait still someone kisses you and doesn't feel like they just licked an ashtray.
Keep up the good work you are an inspiration

[Christa]

Congratulations! I, too have quit.....unfortunately, I keep going back. FOUR times last year! Your blog is helping realise that I wasn't the only one suffering during a quit ( I HATE those who tell you "I quit cold turkey, never went back, had no problems" and then proceed to go on about how easy it is, and why haven't youdone it yet? Grrrr! Okay, I'm setting a quit date, and sticking to it this time....and I'll use your blog to remind me that it's NOT supposed to be easy - we're ADDICTS! Keep it up!

[Joe]

I am not a reformed smoker I use to smoke 2.5 packs a day and loved it. It was a choice between smoking and breathing,, also I also had had a successful cancer operation 10 years previous so I figured I had pushed my luck far enough. I quit 10 years ago and sometimes I still crave a smoke. All I can tell you is just keep saying no to yourself, it does get easier. It is tough to lose 25 very good friends. Good luck.

[Donna McMillan]

May I echo the congratulations given you by your reader! You have done so well! A week is an eternity! Certainly, looking forward towards a week when one is quitting seems like one anyway. You have gotten over the worst of it and you are hanging in there.

The first time I quit, I went to a hypnotist and it was extremely successful because as I mentioned in an earlier post that I quit for 16 years. I tried that again a couple of years ago, but I don't think I was as psychologically ready then. Perhaps I am now.

I know your blog has given me much food for thought and enouragement and I am looking at my burning cigarette in the ashtray and find myself disgusted at the smoke that is curling into my eyes, mouth, nose and wondering number 2,358, "What the heck am I doing this for??????"

For me, it is about control. I have always had a problem with authority and do not like anyone telling me what to do or deciding for me. And yet, I allow this little white stick of smoke to control me. I have relinquished my power to something that has no gratitude for the sacrifice I have made at its altar.

I am a recovered alcoholic - 26 years last September. I know from my countless AA meetings that it is not the drinking that does it, but the first drink. Why did I forget that concept?

Your comments about sitting around with friends having a drink and having 'just one' reminded me of that warning. That is what happened to me. I thought one cigarette wouldn't do any harm and that I had it under control having quit for 16 years and I could easily have just one. Wrong!!!!!

Just as the disease of alcoholism or any other addiction is insidious in nature and is progressive, within days of that first cigarette, I was up to a pack a day. Just as if I took ONE drink, I'm absolutely convinced I would be back to waking up in all the wrong places again if I took a drink, and be back in the throes of being a practicing alcoholic once more.

I am not willing to ever take the chance that I could or could not control the effects of one drink and I have been shown what that kind of thinking will do to me even moreso since taking that ONE cigarette. This time, when I quit, and I will, there will be no teasing the gods and thinking that I can control that which will not submit and pretend I am stronger than my addiction.

I am not my addiction. I am in control of my choices. I can be uncomfortable and welcome each day of discomfort as a sign that I am fighting the fight and this time, I will win! Once and for all!

You are over the worse as far as the physical addiction. Now, you are on your way towards choosing your thoughts. Choose good thoughts today, my friend. That is all you have and those are the one thing that you really can control.

Best of luck!

[Carol Culhane]

'why not have just one smoke as a reward?'

That one's pretty easy. You don't want one. You never wanted one. You want them all. Every smoker or ex-smoker out there wanted them all, and we tried to get them one at a time. You can turn this one around and think that there's only one cigarette you don't have to smoke. The next one. If you never smoke the next one eventually you will get to a point where you really don't want one at all.

The worst of it is over in 3 weeks. Just keep at it and eat drywall if it helps. Worry about the eating thing in a couple of months. For now just don't smoke that one little cigarette.

Best of luck. It's not easy, but it's doable.

[jane]

This question is for Karen, who doesn't want to hear/read what non-smoking (i.e. 'reformed') addicts have to say. Why not, Karen? Is it bragging you hear? People are encouraging you, and David, and owenmeany1, to do what you say you want to do. maybe your own feelings (withdrawal, irritability, etc) are quick to blow right now. I wish that you could also feel hopeful that this thing is possible and you will indeed be 're-formed' as you go. and your lungs, and circ. system, etc. (hahah)
You can feel however you want, of course. Since the effort of coming back from a serious drug addiction is a big one, lots of us want to reflect on it, revisit it from the 'safety' of where we are, in relation to the substance. To even do it, I had to wall it off, not talk about it, not think it. Maybe karen is correct, we are patting ourselves on the back with that reflection. Hope you do too, Karen, someday.
You have thought this through, David, there will be many moments as you describe, of letting down your guard and experimenting, teasing yourself that you don't have to deny yourself...Believe it, you cannot ever in your life have a cigarette. This is your mantra. Some people will scoff, but if you don't have that burned (haha) into your brain, there you go again. You are correct, the physical addiction goes (how long? 3 months? less?) but the other parts remember.
(are we counting how many visits to the blog each of us do? better than counting the days, or counting the hits) Tell us the signs that you are getting through, celebrate your progress.

[JT]

Before I became a permanent quitter, on my many failed attempts to quit, I was faced with the "what can one little ciggy hurt?" syndrome. But eventually, the one at a party became, one after work, two during a stressy week, and so on until I was up to a pack a day again. I realized 19.5 yrs ago, and still claim today, that I'm a "smokoholic" and can't even have one drag or I'm hooked again. Understanding how strong my addiction is continues to keep me smoke-free. Happy one week anniversary David. Treat yourself!

[Quitter]

Give up now! Face it, you tried, it didn't work, your a quitter! Discredit yourself now, don't wait till the summer while sitting in your back yard on a lawn chair, having a beer and puffing on a B&H (aren't those your favorite?) If your going to get fired for smoking, get fired now, don't wait till summer. Or, if you are going to quit smoking, quit smoking now, don't wait till summer.

The first week is indeed a test! They say nicotine is more addictive than heroine. You can buy a pack today and start quitting tomorrow. No one will know that you cheated a little. If you survive most of today without smoking, and something upsets you, no problem, buy a pack of smokes. It's not going to kill you, ... or will it?

Some advice:
1. Count the number of days you've stayed quit on a whiteboard or blackboard in a prominent place in your home or office
2. Write subliminal messages to your self, plaster them all over the place.
3. Repeat after me: "I will quit smoking!" over and over again whenever you have the urge to smoke.
4. Lose your friends ... they are the ones that are going to offer you smokes when you don't need em.
5. Splash some water on your face and drink a glass of cold water.
6. Check yourself into rehab ... you need a straight jacket to prevent lighting up.

Im quitting too. It hasn't worked for me yet. I havent tried #6.

[Sasa Jeric]

David,

You are a god-sent mate. I just discovered your blog today and it has helped me from resist the urge for a ciggy for at least another hour. I'm originally from Toronto, but been living and working in New Zealand for the last three years and have recently quit for a third time.

Like you I'm 30 and selfishly telling as many people at work and in the community as possible to create as many obstacles as possible to prevent myself from picking up that cigarette. I even have a bet with a smoker at work to see who can last the longest...with a nice bottle of single malt at stake. Truth be told, I don't even want to win the bet, I just want to remember what it was like to not feel I need a ciggy to be able to focus in on the most mundate rountines of my day.

The New Zealand government sends people nic patches and nic gum at the ridiculous price of $12 for a two month supply to help people kick the habit down here. After the first three days, I started to feel a sense of relief, but by day 5 I was starting to write down vicious one-liners to abuse people who dared to make another stupid comment on the benefits of quitting...like we don't know already. It than gave way to random rage that felt liberating in short sessions, but what to do with my hands that felt the absence of my B&H's? I've resorted to using one of those Nictorate Inhalers when the craving really hits, although it results in long explainations to people why it appears I have a tampon in my mouth.

I've rumaged over old U of T psych lectures notes to explain to myself how the cycle of addiction works and tell myself what I'm feeling is well documented and normal. I don't FEEL NORMAL! I even went to a hypnotherapist recently, who tried guided meditation. No luck really. I didn't have the heart to tell the poor hypnotherapist that I was humming the hockey night in canada theme song in my head waiting for the session to be over so that I could visit the Star to see if the Leafs had finally pulled the trigger on Sundin.

To make life harder on myself I recently gave up meat and caffine as a new year resolution and am directing a wonderful theatre production where all the character's smoke on stage. I don't know whether I enjoy the self punishment or feel the more obstacles stacked up against me the greater the urge to conquer each and every one. If I'm honest, it'll probably be to give myself a reason to pick that cigarette back up.

I don't care what they say, everyone looks cooler with a cigarette. I digress.

Nevertheless, I will continue to resist the urge to pick up that cigarette. Today is the end of the second week and week three beckons. Thank you for being honest about your experience, and not simply falling into the same PC crap you see on telly ads or in the papers.

Cheers mate, looking forward to your next post.

Sasa

[Shirley Millingen]

I'm enjoying your suffering - I mean your blog. Hang in there buddy.

Who knows? Maybe those people who look down their noses when passing an addicted worker outside an office building, might develop a little compassion and realize that some of the suffering linked to cigarettes is not confined only to the act of dying.

As Mark Twain said: "Giving up smoking is easy. I've done it a hundred times!"

And YOU are not a Queen!

[Martin]

Hi David,

I would definitely recommend going and seeing the hypnotherapist. I listened to audio books to help me quit and the difference of quitting 'cold turkey' and quitting with the help of a 'mind programming technique' was like night and day. I went down a little trip down memory lane reading some of your symptoms. I bid you good luck as I know what it can be like! Anything that is worth something is going to take work and this is definitely something that is worth a lot as you have undoubtedly already started to see! In reference to the oncoming troubles, you are right, but eventually I think you get to understand that enough is enough and the fact that it's not worth it. That and the knowledge that it is your life and you can choose which road you want to walk down... and at the current moment, I'd say you're on a good road. You're really lucky to have this blog!

Take care!

[John R. Polito]

David, you're doing fantastic! Within 3 days your body had purged 100% of nicotine, a point at which your limbic mind came to the realization that this wasn't like starving yourself to death, that the brain functions better without the super-toxin nicotine inside it. Although watching a rose bud bloom is challenging, you may have an awareness that the underlying current of anxieties flowing from the insula have subsided substantially. I mention this as to re-introduce nicotine back into a clean brain, working overtime to restore acetylcholine receptor counts to normal, would be akin to throwing a wrench into a beautiful engine that's learning to hummmmm again.

But what motivated me to write, David, is your comments about having so many watching this quit, a sense that their interests have somehow become important or that your job and honesty in relation to your chosen cessation format is now a factor. David, as horrible as this may sound, truth is that you are a drug addict navigating early recovery. Doing this for anyone other than David fosters a natural sense of self-deprivation that gradually eats away at core dreams and desires. Above the job, professional honesty, and readership, this recovery must be David's gift to David. This is for you, not us, not other smokers and not your employer.

I encourage you to like David enough to want to see what it's like to complete this amazing temporary journey of re-adjustment and be home again, to again reside inside a quiet and comfortable mind where the occasional thought of wanting becomes the exception not the rule. Millions of words, David, but just one guiding principle determining the outcome for all ... no nicotine today! Yes you can, yes you have, yes you are!

Breathe deep, hug hard, live and write long,

John

[Wendi Friesen]

Congratulations... making it public is a great way to inspire others.
I am a hypnotherapist and one thing we all know is that your brain has a remarkable ability to switch it's signals, and eliminate cravings. The triggers for smoking are many, as you know, and the brain is working on an automated and unconscious reaction that causes the body to react with cravings.
I would love to send you my CDs and you can find out how hypnotherapy feels without going to a session.
I am one of the leading Hypnotherapists in the world and I specialize in addictions... so if you decide to use hypnosis, the CDs are a great start.
Of course I will send them at no charge, and you don't have to even mention them... I just want you to find out how it feels to let go of the old triggers and feel good.

Wendi Friesen
wendi.com

[art Martin]

yay your quitting .. i'll share my quitting story. my wife and i use to stay with her grandmother. and the grandmother was a chronic smoker .. old, could barely walk, raspy voice and smoked every minute of the day. lit cigarettes lay about so she didn't have to remember to carry them. in matter of 3 weeks i was so terribly disgusted that one day on my way to school i lit a cigarette, had half a deck left and thought, "what am i doing?" .. so i tossed out that lit cigarette and that half a deck .. moved out a week later and ever since then i've been smoke free .. and it seems like EVERYONE still smokes .. i walk out of malls, public places whatever into a clouds of smoke ..

[Getting there]

I quit a day after you and quite unrelated to this post. I had always promised myself to be quit by 30 and my 31st was two weeks ago. This time I quit not with the gum, patches or Zyban as I have tried before, but cold turkey. I came home from an annual ice fishing trip that always sees my nicotine reservoir full to the brim and chose to ride it out this time and see how long I could go.

It is now on the 8th day and I can selfishly say that this is my easiest quit ever! I can relate to all of the angst and agitation that is listed here as those have accompanied every attempt in the past, but this time I can feel it being different.

The one thing that I have found extremely useful is putting a patch on only when I plan to have a few drinks. The loss of inhibition that accompanies a few beers has been my downfall in the past and I look toward it with readiness.

Never give up trying to quit. If we fail this time it will not be the last attempt to quit. We will learn another lesson and add it to the arsenal for the next attempt.

Keep up the great work and know that there are many people out there with you.

[Henry]

I started smoking when I was 13. I am now 51. Do the math. I was up to a one & a half packs per day. Over the years, I tried to quit many times, sometimes using the patch, but most times cold turkey, usually succumbing within a few hours. My last attempt was on March 18 of last year. In 22 days, I will now be a non-smoker for 1 year. I guess that getting winded going up a flight of stairs had something to do with it. I haven't had a cigarette since. For some reason, I don't find it as difficult as I thought it would be, even though I still miss it. I am now working out regularly, and am doing things that I could not have done before I quit. This first year has gone by quickly, without breaking down even once. My wife is a heavy smoker. It doesn't bother me to be around her or anyone else that is smoking. I now notice the smell after someone that has just had a cigarette. It wreaks. I'm finished with smoking. If I can do it, anyone can. Don't give in!

[Marijo Watt]

Congrats-Just take it one day at a time, or if you have to, one hour at a time. Quitting smoking was the hardest thing I have ever done. I'm turning 34 this year and I've been smoke free for a year and a half and at times I still think about smoking. Not to discourage you though - I can say I don't really crave it, I just think about it sometimes, but I don't miss it that's for sure. I was smoking since I was 13 and I started because it was "cool". I'm glad to see it's not considered that anymore. It made quitting a little easier, also the fact that it's considered taboo everywhere (even in tobacco country) didn't hurt much either (although when I smoked it did). I didn't quit for health or cost reasons, I quit for the freedom and I do have a lot more of that now. I wish you all the best and don't give up. You may be successful this time or next time, but you will never know unless you keep trying. Every day gets easier and it is worth it.

[Hank Kong]

David, I really enjoy your blog. Here's an idea to help keep you going and turn all of the GTA into active participants in your effort: The Star should offer a $1,000 reward to anyone who submits evidence of you smoking, e.g, photos, finished cigarettes with DNA analysis, sworn affidavits. Ok, maybe not the affidavits. Still, this would help you to be extra vigilant and silence the haters who are doubting your effort. On the other hand, you might find yourself hunted down by a pack of readers desperate for the reward money who hold you down and force you to smoke. If that were to happen, you would be forced to burn a few extra calories by fleeing the angry packs (pun sorta intended), so it's actually a win-win situation. Keep it up, and watch your back.

[Mark D.]

To all of you trying to quit there's no shame in trying and not quitting, you are addicted to a powerful drug. I smoked for 23 years trying everything to quit. I bought every gimmick and tried everything. Whenever I failed I used to feel so ashamed but I was unable to break this addiction.

I woke up October 5, 2003 at 42 years old and said to myself "I'm done smoking" and I haven't had one since. Hopefully you too will have the epiphany I had. Keep trying and good luck!!!

[HMB]

I am 4 days behind you - Feb. 19/08 was my quit date. Day three almost killed me (or a nearby stranger, it was a tough decision), but it's been getting better since then. i have a nicotine inhaler as part of a quit smoking study i'm in - i don't think it's on the market yet, but it's probably the only reason i've been able to get this far. You inhale nicotine when you have a craving, and if you get busy doing something else, the craving goes away. It gives you total control over the amount you take in - unlike the patch or the pill. Today is day seven. puff, puff.

[Jason]

You should check out:
http://www.theeasywaytostopsmoking.com/
The book is a good read .. even if it didn't work for me.
But celebrity endorsements include: Ellen Degeneres, Richard Branson and Ashton Kutcher.

[Mags]

I have been trying to quit for years. Wasn't going to smoke after 30, 35...well, I'm closing in on 40 and still smoking. I don't mean to use you...but, this journal, reading it and then the responses from your readers. It is an inspiration.
I'm going to quit!
Oh, something that has helped me in past quits, SILLY PUTTY. It keeps your hands busy, you can pummel it and snap it when frustrated, role it between fingers to relax. The only thing you can't do with it is chew it - so it won't help with the trips to McD's.
Thank you for this.

[Steve]

Re: Smoke signals - A week later

Hello David,
Have you considered separating the signals from the smoke?

The Payoff-
You know that Nicotine is a drug and that it acts on your body. But what you may not realize is that you have two physical connections to nicotine. The first - physical addiction - is obvious. But the second – physical conditioning - is easily overlooked.

Nicotine stimulates the brain, relaxes muscles and suppresses hunger - an extremely useful drug. Ask yourself which is easier:

• Deep breathe to clear your head - or smoke?
• Stretch to relax tense muscles - or smoke?
• Eat properly - or smoke?

Because you 'liked' how smoking took care of your needs and simplified your life, you formed a strong emotional attachment to it. Why should you care 'how' it works when all you need to know is 'that' it does - fast and effectively? So the physical pay off gets hidden beneath an emotional pay off.

A cigarette:

· Relaxes muscles = Calms me
· Fires synapses = Wakes me up
· Increases blood sugar = Suppresses my hunger

When you decided the long term costs of smoking outweighed the short term benefits, you tried to stop. But until you know exactly what this drug did, how can you identify the best way to quit?

The fastest and easiest way to find out is to get back to the basics and begin with your body. Leave your emotional attachment aside. For example, you don't need to deal with a deep rooted
source of anger, you just need to deal with the effect that it has on your body (tense muscles, rapid shallow breathing) which triggers a craving for relief (nicotine or stretching). As soon as you are aware of your body's basic needs and take care of them in a timely, appropriate and effective way, your craving for nicotine will dissipate.

Remind yourself that cravings are simply your body's signals - "I need and I need it now - I need food, comfort/relief, stimulation, relaxation, time out etc." Cravings are your
body’s way of insisting that you take care of yourself but it’s always your choice how to do that, stretch and deep breathe or light up.

This approach comes with a clear and simple exercise to increase your awareness of body signals (http://cognitivequitting.com/program.html). In the beginning it requires a certain amount of thoughtful preparation and practice. But you already know there are no magic pills and if you want to create permanent change, you need to do the work. Responding to your body signals in non smoking ways will quickly become your new automatic behavior and at that point your quit/relapse cycle will finally broken.

Steve

[Buhaoyise]

Hit the gym mate. Getting a bit of exercise while I'm quitting has both helped reduce the cravings and made the contrast between my pre and post quitting physical health all the more vast. 2 and a half months into quitting, I find that the stark and immediate contrast between then and now is my best defense against new cravings.

You don't have to turn into a health-nut, but even a tiny bit of exercise while you're trying to quit will make a world of difference. After a few years of smoking, your body forgets what it feels like to be healthy. Once it's reminded, it won't want to forget, and won't let you forget the cost of taking up smoking again.

[Eric]

Something that I read in a Canadian Cancer Society pamphlet really helped me. The claim was made that a craving only lasts seven minutes, then passes. Heck, anyone can hang on for seven minutes and although a craving is a bit gut wrenching by nature a craving as a physical condition is something you can meet in the center of the ring and go toe to toe with if you know the round is only seven minutes long.

So the pamphlet offered further advice - the craving that you are experiencing will last the full seven minutes regardless of whether you light up and smoke a cigarette or not.

That's right, the cigarette will not take the ungodly sensations of a bona fide craving away immediately.

Now you have to differentiate a craving from an urge to light up that an active smoker experiences throughout the day when the nicotine level drops a bit. Those drags feel good to be sure when you are topping up the old nicotine level and you get some satisfaction from that.

A craving doesn't occur, however, until you have actively pursued quitting or have been forced into abstinence for seven or eight hours. You have gone what we have all overcome when we quit for a day and fought off the urges - each round taking its collective toll on us until an actual craving sets in.

The cravings are the mind fricking heart pulling heebie jeebies that reduce us to self muttering minions and creepy cold skin spastic out of sync jaw aching slaves to the addiction.

Big difference between overcoming the regular urges to light up and the actual craving for nicotine.

Cruel as it may seem, we find ourselves in an inescapable quandary having deciding that we were going to take a shot at quitting, having endured a series of uncomfortable urges, ending up in a place where even our friend the cigarette can't help us find relief.

The physical craving and all of those terrible sensations will run amok for a full seven minutes whether we light up or not.

The upshot is that the craving WILL end and we can expect another craving to set in for a seven minute run in about an hour. Same thing, we fight it off or roll with the punches and the next craving will be about two hours later, then four, then six then ten.

Folks this is just the way it is. You can continue to smoke and never have a craving, only urges, or you can decide you are going to quit and prepare for the main event(s).

After a few days the cravings become less and less frequent, you get better at handling them and then after a week you will never have a craving again if you don't re-introduce nicotine into your system.