budski, trust me, stopping smoking is actually really easy! however, starting smoking again is even easier and that is where your number one problem lies.

actually its problem number 2 because the first problem a smoker must overcome is if are they are being totally honest with themselves about whether they really WANT to stop smoking (because most actually don't want to stop as they enjoy smoking too much).

so, IF you really WANT to stop smoking, follow this advise, which is free (as opposed to expensive products which won't help if you don't WANT to stop)


1. smoke all your cigarettes on a friday night and throw all your ashtrays and lighters away before you go to sleep (after three days the worst part is over)

2. sleep as much as possible over the weekend (gives the nicotine time to work its way out through your body with as little discomfort to you.

3. every time you start to crave a cigarette think IMMEDIATELY of something else - your favorite holiday, the most annoying song you ever heard which will keep going round and round in your head, conversations you had with somebody, an interesting ats post you saw etc ... think of ANYTHING but cigarettes as soon as possible

before you attempt this, buy some chewing gum (or even better if you can get it - the wooden liquorice sticks to chew on - very cheap and tasty also)

after 2 weeks you wont be thinking about cigarettes after every single coffee/meal/activity/routine and after 2 months or so it gets 2 be once a week you think of them. it really doesn't take long till you don't think about them at all

but ask yourself honestly if you really DO want to stop because if you don't then you are only wasting your money on products that won't help you. if you do - just follow the above simple advice because it works. remember, its not the nicotine you have become addicted to but the robotic actions of smoking and THAT is what you have to reprogram in yourself!

good luck

Easiest way to stop smoking? Just stop.. you have more power than you realise. If you listen to the media, who tell you its impossible to give up without "help".. well, enough said.

They make soooo much money off tobacco, and the stop-smoking products are just another market to these people.

I know your probably shouting at the screen right now for me telling you its that easy to give up... but it really is! Belief is the most powerful tool in your arsenal for stopping smoking. It can't be stressed enough.. if you believe you can cure your own cancer, you can, and its been done many times.

If you don't think you have the willpower to just stop, hypnotherapy is a very good method for stopping also.. but again, you need to have a certain element of you believeing it will work.. just be open to the idea

I am 20yrs old, i have smoked pretty much everyday since about 16... yet i have NO desire to smoke, at all. Why? Because i know smoking is actually NOT addicitve... its the HABIT which is.

And breaking the habit is the most difficult part... if you believe it is

I hope i've helped in some way. Let us know what you decide to do/how things go, and we'll be here to provide encouragement and help should you ask.

I would say good luck, but you don't need it. You CAN do it.

[edit on 4-6-2007 by shrunkensimon]

well, thanks guys for your input.
I've got my patches, my carrot sticks, my grapefruit juice and my vitamin b-complex.

All I need now is the willpower to overcome a 20-odd year addiction!

But I'm determined this time - if I don't quit before I'm 40 I probably never will

so here goes!

I am 20yrs old, i have smoked pretty much everyday since about 16... yet i have NO desire to smoke, at all. Why? Because i know smoking is actually NOT addicitve... its the HABIT which is.

Nonsense. Smoking is cited as being more addictive than heroin. It took me 3 tries over 5 years, each time using the patch. Third's a charm...after close to 35 years smoking...and using a ton of willpower as well, I've been off tobacco for almost 3 years now. But from time to time, I could still really use a smoke.

Good luck!

Originally posted by JohnnyCanuck
Nonsense. Smoking is cited as being more addictive than heroin. It took me 3 tries over 5 years, each time using the patch. Third's a charm...after close to 35 years smoking...and using a ton of willpower as well, I've been off tobacco for almost 3 years now. But from time to time, I could still really use a smoke.

Good luck!

No, its not nonsense. I don't have the desire to smoke. Infact, i don't even smoke cigarettes, i smoke rolling tobacco WITHOUT a filter (using a roach, like a joint), which is probably even worse (less chemicals than cigs, but more stuff not getting filtered). I use rolling tobacco in my "special rollies" if you catch my drift, and have been doing so about 5 years... if i had to estimate the number i had smoked, it would probably be between 5000-10,000.. yet i feel more addicted to the "special rollies" than tobacco!

I really do not buy that tobacco is addictive. Ive yet to have any cravings for it, and i can go weeks or months without smoking anything if i need too, such as for revising for exams, during exams etc.

I do believe that smoking is a habit however, ie to fill time, in the mornings, after meals etc and is the real problem when trying to give up. You find yourself wanting something to smoke because your subconscious is telling you "its time to light up!", not because you crave it. I do not crave a smoke because my body wants it... i crave it because i get bored or stressed, and i need to unwind. Having said that, smoking doesn't even relive stress, it actually increases it... yet your mind tells you that you are relaxing (evidence for the power of the mind)

At the end of the day, its all in the mind, not the body, because ultimately the body is merely just another extension of the mind. It all comes down to willpower... and what influences that? BELIEF. If you beleive you can do it, you will.. unless you have a lack of determination.

And if you believe its addictive, then it will be for you..

Don't make me go into placebos and just how effective they can be.. because there is a mountain of evidence for it, which proves that the mind is the overriding factor, and not the body.

To sum up; If you want to give up, just do it. The only thing stopping you is your own belief system!

Perhaps shrunkensimon would like to continue his 'habit' to the point in his life where he can legally drink alcohol in all 50 states, and then I might be a little more inclined to be lectured.about smoking. I have lighters older than he is.

Age means nothing. Just because your older than me does not mean you are smarter than me, or wiser for that matter. The fact that you think it is so just shows how mature you really are

Oh, and i can drink here in the UK quite legally, not that i drink anyway. Drinking is for morons.. you gain nothing out of drinking.. alcohol is poison to the body and mind, quite literally.

Heres something from a book im reading, the holographic universe:

===

No incident better illustrates this than a now famous case reported by psychologist Bruno Klopfer. He was treating a man named Wright who had an advanced cancer of the lymph nodes. All standard treatments had been exhausted, and Wright appeared to have little time left. But Wright did not want to die. He had heard about an exciting new drug called Krebiozen, and begged his doctor to let him try it... reluctantly the doctor gave him it, despite that it was usually only given to those with a 3+ month life expectancy.

To his suprise, the following monday he found Wright out of bed and walking around. Klopfer had reported that his tumors had "melted like snowballs on a hot stove". 10 days after Wrights first treatment, he left hospital and was, as far as his doctors could tell, cancer free! When he had entered hospital he needed an oxygen mask to breathe, but when he left he was well enough to fly his own plane at 12,000 feet with no discomfort.

Wright remained well for 2 months, but then articles began to appear asserting that Krebiozen actually had no effect on cancer of the lymph nodes. Wright suffered a relapse..

His doctor tried an experiment. He told him that Krebiozen was every bit as effective as it had seemed, but that some of the intial supplies of the drug had deterioated during shipping. He explained however, that he had a new highly concentrated version of the drug and could use this. Of course, the doctor did not have a new version, and intended to inject him with plain water. To create the proper atmosphere he even went through an elaborate procedure before injecting with the placebo.

Again, the reults were dramatic. The tumors faded to nothing. He remained symptom free for 2 months again, but then the american medical association announced that Krebiozen was worthless in the treatment of cancer. This time wrights faith was completely shattered.

His cancer blossomed anew.. and he died two days later..

===

The moral of the story is, BELIEF IS EVERYTHING.

[edit on 4-6-2007 by shrunkensimon]

when i quit i just told a couple of my homies to jump me every time they saw me smoking.....i quit....for a while anyway but i just dont have anything better to do

Originally posted by shrunkensimon
Age means nothing. Just because your older than me does not mean you are smarter than me, or wiser for that matter. The fact that you think it is so just shows how mature you really are
==
The moral of the story is, BELIEF IS EVERYTHING.

Well, partner, keep on reading those books, and letting us in on what a clever lad you are. Really, there are far too many of us who seem to think that experience counts for something. Still, to the OP, if cold turkey doesn't do the trick, try the patch. It worked for me.

Originally posted by JohnnyCanuck

Originally posted by shrunkensimon
Age means nothing. Just because your older than me does not mean you are smarter than me, or wiser for that matter. The fact that you think it is so just shows how mature you really are
==
The moral of the story is, BELIEF IS EVERYTHING.

Well, partner, keep on reading those books, and letting us in on what a clever lad you are. Really, there are far too many of us who seem to think that experience counts for something. Still, to the OP, if cold turkey doesn't do the trick, try the patch. It worked for me.

Hopefully the patches will do the trick - got another back-up as well.
I really don't want to go through the whole tablets thing though - something tells me it's not the best idea!

Thanks for your support

Originally posted by budski
So unless you can prove that for some reason you know better than experts worldwide, I think I'll take your view of nicotine as non-addictive with a pinch of salt.

Oh please. "Experts".. they know a mere fraction of what the human body is all about, let alone capable of!. They mite know the biochemical reactions and metabolic pathways down to very accurate detail, but the overall understanding of our biology is FAR from complete, let alone correct!

To say something is "addictive"...your body mite crave it yes, but your body is under the control of your mind. Ultimately YOU have the decision over whether you choose to feel pain, feel the need for something, etc..People walking on hot coals is a fantastic example of people choosing to ignore pain.

Science is currently stuck with matter before mind, when actually it IS the other way around.

So when you say "im addicted".. really all your saying is "im too weak minded to take control of my own habits!". Stop making excuses for yourself, and start taking back the control you ALWAYS HAD. You never lost it, you've just allowd yourself to be brainwashed into thinking your weak, insignificant, and powerless to stop smoking.

The sooner you recognise that fact, the sooner you can change your habits!

Don't fight your addiciton. Deny it battle! That way you can not lose

I used to smoke 3 packs of Marlboro a day for a good 6 years, smoked a total of 10 years. I started out aged 14 and never looked back.

Towards the end before i quit, i was into anything that burnt weather it be cigars, cigarillos or selfrolled cigarettes.

I then read the book from Alan Carr and one evening after smoking my last cigarette, i told my wife that was the last one

I never looked back Its been approx. 4-5 years since then i am so glad that i made the right choice.


If you really want to quit then just do it

[edit on 4-6-2007 by Fett Pinkus]

[edit on 4-6-2007 by Fett Pinkus]

One of the reasons nicotine is as addictive as it is is because it is so readily available. The good news is that nicotine is out of your body 2-3 days after you quit smoking. The hardest part about quiting is breaking the habit, not the addiction. What I mean, is the physical motions of the act. All it takes is 19 days for someone to be habituated to something, to the point that it comes naturally. Do something for 19 days, and you'll do it until you decide not to, basically. So for these people who've been smoking for years, it's easy to break the physical addiction, but difficult to stop that feeling like they should/want to do it.

Someone I knew quit smoking by leaving a jar of olives on his desk for several weeks after quitting. When he'd get the urge to smoke when he normally would (at coffee break, after lunch, or relaxing at home) he'd unscrew the lid, and suck on an olive. He said this satisfied his "need to do something with his hands" when he wanted to smoke.

It's all about substitution and habituation. Once you're habituated to not smoking, the desire will have decreased on its own.

Oh, and just a note on physical addiction:

So when you say "im addicted".. really all your saying is "im too weak minded to take control of my own habits!". Stop making excuses for yourself, and start taking back the control you ALWAYS HAD.

I have to say, the person who wrote this has never battled nor witnessed true addiction. Perhaps nicotine is a bad example, but drugs such as heroin, and other opiates, which supercede, and wear out the body's endorphin system for pain tolerance are often incapacitated by their withdrawal symptoms, and sudden withdrawal from certain things can be FATAL.

The mind is a wonderfully powerful thing, on which much more understanding is required, but at the end of the day, we are bio-chemical creatures, and our homeostasis can *easily* be thrown out of whack by certain substances. A good example would be the delusions, paranoia and body-wracking seizures someone goes through when kicking a heroin addiction. How is one supposed to "take back control" from a body which doesn't respond to their commands, with a brain that can barely see through the fog of pain and paranoia?

And I did a little research on Krebiozen and that book the Holographic Universe. I can find no mention of its articles, testimonies, or assertions in any relavent medical text. I found plenty of "New Age" websites quoting from it, and a few offering the sale of the book, but nothing to actually verify what is printed inside. Testimony without peer-review or at least some sort of verification process is nothing more than an interesting story.

[edit on 4-6-2007 by asala]

[edit on 4-6-2007 by asala]

phew!

when i saw the thread title i thought it was an order

back to my bong

Yes, I've heard of that technique of using cigs but not lighting them.
I can't really see the point myself, as one of the habits to break is the hand to mouth/oral fixation thing.
But hey, if it works for someone, who am I to question it.

The smoking cessation clinics we have in the UK are really pretty good - at least in my experience - and knowing the nurse makes it even better

Seriously though, the appointments are pretty comprehensive and there is a wide choice of treatment available - I just haven't been able to hold it together yet, despite my desire to quit.

Would still like peoples thoughts on Chambix/pfizer and their pre-release marketing gimic.