Stop smoking (Allen Carr the easy way my [snip]RANT

reply to post by pauljs75


I'm glad for you that you never smoked and I hope you never will!

If money was a stimulant for quitting I and many others would have done so years ago. I know I will save money but as a smoker I'm ( or I was) just as happy spending it on cigarettes. I saved money to be able to buy cigs. Even now, when I'm in the process of quiting, looking forward to an expensive smoke-free vacation next summer isn't really appealing to me (a vacation without a cig isn't rewarding.... hope that feeling goes away soon though)

It's just like all the warning labels on the packages, they don't help us quit.
My dad died of cancer and that didn't make me smoke any less.....

Well your first problem is, you're not following the rules. It may be simple rules, but I think you're missing the point. I quit with the Allen Carr book the day Obama got elected again, 2 months ago, and I feel like a million bucks!!

The rule you're not following is, "Don't sit around waiting for something to happen!" From the looks of it, you are counting hours, and that is a big No No!! You're sitting around waiting for a feeling to go away, and not going out and living.. You've missed the point..

I can't believe after all of the years of Conspiracy stuff, and politics, and NWO posts, it took someone bashing the Allen Carr book for me to finally sign up for ATS, and gripe someone out for shunning something that truly has worked so well for me.

Keep your head up! Go running, or ride a bike... Go buy some organic vegetables.. Think of all the small and wonderful things you can start doing in your life now, to counteract the years of smoking, and try new and beneficial activities and new and wonderful foods one step at a time..

You have made a commitment to go a new direction, so start exploring that new bearing, and go live and be the "you" that you truly want to be in your heart.. But please, don't sit around on the internet on ATS waiting for a feeling to go away.. It WILL go away, AS LONG AS YOU GO MAKE YOURSELF BUSY..

Sitting idle and waiting is a recipe for destruction.. Read the book again if you must, IT REALLY DOES WORK!!

The cool thing to me is, I have spent many years reading into Monarch Mind Control, MK Ultra, Hypnosis, and gained a major interest in it over the years. The funny thing is, I never thought it could be put into a book, in a simple way, and actually work..

The book works. I am one of its success stories. Smoked since I was 12 stealing cigarettes from my mother, and I am now 33 and a proud non smoker!!

You can do it too!! It does work!! You may just need to re read the book!!

CHEERS!

Day 5 for me wasn't too bad. Then I decided to smoke JUST ONE....

Bad mistake. Haven't tried to quit again in the past 4 years cause I remember the torture.

Do not decide to smoke JUST ONE like I did.

reply to post by GypsK


Honestly, the only thing that will suppress your cravings and irritability is meditation. Serious, honest meditation. Most normal people who don't even smoke can't sit still for more than 10 minutes, so don't be discouraged, but if you regulate your breathing techniques you can slowly start to control the rate of your heartbeats and therefore control your own blood pressure. Which will also change your perception of time, time will seem to not pass at all even though minutes or hours may go by. One of the most popular sayings in yoga is "Anything is possible through yoga." And it is 100% true. However yoga teaches you that life is CONSTANT WORK, there is no such thing as just coasting along, with anything, including yoga and meditation and spiritual development. Yoga and meditation are the only things that work directly on the source of your problem, your body and mind. Ciggarettes obviously affect your body immensely as nicotine is a highly physically addictive drug with physical withdrawal symptoms, and smoking in general is a psychologically addicting behavior, so what better way to quit than to attack your mental and physical condition?

I'm not kidding about what I am going to tell you. I started smoking at 9 years of age and I am currently 53. I have had brain cancer and yet like an ass I still smoke. I have tried patches, Chantix, and all the other products, but have never been able to succeed. I suffer from manic depression and every time I go to quit I fall into a deep depression. I want more than anything to quit, but have not found a way yet. If you don't use tobacco, don't start for any reason. I included snuff, chew, cigars, and pipes in this list. Don't start any of this # if you don't want to die....

Originally posted by GypsK

I've heard people say it so many times, ex-smokers: "I quit cold turkey 10 years ago!", as if it was so easy that they had the idea to quit smoking and just did it.

At least I was prepared to stop smoking, I started reading about it 3 months ago, looked for a few 'stop smoking buddies' (who I haven't heard from since last night btw, which tells me that they are both still smoking!!) and set the date: the big cliche: I stopped smoking New years eve at midnight.

The Allen Carr method was my favorite and I was so convinced it would work for me, I could see it all in front of me. I would be able to say goodbye to my cigarettes without second thought and be happy about it. I was already happy about it before I smoked that last one. I was to become enlightened about the myths involving smoking and joyful that now I was a non smoker! I was going to cheer that I did not suffer withdrawal symptoms because they where all myths! I should have been smiling all day long and rejoice in the fact that I never need to smoke again in my life.
....
Just like all those people who quit cold turkey and say they never suffered while doing so.

Anyone who tells you that is lieing through their teeth; maybe their too proud to admit it.

It went well up until around the 15th hour, I haven't thought about anything else but smoking since then. Around the 17th hour I started to feel tension, as if there are hundreds of evil butterflies in my stomach.

I am told that the urge to smoke never goes away completely; at least, says my grandmother who smoked for 36 years (she had to have 1/2 her lung removed). She has quit for roughly 20-30 years now, and to this day, she says she still wants one.

Maybe I'm doing it wrong.....
That's what is written on the last page of the book you see.... if it isn't working for your, your doing it wrong.... so I must be doing something wrong here.

This is simply a convienient redundancy plan for Mr. Carr. "If it doesn't work, don't blame the strategy, blame yourself!" Granted, you a responsible for smoking; but that doesn't change the fact that he seems to be talking out of his asshole.

Others say that it's only the first 72 hours that are this bad, after that it should start going better.
I don't think I make it through the first 24 hours.....
I feel like such a failure already.... and I wish I hadn't made such a big deal about it. Now everyone is just waiting to see if I succeed or fail.

When exactly did you succeed? After a week? a month? a year? a lifetime?

As I mentioned before, some people have those cravings for their entire lives; sure, they may diminish, but you might come across that moment where you wanna just say "F**ck it!"

The fact is, you start smoking, you've already lost. There is no specific moment where you may rejoice and say "I have quite smoking"; it is a continuous process, and as mentioned before, a battle which can last a lifetime. That being said, If you have a smoke, don't get down on yourself; it only causes more stress, and stress makes you want to smoke more. The way I look at it? Well, 1 or 2 smokes a day is much better than a pack, IMO. Just try to cut down at first.....and I mean REALLY cut down. It's much easier to do knowing that you still CAN have a cigarette later (if the need truely does arise). This strategy will also reduce the "pressure" you feel to quit by your spouse, friends, or even yourself.

Ironically, I am having a cigarette right now. Does that spark a craving in you? It might. Will you smoke? Maybe. Is that okay? HELL YEA!!! Just don't be a goddam Chimeny

I have much sympathy for you; I have tried to quit and I literally wanted to hit everyone I encounterd. I still smoke, but did I fail? Nope. Because I smoke less, much less. Maybe one day I'll quit for good, but for now, a couple a day is much better for me than a half pack or pack. Stay the course; sometimes we fall, what counts is that we get back up.

My final parting advice?

1.Cardio Exercise; The urge to Smoke after you just had an intense work out greatly diminishes, and the cardiovascular side effect produces a natural euphoria which will reduce the tension you feel.

2.Occupy your time; New hobbies are awsome!

3.Try not to think about it; more than likely, your thought process is inadvertently rationalizing smoking.

4.Replace the habbit with another; If you smoked after a meal, or in the car, maybe chew gum instead? It absolutely will not be satisfying at first, but it takes about 10-14 days to establish a new habbit. You must train your body and mind to opt for this habbit instead of smoking. You may need something to occupy your hands. This leaves me to my next and final piece of advice;

5.E - cigarette; I am not sure how well these work, but I have tried them, and they are alright. They produce a vapor with no smoke and contain nicotine.

Best of luck friend

reply to post by anon4m05


Thanks,
at least your reply sounded 'realistic', or maybe it's just the circomstances I've read it in.

Seeing others smoke does not make my craving worse. In fact, earlier today it became so bad that I 'had to do something' and I lighted a cigarette without inhaling and watched it burn up.
Oddly that calmed me down but the stink of one cig in the house after 4 days surprised me big time!

Anyway, it's almost 2 am for me on my 4th day without smoking and I just woke up, again. Nightmares, sweating, very fast heart beat, tremblings all over and numb fingers, state of panic. Guess it's still part of the whole stop smoking deal....

Honestly I did not expect it to become this bad.... but I'm not ready to give up yet

In a related note, I just found out that I have early signs of COBD (Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease). I've only been smoking for 5 years.

Maybe we can both quit and provide each other support?

reply to post by GypsK

I started reading his book and it freaked me out, because I really didn't want to stop smoking, and it was taking the pleasure of smoking away and possibly setting me up to actually quit, I know sounds silly.

If you really get into reading the book, and maybe keep a journal, and would like to quit, it's pretty powerful, makes the cigarettes distasteful, must be some sort of NLP thing, as you wouldn't think that language alone could have such a powerful effect, so to keep smoking I had to stop reading!

Originally posted by GypsK
reply to post by anon4m05

 

Thanks,
at least your reply sounded 'realistic', or maybe it's just the circomstances I've read it in.

Seeing others smoke does not make my craving worse. In fact, earlier today it became so bad that I 'had to do something' and I lighted a cigarette without inhaling and watched it burn up.
Oddly that calmed me down but the stink of one cig in the house after 4 days surprised me big time!

Anyway, it's almost 2 am for me on my 4th day without smoking and I just woke up, again. Nightmares, sweating, very fast heart beat, tremblings all over and numb fingers, state of panic. Guess it's still part of the whole stop smoking deal....

Honestly I did not expect it to become this bad.... but I'm not ready to give up yet

its to be expected. the first night i quit, i had a dream that the devil was coming to drag me away to hell. the red, horned, pitchfork wielding devil. haha! it freaked me out a bit, but then my wife told me she had crazy dreams when she quit. and so this too shall pass!

no I did not run away and hide behind the couch in shame because I failed....

7th day of being a non-smoker today and really starting to feel proud of myself.
Still not easy but getting easier.... I really think I can keep it up now.

Also need the extra weight, gained two kilo's in a week...
love chocolate pie, it's very comforting! LOL

reply to post by GypsK


Good for you!

Hey OP, one-week later from the Champix and I've only had 2 smokes today and that was almost forced. The last few days I've been putting them out half way and today I went to work without smokes and a lighter in my back pocket.

I quit smoking a year ago with an electric cig, it;s called vapiing and has probs saved my life.
you need a good quality one and high strength e juice i like orange or cherry! ALL you get is the nicotine and no 5000 chemicals and carbon monoxide. DO NOT go to a local super market and pick something up that looks like a fake cig, their rubbish and could stop you from taking the idea seriously.

I recommend this, It's called a Riva deluxe it comes with 5 cartomisers,, a tank i use the cartomisers and need replaced every few weeks, about £5 for 5.Get a mains charger juice of your choice 24mg to start and your good to go. the battery which there are two will stay working around hours at a time, so you can go any where without worrying . juice is about £10 for 30ml and tha depending on use should last you about 3 weeks. slight learning curve but i was a heavy smoker and i am happy as a clam.

Not sure what country you are in,i'll check and then edit this, but the link i am providing is for a shop in the uk
book mark it if it is any good to you, as the link might get removed from post .

www.vapeescape.co.uk... +%3E+Riva+1100+Kit

reply to post by PLAYERONE01


I tried Chantix and it did nothing for me except give me horrible dreams. The e-cigarette was ok for cravings, but I started smoking again one day when I ran out of cartridges. Chantix does work wonders for some people though.

reply to post by Ireminisce


How long did you use it for? This is my second try

reply to post by FlySolo


Honestly, I only used the e-cigarette for 3 days. I didn't really want to quit smoking though. If I had a real desire to quit I think it would help a lot.

I was on Chantix for several weeks.

reply to post by Ireminisce


Well it is 95% will. However, I think if you kept going you would find it weens you off. This time round I just got a prescription and continued smoking as usual with no "set date" at all in mind. I'm actually doing not bad. I take a drag and feel nothing at all and just butt it out. I never even bought cigs today and had three in the pack last night.

ETA: Sorry, I thought you were talking about Chanitx

I've been using the E-cig (though there is no nicotine in it, only vapor). Whereas I used to have a pack a day (or day and a half sometimes), I've been having only about 4-6 a day for the last week; pretty good considering that, prior to this, it would not be uncommon for me to have 3 cigarettes inside an hour at times.

For now, I'm weening myself off, and I plan to go cold turkey at the end of the month, at which point I may use the patch for the month of Feb. I'll post in this thread and let you know how it goes