- Some background (feel free to skip): I just got into taking action around my smoking problem a couple days ago. I am reading Carr's Easy Way to Stop Smoking, which several people have mentioned. Obviously, I spend a lot of time on Become An Ex. And today I had my first conversation with a quit-smoking counselor I met through calling 1-800-QUIT-NOW. I found that number from this article about Obama: http://tinyurl.com/7dg8lv and that kinda got the ball rolling. I have been telling myself for a long time that I would quit this January but as it approached I became more and more reluctant. Then, over Christmas I spent almost a solid week at my parents' house. Used the lowest dose patch and did not smoke for 4 days. The next week, I got sick. Very sore throat and runny nose, a little coughing. Tried to smoke but it felt gross so I cut back a lot. Inadvertently, I am down from 1/2 pack a day to 1/2 dozen, and I want to run with it! This is the first time I've truly been driven to stop smoking. ? Some things I am wondering: Has anyone used Allen Carr's book but still used nicotine replacement? Am I trying to get free of nicotine or just stop smoking? I thought I had a cold, but now that I read about the lungs clearing out, I wonder if my being sick was a result of not smoking the previous week? I REALLY don't want to go through that again. How do I cease fighting? How do I get the support I need without it leading to obsessing over a cigarette? The counselor mentioned that someone had success with CigArrest. Now that I look it up, it seems to be a scam. Does anyone have success with an herbal remedy? Zero Nicotine looks interesting to me: http://getzeronicotine.com Thanks for your time...
Lobelia is working wonders for me.....check out a previous blog "herbs to stop smoking" sylvia dietz started it earlier today---TONS of info on there....especially for your cold symptoms, that was your lungs clearing out, went through the same thing, I drank a lot of tea.
I purchased SmokeAway and it worked for me. How do you cease fighting? Well, you either accept that you're gonna be uncomfortable for a while, you accept and even welcome the cravings OR you totally change the way you perceive cigarettes and smoking, OR you just keep up your dukes. As far as obsessing over them, it's natural to think about them too much in the beginning. Just the way it is, I'm a'feard. But it all calms down with time. You just have to hang in.
"Has anyone used Allen Carr's book but still used nicotine replacement? Am I trying to get free of nicotine or just stop smoking?" You can't separate them like that. The only reason you smoke is because you are nicotine addict. There is no record of anyone ever buying a second pack of nicotine-free cigarettes! There's no free lunch. So, you really can't think about quitting smoking without a plan for dealing with the nicotine addiction in one of three ways: a) Quit all nicotine consumption at the start. This is the fastest way to be done with it all. The nicotine is out of your system in 3 days. Withdrawal lasts a week or two. b) Quit smoking, but stay addicted using pharmaceutical nicotine, with a plan of breaking that addiction several months down the road. Depending on the dose of pharma nicotine, you may or may not be in low-grade withdrawal. This method attempts to take the edge of the strength of the withdrawal at the expense of a longer period of withdrawal. Some people are able to go cold turkey off the patch or gum. Others start smoking again the same day they try. c) Quit smoking and stay permanently addicted to pharma nicotine. About 36% of all nic gum purchasers have been taking it for six months or longer. Most of these will ultimately return to smoking as the near-perfect delivery of the drug by cigarette will prove irresistable. You can't really follow Allen Carr's approach and use nicotine. His whole method is to put you in a frame of mind where you WANT to break the slavery of being a drug addict. Continuing to take the drug undercuts the whole premise.
You know what?? Sometimes I really wonder what wesite I'm on.. Is this really an EX? or Whyquit.com? How many lives have been lost already because of someones ego, or someone trying to sell a booK? Good luck in this world my friend, and I hope you are sucessfull in your quit! Siagon JOHN
I agree with hwc---if you going to make the break from nicotine, you gotta just make the break. I've watched a lot people become just as addicted to the nicotine gum as they were their cigarettes. Just quit. Lots and lots of water, posting, walks, prayer, etc.
"Is this really an EX?" Dr. Hurt is welcome to get his hands dirty answering questions here. Frankly, this site would be a lot better if the managers provided much more in the way of education. For example, would very much like to read Dr. Hurt's detailed advice on getting off the gum or the patch at the end of the 3 month cycle. A.D. called the BecomeanEX quitline (1-800-quit-now) and was told that an herbal supplement might help. "Whyquit.com?" Definitely not.
BTW, I think I accurately laid out the three general approaches to dealing with the nicotine addiction. If I missed one, by all means add it. I can't think of what it could be. Bupropian is just a variation on cold turkey with a side of anti-depressant medication. Chantix/Champix is a brand new category of treatment with early indications of promising results and very serious side effects. I do my best to stay out of all Chantix discussions.
I'm certainly going to add my two pennies here A.D. It has been my experience that, personally, I need to free myself from the chemicals that I have become dependent upon in order to find the NEW WAY of being. Nicotine in this case. It seems that once out of the system the process of relearning a state of comfort and actual chemical free happiness is possible IN THE LEAST AMOUNT OF TIME. I believe, as a result of DEMONSTRATED EVIDENCE, it is very possible to take any of the above routes to get here but logically it makes the most sense to take the direct route. Discomfort will be involved IF WE ALLOW OUR PERCEPTIONS of the different feelings to be interpreted that way. Some level of this is unavoidable due to human nature and psychology. Careful exploration of what YOU NEED is what I think you need to do. The goal is obviously to be rid of nicotine and to do that the desire to use it must end. How you get here is up to you. How long it takes to get here is also up to you. Developing a MINDSET that you WANT to quit PERMANENTLY and then are TRULY HAPPY with that is it. I KNOW that I will not smoke again. I accept that I am an addict and I have demonstrated TO MYSELF that there is BY FAR a much better way to live. NOW I CHOOSE TO HAVE IT AND WILL NOT GIVE IT UP FOR ANYTHING IN THIS OR THE OTHER WORLDS! PERIOD! YOU CAN MAKE YOUR MIND UP TO DO THAT ALSO! YOU ALONE HAVE THAT POWER! All we can do is talk and point and direct and on and on! Take the information that you need PERSONALLY away from ALL of the various places and all of us and fit it into YOUR PROGRAM AND MINDSET. I am here to help you if you so choose. I cannot quit for you but I will be here to help you. The work is yours! I am doing it SUCCESSFULLY and I came from VERY DARK PLACES! You can too! I guarantee it! Jim P.S. The meditations are PHENOMENAL in my new state. Unprecedented personally!
That is some deep stuff Jim Coming from the soul..it is so cool... You KNOW..mike in ATL told me once.."I don't care how you quit John..Just quit" that's all I am talking about here. Support is uno uno All I am about is helping someone add days to their quit..and that is all I am about. YOU KNOW ME BROTHER!
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