How Did You Stop Smoking?

[Guest dolly]

i remember reading that one of the things thats a real nono with estrogen and surgery in general is smoking. it may cause blood clots and it lengthens ones recovery time from procedures.

im a smoker. i love a good cigar especially (so vaudeville i know.) but am wanting to quit before i get started going i any directino not ust to cut down on complicatoins but also because i wanna live healthier.

so how did you quit smoking? what advice could you give on this subject? are patches and gums any good? what about cold turkey?

i think my biggest problem with quitting is i have a bit of an oral fixation....does candies like lollipops and lozenges help with that?

[Guest Louise]

Hi Dolly,

I used to be a smoker and I had four heart attacks, then on number five the heart specialist sat on My bed and said to Me one more and your dead, I said that I had tried everything to give up and nothing worked, then He said to Me how much does your hormone treatment mean to you, I said My life My world that's when He hit Me with I will withdraw your hormones if you don't stop, well I was released from hospital and I haven't smoked a single one since, over a year ago, and I feel so very much better in general.

So the answer has to be what do you value most.

[Guest raedub]

i quit smoking in july of '07.

sucking/chewing on licorice root helps with the cravings. also helps heal the bronchial system too.

[Guest gwenthlian]

My aunt used to smoke a lot but she went down the alternative route as far as treatment goes and after a month of that and patches she wasnt smoking at all. Six months later of course she was back on them again as her willpower is entirely non existent and she said she missed going outside in the middle of dinner ^^.

[Guest Mr. Fox]

Okay, I haven't really stopped smoking, but I haven't in months because I ran out. When you want to smoke, just think of how you could be using that money for transitioning. That is why I won't buy any. I will only smoke free cigarettes, and my few friends who smoked have stopped for various reasons (expense, smell, pregnancy, etc.), so I cannot mooch off of them.

[Guest Andrea-M]

Hi,

Get your DR to prescribe you(anti -smoking drug),"Chantix"USA, its "Champix in the UK made by Pfizer. It has no nicotine , but can make you feel a little sick at first, it can also make you depressed/suicidal. Saying that I can get low but would rather take this and stay off the smokes and make sure my HRT works. Have quit for 7 weeks come Monday and still don't want a cigarette even after chocolate/coke/meals/coffe, it works for me , and my skin looks better every day.

Hugs

Andrea

[Guest dolly]

i dont have a doc yt cus of money and ransporttion issues but ill see aout that. also like te dea of the licorice root. i love licorice and ive noticed i dont wanna smoke wen i drink chi tea which has licorice undertne to it. been suckig on paperclip at work too gonna get some toothpicks. thanx for the adviceand yeah being who i really am is far more important than smokes

[Guest BecomingKimberly]

The gum helps.

[Guest Chloe b]

I never found that the gum / patches worked for me.

Only stopped at the start of the year ( wow 2 months already ) but what I found really helped was sucking / chewing on a dummy

Use it mainly now after meals and when driving, it also stops the urge to eat naughty amounts of chocolate.

[Guest dolly]

it seems like i picked the wrong day to quit smoking cus is been nonstop noise all day long.bought two ultralight packs the other day an fnished them today but all day ive had to listen to people hoopin and hollerin outside the store cus they were doing the biggest loser tryouts today at the mall . ugh.so wanna smoke right now cus i get really sassy when i dont smoke but know i dont need one.

[Guest Karmen]

Hypnotherapy achieves some of the highest success rates of all the treatment options & usually in as little as 1 or 2 sessions.. requires a confident, assertive & experienced therapist and, of course, you need to be susceptible to this form of suggestion too..

k..

[Guest dolly]

i feel bad. i had little lapse on the smoking thing and bought a cigar.or two.

someone told me cigars may be ok cus the dont have alot of nicotine in em is that true?there is a little silver lining on it though the owner of the cigar shop knows me personally and ive done some art for hm before and he wanted to get my contct info again cus he lost it and he wants some new artwork touh so yay and boo at the same time.

[Guest kathy sue]

when you first posted this i was still smoking. then on march 7 i went to the emergency room of a local hospital because i was

having what i felt was a bad gas attack. when i told the triage nurse that it felt like everything was pushing up from my stomach and it felt as if my neck was being "strangled" she had me in a room and 6 people swarming around doing all sorts of stuff. only thing i knew for sure they were doing was an ekg and the gal who did it taped the screen 3 places and left with a printout. in a few minutes a cardiologist came in telling me it looked real bad and something needed to be done soon. later that day they tried to do angioplasty, using balloons or shunts to open the vein, but it was completely blocked. i was then taken to the icu for the night and first thing next morning i went for open heart surgery where the doctor had to do 4 bypasses. i woke up next day back in icu and was transferred to the ccu/cardiac care unit that evening. i spent the next 4 days there and haven't smoked yet. this is an extreme method of stopping that i would not even wish on my worst enemy. the thing to remember though is smoking is a addiction and you will do better at quitting when you decide that you WANT to quit for you, support groups help some what. but like i said, as with any addiction you have to reach that low point. otherwise you could find yourself good luck.

[Guest Mr. Fox]

Cigars are slightly less harmful than cigarettes, but still have nicotine. Sorry!

Adrian

[Guest Just_Call_Me_Nick]

Wow this is weird...or is it a sign? Hmm either way today Sheila and I were discussing we stopped smoking together...she laid out all her arguments on why we should and she is absolutely right...however I am the weakest link in this....but perhaps I should give this a try....what I could be doing with the money is alot better then what I am doing with it now...and the health...the health will progress into something better...lately I been having alot of issues health wise....which can explain my depression...ho hum...smiling....been having problems with my liver and kidneys and such....just when i thought that was getting cleared up....my colon is acting up.

But good news is that i am being treated for it now so in time things should be looking up...so why not go all the way and be healthy and just stop smoking...hmmm...at least this is a start in the right direction I am at least entertaining the thoughts....

Nick~

[Guest raydub]

from my understanding cigars are less harmful to the LUNGS, but they just do the damage to the mouth instead.

Ray

[Guest lydia]

when you first posted this i was still smoking. then on march 7 i went to the emergency room of a local hospital because i was

having what i felt was a bad gas attack. when i told the triage nurse that it felt like everything was pushing up from my stomach and it felt as if my neck was being "strangled" she had me in a room and 6 people swarming around doing all sorts of stuff. only thing i knew for sure they were doing was an ekg and the gal who did it taped the screen 3 places and left with a printout. in a few minutes a cardiologist came in telling me it looked real bad and something needed to be done soon. later that day they tried to do angioplasty, using balloons or shunts to open the vein, but it was completely blocked. i was then taken to the icu for the night and first thing next morning i went for open heart surgery where the doctor had to do 4 bypasses. i woke up next day back in icu and was transferred to the ccu/cardiac care unit that evening. i spent the next 4 days there and haven't smoked yet. this is an extreme method of stopping that i would not even wish on my worst enemy. the thing to remember though is smoking is a addiction and you will do better at quitting when you decide that you WANT to quit for you, support groups help some what. but like i said, as with any addiction you have to reach that low point. otherwise you could find yourself good luck.