Wish me luck!!!

We'll be rooting for you the whole way, Leslie!

Good luck with it.

Peace

Now, that's the way to quit - climb in the shower with a lit fag (English for ciggie, coffin-nail, cancer-stick, etc.).

Messy, but fun..................... :) :)

All the best - I know from experience how hard it is to quit. In fact, I've quit trying to quit.....but I think I'll see how you get on and maybe you'll inspire me!

:D :D :D

Vic

I know it well, too. I quit from 20 a day to nothing in 1993 and felt really good about myself. I started smoking again in 1995 as my first marriage was heading south. And then I gave up again in 2000 when I lived in Germany - in those days a country with cigarette machines on street corners. I survived the breakup of my second marriage somehow without reaching for a smoke, and I've been off them for more than eight years now

Occasionally, just occasionally, even now, I could murder for a smoke. Then by the time I've realised it, it's gone.

Good luck Leslie - you only have to give up for one day, and that day is "Today"

Best of luck!

You might ping Scrybe, as she quit this past winter due to spending way too much time in the hospital.

Vic will quit when his life becomes sane and predictable :cry:

Thanks everybody! I thought that today would be the day that we would all throw out our cigarettes and get started on the patch and the pill (bupropion). But, that turned out to be wrong! The psychologist doing the clinic wants us to smoke for 3 more weeks for the purpose of changing when, why and where we smoke, therefore beginning the cycle of breaking the habit. She gave us 5 rules to live by for the next 3 weeks.

1. When smoking, ONLY smoke. (She referred to this as "communing with your cigarette". When smoking you can't be sitting in front of the computer [no, I'm not smoking at this moment!], watching TV or any of the other usual things you would be doing with a cigarette in your hand.

2. Do not smoke under any roof. (This one's going to be tough for me! You can't smoke in the house, the garage, the porch or the car, she said an umbrella is the only acceptable "roof" to smoke under. You must see sky above you. And, no convertibles don't count, you can't smoke in those either!)

3. Clean out and store your smoking paraphernalia (ashtrays, lighters, etc.... and, since I know someone will bring it up, no, it doesn't mean roach clips or bongs!) and keep it all out of sight and in one place only. That way you have to decide whether or not it's worth stopping what you're doing to go find your "stash", go outside and "commune with your cigarette under the sky".

4.Don't wear tobacco. :lol: (I had to laugh at this one, but it makes sense.... you can't carry them in your pocket, your purse, your briefcase ... period. If you're going somewhere that you will want to smoke during these three weeks, we're supposed to carry the cigarettes to our destinations in the trunk of our cars!!! And we have to leave them there, so, if you want a cigarette badly enough, again, you have to stop what you're doing, go get your "stash" and "commune with your cigarette under the sky". (I have to have this under control by the first of June!)

5. Switch brands and limit yourself to the same amount you are smoking now, even though it won't give you as much nicotine. (She gave us a chart and we have to move down in the nicotine levels. There are 4 levels and I fit into the first one which is 0.6 - 0.7 milligrams of nicotine per cigarette, the next level is 0.5 milligrams, the next is 0.4 milligrams and finally 0.2 milligrams. She told those of us who are at the first level that we need to skip the second level and go straight to the third level (0.4), and I have to have this done in 10 days.

Then on the 11th of June, we all go back in for another "session" and we get our patches and we all should have already gotten our pills through the mail and have been taking them for about a week. The Bupropion is just Welbutrin (an antidepressant, which people didn't like to take because they "weren't depressed, they just wanted to quit smoking", so they renamed it "Zyban", put it on the market for stopping smoking and it sold like hotcakes. Bupropion is just the generic.

She said that they have an 80% success rate. Which is pretty darned good! I definitely intend to do it this time! And they will let you take as long as you need to take. If you need to stay on one patch (say the 21 milligram) longer than it says to on the box, then they'll keep you on it until you feel like it's time to step down to the 14's. (You start off with 28's.) She also said that, on average it takes one month for each 10 years that you've smoked to deal with the addiction, which is an entirely different thing than breaking the habits. I'll be needing 4 months in that case!

I'm determined that I am going to make this work. I WILL be a non-smoker!! And, look at the money I'll save! I like that!!

Vic will quit when his life becomes sane and predictable

NEVER going to happen, in that case.....!

Leslie, looks like you've found a good clinic - the occasions where I've been to one, there's been very little pre-quitting advice, although generally the follow-up advice has been good. The rules, or guidelines they've given you, sound eminently sensible....maybe, just maybe, I'll give 'em a try. Already copied 'em on to a word-pad document and saved it.....

Again, all the best!

:D :D :D

Vic

You know there is a lot of mystery surrounding quitting, but in hindsight, really you just quit. One day you smoke, one day you don't. It isn't the addiction that's hard to break, it's the habit. I think what your program is suggesting is fantastic. My hardest obstacle to overcome was driving into work with a cup of coffee in the cup holder and a smoke. I ended up changing things up just enough, by waiting until I got to work to get the coffee, that the ritual was broken. Still like Alan, there are some days I would kill you and not bother to hide the body for a cigarette. But by the time I think about what a pain in the butt it was to quit I don't want one any more.

Here's something that helped me out when I quit. In the first few days whenever I got the urge to have a smoke, I would say it out loud. "I really would like a smoke right now" then I'd say right after it "but I don't smoke." Somehow hearing myself say it strengthened my resolve.

Good luck to you.

Here's something that helped me out when I quit. In the first few days whenever I got the urge to have a smoke, I would say it out loud. "I really would like a smoke right now" then I'd say right after it "but I don't smoke." Somehow hearing myself say it strengthened my resolve.

That just wouldn't work for me....I'd get as far as "I really would like a smoke right now" then I'd say right after it, "so sod it, I'm having one!"

BTW, Leslie, have they mentioned the side-effects of Zyban to you? I tried that one time....first couple of days I was fine, third day woke up feeling queasy - then I think I was projectile vomiting for about an hour and a half. Long after there was actually anything left to project....that was followed by serial diarrhoea, I don't think I moved further than five feet from the loo all day. When I mentioned this at the clinic, they said, "in some cases there may be some very mild side effects." MILD? My language was anything but mild for the next half-hour or so.....

:D :D :D

Vic

Good luck -- you can do it. I quit in 93 as well and know it's a battle, but it's a great battle to win. Hang in there!

- then I think I was projectile vomiting for about an hour and a half. Long after there was actually anything left to project....that was followed by serial diarrhoea, I don't think I moved further than five feet from the loo all day.

ROTFL. And you still found time to smoke whilst working out which end of you to point at the pot next? You guys crack me up sometimes, you really do.

Here's something that helped me out when I quit. In the first few days whenever I got the urge to have a smoke, I would say it out loud. "I really would like a smoke right now" then I'd say right after it "but I don't smoke." Somehow hearing myself say it strengthened my resolve.

That just wouldn't work for me....I'd get as far as "I really would like a smoke right now" then I'd say right after it, "so sod it, I'm having one!"

BTW, Leslie, have they mentioned the side-effects of Zyban to you? I tried that one time....first couple of days I was fine, third day woke up feeling queasy - then I think I was projectile vomiting for about an hour and a half. Long after there was actually anything left to project....that was followed by serial diarrhoea, I don't think I moved further than five feet from the loo all day. When I mentioned this at the clinic, they said, "in some cases there may be some very mild side effects." MILD? My language was anything but mild for the next half-hour or so.....

:D :D :D

Vic

Yes, she did talk about side effects. When we finally get the pills, the bottle is going to say to take one 150mg. pill twice a day. But, then she said not to do that for the first five days. Instead, cut it in half and only take one pill once a day to get your body used to having it in your system at all. Then, on day six, go up to twice a day, but that you have to take your second one by 2:00 in the afternoon, because it will mess with your sleep patterns if you take it later. She did mention queasiness and diarrhea, disturbed sleep (if you take it too late in the day), that you may get the "jitters", especially when you move up to two pills a day. Anyway, side effects or not, if it helps to take away or dull my cravings, I'll put up with some side effects just to get this done!
:D

When I quit smoking, I'd reached the point, where I'd simply had enough. At the time, I was dating a girl called Rita Precious and riding a little BSA Bantam (I was still a learner). I was at her house and had 3 ciggies in the packet (I used to smoke Embassy, for the coupons), so I decided to have one there and then, one before I went home and I'd have the last one at home.

Since then, I've smoked a few cigars, but nothing else and I never, really, missed smoking.

I did find eating to be a real pain, though - I could actually taste what I was eating! I lost weight (even though I was skinny, to start with) and almost gave up beer for a while (that would have been a tragedy!).

To be successful, you have to really want to stop smoking. Patches and counsellors are an aid, not a solution.

I truly hope you crack it, Leslie, the benefits are huge.

Oh, yes, teach your hands to do nothing. Many people fail because they have become accustomed to having a cancer stick between their fingers and think that a pencil or whatever is a substitute. It isn't - teach your hands that they don't need to be holding something.

To be successful, you have to really want to stop smoking. Patches and counsellors are an aid, not a solution.
I truly hope you crack it, Leslie, the benefits are huge.
Oh, yes, teach your hands to do nothing. Many people fail because they have become accustomed to having a cancer stick between their fingers and think that a pencil or whatever is a substitute. It isn't - teach your hands that they don't need to be holding something.

I definitely realize that it's not a sure thing going through this program, but I've tried three times before to quit with no help and no advice and I've failed three times! But, at this point, I don't want to wind up one of those little old women you see in wheellchairs with oxygen tanks strapped to the side. It just hit me like a lightning bolt one day that it was now or never. And, knowing that I had failed so many times before, decided to do it as close to the "right way" as I could find. (This clinic even offers a 24/7 "hotline", if you're having a craving and can't handle it, call the number and there will be someone there to talk to you to help you from giving in to that craving!)

As for the idle hands, it's kind of funny, but I went out last night to watch some friends practice music. I left my cigs in the trunk of my car (following the new rules). I had taken a friend with me, so I left my percussion bag in the trunk, too. (Usually, I'll sit there quietly shaking my eggs, but didn't want to encourage this particular woman, who would more than likely have pulled out a tambourine or something equally loud and I just hate it when people come in and disrupt the band with percussion or harmonicas that they really have no clue how to use properly, so no eggs last night). I found myself sitting there with my hands clasped together, not tightly, just clasped as one does on occasion, doing nothing except occasionally raising my beer bottle and putting it back down. It was actually very calming! (Or that may have been the beer, I'll have to perform another test tonight!) :wink: And, having left my cigarettes in the trunk and having to walk all the way out to the car to get one and smoke it out there, I only smoked 3 cigarettes the entire evening (about 6 hours), where normally it would have been at least half a pack.

I realize that I've just started this, but I honestly feel really good about it! I want to quit so badly that I'm willing to take my chances with my own bout of Vic's "projectile vomiting"!!!! :mrgreen: I am determined to quit, and I am one of the most stubborn people ever! And I intend to be very stubborn about this! I WILL be a non-smoker!!! 8)