Lucia Lanigan wrote:
I've been a very keen smoker for fifteen years or so, but think I might have accidentally given up. It's been about a month now and I've not really missed it.

I accidentally stopped smoking too, but in very different circumstances.

Taylor, do you drunk much coffee? If so, try switching to decaff for a bit, or even keep off the coffee altogether for a bit. Numerous studies have shown that people are more inclined to smoke, and smoke more, either while they're drinking coffee, or just after they've drunk coffee.

These studies - were they mainly in France at all?

DO NOT USE THIS PRODUCT (Champix). Not all doctors are infallible, and some may incorrectly prescribe it to you

Umm... I haven't been prescribed it by anyone; I've been given some by a friend who gave up smoking without using his.

I didn't realise it was an antidepressant (although I realise that most of these drugs come about because the chemists have found a second use for an existing treatment). Maybe not a brilliant plan to self-medicate myself then?

If the intent is to make you so nauseous that you don't want to put anything in your mouth.

Are you serious? What about food? If it makes you stop wanting to eat then - I'm there. where do you get them from?

You see, someone yelled out of a car window at me the other day 'Get your fat arse out the way!'. And I think someone today assumed I was pregnant. And when you mention health concerns about smoking, well I have them about being fat. Diabetes, heart disease, etc etc. (I'm kind of terrified at the moment because I've been reading webmd).
Anyway.

Hi everybody!



I don't think anyone should take medical tips from me Lyra. I'm mostly an idiot.

I was hoping for so, you know.

The man does has solutions. How important is teeth retention to you?

To bring the thread back on topic, there is always his 'Cigarette Diet'. But crazy surgical options are looking tempting.

Are these things really supposed to hiss and gurgle incredibly noisily when you try to get a drag off them, as though there's a leak somewhere? Or is mine not working properly?

Taylor wrote:
Are these things really supposed to hiss and gurgle incredibly noisily when you try to get a drag off them, as though there's a leak somewhere? Or is mine not working properly?

It sounds like has a little too much juice in it, and when you draw it has to pull through a pond of liquid. Unfortunately, M401 is completely unknown territory for me.

Here's your thread in VF, by the way: vapersforum.com/showthread.php?t=22258

I really should have thought to post it sooner. Sorry about that oversight!

David Agnew wrote:
Taylor, do you drunk much coffee? If so, try switching to decaff for a bit, or even keep off the coffee altogether for a bit. Numerous studies have shown that people are more inclined to smoke, and smoke more, either while they're drinking coffee, or just after they've drunk coffee.
When I gave up cigs I used lozenges for a few days before going cold turkey, and coffee became my crutch if I got any nicotine type urges. Since giving up drink as well it's become the only buzz I get nowadays.

I have unexpectedly cut down recently, due to stress about various things... and the best thing about the stress-reaction and perhaps the fact that I have other things to do, is that I am not smoking. (Stress usually causes one to smoke more. Be wary of this)

However, I am displacing/replacing with food, and (although I am doing some exercise in my spare time) am becoming a bit 'bunter-ish'... which I have to admit, is beginning to look rather good on me.

I was always taught, that you have to steer clear of 'keys', when you have an addiction: dont have a tea/coffee routine, eat a carrot after a meal (to replace the feeling of wanting a fag), and carry a ball or pen with you at all times, so that you have something else to do with your hands.

Admittedly, some of these ideas are extreme, but substitute what works for you.

I currently smoke on average 8 per day, and that is down about 5 per day over the last 10 years.

But, I LIKE smoking. Its not nice, and its not cool, but it is something which I have decided that I will not do without (for now).

I'll add to the "cold turkey is the only way" advice. My father died from smoking related illness when he was 46, his legs (both of them, above the knee) were amputated when he was 43. That should scare the sh*t out of any kid growing up, but for some reason I started smoking about a year after he died, when I was 14 and didn't stop for the next 15 years.

I guess I convinced myself that I would never die from the week or so of withdrawal symtoms, but I was definitely going to die a slow, dignity sapping death if I didn't give up. It's been over five years now and I'm far fatter than I ever was but it's no big deal.

I stupidly smoked a cigarette about a month ago, it was absolutely beautiful but a slightly painful experience. I spent the next week fighting cravings and I'm still getting them, so my only other piece of advice is when you stop don't even take deep breaths next to smokers.

It's f*cking hard no matter how mentally prepared you've made yourself, so the best of luck, I hope you can do it.

It's f*cking hard no matter how mentally prepared you've made yourself

I'm not sure if it's helpful or otherwise to say this, but I've not smoked since 30 May 2008, and it's been a piece of piss.

My problem was not believing I'd stay stopped. I solved that by going to speak to my GP practice's nurse once a week for six weeks. Sorted. Not had one, not a drag, nothing.

But then, I don't really drink these day and I am sure that helped.

Tacuara wrote:"cold turkey is the only way"[/quote]

I'd like to strenuously disagree with that bit.

Cold turkey is no more the only way to quit than the only way to go through life is to live on bread and water. Some folks may believe this, but most know there more interesting paths; not all of them are perfectly healthy, not all of them are without their risks, but all of them are a matter of personal decision and what worked for them.

Most folks who found their way to smoke-free with vaping didn't have to put up much of a fight to get that way, nor are they the least bit tempted by cigarettes anymore, even when they might have to go a few days without a vape. Speaking for myself, I craved the odd cigarette for a week after I put them down, but it was more the thought of, "Gee, I haven't had a smoke for several hours now," then I'd realize that I had a substitute and would puff on that instead.

It seems to me, from observing the vaping community, that the harder you fight to give up smokes the more tempting they remain in the future.

Is vaping right for everybody? Not at all, but anecdotally (The US FDA doesn't seem to recognize studies done by other countries) it's proven the most effective thus far.

I'd disagree, I think the key thing to giving up smoking is, "do I really want to give up smoking?" I find that if you're taking anything that's meant to help you quit smoking, then the answer is "no", because you're expecting an easier way out of the habit. The nicotine withdrawal is hard, but its the social/habitual factors which are tougher and I personally believe those factors are impossible to remove gradually - you can and should reintroduce them gradually, but in the first instances of giving up (the first month or two) you really have to remove yourself from a lifestyle which caters for cigarettes.

Two of the techniques I suggest people to people are:

- firstly that you think of yourself as a non-smoker, not as someone who is giving up smoking. If you think of yourself as giving something up or not being allowed to have something, you can get into a pattern of negative suggestion where you focus more on the thing that you're trying to give up until you just have to have it. If you can get into the habit of actively thinking of yourself being a non-smoker you start to forget it. Instead you focus on how a non-smoker lives their life and start living that way, and it doesn't take long before wanting, buying or making time for cigarettes doesn't feature in that routine and so you stop thinking about it.

- breathing techniques can be helpful. Lots of smokers don't want to stop because they feel smoking keeps them relaxed, but technically it can't because everything in a cigarette is a stimulant. Whenever I do this exercise with people they always come back to the fact that the relaxing aspect of having a cigarette is the breathing - the short in-breath and longer out-breath. This IS relaxing because it changes the levels of carbon dioxide & oxygen in your body, which has the effect of lowering your blood pressure and relaxing your muscles. But it has nothing to do with the cigarette - it's about a breathing pattern. The cigarette is just a prop. Maybe this is something you can do with the electronic cigarette (if you can get it to work) if not, a biro works just as well. Just a shorter breath in and a longer breath out is all you need.

That all seeems like great advice. Can you recommend anything for my weight problem? I've tried visualising myself as a slim person and trying to behave like a slim person behaves, but it's not worked.

So pissed off I missed this thread.

I started packing up fags - after 20 years of hardcore chuffing - three and a half weeks ago, for various reasons. If it wasn't for my leccy fag, I'd have been back on 'em three weeks and two days ago.

It's all about having summat to twiddle between your fingers and the kick at the back of the throat, plus the fact that you can hold 'em like the sticks of opium smoked by baddies in kung fu films. The downside is that I've been depressed as fuck rather than irritable and snappy, but fuck it. And the red light at the end is stupid. But I'd definitely recommend 'em.