Smoking.

[Mykidsmom]

What is it about tobacco....thro my life ive stopped and started so many times...stopping doesnt seem to be the issue..i can do it easily and for long periods of time....re-starting is a HUGE problem...Ok...3 weeks ago i started again after a time out of almost 3 years...im kicking myself...

Help..anyone got any ideas?

[Pammy]

What is it about tobacco....thro my life ive stopped and started so many times...stopping doesnt seem to be the issue..i can do it easily and for long periods of time....re-starting is a HUGE problem...Ok...3 weeks ago i started again after a time out of almost 3 years...im kicking myself...

Help..anyone got any ideas?

Helen my son has just stopped after a good few years....never thought he ever would......he took some meds....just cant think of the name of them at the mo....but will let u know.....he said he had no problem......

[Rashers]

Helen, as you know I had to stop last january. I'd be dead now if I hadn't according to the consultant in the hospital.

I smoked 20 - 40 a day for more than 30 years, never thinking I could stop after I'd tried all of the usual methods, hypnosis, the pins in the ears, nothing worked. It took the fright to stop me smoking.

Right now I buy myself a reward now and then, knowing that if I was smoking I wouldn't be able to afford whatever the reward is.

I think that's the trick for staying off them. Reward yourself.

[newtry]

i stopped smoking 23 yrs. ago after coughing up some blood.
the shock did it for me plus my dad smoked and it practically killed him.
i'm helping my daughter to kick the habit and she is doing really well.
she's down to a smoke every couple of days now.

[Red Biddy]

I love the feckin' smokes and they are going to kill me as I am a diabetic. But I will be older than James Dean and Elvis when I die anyway

[traze]

I smoke around 30 a day, if busy 20, but lst few days hardly any as my chest was to bad, I have tryed everything from cold turkey to tablets, gum patches and even hypnosis twice, and i am still on the feckin things

[Deirdre]

I am off them 3 years now it is one off the hardest things that I have ever done ...... I still love the smell of them and if someone is smoking along-side me at the bus stop I am allmost on top of them trying to get a whiff. I gained allmost 3 stone which I have just this year managed to get off again ........I have to spend at least 6 hours a day every day excersizing because my metoboilic rate Stopped after i gave up resulting in a mini stroke in March last year, if I had known then what I know now I would have questioned myself as to which was worse tobacco or obesity allthough I am very very fit now I!! would have chosen to keep with the ciggie's ........Thats my honest opinion

[Rashers]

Well since I gave up (had no choice really) in January I've rewarded myself regularly. As I'm a gizmo addict I've been buying things in that line since I gave up. Just this morning one of my sons dropped in a portable DVD player that he picked up for me in Newry over the weekend.

When I was smoking there's no way I could have afforded any of these things, and the player I just mentioned cost me what used to be three - four days cigarette money.

A great incentive to stay off them for me.

Did you know there's a very beneficial side effect for those of a stressful disposition from giving up the cigs? Yes, you feel less stressed and if you suffer with anxiety you'll notice a big difference if off the smokes.... you'll feel much more laid back.

[Mykidsmom]

You know i can relate to all of you...My family history and personal history isnt good...I had a stroke at 36/37...when i resumed smoking after a long time off them..after the stroke i restarted until stopping again mid 90s only to resume again early 2000...then stopped 2007 after respiratory failure and a heart attack which left me with heart failure...my weight went up one time and fell off as soon as i restarted smoking.. but other than that never had problems..UNTIL 2007...and i gained more than 40lbs.. exercise, dieting...nothing helped..and the drs were nodding heads and going.."weight is dangerous." anyways i restarted a couple of weeks ago and without even noticing ive dropped 10lb....so now the drs going..smoking is bad for you...im stumped...which is worse..the heart failure is cured..the heart is fine..the weight is the problem...so heres what im going to do...smoke until i lose another 15lbs...which will leave me at 125...then boom no more cigges...i'll have to hide out for a few days cos i get major cranky lol.. I think once a smoker always a smoker...Deirdre Im sorta like you...id glide over to the smoker without even thinking and sniff deeply and inhale hehe..

i give up...and i will stop again one day ....but my god its hard to stay given up..My hats off to all of you who did manage to stay off them

[khaleduz]

i did helen i used to smoke nearly 40 ciggies a day and still love smoking but once i said enough, i stopped that was when my my daugther was born 1987 til then never put a cigarette in my mouth.....im fine...and around 80kgs (my weight) hehehe...

[newtry]

i was smoking ciggies so much i tried cigars instead thinking i would cut down.
after a while it was just the same until i coughed up the blood.
now i dont even think about them any more.

[Mykidsmom]

Oh my god Newtry...thats a big big knock on the door..i dont know if id restart either......and you did great to stay off them..

when i get my weight down to 125lbs...(around 54kgs) i'll stop..and i'll be heavier than i used to be sooooooooooo that will be a good thing lol

[Rashers]

Holey moly Newtry I know if I saw blood it would scare me off cigarettes forever (if I wasn't already off).

My weight shot up after I stopped last January. I'm now about 5 stones over what I should be. I put that down to eating more, much more, after stopping the cigs. Chocolate especially.

At the most recent meeting with my consultant he looked at my belly and said, "Where did THAT come from?" I told him that I read every night before sleeping and when I was smoking I smoked two cigarettes while reading. That chaged to two bars of chocolate.

He muttered something about me being better off with the cigarettes, but congratulated me on staying off them. Then he sent me for further tests and it was discovered I have type 2 diabetes. Now I know I didn't have that at the time I was in hospital cos they tested me for everything.... even pregnancy I think!

So can overeating of sweet things cause diabetes? I don't know... but I do know it's not going to kill me... unlike the cigarettes which almost did.

[Deirdre]

Holey moly Newtry I know if I saw blood it would scare me off cigarettes forever (if I wasn't already off).

My weight shot up after I stopped last January. I'm now about 5 stones over what I should be. I put that down to eating more, much more, after stopping the cigs. Chocolate especially.

At the most recent meeting with my consultant he looked at my belly and said, "Where did THAT come from?" I told him that I read every night before sleeping and when I was smoking I smoked two cigarettes while reading. That chaged to two bars of chocolate.

He muttered something about me being better off with the cigarettes, but congratulated me on staying off them. Then he sent me for further tests and it was discovered I have type 2 diabetes. Now I know I didn't have that at the time I was in hospital cos they tested me for everything.... even pregnancy I think!

So can overeating of sweet things cause diabetes? I don't know... but I do know it's not going to kill me... unlike the cigarettes which almost did.

Now Rashers that you mention it .....re the diabetes .....My Hubby's cousin gave up the ciggies on Jan 1st this year, she also gained 3 stone in less then 6 months and after undergoing lots of tests it has been discovered that she has also has type 2 diabetes and again like yourself she started to have the occasional bar of choclate instead of the ciggie then it went to 2 and so on, a biscuit here and there with her tea I wonder if that is what brought on the diabetes she is convinced that had she stayed on the ciggies she would not have these new health issues !!!!

[miamigo]

My wife gave up the ciggies just over 3 years ago and does not regret it one bit .She was a chain smoker ,smoking between 30 ,40 odd cigs a day .Then one early morning ,she woke up grasping for breadth and couldnt breath .This was the moement when she realised she had to pack in ,not easy for sombody who had being smoking daily for 30 odd years .She did as expected , put the few lbs on and their is also a history of diabetes in her family .But with the help of dieting ,weightwatchers , exercise , she managed over a period to get rid of the excess weight and allowing for the few odd pounds here and there ,has managed to keep her weight down to a decent ,exceptable level . It is hard to give up , no doubt about it and my self being a non smoker was also a + in helping her give up .Now the smell of ciggerette smoke makes her ill .