Weird Question about smoking

[Shimster]

Hiya all

I'm in the process of giving up smoking, but I hope I can get some help or advice from ex smokers....

I know all the usual government stuff about how bad it is, but when I've just done a good few roads on the bike, I'm finding it hard not to strike up when I get off the bike at the other end... I know it's just habit, but it's a habit I'm finding it hard to brake.... How the 'ell do I get around it?

For the non smokers who are reading this, I can already hear your comments but it's not easy giving up.

Please help.....

 

[steve1]

Keep riding till the urge disappears.

 

[MacFarlane]

I smoked 15 - 20 a day for 16 years, gave up 4 years ago. When ma son was born.

Went to GP, got the gum / patches and did they work, did they feck. My smoking was based around routine, so

1. Wake up, coffee, fag,
2. Brekkie then fag.

and so on, until bed, tea & fag.

The big thing was having a goal or target, wanting to stop and not beating my self up if I had a ciggie.

ONE DAY AT A TIME is the best motto.

I ended up gannin for a walk every time I wanted a cig, so I kicked the habit and got fitter at the same time ( 15 - 20 walks a day man!)

The hardest thing to do is start, after that it gets easier mate

 

[Beemerman59]

I smoked 30 a day for 20 years and quit 4 years ago at the fourth time of trying. For me I took up excercise - going for a run helped with the cravings and I didn't need any other help. Each time I quit the length of time got longer. Just remember you will always be an ex-smoker, never a non-smoker and you will have these ciggy moments for quite a while. You are in control but don't beat yourself up over it - the time will be right sometime.

 

[ian6760]

Nasty but it worked for me.

I was told this by some old guy in a pub once, and it worked for me, but it’s a bit nasty.

Run up a small, but steep hill, get to the top, light a fag and smoke it as fast as you can. Get it glowing like a 40 watt light bulb! Then as soon as you hit the end, run back down as fast as you can. Light another fag and repeat until you spew your guts up. I have never touched a fag since that day, and that must be about five years ago.

I still crave for a fag every now and then, but as soon as I smell them I change my mind. I know this is a bit mad, but I was up for trying anything, I couldn't get off them.

Good luck.
Ian

 

[alimey4u2]

There will be a time when you REALLY want to quit...I have quit several times with weeks, month & years (4) in between bouts.
You will know when the time is right & when it happens, smoking ( and the habit) will not even be an issue....

Ps I smoked on & off for 30 years, the last 20 working for the tobacco industry....

 

[Glyno]

You are right ..............it is a habit
Try roll ups but just roll one as and when you want one.Dont make up loads of them before hand,storing them in a tin or pack.After a while you will find you cant be arsed anymore.Working for me anyway..........Good luck

 

[Daithi]

I packed them in over a year ago, I used Champix, I'm still taking one tablet a week.
Costs me less than €1 a week, a lot cheaper than twenty fags a day.

They made it incredibly easy, I'd tried and failed loads of times before this.

Very very highly recommended.

Even if it is placebo, it's only 1 lousy tablet a week....and I'm not smoking.

 

[majorbumsore]

Dont go on fooling yourself that there is a way of making it easy and its just a case of getting out of the habbit.

you are an addict simple as that, you have let yourself become addicted to a drug pushed by big buisness who make a lot of money out of you.
And every time you cant stand the cold turkey any more you simply buy them and get a fix, which you regret as you stub it out.

Addict is the word not habbit.

I know cos I used to be one and the only way you will stop is when you admit it to yourself and when you realy want to stop being a fcuking mug.

sorry to be blunt but thats the truth.
I hurts, its hard and you will be close to giving in more times than you can imagine but if you really want to be free from it and stop being a soft twot you will.
If you continue to smoke its because you can convince yourself
You will do it one day.
After the weekend.
only when i have a beer.
other peoples.
etc

no you're an addict and weak.


dont you just hate those reformed smoker types who take the morral high ground!!!!!!!!!


Good luck...... I really mean that.

 

[glennis]

What helped for me was every time I had a craving I would replace having a smoke with somthing else. For me I ate buckets of mandarins...kept my hands busy and not as messy as oranges. Have been of the smokes for 2 years now. Best thing I ever did. Good luck

 

[slipper1]

Im in my 3rd week of not smoking, i read alan carrs easyway, good book/video, highly recommended.

Basic premise is smoking has NO advantages for you whatsoever NON end of

It costs money it makes you smell it's not cool (anymore) and like it or not everyone you have is a step closer to killing you.

Early days for me i suppose but the book certainly helped.

dave.

 

[barksworld]

me I gave up when the x ray showed some ominous signs on the lungs . interesting what fear will help you do.
on a brighter note smoked mostly when drinking so ended up eating lots of peanuts downside larger waist. so excersise all this 6 years ago
now hate the smell am still an ex smoker. for me only way to give up was will power and really wanting to
best of luck

 

[Pathologic]

Point to make

I am a non-smoker. I am addicted to other stuff. We all are. The best addictions are good for you. I am not going to offer advice in the face of so many people who are battling and winning (more or less) their battle with smoking. just a couple of observations.

Some people classify addictions in two ways. They talk about physical and process addictions. Physical addiction you know about. The drug nicotine affects your body giving you a pleasant sensation. You body develops a need for the sensation. Stopping the drug causes a physical hunger and other symptoms.

Process addictions are about the things you do to get your fix. Its the missing the chat with you mates during the smoking break or getting an adrenaline rush from risking another drug deal. You get into the habit of doing them. Breaking process addictions is more difficult because they dont really go away. You need to replace one process with a less destructive one. The way you describe your craving after riding makes it sound more like that kind of addiction.

May be you can programme yourself to do something else. I don't know what motivated you to give up. If it is someone perhaps you can spend time thinking about them instead, if it is something you want to do, perhaps you can think about that. Whatever it is you will need to spend at least a month concentrating on doing this every time you get off the bike, before it becomes natural. Perhap, try to make giving up more about doing something better.

Ok this does look like advice I expect someone to come along and shoot me down. Thats fine by me. Just trying to help. Best of luck breaking free.


Regards,

Path.

 

[timsdomain]

stopping smoking

i'll second "alan carrs easyway" you should read it in 2 days or less, don't just read the odd page now and again. when i read it i thought it was a bit repetative and boring. I used to smoke 20-40 day, A complete addict! That was 7 years ago....
i must have tried ten different was before reading that book - worked for me!
best of luck..

 

[Toddy]

After 20 years at 20 a day, what did it for me was discovering that Mgt Thatcher was paid £2,000,000 a year by the tobacco industry as an advisor. Never had another
First week is the worse, then it's easy.

 

[Stickleback]

When I read the initial post I kind of got the impression that it isn't so much a case of struggling with the addiction side, but wtf do you do instead at the end of a ride/at a break in the ride etc.

I don't smoke - tried as usual as a yoof, both legal and less so stuff but never really took to it.

But to my point.

I enjoy riding the bike and sometimes feel a bit of a prat just stoping by the roadside for no good reason other than to take a rest/take the view etc.

I generally always take a flask of coffee with me wherever I go, and find that that kind of helps me to unwind/rest/not feel like a spare prick stood at the roadside for (apparently) no good reason.

Maybe exchanging the cig at the end of the trip for a coffee might work for you?

Just a suggestion, and good luck with your cause!

 

[Shimster]

All,

I'm honestly heart warmed by all your posts, I was a bit worried about my initial post... thought I sounded like a whiney little sod, but after reading what you've all had to say, I'm glad I did. I't's good to hear from both ex and non smokers and what you all think about my addiction/habit.

To answer some questions from your various posts, some reasons for wanting to stop are: Money (obviously!), health and just recently the smell. I've been taking the much publicised Champix tabs, and I seem to have an increased sense of smell since starting them, and by god, fags stink!!!

The more I think about it, the more I realise that it's really more of a habit than an addiction, yes I know thats gonna sound wrong, but I know that if I keep myself busy and have something to do when I'd usually be having a smoke, I can go for days without one. It's just every now and again, when the habit comes back in to being, I find myself reaching for the smokes even before I've realised what I'm doing. I'm sure the ex smokers out there can relate to this.

Another comment made was the smoking with the beers, and I have to admit, that this is another time when I really feel the habit. I've finally got around to getting one of them plastic ciggies with the nicotine capsule. I know it's not going to help with the habit and addiction, but at least until I finally give up completely, it's stop all the other cr*p that are in ciggies getting in to the system.

Anyway, I'm on a long and what could be a difficult journey, and I like to think that I'll make it to the other end of this dark foreboding tunnel, emerging out the other end without ciggies!

Thanks to all of you who took the time to post, I really appreciate it.

Shim

 

[triple-bee]

Toddy,s right get over that first week and u have cracked it the best way is cold turkey otherwise you are just changing one addiction for another. I went from 60 a day for 20 years to nothing, it was a flight from austalia i thought if i can go 22 hrs i can go a week, it,s been 6 months and i have put 2 stone on but i can run upstairs and grope the wife for the alloted 3 mins without coughing my guts up all over her, she has been very supportive and all my mates have been good. I was a bit of a git for about 2 weeks

The one thing i can say is that it fekin stinks i can now smell it a mile off when somebodys had one

Hope u crack it u wont regret it

 

[BOBAD]

It's easy to give up smoking.
I do it all the time.

 

[digga]

Well from my point of view you've made a start, you have admitted to your self that it is the path you want to take.

I tried it some years ago now and failed miserably ... the chemical dependance was a bast'rd and it made me very 'tetchy' with the wife and kids. It was when i started a new job and i had no holidays due that i cracked it!! I packed them off for 10 days, and surmounted the cold turkey syndrome alone.

that was 9 years ago this coming May .


It was hard for me to do , i was 40 a day no problem ..... but when you consider that i worked underground in the coal mining industry for at least 8 hours, and i was asleeep for 6-7 hours a day... that is some going!! I just had to 'con' myself into being in 'Underground' mode ---- all the time. I used gum from Boots and it helped a bit, but i had trouble keeping that dosage down to a reasonable level and almost ended up with another addiction.

I sit here 1 finger typing this and its started the cravings again just recalling the past!!

but now i can easily dispel that craving

Keep at it, it can only get easier....

good luck