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Old 04-21-2007, 03:20 PM
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Approve Quit Smoking Thread

Rather than derail vm's thread any further :sorry: I thought I'd start a quit smoking thread where people could post tips on quitting smoking and remaining abstinent along with their experiences with quitting smoking in the past or present tense. :yup:

I had my last cigg. this past Tuesday, April 17 at 7:15 a.m. I am using Commit Nicotine Lozenges but not at the dose or frequency that they suggest.. just enough that I don't mistake someone's head for dinner. :biting:

I'm also simultaneously weaning off of caffeine. I've cut my intake of caffeine by more than half so far. :tea:

Today I'm feeling pretty good compared to the last fuzzy, irritable four days. :smile:

I honestly don't want a cigg. I just want to feel like my bouncy self again. :tiggermonkey:
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Old 04-21-2007, 03:38 PM
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Default Re: Quit Smoking Thread

I smoked heavily for over 25 years, and despite numerous attempts to quit the only successful method I found (as crazy as it sounds) was a little book by Allen Carr called Allen Carr's Easyway to Stop Smoking. I discuss it here.
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Old 04-21-2007, 03:42 PM
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Default Re: Quit Smoking Thread

I leafed through the book after I quit, but according to this method I should still be smoking (I did most things wrong) while my friend who was using his method at the time would have been successful. Not so...
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Old 04-21-2007, 03:55 PM
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Default Re: Quit Smoking Thread

Well despite my own experience, I do know it's not a miracle book. I have a half dozen friends and relatives who were long time smokers and quit after reading that book, and I know one or two started up again. I didn't follow Allen Carr's method very closely, truth be told. It helped, but the most persuasive part (for me) was his thorough logical dismantling of every myth I had previously used to rationalize smoking to myself and others. I know other people have been successful using other approaches, but I hate to see people dismiss a book without even opening it - like I did for every other quit-smoking book before a friend convinced me to read Carr's - and I hate seeing people take approaches that have consistently failed for me and most everyone else I know.
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Old 04-21-2007, 05:55 PM
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Default Re: Quit Smoking Thread

The one objection I have to his book is the factual error; it's probably not true that there is no benefit at all to nicotine. There's been research in its utility in controlling the symptoms of ADD.
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Old 04-22-2007, 01:12 AM
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Default Re: Quit Smoking Thread

A Collection of Articles on Nicotine Addiction
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Old 04-22-2007, 02:30 PM
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Default Re: Quit Smoking Thread

:cheer: Day 6! :cheer:
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Old 04-23-2007, 06:49 PM
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Default Re: Quit Smoking Thread

I wonder how the nicotine vaccine trials are coming along. :inject:
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Old 04-23-2007, 07:05 PM
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Old 04-23-2007, 08:10 PM
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Default Re: Quit Smoking Thread

From "Out of The Ashes" Help For People Who Have Stopped Smoking by Peter & Peggy Holmes:

Quote:
It is impossible to miss something you can have.

When I start to miss smoking, I've misinterpreted my situation. I'm feeling as though I'm no longer free to smoke, like smoking has been taken away from me. In fact, I'm as free to smoke now as I've ever been. Even though I may want to smoke, nothing is missing. I'm not giving up smoking.. I'm choosing something better. Knowing I can smoke changes that sense of loss into a sense of gain.
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Old 04-24-2007, 04:25 PM
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Default Re: Quit Smoking Thread

Day 8 and I've decided to ditch the nicotine lozenges. :yup:

C'mon fuzzies.. show me whatcha got! :airbox:
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Old 04-24-2007, 05:06 PM
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Default Re: Quit Smoking Thread


:wookie:
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Old 04-24-2007, 05:12 PM
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Default Re: Quit Smoking Thread

OMG! That's a perfect fuzzy smilie! :thankee:

:airbox::wookie:
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Old 04-24-2007, 06:39 PM
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Default Re: Quit Smoking Thread

Nicotine addiction more deadly than illegal drug addictions
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In 1998 tobacco killed 25 times more Americans than all illegal drugs combined (418,690 to 16,926 - U.S. Center for Disease Control).
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Old 04-24-2007, 06:57 PM
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Default Re: Quit Smoking Thread

And really not at all as fun... :sadno:
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Old 04-24-2007, 07:05 PM
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Default Re: Quit Smoking Thread

True dat. :chuckle:

Check this out, handy to know if you're quitting smoking or know someone who is so that you can let them know:

Blood Sugar Changes When Quitting

Quote:
Blood sugar plummets in many people when first quitting. The most common side effects felt during the first three days can often be traced back to blood sugar issues. Symptoms such as headache, inability to concentrate, dizziness, time perception distortions, and the ubiquitous sweet tooth encountered by many, are often associated with this blood sugar drop. The symptoms of low blood sugar are basically the same symptoms as not having enough oxygen, similar to reactions experienced at high altitudes. The reason being the inadequate supply of sugar and/or oxygen means the brain is getting an incomplete fuel. If you have plenty of one and not enough of the other, your brain can not function at any form of optimal level. When you quit smoking, oxygen levels are often better than they have been in years, but with a limited supply of sugar it can't properly fuel your brain.

It is not that cigarettes put sugar into your blood stream; it is more of a drug interaction of the stimulant effect of nicotine that affects the blood sugar levels. Cigarettes cause the body to release its own stores of sugar and fat by a drug type of interaction. That is how it basically operated as an appetite suppressant, affecting the satiety centers of your hypothalamus. As far as for the sugar levels, nicotine in fact works much more efficiently than food. If you use food to elevate blood sugar levels, it literally takes up to 20 minutes from the time you chew and swallow the food before it is released to the blood, and thus the brain, for its desired effect of fueling your brain. Cigarettes, by working through a drug interaction causes the body to release it's own stores of sugar, but not in 20 minutes but usually in a matter of seconds. In a sense, your body has not had to release sugar on its own in years, you have done it by using nicotine's drug effect !

This is where many people really gorge themselves on food upon cessation. They start to experience a drop in blood sugar and instinctively reach for something sweet. Upon finishing the food, they still feel symptomatic. Of course they do, it takes them a minute or two to eat, but the blood sugar isn't boosted for another 18 minutes. Since they are not feeling immediately better, they eat a little more. They continue to consume more and more food, minute after minute until they finally they start to feel better. Again if they are waiting for the blood sugar to go up we are talking about 20 minutes after the first swallow. People can eat a lot of food in 20 minutes. But they begin to believe that this was the amount needed before feeling better. This can be repeated numerous times throughout the day thus causing a lot of calories being consumed and causing weight gain to become a real risk.

When you abruptly quit smoking, the body is in kind of a state of loss, not knowing how to work normally since it has not worked normally in such a long time. Usually by the third day, though, your body will readjust and release sugar as it is needed. Without eating any more your body will just figure out how to regulate blood sugar more efficiently.

You may find though that you do have to change dietary patterns to one that is more normal for you. Normal is not what it was as a smoker, but more what it was before you took up smoking with aging thrown in. Some people go until evening without eating while they are smokers. If they try the same routine as ex-smokers they will suffer side effects of low blood sugar. It is not that there is something wrong with them now, they were abnormal before for all practical purposes. This doesn't mean they should eat more food, but it may mean they need to redistribute the food eaten to a more spread out pattern so they are getting blood sugar doses throughout the day as nature really had always intended.

To minimize some of the real low blood sugar effects of the first few days it really can help to keep drinking juice throughout the day. After the fourth day though, this should no longer be necessary as your body should be able to release sugar stores if your diet is normalized. If you are having problems that are indicative of blood sugar issues beyond day three, it wouldn't hurt talking to your doctor and maybe getting some nutritional counseling. In order to allow your body to maintain permanent control over the amount of glucose (sugar) in your brain ... NEVER TAKE ANOTHER PUFF!
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Old 04-24-2007, 07:12 PM
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Default Re: Quit Smoking Thread

Also..

Why one should reduce their caffeine intake upon smoking cessation:

Quote:
The impact of caffeine use on tobacco cessation and withdrawal.

Swanson JA, Lee JW, Hopp JW, Berk LS.

Department of Health Promotion and Education, School of Public Health, Loma Linda University, CA 92350, USA.

Continuous caffeine consumption with smoking cessation has been associated with more than doubled caffeine plasma levels. Such concentrations may be sufficient to produce caffeine toxicity symptoms in smoking abstinence conditions. To test whether caffeine abstinence influences smoking cessation, 162 caffeine-using smokers were enlisted from American Lung Association smoking cessation programs. Volunteers were randomly assigned by clinic to caffeine-use and caffeine-abstinence conditions and measured for 3 weeks post-smoking cessation, at 6 months and one year. Results showed a significant linear increase in caffeine sputum levels across 3 weeks post cessation for those who quit smoking and continued using caffeine.

Three weeks after cessation, concentrations reached 203% of baseline for the caffeine user. Typical nicotine withdrawal symptoms occurred during the first 16 days of cessation. The caffeine abstainers, but not continued users of caffeine, reported increased fatigue during the first 3 days of cessation. Among complete caffeine abstainers, compared with caffeine users, there was a significant increase in fatigue, a decrease in stimulation, and a marginal increase in caffeine craving immediately following tobacco cessation. There were no differences between the groups on other withdrawal symptoms or in cessation success at 16 days, 6 months, or 12 months.


The why of it:

Quote:
It's important to understand that nicotine smokers need twice the amount of caffeine in order to achieve the same effect as a non-smoker. Nicotine indirectly causes caffeine to metabolize (to be depleted) at a rate twice that of non-smokers. If you're a heavy caffeine user who attempts to continue using caffeine at the same amount as you did while using nicotine, you may find yourself not only having difficulty sleeping but probably climbing every wall in sight.
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Old 04-24-2007, 07:21 PM
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Default Re: Quit Smoking Thread

BBC News: Smoking 'kills brain cells'


Quote:
Scientists said they have found the first direct biological evidence that smoking destroys brain cells and stops others being produced.
Anti-smoking groups said this provided an even greater incentive to stop smoking.

French researchers led by Pier-Vincenzo Piazza and Djoher Nora Abrous, at the National Institute for Health and Medical Research (INSERM) let three groups of rats give themselves low, medium or high amounts of nicotine.

A fourth group was allowed no nicotine at all.



What is interesting is that they are saying they have found how tobacco smoking affects the body

Amanda Sandford, of ASH

Protein

The rats were allowed to absorb the nicotine for an hour a day for 42 days. They were then killed and their brains dissected.

Rodents that took the medium and higher doses suffered a 50% higher loss in the production of new brain cells than the non-nicotine group, as well as a significantly higher rate of brain cell death.

The researchers also found that all the rats taking nicotine suffered a fall in the protein PSA-NCAM.

This protein plays a vital part in the adaptibility of the brain and is related to an ability to learn and memorise.


Amanda Sandford: "It is yet another reason for quitting"


The report, published in The Journal of Neuroscience said: "These results raise an important additional concern for the health consequences of nicotine abuse and open new insight on the possible neural mechanisms of tobacco addiction."

The authors said their studies rebutted previous research in the 1990s that suggested that smoking could boost cognitive performance.

Quit smoking

Amanda Sandford, of ASH, said the new findings should spur people to quit smoking.

"There are no great surprises there because tobacco is full of nasty chemicals.

"But what is interesting is that they are saying they have found how tobacco smoking affects the body.

"It is yet another reason for quitting at the earliest opportunity and dispels the myth that smoking helps concentration."
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Old 04-24-2007, 07:50 PM
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Default Re: Quit Smoking Thread

An overall interesting and informative site on the possible symptoms of nicotine withdrawel and tips on how best to handle them and lessen their severity. :2thumbsup:
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Old 04-24-2007, 08:03 PM
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Default Re: Quit Smoking Thread

I "quit" smoking about 6mnths ago. I use the quotes because in the past 6 months I have probably smoked maybe a pack's worth of cigarettes.
But I still consider it as having quit because I beat the addiction.
I can smoke a cigarette with a friend after a meal and not have the urge to go buy a pack and fall into the smoking again.
Actually I find, now that I have quit, that the rare cigarette makes realize that I don't need to smoke.
This weekend I went out to a bar with a friend and end up smoking several cigarettes in one night.
The next day I felt worse from the smoking than the drinking.
So much so that the thought of smoking made me feel ill. :puke:
I'm really glad that I quit. I feel much better, I'm saving money, and my new car doesn't reek. :woohoo:
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Old 04-24-2007, 08:32 PM
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Default Re: Quit Smoking Thread

Good luck in not falling back into addiction, Artemis. It can sneak up on you and grab you before you realize it. :darkness:
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Old 04-24-2007, 08:56 PM
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Default Re: Quit Smoking Thread

“The truth will set us free.” :yup2:
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Old 04-24-2007, 09:15 PM
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Default Re: Quit Smoking Thread

Caring for Our Recovery

Quote:
The recovered alcoholic, the heroin addict, the nicotine addict, deep down each knows the "Law of Addiction." They’ve heard it over and over again. Just one sip, one tiny fix, or one little puff of nicotine, just once, that's all it takes and the addict is back! They know that either immediately or in a short period of time they'll once again be slaves to their old level of drug use or greater. We know the Law of Addiction so why do we break it?

There are three primary factors associated with relapse: (1) rewriting the law of addiction; (2) an excuse; and (3) a vague memory. It doesn’t matter if it happens within two hours, two days, two weeks, two months, two years, or twenty, the factors remain the same and apply to all of us. Rewriting the law of addiction is easy and you don’t need a pencil, paper or computer to do it.
Read on for a full explanation. :book:
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Old 04-25-2007, 01:33 AM
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Default Re: Quit Smoking Thread

Want to Quit Smoking?

Ex-smokers teach new quitters about coming home
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Old 04-25-2007, 03:10 AM
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Default Re: Quit Smoking Thread

Thanks Shelli.
I'm not too worried. I don't think I have an addictive personality. I abhor drugs, I don't even take pain killers when they're prescribed by a doctor. I was prescribed Loratabs by a doctor about a year ago and took half of one. My stoner girlfriend (yeah that was a tumultuous relationship) took the rest when I wasn't looking.
I have to be in some serious pain to take anything.
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