Giving up smoking - keep failing - hypnosis?

[anonymous-user]

Anyone got any experience of the above?

I'm not a heavy smoker, maybe 10-15 roll-ups a day. However hard I try to give up, I last a couple of days and then fall off the wagon. Patches etc are rubbish - they just give me a headache. And I cannot sleep whilst giving up - or on patches.

Is anti-smoking hypnotherapy any good? Or is it namby pamby tree-hugging rubbish? I'll seriously look in to it if it's "real"...

[oilslick]

Opulent said:

Anyone got any experience of the above?

I'm not a heavy smoker, maybe 10-15 roll-ups a day. However hard I try to give up, I last a couple of days and then fall off the wagon. Patches etc are rubbish - they just give me a headache. And I cannot sleep whilst giving up - or on patches.

Is anti-smoking hypnotherapy any good? Or is it namby pamby tree-hugging rubbish? I'll seriously look in to it if it's "real"...

I bought the Alan Carr stop smoking audiobook from Amazon and listened to it in the car for about 3 weeks. He says don't quit until you've reached the end, but after about two weeks I just didn't want a cigarette any more. That was 13 months ago and I haven't touched them since. Definitely recommend trying it.

[BliarOut]

oilslick said:

Opulent said:

Anyone got any experience of the above?

I'm not a heavy smoker, maybe 10-15 roll-ups a day. However hard I try to give up, I last a couple of days and then fall off the wagon. Patches etc are rubbish - they just give me a headache. And I cannot sleep whilst giving up - or on patches.

Is anti-smoking hypnotherapy any good? Or is it namby pamby tree-hugging rubbish? I'll seriously look in to it if it's "real"...

I bought the Alan Carr stop smoking audiobook from Amazon and listened to it in the car for about 3 weeks. He says don't quit until you've reached the end, but after about two weeks I just didn't want a cigarette any more. That was 13 months ago and I haven't touched them since. Definitely recommend trying it.

I'm almost two years on from the book. Went from twenty a day for thirty years to nowt. Not bothered about smoking now. The difference is I'm not usually aware how long it is since I escaped the dreaded weed

[ShadownINja]

Hypnosis can work if you are open-minded about it. If you believe you cannot be hypnotised, you're right. That's why 64.5% of replies to your thread will say it doesn't work.

Also, try Emotional Freedom Techniques. I've helped people to quit smoking using this.

Edited by ShadownINja on Tuesday 26th October 22:38

[jas xjr]

I am diabetic , I really need to stop smoking. Need something that works, tried patches , gum and lozenges

[N Dentressangle]

Champix or Zyban

+

willpower

+

counselling / hypnosis

+

nicotine lozenges

Do the lot. Use any available aid. Do anything but have another cigarette. Be clear in your own mind that you will never smoke again. You'll have cravings for a long time, but they'll gradually get less frequent and less severe.

Stopping smoking isn't easy for the vast majority of smokers. You have spent many years learning to be a smoker: it can't be unlearnt in a few months. You'll fail many times before you succeed, and this is OK. You'll manage to do it when you're ready to do it.



I liked:

http://www.whyquit.com/joel/#book

but every smoker is different. Whatever stops you smoking again is the right answer to you. So maybe hypnosis is your thing - it wasn't mine - but no-one can tell you for sure what will help you to stop. I'd recommend your GP as a good starting point.

Edited by N Dentressangle on Tuesday 26th October 23:11

[jas xjr]

I just feel very weak and stupid.

[N Dentressangle]

jas xjr said:

I just feel very weak and stupid.

You're neither. If you are, then so are Obama and Clegg, and many other successful people who are demonstrably neither but who are addicted to nicotine.

Stopping smoking is really hard. Only about 5% of smokers manage it each year. If it were easy then no-one would smoke. But you have probably achieved other things in your life which are very hard, and one day you'll quit smoking. As I say, motivationally I found some of the materials here very useful: http://www.whyquit.com/joel/#articles

It's not impossible. You'll do it when you're ready.

[Jonnas]

I signed up for the NHS program and went along each week to see the nurse who designed my medication (patches for me and I couldn't sleep with them on overnight either, freaky dreams!) and kept going for quite a few weeks after I actually quit. I found it very good, that was just over a year ago and I'm still a non smoker!!

[Tumbler]

Do you really want to be a non smoker?

To help with the habit side, try putting the cost of a single cigarette in a jar each time you get a craving, the time it takes to find the change should take you through the time it takes for the craving to go, plus it's occupying your hands.

[ShadownINja]

N Dentressangle said:

You'll do it when you're ready.

Indeed. When you really want to do it, you'll do it (which goes for many things like this, really).

Edited by ShadownINja on Wednesday 27th October 11:44

[taylor172]

agree, if you want to you will.

wait till you have one and the taste makes you feel sick. thats when you know its time

[anonymous-user]

I want to now. That's the issue. But, I know I'll be sitting at home - bored - and unable to sleep, and I'll dig out the old pouch and wrap up a crafty one, and then that's it, I'm off the wagon. It's certainly a boredom thing, and also habitual - if I'm not smoking, my nails get bitten til they bleed, I chew anything that is within reach, and just get restless and generally irritated/ing.

I'm tempted to call this pouch of baccy my last (which will probably last me til the weekend), then get some Kalms or something that'll help with the sleep, and just dog through it. While I work, I don't feel like smoking, it's only on the drive home, and then the evening sat in front of the telly. And I may well ring a hypnotherapist at the weekend and see what they say. If I can give it a go for less than say £200, it's worth a crack.

Good advice above guys, thank you one and all

[Chris_]

Have to agree with Quinny.

I stopped 4 weeks ago and it has been relatively easy this time. I have tried numerous times before, but never really got past a couple of days at the most. The difference now is that for the first time I really, really do not want to ever smoke again, which is what id different. Before stopping last month, I kept thinking through a list of mental images of all the reasons why I never want another cigarette.

I am more annoyed with myself than anything else now that I did not do it earlier, but in my view smoking is about mental conditioning and associations. For me it was a smoke at a particular moment of the day or event. Changing habits and breaking those routines makes it easier. Your will-power is far stronger than any patches/gum/hypnosis but the will-power works both ways so if you don't actually want to stop you are likely to fail. I still have cravings but they are going. Good luck

[Chris_]

I have got three similar reasons and they all want their dad to be there. However much I might think I want a smoke, I think of the many more reasons why I don't

[ShadownINja]

Chris_ said:

I have got three similar reasons and they all want their dad to be there. However much I might think I want a smoke, I think of the many more reasons why I don't

Sadly, three of those reasons just aren't enough for some. I know one guy with three kids who just continues and has the typical smoker's cough.

[redeye]

i smoked 60 a day for over 20 years never wanted to give up
i got a bad cold it went to my chest ,i could hardly breath at night
one night i woke up coughing and lost my breath never being so scared in my life ,wife smacking me on my back tears down my face ,final calm down a lay back in bed and say to my wife
if this is a chest cold fuxk loung cancer im giving up
never smoked again
so get a bad chest, cheap but it works, and you get a pre look at loung cancer

[dave_s13]

Many NHS community trusts have excellent smoking cessation services who'll usually give you all the patches, tablets etc for free.

Ask at you GP surgery.

Smoking is a right bugger....I used to smoke maybe 15 years ago and still get the "urge" after a few beers, especially if someone else is a smoker.

[ChrisnChris]

Have to agree with Chris & quinny...you really have to want to stop, it doesn't matter what the reason is, health, cost, other people, anything but you must have the mind to do it.

I've been a smoker since the age of 14-15. Sometimes a heavy smoker, sometimes very light.

I can't tell you the number of times I've "given up" usually for at least a few weeks.

I once gave up for about 3 years.....& started again (about 5 yrs ago)

For many years I would start at Christmas & then give up when we, "the lads" came back from our annual weeks golf/fishing holiday in June.
5 of us...4 smokers. We smoked so much, the journey home was a blessing, no smoking, for me anyway.
I had this "routine" for 8-10 years.

Smoking is the one & only thing in my life I wish I had never done.

62 days ago I forked out close to £400 for 2 tyres for Trev, I also needed a pack of cigs, I didn't buy the cigs.
Since then I haven't spent £384.40 on cigs. Doesn't sound much does it but in the 5 yrs since I started again, that's £11,284. As a "life time" (so far) figure, that's £76,942.....I want my money back.....tough shi...idiot....oh yea.....you're going to die early too...tosser

So, if there are any young aspiring smokers out there reading this, stop now, it will be difficult, if you smoke you are already addicted. It is a route you don't want to take.

Get your life back, sure, every now & then you could kill for a ciggy. These moments will become less frequent & each time you resist & don't give in, the stronger you will feel & the easier it will get.

Don't see being without cigs as a torment....embrace it as a freedom


To all those who have never smoked & feel it necessary to mock in a self satisfied juvenile manner..........carry on

[Muzzer]

Try the Alan Carr book.

I'd seen people using it who tried everything but then stopped dead.

I used it and have been 12 months clean.

Tips:

1. Remember, you're not giving anything up. You're stopping the physical act of smoking.

2. Think of it like alcoholism. Alcoholics can't have the odd drink every now and again. Once you quit smoking, you can't have the occasional cigarette.

3. Carr recommends avoiding nicotine replacement. Whilst patches, etc work for some, I can see the logic behind it.

4. I deliberately quit at this time of year. No pub garden to sit out in on a summer's evening with a pint, no light evenings to nip out into the garden. The thought of stepping out into pouring rain or minus 5 for a cigarette makes it easier not to do it....