If I can...anyone can (Giving Up Smoking in General)

Member Name: cathy

Product:	Giving Up Smoking in General
Date:	15/02/01 (207 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Could save your life

Disadvantages: It isn't easy

I started smoking when I was about 10 - sneaking the odd fag out of my mum's pack to share with my mates. Sometimes we'd even buy a pack of 5 between us. But it was iregular and fairly infrequent. Why did I do it? I don't know - it was a 'grown up' thing I guess. There certainly wasn't any information about health effects around at that time.

I suppose I really started when I was about 18, and I've smoked at least 20 a day for the last 30 or so years - more under stress. Addicted? You bet!

Over the years I've made several attempts to give up - with notable success during pregnancy - but it's just been too hard, the craving for nicotine became all-encompassing, the longing to satisfy that craving too strong to resist.

The problem was - I wasn't ready, I didn't really want to give up, oh yes, I'd say I wanted to give up, I'd mean it too - intellectually, but way down at the gut level, I don't think I had any real intention to succeed and deprive myself of my costly and dangerous pleasure.

But now I have given up - a month ago now. And this time it's different, it feels different, I know I REALLY want to stop, and this time it's not so hard. It's the right time for me.

So how did I get to here? Well, I got tired of my horrible, hacking cough. I got fed up with having a chest infection for what feels like about 2 years - I just couldn't seem to shake it off completely.

I hated not being able to walk up a medium sized hill without feeling like I needed oxygen. I was embarrased at struggling to keep up with my much younger & fitter partner on country walks. (Something that was supposed to be a shared pleasure just became a feat of endurance).

I was pissed off with having to stand outside at work in all weathers just to have a fag.

Adding up how much I spent on fags was just too horrible to contemplate - and yet I 'can'
t afford' to replace the ancient and extremely dodgy wiring in my home.

Eventually my boss told me to clear my diary and take some time off and not come bnack to work until I was better. So I did. About the same time. my best friend's mum was taken in to hospital - unable to breathe with emphasema. Seeing her - and the grief and fear of her daughter I realised that I didn't want this - not for me, not for my family, not for my friends.

So, I went to the Doc about the chest infection - and I said I really wanted to stop smoking and needed some help. I was hoping to get that new 'miracle' drug Zyban - maybe that would make it easier.

But my doctor said he wasn't happy about prescribing it. But he said he'd had some success with short (2 - 6 week) courses of Prozac. "I'll try it", I said.

I don't know if the Prozac actually helped or not - I'd heard it takes about a month to kick in. But it seems to - so I guess it does if I think it does. I'm still sucking a lot of boiled sweets, (surprise bonus = childhood revisited - chocolate limes, rhubarb & custard, sherbert lemons, everton mints etc.)

I also smoke the odd herbal cigarette for those times when only inhaling something will do.

I've encouraged myself be finding out about the benefits - they start just 20 minutes after your last cigarette. One really noticable benefit is my skin - literally everyone is commenting on how good my complection & colour is looking.

And I feel better - my breathing's better, my sense of taste & smell is better. My cough has virtually disappeared. I can walk up small hills without distress.

I have bought one of those giant plastic coke bottles - I am feeding it the price of a packet of fags eveyday - that's hard sometimes but I WOULD have found the money for cigarettes. I have a load of pound coins already - quite soon I'll have enough money to get t
he rewiring done. (Or treat myself to a fabulous holiday - I haven't decided yet).

You can never be certain about the future - but right now I feel sure I'll never smoke again. Yes, I do still want to - but not as much as I want to be a non-smoker.

So have faith in yourself - I never thought I'd give up, (nor did some of my friends - one in particular always said she'd give up if I did - 'but I never thought you would' she wailed.)

The key to success is really REALLY wanting to stop. Get all the help you can. Talk to your doctor. Tell everyone you're giving up. Get plenty of sweets, mints, fruit juice and treaties in. Decide which packet is going to be your last and just do it.

You know it makes sense - nobody wants to die drowning in their own snot while their family and friends look on helpless and horrified.

Good luck!

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