Stopping Smoking – My Experience
Stopping Smoking
We are told constantly how bad it is to smoke and we should give up. How many times have you heard from non smokers
“Oh that games killing you and burning a hole in your pocket you should stop”.
Now if you are like I was you probably wanted to use abusive language at these people and tell them it’s not as easy as they like to think. I sometimes used to look at them while they were telling me the “horrible things “ that smoking was doing to my body and imagine rolling them up into a nice fat rollup.
Anyway to the point. If you’re a smoker you know as well as I do that it is not easy, It took me 8 attempts over 6 years to finally kick the habit and those that claim it is easy should think again. People who want to stop smoking more than anything else need encouragement and a solid reason to give up as well as deep down wanting to give up.
The below is taken from Wikipedia on nicotine.
“Research shows that by increasing the levels of dopamine within the reward circuits in the brain, nicotine acts as a chemical with intense addictive qualities. In many studies it has been shown to be more addictive than cocaine and heroin.”
So show them that next time someone tells you it’s easy.
My problem was I did not really want to give up I enjoyed smoking, I was not naive I knew I was killing myself but really didn’t care. For me I need a real good reason to stop and one day I was playing in the lounge with my 1 year old son and it hit me
“Do I want to see my son for an extra 10-20 years of his life?”
Or
“Do I want my son to think that smoking is cool?”
That was it my focus for giving up was my son and I think that was the main reason I am now 6 months clear and now class myself as a none smoker from a 20 a day guy.
How is hard actually is it
Well that’s a tough question so I’m going to break it down into 4 weeks. I kept a diary of how I felt for those 4 weeks and what I did to help myself through it.
Week 1 – 1 week before stopping
The day I decided to stop I set a date. If I recall correctly it was a Friday. I remember saying to myself “This time next week I will stop smoking FOREVER”. I’ve got to admit at the time I wasn’t convinced about my own statement but I set the date. I decided not to tell anyone I was stopping until that day came. Before I had told people I was stopping smoking and I used to get the “Oh 1 more day as a smoker”, “Oh 12 more hours as a smoker” and it got so annoying that I was stressed before I stopped smoking, so this time I kept quiet.
The funny thing when you are planning to stop is the amount you smoke before you stop. I was a 20 a day but found myself hammering 40 like my body was stocking up….
In between smoking all these cigs I created myself a calendar. It was your usual calendar but on each day I worked out how much money I would have saved from stopping smoking for that long. E.g. By day 7 I had saved £35.70. I kept this in a draw ready to put up the first day of quitting. But I also went and looked at it throughout the week just to motivate myself.
As the days passed I found myself doubting that I could quit on the day as my will power has never been that great to be honest. It helped that I created a list of my reasons for stopping smoking while I was still smoking, previously I had done a list of reasons after I had stopped and it’s hard to find reasons when all you want is that one more cig.
Tips for the first week (pre giving up)
Do a calendar and write how much you will save each day I did mine for 10 weeks and at the end of my 10 weeks it said I would have £357.00!!! now that’s quite motivating in itself Get yourself a roses tin or something similar. This is where you will put the money you would normally spend on cigs each day. Write reasons to stop while you’re still smoking (trust me it’s easier) Set a date to stop. If at all possible get someone to stop with you.
Week 2
The big day arrived. Hours before stopping I was chain smoking. I remember the time I was to stop it was 6pm on Friday night and to be honest I was dreading it, it was an hour before I was to stop and I was still not convinced I could see it through.
I had my last cig at 5.55pm on Friday and the strange thing was it was probably the worst one I ever had it just didn’t give me the same feeling, maybe it was because it was the last one and I rushed it or because the expectation of the last cig didn’t reach the highs I hoped for.
6pm came and went. I usually had a cig every hour or so and it was like an alarm clock in my head DING time for a smoke. I decided to stick to routine, I had always smoked outside and not in the house so I decided to go outside for 5 minutes when I wanted a smoke, take some deep breaths and then come back in and do what I was doing.
The first night I decided to make it a little easier on myself and I hit the sack at 11.
Waking up the next day was hell, the smoke I knew I would miss most was the morning one, it was the one that kick started my mind and body into the day ahead. Ironic as it is it the first smoke was like the choke on a car, it got me going.
I mustered through the day sometimes reaching for my smokes and realising they were not there, dragging myself outside, looking at my list. I wanted to get through the first day. It was hard and the day seemed longer without smokes. I kept looking at another list I found on the internet thinking to myself that this WAS making me better even though I felt terrible.
Within 20 minutes your blood pressure and pulse returns to normal. Within 8 hours nicotine and carbon monoxide levels in blood reduce by half, oxygen levels return to normal and circulation improves. Within 24 hours carbon monoxide and nicotine are eliminated from the body. Within 48 hours the ability to taste and smell improves. Within 3 days your breathing becomes easier as your bronchial tubes begin to relax. Within a few weeks your fingers lose their yellow stains and your skin looks better. Within 1 month your appearance improves – skin loses its greyish pallor and becomes less wrinkled. Within 3-9 months coughing and wheezing declines. Within 1 year the risk of heart attack reduces by half compared to that of a smoker. Within 10 years the risk of lung cancer falls to about half that of a smoker. Within 15 years your risk of coronary heart disease is the same as a non-smoker.
I have to be honest and say the first 3-4 days didn’t get any easier. I got as far as the local shop numerous times to buy smokes before turning round and belittling myself for been weak.
Obviously by this point I had told friends and family that I had stopped, and I m told that I was very difficult to live with for a few weeks particularly weeks 1 and 2. I had mood swings I was easily wound up, the slightest thing and I would snap. Most of this with me anyway was because I was looking for an excuse to have a smoke. I figured if I started an argument with my partner over something I could have a smoke and blame her for starting again for arguing with me.
It’s very strange what we are prepared to do for that stick of poison… The thing you have to do though is when it comes to that shall I have just one more is to calm yourself down take some deep breaths look at your list and remember that the urges only last a matter of minutes.
Towards the end of the week I did not feel that much better and I had not seen much change but the people around me had.
I had stopped going outside as much I was going out every 2-3 hours now instead of every hour Although I talked about wanting a cig an awful lot I’m told as the week went on it got less I stopped coming up with excuses to start smoking again towards the end of the week. I didn’t smell of smoke which pleased my partner. I managed to get through a movie without having to pause it and go for a smoke.
These were all little things that I didn’t really notice but other people did, there were many more.
Tips for the second week
I personally found this the hardest week. I was stopping something that I had been doing for nearly 16 years. I felt different this time though and my fears of not been able to keep it up diminished day by day
Every day you get through without smoking congratulate yourself. Keep putting the money saved each day in your tin. It helps in the coming weeks as it starts to get fuller and fuller Use any support you can get be in patches, gum, talking to people Your biggest support should be your family and friends Although hard and most of the time you will be thinking I’m always going to feel awful now I don’t have cigs IT DOES GET BETTER TRUST ME Keep referring to that list of reasons. Tick off each day on your calendar Tell people you don’t smoke not that you’re trying to stop. You need to convince yourself that you’re a non smoker
Week 3
This week was by no means easy, Days seemed to drag I felt like a part of me was missing, I was still cranky and snappy and most of all I still missed that first smoke (I still do occasionally).
But after about day 9 something strange started to happen.
The previous 9 days I had been thinking about cigs at least every couple of minutes but on this particular day I was sat at my computer a couple of hours after waking up sending an email when I suddenly realised I hadn’t even THOUGHT about a smoke for the past hour and half. Now to non smokers that may not sound long but to a smoker and definitely to a smoker giving up that’s a LONG time.
Well I
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