OT Yet another attempt to stop smoking.

I don't think social issues affect the addiction per se - I can
remember lighting up in desperation when all the social pressures at
the time were against it. I agree, however, that there are
psychological as well as physiological factors at play, so if
"addictive" is taken to apply to physiological dependancy only then
maybe I should have used a different word - although an alternative
doesn't immediately spring to mind.

I still reject, however, STY's implicit assumption that failure to
give up is not down simply to physiological dependancy.

Agreed.

 

Feeble. I was on the cigs for longer than that until I stopped last
October. Giving up the bloody lozenges was harder than stopping the cigs...

Soy.

 

Indeed there is. And people's mileages vary hugely. I actually found
it quite easy in the end, having failed at several earlier attempts.

I think the worst thing is to assume that someone else's situation (be
it social, psychological or physiological!) is similar to your own, or
to that dictated by received wisdom.

 

**** me there're some old codgers round here.

 

It's a shame Richard Giles isn't still in this part of the ether -
he's been on Nicorettes as long as I've known him.

 

<serious answer>

I remember the feeling from when I "gave up". I managed nearly a year
off the fags, then I got married and gave in to an offered ceegar at
the reception. Drink intervened, and before I knew it I had a pack of
20 B&H out of the machine and in my pocket.

All the way through the fortnight's honeymoon I was thinking "There's
a dozen ciggies in my suit jacket pocket" and within 20 minutes of
returning I had one of those damned B&H in my lungs. That was it -
finished that pack and bought another and that was nearly 20 years
ago.

Anyway - I had all the "symptoms" of a 15-year smoker trying to give
up. Cravings, sweats, trembles - and the irritability in spades. An
old boy at work helped me. He suggested a drink of water every time I
wanted a fag. Swish it around a bit and swallow it slowly. That
helped.

Whole raw carrots helped too, but the real crutch was the big jar of
Brewer's Yeast tablets. Smell and taste awful, but a couple every
couple of hours placeboed me right up. The VitB in 'em can't hurt,
either.

If you go scoffing everything in sight and out of the fridge, you'll
balloon. Once you get your sense of taste back, that really won't
help either. Water, raw veggies and yeast tabs - that's the way to
go. And you really have to want to give up, too - that's the
cruncher.

 

There's also a purely physical variation. In studies in rats,
something like 5% of subjects displayed negative reactions to Nicotine
and failed to display the expected withdrawal effects.

This aligns well with the human group of smokers known as "chippers"
who typically smoke less than 5 a day, don't tolerate higher doses
well, and fail to develop dependency.

So basically, if smoking a lot makes you feel sick, you're much less
likely to become physiologically addicted and therefore will exhibit
the classic "Giving up smoking's a doddle" attitude seen in more than
a few people here. Myself inculded.

--
_______
..'_/_|_\_'. Ace (b.rogers at ifrance.com)
\`\ | /`/
`\\ | //' BOTAFOT#3, SbS#2, UKRMMA#13, DFV#8, SKA#2, IBB#10
`\|/`
`

 

hahaha

 

Her name's Alice and she's Polish.

HTH

 

Ace wrote:

You and Bear outlined the difficulty of giving up wonderfully. Unlike
the gentleman who is a bit slower.

 

Agnes[1] actually, but still Polish.

[1] Nicknamed 'Woontfer' cos Agnes is no name for a pretty 28 yr old

 

You phoned it!

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, Colin Irvine

As did I. I went from 40+ a day to 0, having failed to do so many times.
The time I succeeded it seemed very easy.

That was twenty years ago, and I still get a regular nightmare that I've
started again.

VoR.

 

learn to play an instrument, if you don't already. Keeps your hands busy
and your mind on something else.

guitar, banjo, mandolin, ukulele - something like that.

You can get a ukulele for about 12.95 and there is lots of stuff on the
net to play.

Oh, and in case you are thinking "bah! formby!":



if you are already some kind of expert flutist or something then
nevermind, t'was just a thought.

 

I Googled it you mong

 

I've been doing fruit on the grounds the veggies turned into soup
yesterday. I really need to go shopping.

I do.

Lousy nights sleep last night waking up almost hourly with twitching
muscles. That could be the lack of coffee though, so I have one now
and it's OK, I'm aware that there's something missing but I don't want
it.

I pick madam up from the train station this afternoon, then I have to
survive 24 hours with her before she heads off to her father's. That's
going to be the real test.

 

I was unsurprised to see that my other half completely failed to
understand what was funny about them.

 

That's not a bad idea, apart from the fact I have no musical ability
at all.

There's a couple of uke players here so I wasn't.

I've been known to play exquisitely on the pink oboe.

 

now there's an image I didn't need just before lunch.