About Frank G Expertise I certainly can identify with a moderate to heavy smoker and can answer questions about what tools you will need to succeed. What is worth trying and some that are not. I smoked steadily for 33 years, pipes, cigars and cigarettes. Between 1-4 pks daily. All kinds
Experience Iam experienced in loving tobacco. Just loved it and had to have it.
There was no way possible I would ever consider quitting. Have tried many times during the years when I thought that I really should for health reasons but always failed. That is until year 2000. Now, Iam free, free at last and am breathing just fine.--Maybe I can help you, that depends on one thing...YOU!
Question Hi Frank: I'm 55, male and I have smoked a pack a day since the late 80's. Seriously considering making the effort to quit. I was wondering about the gum and patches that are available. Do they work ? I've also seen herbal products searching on the net. I've done 2 flights to England and went over 11 hours without a cig. Not smoking for a long time doesn't freak me out. What would you advise ? Thanks..Glenn
Answer
Hi Glenn, I sincerely hope that you follow through with your decision to increase you health status. Iam sure that you must be feeling the ill effects of smoking after using cigarettes for so long. The thing that convinced me to quit was the feeling of losing my breath during sleep time hours. I wanted to be able to breathe again. I was smoking 2 1/2 packs daily and thought that at age 49 I should give quitting one more chance before anything else was to happen to me, i.e. diabetes, hypertension, glaucoma, etc.. I tried many times in 20 years to quit and always failed usually because I either lacked the firm resolve to stop or by always making the one fatal mistake of thinking that it was "I" who was IN CONTROL. I thought I could have just one more smoke or maybe just one-a-day. There's NO WAY. I found out later that it was the habit and the substance that had control over me. I come to realize that because it was more of a behavior adjustment then an actual substance addiction I could overcome it by tricking my brain into reacting differently to different situations. Such as HAVING to have a smoke after a meal or a shower or a movie or whatever. I was so addicted into thinking that I just HAD to smoke every damn time I thought I needed one that I did. I had a smoke probably every 15 minutes a day until I trained myself each day to learn to HATE and DESPISE every aspect of smoking. The ash trays, the stench on my clothes, the drapes, the car, my hands or where ever I could see and smell the effecys of smoking. I hated the fact that IT controlled me. I let it control me so that made me hate myself too. Each day that passed made me become more and more aware of how much I hated smoking. I then devised a personal agenda of retraining myself on when and where I smoked. I made it more difficult. I'd make myself get up and go to the next room to get A cigarette. The lighter would be somewhere else. I would smoke it preferrably outside the house, even in freezing temperatures. There are many little things you can do to modify your behavior. I became aware that it was too easy for me to constantly light up. Sitting there and smoking one cigarette after another. If you need more ideas just drop me a line, I'd be glad to share them with you.
About the gum and patches, etc.. In my case I used the patch for 2 weeks and realized that I didnt need any more poisonous substances in my system (nicotine) and I needed to continually focus on the goal of NOT ever lighting a smoke again. I stopped using the patch. I didnt want to wait the 60 or 90 days for the program to end to find out if I could successfully quit. In my previous attemts I had tried the inhaler, that made me want to light up after each use. I tried Zyban, which is Wellbutrin, you can get your doctor to prescribe that. That didnt help either.
I found that it was inner strenghth it was I needed to conquer this. Let me know how you make out and dont be afraid to write again. There may be some other tricks you could use.
Good luck Glenn, I hope you do yourself the biggest favor for yourself you can do and go through with quitting permanetly.
