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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 8 of 8. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Kristi on August 26, 2001, at 22:55:42
Hi,
Tomarrow's the day. Hypnosis at it's best. I'm pretty exited about it.
How are you doing with the anti-smoking? Just curious... Kristi
Posted by sar on August 27, 2001, at 12:58:10
In reply to Sar........, posted by Kristi on August 26, 2001, at 22:55:42
tomorrow's your surgery day? how many times have you been hypnotized?
i weakened last night and had cigarettes because my new beau (ha ha), a smoker, took me out for wine and i'd run out of herbals. today i'm chomping down on the nicorette. i tend to cheat when i see the boy (but we're doing this longdistance so it's not like i see him more than once a week).
Posted by mair on August 27, 2001, at 21:26:00
In reply to Re: Sar........, posted by sar on August 27, 2001, at 12:58:10
>Sar - when I quit, i had lots of false starts. That's ok as long as you keep yourself from smoking as much as you did when you tried to stop. It's alot easier to quit a 5 a day habit than a 20 a day habit. Also I'm sure you've heard this but it really did help me. I put myself in the mindset that I wasn't really quitting but just choosing at that particular moment, not to have a cigarette. This had been taught to my sister in a smoking cessation class. i never took one, but i borrowed the idea and it was a help. My worst relapse came after my doctor told me that I should never have another cigarette in my lifetime. She was right in the sense that my addiction was strong enough to prevent me from successfully indulging in an occasional cigarette. Nonetheless, it was the worst thing to say to me because the mere thought of never having a cigarette was more than i could handle. It was easier for me to make lots of temporary decisions not to smoke as the urge hit me. Quitting is well worth the effort, and, it's one of the few things I'm genuinely self-congratualitory about. Don't get frustrated by your relapses, and don't use them as evidence of failure. Good Luck
Mair
Posted by Kristi on August 27, 2001, at 22:52:00
In reply to False starts, posted by mair on August 27, 2001, at 21:26:00
Well, sar, I went to hypnosis.... first thing I did when I got out was have a cigarette. :-(
But..... I haven't had one since. The cravings are an absolute bitch... but I say outloud "cancel" and deeply breath in and out, and the craving passes. Once today tho, after falling asleep for a few hours.... I woke up and just out of complete habit, started looking for my cigarettes to light one up. This is gonna be tough.
> >Sar - when I quit, i had lots of false starts. That's ok as long as you keep yourself from smoking as much as you did when you tried to stop. It's alot easier to quit a 5 a day habit than a 20 a day habit. Also I'm sure you've heard this but it really did help me. I put myself in the mindset that I wasn't really quitting but just choosing at that particular moment, not to have a cigarette. This had been taught to my sister in a smoking cessation class. i never took one, but i borrowed the idea and it was a help. My worst relapse came after my doctor told me that I should never have another cigarette in my lifetime. She was right in the sense that my addiction was strong enough to prevent me from successfully indulging in an occasional cigarette. Nonetheless, it was the worst thing to say to me because the mere thought of never having a cigarette was more than i could handle. It was easier for me to make lots of temporary decisions not to smoke as the urge hit me. Quitting is well worth the effort, and, it's one of the few things I'm genuinely self-congratualitory about. Don't get frustrated by your relapses, and don't use them as evidence of failure. Good Luck
>
> Mair
Posted by sar on August 29, 2001, at 8:03:26
In reply to False starts, posted by mair on August 27, 2001, at 21:26:00
dear Mair,
how long/how much did you smoke?
i began at 15 and by 20 i'd become a pack-a-day smoker (Camels, nonetheless)...i'm really grateful for nicoderm (the patch) and nicorette (the gum) because i felt like a devoted *smoker.* i loved smoking more than almost anything else. today i smacked on another patch and picked up 2 packs herbal (tobacco-free) cigs. been smoking 8 years so i can't imagine how a 20-yr smoker would deal, but after a year or so did you feel that smokes had become yr best friend?
i see women customers where i work, with cigarette faces, and i feel too vain to let that happen...
i still drink though. right now i'm having a water + vodka! hydration to stave off the dehydration. which do you think is worse, drinking or smoking?
congrats on not smoking. how long has it been? do you stilll feel the urge, or does the smell kind of make you feel a bit sick? right now (about 2 weeks no-smoking) the smell is weird, but i feel envious when i see someone lighting up or tossing a butt out of their car.
sar
Posted by Mair on August 29, 2001, at 21:14:04
In reply to Re: False starts » mair, posted by sar on August 29, 2001, at 8:03:26
> Sar - I started smoking when I was probably about 16 but not regularly until I went to college. I quit when I was probably about 38 or 39. This only lasted for about 3 or 4 years and I started up again after I was in the full throes of depression. I quit for good about 3 years ago. I just turned 49.
For most of the time I smoked a pretty consistent pack a day, although I was smoking less each of the 2 times that i quit. Like you, I loved smoking and tended to light cigarettes almost unconsiously. A number of things helped with my quittiing. For several years before I quit the first time, i couldn't smoke in my office so my smoking probably decreased just because of that. Also, when I started having kids I didn't smoke as much because i just didn't have time and I was always uncomfortable exposing them to secondary smoke. My husband and I got in the habit of smoking as little as possible on vacations. We argued to ourselves that smoking was a stress reducer that we shouldn't need in more relaxed times. This didn't always work, but did work pretty well when we were visiting his parents since we couldn't smoke in their house. Typically we'd get home, and be back smoking full throttle with the first stressful phone call, but I tried to keep my intake as low as I could for as long as I could. One year I came back from vacation and promptly got sick. Between the 2 week vacation and the 10 days or so of pretty awful illness I smoked very little for almost a month. I decided at that point just not to start up again. My husband tried to quit less successfully. We both went to a hypnosis session about 3 months after I quit. It didn't do much for him but it reinforced things for me because I was starting to waiver. I think I didn't struggle so much with a physical addiction the first time I quit because I really had whittled my smoking down before i stopped. The killer in my mind was the whole lifestyle thing.
Starting up again a few years later was about the stupidest thing I've done. I didn't intend to of course, but i started having the ocassional cigarette and things just gradually escalated until I was forced to admit that I was really hooked again. I kept at it for a few years, but I never got all the way back up so quitting wasn't as bad either. Also, my kids were getting bigger and less gullible. I was having a tough time hiding my smoking.
I also think it helped that I live in an area where relatively few people smoke, so I was starting to stick out like a sore thumb. Most of my friends didn't smoke or were quitting and we got in the habit of always asking to sit in non smoking sections also.
If I tried to have a cigarette now, I'd feel pretty dizzy and nauseous, and the smell is pretty unbearable to me now. I still get ocassional urges, but I just can't see myself smoking again.
Hope this helps -
Mair
PS - for what it's worth my husband had a much tougher time and only managed to quit almost 2 years ago. He started chewing nicorette for about a year or so before he quit as a way of gettiing his daily intake down. Now he chews on the stuff constantly (and annoyingly sometimes). I worried about this because I'm sure his nicotine intake is much higher now than it was when he was smoking. He keeps telling me that his doctor sees no danger in chewing too much for too long. I've learned to bite my tongue since it's obviously a better alternative to smoking.
Posted by Kristi on August 30, 2001, at 10:43:37
In reply to Re: False starts » sar, posted by Mair on August 29, 2001, at 21:14:04
It wasn't meants for me.... but it helped me, thankx. Kristi
> > Sar - I started smoking when I was probably about 16 but not regularly until I went to college. I quit when I was probably about 38 or 39. This only lasted for about 3 or 4 years and I started up again after I was in the full throes of depression. I quit for good about 3 years ago. I just turned 49.
>
> For most of the time I smoked a pretty consistent pack a day, although I was smoking less each of the 2 times that i quit. Like you, I loved smoking and tended to light cigarettes almost unconsiously. A number of things helped with my quittiing. For several years before I quit the first time, i couldn't smoke in my office so my smoking probably decreased just because of that. Also, when I started having kids I didn't smoke as much because i just didn't have time and I was always uncomfortable exposing them to secondary smoke. My husband and I got in the habit of smoking as little as possible on vacations. We argued to ourselves that smoking was a stress reducer that we shouldn't need in more relaxed times. This didn't always work, but did work pretty well when we were visiting his parents since we couldn't smoke in their house. Typically we'd get home, and be back smoking full throttle with the first stressful phone call, but I tried to keep my intake as low as I could for as long as I could. One year I came back from vacation and promptly got sick. Between the 2 week vacation and the 10 days or so of pretty awful illness I smoked very little for almost a month. I decided at that point just not to start up again. My husband tried to quit less successfully. We both went to a hypnosis session about 3 months after I quit. It didn't do much for him but it reinforced things for me because I was starting to waiver. I think I didn't struggle so much with a physical addiction the first time I quit because I really had whittled my smoking down before i stopped. The killer in my mind was the whole lifestyle thing.
>
> Starting up again a few years later was about the stupidest thing I've done. I didn't intend to of course, but i started having the ocassional cigarette and things just gradually escalated until I was forced to admit that I was really hooked again. I kept at it for a few years, but I never got all the way back up so quitting wasn't as bad either. Also, my kids were getting bigger and less gullible. I was having a tough time hiding my smoking.
>
> I also think it helped that I live in an area where relatively few people smoke, so I was starting to stick out like a sore thumb. Most of my friends didn't smoke or were quitting and we got in the habit of always asking to sit in non smoking sections also.
>
> If I tried to have a cigarette now, I'd feel pretty dizzy and nauseous, and the smell is pretty unbearable to me now. I still get ocassional urges, but I just can't see myself smoking again.
>
> Hope this helps -
>
> Mair
>
> PS - for what it's worth my husband had a much tougher time and only managed to quit almost 2 years ago. He started chewing nicorette for about a year or so before he quit as a way of gettiing his daily intake down. Now he chews on the stuff constantly (and annoyingly sometimes). I worried about this because I'm sure his nicotine intake is much higher now than it was when he was smoking. He keeps telling me that his doctor sees no danger in chewing too much for too long. I've learned to bite my tongue since it's obviously a better alternative to smoking.
Posted by sar on August 31, 2001, at 0:10:03
In reply to Re: False starts » sar, posted by Mair on August 29, 2001, at 21:14:04
dear Mair,
yes, it did help--but your husband has been chewing nicorette for a year? i listened to the highly silly "inspirational" tape that came with the patch and they seem to recommend an 8-week tapering-down program. AND quitting smoking seems to be alot more expensive than actually smoking! right now i'm viewing it as an investment, but the patches and gum and herbals have already thrown me back nearly 2 hundred in the past 2 weeks...(better than $3.50 a day, yes, but let's see if it'll last.)
my comrades tell me that you are only supposed to "bite" on the gum when feeling an urge--however, i chew it like regular gum. sometimes 2 pieces at once.
good on ya for quitting after so long! i'm proud of you. in fact, i think if a smoker can drop the smokes for 2 days, that's just *phenomenal.* (that's how addicted i am.)
i too miss the lifestyle-aspect of it...i have a few friends who are able to smoke the "occasional" cig, or maybe 2 a day, but for me--well, it's gotta be at least a half-pack a day. moving back in with my parents has deterred me from chaining (they make me smoke outside) but i wish i didn't have such an addictive personality! 'cos you know there's nothing like the "eventful" cigarette--like on the first day of vacay, or after a great meal, or when you're anxious...i equate smoking with blissful freedom prally 'cos i began it as a rebellious act...but i'm sick of being chained to it, and my new group of buds are primarily non-smokers so i feel guilty lighting up...
you found hypnosis helpful? is it worth the money, do you think? (i am on v. limited funds.) i can understand yr husband's addiction to nicorette, and i don't think that nicotine is nearly as toxic to the body as the what, what do they say 300 or so chemicals in cigarettes? it seems like you wouldn't develop emphesyma or lung cancer from just chewing nicotine gum.
i wish you well in continuing to not smoke. i'm chomping on the gum right now--have 2 packs of kickums--i've been smoking regularly for 8 years, and cigs are the love of my life! my ole stand-by...so i'm kind of scared, but--as my depression somewhat subsides, i care more about my health.
3 years is really great. i can understand how depression would kick you back in--kind of the nihilist feeling?--nothing matters...i drink and smoke *way* too much when i'm in a bad way.
if you ever feel the urge again, i'm tellin ya, the patch and gum *do* help.
mair--were you kvst back in the day?
sar
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