NSFG - Starting smoking again (advice)

[Titanic]

 

[Titanic]

 

[tedebear]

Smoke - don't smoke, do as YOU wish...

I hate the government telling me what I can and can't do, but I would be 100% in favour of not treating people with cancer through the NHS if it were proved 100% that their illness was smoking related. With all the known side effects if you chose to smoke you can pay for your own treatment when you get ill.

 

[skipper734]

Smoke - don't smoke, do as YOU wish...

I hate the government telling me what I can and can't do, but I would be 100% in favour of not treating people with cancer through the NHS if it were proved 100% that their illness was smoking related. With all the known side effects if you chose to smoke you can pay for your own treatment when you get ill.

We do. The income from tobacco tax exceeds the expenditure on smoking related disease by many billions of pounds.

 

[tedebear]

We do. The income from tobacco tax exceeds the expenditure on smoking related disease by many billions of pounds.

Eh? My point is that the government would keep more of the tax if they didn't have to pay for the treatment!

You buy fags, you pay the tax, you know the side effects and yet its all ok as when you get sick you'll be treated...take away the free treatment in my view...

 

[skipper734]

Eh? My point is that the government would keep more of the tax if they didn't have to pay for the treatment!

You buy fags, you pay the tax, you know the side effects and yet its all ok as when you get sick you'll be treated...take away the free treatment in my view...

If we didn't buy the fags there wouldn't be the big tax pot to put into the NHS.

 

[tedebear]

If we didn't buy the fags there wouldn't be the big tax pot to put into the NHS.

There are people out there who will not stop...

 

[skipper734]

Huple wanted advice on how best to start. My advice is don't.

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

What is it about the Book then that makes you stop....?

just out & out scary facts or what ? and how long can a book be about stop smoking ?

Chapter 1 page 1 STOP FECKING SMOKING

END ?

I stopped 20-40 cigs a day a year and a half ago, but changed to cafe creme baby cigars and smoke about 5 a day now maybe a few more when glugging back the liquid .

Its psychology. Explain the problem, explain why we smoke, explain why it is difficult to stop, put you in a positive frame of mind, and then WHAM! stop. I will try to do this 'in a nutshell' but it probably won't sound right coming from me. Read the book.

1. Basically, as someone else has said, nicotine is addictive, we don't get 'high' by smoking, we simply relieve the withdrawl pangs from not having a cigarette. Hence, a cigarette after a meal is nice for a chain-smoker because they have been longer than normal without a cigarette. Hence, it is a completely pointless drug. Allen Carr provides a useful metaphor - its like wearing tight shoes just to enjoy the pleasure of taking them off.

2. We don't enjoy the cigarette itself - how can we, its just smoke and tar entering your lungs. Instead, by smoking we relieve the withdrawal symptoms, which is pleasurable, and also use the cigarette as a crutch, to relieve stress, relieve boredom, concentrate better, relax more, enjoy social occasions more, and so on. Allen Carr exposes all these to be illusions, and the result of brain-washing. (face it, concentration and relaxation are polar opposites, how can the same drug help both?). Non-smokers have bad days, but they don't need to smoke - they just get on with it. Cigarettes don't make a bad day better for a smoker, we just have the fag, relieve the withdrawal pang, and get on with it ourselves too.

3. All smokers know smoking will kill us, is expensive and is increasingly unsociable. We don't smoke for those reasons, therefore telling us them doesn't make us stop. All smokers want to quit (even if not all will admit it). However, the thought of not smoking again is stressful. The thought of getting lung cancer is stressful. When we get stressed we want a cigarette. If we are trying to quit using the 'willpower method', we can't have a cigarette, we get more stressed, more miserable, and eventually crack. The next cigarette relieves the minor withdrawal pangs and the major stress pangs - and we feel good.

4. There is no point cutting down, that just makes the gaps between cigarettes longer, therefore the withdrawal pangs become more severe and makes you more miserable. Either you stay being miserable, or you end up smoking more again.

5. Whilst you read the book, you are encouraged to smoke. As one of Carr's patients said, 'I feel I can do anything when I smoke. I could give up smoking if I could smoke whilst I was doing it.'

6. The key to stopping smoking is to understand that its addictive, the nature of the addiction, the fact that it doesn't relieve or aid any of the things we think it does, and to stop with a positive frame of mind. You're not giving anything up - you're gaining better health, more money, etc etc. The withdrawal pangs are incredibly minor and only last a few days, and can be easily overcome by anybody.

7. Because you stop with a positive frame of mind, stopping smoking is pleasurable.

 

[Huple]

Huple wanted advice on how best to start. My advice is don't.

I didn`t start in the end but I`ve taken to this lovely heroin stuff, very morish.

 

[Freddie Goodwin.]

Can't understand why so many youngsters & women smoke. Don't they realise it makes them STINK?

 

[DerbyGull]

We're all fully behind you dude. Take a puff, it's the right thing to do

 

[beorhthelm]

Can't understand why so many youngsters & women smoke. Don't they realise it makes them STINK?

because its COOL. doesnt matter how bad it might be, its cool. the more you tell people they shouldnt do it, the cooler it is.

 

[¤DãŃn¥ §êãGüLL¤]

It does look cool, you gotta admit.

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

Its psychology. Explain the problem, explain why we smoke, explain why it is difficult to stop, put you in a positive frame of mind, and then WHAM! stop. I will try to do this 'in a nutshell' but it probably won't sound right coming from me. Read the book.

1. Basically, as someone else has said, nicotine is addictive, we don't get 'high' by smoking, we simply relieve the withdrawl pangs from not having a cigarette. Hence, a cigarette after a meal is nice for a chain-smoker because they have been longer than normal without a cigarette. Hence, it is a completely pointless drug. Allen Carr provides a useful metaphor - its like wearing tight shoes just to enjoy the pleasure of taking them off.

2. We don't enjoy the cigarette itself - how can we, its just smoke and tar entering your lungs. Instead, by smoking we relieve the withdrawal symptoms, which is pleasurable, and also use the cigarette as a crutch, to relieve stress, relieve boredom, concentrate better, relax more, enjoy social occasions more, and so on. Allen Carr exposes all these to be illusions, and the result of brain-washing. (face it, concentration and relaxation are polar opposites, how can the same drug help both?). Non-smokers have bad days, but they don't need to smoke - they just get on with it. Cigarettes don't make a bad day better for a smoker, we just have the fag, relieve the withdrawal pang, and get on with it ourselves too.

3. All smokers know smoking will kill us, is expensive and is increasingly unsociable. We don't smoke for those reasons, therefore telling us them doesn't make us stop. All smokers want to quit (even if not all will admit it). However, the thought of not smoking again is stressful. The thought of getting lung cancer is stressful. When we get stressed we want a cigarette. If we are trying to quit using the 'willpower method', we can't have a cigarette, we get more stressed, more miserable, and eventually crack. The next cigarette relieves the minor withdrawal pangs and the major stress pangs - and we feel good.

4. There is no point cutting down, that just makes the gaps between cigarettes longer, therefore the withdrawal pangs become more severe and makes you more miserable. Either you stay being miserable, or you end up smoking more again.

5. Whilst you read the book, you are encouraged to smoke. As one of Carr's patients said, 'I feel I can do anything when I smoke. I could give up smoking if I could smoke whilst I was doing it.'

6. The key to stopping smoking is to understand that its addictive, the nature of the addiction, the fact that it doesn't relieve or aid any of the things we think it does, and to stop with a positive frame of mind. You're not giving anything up - you're gaining better health, more money, etc etc. The withdrawal pangs are incredibly minor and only last a few days, and can be easily overcome by anybody.

7. Because you stop with a positive frame of mind, stopping smoking is pleasurable.

Get off your high horse mate. The incessant DEMANDING of sections of society that we should all get in line and stop because they say we should is very tiresome. I have seen numerous health fanatics drop dead in the 40's and 50's. Didn't a 41 year old teacher who was a health fanatics die last week locally ?.


Just LEAVE smokers alone. You've got your ban. Live and let live.

 

[Cheeky Monkey]

Smoking rocks, I haven't smoked fully for a good few years but intend to get back into it at some point. Anyone who thinks smoking is a bad thing in any shape or form is, frankly, a misinformed tosser and should think about living a bit rather than worrying about such trivialities.

 

[alan partridge]

Get off your high horse mate. The incessant DEMANDING of sections of society that we should all get in line and stop because they say we should is very tiresome. I have seen numerous health fanatics drop dead in the 40's and 50's. Didn't a 41 year old teacher who was a health fanatics die last week locally ?.


Just LEAVE smokers alone. You've got your ban. Live and let live.

Get off YOUR high horse. He was only trying to sum up what that book about giving up smoking a lot of people have mentioned, is on about.

I found it quite interesting as a non-smoker who has a fag every now and again when I've had a drink. A lot of other people on this thread expressed an interest in it too and this person, whoever he is, tried to give us a bit of a summary.

The you weigh in with your 'GET OFF YOUR HIGH HORSE'

How about; You take your head, out of your arse?

 

[Huple]

Tonight my drug of choice is going to be a big old bifter ........


and some beer of course

 

[fosters headband]

Smoke - don't smoke, do as YOU wish...

I hate the government telling me what I can and can't do, but I would be 100% in favour of not treating people with cancer through the NHS if it were proved 100% that their illness was smoking related. With all the known side effects if you chose to smoke you can pay for your own treatment when you get ill.

Do you feel the same way about people who fall ill from the effects of alcohol or drugs?

 

[Vic's Stick]

At Boarding school I used to have a fag a day until I was caught. Then I took up smoking instead.