On the patch - how long will I last?

[mendhak]

The last time I was on the (nicorette) patch, I lasted for about 2 months. It was going well until I went to Greece which broke my resolve. In Greece, everyone smokes. Men smoke. Women smoke. Babies smoke. Trees smoke. Birds smoke.

I have started the patch again today. Please vote on how long you think I will last.

[Harsh Gupta]

... Babies smoke. Trees smoke. Birds smoke.

[si_the_geek]

Noooo!! You can't give in to the patches!

Well OK, you can... seeing as I have a pack in front of me ready to try.


Monday is a bad day to start, but how long you last depends on the trials and temptations that come your way. Based on your excuse for stopping last time, I reckon the first temptation will be enough

[Davadvice]

i too am on the patches,

i am using stronger ones than i have been, i think they are nicoteenell 25mg, TBH they are the best ones have used. (iv'e used quite a few over the years)

i said other as i know that you can do it. This is me going into my second week tomorrow and i feel better already. just remember it's all in your head and the craving will pass in a couple of min.

last time is stoped i was off them for 6 months and was stupid enough to think i could have half a pack and be ok. won't be doing that again.

one bit of advice take the blighter off at night as you will get really wacky dreams. get into the habit of getting up and sticking the patch on straight away.

good luck and i'll let you know how i get on.



David

[mendhak]

Ooh, those dreams are the best bit! They're extremely lucid as well, I think that was the best bit from last time.

[wossname]

I tried to stop drinking a few weeks ago. I tried using whiskey in the same way you're using patches, apart from having wet sleeves all the time, I'm drinking as much as I ever did plus a bottle of whiskey every week.

Also being drunk all the time is more environmentally friendly and socially acceptable than smoking.

[Davadvice]

shame is, Wossy is totaly correct. i can get so drunk that i puke and it's not deemed that i'm a leper and people will feel sorry for me go figure...

[abhijit]

The last time I was on the (nicorette) patch, I lasted for about 2 months. It was going well until I went to Greece which broke my resolve. In Greece, everyone smokes. Men smoke. Women smoke. Babies smoke. Trees smoke. Birds smoke.

I have started the patch again today. Please vote on how long you think I will last.

My dad, who started smoking in his teens and continued it for over 30 plus years, was able to give up smoking with the help of a patch. He also used nicorette gum, while he was using the patch. He had to use the patch and gum in combination for over three months, after which he stopped using the gum. Then he continued the patch for over a month. He's not smoked for over a decade now.

If using the patch alone hasn't worked for you, maybe you should try a combination.

[CVMichael]

Yea, mendhak is right, most of the people in Europe smoke, I've even seen kids smoking there.

It is difficult not to smoke when you have so many people around you smoking.

I am originally from Europe, I came in Canada 13 years ago. Here in Canada almost no one smokes, and when I went to visit my home country a few years ago, it was very disturbing to see so many people smoking.

I don't smoke (don't drink, don't do drugs, etc...), and I can smell a person smoking from far away... seriously...

A few days ago, a smoker sat beside me in the bus, I could barely breathe, the smoke was impregnated into his clothes, the smell was horrible...

[mendhak]

... and I can smell a person smoking from far away... seriously...

A few days ago, a smoker sat beside me in the bus, I could barely breathe, the smoke was impregnated into his clothes, the smell was horrible...

I'm the same with people who eat onions.


If it gets bad, I'll try the gum. Struggling, but doing alright for now. It's just a little hard to concentrate when every thought kind of drifts towards smoking again.

[GaryMazzone]

When I did this (no patch) I had a friend help (he was a smoker). HE had permission to snatch the cigarette out of my mouth if he saw me with one.

It's be over 20 years since I had one now.

[nemaroller]

Patches are a sign of indecision.

Seriously, just man up and either quit cold turkey or keep on puffing!

[oceanebelle]

I tried quitting rice once; I hallucinated 90% of the time.

[schoolbusdriver]

I quit last year when a virus inverted my tastebuds then left my lungs and throat feeling like they'd been scrubbed with a brillo pad.

I no longer wake up with a bunged up nose, spit green/brown gunge, or get out of breath when walking to the shop for more cigs...

I don't know how much they cost now, but at £5 for 20 - you could pass a driving test, buy a car (and even insure it), then get out and explore strange new worlds, seek out new life and new civilizations and boldly go where no man has gone before.

Alternatively, the tax you pay on cigs could pay for an MP's expenses.

[kleinma]

thankfully, I don't smoke, but I am probably near the same level of addiction with coffee... while I know nicotine is more physically addictive than caffeine, I think the same mental addiction is easy to fall into with both. Luckily, coffee is not nearly as bad for you, especially if you go light on the sugar

[kleinma]

also, do you have no confidence in yourself? why is forever not an option? It sounds like you already know you won't make it long...

[CoachBarker]

Quitting after a lifetime of smoking is tough, most people do not realize how hard it is. I quit off and on over the years and now am quitting again so I can have surgery on the 9th. Right now I am using Chantix to aid in quitting and it seems to work better than patches. I used to smoke wearing the patches and it didn't affect me one way or the other.

Unfortunately my wife smokes and though she isn't quitting, she doesn't smoke around me, but you can still smell it on her. If there are no cigarettes in the house I am fine, to lazy to go out and buy them She works nights and I am home alone from 5:30 pm until 8:am when she gets home and I have no urge to smoke, but when she comes home and I know she has them it is hard not to say give me one

So good luck mendhak and gut it out

[EntityX]

You should have forever as an option in the poll. You can definitely do it. It's up to you. Try to find some activity that you have a clean conscience about to replace the activity of smoking. Maybe find a new hobby or something or do something that deeply interests you to replace the activity of smoking.

If you do fall back into the habit resolve that you'll start again in your attempt to stop smoking. Keeping beginning again as many times over as is necessary to get free of the habit.

If you can't stop cold turkey and you fall back into the habit I suggest that you keep a record of exactly how many cigarettes a day you smoke. Try to keep reducing the number. Total the number at the end of a month and then try to get the number down each month. You can use this technique with bad habits of various sorts.

[GaryMazzone]

Just to place it in perspective I was at 2 packs a day when I quit. I was an occasional smoker in High School and went up the whole time I was in the military. I used to SCUBA dive and lite a cigarette before the dive and another as soon as I got out, before taking my gear off. It is possible to do it

[FunkyDexter]

I used to SCUBA dive and lite a cigarette

Neat Trick

[Arrow_Raider]

If you gradually drop the number of cigarettes you smoke each day, you could make a spreadsheet and chart in excel showing the number of cigarettes you had each day. Then you could plot a regression curve!! Oh my god, I am excited!

[Hack]

That would be a good start, but I'd suggest automating Excel from a .NET frontend so we could add some nice visual effects.

In addition, I'd suggest storing the plot points in 2005 SQL Database.

[SJWhiteley]

You also may need a substitute for the habit - not another habit necessarily, but something to do with your hands. If you take regular smoke breaks as most smokers do, this 'loss' will also make you fidgety (people like their routine).

[mendhak]

We could set up a website which I perform a GET on everytime I smoke a cigarette - it should store the point in an XML file or database and then create the graph-based front end.

[Psyrus]

I smoked from the age of 13 right up to 36. I quit right after my last medical "wake up" call. In February of 2006 I thought I was having a heart attack. I went to the ER, had some tests done and eventually I was diagnosed with an anxiety problem. Since it took a few weeks to conduct all testing I was smoke free for almost a month. At that point I made my mind up to keep it going.

I used the patch but it wasn't working to well. What helped me to quit was not counting the number of cigarettes I was/wasn't smoking but limiting or eliminating the places I'd smoke. At home I used to smoke in any room of the house. Gradually I would stop smoking in each room until all I was left with was smoking outside. Being February/March things were still quite cold so this also helped. I also substituted gum as the physical replacement and now I am popping mints every now and then. I've been smoke free for over 3 years.

[Hack]

We could set up a website which I perform a GET on everytime I smoke a cigarette - it should store the point in an XML file or database and then create the graph-based front end.

I would prefer an XML file that fed a online database in support of the website.

Dancing Monkeys on the home page would be a very nice touch.

[schoolbusdriver]

I can't see that a horizontal line labelled "Still on 20 per day" would be all that interesting.

[wossname]

We could set up a website which I perform a GET on everytime I smoke a cigarette - it should store the point in an XML file or database and then create the graph-based front end.

Keep-Alive: true

[Davadvice]

back on track Mendhak,

how are you coping ?

I’m finding it easier each day now. getting less and less cravings.

Do you like a drink ? I would say if you do this could be the first big test. I was pretty pissed(drunk) at the weekend and didn't feel like a smoke. I haven't been to the pub yet so that might be the hardest test. just need to wait and see.

ohh I normally drink most nights and have also quit that during the week it's playing havoc with my digestive system but it's worth it, they say.

David

[visualAd]

Try hypnosis!!! It will make you think that your habit is socially unacceptable and you will have no reason to want to smoke again.

[mendhak]

Not doing well. Productivity down. Managers trying to convince me to wait a month before I attempt to quit. Colleague pressure, which makes it very tempting not to go on with it. Colleague pressure is awesome.

[BillGeek]

We could set up a website which I perform a GET on everytime I smoke a cigarette - it should store the point in an XML file or database and then create the graph-based front end.

Not a bad idea, so:

Complete this URL and navigate to it every time you go to have a smoke.
http://www.billgeek.com/smoking/ismoke.php?name=<insert your name here>

To see your stats, go to:
http://www.billgeek.com/smoking/dashboard.php?name=<insert your name here>

Remember that the name should always be the same, though I've allowed it to be case insensitive.

[si_the_geek]

Productivity down. Managers trying to convince me to wait a month before I attempt to quit.

In that case you could probably persuade them to pay (via expenses) for the cigarettes for that month, and another set of patches to replace the ones you've used. It would probably be a bit much to ask for compensation for the health effects tho!

If it doesn't work, it should reduce the pressure they give you.

[Arrow_Raider]

Not a bad idea, so:

Complete this URL and navigate to it every time you go to have a smoke.
http://www.billgeek.com/smoking/ismoke.php?name=<insert your name here>

To see your stats, go to:
http://www.billgeek.com/smoking/dashboard.php?name=<insert your name here>

Remember that the name should always be the same, though I've allowed it to be case insensitive.

Can't the results be inflated by others putting in random people's names?

[BillGeek]

Can't the results be inflated by others putting in random people's names?

Yes, but in that case mendhak will inject their eyeballs with rootbeer or mountain dew. Whichever comes first.

[oceanebelle]

I help by coughing excessively when somebody is smoking near me.

[Hack]

Try hypnosis!!! It will make you think that your habit is socially unacceptable

But no one would believe that. Only the hopelessly mad have a problem with smoking.

[mendhak]

Not a bad idea, so:

Complete this URL and navigate to it every time you go to have a smoke.
http://www.billgeek.com/smoking/ismoke.php?name=<insert your name here>

To see your stats, go to:
http://www.billgeek.com/smoking/dashboard.php?name=<insert your name here>

Remember that the name should always be the same, though I've allowed it to be case insensitive.

Awesomeness.

[Kasracer]

Wimp. Go cold turkey.

[homer13j]

Wimp. Go cold turkey.

Agreed. Mendhak just needs a good enough incentive. Mine was a stunningly beautiful redhead who lived in my building yet refused to go on a date with me. After several rejections I asked her why.

"Because you're a smoker." She said.

That was it. After two packs a day for almost ten years I quit cold turkey. At 7:55 pm on Wednesday, March 28, 1990 I smoked my last cigarette.

Of course the ***** still wouldn't go out with me, but at least I quit.