Robin,

Yes we had the visas for a while now and have been struggling with the usual house sale thingy but it looks like we might get a completion date for end of May and be over for good beginning June.

Like you i have been smoking roll ups for years which are obviously much cheaper than normal ciggies. It's strange but i remember the day i started rolling my own and i just couldn't do it very well but a guy i worked with was brilliant at it and he had never smoked in his life.

I think the trick with using Carr's book is to get into the frame of mind he tried to promote. His philosophy was that you are not "giving up smoking"; you are stopping doing something you don't want to do any more. There is a big psychological difference.

The "giving up" mentality implies sacrifice. Carr was against drugs and gum because they are crutches that help with the sacrifice.

Souvette made an attempt to stop a few years ago, using both Zyban and Nicorette. She failed. Not because she couldn't (she's very strong willed) but because she didn't really want to stop.

I read the book in one go, when I felt like stopping. I succeeded easily. Nine months later I went to a party and had a few drinks. I wasn't craving a ciggie but the booze wanted to know what one might do to me after all that time. Nicotine is rapidly addictive but not strongly addictive. The chemical addiction wears off quickly and any cravings after that are in your head.

Hang on to the book for now. Keep it for when you really, really don't feel like smoking (being ill is probably a good time). Then read it, in one go, before knocking yourself out for the night with Lemsip.

I read Allan Carr's book too, about 5 years ago now - as Souv suggests, in one go. Actually, I didn't finish it - OH had read it the previous week and before I was two thirds of the way through we both decided that we had had enough of smoking and wanted not to be smokers any more.

A couple of things I think really helped along the way:
- two of us stopped together, so were able to support each other
- we put a fiver in a jamjar on the fridge for every packet we didn't buy - in only a couple of months we went out and bought the new TV we hadn't been able to afford... the visual cue of a bunch of money piling up was a powerful incentive
- not thinking in terms of "quitting" or "giving up" (negative connotations) but in terms of succeeding in becoming a non-smoker

I've had one cigarette and one very large cigar since then - both towards the end of an extremely good Burns night dinner a couple of years ago... must confess that I wouldn't have remembered I'd done so except that a colleague who'd been at the same dinner commented a few days later that she didn't realise I smoked

Thanks for your support Arris, and I personally won't be taking Zyban!

Hi Jingsamichty, Sore Jaws? Yep, just have to stop the supply and demand!

Hope the sale goes smoothly for you Printer, look forward to hearing of your arrival in Canada. I've become an expert at rolling since last September when I decided that I wouldn't buy any more cigarettes! Trouble is; friends and family keep offering to bring me some back from Europe and I am so weak!

Thanks Souv, having a broken ankle has not helped, I have been smoking more! (But this isn't an illness).

OakV - We are NOT going to buy a new tv, but a sailing dinghy/boat would be nice when we get to Canada, oh, hang on, we'll have to save a bit to get there first won't we? Doh!
Seriously, thanks, i like the idea of being able to see the financial savings.

Yes Robin it can cause some bad side effects, and they did warn me about the risks. Luckily for me the only side effect I had was broken sleep, which was probably more than likely down to lack of nicotine, as it didn't start until after I had stopped, although I'd already been taking the tablets for 2 weeks by then.

Well it's now day 9 and I can honestly say I feel ok.

Last night I felt a wee bit weepy and empty but today I feel ok again, well for now anyway.

Come on is there no one going to join me.

you are doing fantastic heep it up

Oh Raine, I'm so sorry, I am just not ready to give up just yet. You will be so pleased with yourself if you can manage to keep going day by day. Stinky horrible things out of your life. Are you begining to smell smells that you haven't known that you haven't smelt? Are you begining to taste food more intensely?
Keep going girl and be proud! What more can I say?

Robin

Es ist nicht noetig, so daemlich zu sein.

Mein Name ist NeuSchloss! und ich bin ein Raucher!

Ich schreibe in den deutsche Sprache, weil ich gehe davon aus, dass alle diese Nichtrauchersicherheitspolizien, den Sprache des Stasis sehr klar verstehen.

Novocastrian welcome,

Für deinen Beitrag danke. Dein Geheimnis ist mit mir sicher. Die übersetzung von was du bist interessant schriebst und die etwas von ihm ist gobbledegoop.

An shuligan bitter, mein deutshe nik so good, sprachenzie English.

Well as you can see my German is crap, but I think you might just get the jist of it, I hope.

Day 10

God is that smoke demon persistant or what.

Today once again I have chosen not to smoke.

Going well then raine. Are you eating any more than usual?
Robin

Hey, I know how you feel. Honestly, the best thing tha ever happened to me was on Christmas day 2005. I was getting off the night shift and came down with the worst case of the flu . The thaught of having a ciggie was disgusting to me ,being so sick at the time. After I got better , about 3 days later, I said to myself, look you havent had one for 3 days, dont start up... and I havent. moral of the story: GET YOURSELF REALLY SICK ! good luck with trying to quit.

Zalaben - I get injured with a broken ankle, which really hasn't helped me have any urges to give up smoking at all, too much time sittin' around not able to do much, but I just can't seem to get myself really really sick as in dead in bed sick, I'm one of those only ever gets a cold, nothing worse. (Should I really be saying this, I really need to get back on my feet to work very soon, 7 weeks so far!).

Raine - Another smoke free day? Yes, of course, you sound so determined in your postings that I think it's a foregone definite.