BS: The patch, Nicoderm and quitting smoking

Subject: RE: BS: The patch, Nicoderm and quitting smoking
From: Don(Wyziwyg)T
Date: 10 Jan 12 - 06:32 AM

Nicotine patches of little use to smokers, study says.

What a Surprise!! I don't suppose many people have given up Heroin by taking Heroin either.

Five years ago, after an angioplasty, I went to the NHS scheme and browbeat my Doctor into prescribing Zyban, which works chemically to suppress the nicotine "hit" which is what smokers actually crave.

With that reward taken away, there was no urge to smoke, and with weekly meetings supplying both monitoring (breathalizer) and support (knowing that about fifteen others were watching to see who fell off the wagon first), it turned out to be simple. In seven weeks I was a non smoker, and I still am.

Immediately prior to that I was smoking 40-50 a day, and had been a heavy smoker for 52 years.

I should have tried it sooner, instead of going through all the patches, sprays and cold turkey to no avail over a ten year period, because I'm now well into the early stages of emphysema.

Don T.

Subject: RE: BS: The patch, Nicoderm and quitting smoking
From: michaelr
Date: 10 Jan 12 - 12:14 AM

Try the e-cig. Really. It worked for me.

Subject: RE: BS: The patch, Nicoderm and quitting smoking
From: gnu
Date: 09 Jan 12 - 06:26 PM

Ya know, that's what my doc, an old buddy, told me years ago, when the patch was still a prescription drug. He said he wouldn't give me the prescription because it was crap... replacing one drug with another. He told me to take a smoking cessation course and then cut down on the smokes gradually just like the drug program and then shove the smokes up my ass if I needed tham that bad. ... SAME deal. Did I say we were old buddies? He used to talk to me like that... lose some weight ya fat bastard... and other sage medical wisdom.

The best advice *I* can give anyone is don't tell anyone you are quitting and if they ask you if you have quit because they haven't seen you smoking or can't smell the odor, say no... just cut down a bit. And get away from them before you rip their head off and shi

As for me, I haven't quit yet. I am puffin away right now. Just don't piss me off eh.

Subject: RE: BS: The patch, Nicoderm and quitting smoking
From: bobad
Date: 09 Jan 12 - 05:53 PM

Nicotine patches of little use to smokers, study says

Nicotine replacement therapy, including patches and gum, don't seem to help people quit smoking in the long-term, researchers say.

In a study published in Monday's online issue of the journal Tobacco Control, investigators at Harvard School of Public Health reported they followed 787 adult smokers who had recently quit.

"This study shows that using nicotine replacement therapy is no more effective in helping people stop smoking cigarettes in the long-term than trying to quit on one's own," study author Hillel Alpert said.

Heavily dependent smokers who used nicotine gum, nicotine inhalers or nasal spray to help them quit, without receiving professional help, were twice as like to relapse compared with those who did not use the products, the researchers found.

"This may indicate that some heavily dependent smokers perceive nicotine replacement therapy as a sort of 'magic' pill, and upon realizing it is not, they find themselves without support in their quitting efforts, doomed to failure," the study's authors concluded.

In the study, participants were surveyed about their use of the products over three time periods: 2001-2002, 2003-2004 and 2005-2006.

For each time period, almost a third of recent quitters reported they had relapsed. The researchers found no difference in relapse rate among those who used nicotine replacement therapy for more than six weeks, with or without professional counselling.

There was also no difference in quitting success with nicotine replacement therapy for either heavy or light smokers.

The study's authors said using public funds to provide nicotine replacement therapy is of questionable value compared with other strategies that research suggests works better, such as media campaigns, promotion of no-smoking policies and raising tobacco prices.

The study was funded by the National Cancer Institute.

CBC News

Subject: RE: BS: The patch, Nicoderm and quitting smoking
From: Ebbie
Date: 11 Aug 10 - 10:12 PM

A month or two after I quit a group of us went out for breakfast after a night on the town. We were chatting away when my date gave me a strange look. I was stomping my crust of toast in the ashtray.

Subject: RE: BS: The patch, Nicoderm and quitting smoking
From: bobad
Date: 11 Aug 10 - 09:50 PM

I may take up smoking again when I get to 100 years of age.

Subject: RE: BS: The patch, Nicoderm and quitting smoking
From: Beer
Date: 11 Aug 10 - 09:39 PM

I smoked less than a pack a day. However once I got into the booze it increased to a pack. My lady asked what I wanted for Christmas and I said a box of patches. After the look she gave me, I said I was serious. New Years came and I went out on a toot. The next morning I awoke to find that I had 2 left in the pack. Now I hate the smell of cigarettes in the morning and I rarely light up before noon but a year after I retired I noticed that I was smoking more and earlier in the morning.
So I looked at the two smokes and lit up. Then slapped the patch on.
Wore it for 2 weeks than threw it away. I found it took the craving away but not the habit part. To explain I guess I would say that at a certain spot I would always reach for the package. Like after breakfast and a cup of coffee. When I realized that it was this it became easier as I was not craving for the smoke. This was 9 years ago.
ad.

Subject: RE: BS: The patch, Nicoderm and quitting smoking
From: bobad
Date: 11 Aug 10 - 09:12 PM

"If you think about it, you will smoke. If you think about something else you will not smoke."

But if you think about yourself thinking about it, then that gives you another degree of separation with the added benefit of insight gained.

Subject: RE: BS: The patch, Nicoderm and quitting smoking
From: GUEST,kendall
Date: 11 Aug 10 - 08:57 PM

As Yoda said, "There is no try, there is only do."

I tried every crutch in the world; none of them helped. Finally, the only thing that worked for me was every time I got the urge to smoke I immediately put my mind to something else. I knew that if I were to dwell on it I would give in.
The urge passes if you smoke, it also passes if you don't smoke. I don't know that it is will power, it is more a matter of "energizing the thought" If you think about it, you will smoke. If you think about something else you will not smoke.

Subject: RE: BS: The patch, Nicoderm and quitting smoking
From: Ebbie
Date: 11 Aug 10 - 11:26 AM

Evidently the heartburn that I was thought was an inescapable factor of my life was due to smoking. After quitting, I don't have it.

All the times previously that I had tried to quit smoking, I had always kept an unopened pack in a drawer "just in case", without realizing that it meant that I knew I wasn't going to make it.

When instead of *trying* I just *quit*, I kept nothing on hand.

I think we all have different ways of coping. For weeks afterward I couldn't linger at the table with my coffee, instead I drank my coffee while walking around. And my house was never so clean before. Or since. :)

Subject: RE: BS: The patch, Nicoderm and quitting smoking
From: GUEST,Patsy
Date: 11 Aug 10 - 09:26 AM

I quit just before my pregnancies and up until they were at school, then I'just had one' when I was out socially with a friend in the evening, what a mistake. Anyway, I am back to trying to give up. My Dad did throw away his packet of cigarettes declared he didn't need it and that was that and my Mum followed suit. He started his smoking when he was in the army in the war so he had been a smoker for quite a while and then suddenly stopped when he was 55. The effects of all those years of smoking is still there now, his chest is really quite fragile and any change in the atmosphere or temperature makes him prone to bouts of bronchitis but after staying off the cigs and taking doctors advise there he is at 88 decorating, gardening, shopping, climbing ladders (against our advice). Also the myth that smoking calms nerves is probably another one of those excuses smokers have ready, my Dad had the temper of a Jack Russell more so when he was smoking, he is so much calmer and thinks things through instead of getting het up about things and wishes that he had never started. No I don't think I will bother with the patches and my Dad's way of doing it a go. Besides I've heard that you can get nightmares with them, I am already an insomniac and I don't really want any sleep I do get disturbed by bad dreams!

Subject: RE: BS: The patch, Nicoderm and quitting smoking
From: JennieG
Date: 11 Aug 10 - 01:55 AM

Ebbie, my grandfather quit smoking the same way - he even left his tobacco and papers (he was a roll-yer-own man) on top of the fridge instead of throwing them away. His logic was that by leaving them there he could choose whether to smoke or not, and he chose not to.

Cheers
JennieG

Subject: RE: BS: The patch, Nicoderm and quitting smoking
From: Bobert
Date: 10 Aug 10 - 10:33 PM

Ditto...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: The patch, Nicoderm and quitting smoking
From: catspaw49
Date: 10 Aug 10 - 09:42 PM

FROM A 2007 POSTING:

I smoked for 40 years. Ulcers, lung problems, quad bypass, artificial mitral valve, ablation, dissecting aortic aneurysm, and on and on......ALL caused by smoking and still I kept on smoking. That's how strong the addiction is. I had tried every method known at least twice and still I smoked. My body was taken over by the effects of smoking and still I smoked. I damn near died on several occasions and still I smoked. I needed 9 different meds a day, some of them twice a day to stay alive, and still I smoked.

In 2005 when I went into the hospital for blood poisoning as a result of peripheral artery disease, a result of smoking, I tried to avoid it until it was almost too late because I knew I would have to quit and give up my old friend the cigarette. Even then I was having a hard time until I read the dumbest gawdamn thing I think I ever read. A two word sentence in a stop smoking pamphlet that makes perfect sense and yet seems completely idiotic..........Urges pass.

For some reason I had never considered that before but it was the truth. I went from almost 3 packs a day to cold turkey and I have not smoked since. I haven't even cheated in the slightest, not a single drag in 2 years. Urges pass.

Yeah, every now and again, about 20 times a day, I still think about a smoke but I've gone 2 years and man oh man do I ever feel better. Sadly my body is still shot and probably won't live a lot longer but quitting was the best thing I have done for myself in years and years. Urges DO pass.

Just quit man..... I ain't a zealot, I can't say a bad word about anyone who smokes, I know that addiction. But do yourself a favor and quit.


FROM A PREVIOUS POST IN 2007:

My problem with all of that stuff was that while I was doing it I was thinking "I'm doing this rather than smoke a cigarette." AND......I still wanted a cigarette as soon as I finished "whatever." In every case it was always on my mind becasue it wasn't natural or what I was doing. So the "urges pass" idea became an important stand alone idea.

I'd be reading and want a cigarette. I'd just think "Fuck it.....Urges Pass," and go right on reading. I'd be Mudcattin' which I damn near always did with a cigarette, chain smoking, and I'd get the urge. Again, "Fuck it.....Urges Pass." and keep on reading threads or responding.

When I tried all the subs, I'd be saying, "Hey great.....Ain't smoking, faking it with a cinnamon stick," but the urge was foremost and still there when I was done with the gum or mint or toothpick or carrot stick..........As soon as I was finished I wanted the real thing because I'd been thinking even more about it while I was gnawing on the jerky!

I'm a fan of whatever works for the smoker. I loved cigarettes. Really. Loved the taste, the hand habits, blowing smoke patterns.....everything but the price. Ya' know that last trip to the hospital, I was in really bad shape and I knew it but I stalled and covered as much as I could because I knew I'd have to try and quit again. Even with our "smokeless hospitals" its still easy to get a cigarette. Before I'd make it a few days and as soon as I could leave the floor I'd be having a gasper within a few minutes. I know the addiction is stupid. I also know its incredibly powerful. For me, the more I thought about it, the harder it was to quit......and that's what the substitution thing always did to me. It made me continually conscious of the addiction.

Urges pass. Let them go. Keep right on with what you were doing, even if it was staring at the boob tube!

********************************************************************

Both posts are similar but add in most of my arguments for the "Urges Pass" method.   Do it.



Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: The patch, Nicoderm and quitting smoking
From: Jeri
Date: 10 Aug 10 - 09:18 PM

Agreed. You can do anything you want that helps, but you have to be the one to NOT SMOKE for it to work. It really just comes down to your commitment, and a whole bunch of "nope, not this time, not any more" decisions.

Subject: RE: BS: The patch, Nicoderm and quitting smoking
From: bobad
Date: 10 Aug 10 - 09:02 PM

Jeri, the point I was trying to make about crutches is that I think a lot of people figure that the patch or gum or pill or whatever will do it for them. That is where a lot of failure happens. These aids are simply that - aids, the deciding factor is YOU and your desire to quit.

Subject: RE: BS: The patch, Nicoderm and quitting smoking
From: Ebbie
Date: 10 Aug 10 - 09:01 PM

As it happened for me, I didn't use any pills or patches and I didn't actually use will power. I had tried will power at least five times before and there was always the time when the loss wasn't worth the pain. Using will power, the longest I ever went without was five days.

Then my brother told me: Don't even try to quit, until you are absolutely ready. It's pretty easy then, he said.

The time came when I no longer wanted to be a smoker. I still wanted to smoke but I was sick of being a smoker and the fact that it was going to be difficult to quit was not the point: I was sick of being a smoker. All four of my brothers had stopped and I knew if they could do it, so could I.

So one Wednesday I told everyone that I was quitting on Sunday. That week I let myself smoke every bit as much as I wanted. Then Sunday night at bedtime, I threw the rest of the last pack in the fire, gathered and washed all the ashtrays and put them high in a cupboard, and went to bed.

Haven't smoked since - that was 1977.

Subject: RE: BS: The patch, Nicoderm and quitting smoking
From: Jeri
Date: 10 Aug 10 - 08:54 PM

I will say the one thing that I don't think anybody will argue with: you decide to quit. You do NOT decide to try, because that gives yourself permission to fail. People who say they're going to try, in my opinion, are planning not to succeed. Just slam the door on smoking like it's a bad relationship, because it is. You just don't have to get lawyers involved.

Subject: RE: BS: The patch, Nicoderm and quitting smoking
From: Bobert
Date: 10 Aug 10 - 08:51 PM

Here's what I did...

This was back in the fall of '85 and I had tried several time so...

...I went outside the house, sat down on a cttin' log where I usually split firewood and lit one after another after another after another until I was 'bout sick... I mean, I smoked 'um two at a time... Then I threw down the empty pack and said, "See ya around..."... Made myself half sick with smoke that day... Haven't used tobacco since and have no desire...

Just get yerself on the edge of vomiting from the smoke... Better than any pill or patch or doctor...

"I don't need no doctor
fir what is ailin' me..." (Humble Pie)

Good luck, gn-zer... You can do it... I rpomise that you can...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: The patch, Nicoderm and quitting smoking
From: Jeri
Date: 10 Aug 10 - 08:46 PM

I did the patch and Zyban, and I had no intense cravings, no moderate ones, only the occasional mild one that I was able to banish with a "No, I don't do that anymore!" Less than a year after I quit, I stopped thinking about it regularly.

So, use a crutch if it helps. Crutches help you heal so you're stronger than you were before you used them. I admire folks who quit cold turkey, but it didn't work for me. I'd always find some way to sabotage myself. Give yourself ever opportunity to succeed that you can.

Subject: RE: BS: The patch, Nicoderm and quitting smoking
From: bobad
Date: 10 Aug 10 - 08:40 PM

Will power, that's what it ultimately comes down to, sure there are a plethora of crutches out there, but it ultimately comes down to YOU. My wife and I both kicked major cig habits cold turkey - it was a real trip - I had nightmares for a few nights but eventually overcame all those demons, including intense cravings, by adopting the strategy of detached observation, ie. I analyzed and explained what I was going through as if I was the subject of scientific observation. This distanced me from the symptoms I was experiencing - it was not "I" who was going through this shit but this body that I was observing. It's kind of hard to explain but it worked for me and I haven't craved a cigarette for 22 years now even though I do enjoy the occasional cigar.
Good luck, it's a bitch, but you will eventually reach the point where you say "boy am I ever glad that I quit smoking."

Subject: RE: BS: The patch, Nicoderm and quitting smoking
From: Amos
Date: 10 Aug 10 - 08:15 PM

My experience is that the best remedy for the first few weeks is the Commit tablet for the chemistry, and Spaw's Nostrum for temptation. YOU BUY COMMIT TABLETS IN THE USUAL WAY. YOU INVOKE SPAW'S NOSTRUM BY TAKING A DEEP BREATH, RECITING "URGES PASS" THREE TIMES, AND EXHALING. Fuck CAPS lock!! You repeat the nostrum three times or until it proves itself.

I went from 15 a day to 0-1 a day in two days. Big difference.

It worked for me last time, too!


A

Subject: RE: BS: The patch, Nicoderm and quitting smoking
From: Jeri
Date: 10 Aug 10 - 08:13 PM

Find a doctor who will put you in a program where you get a pill too (Zyban, for example), and do not stop them if you think you have it licked. Go through the last patch and the last pill. I tried enough times unsuccessfully to know a false sense of security is a sure-fire path to failure.

Subject: BS: The patch, Nicoderm and quitting smoking
From: gnu
Date: 10 Aug 10 - 08:02 PM

Anyone got any advice?