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Weapons for the fight

By georgen

· 2071 views

I have been reading many excellent posts here, with a view to gathering weapons for the fight.

 

Here is what I have found so far :

 

1. Use NOPE one day at a time. Personally, I have never managed to kick any addiction by saying "Never again". One day at a time does it for me. The days turn into weeks, the weeks into months and the months into years. I know some people can make up their mind to not smoke and that does it. But I know myself well enough to know that my own brain is not that powerful.

2. This soon will pass.

3. HALT-an old friend and one which has worked for me before with other problems. Why not use it with smoking ?

 

These are all for me only. They may well drive someone else insane. I have read loads more, but these ones stick out.

 

What I am not seeing is some way to substitute or replace the act of smoking. I have tried eating in previous attempts and put on half a stone ( 7 lbs for the benefit of any Americans reading this) in one week that way. This prevented me from training, so.....I smoked.

 

Any suggestions or comments gratefully received.

 

Thank you.

  •

    2 Comments

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    Grand Master

    Reciprocity

    Members

    Good job figuring out what will work FOR YOU. Nobody else matters in this instance.

     

    Personally, I am of the school of thought that using a "cigarette substitute" only delays part of the reprogramming of your brain to learn to live without cigarettes and the motions of smoking cigarettes however, having said that, you need to figure out what works FOR YOU.

     

    A couple of suggestions:

     

    Plastic Straw cut to about the length of a cig. stuff it with a little cotton or something so there's some drag resistance. Use that as a replacement cig. and smoke at will.

     

    Some people just smoke a pretend cigarette as an imaginary object. Putting your index and middle fingers to your mouth then breathing in and exhaling. Same idea as above but even less work.

     

    The same principal applies to the 2 above suggestions and that is - beep breathing. What you are really doing is a repetition of controlled, deep breathing. Inhale - hold & exhale then, repeat. You can do that without using any pretend cig. That's what I found helped me over some of my more anxious moments in my early Quit.

     

    R.

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    Newbie

    georgen

    Members

    Thank you very much.

     

    I tried using a toothpick yesterday as  a substitute and wound up puncturing my gums with the point. Also, toothpicks in my hand are a pain in the arse.

     

    I will try the pretend cig and see how I go.

     

    However, I am taken with your idea that using a substitute only delays the reprogramming. That is not something that has ever occurred to me. This is why I need other people and can't do this on my own-fresh ideas and real experience.

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