›› Stop Smoking Programs
Just the mention of
stop smoking programs and go apoplectic. Giving up my
cigarettes, my one “luxury” (though I will not be
so in denial as to say my one vice) is not something I look forward
to. I try not to even think about such bastardly things as
stop smoking programs.
But about ten years ago, that is what I was trapped into
doing. My closest friend, a CNS working in a retired living
center described to me how as a smoker I was at risk for cancers,
emphysema, and strokes. She taunted that if I
didn’t start looking into stop smoking programs and stop,
eventually, killing myself, I would, before I died for real end up like
the people she cared for in the retirement living centers--gasping for
breath, toting around oxygen tanks, needing help doing the simplest of
tasks because I would be “all stroked
out.” So I tried.
They (whoever they are) say that’s the key to eventually
being able to call yourself a non-smoker: you quit, you try again, you
quit again, until you are a successful quitter. Of course,
just tryin once as I did doesn’t really count (until I try
again and again, sometime), but the truly desirous can make the effort
by trying out stop smoking programs, one at a time, until he or she
finds one or a combination of stop smoking programs that work for him
or her.
I had—back in the 90’s, made it as a non-smoker for
one year and one month. These are some of the stop smoking
programs and tools I worked with:
Since The American Cancer Society offers free, thoughtful info on
giving up the habit, I started there. The pamphlets are
written in serious terms and at the same time use gentle language. That
offers the soft approach, so I wouldn’t feel like a freak, or
a “bad” person….
Next, I read one of the many fine books on quitting—one which
was informative, supportive, coaxing, humorous, brilliantly researched,
and helpful. My absolute favorite is still No-Nag, No-Guilt,
Do-It-Your-Own-Way Guide to Quitting Smoking, by Tom Ferguson.
It’s written by an MD offering info on how smokes are a dual
drug…unlike any other: they are, he says,
upper/downers. When you’re nervous or agitated, you
take long…slow…drags and are tranquilized; when
you’re logy, sluggish, tired, you take
short.quick.puffpuffpuffs, and are instantly energized, hyped up.
Doc X exclaims, “No wonder it’s so hard to quit
smoking!” He also defines another characteristic
that helps us appreciate why we’re so hooked. He
gives the times for onset, noting how there’s only one other
drug, of all drugs (OTC, street, prescribed that hits the brain faster,
and that’s crack cocaine. If I recall correctly,
crack hits you in 3 seconds, heroin in 10, 7.
Cigarettes are harder to quit than heroin! That right there
helped me realize I also needed to be extra kind to myself.
I also interviewed successful quitters, some of whom had become so by
trying stop smoking programs like those involving hypnosis, subliminal
tapes, and nicotine gum. And because they offered advice and
tricks, I tried those tricks as well:
I drank water...a lot of water…as our bodies take at least 8
ten-ounce glasses of water a day anyway, so whenever I felt the urge to
puff, I would do water instead.
The oral act is a big part of smoking for me and likely for most
everyone else who loves/needs to smoke. I would use a pencil,
an imaginary butt, or even—when I was especially
brave—a real unlit cig, and each time I had the crave to drag
would inhale really deeply and satisfyingly, instead.
I would also use the 12-step approaches to giving up my addiction,
though I never had the smarts to try the Quitters or Smokers’
Anonymous, and would do as it was suggested by a friend. I
would say, “If I still want a cigarette in 20 minutes,
I’ll have one.” I would not give in and
do so after twenty minutes, of course; instead, I would give myself
permission to smoke, wait the whole 20 minutes (for most cravings cycle
through and pass away in 20 minutes), then repeat the permit, so that
if I again still wanted a cigarette I could have one…after
twenty minutes.
This is my own version of a sort of combination of stop smoking
programs and techniques. And I have to admit, it was mush
better for my skin, my hair, and of course my lungs. In other
words, it worked if I worked it.
››
A Healthy Dose of Good Advice
