After several years of nicotine addiction, EvilRoomie has been issued an ultimatum and must quit smoking (she is having reconstructive surgery in early August and doctors have told her she has to be off the cigarettes or they won’t do the surgery.)
The last attempt failed miserably, and she has given me free reign to be the anti-smoking Nazi when she comes home tomorrow. Anyone who has quit smoking, give me any ideas on how to distract her from the cravings. This abosolutely has to work. Obviously, anyone can chime in, but I’m especially looking for people with experience in this.
Nicotine causes the blood vessels to constrict. She needs as much blood to the area as possible so it can heal. The trial of the nicotine-free cigarettes anded after one drag.
Before I quit smoking 5 years ago, I was a pack and a half a day smoker. I tried to quit 4 times before I finally managed to kick the habit for good.
What I did was go for the lowest patch (7mg) and the lowest grade gum (2mg). I used the patch 24 hours a day and chewed the gum whenever I came to the breaking point of wanting a cig. (Use the mint or orange flavor gum, as the regular flavor tastes something like juicy fruit after you smoked a pack of cigs)
It’s not an easy habit to kick, but after a week it gets a whole lot easier.
I wish you and your friend luck in kicking the habit.
The drive for me was economic. I could either afford to drink beer or smoke cigarettes. I opted for beer. I was drunk a lot, but when I finally sobered up everytime I looked at a smoke, I looked at one less quarter of a beer.
I quit three months ago, using Zyban, and it’s worked admirably well. No cravings, no nothing. We keep a pack in the house for my wife or in case of emergencies, and abot htree weeks after I quit, I took one out, sniffed it, put it between my lips, and thought “I could smoke this and nobody would know. Nobody in the whole world except for me.”
And put it back in the pack and haven’t had a craving since.
Another successful Zyban quitter, here…former two pack a day habit for 20 yrs, cigarette free for 6 years now.
I found the Zyban to be extremely helpful. Also, tell her to drink LOTS of water to help flush the nicotine out of her system. Epsom salt baths help as well, as they help to draw even more of it out of the skin (and are relaxing…which doesn’t hurt!).
Zyban and Wellbutrin are the same drug, BTW…some insurance companies will cover Wellbutrin, but not Zyban. Worth checking into.
The patch worked. I had no physical cravings. I could concentrate on fighting the mental cravings. “I just ate now I should smoke” etc. Took me about a month on the patch and I was done. More than 2 years now.
From what I have read, the combination of Zyban and the patch is the most effective for quitting smoking. My brother and I both quit that way two years ago. My best friend just quit that way as of March of this year. All of us had made several unsuccessful attempts prior to that, but finally found success with that combination.
Also, your roommate needs to do some preparation on her own. She should go to some of the quitting smoking websites out there and find one that she can relate to. Most of them have some great suggestions for developing a plan. She needs to figure out in advance how she will deal with cravings when she gets them. I bought tootsie pops, pistacho nuts, carrot sticks and other munchies to help with the hand-mouth thing. I exercised more to help with stress. She needs to be ready with alternatives to smoking, because when cravings hit, you tend to forget other ways of dealing with it and only focus on what you want. If other things are already lying around, it really helps.
Some sites also have message boards for encouragement, if that is her kind of thing. Also, for me, just reading about the physical symptoms and causes of withdrawl helped me know how to deal with it. Above all, remembering that it was all temporary and that I didn’t need to respond just because my body was screaming for something helped a lot.
In the end, it’s really up to her to be mentally ready. That is what makes all the difference. You can help, but she really needs to prepare for it herself.
Well, she’s gone all day without a cigarette. Apparently, she’s chewed many toothpicks to smithereens, eaten most of my carrots, and would have eaten my Dum Dum pops if she didn’t despise buttered popcorn flavor. The Zyban was prescibed, but she didn’t have 90-some dollars to spare for it.
I have a feeling we’ll be picking up a lot of sugar -free hard candy tomorrow…
