Those who try to simply stop smoking face a big pain: withdrawal symptoms. Their bodies, which have been so used to having nicotine in the bloodstream, craves for the same amount. Without the normal dosage - yes, smoking is like a drug that's regularly administered - the smoker's body goes through symptoms familiar to those who quit and took up smoking again: depression, insomnia, irritability, and an undefined sense of something lost.
Website and homebrew remedies details some ways to help the quitting smoker get a hold of himself or herself through the process, so that a relapse will not follow after the decision to stop smoking. One way to help through the process is to use nicotine patches. But one should keep in mind that this, too, like a drug, have conditions for it to work as expected on the quitting smoker. It's not a one-size fits everyone solutions, it's not an overnight magical answer.
The patch reduces craving. Contrary to what some who want to smoke thing, the nicotine patches do not completely eliminate the cravings they go through. Smoking carries with it some physical and mental effects on one's person, and some aspects cannot be handled by nicotine patches.
There are also reported side effects of using patches. Some of them just as unpleasant as not having patches at all, as reported by those who had already tried them. These discomforts include headaches, constant vomiting, stomach pains, and nausea. In some cases, these are the outcome of overmedication using the patches; in some cases these effects are temporary. But it pays to know the side effects before going completely headstrong into nicotine patches. Some who stop smoking did so with out them.
So how does one approach whether you should or should not use nicotine patches to stop smoking?
Step one. Don't just rush into buying the patches themselves. Consult with your doctor if you have medical conditions that may get aggravated when you take patches. You don't want to rake in more medical bills on the off chance you get worse.
Step two. Should your doctor approve, the first application of the patch will tingle a bit, so choose a section of your skin that's got less hair. Also, vary the areas you stick the patch to. Inspect the areas well, they should not have open wounds and rashes. Should you feel any sudden palpitations of breathing changes, go to your doctor and have yourself checked out.
Step three. Mind the doses. Also, note that you may have to try lower doses after maybe two weeks, as your body will have gotten used to them by then. These things vary from person to person. Hence the need to be monitored by a physician through consultations. You may experience a surge in appetite, so bear with it.
Just remember to consult with your doctor before you try the nicotine patch, and to stay in touch during the process. If anyone could simply stop smoking, nicotine patches and other 'remedies' won't be needed. Sadly, nicotine addiction is a medical condition wherein your body craves a substance. So weaning yourself away from the substance by getting less and less of it is key to your decision to stop smoking. In this case, nicotine patches help a great deal in dealing with the withdrawal symptoms.
Millions of young guys and even girls start to smoke because they think that it makes them look more mature and cool. But most of the times they are very wrong. It may feel empowering to hold the cigarette in your hand, but once you hold it, you hold it for life, which then turns out to be quite a short one. You must be careful that you do not cough your way to death, for that would indeed be a pity! You must quit smoking so as to live a healthier and longer life.
If you have finally decided to quit smoking once and for all, do not look back. Do not think twice about your decision to quit. There are various self-help techniques you can try but the fact is, most people need assistance in their endeavor to end their addiction to smoking.
• A very popular method of getting rid of the addiction is by easing your transition into non-smoking by using nicotine replacement products. They do not alleviate your nicotine cravings but take the edge off them so that you can transit through them without picking up a cigarette. You should be able to use these products as long as your doctor gives the okay.
• There are many organizations that help people quit smoking. You can also join a group, utilize talk therapy, or even undergo hypnosis to help ease your cravings. These methods can be used in combination with other methods.
• You should do some research to help quit smoking. By doing that, you can find out whether your addiction is mainly physical or psychological or a combination of both. An addiction to Nicotine is mainly physical-you crave it and hence need to have it. If you fall in this category, using Nicotine replacement products such as patches is going to be a perfect solution to help you through the transition.
• The psychological addiction to smoking is more complicated. It manifests when you have to light a cigarette when in stress, with certain foods and drinks like coffee, when you get up in the morning and so on. These may be physical, no doubt, but you also possess a psychological attachment without which you feel lost.
• If you fall in the latter category, you need to actually substitute the physical act of puffing on a cigarette with another physical activity. Switching to Nicotine gums is an effective way of getting rid of both the physical and psychological element. It helps give you some of the oral involvement that puffing on a cigarette does. You chew gum instead of smoking cigarettes, but you are still doing something.
It might also help if you have support from people who have been there. You can either buddy up with a friend or join a group. Having others in a support group gives you feeling of accountability and makes sure that you stay on course.
These are some effective steps that you can take to help you quit smoking. It is ultimately your discretion as to which method you find suits you most.
In the midst of your Monday morning business meeting, do you find yourself fantasizing about puffing out warm wispy halo-shaped rings of smoke? Instead of your hour-long lunch break at 1, have you been repeatedly taking numerous 10 minute cigarette breaks all morning? Is the owner of the nearest hole-in-the-wall cigarette shop fast becoming your best friend? Well, if your answer to all these questions is a resounding YES, then it’s time to consider the alarming possibility that you are suffering from an addiction to smoking. The first smoking fact you need to internalize is that, this addiction is sure to have a negative effect on your life. Sooner or later, you will be entrapped, victimized by your own habits, feeding into a vicious cycle of withdrawal and abuse, draining your valuable resources, both monetary and intellectual, into a pursuit that is worthless, useless, of practically no beneficial effect, but with possibly fatal consequences.
Once you have confronted the fact of your addiction, you have to ask yourself the question: Are a few minutes of self gratification worth putting your life and livelihood at stake? Does this self-indulgence behavior not fade in comparison to the fact that you may be putting the health of those you love and cherish, at terrible risk? Yes, if you don’t already know, the smoke you emit while you indulge yourself (second hand smoke) may be causing severe damage to the heart and lungs, and various other important organs of your children, your spouse, your friends, colleagues, your unborn child, or even the strangers you pass as you walk on the streets.
In addition to this, the effects of tobacco smoke could actually be slowing your body and brain down, by distorting your perception of time. In this way it’s highly likely that you will take double the amount of time your non-smoking colleague takes to complete the same amount of work. Judging from this estimate, he is also sure to get that promotion both of you want in half the amount of time that you take!
If that is not motivation enough to make you try to quit, just consider the sheer monetary losses you are incurring. You could be saving up to 3000 dollars a year if you quit! Was that your spouse in the next room just now, grumbling that the two of you never have enough money left over to take a relaxing trip to the mountains?
After having read through these alarming smoking facts, perhaps you are quietly muttering to yourself now, “I tried, but I just couldn’t”. Yes, we understand the sense of frustration that is experienced by those of you who tried, but were sucked back into the vortex, afraid to face the debilitating withdrawal effects. This is arguably the most difficult aspect of addiction to overcome. Yet if you can grit your teeth and get through that difficult, challenging phase, there are incalculable benefits waiting on the other side:
o Your health is sure to improve, as is your children’s. Think about it: you are protecting your children and their friends from repeated ear, chest, nasal infections, and life-threatening diseases like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease because of second hand smoke
o You will be working faster without the disruptions caused by numerous cigarette breaks. Your performance at work is sure to improve once you look at the computer screen with a mind free from the smoke-induced stupor
o that usually slows you down at work. In no time you will be back in the race for that long-awaited, but never achieved promotion!
o Your relationship with your spouse or partner is sure to improve. Not only will you be more attentive and alert to his or her emotional requirements, you will also improve your physical appearance by degrees. You no longer have to hide the nicotine stains on your teeth and fingernails. And you can speak freely and comfortably without worrying about displeasing your audience with oral malodor, or halitosis that is so common among smokers. So now you have the money, time and the physical confidence to take that long overdue holiday with your significant other!
After considering these vital smoking facts, you are sure to have understood that tobacco smoking, whether you smoke a pipe, a hookah, or a common cigarette, is, as the cigarette boxes perfunctorily say, INJURIOUS TO HEALTH. So the sooner you embark on that journey toward de-addiction, the better for you. Not only will it boost your self-image and infuse yourself with a new-found sense of confidence, it will also endear you to your friends and family. When you quit smoking, you show them that you are a responsible member of the community, who is judicious about not only his own health, but also responsible and accountable for those lives which are woven around his. So take that difficult step, gather all your friends and family members around you enlist their help and support and quit, once and for all. See you on the other side!
If you think being a smoking machine will make you look cool then you are only fooling yourself. Sticking cigarettes in your mouth by the dozen does not make you look “hip” or “different”. In fact, you will be just another average Joe who can’t kick the habit. Even though you may not feel the ill-effects of smoking on your health today, they are bound to sneak up on you eventually. This is why it’s important to seek help on quitting smoking now, because you never know when your body is going to turn against you.
Smoking is not an issue about right or wrong, it’s an issue about practicality. Logic and science have rationalized that smoking is injurious to health, not only to you, but to others as well. Passive smoke or second hand smoke has become a major problem for the non-smokers of today, since wherever they turn; they are covered in misty nicotine smoke that chokes them up completely.
You have a responsibility to maintain towards others, and even if you decided that your own life is not worth saving and therefore you shouldn’t stop smoking, you cannot decide the same for the others too. For their sake, you have to kick this terrible habit out through the window. So what can you do about it? How can you get to quit smoking?
First, really decide that you will stop smoking. This may seem to be a laughable matter, since you will think that it is very simple and easy. But this is not true at all. You have to stop smoking not just because your family or friends have urged you to do so, but because you have to save yourself. This is for your own good, and the faster you realize that, the stronger your promise will be to put a stop to it.
Secondly, you have to put away anything that could tempt you to go for that poisonous substance again. Make sure that you throw away all the packs, and even put away the ash-trays in the closet where you will not be able to reach easily.
Third, you can tell your friends and family about this resolution. You will be surprised to see how much help and support your will receive. But you will have to stay true to the promise that you make to yourself and the people around you will help you to keep it.
Make a list to point out the various factors for which you are willing to quit. If you have this list with you all the time, whenever you get tempted, you can glance at the list again and again to remind yourself about being stern about your promise.
Find out the times of the day when you are in the habit of smoking a lot, say after a meal, or in the evening or whenever you are alone and need to think. What you need to do during these times is to find out a better way to do things so that they will keep your mind off the subject of smoking. For example, if you are in the habit of having cigarettes in the evening, you can take a walk instead.
Drink a lot of water and eat fruits every day. This will bring you body metabolism to a balance that will de-stress you so that you do not resort to smoking.
Calculate how much you spend every month in order to buy a packet of cigarettes for yourself every week. The figure that you will arrive will make your eyes pop out. When you buy a pack, it may seem that you are spending only a sliver of your entire monthly income, but if you add up the numbers of an entire year, you will see that the added sum blows through the roof!
These steps are your help for quitting smoking. If you follow them as your rules, you will be able to resist yourself from breaking your promise to quit, and getting back to this horrible habit again. This is why it is important to stick to your convictions and never let your faith and strength waver.
