Hi everyone

If you've given up smoking in the past, are you able to give any advice to one of my friends at work who gave up today?

She's spent the day eating pieces of fruit and carrot, and obviously it's been a really hard day. She started smoking about 8 years ago and latterly was on 20 a day. Smoking hasn't just been a habit - she really enjoys it.

So can anyone who's been through this give any advice - how long did it take to get over the worst, how did you cope when you were desperate etc.

Any advice that I can pass on would be appreciated. Thanks.



PS Thanks Ianporsche for the advice on your smoking thread, about changing your habits and taking it one day at a time.

I used to smoke but gave up some years ago. I found that just keeping busy was very important.

But the thing that did it for me, which I hope will not be the same for your friend, is that I caught a really bad dose of 'flu. The first two days I slept on the sofa, waking periodically for a cigarette and then falling asleep again. Eventually I ran out of cigarettes and so I just slept for around four or five days. When I finally came to I decided that the time was right and just never had another cigarette. I actually had a new packet in a jacket pocket in another room, but no energy to go and get them. I gave them away six months later, having kept them 'just in case'.

That's not the ideal way for your friend to go about it, but there is help out there if you look for it...patches work for some I believe. The thing is you have to WANT to give up.

Good luck to your friend.

I don't feel the same need for a cigarette when I know it's not an option. For instance I don't sit with pupils thinking, "God, I need a fag!" And I thought I'd never enjoy being in a non-smoking pub or coffee shop, but after a while you do get used to the idea that you just can't, so you stop thinking about it The cravings come when it's an option and there's an association - as in, you normally have one then. It's much more than needing to top up the nicotine in your system, because apparently the physical addiction passes very quickly. How to eradicate the association is the hard bit - how do you tell yourself it's not an option when it clearly is?

The only times I've successfully stopped have been when I've been pregnant, but it became an option again afterwards, and I always (stupidly) started again! Some people swear by Alan Carr's book (I can't remember the title), as it is supposed to change your whole attitude, but I was totally put off this because it turned my husband into one of those typical ex-smokers that smokers love to hate. You need to do it because you want to yourself, I suppose. Other people nagging is just counter-productive.

I hope your friend has more success than me!