Smoking Cessation Community: Support Group

Anyone have this?

I have been smoke free for nine days, using the nicotine patches. I have the urge but breathe through them. My...

Posted by paca123

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to smoking cessation

HI i have stop smoking now for 2 weeks i use to smoke 1 1/2 to 2 packs a day i have started a E-Cig i ham...

Posted by bounder35

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Relaspe

Is it normal to have a relaspe or is than just an excuse. I stop smoking on June 3 I relasped over the week...

Posted by An_239809

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Post Quit Depression

Have quit smoking for 4 weeks now with the help of Chantix (which I only took for 2 weeks on account of it...

Posted by JJL6243

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Why are Americans ill-informed about nicotineâ€™s ...

If you want to see whether you are more knowledgeable than someone from another country (or your...

Posted by Jonathan Foulds, PhD

If you want to see whether you are more knowledgeable than someone from another country (or your own), I would suggest you take my little 2-question quiz (probably below nearby) before reading this article.
An interesting paper was recently published by Dr Ron Borland (Cancer Council Victoria, Aus.) and colleagues on the beliefs about the harmfulness and use of stop smoking medications and smokeless tobacco in adult smokers in four countries (Canada, USA, UK and Australia). Questions about these issues were asked to a total of over 21,200 smokers from 2002 to 2009. Among the questions asked were the following:
Q1"As far as you know, are nicotine replacement medications (NRTs, like the nicotine patch or nicotine gum) less harmful than smoking cigarettes?
Q2"As far as you know, are smokeless tobacco products which are not burned but instead are usually put in the mouth (like snuff, chew, or snus) less harmful than ordinary cigarettes?"
The correct answer to both these questions is "yes, a lot less harmful".
Q3. "The nicotine in cigarettes is the chemical that causes most of the cancer, true or false?"
The correct answer is "false".

American smokers were consistently less likely to answer Q1 correctly than smokers in any of the other 4 countries, and their knowledge did not improve much over time. For example, only about one in three US smokers answered correctly, whereas over 60% of UK smokers answered correctly in 2008.

US smokers were even worse on Q2, with less than 15% answering correctly at each point, lower than any other country, with 40% of UK smokers answering correctly in 2008.

On question 3, smokers in the different counties were equally ill-informed, with less than 50% correctly stating that nicotine is not the chemical in cigarettes that causes cancer.

The authors of the study concluded that smokers remain misinformed about the relative safety of nicotine and tobacco products. They also commented on the bizarre situation whereby smokers in countries where smokeless tobacco is not available (UK and Australia) appear to be better informed about the relative harmfulness of smokeless tobacco than smokers in countries where it is available (USA, Canada). Unfortunately, one potential explanation for this pattern of results is that in countries where smokeless tobacco is available, public health educators have (over)reacted by misinforming the public by exaggerating the harmfulness of smokeless tobacco. It remains to be seen whether the recent FDA regulation of tobacco will result in correction of these misunderstandings. However, given that FDA recently introduced large pictorial health warnings on smokeless tobacco prior to it appearing on cigarette packs, this seems unlikely. The unfortunate consequence of failure to properly inform smokers of the relative risks of different nicotine products is that the most harmful products â€¦cigarettes, continue to dominate the nicotine market.View Thread

Posted by Jonathan Foulds, PhD

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Test your knowledge of nicotine delivery products

I'm going to post some multi-choice questions about the relative harmfulness of different nicotine...

Posted by Jonathan Foulds, PhD

Take the Poll

As far as you know, are nicotine replacement medications (NRTs, like the nicotine patch or nicotine gum) less harmful than smoking cigarettes?

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My 50th birthday gift.

I just put out my last cigarette.

Posted by Shysnana13

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A little over 36 hours quit

I have been a quitter for a little over 36 hours. I've quit plenty of times before, so far, this has been...

Posted by Anon_239090

I have been a quitter for a little over 36 hours. I've quit plenty of times before, so far, this has been one of my most successful quits. Yes, I know it's only been 36 hours.

Yesterday, I was so disgusted with the whole smoking process. I woke up with only a few cigs in the pack. Needed to go to the store right off the bat and it occured to me how much those little things were controlling my life. Really...So, I get out a journal, and start writing, I write abaout everything smoke related. How I cough in the AM, can't breath, so expensive, blah, blah, blah. But here is the thing, I was brutally honest with myself. No need to go into details here you all know the drill. But I kept the journal going all day long. Every detail, all through the day, the curtains and furniture that stink, the burn hole I put in the brand new sofa that I look at every day, you name it, I wrote it down. Yes, I wasted a day but I suspect I'll get that one back just added on to the end of my life. So, now the best part. I immediately kicked into the mental mode that I've quit smoking. I am breathing deeper, focusing on cleaning my lungs, I am drinking plenty of water to flush out the junk from my system. When I start to want a cigarette, I do something to reinforce that I've quit. Clean the ash trays, take the curtains down and wash them, you get the idea. But really, I just keep thinking on the positive. Every minute that passes, I'm that much closer to deep breaths, and jogging with my puppy. So, I'm staying focused on each minute and remembering over and over that I feel better and better. I'm smelling everything now. My deoderant stinks, yikes, I didn't even know that but it smells. LOL isn't that ironic? Iced tea needs less sugar than before, I am just staying focused on all of the changes instead of focusing on quitting or not quitting, just staying in the moment. I will do it this time....d-e-e-e-p b-r-e-a-t-h hold it exhale. repeat as often as necessary. looking forward to seeing how much better it is tomorrow.View Thread

Posted byAnon_239090

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Need major support

I have been smoking since I was 9 and I am now 43. I just had a double bypass surgery 2 weeks ago. I have...

Posted by Tinaduann

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Chantix, When to stop

I am in the 4th week of taking Chantix, and so far so good. Will someone chime in and share their experiences...

Posted by BPR58

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smokeing patch

Has any one tried the smoking patch? Myh promblem is some of the ppatchs leave big red marks. Is there a...

Posted by mayjune10

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pain2bgone

I need support so bad, however i do not drive and live in a rural area where there are no buses. I will...

Posted by pain2bgone

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quit smoking

am 48 quit smoking 14 months tommorrow august10,2011 but 4 day's ago started a symptom a very strong sense of...

Posted by weboboy

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Though the FDA does not want to classify it as a C...

I have been a smoker for 14 years, my fiancee has smoked for 18 years and my mother in law has smoked for...

Posted by oleslie0o0

I have been a smoker for 14 years, my fiancee has smoked for 18 years and my mother in law has smoked for 50+ years we all have to quit for medical reasons. My mother in law has COPD, fiancee fibromyalgia, psoriatic arthritis, and meniere's disease, I have psoriatic arthritis, a horrible case of psoriasis and osteo arthritis. All of these conditions in one house is amazing but besides that we needed to quit and have tried many different ways over the course of many years to quit including the patch, chantix, wellbutrin, gum, and my fiancee was seriously thinking of chewing tobacco before I came up with trying a new way of trying to quit.

I started researching electronic cigarettes almost 6 months ago and decided since every method has not worked for any of us it seemed like the most reasonable solution to all of our problems. So far it has been though I will agree it is not for everyone it does have many things that require research and can in some ways be a hassle. Though the product of the hassle and research could be people like us ones that have seemed to try everything and nothing was working. We have successfully for over 1 month been tobacco free yes we do receive nicotine but this nicotine can be reduced just as a patch to eventually it is zero.

Today I went for over 3 hours not being able to use my electronic cigarette as I was in the hospital with my fiancee for an out patient procedure and I did not make a mad dash to the car as I would have if I was smoking regular cigarettes as a matter of fact I casually took the electronic cigarette out of my purse and placed it in easy reaching distance while I was driving just in case. Not that I desired to use it but just in case when the mood struck I did not have to dig around in my purse while driving. To me this is a huge breakthrough and an amazing step for me as any other time I was craving a cigarette so much that it was all I could do to stop myself from running to the car to get the cigarette lit. Loosing that feeling and having this new found freedom is amazing not to mention I can breathe, taste, and smell so much more than I ever thought.

Though the FDA does not want to classify the electronic cigarette as a cessation method I say look at my mother in law a 50+ year smoker that does not crave a cigarette and yes she has COPD and is able to breathe and walk to the car without being out of breathe. She is able to walk around a store and enjoy it for the first time in a long time not just because of the electronic cigarette but because of the ability to free herself from tobacco and if the electronic cigarette works then I say why not as it is obviously not as bad for her as a regular cigarette.

I say congratulations to anyone if they quit no matter the method so long as it works for them. I write this to make people aware of the possibilities those who have tried it all and yet to break the habit this may work for you or it may not but in the end the question is it not worth trying it might just work?View Thread

Posted by oleslie0o0

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finaly i quitted smoking

have quited smoking for about 4 month. i'm thankful of this site to help me quit. now i can say im free of...

Posted by safaa45

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Second-Hand Smoke — More Bad News

Dr. Moser of our Family Webicine blog shares, "Adolescents are already at risk for hearing loss...

Posted by Byroney_WebMD_Staff

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I have been off real cigarettes for 1 week thanks ...

The Electronic cigarette has been a life saver for me. ( I think maybe literally) I finally found a good e...

Posted by TriciaSimm

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Effect of cell-phone text messaging on smoking ces...

More cell-phone based smoking cessation applications are being developed, but few have been...

Posted by Jonathan Foulds, PhD

More cell-phone based smoking cessation applications are being developed, but few have been properly evaluated or proven to work. However, the results of a large randomized trial of a text messaging intervention (txt2stop) were recently published, and found positive results. The study was published by professor Caroline Free (United Kingdom) and colleagues in the medical journal, The Lancet . They recruited 5,800 smokers and approximately half received text messages designed to help them quit, e.g. "Today is the start of being quit forever — you can do it.", and the other half received neutral text messages encouraging their continued participation in the study, e.g. Thanks for taking part. Without your input the study could not have gone ahead". The intervention group also had the ability to send a text when they were craving for a cigarette, or had smoked, in order to receive reply texts with advice on how to cope with the situation. At 6 month follow-up, 20% of the intervention group claimed to have not smoked in the previous month, whereas only 14% of the control group were quit. Using a more conservative definition of quitting, requiring less than 6 cigarettes smoked in the previous 5 months, supported by saliva verification of quitting at 6 month follow-up, found quit rates of 11% v 5%.
Overall, the study showed that text-based interventions delivered via mobile phones can roughly double medium-term quit rates. There were a few other interesting findings in the study. Of the people who claimed they had quit at 6 months, a surprisingly large 28% failed the saliva test that checks for nicotine (suggesting that they had in fact smoked recently!). That is an unusually high rate of inaccurate self-reporting. Unusually, the participants were allowed to use other smoking cessation services or aids during the trial and about half of both groups did so. Those who used other assistance were more likely to successfully quit, but the text intervention increased quit rates regardless.
So this is good news to know that good cell-phone smoking cessation applications can really help. I suspect that some of the more sophisticated applications for smart phones may be even more effective. I'd be interested to hear from anyone who has tried any phone-based smoking cessation applications. Did they work for you?View Thread

Posted by Jonathan Foulds, PhD

Take the Poll

Have you ever tried a smoking cessation app. for your cell phone?

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Help

I just bought a pack again today I pray it's my last one!!!

Posted by Queenicey26

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Went a day without smoking I failed again

I start my patches Monday Aug 8 2011 I really need help and support I hate smoking and tryed to quit time...

Posted by Queenicey26

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day 1, no smokes....ARGHHHHHH!!!!!!!

I must stop smoking. I want a cigarette, badly!!!! I was in the hosp. for 4 days and did fine w/o smokes....

Posted by Anon_233951

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E-Cigarettes,...what do you think,..??

Does any one know, what IS IN the Vapor, of these E-Cigarettes. When it says "0" Nicotine,....what would be...

Posted by mildew1945

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Stopepd smoking

I I quit smoking cigarretes in Feb and marijuana five weeks ago. I smokeddaily for a little over 10...

Posted by Anon_233094

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Stopped smoking -trouble with taste buds

I stopped smoking through hypnosis and had no cravings. It has been 6 weeks without a cigarette. My...

Posted by Anon_231966

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Need to quit......NOW!!!

I have been smoking cigarettes over 50 years,....and the CONSEQUENCE of my action, has brought me C.O.P.D.,...

Posted by mildew1945

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Picturing 30,000

Tonight, I was soon expecting this amazing stat on my SilkQuit quit counter, but I am still "grokking" at...

Posted by Midlife87339

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THE DANGERS OF SECONDHAND SMOKE?

Just need to know if anyone else has maybe had the same experience as I've had... I've been a pack-a-day...

Posted by Anon_231009

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smoking for life

hi i am a smoker and i cant seem to get the energy to stop its like loosing a friend for 35 years i need...

Posted by jolene783

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Help Needed!

I know that need to quit and have done so on different occasions, but never longer than a day. I hit a stressful...

Posted by hf856

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