Almost the 3 year #quitversary

11th August 2013 it will be 3 years since I had my final cigarette.

13th August 2013 it will be 3 years since I stopped using nicotine altogether.

One, two, three "YAY ME!"

When I quit smoking, I coined the phrase Quitversary, and have since given myself little presents to celebrate the odd one or two... new shoes (which didn't work out, sadly) new camera, a PS3, and after 6 months - a tattoo!

I had always wanted a tattoo, and thought that it was the ideal time, 6 months after quitting, to celebrate the permanent decision I had made to stop using Nicotine altogether.  Nothing says permanent like a tattoo, right?

So now, 3 years into my new found freedom from Nicotine, I have just put the deposit down for my next tattoo (in a series of four) which is being designed by the kind people at Infinite Ink in Coventry.  I was a bit shocked when they quoted me the price, but when I consider that I could spend upwards of £155 per month on cigarettes, EACH month, I think I could let myself off for something that is actually worthwhile (and that won't kill me).

So, by the 11th August 2013, I will have been smokefree for 3 years, and will have saved a whopping £5,475+.

By the 22nd August, I will have (if the design goes well) another lovely commemorative tattoo!

Aren't I FABULOUS!

ST x

This blog was made possible by a Mr Allen Carr, whose book Easyway to Quit Smoking has made quitting smoking an absolute doddle!

An Ex-Smoker's Guide To: Other Smokers

I went out for a meal with a group of colleagues from work last night, and what with it being a typical British summer (basically warm but a bit drizzly) we sat inside but with windows open (don't worry, there's a point to this!)

After the meal, a group of women had sat down outside directly underneath the open window, and had all (and I mean ALL 7 or so of them) sparked up.  Sure enough, after about a minute or two the all familiar smell of second hand cigarette smoke started to drift in through the window.

Oh my god, I was immediately choked, headachy, sweaty, desperate for a cigarette and fighting back the cravings...

NO! Of course I wasn't!  The beauty of Easyway is that it didn't bother me in the slightest.  Yes, I asked my colleague to shut the window, because even though the smell isn't completely hideous, it's still rather unnerving (don't ask me why, though I guess it's the natural reaction to a poison), but I'd have asked him to do the same thing had it been a wiff of "fresh country smells" making its way into the room!

During the summer especially, you're always going to come across people who smoke; whether it be friends, colleagues or just people walking down the street or in your local park.  The good news is, is that it is possible to live a completely smokefree life without this bothering you in the slightest.  You may however feel the only real negative side effect; a pang of pity for the people still stuck in the trap...

You may even crack a smile... 

Because you're FREE!

TQQ

An Ex-Smoker's Guide To: Depression

Currently I feel miserable, a low mood that I know very well, however I think it's important to share this with you.  Luckily I started writing the majority of this post before this patch hit...

I've suffered from bouts of depression off and on since my early teens, maybe even earlier (probably before I knew what it was) and my train of thought stops there... it's a difficult subject to describe, so I'm not going to try to.  More importantly though, is I suffered from bouts of depression BEFORE, DURING and AFTER I smoked.

Depression itself is a very difficult thing to live with, anyone who has gone, or is going through it (whether it be a single episode, or recurrent cycles) will tell you it's nothing you'd choose to experience.  I, like a lot of smokers I knew at the time, worried about how I'd cope with periods of stress, especially my cycles of depression and low-mood, without nicotine.  I, like everyone else, had been brainwashed into believing that cigarettes were a 'crutch', something that helped relieve stress when you were going through a bad patch.  I successfully quit in 2003 - 8 months of blissful, craving free, sociable and happy smoke free days*, until an illness in the immediate family brought me right back to square one.  I had a few drinks, and decided I needed a cigarette to "get me through it".

Did a cigarette help?  No.

Since Allen Carr's Easyway relieved me of the false belief that cigarettes are a crutch, I find that the depression is actually slightly easier to deal with (hey, you take what you can get with depression, right!?).  When I'm feeling like crap, the last thing I want is to be spending my time wondering when I can get my next fix of nicotine! Worrying that I was going to run out of cigarettes!  Worrying I was going to run out of money to buy more cigarettes!  I hated smoking and feeling the guilt that I was addicted, that I knew these things were bad for my health, and ultimately ruling my life.

Add all of these things, the stress of spending money I didn't have, coughing my guts up, and the feeling of guilt and failure, to depression and it is pretty easy to realise that cigarettes do NOT help!

So.  Imagine you could give up cigarettes without worry, without stress AND without withdrawal symptoms!  Imagine you could then go through a depressive episode without all the extra worries that go hand-in-hand with Nicotine addiction!  Imagine you could go through a depressive episode without feeling any negative effects from having quit nicotine entirely!

What's stopping you?

TQQ!

*Another blog for another time on why I still refer to this period as a successful nicotine-cessation period!

Disclaimer: I am aware that depression affects everyone differently so this piece is subjective on this point, however the intention of this blog post is to highlight how smoking/nicotine cessation can be a positive thing during these times.  The statements made are based on the effects of NICOTINE ADDICTION, and are not to be taken in any way, shape or form, as treatment or prevention of depression.

E-Cigarettes - To be Licensed as a Medicine

Medicine is:

1. A drug or other preparation used for the treatment or prevention of disease.

In recent news the Beeb has announced that E-Cigarettes will be classified as a medicine from the year 2016.  By the above definition of a "medicine" (nicked off Google!) E-Cigs will be classed for use as a treatment or preventative of "smoking".

What doesn't make sense, is that smokers are consuming "real cigarettes" because they are addicted to the Nicotine that is present in them - so how is legalising something that is basically just another method for the intake of Nicotine either a "treatment" or a "preventative" of the underlying disease?  This question should be put to all NRT products.

Why is it that society appears to have given up on Smokers and Nicotine Addicts completely - when there is a tried and tested method for complete cessation of Nicotine Consumption?  As an Ex Smoker and Nicotine Addict, I can categorically state that I much prefer the freedom from addiction that Allen Carr's Easy Way To Quit Smoking gave me, than the idea that I may have spent the rest of my life permanently addicted to an alternative nicotine consumption method.

I propose a different and more accurate title to Nicotine Replacement Therapy

ALTERNATIVE NICOTINE DELIVERY SYSTEM (ANDS)
or even
ASD - ALTERNATIVE to SMOKING DEVICE

We cannot call E-Cigarettes, Patches etc... Nicotine Replacement Therapies, as they do not replace the nicotine, they ARE nicotine, and in my view I can't see how they either treat, or prevent smoking and nicotine addiction.

It's like saying we'll ban Beer, but will promote Wine as an alternative because, even though it's still alcohol - it's not quite as bad for you! Would we then promote Wine as a "medicine"?

Honestly!

TQQ

See full article at The Beeb (Love the Beeb)  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-22870301#TWEET786848)

Myth Busting: Avoiding Life's Little Pleasures!

I've thought about re-writing my original blog post on this topic... What would I need to 'give up' in order to... well, give up!  In all honesty, I'm not sure I could write it any better than I did back in 2010, shortly after I quit, so here it is in it's original form:

Should you give up certain things in the bid to quit smoking?

This post came about after seeing someone’s tweet about giving up their morning coffee because of the association with having a cigarette.  Looking at my particular case (and I’m sure that the below will apply to an awful lot of smokers/ex smokers) if giving up anything that has a strong association with cigarettes was a ‘must’, or even beneficial for being able to quit, then realistically I’d have had to also forgo the following:

1/ Hanging around with Friends that smoke:  total bull, as I also hung around with friends that didn't smoke before I quit!  The outcome would be that I’d have had to avoid going out and spending time with any of my friends, full stop!  Pubs, clubs, bars and restaurants are all smoke-free and therefore ex-smoker-friendly now, so there really is no excuse, and when would  you feel safe? A months time? A years time? Never?

2/ That first cup of coffee in the morning – let's face it, if I woke up and had an orange juice I’d still have had that cigarette.  I love coffee, it perks me up – the outcome of missing out on the caffeine is that I’d fall asleep at work!

3/ Food.  It's obvious that you'd have to stop the after-dinner cigarette when you quit smoking, but to some people this was seen as an "enjoyable" one, so if I was to try and avoid the hypocrisy, what should I have done? Stop eating? Let's face it, there’s always an ‘after food’ scenario; lunch, dinner, breakfast – even a chocolate biccie, but I digress…

4/ Smoking in the car: – Again, if I was following along with the ‘coffee’ train of thought then I must, of course, associate driving with cigarettes – how long would it take to cycle the 7miles to work? Heavens, maybe I should have avoided getting in a car altogether…

Realistically, if you gave up everything you did which had an association with cigarettes in order to quit, then you’d have to give up a hell of a lot more than you think, and actually more than you would realistically be able to.  Why force yourself to give up the things you love, when you can continue with things that are necessary without a second thought?

The sooner you go out and just do the things you love without cigarettes, the sooner you can enjoy the things you love without cigarettes.

I try to think of ways to explain this better, but at present I really can't think of a way.  If I had applied the same logic of avoiding all the things I enjoyed, to the things that were also NECESSARY then not only would life not be worth living, it would also be impossible.

Quit smoking. Enjoy Life.

An Ex-Smoker's Guide To: Smoking on Stage

In the (nearly) three years since I've quit smoking, I've not really had to think of nicotine in terms of my hobby, Amateur Dramatics... that was until earlier this year at least!

When I was asked to play Jenna, a rather foul-mouthed and sometimes foul-tempered 20 something, in Laura Wade's play Colder Than Here however, I was forced to confront this head-on!  And guess what? I found it a DODDLE!

I fully admit that I was a teensy bit phased by this idea to begin with, but (and I believe this is down to the method I used to actually quit) my brain quickly got used to the idea and was busy looking into the alternatives... Here are a few things that I found useful:

1/ Be honest with the producer(s) as early as possible, even as early as the reading.  This is probably something that they're already thinking about, but although there are ways around the actual use of cigarettes in theatre productions - they may not have thought about how the actor/actress actually views nicotine itself!

2/ Does smoking need to be undertaken at all?  In the case of Colder Than Here, a cigarette on stage was required at the very least, however the actual act of smoking wasn't really beneficial to the script/play, so with the use of a little bit of artistic license I was able to avoid even lighting the cigarette.

3/ If there is no way around the act of smoking a cigarette in the play, there are a few alternatives to actually smoking anything containing nicotine.  I found Google search very helpful in pinpointing sites for the purchase of herbal cigarettes (not the best, but at least nicotine free!), and although not seemingly as widely available, I believe there are nicotine-free cartridges for the E-Cigarettes too.

I have to say that I surpassed even my own expectations on this (and yes, I'm quite happy to blow my own trumpet!) that I borrowed some REAL cigarettes off my colleague, carried them round for a whole weekend before passing them to the Props lady, and handled them freely on stage without problem during the run. RESULT!

As a result of this, I can safely say that even as an ex-smoker it is still possible to take on a smoking role in any sort of production - be open with the issue, and proactive with alternatives, and most of all - have FUN!

TQQ!

NICE. Addiction; An Acceptable Alternative to Quitting

So NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) have decided that Nicotine addiction is OK, as long as you don't actually smoke a cigarette!?

http://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/index.jsp?action=byID&o=14178

Don't see them sanctioning Heroin addiction as long as the addicts take it using a certain method, do you?

I do wonder what intelligence there is behind it, when both NICE, and the NHS can blatantly ignore a method that works, Allen Carr's EasyWay (a truth to which this smoke-free individual of nearly 3 years, who used to smoke between 20 & 30 a day, can testify!).

Surely this approach is a cop-out.  How they can justify this under the banner of an Institute which uses the terms "Health" and "Care Excellence" in its very title?

Watch this space for an open letter...

F