Help in giving up smoking!

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AdelaidaM

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I don’t know exactly where to post this, so I post it in family life section of this forum.

I am a single mom to a toddler boy. I’ve been smoking since I was 18 and I am now 37! Almost 20 years now! I just can’t seem to give up on cigarettes. Thinking about the well-being and health of my child as well as mine, didn’t help.

Are there any catholics who used to smoke and gave up? I am lost here… It’s eating me alive and it’s very consuming. I usually hate smoking, only sometimes I need it when having coffee in the morning, It’s like I’m taking a 5 minutes break from everything when I light up that cigarette.

Can anyone help me with their experience or prayers?
 
Good for you for wanting to stop smoking!

Have you talked about quitting with your doctor? They have patches, medicines, and therapies available to help you overcome this addiction. It seems unreasonable to expect yourself to be able to battle nicotine on your own. Researchers have learned a lot about what helps people quit. For example, picking a quitting date on a calendar, telling family and friends about it, using a drug to help lessen the cravings, etc, can all be helpful.
 
Yes, I can help you and I will be very happy to give you my thoughts and experience. I have sent you a pm to get started. Let me just say this, as a former smoker (quit cold turkey 34 years ago), a retired Health teacher and a smoking cessation coach, the most successful way to stop and stop for good needs to be well thought out and executed. So, for those who want to quit I urge you to pay hard for God to lead and guide you to the place where you will get the right guidance that will help you quit for good.
 
Some people (including me) have found it easier to stop all at once. But others have successfully taken a slower approach. For instance, rationing yourself to five cigarettes a day, for an initial period, or not lighting your first cigarette until 10 o’clock, then mid-day, then not till after lunch, and so on.

I’m skeptical about the usefulness of drugs. I have known people who have tried them, but none of them have actually stopped smoking for good. I’m inclined to think that, if you’re going to do it at all, you can do it without drugs.
 
I began smoking in earnest at 16 yrs old and continued up into my 40’s. Having tried unsuccessfully to quit on numerous occasions, once for almost 2 yrs. and then relapsing, I heard a shocking story from my dear sister that she had inoperable cancer. She had never done anything detrimental to her own well being like I had. I asked God to help me stop, then threw away a carton of cigarettes and vowed that I would never smoke another one. Each day I asked God to help me and thanked him for each day that He had helped me already. I believe He performed a miracle for me as I have never craved another cigarette and have a true aversion to the smell that turns my stomach. It’s now been over 20 years and I still thank Him every day for the blessings He’s given me, especially in freeing me from a lifelong addiction. Prayer works like nothing else ever could. I will pray for your well being and healing from this terrible addiction.
 
Used2beSherryG said:
Each day I asked God to help me and thanked him for each day that He had helped me already. I believe He performed a miracle for me as I have never craved another cigarette and have a true aversion to the smell that turns my stomach.
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Two years ago, I bought an electronic cigarette on a whim. Although I had given up on quitting at the time, I have not had any cigarettes since then. Do not try the ones that look like cigarettes (although I did). The batteries are too small, and need to be recharged more frequently.

Most people reduce the nicotine content gradually, with good results. Some use vaping as a bridge to quitting nicotine altogether, others continue for various reasons. Since I suffer from episodes of extreme anxiety, I have chosen to continue. They cost less in the long run, although the initial investment is more. There are many online resources.

The smell of real cigarettes is disgusting for me, too.

Remember that children are vulnerable to second-hand smoke. E-cigs are minimal risks for everyone, although you MUST keep the juice out of reach to young children.
 
Talk to your doctor.

Seriously, they have tons and tons of different treatment plans that range across the board from support groups, diets, medications, therapy…whatever…that can help.

I never smoked but I had plenty of friends and co-workers that did (medical field…unbelievably notorious for smoking, especially the EMTs and medics) and I had a few friends try different things.
The meds seemed to work exceptionally well, from what I saw.

My sister went through a short period of time where she smoked in her early twenties. She just stopped one day and decided she was done with it.
 
Quit date 12/4/2004.

Went to group hypnosis. Bought hypnosis tapes they sold to enhance hypnosis.
Listened to hypnosis tapes 2-3times a day (night & one massage session). There was a place selling “Migun” massage beds. They have pressure points that would make the thought of smoking make me vomit. Anyways, I would listen to those tapes while getting a massage and pray the rosary. The hypnosis session stated that it takes 21 days to break a habit. I continued the massage/hypnosis for three months. One year later, I took the money I would have spent on cigs and bought my own massage therapy bed. Not once did I crave, not once did I loose my temper … My only side effect was I was dry spacy for a week.
 
I quit smoking more than 20 years ago. I had been smoking for 20 years at that time, and was smoking 2-3 packs a day.

Two things helped me quit. The first was realizing that my children (who were quite young at the time) were more important to me than the cigarettes. The second was joining a stop-smoking group at Kaiser. It was free unless one went back to smoking.

The combination of a strong motivation & the “hand-holding” worked for me.
 
Yes you have to pray for help. I did and woke up the next morning had one cig and never smoked again. That was 10 yrs ago after smoking for 40+ yrs a pake to half a pack a day. Thank you Jesus.
 
Thank you all for replying!

My father also smoked for say 40 years of his life, at least one pack a day and he quit all of a sudden. He had cigarettes in his pockets when he gave up.

I have also heard of people getting lung or neck cancers because of smoking and it’s terrifying me. 😦 Most of my friends already quit smoking. I live in Europe, in a country where laws are getting tougher on smokers but still… you can smoke in many places.

My family doctor knows about this and she (it’s a woman) said I could do it on my own. It’s because I smoke only a few cigarettes a day when I’m alone with my child, let’s say… 5 cigarettes. And she said that if I can do that, physical addiction is gone. I don’t know. I feel it’s not gone. I also thought about buying some nicorette packs.

Therapy or some support group is out of the question. I realized that after trying to go to a support group for single moms and couldn’t. I just don’t have with whom to leave the child. I will try to put him in nursery care, but until that, I am rather tied to him.

I think I’ll have to try again on my own 😦 Maybe if I drink a lot of water or teas instead of smoking. I don’t know. I will pray to God for help, too.
 
AdelaidaM said:
I usually hate smoking, only sometimes I need it when having coffee in the morning, It’s like I’m taking a 5 minutes break from everything when I light up that cigarette.

Can anyone help me with their experience or prayers?
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You should take that 5 minute break, but do something else instead. Take a five minute walk with your child. Change your routine. If coffee is the trigger, drink something else, or drink it somewhere else. You need to disconnect the two.

Perhaps you could start a thread in the prayervintention section for you and all who want to quit smoking. Whenever you feel like smoking, go post a prayer, even if it is multiple times a day. Not only will other people pray for you, but you will be helping other people as well. If you do post there, let us know so we can post there! 🙂
 
Irishmom2 said:
You should take that 5 minute break, but do something else instead. Take a five minute walk with your child. Change your routine. If coffee is the trigger, drink something else, or drink it somewhere else. You need to disconnect the two.

Perhaps you could start a thread in the prayervintention section for you and all who want to quit smoking. Whenever you feel like smoking, go post a prayer, even if it is multiple times a day. Not only will other people pray for you, but you will be helping other people as well. If you do post there, let us know so we can post there! 🙂
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I have opened a thread. You can see it here. forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?p=12904001#post12904001

My routine is to have a coffee first thing in the morning. Which is also an addiction I suppose. Fortunately I also like tea and it doesn’t make me want to smoke.
 
Jerusha said:
Two years ago, I bought an electronic cigarette on a whim. Although I had given up on quitting at the time, I have not had any cigarettes since then. Do not try the ones that look like cigarettes (although I did). The batteries are too small, and need to be recharged more frequently.

Most people reduce the nicotine content gradually, with good results. Some use vaping as a bridge to quitting nicotine altogether, others continue for various reasons. Since I suffer from episodes of extreme anxiety, I have chosen to continue. They cost less in the long run, although the initial investment is more. There are many online resources.

The smell of real cigarettes is disgusting for me, too.

Remember that children are vulnerable to second-hand smoke. E-cigs are minimal risks for everyone, although you MUST keep the juice out of reach to young children.
Click to expand...
I second this. I bought a e-cig in October last year after smoking for over a decade. Haven’t touched cigarettes since. I haven’t even been tempted. I tried the pills, the patches, the gum, going cold turkey. None of it worked. The e-cig did. I think it worked for two reasons - it fed my nicotine addiction and it still allowed me something to do with my hands. I’m slowly reducing my nicotine level and I hope to eventually quit but I don’t beat myself up over it any more. It doesn’t have all the chemicals that cigarettes do and because cigarettes are so heavily taxed here it doesn’t have the hefty price tag either.

I also second the idea that if you go this route, don’t go the “look alike” route. Most people try that to start with but you get comfortable with “smoking” something that doesn’t look like a cigarette pretty fast. You also get really good reactions from most when you tell them what you’re doing as well. When you start you think you look odd, and we probably do, but most people either find it interesting (non-smokers) or admire you for it (smokers)

It also comes in all sorts of awesome flavours! Fruit, candy, baked goods, soda… if you can think of it someone has probably made it.

If you want any info on this, feel free to PM me. I’m more than happy to point you in the right direction.
 
I read about people who have lung cancer, then I realized that smoking is violation against the 5th commandment.
 
therese14 said:
I read about people who have lung cancer, then I realized that smoking is violation against the 5th commandment.
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If smoking always caused health problems, I’d agree with you. But it doesn’t. It can cause health problems and it can contribute to health problems. But it’s not a sure thing.

I had an aunt who smoked for years. Her husband died of emphysema. She continued to smoke until the week before she died of old age - at almost 90. She was very healthy - never even caught colds!

We may all know people who were able to smoke without any problems, while many of us end up with health problems within a decade of smoking.
 
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