Stop smoking aids

[northstar3]

I’m really not sure if this is the proper area to post this, if it isn’t then please do move it to where it ought to be, thanks!

My question is: Is it ‘wrong’ to try and quit smoking with the help of medication and/or patches, gums, etc? Is using one of these methods saying I’m trusting in them more than God?

I’m really wanting to quit, but am just having a heck of a time doing it ‘cold turkey’. Of course I would pray that God would work through whichever product used, but is that enough? I’m kinda torn on this issue, thanks to anyone who might share a word on it!

 

[exoflare]

No, it’s not wrong. Don’t worry about it.

 

[Paul2274]

I quit Jan 14, 2001. Right after my doctor told me that I had to get a cat-scan because there was something on my chest x-ray that “shouldn’t be there”. Talk about a lump in your throat. I thought for sure that I had lung cancer and my children would have to see me in the hospital going through the chemo and then growing up without me after I had died.

Scared me straight… quit cold turkey after 17 years of smoking.
Don’t get me wrong it was very hard to overcome the cravings, but I did it and I feel so much better and I smell better too

Good luck. Talk to your doctor and tell him/her you really, really want to quit.

Keeping you in my prayers.

Paul

 

[Sam_Maloney]

Of course it’s not wrong.

It’s actually a tool God has provided [using science as his agent] to help you get past this profoundly destructive addiction.

When I stopped for good, I tried the gum and lozenges but found them foul enough that I didn’t use more than a dozen of either. Still, it takes the edge off, and separates the habit into two parts, the physical and the addictive-- which you handle independently.

But after all the talk about how tobacco is more addictive than heroin, I was super stressed. It ended up being easier to quit than I’d expected!

Don’t be afraid: you can do this. Just make a very firm commitment that you are a non-smoker, period.

 

[Michael_David]

Back in the days when one could smoke in the hospital while recovering from a surgery, the doctor came into my room and said I should be healing faster (for my age), that it must be those cig’s slowing me up. I told told him to take them with him when he left, which he did.

That did it for me. Cold Turkey!

 

[Christy_Beth]

I tried cold turkey a couple of times. For me it didn’t work. Now I use the gum, which helps a bit. There’s also Welbutin. It started out simply as an anti-depressant. But it was found to also curb the craving. It isn’t any more wrong than taking medicine for an infection.

 

[Joejohn39]

Of course not. That’s like saying medicine is wrong because it means you don’t trust God. God helps those who help themselves. This kind of scrupulosity is one of those things that makes some people nervous about religion.

 

[northstar3]

Thanks everyone, I do feel better about this now

I’m probably going to go with Chantix. I tried it one other time and it worked great…until I decided I wanted to smoke (don’t ask, I have no idea why).

Thank you for any prayers said and again, for the replies!

 

[Sam_Maloney]

Sounds silly, but in case it will help:

It was very important in my process when I realized that I didn’t really like smoking: it tasted bad, made my head hurt, left be breathless when I went climbing etc. My ‘desire’ to smoke was just a way to get the addiction out of my head for a few minutes so I could deal with every thing else.

When I figured that out, I started thinking of the addiction-- the little ‘Boy, I could sure do with a cigarette about now’ voice in my head as a little gremlin that lives on cigarette smoke and wanted me dead.

The only way to get rid of him is to starve him to death. Every time you feed him, he gets stronger, when you deny him he gets weaker.

It only takes a couple days before you can tell that his voice is starting to fade, and after a week he’s practically inaudible. But a single cigarette makes him loud and clear again, and makes all the suffering you’ve done to that point meaningless.

 

[northstar3]

Sounds silly, but in case it will help:

It was very important in my process when I realized that I didn’t really like smoking: it tasted bad, made my head hurt, left be breathless when I went climbing etc. My ‘desire’ to smoke was just a way to get the addiction out of my head for a few minutes so I could deal with every thing else.

That put a smile on my face thinking about it, thanks!

 

[Newbie2]

As long as the smoking aid doesn’t substitute for the nicotine addiction, no problemo, although granted chewing gum doesn’t generally lead to cancer.

While God wants us to depend on his grace and mercy, he also doesn’t want us to sit around and do nothing to help ourselves.

It’s kinda like taking a math class. While God is happy to have one depend on him, methinks he’s want him or her to put in some work themselves for a good grade, rather than depending on God to give them the knowledge needed to do well on the tests.