Medical Questions » Smoking Questions » Question No. 934
| Question: | I can' t stop smoking! I can' t stand the withdrawal symptoms! Help! |
| Answer: | Before anyone can stop smoking, they must really want to stop. No-one who is half-hearted about wanting to stop will ever succeed.
Once you have decided to stop, set a time and date for the event. Tell everyone you know of your intentions, and take side-bets if you can to reinforce your incentive. Make lists of reasons why you must stop, and leave them everywhere at home and work.
Make sure that from the moment you stop you have no cigarettes available to you, and resist the temptation to buy more—carry no more than your bus fare on you.
Start a savings account with the money you save by not smoking (this will add up to several thousand dollars a year), and if you don' t succeed, pay the balance to the Cancer Fund!
If these incentives are not sufficient, see your pharmacist or doctor. Pharmacists can recommend nicotine-containing gum, inhalers or patches that will ease the craving for cigarettes. Doctors can also teach you how to stop, and may prescribe a tablet (Zyban) that acts on the brain to break the addiction to nicotine.
Group therapy sessions, hypnosis, rewards at the end of each successful week and reinforcement visits to your GP can all help you win the fight.
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