Avoiding The Temptation To Smoke
How can I avoid the temptation to smoke?
When people have become habituated to the use of tobacco in their life, the ‘trigger' to make them want a cigarette comes from a variety of backgrounds and a variety of sources. One can be the chemical message in your brain that your nicotine level is dropping. Go and find some, as it will make you feel better again. However, chemistry and craving are not the only thing. It can also be a trigger from an environment. You are in a place where you always smoke, so it's just a habit, for example you are going to grab a cup of coffee and a cigarette, or it can be an environment or social setting where other people are cueing you to smoke. Even TV, or ads on billboards, or flipping through a magazine are going to remind you of the triggers to smoke from a visual. It can also be from a smell. You may walk somewhere by a tobacco shop and smell your brand of cigarette or see it advertised on a counter at a gas station. There are so many things that can trigger you to smoke. How can you avoid the temptation? 1. Don't spend time with people who smoke or people who use tobacco. 2. Avoid those gas stations that have cigarettes on prominent display. 3. Don't keep cigarettes, lighters and ashtrays and other smoking paraphernalia visible in your home or in your car. Identifying your triggers is important, watching out for the environment that's the cue, and learning what it is that really makes you want to smoke. Substituting or changing the environment, and changing how you go about the plans of your day, are the ways to stop those triggers that send off the signals to your brain that makes your hands start searching for cigarettes and a lighter.
What can I do with my hands instead of smoking?
There are some people who recognize when they quit smoking, they don't know what to do with their hands. Now that's not every smoker. But if you're one of those people who say, "My hands don't know what to do. What can I do?" Give them something to do. Don't try to just hold them in your lap because they'll feel very fidgety. You might be one of those people called "handlers". So get a colored pencil, get a pen that clicks, give your thumb something to do. Get low-calorie snacks that you can have around in a baggie that you can grab and chew on those so that your mouth and your fingers have something to do. A cinnamon stick gives a lot of sensation that's kind of pleasant in the mouth ... just the rolled-up little cinnamon bark you can hold it in your hand. You can chew on sugarless gum. Someone actually, this year, told me about a bark from a tree that tastes like licorice. Little twigs. Someone came to my class chewing on this twig, and I said, "What are you doing?" Well, they were obviously a handler who needed something in their mouth and it actually, he says, decreases cavities. They've been using it from their home country. So look for something like straws filled with honey, anything, even an ice-cold bottle of water with a straw gives your mouth and your hands something to do, and the straw is nearly the size and the shape of a cigarette, and cold water in the mouth really helps to diminish the craving. So think of something your mouth likes, something that your hands like, give your hands something to do if you're one of those fidgety, handler people who really need something. Squeeze balls. Give your hands something to do, something to play with, something to click, and then they won't mind. Once you train them to do that, they won't mind so much not having a cigarette in them.
How can I relax without cigarettes?
There is one subset of smokers who use cigarettes when they feel stressed, when they feel uptight, when they feel nervous and irritable, and they're trained to stimulate the chemical release in the brain to create the sensation of relaxation. Now if you've been doing that since you were twelve, fifteen, seventeen, you never really learned all through adolescence and your young adult life how to relax without a cigarette in your hand. So you've got a challenge, and you've got to be creative. Think of ways that you can learn to relax by doing deep breathing exercises, in through your nose, out through your pursed lips. Do something where you're listening to calming music, whatever calms you. Do some exercise. Perhaps read a book and learn about techniques for relaxation. Think about what it is that just set you off, what was that trigger, that makes you want a cigarette and learn how to fix the trigger. But people who don't know how to relax without a cigarette and who have serious cravings, that combination together really trips people up and is a set-up for relapse. So if you know you're someone who uses a cigarette to calm down and relax spend some time before your quit date practicing all these new techniques, and you will find it much more helpful the next time a stressful event hits you won't need to just reach for a cigarette, you've got a technique in place.
How can I rid my house of cigarette smoke residue?
When someone has smoked inside either their car or their house for a long period of time, there is a build up of tar and residue that's all over everything. You don't really realize it when you're smoking, but you can't smell it. However, you can see it on your walls, on your glass, and on any vinyl surface. If you just wash it off with a white wash cloth, you'll see that. I encourage you anything that's washable, when you feel like you have a craving, go get a wash cloth and soap and spend your craving time for two to five minutes washing off the nicotine in the areas where you largely smoke. If you have a surface that's non-washable, then you may have to get dry cleaning, such as for upholstery for carpets, for drapes, and you may have to get a cleaning service to come in and clean those certain surfaces. Think of all the ways that you could help to eradicate the smoke and the residue and the tar, especially the tar resins that have built up on the surfaces of appliances, of your ceiling, and of your air conditioning system. Your vents may also need to cleaned, especially if you're in a rental apartment where someone else controls that.
How can I get rid of the lingering cigarette smell?
When your sense of smell improves in two to four weeks, you may need to start doing a sniff test around your house. You may need to dry clean your clothes in the closet. You may need to vacuum up and take your mattress outside for a day, if you have been smoking in your bedroom. There is also the option of odor eradication from the air and from surfaces that are soft not easy to just wash off. One way is using a product, made in France, where you put an aromatherapy cleaner inside a glass bottle. You light this wick and it actually disseminates the vapor from this aroma into the area. It works quite well in car upholstery, in carpets and furniture. Another way would be putting vinegar in an area where in fact where you might have smoked frequently in the area. You might take a bowl of vinegar, cut saran wrap over the top in little holes and let the vinegar, which has its own pungent smell, eradicate the cigarette smell.
How does deep breathing help me avoid smoking?
The process of taking slow, deep breaths in and out is one of the "Six Ds" that we recommend people do when they have a craving. Drink water, distract yourself, do something else, discuss it with a friend, and do deep breathing. In deep breathing, the pattern of deep breathing stimulates changes in your brain chemistry, which you might think, "Oh, I guess they do deep breathing with yoga, and with meditation". There are lots of techniques that help people relax by doing this deep breathing accompanying behavior. That's because it actually slows down the brainwaves, makes you less excited, increases more oxygen into the system, and creates a sense of well-being. When you combine that with closing your eyes and imagining yourself in a very nice place where you like to vacation, the combination of visual imagery and relaxation through deep breathing can really limit stress levels, especially when used with other good psychological treatments for stress management and relaxation. I would encourage you to explore several of those. Have a couple of slow deep breaths and close your eyes, and try and forget the situation that's setting you off. It will really put you a long way toward not needing to have that cigarette.
How can I avoid smoking when all my friends smoke?
I would encourage you to figure out what goes on between your friends, their cigarette and you and your cigarette. Are you smoking because they smoke, or are you just reminded to smoke when you're in settings where you're all together ? If your whole crowd smokes, you're going to have a tough time living life without cigarettes. You may want to make some new friends, some non-smoking friends, to hang out with initially, otherwise the relapse rate is very high in people who really have an entire environment around them smoking. What can you do with friends who are smoking, well first of all, ask them to respect your decision to quit. Secondly, don't be exposed to their second hand smoke. Explain to them you're trying to quit smoking, you're trying to avoid all the toxins and the addiction, and you don't want to be exposed to their smoke, especially in your hair and in your clothes, because you go home smelling just like a smoker. The other thing is where you're hanging out with people who are smoking, maybe you need to sit farther away from them, maybe you need to go to places where smoking is not allowed, and they have to go outside to smoke. So do they respect your choice, or are they really good friends ? Do they care that you're trying to make this change in your life ? All of those are questions you need to explore when you say, it's really when I'm around my friends that I can't seem to avoid smoking, and do something about that, because that's going to go for the rest of your life. You're never going to live on a planet where no one smokes.
I feel like I'm constantly craving a smoke, will these cravings ever end?
The real nicotine cravings that go on in your brain cyclically, maybe every 20 minutes, every 60 minutes, that just make your stomach queasy and make your throat dry, wanting a cigarette, are temporary and limited. It will go on, after you quit smoking, for 2 to 6 weeks and then it gets better. In fact, for some people, at day 5 to day 7 they start noticing the cravings diminish. But if withdrawal symptoms and craving, craving being one of the nicotine withdrawal symptoms, if that's really what's gotten you trapped, you really need to talk to someone about some medications that control craving. Because nicotine replacement, bupropion and verinicline medications can really stabilize your need to have nicotine to create that sensation that's being set off by craving. Remember that it's not just the chemistry in your brain that makes you have a craving to smoke. So look for other triggers. Figure out, "What am I doing when I have this overwhelming need to smoke" and try and change the environment, what you're doing or what you're thinking. The other thing is, next time you have one of those cravings, force yourself not to smoke and look into your watch for 2-5 minutes. Do something else. Distract yourself. At the end of five minutes, is the craving still there, strong as it was before? I bet it's not.
Why do I feel sick once I've stopped smoking?
I've had some unusual complaints by patients who say "Oh, when I quit smoking suddenly I got emphysema, when I quit smoking I had this horrible cough, when I quit smoking I had a terrible sore throat, I had to go back to smoking Dr. Ferry". The reality is that cigarette smoking does have a wide range of affects. Some people who smoke menthol, for example, and quit smoking menthol, which anesthetizes the airways, are finally having their nerve endings come back to life and not be anesthetized, and so they feel a raw sore throat. Some people who are coughing when they quit smoking, thinking they are getting sick, are actually getting well. A cough is a good thing. It means that you are finally bringing up mucous and debris from your lungs. It is like spring-cleaning. Your lungs want to get well, and they haven't been able to get well before. The little lining hairs of the bronchial and large bronchus are now like elevators getting that stuff out of your lungs. They were paralyzed before when they were exposed to cigarettes and toxins. Not everything that changes when you quit smoking means that you are sick. It means that your body is adjusting to the changes of not being affected by cigarettes.
Can withdrawal symptoms make me feel sick?
Some people think withdrawal symptoms actually are sickness. Withdrawal symptoms really should not be looked at so negatively; it's your body re-adjusting, and your brain chemistry becoming normal again.