Five years time

Five years ago, in my mid thirties, I finally decided to do something that I should have done years and years ago. I learned to drive. Actually I started learning six years ago but it took the best part of a year to learn. (For those who just tuned in looking for advice on smoking...Don't try to quit when learning to drive). Good news is that I passed my test first time. Bad news is that I passed my test first time. The roads have always been full of idiots but now I got to be one of them.

Let's go back a bit. I did not need to drive. I had managed to keep some pretty good jobs without ever learning to drive. I had public transport sussed. I could walk for miles. I could drink at every occasion because I never had a car sitting and I was never driving tomorrow. Frankly driving looked pretty difficult to me. Also it seemed like you had to know at least something about cars and I didn't. It needed co-ordination and I hadn't. In my mid thirties I had never even filled a car with petrol. What's more, if I did start driving, I'd never be able to afford anything beyond a banger and I kept hearing friends talk about unexpected repairs that all seemed to cost £200+. Nope cars were not for me. When I did pass I actually thought to myself that 'someday soon this will be the very thing that kills me'.

Five years on and how things have changed. I travel between 13-16000 miles per year. That's half way around the equator every year. I love my car. My drivers seat ranks amongst the most comfortable places on the planet. You may not love my car but, to me, it's like having a jet propelled living room that takes me wherever I want to go with controls to hand for every comfort.

EXCEPT.....This week. Those who have followed my heroic efforts to give up smoking will know that, two or three weeks ago, there was an issue with my breaks. After 36000 miles the back ones needed replaced. But the garage couldn't settle for that. Nope. They told me that my discs also needed replaced. (Did I mention that I have no mechanical knowledge whatsoever?) Imagine how good I felt as i told them confidently to just replace the pads and let me worry about the discs. Imagine also, if you will, how stupid I felt last weekend driving my poor car home having turned some three week old breaks to dust and needing yet another repair. Yep. For once it would appear that the garage weren't lying although, in my defence, it was a caliper (only a vague idea how this all works) that had seized that killed my lovely new breaks. For four days I had no car and relied on colleagues for transport.

How the hell did I get to 36 without ever learning to drive? Thing is it's only now that I look back that I realise how much effort I put in to not learning. It's just like smoking. I coped so well as a smoker and put so much effort in to defending smoking that I never considered what it would be like to just, not smoke. So now this blog is going to have to go further than just a 'Not Smoking' blog. As a 'not smoking' or 'Champix' blog I've had readers from all over the world. I'm hoping that if I broaden the horizons of this blog then I can appeal to even more readers. I'm also hoping that those who have followed the non smoking might continue to follow. It's always nice to feel that there are friends around the world. You know what they say...A problem shared is...... keeping lots of people awake at night.

Stay Hooked...

T

Day 107

Hey folks

So I've gone for apple just as Zoe has gone for HTC. Maybe now that we've both stopped smoking we can make a career as phone critics. Now that I'm getting more used to the apple I reckon I could put up a pretty good fight but as an HTC user I know that Zoe would have some pretty good comebacks.

As far as the world of non smoking goes...

Nothing much to report this week folks. The project that was annoying me is officially over. As part of that I had to train a group of folk I know. That's never good as other trainers are the most pig ignorant bunch you'll ever meet. However they are now done and I hopefully wont find myself in that position again anytime soon. The fact that I got through the last eight weeks or so without smoking means that I can confidently predict that I'll never smoke again because, if I can resist against that provocation I can resist against anything.

A few weeks ago I talked about getting ripped off. I mentioned that my car needed breaks and that everyone wanted to charge way over the odds or do work that I didn't need. Well now it's me that has to look stupid as, the garage that did the breaks said the the discs needed done as well, turns out they weren't lying and now I've got to put my car in again. I'll have to pay for yet more breaks and a new set of discs. Bummer. Wouldn't be so bad if I hadn't felt so clever about telling them just to leave the discs.

Well I genuinely haven't much to add tonight so I'll sign off and update during the week. Cheers folks

T

Day 100

Yep you read it correctly....100 a century. 100 days ago I decided to start a blog about quitting smoking. At the time it was by no means certain that the blog would actually involve my quitting smoking. It was more about what would happen if a committed smoker did an experiment with Champix.

85 days ago I actually went for the first full day in at least ten years without a single cigarette. 9 days later on 24/02/10 I caved and smoked a cig. It's now more than 60 days since I smoked. I did not smoke at all during March or April and am now half way through May. It looks like I'll never smoke again.

So what's it like? Well Champix is supposed to make you not want to smoke and to find it sickening when you do. That didn't work for me. I didn't stop enjoying smoking and I actually found it pretty hard to quit. Anyone that thinks quitting with Champix is easy is kidding themselves in my book although, since starting this site, I have found people who thought it was easy.

Thirty odd years of smoking did not and have not dissapeared over night. In the early days it's actually hard to describe how painful it was to not smoke. Even now it rears it's head when I least expect it. That said I actually quit Champix after just six weeks and just carried on not smoking.

So what's stopping me? Giving up was shit and I really don't want to have to do it again. Not coughing till I get a headache or feel faint of a morning is pretty good too. Loads of folk say their skin gets better but I'm afraid mine looks worse and has done from the minute I stopped. I keep thinking it will get better but so far it hasn't. I also haven't felt the need to join a gym or take up jogging although last week I was out with the dog a couple of times which was quite nice. Will I live forever? Doubt it. Maybe I wont die of smoking though.

So now I'm cutting down on the drink too. Last week and this week I've pretty much cut out drinking on the school nights though I'm as bad as ever at the weekends. If I keep it up I could end up even healthier. To be honest cutting down the drink is more about money than health but it's got to be worthwhile.

The course that pissed me off so much last week is out of the way. Not my finest moment but good enough. I've got the same again with some of my colleagues this week and then that's gone forever. Good riddance.

This week I've also caved in and ordered an iPhone. Being a total geek I had tried to avoid the iPhone thing. Three or four years ago I got a Sony with handwriting recognition and satnav. It was almost a PC. Two years ago I got an HTC with windows mobile and a working version of office. It was a PC. I kept saying to iPhone users how everything they could do I could also do. Thing is it's getting to the stage where I'm trying pretty hard to keep up. That is, to keep up with what the average iPhone user is doing. The clever iPhone users are doing so much more. So now folks....I'm going to be a clever iPhone user and show everyone what can be done.

It's worth mentioning before I finish.... Zoe who I link to is still stopped smoking but, like myself, has stopped taking Champix way before time. Poet who I also link to is also now comfortably in to her second smoke free week and is beginning to find it easier. Stopping smoking is possible folks.

Speak again during the week
T

Day 92: The dark days are over

At 9pm tonight I was looking out the window and it was still daylight.

Up until 2008 we always lived in flats. Big nice comfortable flats but flats. Places where it's hard to park your car and people argue about whos turn it is to do what. In the winter of 08 we moved to a house. Don't get too excited we didn't win the lottery or anything but with the worlds banks in crisis we did punch a bit above our weight and moved to a semi-detached house with garden space and parking space etc. Last year was all about making said house a home and was a bit like hard work. This year we get to see the fruits of some of that work. Our garden that, as recently as Easter, was covered in snow is now a spring wonderland. Tulips, daffodils and loads of other yellows and reds and blues. Add a bit of sunshine and it's hard not to be happy.

Yep, I'm hell of a glad I stopped smoking when I did. It somehow seemed easier to cope with feeling like shit when the weather and the daylight and everything else were also like shit.

It's the first of May. That means that there have now been two complete months this year where I didn't smoke. Two and half if you count that I started stopping in February. Do I miss it? Well certainly not the way I missed it when I stopped. The way Poet and Kath miss it now. I wouldn't wish that on anyone and guys it will get easier. Nope I miss smoking a bit. Like Zoe said on her blog I sometimes go several hours and then notice that I haven't even had a pang. I think I miss smoking because I really wanted to smoke. Yep, I liked the smelly stuff. So, if no-one was looking and no-one would ever know, would I go back to it? No. I find it hard to believe myself but here's the thing:

I like not coughing
I like that I can get out of the house faster in the morning
I like that I don't need five minutes before I do anything
I like not being short of breath
I like being able to drink a whole pint at the bar (two or three if I want)
I like that no-one can imagine how I managed to quit. They think it's some sort of magic

The office I've been working in is in the middle of bloody no-where. As a result without cigs as an excuse there's very little reason to leave the building. At first that depressed me a bit but now I just go out and walk to end of the car park and back. It's something that all smokers understand. You need to get out every so often.

Now that I think I can pretty safely count myself as a non smoking success I'm beginning to wonder how to develop this blog into something else. I've quite enjoyed blogging.

I plugged in a piece of software called google analytics on 03/04 because I thought it would be interesting. Well I absolutely wasn't wrong. I have always had a counter at the bottom of the page but it only measures each unique IP address that visits and nothing else. Analytics does so much more. Analytics tells me that 456 visitors hit on 1662 pages in a month. Someone from Japan read 19 pages in one visit whilst there is at least one regular visitor from Australia, two from the states and several from Canada. That's in addition to those who have actually set themselves up to follow the site.

With that sort of reach on the world I'd like to carry on blogging. Any ideas for a new blog welcome....

T

Day 86

Holy shit. It's getting close to day 100!!!!

So you'd expect someone that hasn't smoked for around 70 days to be completely over the whole smoking vibe? Well actually I still miss it.

Today I was looking for something that required a new battery and discovered the remainders of the last pack of tobacco I ever bought. Don't get me wrong I knew the pack was there because I put it there back on the 24Th of Feb. The point is I've never looked at it since. I've not touched it, not thought about it not even looked in its direction until today. So why did it give me a twinge when I saw it? Truth is it's probably so dried out that it's worthless.

On the other blogs this week folk have mentioned the price of Champix. Here in the UK prescriptions for any meds cost a flat rate of £4. I've never liked that whole vibe about the fact that a ridiculously expensive cure costs less than smoking, but, it does. Yep. Like it or lump it Champix is a cheap alternative to cigs. Can I also point out that I stopped taking the prescription half way through.

The good weather is also trying to make an attempt to become permanent. Somehow it's easier not to smoke on a sunny day.

So now we head in to a new week. For me I'm going to meet the folk from my parent company in Europe that I've been criticising for the last three weeks. This week they head for the UK to see what I've been up to with their training materials. How do I tell them that I started again from scratch? As far as I understand it smoking is obligatory in their country so maybe I just have to offer them a cig before I introduce them to my new materials.

Good luck to Poet and Kath who are stopping smoking as we speak. Good luck to Zoe who has an exam to get behind her. Well done Peets who is just quietly getting on with the whole non smoking thing.

Speak to you during the week folks.

Stay hooked....

T

Quitzits

Yep....they are called quitzits. Once you know that you can search on that term and you'll find that the acne that is driving me nuts is one of the not so well kept secrets of giving up smoking. Giving up smoking that is and not any medications.

Lots of people suggest that these nasty little gits are the results of the badness (not sure if there is any chemical definition for this toxic nastiness)escaping however I prefer the rationale that: Smoking drys your skin. Over the years your skin starts producing more and more oils to defend itself from your constant assaults. It then takes a wee while after you've stopped for your skin to calm down on the over production hence the spots. For some folk they can last up to a couple of months (but no one seems to be harmed by them so not like cancer or emphysema or anything like that that you get with smoking)

This astonishing peice of research was yet another happy outcome of my favorite stalking software that I've spoke about on several posts now. As well as giving you the numbers that go to your blog and what locations they are from it also has other stuff like how they got to your page i.e. Google or blogger etc. Once you know how they got to your blog you can even find out what the search term that got them there was. Someone got to my blog via a google search for Chantix spots. Cool.

Even better I then tried this search which led me to quitzits. Even even better a search for quitzits led me to this blog which is fantastic and makes me feel distinctly uncool. Unfortunately this guy quit back in 2008 so it doesn't update but it's the best non smoking blog I've come accross. i also cut and pasted the video below from it. It's a bit on the long side but well funny. Enjoy the vid then go to the blog...



The blog is at: http://quittingsmokingagain.blogspot.com

Day 79

According to the counter it's 65 days quit.

If you want to get stroppy and hold that one against me on day 27 it's 53 days quit. That's two months in any ones book. That's a guy who in January was chain smoking 40 a day who now doesn't smoke. Anyone who has spent time with me will tell you that's not possible. I didn't even want to quit. Go read day 1. For me smoking doesn't go away it just gets easier to ignore. The advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

This weekend I was looking out to the Irish sea in the setting sun thinking that I would love to have spent that sunset with a cig. I would have it's true. I missed that beautiful peaceful cig as the sun went down that told me that all was well with the world. Especially in the quiet of the evening. Apparently the sunset was even redder with the Icelandic volcanic ash. I feel sorry for those who have never smoked as they have no idea what I'm talking about and probably never will.

The 'never have smoked' will also have completely missed out on the joys of a rasping cough every day or the joy that is knowing you're ill but not wanting to raise it as you're symptoms match those of a smoker so will be ignored. Yep, never having smoked means you've missed out on so much.

For every smoke I miss, and there are a couple I'd pay to get back, there's 100s that were just cigarettes. I could describe moments where even non smokers would want to smoke but, what's the point? As recently as two months ago I was dying of a self inflicted poison. I'm not now.

When I got home tonight I went for a beer in the pub. The bar maid was talking to a punter about giving up. I listened to patches versus Carr and cheered them both on. Who cares what works? Just as long as something does.

In middle Ireland there's a rush on red bull according to Zoe. Caffeine's not all bad you know. I'm with you're sister however in that coffee is the best way to take caffeine. 100 Coffees may give you a heart attack (need proof of this)but missing just one in the morning can have the same result.

In the past two weeks this site has been accessed nearly 300 times according to my stalking software. I'm truly global in that we have visits from UK, US, Canada, Australia, Ireland, Finland, India and Russia (Finland, India and Russia didn't really hang around but they were here).

Poet and K! Think you guys have to get tough on yourselves this week though you're doing pretty well. Don't know how it came about but my wife has a saying... Some days you eat the bears, Some days the bears eat you. Next week guys...Eat those bears

Quittin smoking is just so 2010. Don't miss out.

Sorry it's a short post but I'm just back. I'll update during the week.

Stay hooked.

T

Ups and downs

Hi folks

Another quick update.I've got a long weekend this weekend so you may wonder what's happened when there is no update on either Saturday or Sunday until Sunday night.

Now that the snow has finally stopped falling, the threat of major flood has diminished and sea tides have calmed to a suitable level I can get into what I call 'the season'. What is 'the season'? Well, this will make me sound older than the hills, the season is the time of year when I escape the city every weekend and go to a caravan in the far south of Scotland for some R&R. Don't worry, even close friends can't figure it out. You have to be 70+ to own a caravan don't you?

Well here's the deal: When you go to the caravan you forget about what you should be doing. At the caravan there's no decorating or monthly shop. There's no pressure to fill the day. If it's calm you could swim or fish. If it's not looking so good you could head for the pub. Ireland's only a couple of hours away if you fancy the ferry (you can see it from the coast at Port Patrick, Ireland that is not the ferry).

The only stress with the caravan was that it was a confined space that I wanted to smoke in. My wife hated me smoking, I hated the argument because if it was wild outside then I wanted to smoke out the window whilst she wanted me to go outside. This year I don't smoke. (Still feel I had a moral high ground that I lost). It makes me realise how many things in life change when you properly stop.

Lots of people limit where they smoke in the house. Weirdly a lot settle on the Kitchen as being the only room to smoke. Wrong! If there is one single room that you must never smoke in it's the kitchen.

People will marry a smoker thinking that they will change. Good luck with that...

Cigarettes are perceived to be dirty (ash etc). It's hard to imagine something more scientifically clean than cigarette ash. Any nastiness has been incinerated.

On the other hand: There was a thin (Pompeii like) film of ash over everything in my office always.

The office still smells of smoke and there were nights when I still smoked that it stank the whole house out. I like the smell and even I noticed it.

As a smoker I had got to the point where I wouldn't even consider leaving the house without having had two cigarettes. I reasoned that the benefit wasn't just mine but also who ever I was meeting. I'm not the brightest in the morning but without cigs I can actually mobilise faster.

When anything needs done you wont have to wait 'two minutes' till I have a cig.

I can go to meetings and training courses without stopping to smoke first. (More important than you think)

Yep being a non smoker has more benefits than you think. Retaining your smoking roots also endears you to smokers who, thinking about quitting or not, want to know the secret so they can use it at some future point.

Even my spot problem is clearing up and my skin is beginning to recover. When you've done this much self harm you probably don't deserve the benefits that come with stopping, but they come along anyway.

Don't quit quitting folks

Just quickly

Hi folks

Just wanted to do a very quick update. Zoe is still alive and in the world of not smoking so jump over to her blog and wish her well. Think she might be getting all anti smoker on us though. But, if it works, go with it I say. I also missed the fact that Peets has been on and updated. 13 days smoke free and sounding like it's going well. That's a fantastic achievement.



I really just wanted to let Poet and Kath know that I've got everything crossed for them. Good luck guys. If I can do it you can.



Finally, in a fit of messing around I've added a couple of those google ads that you see everywhere. The idea is that it might be money for nothing although I suspect that it's really a clever ruse to get us all to advertise but that actually very few people make anything from it. Anyway I mention it because I'd like you to let me know if it interferes with the site. If it does I'll take it off. Actually a couple of them look quite interesting but I can't click them because I think they pay by click and I'd get accused of cheating so I'll have to rely on you guys letting me know if they contain anything worth looking at.



Looking forward to hearing from everyone at some point through the week. Good luck to Poet and Kath.

Day 72

OK so I've got a blog that, even within one week, reaches across the globe. If I could just reach people from Russia and China I would have an audience from every major land mass on earth. 55 pages of advice and info on giving up with champix not to mention links with Allen Carr and 5 permanent followers (although poet is now following twice). How irritating is it then that a search for 'trying to quit smoking with champix' brings up a link to 'has anyone ever tried champix?' before my site? How the hell does that work?

After a pretty rough winter, one where even the older folk were admitting that it was worse than what they grew up with, today the sun shone and the temperature got up. Only one week ago we were screaming about snow at Easter and yet today I was out in a t shirt. The next few weeks are going to be all about nursing the plants and trees out of the snow damage and into the spring and summer. Love it. Only thing is it used to be great to do a bit of grass cutting and then stop for a smoke to review what you've done. It seems somehow less rewarding when you don't get a smoke at the end.

In just a few hours Poet and Kath will wake up to the world of non smoking. Guys I wish you all the best. It's worth pointing out that most people seem to find it a bit easier than I do. I'm really looking forward to hearing a success story from you guys. Look at Jason who got in touch yesterday. He only waited 8 days to stop but is now 5 days off the cigs. That's pretty impressive in any ones book.

So this is it folks. The sun is coming out and this year I'll not be the pale smoker that I always was. This will be the first year in living memory that I don't need several cigs and an hours worth of coughing to clear my lungs sufficiently to go about the day. I'm looking forward to it.

As always..If anything comes up I'll update you but otherwise I'll speak to you all next weekend.

It's a great week to be a non smoker.

Day 71

Day 71!!!! How the hell did that happen? Who could have predicted that 71 days after starting this blog I'd still be off the cigs?

This is a big week for Poet, Kath and Zoe. Within the next seven days each of them will attempt to go 24 hours without a cigarette. For Kath champix is making her feel sick. Although this wasn't a side effect for me it's the most common side effect of Champix and I believe it can be beaten with nothing more than something to eat prior to the pill. I believe that the act of chewing somehow stops the sickly feeling.

For Poet life might be a bit more complicated. There is some debate whether vivid dreams are a side effect of Champix or of giving up smoking. I didn't get them this time but they were the thing I was worried about. When I tried to give up with patches a few years back I had problems with dreams. I can't speak for Poet but with me it wasn't just bad dreams. We're talking day mares where it became difficult to work out where the dreams stopped and reality started. Poet, I hope everything is OK. The only plus point is that I didn't have dreams every night.

As far as Zoe goes... I'm hoping that the reason she hasn't updated her blog is because she's got a few nights out to get through this weekend. It will be interesting to read her observations on a few beer ridden smoke free nights. No pressure Zoe but Poet and Kath are on your case now so you got to get back to blogging.

From the stalker point of view I'm pretty impressed with my first weeks results. In just seven days this site has been found by: several UK locations, Ireland, Canada, Australia, finland and the US. To be fair the visitor from Finland was probably an accident as they left without vieing any pages. Pretty impressive though. Wish Jo and her friends were still here as she was somewhere with a 4 hour time difference.

For me giving up is now more about staying stopped. It's 57 days since I stopped and 30 days since the last puff of a cig I ever had. It does get so much easier to stay stopped but it's also surprising how often I get an urge to smoke. It's not a daily urge or weekly urge or anything like that. It's just an urge that creeps in when you least expect it. It's almost like a death. You think you're over someone then, in three years time, you go to do something and they are right back with you.

This week I've been working with someone that I've never worked with before. It's been good because we've hit it off and had a good gossip. Although we've never worked with each other we work with a lot of the same folk. The funny thing is that she had no idea that I had ever smoked and only discovered when I made a joke about doing my best work with an ashtray on one side and a beer on the other. It was a casual remark but it's the first time ever that I've found someone who was surprised that I smoked. Most are surprised that I dont.

2010 is fast becoming the year of giving up. I haven't really mentioned it here but another of my addictions is that I like to go for a couple of beers every night on the way home. Let's keep things in perspective. I never had more than three beers and then went home. Thing is at home there would also be cold cans in the fridge. Because money has been really tight, at the start of this year I've had to cut out the nightly visits to the pub. At first that was saving me some money but latterly has just meant that I need more beer in the fridge.

Everybody has a challenge to meet whether it be their weight or their fitness or whatever. For me the next big challenge is drink. Unlike smoking though I don't want to stop drinking. I want to moderate what I'm doing. So now I'm going to be keeping track of my drinking on here as well if no one minds. The aim is that over the next two weeks I'll cut out the weekday drinking. Only once that works out can I decide what to do about the weekends.

This blog should carry a health warning really. Following this on a regular basis could be seriously good for your health.

Zoe also mentioned setting up a chat room for restless smokers. Personally I think that would be a great idea and I'd set it up myself if I knew how. The only thing is that in the early days it might be very quiet. For what it's worth if it could be done and you could get some docs behind it, it could be one of the most successful sites on the web. If anyone has any ideas how to get something like that up and running give me a shout.

In summary folks. Kath, Poet and Zoe stop smoking this week. I'm going to cut down on the drink and you (the reader) are going to figure out how to make a chat room work. I'll probably blog again tomorrow but in the mean time.....

Stay hooked

A cautionary tale about cyberstalking

Hi Folks

Just a quick bit of geeky stuff I wanted to share with you that has nothing to do with smoking (or not smoking).

It's the Easter weekend and cold grey and miserable where I am. As a result I've spent a bit of time on my PC. This is never good as it often results in my aimlessly wandering about the net installing would be must have gadgets and gizmo's that, often as not, slow down or just plain kill my old PC. Will I ever learn? Hell no. I like it and for every 100 bad applications that I either download and delete or that try to delete me I usually find at least one good one that becomes part of my 'default installation' and that I recommend to friends who think I'm dead computer savvy as a result.

Results have included:

VLC media player that can play just about any media you throw at it
CC Cleaner that completely, forensically, removes your browsing history
AVG Anti virus. As irritatingly intrusive as Norton but free
Vistamizer. All the good bits of Vista, and now windows 7, without Vista or windows 7 (slows your start up though)
Divx and Xvid. Not quite sure what they do but if you struggle with a movie file one of these badboys will sort it out
Yahoo widgets. You probably shouldn't but you sooooo will want to. (Slows start up to a crawl)
Adaware. Kills tracker types dead
NCH Software. A variety of free stuff that helps with things like CD burning and web cams.

All of the above are free and, by my reckoning, essential. But now try this. Google analytics. It's something they used to sell that has now become free. It monitors your web-site and reports on things like how much traffic you've had and even where in the world it's from. I discovered this on Saturday and installed it straight away. By Sunday I had fascinating stats telling me what pages people had viewed, how long they spent on the site and even where in the world viewers come from. Fantastic. Wish I'd had it from the start. Today I spent a bit more time working with the various reports and found that I could find out how you got to: http://tquittinwithchampix.blogspot.com/
It showed me what site you had linked from like google or blogger. But, and here comes the stalker bit, there was also a site whose name i recognised from here. It was their personal blog. On their blog site they had a link to this site and someone, who viewed their site, must have clicked that link.

Of course I followed this and got to someones personal blog. I then felt guilty because if they had wanted me to go there they would have invited me. Suddenly I felt like a parent must do when they discover their childs diary.

Anyhow, no harm done, but be aware that when you access a site via a link, that link can work it's way right back to you. Can I also thank you for linking my blog from yours.

Having said all that. Install it, it's mad fun.

And by the way if anyone would like me to link their site from this one they are more than welcome. Just send me your URL and you can sit below Allen Carr and the NHS.

Speak soon

Day 65

Hi Folks

If you forget about the sneaky cig I had on day 27 it's now gone 50 days since I smoked. If you take it from day 27 then it's still fast approaching 40 days without a cig. Gone are the days when I spent every minute wrestling with the demons in my head. Nowadays it can be up to eight hours before I think about smoking. It does still hit me at some point most days but I can cope with that.

How's it going for Kath and Poet? They are just starting out at this and I wish them all the luck in the world. We've also been visited by Peets who quit on day 9 of Champix and, reading between the lines, is possibly still considering whether he might just manage a sneaky one. If you are thinking about a sneaky one or worrying that you'll never stop missing smoking then it's probably time to use the link to Allen Carrs book at the side of the page. I know, when Kelly sent it I slagged him off a wee bit, but he does have some stuff that might get your head where it needs to be when it comes to staying stopped. I actually do know someone who quit using his method alone.

This is also a big week for the blog. Why? Well despite having almost no online presence, despite the fact that even people who know about the site can't find it unless they type the exact terms, the counter at the bottom of this page says that we're going to have 100 hits any moment now. I'm chuffed with that. Unlike most people I don't have an online life. I'm not a technophobe, quite the opposite, but, and I'm maybe showing how unhip I am when I say this, I'm not on Bebo, Twitter, my space etc. The last time I even thought about doing something like that was friends reunited. I got put off a bit by all the spam they sent me and have avoided it ever since. To this day they still send me emails.

So this is my online life and 100 individual ISPs have found this site. Ok between work , home and the laptop three of those ISPs are mine. Two probably originate from the wife and the same again from my mum. But it's still a lot of folk discovering a diary about smoking (or not smoking as the case may be). It would be nice to get an update on how everyone is getting on. We started with Jamie T, then Kerry B, then the mysterious Jo with the time difference. Thanks to Jo we gained Kelly and Allison. Then Kerry Homes joined and most recently Poet, Kath and Peets. If all of us do well then we've cost the tobacco industry thousands already. Scary thought.

I'm not going to get too excited by all this discovery though as I posted a question on training zone on Friday night and it had been read almost 70 times by Saturday night. Now that is online presence.

This week!!! well I've got my head down working on some stuff that my parent company in Europe (where smoking is often mandatory but somehow safer) want my UK employers to implement. It's a great lesson in cultures. In the parent company when they introduce a change they just introduce it. They get their workers together, a few hundred at a time, and tell them what's changing and the workers just go with it. When they ask us in the UK to do the same, we create a project, appoint a team to work on it full time, and report daily on why it's the wrong thing to do. Where I work there is a drugs and alcohol policy with random testing. At our European HQ the vending machines have measures of wine amongst the options. You cant see the 'no smoking' signs in their pubs for smoke. We get arrested for ignoring them in our pubs. It makes us seem more up tight and yet, when you deal with them, it seems that us Brits stress them out more than they do us.

Why am I telling you this? Because I'm having to get all creative and clever about training material to impress them. Traditionally that should involve a marked increase in smoking on my part. But not this time. So what will be the effect???

Stay hooked to find out.

Day 60 - quick update

Hi folks

I just wanted to do a quick update as a couple of folk have found the site and left comments and also because I'm embarrassed to admit that I also missed a contributor last week on 24/03. I don't like to miss people when they leave a comment because it cheers me up and makes me feel like I'm perhaps doing something useful.

To the person who left a comment on the day two blog last Wednesday. Hopefully you are now a week in to the Champix and feeling better. If your symptoms do persist or get worse let us know in your comments as Jo and Allison had trouble when they started but haven't stopped quitting.

Yesterday must also have been a big day for not smoking as the site gained one new follower and also got another comment anonymously. Both are from people about to embark on their Champix journey and I genuinely wish them both luck. You wont have to read to far into this site to discover that every experience is different and I'd really appreciate it if you could update us with how you guys get on.

The reason that I'm so keen for people to keep in touch and let us know how they are doing is because when I was considering taking the drug I found it hard to find a general unbiased site. There were plenty that wanted a worldwide ban on the suicide drug whilst others wanted a sainthood for Pfizer. Truth seems to be that the drug is a mixed bag and that results can be wildly different. I started taking it because I knew someone who had used it successfully with only the expected side effects of Nausea. I only needed half the prescription despite being possibly the most committed smoker on earth. Others have stopped quicker than me whilst others have just felt ill from day 1 and been unable to continue.

For me the blog is no longer about Champix because I'm off the Champix for nearly two weeks. For me it's about the longer term irritations of giving up smoking. I'm off it and I'm staying off it and I've even managed to become convinced of that. But I was never one of those smokers that wished they could give up all the time and complained about their health. I liked smoking and I suppose in an ideal world where there was no health impact would still smoke. That aside I'm actually a bit stunned that I've stopped and even more stunned that I feel as if I could stay stopped. Don't get me wrong my mantra still holds true: I'll never be more than one cigarette away from 40 a day. (that could be the start of a poem). What does Poet think?

Yesterday evening after work I got a very sudden and quite severe pressure headache. Nothing to do with smoking or Champix. I was coming up the basement stairs and it just got really sore really quick. It died down to a dull ache after a couple of hours and has remained that way since. Why do I mention it? First time I've felt not well since quitting. Luckily I'm of pretty good health in general and it's about two years since my last day off work. I mention it because even after 6 weeks or so of not smoking the odd event crops up that my body isn't prepared for. Despite the fact that smoking would have done no good what so ever the craving kicked in the minute I felt unwell. 30 odd years of training doesn't disappear over night. The good news is it passed almost so quickly that I didn't notice.

Don't quit quitting folks. I'll catch up with you all at the end of the week if not sooner....

Day 59

Wow! A week really is a long time when you're not blogging.

Day 59, and the start of April, meaning that I've been on this project for nearly three months and off the cigs for almost two. It's 22 days since I even had a draw of a cigarette on 24/02/10. It's 11 days since I took my last Champix. Even by Alan Carr's reckoning I'm now a non smoker.

To the casual observer it may not seem much but, to anyone who has stuck with this site or anyone who knows me, it's nothing short of amazing to think that I really don't smoke. I'm not sure what my doctor will think when they discover that I didn't bother renewing my prescription with Champix. To me it all seems good.

I'm also finding it hard not to recommend to other smokers that they give up. Not because I gave up or because I don't like them smoking. Not because I've succeeded and know that they could or because of some Alan Carr type wish to help. I want to recommend giving up smoking because, as a heavy smoker that didn't want to quit, Champix made it realistically possible to quit.

From a health point of view my cough went away within a couple of days of stopping. Being truly lazy I've no idea if my lung capacity has significantly increased however it certainly hasn't decreased nor can you hear my breathing. I still clear my throat a lot suggesting that there's still badness to come up and I still have spots on my face that I never had as a smoker although they are beginning to die down. I also still get nagging urges to smoke. They don't even begin to compare with what a smoker would normally get but they do still occur. The reason I can ignore them is not because I'm strong. It's just that if I picture smoking in my head it doesn't seem to answer the craving. I still remember that cig back on day 27 and think that, what I want must taste better than that.

From a social point of view smokers don't annoy me and I probably side more with them than with non smokers. I'm almost apologetic if I meet a smoker and they ask where I've been. To be honest I really didn't want to become some sort of ex smoker that couldn't stand smoking. Also I personally still don't find the smell of smoke offensive. I had a smoker in my car earlier this week and was happy to let them smoke provided they opened the window. Whilst they smoked their whole conversation was about how amazing it was to them that I didn't smoke.

From a temperament point of view I'm a bit worried. This week I've felt almost as if I've got the word 'mug' (where I'm from that means idiot) tattooed to my forehead. I needed new brake pads for my car. The manufacturer wanted three times the price that anyone else wanted and then the other places prepared to do the work all wanted to tell me that I needed more work done than I actually required.

I also wanted to upgrade my membership status of a professional body that I belong to. In order to upgrade they want me to provide all sorts of information, recommend a client that would verify what I have said (lies and all) but, and this is the rub, also pay them £500. Even worse the £500 is a special offer price and will increase if I don't take up their offer now.

Finally I'm in the process of changing my bank accounts because my present bank want to charge me £1 per day to bank with them. When I phoned one of the companies that I pay a direct debit to I got an Indian call centre. I need a call centre agent to be fully conversant with my language. I don't care about their sex, age or ethnic origin but English MUST be their first language. To my shame I found myself almost screaming at a poor person over the phone. Not because of my direct debit, not because I'd been on hold, not because I could see on my PC that the info that they had was wrong but, because they just couldn't understand what I was talking about. I hate that. I keep saying that it's got nothing to do with giving up smoking that people are upsetting me but, maybe it has. It's not Champix because I've stopped that over a week ago. I just am in a mood to kill the next person that thinks they can rip me off. Look out chancellor.

Yep. This week was also the budget and cigs went up once again. Apparently only Cider drinking is worse for your health than smoking. Beer and spirits increased in price but cider went through the roof with an increase of 10%. A 2 litre bottle of white lightening might cost about £2.20 now. I could just imagine the Chancellor saying 'what do you make of these apples darling?'. Fuel also went up but, we should somehow feel good about that because, although we will lose our jobs and homes as a result, the planet and government will be much better off. Aaaahhh!!!

The clocks also went forward this week but I for one won't be loosing any sleep over it. Boom boom.

No comments this week so I'm assuming that my fellow quitters are all doing well. Good luck folks. Until next week......

Stay quitting!

Day 52

Hi folks

Felt a wee bit weird not updating the blog every night before bed. Truth is though there's not a lot to blog about.

It genuinely does get easier to not even think about smoking every day now although it does still hang around in the background niggling every so often. Met a guy I've known for years the other day. He offered me a cig within about two seconds of meeting me. He expected me to decline because he knows that I'd rather roll my own but was a bit surprised when my reason for not taking one was that I wasn't smoking. Shame though, turns out he's asked his doc for Champix but the doctor said something stupid like, 'there are other methods of giving up you know'. Personally I'd go to a different doc.

Even if Champix doesn't work for you you should be allowed to try it provided you aren't clinically depressed or suicidal. I think some doctors don't like prescribing it because it costs the health service a lot. Like smoking doesn't!!!! At least now I've given up people will take me seriously if I do get any sort of Chest complaint or cough. For the last 30 years every wheeze has been blamed on smoking. Now it looks like I can actually get ill if I want without having to give anything up. Yippee.

Had a shower earlier on then had a bit of a facial to start the week. As a heavy smoker I always used to try to make sure that I had a pretty thorough facial once a week. Us guys have the additional problem of scraping with a razor every day so it's important to look after our skin. So First I softened with warm soapy water, then exfoliated, then shaved and then used an after shave balm before getting into the shower. After the shower I applied a q10 moisturiser. So am I looking fresh for the start of the week? Nope I look like a spotty teenager going through puberty. I understand that depriving my body of a drug that it's depended on for thirty years was always going to have an effect but I didn't expect this.

Lots of people say the first thing they noticed after giving up was how their skin looked better. If mine gets any worse it will resemble the surface of the moon.

Anyhow, another week looms large. Suppose I better get my beauty sleep. If anything wild happens during the week I'll update you but, if not, I'll definitely update on Sunday. Alison, maybe you can start a blog about what it feels like to go cold turkey on the no-smoking blog. Lol. Hope everybody's managing OK with the no smoking.

Speak soon...

Day 49

Hi folks

Alison, can I just clear something up before I continue. I'm giving up taking Champix. I'm not going back to smoking. It's because I'm so convinced that I'll never go back to smoking that I don't think I need to take any more Champix.

By not taking Champix over the next few days it should become quickly obvious whether my non smoking is actually drug induced or whether I have successfully quit smoking for good and can afford to think about facing the rest of my life without Cigarettes.

Another weekend looms and I'm going away for the next two days. That can be interesting because the only pangs I get for smoking now are the odd occasion when I face a scenario, linked to smoking, that I haven't already faced yet and my brain seems to forget for a couple of minutes that I don't smoke any more.

It's like last Sunday before I went to my mums. My wife had headed off to her mums and I wasn't going to my mums for two hours or so. As I wasn't driving I had a couple of hours to drink beer and watch the football. Suddenly I had all the opportunity in the world to have a sneaky cigarette and no-one would ever know. My brain suddenly started that old familiar routine of making excuses about how 'just the one would be OK' and 'it didn't mean that I had failed to quit'. If a tree falls in the woods when there is no one around to see or hear it, does it make a sound? I think it does. If I had a cigarette and nobody ever found out about it would it make a difference? I think it would. I said it early on in this blog and I meant it. I will never be more than one cigarette away from a forty a day habit.

I've been off the cigs long enough now to know that when my brain mounts one of these increasingly rare attacks I can beat it quite easily. What's more each time I win makes it me more confident that the next time it will be even easier. So I expect that this weekend will throw up some scenarios where my brain will think I should smoke. These probably have nothing to do with addiction and are things purely related to a habit built over a thirty year period. Of course I wont smoke over the weekend. Will I miss Champix? That bit I don't know but I don't think I will.

That's what I'll be reporting on on Sunday. Till then...

Day 48

It's gone. There are no little blue pills in the pack any more. This morning I took what I intend to be the very last Champix I ever take. I do have the prescription and I'm not daft enough to not use it if I think I'm going to smoke. Thing is I'm not going to smoke so I wont be using the prescription.

Yep smoking was a bit of a pig to give up but it's done. For me Champix didn't really intrude too much so I'd like to think that it's also done.

If I put myself back to January, I was about to try and stop doing something I liked and my method was to take a pill I didn't trust to help me do it. Success wasn't exactly built in to my attempt. This probably wasn't helped by the fact that I've seen so many quit attempts fail that I have a deep mistrust for anyone who suddenly says they don't smoke.

So here you have the facts. The danger pill didn't have any of the effects it claimed although it undoubtedly did make it easier to get to not smoking back on day 15. Probably the lack of side effects should have rung alarm bells because days 15-27 were pretty rough and, whilst they may not have been cold turkey, they weren't anything near what Champix promises. Champix is supposed to halt the cravings and numb the sensations if you do smoke. I'd say it's effects were very limited and no where near the claims on the pack.

I now don't smoke. People are even losing interest in how I'm doing or how I feel. I just don't count as a smoker any more. I'm 41. I could reasonably expect to fully recover from smoking by 50 and even fool doctors in to believing that I never smoked. That's a pretty good result. In my life there are other things to deal with but removing smoking from the mix will help an awful lot.

On Friday 29/01/10 I started this blog to chart a daily progress report of stopping smoking. This Friday, seven weeks to the day I'm going to start winding the blog up. From Friday I only intend to update once per week (On a Sunday). It's not that I don't enjoy blogging but I'm running out of ways to say that I'm still not smoking.

Could this really be it? Stay hooked...

Day 47

Hiya. Plan is that tomorrow I take the last of the Champix.

Today I had none and tomorrow is the last pill of that prescription. In my head tomorrows pill counts as a 0.5g dose for both Wed and Thurs which, rather neatly I feel, means that I will have completely given up smoking within 50 days. There's a marketing campaign in there somewhere. If 50 days sounds like a lot try looking at it another way:

I've smoked for 30 years. For the first 15 days of taking Champix I continued to smoke. 35 days ago (that's five weeks) I stopped smoking. I had a sneaky cigarette on day 27 (just three weeks ago) and haven't smoked, or come close, since. In my book that's a pretty good result. In fact it's a bit of a miracle. Ask anyone that knows me. If you're going to try this get folk to bet first. I'd have made a fortune.

If you've stumbled across this page and not read the blog leading up to it you may think that I'm stopping the Champix because it's making me ill. Not so. They didn't even give me the nausea that almost everyone reports. I'm giving them up because I feel confident that I don't need them. If the single best thing that a smoker can do for their health is give up smoking. I've just done the single best thing a smoker can do for their health.

I have a prescription for the next 4 weeks and, after that, should get another for two weeks. I'm hoping not to use these. Ridiculous as it sounds I wasn't keen on taking Champix and amn't keen on continuing with it any further than I have to. I feel certain that I've stopped smoking so feel certain I can stop Champix. I'm not scared to recommend it to anyone but neither am I comfortable that it's safe. I don't like the fact that it hasn't even been tested with alcohol or that nobody seems to know exactly what it's impact is on pregnant ladies or patients with liver problems. The medication just says seek medical advice but from what I can see there is no specific medical advice. I also don't like anything that affects your brain that hasn't been tested over more than one generation. Didn't thalidomide promise a miracle cure?

Thing is I needed to stop smoking and I have. That's job done. Allen Carr's method carries far less risks and you'd probably feel even better if it worked for you but... Read it, if you are any kind of smoker then that's not going to work. Sorry Allen but, if all it takes is to convince yourself that you don't smoke, then I'm convinced I would have tried it before now.

Of course this could all fall apart and I could smoke again in a week a month or a year. I don't think that's going to happen and yet previously that's exactly what I thought would happen. For the first time in my life I not only don't smoke but I also don't want to smoke. For that reason I don't feel that it will fall apart but, even if it did, my lungs have had a very good break. I haven't coughed for more than a fortnight. I don't spit solid stuff. My body needed the break. The longer the break the better. Pity about the spots though. Convinced they are related to stopping and they make me look like a teenager with cleanliness issues. Teenage boys survive cleanliness issues and I'll survive the spots. If that's the only payback it's a cheap price.

Until tomorrow...

Day 46

Yesterday was a bit of a milestone. Being mothers day I went over to my mums and got drunk with my step dad because mothers love that as I'm sure you know. Yesterday was however a landmark as I didn't have any Champix. I decided with my last pills that I would have one every other day to simulate the 0.5mg dose that I started on.

What was it like? We're not just quite as clever as we think we are us humans. Within minutes of not taking the tablets I was desperate for a smoke. Or was I? Think the brain was just playing tricks on me. Decided that if I wasn't taking pills I must smoke. Of course I didn't and after about half an hour the cravings were gone. Today I had a tablet but tomorrow I wont and then I'll have the final one on Wednesday. If all goes to plan I'll be living proof that:

-You don't even need to want to give up to succeed
-That even the common side effects don't happen to everyone
-That it's probably worth having at least one cigarette after your quit date to reassure you that they taste bad
-That Allen Carr is correct about never even taking another draw of a cigarette after you have had the cigarette I mention above (in fact he doesn't think you should have that cigarette)
-That three months of Champix is excessive even for a heavy smoker like me

Today hasn't been all about smoking. For large parts of the day smoking wasn't even on my mind. Let's not forget that just four weeks ago I wasn't just a smoker but was defending smoking to the hilt. I haven't decided yet when it is that I can officially say that I've stopped quitting but it's feeling like it will be some time very soon. What will I have to blog about then??

Until tomorrow....