Quitting Smoking, personal experience and guidance

[Guest guest]

Dear members,

 

The mails on smoking brought the memories of gloomier part of my

life. Made me a little emotional. There are hundreds of web-sites on

this topic.

 

Contrary to my normal practice, I am writing this post in first

person. I smoked for 23 years. Tried quitting at least 100 times! The

best achievement of my life is that I could quit finally. The

medicine which helped me was "love". The constant persuation by wife

and a friend ultimately did the trick, that too after eight years of

marriage. I am indebted to both.

 

Here come the thoughts and receipe...

 

How to quit smoking

Recommendations based on a personal experience

 

The cardiac problems in young generation are increasingly being noted

in last few years. One primary reason for this is smoking. Despite

small print warning on the cigarette packs, smokers are unable to

quit the habit. Many patients are unable to quit even after an attack

or coronary bypass surgery. They wish to quit but addiction is so

strong that attempts do not succeed.

 

Think seriously about quitting the cigarette. The long term benefits

may surprise you. The reason for quitting must be important for you.

You may wish to go by the advice of your health advisor, wife or

children, but your decision must be firm. Only the firm inner urge

will bring you success.

 

The benefits of quitting the smoking:

The correlation between smoking, lung cancer and other respiratory

diseases is well known; but smoking causes many other serious

problems:

· The heart diseases and strokes are mainly caused by smoking;

· 49,00,000 persons meet the death due to nicotine alone, as

per the estimates of World Health Organisation. They estimate that

upto 2030, the deaths will be maximum due to nicotine, nearly One

Crore per year globally.

· Smoking decreases the desirable HDL Cholesterol.

· The smoker is likely to cause the respiratory infections to

his children also.

· Your blood pressure increases even with one cigarette,

causing additional workload on heart. Even chances of clotting in the

blood and pulse rate increase. The blood vessels contract and harden

due to smoking.

 

Better future:

You may be smoking for a number of years; however quitting it reduces

your chances of heart disease. The chances of such a disease three

years after quitting become equal to those for a non-smoker. It is

very difficult to quit before you get a stroke. Even if you have

experienced one stroke, quitting smoking reduces the risk of second

attack.

 

Nicotine is a natural chemical in tobacco leaves, a chemical which

causes the addiction. It becomes as serious as Heroin or Coccaine

addiction. Even one puff of cigarette sends nicotine directly to the

brain. It causes secretion of chemicals which encourage to smoke

more.

 

Decide to quit in sufficient advance.

 

Keep a note of quitting date in Calendar or diary and inform about

your decision to your family, close friends. Develop physical and

mental ability and preparedness before quitting date. Few days before

and few days after the quitting date, ensure that mental tension is

not likely to develop. Instead of quitting suddenly, it is better to

quit gradually. About four weeks in advance, plan as follows:

- Reduce the quantity smoked by 25% every week;

- Choose a brand having lesser nicotine content or a brand

which you dislike;

- Reduce quantity and smoke lighter brand mixing the previous

approaches;

- On the day before the quitting date clean your environment

free of smoking thus:

o Throw away all cigarettes, lighters, ash-trays.

o Remove ash-tray from your car.

o Wash all clothes emitting nicotine smell

o Inform friends, family members and colleagues about your

decision so that they do not offer you a cigarette;

o Try to sleep peacefully previous night. Implement quitting

since next morning. Start the day with a little exercise and

nutritious breakfast. Assume yourself a healthy person from that day.

Congratulations!

 

Withdrawl symptoms:

If you start craving for a cigarette, remember the firm decision to

quit. Take a few deep breaths in outside fresh air. Mood changes,

miserable feelings, depression, lack of sleep, headache, indigestion,

gases, constipation are the usual experiences. For four to five days

your patience will be tested. However, the craving will reduce in

about two weeks. The addiction remains psychological rather than

physical. Psychological addiction, if smoking for five or more years,

never disappears. Your brain black mails you that it will not clear

bowels and make you miserable unless you offer it a cigarette. Hence

it is prudent to take some ayurvedic laxative a few days before you

quit. By adopting the usha pan chikitsa, exercise, morning walk,

nutritious food, healthy entertainment, the happiness will increase

and some weight gain may also be seen. To win over the depression, a

tea made of ginger powder, 11 Tulsi leaves and jaggery or crystal

sugar to taste can also be used.

 

 

 

For those residing in Maharashtra, India, ayurvedic medicines

equivalent to those mentioned in other mails are available. Every

cigarette will cause such a sensation that person will not like to

smoke anymore.

 

And for those who want to quit alcohol, a medicine which causes

immediate vomit of the alocohol after drink is also available at

Trimbakeshwar, Dist Nasik, Maharashtra, Inida. However, the desire to

quit is most important.

 

Dr Bhate

 

ayurveda, curlymo <curlymo24> wrote:

> I was noticing some e-mails about quitting smoking and

> I want to mention what I did that helped me quit after

> trying for soooo long and trying everything.