it seems as thou all middle eastern men smoke. My husband knows we cannot afford it here as the price is so much more..

I was looking into the lazer therepy. Cost in Michigan is about 300.00 Has anyone stopped smoking this way?

I know it will be stressful enough ajusting here without the whole not smoking thing going on please share what you have done.

What is being lazered?

I don't smoke and Hicham doesn't smoke so I don't know about quitting, but I would think that the combination of the high price of cigarettes along with the health issues associated with smoking would be enough to quit. How, I don't know!

On my ex's pack of Marlboro's in Jordan, there was a picture of a diseased lung.

J

I think my husband has tried to quit about 5 times. It usually lasts about 4 days of torture, then he starts again.

Obviously I'm not the best person to ask about how to successfully quit.

He tried the patch--it made him really jittery/shaky/nervous.

He has tried cold turkey, and ended up in the emergency room (he had chest pains and thought he was having a heart attack).

I don't know what to tell you.

Good luck,
Carolyn

I've quit several times. You have to WANT to quit. If not, you won't do it, no matter what aids you have to help you.

Talk to him about why he smokes, and find out if he wants to quit. Otherwise, you're fighting a losing battle.

Good luck

My husband quit on nicorette gum. Had to be the "fruit chill" flavor coated 4MG. He hasnt smoked in over a year and over a year ago that was a relapse and there was a previous 8 months quitting before that. The relapse was due to cultural issues (parents coming over so he smoked with them) but now he has dealt with that and truly doesnt want to smoke again. His parents have been here since then for to be with our baby this summer and he didnt smoke at all, so I think knock on wood no evil eye that he is cured!

My husband tried auricular therapy (recommended by the ENT). That didn't work. He is going to try Chantix this week. Everyone we know who has done it has had good results if they stick with it.

Im not a smoker but I have heard of a special type of chewing gum that helps people quit smoking.

I've had quite a few friends stop smoking by using Chanitx. It's by perscription only. They say you have to stay on it though and I'm not sure exactly for how long. I'm going to get my hubby to try it when he gets here.

A country singer beat his wife then committed suicide while on Chantix and apparently it gives you hallucinating dreams so be careful.

Also my husband took the other pill for smoking cessation, i think it was zyban? Its essentially an SSRI (ie paxil, prozac, zoloft) that trials had discovered worked for smoking cessation as well. It didnt work for him plus had unsavory side effects since he doesnt need an SSRI. I would be careful with the pills, you dont want to mess with your brain you just want to quit smoking!

I think the nicorette gum works so well because you are getting nicotine and gradually reducing the amount without the nasty carcinogens. The gum chewing itself becomes habitual like the cigarettes were. The more you chew it and park it on the side of your mouth, the more nicotine you get so there is user involvement in getting the stimulant much like cigarettes. Only the nicorette coated ones taste good according to my husband. They are in mint, fruit chill and now I think they have cinnamon....

http://www.abcnews.go.com/GMA/OnCall/story...3085&page=1

there is a link to the article about chantix and the guy who died. Apparently he drank alcohol also but still....

If you google chantix and nightmares you will find a lot of articles on the subject.

We know about the vivid dreams aspect...my step-dad who was a 4 pack a day smoker stopped by using Chantix. My co-teacher has also stopped by using it. Each experienced different side effects. This basically is a LAST resort. He tried the equivalent of acupuncture on his ear, the patch, the gum, etc.

I agree that you have to want to quit. I started smoking in the girls' bathroom in Middle school. I think I was about 13 yrs old. I've been off and on since then. So far I think I've been off for 5 years now but I've gone longer than that and started up again. I think I had quit 6 1/2 years and when my husband left me I picked up THAT day and that stint lasted 3 years. What helped me the last time was 1) focusing on my children and 2) wellbutrin. I still crave it sometimes though. My mom's been quit for over 30 years and still craves it. Some say it's harder to stop then heroin.

My uncle did that laser thing and it didnt work. He still smokes but less than before so I guess thats a good thing. I agree that you have to want to quit. Even if you can't afford it and he wants to smoke, he will. Especially if he is buying them with his own money and its his only luxury then I don't know how you will be able to tell him he can't buy them.

Yep.

Hi, I don't know you, but what happened between you and your ex? Do you think he was a green carder?

i sent my husband the gum while he was still in Maroc and he didnt like it at all. one has to like the taste.

last December i got a script for Chantix on the advice of a friend/co worker who is a doc where i work.

husband did well and actually quit smoking! he did have side effects on his stomach which went away. no bad dreams though. he burps a lot.

the bad part was he thought using it one month was good enough. wrong. little by little he went back to smoking. i told him when he was ready we would get another script to try again.

he is now at the end of his 2nd month using it. so far so good. no desire to smoke.

i agree---NOTHING will work unless the person is highly motivated on their own. Chantix is to be used for a minimum of 3 months to be considered effective---longer in my opinion if one has smoked a long time. this is a consideration.

our first script cost $120.00 but if one figures in the cost of the cigs its around the same anyway. the hospital where i work has now become a smoke free campus so Chantix is now covered on our script plan ($20 a month).

i also caught a glimpse on TV that there is now an injection available to help smokers quit. i have never heard of laser for this. the idea of Chantix is it works in the brain telling the body it already has enough nicotine so the person doesnt crave it like it does with other methods.

bottom line is the person has to want to quit and also wants to lay out the money to do so. i know we are glad my husband has been able to be smoke free now for 2 months and counting.

chi

My husband and his family don't smoke (and neither do I or my family) but he said his parents smoked before he was born and then quit... he said they went cold turkey. Other smoker friends I know did the same thing and said it was the only way they could stay on the wagon. Sorry, I'm not any help!

oh how weird is it that when i read this thread i so want a cigarette????????

I do miss it.

I miss opening a fresh new pack and taking the foil off of the top.
I miss smelling a fresh one when I take it out of the box.
I miss the sound of the lighter/match when it ignites.
I miss that first puff.
I miss seeing the smoke come out especially outside on a frigid cold day.
I miss the rush of adrenaline that comes with it.
I miss the commaradarie (sp?) of being with the smokeres outside of the building. (I also miss the gossip that I'd score with them!!!)
I miss the look of a nice clean ash tray that I put the lit cigarette on.

What I don't miss:

Getting out of the shower smelling like my favorite shampoo and shower gel only to dry off with a towel that stinks of old smoke.
Getting into my car in the morning when it smells like stale smoke.
Hacking up half a lung when I wake up the morning after being with friends the night before smoking a whole pack probably during that night.
Tobacco bits on the bottom of my pocketbook.
Having to have the windows in my car be down 1/2 way so I can smoke in it and getting rained on and the cigarette getting wet.
Seeing cigarettes in a cup of water and the water's all gross orangy/yellow color from it.

I'm sure there's more but you get the pic.

Teach your kids how to take the cigs & toss the whole pack in the dishwater.

That's what I did back when I was 10 - and ... forced my mother to quit.

Are you familiar cap guns? I'd also take the exploding paper caps & stick em in the end of my mum's cigs.

( These things -> http://www.japan-toys.com/cgi-bin/us-goods.cgi?id=G-002 )

OMG you would sooooooooooooooo get a TIME OUT in my house if you EVER did that to me!!!!

Who said I got away with it?

Me too, doodle. But, I think I was skipping school w/my best friend & she would steal cigarettes from her parents. (Alpine Lights 100's- a very disgusting brand.... actually, they are all disgusting) I have quit on and off over the years, too. I started becoming a regular smoker around 19, and I quit several times. Once for 2 years, then I started again. Once for a year, and started again. Then, I just cut it down to about 3 or 4 cigarettes a day. And, I did that for about a year or two. It is very hard not to smoke again. Especially when I am around someone who is smoking. But, thank God, my husband and I have not smoked any cigarettes since Sept 15th of this year. I thought it would be harder for him to quit, but the sheesha has proven to be a bigger problem!!! Especially since he goes to the cafe every day to see his friends. My only concern is that he will not find sheesha in the states and he might go back to cigarettes if he gets a job & discovers the "smoking area". I am also worried that I will go back to smoking once I get around my mom & sister.

I promised myself that I would have my teeth whitened professionally as a treat to myself if I don't go back !!!!! I am currently trying to prove myself .... to myself.

nicotine is the PERFECT drug>>>

good as a pick me up when a quick energy boost is needed

great a a stress releiver when stressed out

so WHY does it have to be so bad for our health???

figures doesn't it?

I used to smoke Newport Lights. I didn't steel them my older sister would give me a bunch of hers but back then when i started she smoked Salem's. I would alternate between Newport Lights and Marboro Lights depending on my phase. I once had a year long Virginia Slims phase when I was in college. I've come a long way baby.



It's just not fair!!!

My husband has never smoked. I quit 17 years ago (in one more week). I just stopped.

Good Luck!

Doreen

i told my husband he MUST quit by the time he arrived in america (yeah, yeah, i don't know what i was thinking...)
and he did stop for the first two weeks he arrived... then he couldn't take it anymore and ran to the closest place to buy a pack. he's smoked ever since then, but only 5-6 a day. 5-6 too much for me! i know i can't demand he stop...he has to want to. and i'll wait until that day!

My husband says he'll stop smoking this winter. He has to go outside to smoke and he got tired of freezing his butt off last year. We've discussed Chantix, but he wants to try on his own first. He's gone from smoking almost 3 packs a day in Egypt to 1/2 a pack now. I'm proud of him that he's decreased how much he's smoked and I told him I'll do whatever he needs to do if he really wants to stop.

My husband was honest in that since he's still adjusting right now - he can't and really doesn't want to quit. He is attempting though to pull it back to 1/2 pack a day. He also knows he has to quit for at least 2 months prior to when we are ready to start trying for little ones. I don't think its something you can expect them to do in the first week here - unless its they really want to quit.

Definitely try the gum though - that might work.

I told Usama to bring as many cartons of Cleopatras as he can since that's the cheapest he'll be able to buy them in a LONG time!!

Moh bought a couple cartons of Marlboros duty free on his flight here. I told him to buy a few cartons of Cleopatras but he didn't want his mom to give him a hard time about buying so many cigarettes (she wants him to quit). Quitting smoking during the first few months of adjustment is virtually impossible for some of these guys (it was for Moh). It was really his own stress reliever and "buddy" for a few months. He smokes a bit less now than he did when he wasn't working. I don't know if he'll ever quit, that has to be his choice.