Trying to Quit Smoking with AS

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I have been trying to quit smoking for a few weeks. After a few hours without a cigarette, it seems that most of my AS symptoms flare up. I have a harder time communicating and I have meltdowns more frequently. On the other hand, I can't stay focused.

I'm in my third smoke free week after about a dozen attempts over the years. I have tried every means known to man but a friend recommended a drug called chantix and it is quite remarkable. The patches seemed to make many of my AS issues more prononced especially lack of concentration and executive dsyfunction.

The Smoke-free life topic

Good for you two! I quit smoking 28 years ago. It is hard for Aspies, I guess. I had meltdowns for 6 weeks and dreams I smoked until about 5 years ago. I quit cold turkey, because in those days there was the nicotine gum but that just made me crave cigs. There were no meds, or patches.

It was horrible for about six months, but I persevered. i was determined to kick it, and the expense. I saved all the money that i would have spent on cigs, and later used it as a down payment on a house I bought with my now ex-husband. (He later gambled his half of the house away and I had to sell, but the point is you can save money and be healthy .

If you need support, we should start a stop smoking support thread! But there are a lot more supports now for help in quitting. There was almost zilch when I did it.

Keep us posted on this. You two have a lot of courage!! !

I've quit smoking too and I it definitely decreased my concentration. not all the time though, I used to only smoke on social occasions and now when I go out with people I really have a hard time concentrating on what they are saying.

my friend told me that I'm boring now as a non-smoker :p but I don't care. I feel much better without it and if something interests me I still can focus on it allright.

it made me more spaced-out on social outings, but that's about the only thing that had changed for the worse. maybe if I were a regular smoker I'd have become more "melty" like you but I really can't tell.

I hope you won't go back to it though OP, it's a terrible, filthy addiction, and most importantly- it's irrational! :p

I'm in between jobs right now and have 0 cash. That seems to be working rather nicely for me. Although, since I actually have a desire to smoke, I'll probably start up again once I can afford it.

Wellbutrin (or at least that's how I think it's spelled) is also great. My parents took it, and they quit smoking in 5 days.

I tried that but for some reason it didn't seem to work on me.

So far, I have tried cold turkey, the patch, the gum, and Commit lozenges. I don't think it's the nicotine as much as the repetition involved with smoking in my case.

Didn't work on my brother either, but he didn't even want to quit. But drugs work differently with different people. I don't need to try it, because I don't smoke, other than a Black & Mild once in a blue, blue moon.

Do not give up quitting topic

Some people have quit with laser treatment.

I'm about to jump back into quitting again, myself. Last time that I quit I researched it until my eyes bled. Like anything that I do, I gather up every fact about it, before I even do it. Here's what I found that may be helpful to anyone else:

http://www.quitnet.com/ is a good resource with lots of info. This book http://www.amazon.com/Easy-Way-Stop-Smoking-Non-Smokers/dp/1402718616/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1234448543&sr=1-1 has been the most recommended book, by far. I haven't bought it yet, but i plan to.

If you're a regular smoker the first few days of quitting your blood sugar will drop. Cigarettes make everything move through your body faster, so you will need to drink lots of juice, and reduce caffeine or you'll feel even worse.

You're going to need the juice, because cigarettes introduce a different bacteria to your stomach, and intestines that now your body has to adjust to doing without. You're going to get really constipated, and gassy. You're also likely to break out with pimples the first few weeks. It's really disgusting at how many chemicals that your body was taking in that now has to readjust to doing without. For some this isn't a big deal, but for others (like me) that are really, really addicted to nicotine it's like quitting heroine. My body freaks out.

The biggest reason that I failed last time (other than lack of willpower) was that I had not adjusted my routine before quitting. I needed to add something else to my routine to take the place of cigarettes. For me, this has to be exersice, because of how much weight that I tend to gain while quitting. If you adjust your routine to include something else to take the place of cigarettes you'll have a higher success rate.

Good luck quitting Maditude, and Garyww!

My problem is precisely that I can't find a substitute. I tried to quit twice and started smoking again because I missed having something "nice for me" that was almost always accesible to me. In those moments when I feel emptiness, anguish, loneliness, anxiety, worry, fear, boredom - I wish I could find something to cling to instead of the cigarettes. For me, any program that doesn't include finding a substitute is useless.

I've quit smoking an year and a half ago and it was one of the hardest thing I ever did. I went cold turkey because I hated patches and the taste of gum, and the first week I've been as sick as a dog. The cravings lasted at least 6 months and I was a complete nervous wreck (it was all for the best I didn't have a job, cause I was incapable to concentrate and had no patience). On the other hand, each day was something of a small victory and that kept me going.

I drank huge amounts of green tea - using a straw helped a little. Exercise is good - it made the cravings disappear for a few hours and took care of the weight problem. I still gained 4 kg, but got rid of them rather easy.

In the beginning, I used the money that went on cigarettes to buy myself something nice I wouldn't have afforded otherwise, to keep myself motivated.

Honestly, it was as bad as hell, but now I'm happy I did it.

(Talk to the people around you - if they know what you're doing they will cut you some slack and they might be more understanding and supportive if you have a meltdown).

And good luck - if you pull it through, the satisfaction will be great!

The other problem I have is the lack of support. The smell of coffee triggers my nicotine fits. I can go without coffee while trying to quit smoking, but nobody else in my household can. They also tell me to "calm down" when I snap. (Like that gets me to calm down. )

I used Wellbrutin (sold here as Zyban - I think the strengths and delivery are different and "quitting specific" too).

An American friend told me about wellbrutin which he had taken for depression...he said it's like you just can't be bothered to remember to smoke.

It was 2001, I was just diagnosed with early onset Emphysema/COPD. I had been noticeably ill for 3 years and saw it coming. I knew I would have to try and quit, but I didn't think I could (I used to smoke 50 a day and more if I could afford them), but as soon as I got the diagnosis I surprised myself by saying "ok, write up the prescription".

You are supposed to set a quit date and start taking the pills 3 or 4 days before...by day two, I ran out of smokes in the afternoon and couldn't be bothered to drive to the village for more.

Looking around the COPD boards it seemed to me that most of the people who succeed in quitting did that...just stopped in the middle of the afternoon one day...rather than last thing at night, or first thing in the morning.

It wasn't easy at all. I shut myself up alone (as usual) scrubbed nicotine off walls and ceilings, cleared out years of old documents, washed clothes and sucked on biros like a lunatic to distract myself. I also chewed strange things, like firelighters (seriously, I could get enough of them for a while) and the grey foam PC components come packaged in.

I also tried to eat as healthily as I could and started walking my little dog.

After 3 weeks I could visit with friends who smoked without risk...so I stopped the pills (wellbrutin makes things taste strange, not nasty, just unlike themselves, and that was weirding me out! ). It was six months before I was comfortable, but, within a year, to get a craving to smoke was unusual enough to talk about.

Now I have honestly forgotten what it felt like to smoke.

Some aspects of my concentration are impaired now.

Also, when I smoked, whenever I got too obsessed with what I was doing I would HAVE to take a break and smoke from time to time...and this break was GOOD for me...I had to learn to take breaks another way or function like taut wire in between periods of exhausted sleep...which really doesn't work.

I also gained weight that it took me 5 years to find a way to lose...but, my age (on the edge of menopause) made that far worse than it otherwise would have been.

On the plus side, I now have LOADS of money compared to when I smoked. I realised that I had a junkie's mentality while I was smoking...in that cigarettes literally ruled my life. I am far more relaxed and comfortable now...

...and, of course, diagnosed with moderate COPD in 2001 (that I had since 1998) if I hadn't quit, I'd be taking an oxygen cylinder for walkies for the rest of my life...

Good Luck

M

Last edited by mechanima on 12 Feb 2009, 10:46 am, edited 1 time in total.