THE PERILS OF NON SMOKING
About 15 years ago I gave up smoking, having smoked 40 per day for many years. Since then I have been a compulsive non-smoker which I am trying to give up for health reasons.
Starting smoking is not as easy as people might think – you first have to reduce the number of cigarettes you don’t smoke each day by an amount equivalent to the number of cigarettes you are currently not smoking – and in my case I was not smoking at least 40 per day.
I initially tried to stop suddenly by cutting out not smoking completely – but my addiction to not smoking was too strong and it gave me major ‘drawal symptoms. I therefore tried to reduce the number of cigarettes I didn’t smoke gradually, by cutting up a few each day. This worked for a while and I managed to reduce the number of cigarettes I didn’t smoke to approximately 10 per day. One unfortunate side affect was that I lost weight and felt much more energetic due to reduced appetite.
However, social pressures took their toll and I found myself not smoking at least 40 per day again which enabled me to get back to my former plump and unfit state. As an habitual non smoker it really is embarrassing to stand in the smoking area outside a restaurant and have complaints from passers-by about you not smoking. Not only that, I really miss not being able to non smoke after a nice meal with my coffee and brandy. My breath has developed a strong lack of odour and the absence of nicotine stains on my fingers has definitely got worse.
I have tried hypnosis and acupuncture to reduce my non smoking without much success. I have also tried not wearing a nicotine patch and not chewing nicotine gum, which have proved to be equally ineffective. I am currently avoiding not smoking the occasional cigar and pipe to see whether this will help. The introduction of Ecigarettes is yet another minefield for me to have to deal with.
Hence my advice to all smokers is not to give it up in the first place – if you do - you could have serious difficulties in starting again.
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