I know you've heard all the scary numbers.
One sticks out for me because one of my uncles had lung cancer.
That one statistic is that smokers are 22 times more likely to get lung cancer than non-smokers.
I am a diabetic and a former 2 pack-a-day smoker.
I quit about 22 years ago.
I've had diabetes for the past 5 years.
When I was a smoker, I probably quit hundreds of times, sometimes more than once a day.
I think that means that quitting is easy.
However, not starting to smoke again is the really tough part.
Working to stop smoking is a very serious matter and a big problem for many people around the globe.
There are two distinct parts to cigarette addiction.
The addiction to nicotine and the mental addiction.
Many clinical studies show that the nicotine addiction leaves your body in 48 to 72 hours.
That leaves the mental addiction part.
From my experience, this is the hard part.
There are many products available.
All of them claiming to be exactly what you need to quit for good.
So...
how about the smokers who are reading this? First, if you have diabetes and smoke, you have all the motivation you need to quit.
Here is a quick overview of the products on the market today to help people quit.
Smokeless Cigarettes This seems to be not much of a solution.
It is relatively expensive.
They contain nicotine so do nothing to help with the nicotine addiction part of cigarette addiction.
The only thing it does is let you fake smoking in places where smoking is not permitted.
I know several people who bought and tried these.
All of them still smoke and most probably can't even find their smokeless cigarettes now.
I was out with a person who used one of these in a restaurant and someone quite rudely told them they were in a no smoking area.
Patches and Gum These work but they only focus on the physical addiction, mainly nicotine.
I read several articles that talk about the physical addiction part of smoking leaving your body in 48 to 72 hours.
There was a recent national news article that stated that over 85% of the time, these solutions fail.
The commentator interviewed a doctor who thought most of the failures were people who were trying to quit but were not really committed to quitting.
This is a very important point.
All of the patches and gums have side effects, some of them can easily cause a smoker to stop trying to use these products.
Prescription Drugs Millions are spent every year advertising these products.
The husband of one of our friends was using one of these drugs to help him quit smoking.
He died in his mid 40's.
He was a reasonably healthy person who played ice hockey competitively.
There is a pending lawsuit so I'm going to stay away from any details.
Again, all of these can only help with the nicotine addiction, not the mental addiction.
Self-Help Plans, Books, Classes There are literally hundreds of products.
I found 334 of them on just one web site that sells e-books.
Are any of these any good? If so, how can you possibly find one that will help you? I spent some time studying their offers.
I looked for products that have some useful qualities.
- It should have some kind of money back guarantee.
- It should have a reasonable price.
- It should have been on the market long enough to have a reasonable number of sales and followers.
I also think all of them can fail for any person trying to quit.
I think it comes down to how much each of us really want to quit smoking.
Those of us who have diabetes and smoke should have all the motivation we need.
There are products that can help.
They all deal with the real problem.
The real cause of why it is so hard to quit is what you think and feel about smoking.
It's mostly in your mind It's the mental addiction that is so hard to overcome.
There are several products that specifically address the mental addiction without requiring hypnosis, attending expensive classes, etc.
Take some time and find one that fits your lifestyle and budget.
The key to success is to stay with it.
If you relapse, start again as soon as you can.
You can quit smoking and reap the benefits.