Help My Dad To Quit Smoking

: My dad is addicted to smoking since last 20 years, earlier it didn’t had much effect but now when he is 50+ his cough level has considerably increased. He is also willing to quit smoking, but he always ended up smoking again. Can anyone help me find a proper guide or procedure to quit smoking permanently? Thanks in advance

No experience with this, but:
See a doctor who cares enough to share experience
See a doctor who is willing to actual examine and not just listen to your dad's lungs
Visit a health clinic with educational materials (color photographs of smoker's lungs)
Move to an area where smoking is a social taboo (California?)
Get rid of smoking paraphernalia. Unless you have a gas stove, why do you need matches in the house?
Get your dad a hobby which is incompatible with smoking. (precision optics assembly, home dry cleaning, cat's cradle, ...)
Tax the use of cigarettes in the home -- make smoking more expensive or more inconvenient
and Talk to your dad -- his cough is getting worse because his body is changing -- but if it keeps changing the future looks bleak.

Tell him he can smoke as much as he likes but for every cigarette he smokes he has to give a pound (or five dollars) to the charity of your choice. Wheedle and whine until he agrees .. once he has agreed (unfortunately he may not) .. check and collect the money at the end of each day.

I'm a smoker - if I wanted to give up I'd simply eat more. I've noticed the desire for cigarettes is inversely proportional to the amount of food in my gut. You'd probably end up with a 30 stone dad, however, he'd not be coughing.

Hey, there's patches and stuff too!

Good luck!

I was a smoker for about 40 years. It got to the point where I'd have a cig and have to take a hit on my inhaler. I had, of course, quit innumerable time before, the longest was for three months.

This time, I did the patch and quit with no problems. That was three years ago now.

Unless he really decides to stop, as opposed to deciding to try, it won't work.

Distinction between deciding to stop and deciding to try is the key as far as I am concerned. I smoked for 30 years but made a clean break 10 years ago after my heart gave me a none too gentle reminder that it was having no more of my carry-on. It was only afterwards that I realised that up until then I had been "trying" to quit - and "trying" allows for failure. On my successful attempt, I simply decided I was a non-smoker and entertained no other options. I decided this in the full knowledge that it was going to be tough but that come hell or high water I no longer smoked. For the first 2 weeks I used patches and they did relieve some of the worst withdrawl symptoms but quitting is tough - for example I stayed off coffee and alcohol for a number of months because of the strong association they had with smoking. Only other trick I used was eating a lot of fruit- ever try smoking and eating an apple at the same time? - tastes awful. Good luck to your dad.
edward

I sincerely respect your concern for dad and also it is very wise of you that you started looking for proper procedure of quitting smoke. What is the key problem with most of the smokers is that while they go for quitting, they just give it up at once. It is not easy to quit smoking as such because it is an addiction. You can get a very good e-book describing procedure for quitting, from here w w w .stop-smoking-guru . c o m . One of my friends used it recently and it has helped him a lot.

I would be wary about going to a single purpose commercial internet site for information. The above mentioned site also promises to ship you "another" book and doesn't have a formal privacy statement.

US Government resources:
http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/quit_smoking/index.htm
http://www.smokefree.gov/

When I was at my doctor's surgery several years ago, I picked up a leaflet on quitting smoking. One of the facts it highlighted is that nicotine leaves the bodily system after only 48 hours. So I figured the rest must be psychological need. Just realizing this small fact about the nicotine gave me all the confidence I needed to quit. When the mind started playing games I knew it wasn't a bodily need for the stuff. Of course the "fact" in that leaflet may have been a neat pyschological game played by the medical people!

Hi,What are the effects of smoking during pregnancy?

This post has been edited by natasha1 on Apr 1 2009, 09:13 AM

Oh, nothing serious, really...except for the birth defects in your newborn kid.

Idiot.

Smoke TEA leaf instead... it has caffeine in it so it works... REALLY

It won't be long before he gives up completely

Problem is relapses..... well then back to the tea

LOL

Bingo! From my experience, the physical craving subsides immensely after 3 days. However, the psychological desire pops up again after about a week. And again after about two weeks... but it eventually tapers off.

My father had been 11 stone 2 lbs for decades. One day I caught a side view of him and noticed he'd lost weight. It turned out to be lung cancer eating at him. From when he was diagnosed, he was dead within four months. Some people it's as little as a week. It is probably one of the worst possible deaths and smokers start dying from it as early as their 30's.

If you've ever been punched in the gut and not been able to get your breath, imagine that for a whole week. With lung cancer, one of your lungs collapse and the other limps along for about a week before it goes too, with every breath a struggle. An aunt went the same way and a few friends and work mates also. It is a fairly common way for smokers to die. A persistent cough is a first warning. Spitting up blood is a definite sign. It can take several years to develop fully though.

I know a number of people who have given up smoking and they did not gain weight. I'm not saying many don't but you just have to be aware so don't grab something to eat instead of a cigarette. Cold turkey is the only way to give up. A few decades ago, it was said Arthur Scargill saw a film about the effects of smoking and threw away his cigarettes and never smoked again. A friend with a persistent cough that got noticeably worse over maybe four years gave up and within literally weeks his cough had almost gone. In his mid-forties, he turned into a fitness fiend.

No one can make someone give up smoking. It's something they have to do themselves. Smoking can cause cancer, heart attacks, strokes, etc. It should be remembered that these often run in families genetic lines.

How much is a pack of cigarettes now? If you say £4, and someone smokes 40 a day, that's £2,920 a year spent on cigarettes. That would buy a lot better things than spending that much money to ruin your health.

Put him in an environment where there are people who are sincerely trying to stop smoking. There he will receive support, encouragement, suggestions, ideas and vice versa he will do the same for others. To gain recognition of being able to stop smoking among peers who are trying to stop smoking is a much greater pleasure than smoking itself. If left alone, the temptation to pick up a cigarette is much higher than anything around a smoker. Environment is key. But next question is how long does he needs to be in that environment? For as long as it needs to totally rid himself of the temptations and urge to smoke. it may take a few years.