jla@inuxd.UUCP (Joyce Andrews) (11/14/85)
I smoked for more than twenty years. After the Surgeon General's first report I tried to quit. I failed over and over again. I thought I was destined to smoke forever. When my two children started hearing about smoking and health in their school (starts about grade 3, I think) they started getting after me. Everytime I opened a pack of matches I would see a childish scrawl that said "Don't smoke, Mommy," or "Please don't smoke. We don't want you to die." (This was before they became teenagers, you understand. Now I'm not sure they would care.) Messages were rolled up and stuck into my cigarette packs--in short, they didn't let me forget that I was ruining my health. At some point my desire to quit became greater than my desire (need?) to smoke, and I was able to quit, almost easily. Something "flip flops" in the brain, I think. It had always been so difficult as to be impossible before. Suddenly it wasn't all that hard. That was almost five years ago. I haven't touched the weed since. My point is this: my children did for me what the anti-smoking postings may do for somebody else. It's not enough to say it once. They had to drill the message into my thought processes. Quitting smoking had to become a desire so important to me it over-ruled the desire to smoke. When that happens, it's almost easy! If this is as true as my experience suggests, let's "n" the anti-smoking postings if we don't smoke and let those that do absorb the negative-smoking thoughts. Most smokers want to quit, no matter what they say. Because they are afraid of failure, they either don't try, or even say they don't want to try. Until they REALLY want to quit, it may be impossible for them. But not forever. A person isn't a worthless piece of trash just because he/she hasn't reached the point where quitting is possible. Let's help them reach the point without condemming them. And we non-smokers can overlook a little ugly information if it helps someone else.
sdyer@bbncc5.UUCP (Steve Dyer) (11/15/85)
> Something "flip flops" in the brain, I think. It had always been > so difficult as to be impossible before. Suddenly it wasn't all > that hard. That was almost five years ago. I haven't touched > the weed since. I really can understand what Joyce means when she speaks of a "flip-flop." In my case, not in regard to smoking but in losing weight and staying on a diet. Repeated lack of success or reluctance to start, and then WHAM endless will-power. It really is a binary gate, and it's very hard to understand the components of finding oneself on one side or the other. Regarding postings, I feel that facts (especially new or not-so-recently-trod ones) are valuable, though it's important to deliver them without any chance of being perceived as superior and lacking compassion. But there's such a large non-rational component to any addictive behavior that facts alone aren't enough. One doesn't present the physiological effects of chronic alcohol intake to an alcoholic and expect sobriety to result; rather, we try to say, "Here, you have a problem. If you can recognize this, we know of a number of places which have assisted people successfully in the past. Are you willing to try?" I think the medical profession would do well to try to develop therapeutic paradigms which can assist the smoker, since for many smokers, the task is too difficult to go alone. Does anyone knoe about the recently approved nicotine chewing gum, and whether it's just a flash in the pan or a legitimate aid to helping people quit? -- /Steve Dyer {harvard,seismo}!bbnccv!bbncc5!sdyer sdyer@bbncc5.ARPA
bch@mcnc.UUCP (Byron C. Howes) (11/17/85)
In article <1253@bbncc5.UUCP> sdyer@bbncc5.UUCP (Steve Dyer) writes: >Regarding postings, I feel that facts (especially new or not-so-recently-trod >ones) are valuable, though it's important to deliver them without any chance >of being perceived as superior and lacking compassion. This discussion is beginning to go in good directions. New facts on the hazards of smoking are useful in the sense that any information is useful. Within some limits, the more information we have the better we can control the various aspects of our lives. >I think the medical profession would do well to >try to develop therapeutic paradigms which can assist the smoker, since >for many smokers, the task is too difficult to go alone. I'd say for most smokers. I've seen folks fight the cigarette habit over and over again whose willpower in all other respects I would have considered remarkable. It seems to have come to the medical profession that support groups are required for there to be a reasonable chance of sucessfully quitting. > Does anyone know >about the recently approved nicotine chewing gum, and whether it's just a >flash in the pan or a legitimate aid to helping people quit? The stuff is legit -- I know, I used it. It allows you to separate the physical from psychological aspects of addiction and to deal with them apart from one another. It is not a panacaea, however. I've known more people who have been unable to quit using Nicorette than have been able to. As a matter of fact, I'm the only person I know who has used it successfully! Apparently there is also some problem in getting people off the gum. I didn't have that problem, but now have a 2 pack a day bubblegum habit to try to get rid of... Seriously, if a person is comitted to quitting smoking, the Nicorette will help. It is expensive...$25 per 100 tablets in this part of the world. Over the course of detoxification, however, it costs less than cigarettes. You can also chew it in places you can't smoke, like church, which is a goodie it offers as inducement. -- Byron C. Howes ...!{decvax,akgua}!mcnc!ecsvax!bch