I tried to quit smoking last year and lasted a few weeks, but went back onto them eventually.
One of my colleagues really wanted to stop and she started telling me about a technique which is supposed to be very good. I reluctantly agreed to go along with her and have it done. I was pretty sceptical, but decided that I should really try to stop because of my kids.
We travelled down to Halifax together which is where the clinic is. The guy talked to us for about 25 minutes about the technique and I was beginning to think that he was either completely nuts or a total charleton by the end of it all.
The technique is basically just inserting a small suture (stitch) into the ear where the vagus nerve runs and that's it. He said that the next two days might be really difficult, but after that it would be better and that it would send our system back to the time before we were ever addicted to cigarettes.
I was totally sceptical and felt like a bit of a numpty for parting with money for what was clearly a load of rubbish. I saw myself like one of those people who end up on tv being interviewed as a victim of medical fraud I glanced at my colleague and could tell that she felt the same way - she later told me that she had felt like just leaving there and then!
He inserted the stitch and we both left the clinic and began the long drive home.
Well, it was so weird because neither of us wanted a cigarette. We were told to 'tickle' the stitch whenever we wanted one and we had to bathe it every day with surgical spirits.
My colleague phoned me every day to ask how I was getting along and I can honestly say that I felt fine. I really didn't want a cigarette. No cravings, nothing. I even walked past someone in the supermarket who smelt of smoke and I felt a bit sick. I wondered if it was all down to hypnotism, but he hadn't hypnotised either of us, just gave us a talk about health and some dull stuff like that - he's kind of an abrupt Yorkshireman - no charm or smarm at all. I wondered if it was placebo effect, but my colleague had smoked 30 a day since she was a teenager - and she's now almost 60 - so I decided that it would have to be something pretty good to have stopped her from smoking - a lot more than just placebo effect. That was 7 weeks ago and we're still going strong. No cigs and no cravings. My colleague's skin has improved and her hoarse voice has almost gone. I have more energy and can run up the hill to collect the kids from school without getting out of breath. It's so weird, but I can certainly recommend it. He doesn't advertise, but gets his patients all via word of mouth. He does have a website now though.
It costs £110 which is a lot, but I've saved that much in not buying ciggies now, because I was spending about £80 a month. He claims to have a 95% success rate and has dozens of written testamonials from people thanking him for helping them. He's even treated the band, Coldplay for their smoking addictions.
Anyway, if you're interested just google - stitch in ear to stop smoking, halifax morningside clinic. I can recommend it even though I can still hardly believe that it's worked.
My step dad gave up smoking using acupuncture. it involved inserting (and leaving it there) a tiny needle into his ear. He twiddled it every time he wanted a ciggie and never smoked again. Sounds like there's something in it...
I gave up yesterday but I had just sat in a room with my friend while she was told she has cancer. That seems like quite an incentive to me
Good luck, keep it up
Lucy x
Lucy x
Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut - Ernest Hemingway
£110 pounds well spent, in my opinion, like you say, it will offset against the cost of cigarettes smoked, and you will hopefully live a longer, healthier life now.
Hey whatever works for you ...good on both you and your friend
¸.•´¸.•*´¨) ¸.•*¨)✰
(¸.✰´¨(¸.✰ Manda
Living our version of the Good Life with 1 dog (who feels like we're living with 4!), 1 cats, a few sheep and 11 chooks. Don't get your knickers in a knot..it solves nothing ~ just makes you walk funny
Over three years clean now and I am glad to say that I never really have the urge to smoke. I hope that it keeps working for you, the benefits in stopping smoking are numerous and far reaching. My only regret is that the silly school boy I once was started smoking to be part of the crowd, it took 25 years to break the addiction of a 13 year old.
saint-spoon wrote:Over three years clean now and I am glad to say that I never really have the urge to smoke. I hope that it keeps working for you, the benefits in stopping smoking are numerous and far reaching. My only regret is that the silly school boy I once was started smoking to be part of the crowd, it took 25 years to break the addiction of a 13 year old.
I know, it's such a stupid thing to start doing isn't it? Trouble is, you don't think ahead when you're young.
Todays the day for me. Decided last week that I was going to try and give up, so I've had an appointment with NHS Smoke Free got my Nicotine Patches and Inhalator which will last me a fortnight, then back for follow up appointments. I'm sure today will be the worst day so I'm hoping I don't have a go at too many people
Go for it and good luck. I started when I was thirteen 'round the back of the bike shed', and stopped when I 60. The patches did it for me; four weeks on full strength, four weeks on medium, then four weeks on low. Right at the end of the treatment, just when I thought I'd cracked it, all hell broke loose in our lives with issues regarding property/ business sales, so I bought two more weeks of low-level patches over the counter (which cost less than I was spending on fags), and by the end of those two weeks it had all calmed down. Haven't felt the need since. Again, I wish you every success, and if nothing else, you will notice the difference in your purse!
What's right with this country is the freedom to discuss what's wrong with it.
Just take it day by day, and tell yourself that you are stronger than a little white stick of dried leaves. You CAN do it
I have been smoke free for just over three weeks now. It has been hard but not as bad as I thought. The second week was the hardest, maybe because all the novelty and enthusiasm had worn off, but it's been easier this week.
Good luck, we're all rooting for you
Lucy x
Lucy x
Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut - Ernest Hemingway
How very interesting. I hadn't heard of this technique before, but there are more things in heaven and earth!!
I used to do hypnosis and it was really successful - except - people often started again, even after a year or more. I started to question people about their feelings when this happened and I decided that for most of them they thought it was the hypnosis that had stopped not them.
After that when people like that came I would talk to them and tell them that they had not smoked for all of that time. In the end I stopped doing it.
However, you don't have to feel 'gone' to be hypnotised, he could well have used patterns of speech that prepared you. trances are all over the place - when you drive a route you know and can't remember the driving, that's a trance.
So, the stitch is helping you, but it is you who is giving up.
I glanced at my colleague and could tell that she felt the same way - she later told me that she had felt like just leaving there and then!
