Stop smoking in Chiang Mai, where can I get help?

[CantSpell]

Has anyone heard of an Acupuncture or "Magnetism", "Magician / sorcerer"  with good result in helping people to stop smoking?

 

A monk, a clinic, a whatever with results?

 

Cold Turkey is too hard for me, I smoke too much but really want to stop...

[simoh1490]

The approach that worked for me, and I didn't plan to stop smoking, not after having smoked for 40 years or more, was to go have a health exam, including a cardiac stress test and then failed it! The doctor said, we need to do an angiogram because your coronary arteries are blocked, but first you need to stop smoking......I stopped on the spot without so much as a hint of the desire to ever smoke again. I had the angiogram and one artery was 87% blocked, one stent and nine years later I'm in fine health but I've never wanted a cigarette since.....try it!

EDIT to add: that approach can also be used for constipation problems, it cures them too!

Edited November 22, 2017 by simoh1490

[Nick ZepTepi]

https://play.google.com/store/music/album?id=Brspdjtuj354bqeofrdwonzmm54

Or similar

Sent from my mobile, please forgive the autocorrect.

[Dante99]

You can get nicotine gum here.  Or do you want a watcher with a baseball bat.

[FolkGuitar]

Let me recommend a Facebook group that's been around a loooong time. It started back in the early 90's as a Usenet group, then migrated over to Facebook. It's helped a LOT of people over the years. No money involved, just ex-smokers helping wannabe ex-smokers to become ex-smokers. They helped me. They can help you.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/AS3onFB/

Every smoker goes through a different process. No two quits are the same. While you may experience similar bodily/emotional changes that 'some' others have had, they will be yours to deal with as only you can. But AS3 can help.

 

[EricTh]

I think you might want to go to some Buddhist temples, they may have a traditional method to help smokers quit.

[FolkGuitar]

Unfortunately, there is no magic involved with quitting. There is only the decision to do so.

One can wean down the nicotine levels using patches or gums, but only the decision not to smoke the next cigarette will combat the 'habit' of smoking, and that side of the equation is far more difficult for most people to deal with than the nicotine.

 

Just decide not to smoke the next cigarette. Don't worry about 'quitting forever.' Just don't smoke the next one. One cigarette at a time. One hour at a time. One day at a time. Decide. Once the nicotine is out of your system (and that only takes a week or two,) then it's just a habit like any other. Just a bit more ingrained because you've been doing it so many times a day for so many years. That's where other ex-smokers can be your new best friends. They are working to break that habit too. Help them and let them help you. One day at a time.

[wicketkeeper]

Google The Easy Way to Stop Smoking by Carl Allen.

You read the book. At the end of it you find you have quit. Read the reviews.

You can download it as a pdf.

It worked for me and for thousands of others. Painless.

The only thing you must have is a serious desire to quit.

[Globalres]

Well, I smoked 2-3 packs a day for 30 years or more.  2 and a half years ago I quit and took up vaping instead.  For me, the whole thing is raising your device and inhaling and blowing out.  Start with higher level nicotine and,then reduce that dose.  Maybe in the end you can get to 0 nicotine.  For me it’s the moving of a cig or an e-cig to the mouth and inhaling, a habit over many years.  A nicotine patch is not going to help that.  

However in Thailand, vaping is prohibited, probably in order to protect the country’s tobacco industry, so take care.  This has been what stopped me from,smoking cigarettes. Hope this helps.  

[FolkGuitar]

52 minutes ago, wicketkeeper said:

Google The Easy Way to Stop Smoking by Carl Allen.

You read the book. At the end of it you find you have quit. Read the reviews.

You can download it as a pdf.

It worked for me and for thousands of others. Painless.

The only thing you must have is a serious desire to quit.

 

This wonderful book was written by Allen Carr, not Carl Allen

And yes, it IS a great help for people who want to quit. As you say, it requires a serious desire to stop smoking, and a firm commitment to that decision... as does every quit aid available. There is no magic. There is only a decision not to smoke.

[amexpat]

45 minutes ago, FolkGuitar said:

 

This wonderful book was written by Allen Carr, not Carl Allen

And yes, it IS a great help for people who want to quit. As you say, it requires a serious desire to stop smoking, and a firm commitment to that decision... as does every quit aid available. There is no magic. There is only a decision not to smoke.

This book is how I became a non-smoker. Also a friend of mine and millions of other people.

I was surprised how easy it was.  He shows that it's not so much about will power as about learning the psychology and physiology of smoking. 

 

I read the book slowly over the course of two weeks to make sure I understood and accepted every bit. I set Sunday as my quit date but I woke up Saturday and thought "why wait?".  Haven't smoked since.  Six years now. 

[FolkGuitar]

My hat's off to anyone who has been able to stop smoking.

In my opinion, it's the single hardest addiction to break, what with all the social triggers that surround us daily.

 

If only cigarette smokers realized just how badly they smell to the rest of society, they would be way more inclined to stop sooner rather than later.  As smokers, we never noticed the stink. Frankly, I'm surprised that non-smoking women were willing to kiss me back in my smoking days.

[BuddyDean]

7 minutes ago, FolkGuitar said:

My hat's off to anyone who has been able to stop smoking.

In my opinion, it's the single hardest addiction to break, what with all the social triggers that surround us daily.

 

If only cigarette smokers realized just how badly they smell to the rest of society, they would be way more inclined to stop sooner rather than later.  As smokers, we never noticed the stink. Frankly, I'm surprised that non-smoking women were willing to kiss me back in my smoking days.

And you never wondered what taste they were trying g to get rid of?

Switch to cigars..they are so expensive here you will soon be out of money.

Edited November 22, 2017 by BuddyDean

[ToS2014]

I just hit my 3rd day of eating cold turkey, pun intended.  Good luck and happy Thanksgiving to those who care about it.

[jippytum]

Years ago I had acupuncture in a fancy expensive clinic in the UK and it did not have any result. Eight years ago someone recommended the Mc Cormac hospital in Chaing Mai .One day I went for acupuncture without any great  expectation  of success .However the  Chinese Thai lady in charge was absolutely confident the procedure would work . After she taped a small sesame seed over a pressure point in my ear. She said don't make yourself crazy if you want a smoke have one but you wont enjoy it .She was correct . Total cost 350 baht . I am not sure the hospital still has the service but with the correct practitioner it works .For years I was unable to stop and smoked two packs a day and tried everything to stop until the acupuncture stopped the craving .

[FolkGuitar]

Most smokers have tried to quit. In fact, most smokers have tried to quit many, many times. Personally, I must have tried to quit 20 different times. And I tried ALL of the following (except e-cigarettes. They hadn't been invented when I finally realized how to stop.)

Hypnosis

Acupuncture

Acupressure

Nicotine patches

Nicotine gum

7-Day Plan

Wellbuterin

St.John's Wort

E-Cigarettes - Vaping

For many of us, dozens of unsuccessful quits before we finally realized that until we made the conscious decision to not smoke, and stuck to that decision, the method we used really didn't make a difference. All of them work... once you decide to not smoke.

 

You see... You can't 'try' to quit. As one of the world's most famous teachers was quoted to say;

"Do or do not. There is no 'try.'  "   Yoda...

 

[CantSpell]

3 hours ago, jippytum said:

Years ago I had acupuncture in a fancy expensive clinic in the UK and it did not have any result. Eight years ago someone recommended the Mc Cormac hospital in Chaing Mai .One day I went for acupuncture without any great  expectation  of success .However the  Chinese Thai lady in charge was absolutely confident the procedure would work . After she taped a small sesame seed over a pressure point in my ear. She said don't make yourself crazy if you want a smoke have one but you wont enjoy it .She was correct . Total cost 350 baht . I am not sure the hospital still has the service but with the correct practitioner it works .For years I was unable to stop and smoked two packs a day and tried everything to stop until the acupuncture stopped the craving .

Aye, something like that.

One friend used one in Bangkok and managed to stop.

 

Brother and his wife used a "magnetisor" (wrong spelling for sure) in France, guy made some pressure on head and inside their mouth for 20 minutes then asked them to go out for a cigarette, brother could not finish it, his wife vomited everywhere, they both stop..

 

I know there is no magic, but some external factor can greatly help.

[EricTh]

3 hours ago, jippytum said:

. She said don't make yourself crazy if you want a smoke have one but you wont enjoy it .She was correct . Total cost 350 baht . I am not sure the hospital still has the service but with the correct practitioner it works .For years I was unable to stop and smoked two packs a day and tried everything to stop until the acupuncture stopped the craving .

 

There are quite a lot of quack acupuncturists just like there are quack doctors.

 

I am glad you found a good one.

[EricTh]

15 hours ago, Globalres said:

Well, I smoked 2-3 packs a day for 30 years or more.  2 and a half years ago I quit and took up vaping instead.

Please don't vape, it smells just as horrible to non-smokers and the area covered is even wider.

 

You should see those Muslim Arab puffing the air around them.

 

 

Edited November 23, 2017 by EricTh

[cyberfarang]

On 11/22/2017 at 5:37 PM, Dante99 said:

You can get nicotine gum here.  Or do you want a watcher with a baseball bat.

I am in the same situation as the OP. Been smoking for years, desperate to stop but can`t.

 

Tried all the nicotine gums and patches, then I became addicted to the gum that tastes like licking out a dirty ashtray.  Not only did the gum end up costing me 5 times more per day then the cigarettes but it also knocked out most of my teeth fillings. The patches did not work for me either except cause a nasty rash on my arm.

[amexpat]

1 hour ago, cyberfarang said:

I am in the same situation as the OP. Been smoking for years, desperate to stop but can`t.

 

Tried all the nicotine gums and patches, then I became addicted to the gum that tastes like licking out a dirty ashtray.  Not only did the gum end up costing me 5 times more per day then the cigarettes but it also knocked out most of my teeth fillings. The patches did not work for me either except cause a nasty rash on my arm.

Therein lies a problem with gum, patches, hypnotism, etc.  They let you say "it didn't work" rather than "I couldn't do it".

 

Allen Carr notes that the gum, patches, etc are like trying to cure a junkie by giving him doses of heroin. 

[Dante99]

3 hours ago, cyberfarang said:

 Been smoking for years, desperate to stop but can`t.

 

 

There is no can't but there is won't.  

[FolkGuitar]

5 hours ago, cyberfarang said:

I am in the same situation as the OP. Been smoking for years, desperate to stop but can`t.

 

Tried all the nicotine gums and patches, then I became addicted to the gum that tastes like licking out a dirty ashtray.  Not only did the gum end up costing me 5 times more per day then the cigarettes but it also knocked out most of my teeth fillings. The patches did not work for me either except cause a nasty rash on my arm.

"NRT," or 'Nicotine Replacement Therapy' can be an effective way to mitigate the withdrawal symptoms, but they don't solve the real problem of quitting. They only make reducing the nicotine need in the body. But the body can do that on it's own in as little as 3-4 days.  After two weeks, all the nicotine has flushed from your system anyway. The gum, patches, and Vaping only prolong the agony of nicotine dependency. And it IS a dependency. One almost as strong as any opiate drug.  The need for a cigarette isn't because we want to smoke... It's because we need to blunt the craving that nicotine dependency creates. When we take that first deep drag, hold it an extra second, then let it out slowly, we actually DO feel better. But that only lasts a short time and we have to repeat the process.  

 

3 hours ago, amexpat said:

Therein lies a problem with gum, patches, hypnotism, etc.  They let you say "it didn't work" rather than "I couldn't do it".

Allen Carr notes that the gum, patches, etc are like trying to cure a junkie by giving him doses of heroin. 

They don't address the real problem with smoking, and that is the 'habit' itself.  Unfortunately,  it's a self-perpetuating habit too.  When the body's nicotine levels drop, we start to become uncomfortable. More and more uncomfortable as time increases. But with that first deep drag, blunting the nicotine 'receptors,' we feel better. Unfortunately, as smokers, we don't think of it as 'feeling better.' In our minds we just think, 'Gee, smoking certainly relaxes me.' 

 

In fact, it's the habit that is relaxing, just as any habit is. Step by step... Reach into the pocket, tap out a cigarette, perhaps tap the end to pack in the tobacco a bit. Then reach for a lighter, often a 'favorite' or special lighter that we've carried for years. Then take that first long, deep drag... hold it a few seconds... then slowly release it, blowing out a cloud of smoke.  (Every one of you ex-smokers just took that same long, deep drag, remembering, didn't you...)  THAT is the harder part  of the habit to break.  20 years, 30 years, for many of us, 40 years of repeating that relaxing deep breath with its attending discomfort-stopping nicotine hit, often 20-30 times a day or more, reinforces this incredible habit like pounding a 10" spike into ironwood. It doesn't come out easily.

 

It takes a lot of hard work for most people to break this addiction. It's not something that happens just because you want it to.

 

1 hour ago, Dante99 said:

There is no can't but there is won't.  

... and that's the truth.  You can... but you have to decide once and for all. You have to decide not to smoke the next cigarette. You can do it one day at at time, like AA. That works. You can do it using NRTs. They often help some people. You can do it with hypnosis or acupuncture. They often help some people. Or you can go Cold Turkey. That's actually the easiest in the long run. Three days of thinking about nothing but cigarettes, and by the 4th day the cravings are starting to let up. But....

 

... No matter which way you choose, YOU have to make a decision. You have to make a firm decision and stick to it. Nobody can do it for you. NRTs won't help you break the 'habit' part, and, trust me, that part is much harder to break than the nicotine. But YOU CAN DO IT. It starts when you finally wake up to the fact that YOU must make a decision.

 

We can help you...  https://www.facebook.com/groups/AS3onFB/?ref=bookmarks

 

[amexpat]

A lot of people have found it pretty easy to quit after they got some bad news from a doctor. 

[vogie]

4 minutes ago, amexpat said:

A lot of people have found it pretty easy to quit after they got some bad news from a doctor. 

I agree, but after getting bad news from the doctor, it's usually too late.

[vogie]

6 hours ago, cyberfarang said:

I am in the same situation as the OP. Been smoking for years, desperate to stop but can`t.

 

Tried all the nicotine gums and patches, then I became addicted to the gum that tastes like licking out a dirty ashtray.  Not only did the gum end up costing me 5 times more per day then the cigarettes but it also knocked out most of my teeth fillings. The patches did not work for me either except cause a nasty rash on my arm.

There is the problem, if you put the patches over your mouth they work. ?

[amexpat]

1 hour ago, vogie said:

There is the problem, if you put the patches over your mouth they work. ?

OMG!  That is so FUNNY!   

[superglue]

A course on hypnotism.

 

[EricTh]

Just send the smokers to the hospital and watch those dying of lung cancers.

 

It will shock them into quitting smoking..

Edited November 24, 2017 by EricTh

[canthai55]

Quit drinking 24 years ago. About 2 years after quit smoking.

Went on the patch - but my dreams were out of this world.

Threw the patches away and went cold turkey.

Biggest problem I had was I also lost my stress reliever. My mouth broke out in cold sores and cankers, upper and lower gums, lips, tongue. Lived on tuna and mayo for two weeks because even chewing bread was painful.

But I was determined to quit, and the craving started to disappear after 3 days.

Mouth back to normal after 3 weeks.

Alcohol and drug free ever since.