Turning the Fears of Quitting into Confidence of Becoming Smoke Free

Fear often holds a smoker back from even trying to quit. I remember being afraid of success, "If I quitting smoking, What will I do?" Smoking has become part of our identity, "Who am I, if I'm not a smoker?" Others have tried to quit so many times that there is a fear of another failure. The fear of gaining weight will stop some smokers, especially women, from ever trying to stop smoking. Other

Have an Emergency Plan to Avoid Relapsing Back into Smoking

There have been two recent plane crashes in the news. One ended with the survival of all the passengers and crew, the other in tragedy with all aboard lost. In a crisis situation, the pilot has only a few precious minutes to make life or death decisions. Pilots spend hours training for a crisis, hoping they will never have to use this training. In the two plane crashes, one pilot put his

Myths about Snus and smokeless tobacco

The new tactic of the tobacco companies is to promote smokeless tobacco and snus as a way to quit smoking but those forms of tobacco are dangerous too. Here are some myths taken from: http://oralcancernews.org/wp/Debunking the mythsMyth: Smokeless tobacco products are a safe alternative to tobacco smoking.Fact: Here is the bottom line–smokeless is not harmless. The list of serious illnesses

Staying Quit Forever and Preventing Relapse

I always ask the participants in my stop smoking workshops, "What is the longest time you have been off cigarettes?" Their answer tells me quite a bit about how to help them be successful with their latest quit attempt. Here is what some of their answers mean:"I've never quit for more than a few days." This smoker is probably heavily addicted to nicotine and relapses because of the withdrawal

Always Nice to hear from Successful Quitters

My first workshop at Hi Desert Medical Center was a success!! All of the participants quit smoking. One individual, who had been a two pack a day smoker, was still struggling with smoking less than 10 cigarettes by the last class but called me yesterday to say that she had finally stopped a few days later by using a combination of bupropion and the nicotine inhaler that I had suggested. Here is a

Deadly in Pink

Joining the Ranks of Former Smokers

My job has got to be the most rewarding on earth. I just finished 3 workshops in Southern California and many smokers were successful at quitting. That means a few less people will die from heart disease, a few less from cancer, and a few less will be disabled from a stroke or from emphysema, living out the last years of their lives tied to an oxygen tank.I don't take credit for their quitting, I