My mother wants to quit smoking - any advice?

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worthless_loser

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I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask, but I hope I can get help here.

My mom has been smoking for years.
I've wanted her to quit for a long time and recently she said she may want to try again.

She got some Chantix from her doctor a long time ago.
She wants to use that, but she never makes it stick.

I believe she smokes when she is stressed out.
So she needs a way to cope with stress, that doesn't involve nicotine.

I also think my father is her biggest stressor.
He likes to push her buttons and she gets mad.
She also drinks and smokes pot.
I don't want her to start doing those more often though.

She attempted to quit smoking a long time ago, and she succeeded.
But she just started eating more and gained weight.
She says she felt better when she was smoking because she didn't have the extra weight.

I've tried to convince her to meditate and change her diet, but she will not even try.

I don't know if anyone here has had any similar problems, but any help would be appreciated.
Thank you.
 
I bet there are some great programmes she could join. I know in the UK there is tonnes of help. With the stress thing and eating thing. I know loads of people who said the nicotine gum helps massively. Also patches are effective as they are prescribed here for patients in hospital to help while they are in and not allowed to smoke.

Anyway hope she finds what is right for her.
 
She has to really really want to quit or she'll never quit. It's all state of mind. My grandmother smoked for decades, she had multiple heart attacks and a mild stroke, her doctor told her she had to quit smoking. She didn't because she didn't want to. She finally decided to quit when she found out her smoking was making my brother sick and it was one of the reasons we didn't visit her as much. She quit cold turkey and never picked up another cigarette. My boss tried to quit a bunch of times but it wasn't until he decided he really wanted to quit and he too quit cold turkey, he hasn't smoked since. He tried some of the gimmicks and found they didn't work. None of that stuff will work if the person doesn't have their mind set on actually quitting. I have so many relatives who smoke, they've all tried quitting and tried the gums and patches but none of them worked because they gave up and didn't stick with it.
 
As Sci-Fi mentioned above, it's all in the mind. My hubby and I were both smokers for over 20 years and we quit cold turkey when our son was 3. It's been over 8 years since we touched a cigarette and we'd never go back to smoking now. You just need to be ready to do it. We tried numerous times over the years, using Champix, patches, cold turkey, gum, etc, etc and were never able to do it. The last time we did. I won't lie - it's hard. . . **** hard at times, but your mum just has to make up her mind and stick with it. We took it day-by-day (more like hour-by-hour at some points) - if you can get through the first week or so, it's easier to say to yourself, "OK, made it this far without a smoke. Maybe I can do another week. . . " It is possible. :)
 
As Sci-Fi and ringwood said, you really have to want to do it. Halfway efforts don't work. If a person slips and smokes, they need to stop again right away. Saying that 'I will give it another try, next month' can all to easily turn into years. As ringwood said, at times it can be hour by hour, just trying to make it through that hour without smoking, then trying to make it through the next hour. In time the carvings will become less, but not fast enough to make it an easy process.
 

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