Quit smoking support thread

Cervical screening results
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One of the best things a smoker can do upon being diagnosed with hrHPV, cervical abnormalities or worse is to quit smoking. Admittedly, this can be easier said than done, so I thought I’d start this thread to help those who want to quit or who have already quit, whether recently or even a while ago.

Fyi, before I stopped, I was smoking up to a pack a day, but quit cold turkey (no vaping, meds or nicotine gum) soon after being diagnosed in April with HPV-45, a nasty high-risk genotype. I gave myself a one-month grace period, then suddenly quit one random day in mid-May (I didn’t even select the day; after finishing a pack, I just thought f*ck it, lol).

The fear of developing CC, thinking about my own mortality and my son’s future, etc., were enough to make me finally kick the habit. It’s been almost 4 months now and I’ve not had a single ciggie since, which makes this by far my most successful attempt at quitting, and may I have the strength and will power to never have a smoke again!

I would recommend downloading an app to help you quit. I am using two: Cessation Nation and Smoke Free. They keep track of how many days you’ve stayed off cigarettes, how much money you’ve saved, how many extra days of life you’ve gained, and chart various aspects of your health against those of a non-smoker, plus more (e.g., badges, missions, games, although I found the stats to be the most useful).

I have also since switched from cigarettes to vitamins/antioxidants and smoothies, stopped going to bars as much (alcohol isn’t that great for HPV either), and when I do, I go armed with mints or regular gum just in case I’m hit with a craving.

I hope the above suggestions can help others trying to quit. Also, feel free to share your own tips and milestones!

Quit: Mid-May 2016 (4 months)
Method: Cold turkey, app support
Relapses to date: None, hurrah!
Previously: Half to full pack a day

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Hi 

Congrats on stopping smoking! 

I really want to stop and all the way through my scare (turned out to be CIN 3) I kept telling myself I would stop. Now find myself feeling really guilty cause I can't. I just can't do it. The thought of never smoking again freaks me out. I just dont have the willpower. 

How the hell did you do it without any replacements etc? Lol. Wish I had your strength 

Roxy x 

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In having a hard time myself. I have cut it way down. But still :( My gyn told me told me that of her few patients she actually had to refer to oncology were all smokers. I wonder on this forum the ladies with cc the ratio of the people that smoked vs the ones that didn't.

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Hi nm

Small steps! I will try cutting down myself first before the leap to stopping. 

Scary that about the smokers stats at your clinic. 

Roxy 

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Thanks! My fear of potentially developing CC and of possibly not being around for my son as planned were the kick in the pants I needed to finally quit for real. I was considering switching to vaping before properly quitting, so that's always an option you can consider. Reputable e-cigs and cartridges are hard to come by where I am, however, which is why I ended up quitting cold turkey instead.

I do highly recommend an app, as seeing how many days you've quit, how much you've saved (money) and gained (life), plus how your health is approaching that of a non-smoker are motivating. Once you've cleared several of the early health milestones, it's hard to go back and undo all the good you've achieved. At least that's how it's been for me so far. Just need to keep it up!

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Eek, that is scary about the smokers at your clinic! More reason and motivation to cut back, quit and/or stay off the cigs, as the case may be. My gyno oncology specialist said that quitting smoking was the best thing I've done to help battle HPV out of all of my many lifestyle, dietary and vitamin/supplement changes.

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Here's a good 2008 study I found regarding HPV-16/18 viral load and smoking status. Fyi, viral load is linked to HPV persistence.

http://m.cebp.aacrjournals.org/content/18/12/3490.full

What they found is that viral loads were higher in current smokers, but not in former smokers or "never smokers". Also, how many years of smoking and how much (or how little) smoked made no difference due to a presumed low threshold.

It therefore makes sense to cut out all smoking asap. I'm not sure how long it takes for a current smoker to achieve former smoker status/viral levels, but I'm guessing (and hoping) not long, since smoking duration and quantity seem to have no bearing.

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And from a 2005 study that itself looked at numerous past studies, here's a somewhat similar observation (except for the bit about smoking history/intensity), plus some other interesting findings:

"This pooled analysis of individual data from 23 epidemiological studies is the largest and most detailed investigation to date of the risk of carcinoma of the cervix in relation to tobacco smoking.

"The results provide evidence that current smokers, compared to never smokers, are at a significantly increased risk of developing squamous cell cervical carcinoma and that this risk increases with the number of cigarettes smoked per day and with decreasing age at starting smoking.

"Past smokers had a lower risk of squamous cell carcinoma than current smokers, but there was no trend in risk with time since stopping smoking. [Edit: So, presumably time since quitting makes little difference, therefore a recent quitter can equally benefit.]

"The pattern of risk for smoking was similar for invasive cervical cancer and for carcinoma in situ/ CIN3. Squamous cell carcinomas account for about 80% of cases of cervical cancer in most populations; most of the remaining cases are adenocarcinomas. Smoking was not found to increase the risk of adenocarcinoma of the cervix."

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Well if those statistics aren't enough of an incentive for me then I don't know what would be? 

That's it, I can do this!! Going to make an appointment with my GP to see what they can do to help. I've heard there's a smoking cessation group at my docs surgery. Anyone here ever gone to a stopping smoking help group before? 

Roxy x 

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Yeah, I thought I'd dig around for a few studies, because it's one thing to be told that smoking is bad and increases the risk, blah blah blah, but it's another when you actually have studies and statistics to back this up, etc. If that helped motivate you or anyone else, then that's brilliant!

Incidentally, here's another good journal overview of various studies (linked at the end) on smoking, HPV and CC, including their key findings, for anyone interested. Some studies contradict others on the finer points, but the general conclusion is typically the same: current smoking increases the risk of developing precursor changes and CC, but not (or not so much) former smoking.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3140050/

Never used a group before, but that could be helpful. Good luck, and share any progress updates on here! If more people join this thread, we can have our own online group. :D

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Thank you for all that information :) really appreciated!! 

I'll post back once I've been to my doc in a fortnight. Gonna be asking about the tablets that can be taken to assist in stopping. Meanwhile I've cut down to 3/4 of what I usually smoke :( it's a start Isuppose lol 

Roxy x 

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That is a start, indeed (baby steps!), and I'll be keeping an eye out for your next update. :)

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I quit smoking on Wednesday 21st Sept. when I was diagnosed with CC. It upsets me to think I may have caused this by smoking, I feel guilty from time to time. At least now I am a non smoker, I know I'm only off them a few days but I know I won't touch them again. I was able to quit no problem when pregnant, so I'm looking at this like i don't have a choice I need to do this in order to fight this and be here for my kids. Sometimes when I look at them I feel so sad, everything is going through my head. The evenings and night time is the worst. The other night I was crying most of the night thinking I must write my daughter a letter for her wedding day, and do a video for my little 9 mth old boy who won't remember me. Then I pull myself together and say no f*cking way I will beat this for them. I'm so so sad at the taught of ever having to leave them. 

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Ive realized that everytime im dry i have a hanquering want to smoke more cigarettes. But when i got weeds for example https://www.bonzaseeds.com/blog/sweet-tooth/, its literally the exact opposite effect, basically. 

Has anyone else had this type of experience? Or even researched this topic? I have heard about people actually quitting by substituting it w/ bud. Interesting to me. 

I've been having trouble myself trying to quit smoking cigars. I tried searching for other alternatives like vaping but after a month i came back to ciggaretes. I was so desperate to quit and avoid nicotine but then i came across this article that says marijuana can help you quit smoking ciggaretes and turns out, CBD can help after all.CBD can remove positively associated smoking memories from the brain, making it easier for the user to quit altogether. Can someone give me more information or any tips? Thanks

15

Ive realized that everytime im dry i have a hanquering want to smoke more cigarettes. But when i got weeds for example https://www.bonzaseeds.com/blog/sweet-tooth/, its literally the exact opposite effect, basically. 

Has anyone else had this type of experience? Or even researched this topic? I have heard about people actually quitting by substituting it w/ bud. Interesting to me. 

I've been having trouble myself trying to quit smoking cigars. I tried searching for other alternatives like vaping but after a month i came back to ciggaretes. I was so desperate to quit and avoid nicotine but then i came across this article that says marijuana can help you quit smoking ciggaretes and turns out, CBD can help after all.CBD can remove positively associated smoking memories from the brain, making it easier for the user to quit altogether. Can someone give me more information or any tips? Thanks

16

I've got a solution after asking my brother. He used to be a chinsmoker for a couple of decades but when his second son was boen, he quitted. Now he's using a vaporizer and says it's now a lot easier for him to live without nicotine. I bought my first vape kit here https://www.mygadget.us/. Check it up if interested.