I want to be supportive of my husband while he quits smoking. He’s been a heavy smoker for seven years and he’s ready to quit. He’s been so excited while cutting back, making lists of all of the positive reasons for quitting. Also, he’s got a perscirption for the pills that help him to quit smoking.
I hope the prescription is for Chantix. I work in the smoking cessation division of a county health department, and that stuff (on the market for just under a year) is helping hard core smokers who have smoked for as many as 65 years.
Smoking is a habit as well as a physiological, and psychological addiction. You need to be dealing with all three. Here are some of the things that have worked for my clients: positive self-talk, deep breathing, chewing on straws, or tooth picks, eating carrot sticks, celery, and pretzels instead of smoking. Taking a short walk . getting rid of all cigarettes and ashtrays once the quit date is set. Set a quit date and commit to it, taper down on your way to the quit date.
As his wife try to catch him doing something right, and compliment him on that. Be supportive and understanding. The only thing tougher to kick than nicotine is heroine. Understand that once he does quit there may be a few days of irritability. Offer some incentives of your own like a favorite dessert or dinner after X time of no cigarettes. Maybe a back or foot rub. Any relaxation techniques are good for your husband to help take the edge off.
Good luck to you both. He can do it. How do I know? I smoked 1.5 packs a day for 41 years and quit (cold turkey–ewwwwwwww don’t recommend that method) 3.5 years ago.
My suggestion would be to help keep him out of situations where he’ll be tempted to smoke. For example, bars, or parties where those invited might be smoking.
Maybe he is going to hate you for this, but a friend of mine told me that at might you could soak milk to his cigarettes and than over night it will dry up. When he smoke that cigarette he would choke or cough anyway it would be the most disguising thing he ever tasted, and I’ll bet he would never want to see a cigarettes in his life again. Another less painful way is stir a cigarettes in a glass of water, the water would turn all black and tell him if he could drink it, he can smoke anytime he wants. He won’t drink it of course, and hopefully that would scare him away from smoking.
Be supportive without focusing on the issue. If he mentions it, tell him how proud you are of him. Have low calorie snacks on hand for him to avoid weight gain. Find activities you can do together such as going for walks at a park to keep him busy. Avoid situations where he usually smokes. If smoking after a meal has been his habit, develop a new habit such as going for a walk. Suggest he save the money he would normally spend on cigarettes and buy something for himself that he would really like to have. If he slips and smokes a cigarette, don’t let him get down on himself. Tell him it is ok and he just needs to resist the next urge for a cigarette. It is much like dieting, there are likely to be slip ups and you can’t focus on those. If he usually smokes while driving, offer a few pretzels to carry with him to chew on. Some people find chewing gum is helpful.
this can be fun for both of you. Every time he NEEDS a smoke, have sex instead.
Help him identify triggers; things he associates with smoking. Mine were…on the phone, behind the steering wheel, & when I had coffee.
Buy healthy snacks & randomly place them around the house. He may have a psychological hand/mouth addiction that also needs some attention. Health snacks help ease the transition while keeping weight off.
come up with a type of reward system; like a dinner out after a full month, or casual sex or something that will increase his motivation. Also, give him lots of praise.
He needs to drink lots of water while he quits. His body will be detoxifying. Water will help him flush the junk out.
Get him started on a multivitamin, too. He’ll need the extra support.
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