“This time it’s the right one, I’m quitting cigarettes for good.” Many smokers have taken this resolution. There are also many people who return to cigarettes after having lasted a few hours, a few months, or even several years. The force of habit, the ritual, the gestures, the taste or, often, stress: everyone has their own reason to give in to the desire to fry one. Then another.
But we must not admit defeat. Even after quitting and restarting multiple times, it is still possible to successfully quit smoking. On the occasion of No Tobacco Month, 20 Minutes explains how to leave the cigarette behind.
Identify the causes of relapse
Quitting smoking for good is unfortunately not just a question of willpower. Quitting cigarettes permanently after several attempts when you are addicted is not easy. So, how can we attack this project when we want to put all the chances on our side? No miracle recipe, but steps that help you make your way.
“First, we must remember that relapse is not serious, we learn from our relapses,” reassures Professor Laurent Karila, addiction psychiatrist at Paul-Brousse hospital in Villejuif, author of Doctor: Addict or not? (ed. Harper Collins) and the Addiktion podcast. To begin, you must personally analyze what factors triggered the relapse. A person who had successfully quit smoking may fall back into smoking when they receive bad news – a death, a separation – or even because of a spike in stress at work. We need to re-analyze what triggered the relapse.”
Céline, with more than twenty years of smoking and numerous attempts to quit, has already passed this stage: “I had already stopped for a year, as part of a PMA project, before resume at the time of confinement, which meant the closure of fertility clinics for several months. After the health crisis, I thought I was on the right track: I completely stopped smoking for a year and a half, the time to carry out my pregnancy plan and breastfeed my baby, confides the mother in her 40s. But a few months ago, my mother had serious health problems, which caused me an unmanageable spike in stress, and I started again. This is my classic pattern: as soon as an emotionally difficult event occurs, cigarettes appear as a solution to my stress, as if by smoking a cigarette, I could finally breathe in the midst of my worries. A beautiful irony when you know the effect on the lungs… The other concern is that my partner still smokes, just like many of my friends, and being surrounded by smokers increases the temptation tenfold, it’s hard.
Get help
For Professor Karila, the next step is to “reuse the strategies that allowed the person to stop the previous time”. Except that for now, Céline has no plans to launch baby number two. “She needs to assess her motivation to stop,” advises the addictologist. She can make what is called a decision-making balance: a table in which she will weigh the pros and cons of quitting smoking, listing the elements for the two columns from the most important to the least important. Then, you have to treat your anxiety, through relaxation techniques, meditation or self-hypnosis.”
At the top of her “for” list, Céline, who never smokes in the presence of her baby, “does not want her daughter to see her mother smoking and smoke in turn later. For that, it’s difficult to say: “do what I say but not what I do”. And then, I got a taste for life without tobacco, no longer going out to buy cigarettes every hour, feeling more in shape, with better breathing, a fresher complexion and fresher breath too, she laughed. I want to find this lightness again.”
But here again, willpower can have its limits. In this case, “you should not hesitate to seek help from a professional, who will offer appropriate treatment,” advises Professor Karila. We can implement a nicotine replacement treatment depending on its consumption, this really helps not to feel the lack of nicotine.” Nicotine-based treatments via patches, chewing gum or even tablets which “increase the chances of successfully quitting smoking by 50 to 70%”, confirms Health Insurance.
Create new rituals
To optimize your chances of quitting smoking, “you can also use vaping,” suggests Professor Karila. This is not currently a medical indication; we know that vaping helps many smokers stop smoking. On the other hand, there is no question of switching to heated tobacco devices which are harmful to health,” he insists.
The electronic cigarette is the option that Vincent, 38 years old, opted for, who couldn’t put down his pack of cigarettes. “It was six years ago, and since then, I have never smoked a cigarette again,” he says happily. Over time, I reduced the nicotine content of my liquid, down to zero. On the other hand, even today, I still vape.”
Céline has already tried vaping, but she doesn’t like it. “And then, it’s stupid, but when I smoke a cigarette, it’s three minutes of time for me, where I don’t worry about anything, where I don’t think about anything, it clears my head and it makes me “soothes,” she confides. In this case, “you have to find other three-minute calming rituals, alternative strategies,” replies Professor Karila. It’s a little behavioral work. We can list situations that calm, rest the mind or are gratifying. It depends on each person: you can listen to a song that catches your fancy or make a phone call to a friend.” Anything that will soothe and distract from the urge to smoke. For this, “we can also do a breathing exercise, I highly recommend cardiac coherence, and the feedback from patients is very positive,” continues the addictologist.
A piece of advice that hits home for Céline: “I had never seen things like that, but the idea of replacing my cigarette break with another ritual, where I always take three minutes for myself, but to calm down while taking care of my mind and body pleases me a lot.” For the moment, the young woman, who has in the past tried hypnosis and auriculotherapy without success, is thinking of “having patches prescribed by the doctor, if it is compatible with breastfeeding”, explains T. -her, even though she only breastfeeds her baby in the morning and evening. “To date, no worrying elements have been reported in breastfed children of mothers taking nicotine replacement,” reassures Professor Karila. All forms can be used, including in combination. And with oral forms, we can minimize the child’s exposure to nicotine by taking the substitute after feeding and waiting about two hours after taking it before putting him back to the breast.
