Aids HIV FAQ

SmokeOut

Question:

> Doesn’t make sense does it ?  New quitters are woefully unprepared for the > stresses that the holiday season puts on them, and are best served by having > a support group such as this one to backup their quit method, but God help > them if they don’t.  Diane and I were talking about this the other day and > wondering who came up with the idea to hold it at this time of year.

Then again, didn’t a group of our very own have very good success quitting in November last year? I don’t know if I could have started a quit with the holidays coming up, so my congratulations to all the Novenders who did succeed. I know in other years, November seemed to be a popular time to quit as well. Me, I chose the ugliest part of Winter, late February. Cindy Courseware Design & Development                    Columbus, Ohio 43210 Office of Information Technology                   614/292-9689

Response:

> wondering who came up with the idea to hold it at this time of year.  Mind > you, ANY time is a good time to quit.  But why give yourself more > aggravation than you need ?  I think if they had chosen a time in the spring > or summer, or even in late winter, that they might have better results with > longer-lasting quits.  IMO of course. > Eddie

Grin. I tend to try and quit this time of year because the warmer weather and longer hours of sunlight help.  Perhaps the person who came up with the idea in the first place was from the sourthern hemisphere. Iago

Response:

Jef Said – They’d be better served moving it to…May, perhaps, and handing out patches and gum and Zyban and having Padders offer to sit in your lap and hold your > hand and calm you down… Yeah; that’s the ticket!

They are having a lot of success down here with a Health Dept initative called Quitline. Basically, anyone can call. They send you some questionairres, how many you smoke, what your triggers are, medical history, then they decide what they think you should use to quit. You get to choose your preference. They sent me a voucher for the first month of patches, which cost me $10 (very subsidised.) At three weeks, they call to make sure you are still quit, and for $5 you get the voucher for the next month. They have a help line, and send out good literature and reminder stickers etc. IMHO…while a smoke out day may trigger some ppl to thinking about quitting, or even quitting, a program like our Quitline is much more effective as it offers help and support and cheap patches/other aids…the first few months they could not keep up with all the phone calls… Paula

Response:

"Sheena" wrote > Who came up with the date for TGASO? One week before Thanksgiving and > one week and one day before the biggest shopping date of the year – > that’s what a newly-quit person needs. Family everywhere and crowds of > people. Good job.

Didn’t it used to be in the summer? Around the 4th of July? Oh…that was the Smoke– IN. Different group. More fun. My memories of them are a bit hazy, though. Are people serious about the notion that the Smoke-Out is really some tool of Big Tobacco to frustrate us? C’mon…isn’t that just a tad paranoid? Maybe it’s not particularly effective, date-wise (trying to make ANY major change around the stress of the holidays is a huge challenge…) but I think making a special day for people trying to quit isn’t a bad idea, overall. They’d be better served moving it to…May, perhaps, and handing out patches and gum and Zyban and having Padders offer to sit in your lap and hold your hand and calm you down… Yeah; that’s the ticket!

Response:

> Who came up with the date for TGASO? One week before Thanksgiving and > one week and one day before the biggest shopping date of the year – > that’s what a newly-quit person needs. Family everywhere and crowds of > people. Good job.

Doesn’t make sense does it ?  New quitters are woefully unprepared for the stresses that the holiday season puts on them, and are best served by having a support group such as this one to backup their quit method, but God help them if they don’t.  Diane and I were talking about this the other day and wondering who came up with the idea to hold it at this time of year.  Mind you, ANY time is a good time to quit.  But why give yourself more aggravation than you need ?  I think if they had chosen a time in the spring or summer, or even in late winter, that they might have better results with longer-lasting quits.  IMO of course. Eddie

Response:

> Who came up with the date for TGASO? One week before Thanksgiving and > one week and one day before the biggest shopping date of the year – > that’s what a newly-quit person needs. Family everywhere and crowds of > people. Good job.

Doesn’t make sense does it ?  New quitters are woefully unprepared for the stresses that the holiday season puts on them, and are best served by having a support group such as this one to backup their quit method, but God help them if they don’t.  Diane and I were talking about this the other day and wondering who came up with the idea to hold it at this time of year.  Mind you, ANY time is a good time to quit.  But why give yourself more aggravation than you need ?  I think if they had chosen a time in the spring or summer, or even in late winter, that they might have better results with longer-lasting quits.  IMO of course. Eddie

Response:

"Sheena" wrote > Who came up with the date for TGASO? One week before Thanksgiving and > one week and one day before the biggest shopping date of the year – > that’s what a newly-quit person needs. Family everywhere and crowds of > people. Good job.

Didn’t it used to be in the summer? Around the 4th of July? Oh…that was the Smoke– IN. Different group. More fun. My memories of them are a bit hazy, though. Are people serious about the notion that the Smoke-Out is really some tool of Big Tobacco to frustrate us? C’mon…isn’t that just a tad paranoid? Maybe it’s not particularly effective, date-wise (trying to make ANY major change around the stress of the holidays is a huge challenge…) but I think making a special day for people trying to quit isn’t a bad idea, overall. They’d be better served moving it to…May, perhaps, and handing out patches and gum and Zyban and having Padders offer to sit in your lap and hold your hand and calm you down… Yeah; that’s the ticket!

Response:

Jef Said – They’d be better served moving it to…May, perhaps, and handing out patches and gum and Zyban and having Padders offer to sit in your lap and hold your > hand and calm you down… Yeah; that’s the ticket!

They are having a lot of success down here with a Health Dept initative called Quitline. Basically, anyone can call. They send you some questionairres, how many you smoke, what your triggers are, medical history, then they decide what they think you should use to quit. You get to choose your preference. They sent me a voucher for the first month of patches, which cost me $10 (very subsidised.) At three weeks, they call to make sure you are still quit, and for $5 you get the voucher for the next month. They have a help line, and send out good literature and reminder stickers etc. IMHO…while a smoke out day may trigger some ppl to thinking about quitting, or even quitting, a program like our Quitline is much more effective as it offers help and support and cheap patches/other aids…the first few months they could not keep up with all the phone calls… Paula

Response:

> wondering who came up with the idea to hold it at this time of year.  Mind > you, ANY time is a good time to quit.  But why give yourself more > aggravation than you need ?  I think if they had chosen a time in the spring > or summer, or even in late winter, that they might have better results with > longer-lasting quits.  IMO of course. > Eddie

Grin. I tend to try and quit this time of year because the warmer weather and longer hours of sunlight help.  Perhaps the person who came up with the idea in the first place was from the sourthern hemisphere. Iago

Response:

> Doesn’t make sense does it ?  New quitters are woefully unprepared for the > stresses that the holiday season puts on them, and are best served by having > a support group such as this one to backup their quit method, but God help > them if they don’t.  Diane and I were talking about this the other day and > wondering who came up with the idea to hold it at this time of year.

Then again, didn’t a group of our very own have very good success quitting in November last year? I don’t know if I could have started a quit with the holidays coming up, so my congratulations to all the Novenders who did succeed. I know in other years, November seemed to be a popular time to quit as well. Me, I chose the ugliest part of Winter, late February. Cindy Courseware Design & Development                    Columbus, Ohio 43210 Office of Information Technology                   614/292-9689

Response:

Filed under: Aids