Dr. Oz, I am a 57 yr old woman, I have had 2 heart attacks, and quadruple by-pass surgery last February. I have smoked for over 40 years. Following my surgery, I did not smoke for 3 weeks but found myself craving a cigarette. Unfortunately, I had that first one and now am smoking AGAIN. Over the years, I have tried being hypnotised, cold turkey, chantrix, gum, every aide known, nothing seems to work. I know I am killing myself, but STILL, I can not seem to get past a few weeks of not smoking. My question is: WHY is it so very difficult for some to quit, at the expense of their life? What could possible make me want to do this to myself? I have a very comfortable, happy life. I have 8 children; 2 still at home, 3 grown birth children, and 3 grown step children.....and 3 grandchildren. Thank You, Linda D. Milligan Matoon, IL

I know that it is very difficult to quit smoking. I do hope, though, that those who smoke will try their best, if not for themselves, then for their family members and friends. My sister-in-law's family has been decimated due to smoking. Her brother died at 51 and her father within a year at 75. Her 51 year old sister has lung cancer and is not doing well. Another sister continues to smoke and I can only hope that she does not fall victim. It pains me to see the sadness my sister-in-law and her family have had to endure the past few years all due to cigarette smoking. I hate to see my nephews lose so many key maternal family members, who otherwise may have been in their lives as they grow into adulthood. It also pains me, as I care deeply for her and her wonderful family.

I hope that Dr. Oz can get through to the young adults who are smoking. When I was young, we knew smoking was detrimental, however, we did not know the specifics until the tobacco companies' tactics were unveiled in the 1990's. With all of the information we have today, including how the tobacco companies target youth, I fail to understand why bright young women and men would even start this self-destructive habit (I see supposedly educated college students smoking - which boggles my mind!!). I am a school social worker and teach my students how the tobacco companies target them in an effort to get them addicted and therefore create life-long comsumers for their product. Instead of exclusively focusing on the fact that cigarettes are harmful to their health, I ask the students if they want to become "suckers" for the tobacco companies. I also do the math on how much money the tobacco companies can make over the lifetime of just one smoker and ask the students what else they could purchase with this same money. Presenting things in this way often amazes them, they adopt a new way of looking at cigarette smoking and I feel that they are more receptive to rejecting the tobacco companies' lure. They do not want to become "suckers" and woud rather buy electronic items, clothes or a car with all of the money they would save.

I will also suggest watching the movie "The Insider" with Russel Crowe. This movie is a true account of how the tobacco companies' devious methods were unveiled and how far they went in an effort to stop the man responsible for finally blowing the whistle.

I had all the same fears as you and I thought my addiction was special.

Try reading Allen Carr's Easy Way to Stop Smoking. The book explains the complicated maze of the smokers mind and debunks all the myths and there are many.

March 7th will be 2 years that I am smoke free and I love the freedom. I am 40 yrs old, smoked since I was 15 and frankly got so sick and tired of spending my whole life beside an ashtray.

Good luck to you!

Hi ljmilli04, my name is Linda too and like you I smoked for at least 30 years. This is really strange but after my husband left me for another woman, I took up jogging and threw away my cigaretts and that was that for 8 years....then I met a smoker and started again. In the meantime, my mother was a smoker and I remember one day when I was still not smoking I said to her"Ma, one day you are going to die gasping for every breath" Well Linda, that is exactly what happened to my mother...it was horrid watching her desperately gasping for each breath"! I decided to throw away my cigaretts again and this time, I made it a daily thing....I did not tempt myself with even a small drag of that cigarette and I concentrated on just that day.....I drank lots of orange juice for which I felt helped flush out the nicotine! After I made it the first, I still did not tempt myself...and there were no cigarettes to smoke anyway....to me that is the key...go day to day, drink a lot of OJ and do not tempt yourself and each day it gets easier .....to this day, I do not even crave it....and you, Linda, have much more to loose where you have a cardiac history....if you love who you are, then throw those horrid things away!!! Please....good luck to you....Linda

After smoking for 37 years I finally quit smoking as of October 19, 2007. After trying just about everything out there I was finally successful with acupuncture.

I hope Dr. Oz mentions acupuncture to people who are trying to quit. It is not a money maker for the drug companies so it is not something you see advertised on tv or talked about much.

I had a real difficulty with the idea of taking one drug to curb another so I really didn't feel using drugs to quit was for me. I had tried the gum and the patch, neither worked on me. I felt by the time I quit most of my addiction was mental as I wasn't smoking for 9 hours a day due to my job, after almost taking an anti-anxiety drug to try to quit I decided to go with a more natural route which was acupuncture. I had been told by my doctor & several other people that it had an 85% success rate. It's been 3 months for me and the only thing I have had to battle was several cravings during very stressful times which I was able to busy myself for several minutes until the cravings subsided. This only happened around the holidays like I said when things were stressful, now that the stress is gone I'm back on track with no cravings at all.

It took 2 treatments within 18 hours of each other, it took 2 hours(1 hour of counseling about behavior changes) of my time and it cost me $110.00 for the combined treatments. Money well spent as it was my gift to myself for my 50th birthday. Kudos for doing this show, I am anxious to see it!

Donna

What exactly do they do during acupuncture? What type of Doctor would I look up to perform this? Thanks!

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! My Christmas gift to my son was to quit smoking, and I was on Chantix just shy of 3 months and had a mental breakdown. I hadn't wrapped my brain around it. I went and bought the patch and just started the real work. This helped me tremendously!!!! I am 48 yrs old and have been smoking since I was 11 years old. I am going to be a Grandmother in June, and want to be around to enjoy it. Thank You Dr. Oz. Paularose