Quit Smoking

How I Did It: Three people, three methods to snuff out a bad habit

By JAMES A. FUSSELL

The Kansas City Star

Who: Rita Douglas, 38, of Olathe; business analyst
Method: hypnotherapy

Rita Douglas never thought she could stop smoking. "I thought it was going to be horrible," she said. Actually she had tried once — and it was horrible.

"It was like I lost my best friend," she said. But last fall she found new motivation.

"My new boyfriend, Tim, hated the fact that I smoked," she said.

He gave her a goal. Quit by his birthday, Oct. 9.

But how?

She had smoked for 23 years. Cold turkey wouldn't work. And she didn't want to use the patch or the gum because "that's still putting nicotine in your body."

That's when she asked her friend, Kelly Murphy-Boule, a Lenexa Hypnotherapist, for help.

The first part of the treatment: behavior therapy.

"Instead of saying all the negative things (about smoking) she turned it around to say, `These are the benefits from not smoking,' " Douglas said. "Like nonsmokers make more money in their jobs."

Next: actual hypnosis.

"She got me to deeply relax and breathe. Then, when I was under, she said, `You want to quit smoking. These are the reasons why, and this is how you are going to do it.' "

She also told Douglas to visualize a comforting white dog and told her it would help her through times of anxiety.

"But the best thing she did was to make me picture a pack of cigarettes about 3 feet tall with arms, legs and a face," Doug8las said. "She said to picture its face as someone you dislike the most, and then just haul off and smack it. Kick it! Punch it! 'Cause this thing is no longer going to have any control over your life."

It took only two hours. But it worked.

Now Douglas no longer smokes. She doesn't even have cravings. She feels better than she has in years and has tons more money.

And one very happy boyfriend.

"I am very proud of her," said Tim Marks, a local lawyer. "And it makes me feel great, because I worried about her health problems down the line. But I give her all the credit."

Who: Winso Williams, Kansas City, smoker for more than 40 years, receptionist
Method: prayer

Three years ago Bishop Mark Tolbert preached against the evils of smoking from the pulpit of Christ Temple Pentecostal Church. Your body is a temple, he told his congregants. And God doesn't want you to do bad things to your body.

Winso Williams, who had just started attending, knew he was right. But when Tolbert asked all smokers with faith to come and lay their cigarettes on the altar, Williams stayed put.

"I was ashamed," she said.

Nevertheless, his words moved her. There were other motivations, too. Her smoking bothered her 20-year-old, grandson, David, who suffered asthma. Then, a few days before Christmas, she learned more about cigarettes.

"A friend of mine and I went on the Internet and read an article about what smoking does to you," she said. "After I saw all the chemicals that are in cigarettes I said I didn't want to smoke anymore. And I really didn't want to smoke on Christ's birthday."

That's when Williams started to pray.

"Jesus," she said, with closed eyes and folded hands. "Please take the urge away from me. I don't want to smoke anymore."

She made it a week before backsliding. But every night she would continue to pray.

Help me, lord. Take the urge away. Give me the strength.

Soon she stopped taking the cigarettes with her to work. Then she didn't take them anywhere. Finally she stopped buying them.

The cravings gnawed at her. So strong was her desire she sat up at night wondering: "If I don't smoke, what will I do?"

And then came the answer. She would pray. Night and day. Moment to moment. Anytime she had an urge, a pain or a weak moment.

Would you please take the urge away from me?

And finally, she said, God did.

Along the way she could see the hand of God working in her life. One time, when she bummed a cigarette from a man in her building, it tasted bad. No, horrible. It was the most disgusting thing she had ever put in her mouth. And it made her sick.

She never asked him for another cigarette.

After six months of constant prayer, she was free.

"I don't have to depend on cigarettes anymore," she said. "I depend on Jesus."

Now she is experiencing life in a whole new way. She's happier, has more energy. And, well, she smells better.

"Now when I'm around people who smoke I can smell it," she said.

"I'd ask my mother, `Did I smell like that?' And she said, `Yes you did.' "

Not anymore — thank God.

Who: Josh Davenport, 30, of Kansas City; librarian at Bernstein Rein Advertising
Method: cold turkey

Ask Josh Davenport how he quit smoking, and he turns into a stand-up comic.

"Equal parts rare steak and Oreo cookies," he said. "I was actually so large I couldn't get my arms to my mouth."

Ba dum bum.

But seriously, Josh. How'd you do it?

Let's just say he was motivated.

"My girlfriend wouldn't be with me if I didn't," he said. "I'm married to her now, so that worked out. Then there were the health reasons. You know, I liked climbing stairs without passing out."

OK, he has gained 25 to 30 pounds. But it's a fair tradeoff.

After all, Davenport had smoked for 10 years. He didn't want to end up like some other smokers he knew. Take his former roommate, a pack-a-day man.

"He would get up in the morning and hack for 20 minutes," Davenport said. "That didn't sound attractive. And he never had a girlfriend. You know, what was that about? Wait. I know what that was about."

And so Davenport decided to quit. Just stop. Pure willpower, combined with hefty portions of food.

It was hard.

"I had to deal with the emotional roller coaster of withdrawal," he said. "I was pleasant to be around, I'm sure. Like being around an atom bomb that hadn't gone off. The only thing to do was stay away."

It took six months of eating and agonizing for him to finally break free. Today he hasn't smoked in four years. Still, he misses it sometimes.

"At the bar," he said. "There are people smoking, and you've got a drink in your hand. That's the worst. Or when it's cold out and you've got a cup of coffee. Oh, coffee and cigarettes!" he said as if recalling a summer in Paris. "Those were the days."

Ahem.

Looking back, he would have done some things differently. Instead of eating so much he would exercise.

"You definitely need something to keep your mind off the smoking," he said. "But it could be anything. It could be crocheting. You can't smoke and crochet at the same time, can you? But if you print that you are going to get letters."

He affects a high-pitched voice: "I'm 83, and I can smoke and crochet at the same time."

At least now, Josh thinks, he might actually make it to 83.

To reach James A. Fussell, features writer for The Star, call (816) 234-4460 or send e-mail to jfussell@kcstar.com

Resources Here's more help in your struggle to stop smoking:

Smokefreedom
The American Lung Association: (800) 548-8252, www.lungusa.org.
The American Cancer Society: (800) ACS-2345 (800-227-2345), www.cancer.org.
www.quitnet.com. It's the Web's original quit-smoking site, operated in association with Boston University's School of Public Health.