I hate to promote the solution as it is still sensitive for some, but for stopping smoking, an e-cig can be a life-saver. There are many varieties (way too many), and although I quickly found my way, it took me almost 4 years to find something that would completely work for my wife. Early days, but what I found was a) small b) elegant c) simple d) cheap e) really satisfying for a smoker.

I was so amazed I ordered one for myself as well. These smaller devices always existed, but were not very good, and many of us ended up with heavy, big, expensive contraptions. So I could not believe how good this particular one had become.

I was shortly involved with a movie called "A Billion Lives" - that's the number of people who will die early from smoking before 2100. And it can be fixed. If you are an adult, I see no reason not to try to find something that works for you - especially as it seems to have such a big effect on your pain. I got my wife down from 15 to 4 a day, but with this latest device, we both hope it's going to go down to 0. Fingers crossed.

Yes, I try to keep busy, I don't do gyms or anything, but I'm not a couch potato either. Gardening, DIY, house cleaning... My last "big" effort was to cut down 15 trees that had grown too big. With a hand saw. And then cut them into small pieces.

In this case, it was half joking, but it was the adrenaline and anger at myself that made me "forget" the pain. Sure, stress and anger normally make it worse, but the cursing somehow made it a) less painful and b) hilarious.

I may have said this before, but when I left rehab, the director said "Please think about quitting smoking too. I have seen too many people who got sober successfully, only to die not much later from lung disease related to smoking." He almost was in tears when he said that. I kept that firmly in the back of my mind, so 500 days after quitting alcohol I also quit smoking.

Given that I smoked 70 a day (yes ) I have saved so much money it's almost ridiculous. But more importantly: all the bad stuff you get with cigs is gone.

I'll say it again for completeness: if you can stop without any "tools", the more power to you. But quitting smoking is NOT easy (for some it is, for most it isn't). So if you can do it with a tool that is about 95% less harmful (and gives you an at least a 50,000 smaller chance of getting cancer from it) I would say: think about it.

In 10 years time books will be written about why the heck governments didn't do more to promote switching smokers to e-cigs. The UK is now finally leading the way, I hope the rest of the world will follow.

Anyway, don't worry about complaining too much, it's what we are here for, and we know exactly what you are going through.