Quitting Smoking

[ThePresence]

I smoked a pack a day for 10 years and stopped cold turkey about 4 years ago.
As silly as it sounds, one thing that really helped me is that I told all my smoking buddies that I stopped. I would feel like a loser to smoke with them again after I said that. I also made it a point to frequent my smoking spots immediately and not smoke there. Made it much easier to do in the future once it was done already.

 

[surfsatwerk]

Snus and nasal snuff. Real snus, not the American garbage.

This, I haven't smoked for over six months now using snus, not the American garbage. I love the flavor and my gums are still pink and healthy.

 

[Dulanic]

I tried to quit probably 10 times over 5 years. I failed every single time. Finally this past Christmas I decided enough was enough. I threw out what I had and said this is insane, why am I spending $8 a DAY. I went to CVS picked up some Nicorette and quit that day.

It has been 3 months and I dont even think about smoking at this point for the most part. I am EXTREMELY happy I did this. The incentive not to go back... I put $8 in a savings account every single day to show me how much I was saving. In 3 months it has over $700.

BTW I used the gum maybe 5-10 a day for a week and was down to 0 pieces within a month. I also made sure I told everyone I used to smoke with that I was quitting and to please not ask me to smoke with them.

 

[Anneka]

I used the patches. They aren't cheap but cheaper than smoking in the long run. Walmarts got the cheapest ones. They don't work for everyone but did the trick for me.

There is also the self motivating factor which is almost 60% of any process. had a friend who tried with patches with no result but also his ambition was very low.

 

[caddlad]

chantix

Four years in January...after 30 years of smoking. One of the hardest things I've done.

I simply decided that I wasn't that person anymore. I feel great and experienced a 10.85% increase in awesome.

Do it now, while your young, it will never get easier. DON'T bum from friends. I took it 10 minutes at a time at first, riding out each craving. Slowly, but surely, the cravings stretched out, every hour, then two, then eight, twelve hours. I still get the urge every couple of weeks, but it passes in seconds.

Don't let it beat you!

 

[BlackTigers]

havent touched a cigarette since the night i posted this thread.

i read that book, the allen carr one, and ripped my cigarettes in half about halfway through. initially there were no cravings....then they came back really bad, and now they're finally gone again.

 

[JM Aggie08]

Make a small cut on the palm of your hand every time you get a craving.

 

[DominionSeraph]

Nicotine gum was nice.

 

[JohnnyMCE]

Quitting smoking was REALLY hard.

My wife and I were both smokers. At one point I was a 2 pack a day smoker. Then one day my wife told me she was pregnant. I crushed my pack and said we were both quitting. She went cold turkey. I tried the nicotine inhaler for about half a day but it tasted so horrible (worse than the cigs) that I went cold turkey after. The first two weeks were the hardest. I was the meanest, hot tempered, angriest sob. I basically didn't talk to anyone for two weeks and worked from home. It got alot easier after the initial period. The cravings do come back occasionally especially when you do things that you associate with smoking. For me it was when i would walk home from the train at night or after a good meal. You just need to do something to keep your hands busy. I would just fiddle with my phone for the walk. It is now a year and a half later and i've only had a couple puffs of a cigar since then the day that my daughter was born. I still get cravings occasionally and i fear that it will be that way for a long time to come but i just keep reminding myself that I am better off being healthy and keeping all that money in my wallet.

Good Luck.

 

[child of wonder]

Over the years I made a few half ass attempts at quitting but never succeeded. One day I was standing outside the glass patio door smoking while I kept an eye on my 1 year old son on the other side of the glass about 10 feet from me as he played with his toys.

He got up and walked over to the glass door and smiled up at me. I knew I HAD to quit for him.

My strategy was to wage psychological warfare on smoking. Rather than deeply inhaling the entire cigarette, I began taking a handful of puffs like a cigar from each one. Over the course of a few weeks, I slowly increased the number of puffs from each cigarette until I eventually got to the point that I was only inhaling one or two drags from each cigarette.

Pretty soon I thought to myself "why am I still doing this? These things taste disgusting and I'm getting no benefit from them anymore."

Then I just stopped altogether. Been clean for 7 years since.

 

[FDF12389]

Today is day two for me, I've "quit" a few times before, but three weeks was the longest I was ever able to hold out. My plan now is to never have another one, its those social cigs that get you hooked over and over again.

 

[Cerpin Taxt]

Patch worked for me. I'd buy the big "Step 1" patches and cut them in half to get twice as many out of 1 box. They don't recommend that, but I think that's just so that you pay full price for the "Step 2" patches which are just smaller versions of "Step 1."

I liked the patches because they helped me get over the habit of smoking without having to deal with the withdrawls at the same time. I learned how to NOT smoke during activities which were usually accompanied by a cigarette. After I was comfortable living without smoking I weaned myself off the patches.

 

[Gigantopithecus]

Nicorette, Zyban, the patch, and cold turkey - none worked for me.

I'm at two years three months without a cig since I discovered the miracle cure known as Chantix.

 

[Linflas]

I smoked 15-16 years and quit cold turkey. Finished the last one in the pack and have not had one since that day.

 

[Chunkee]

do what real people do, eat them..then you will quit

 

[alien42]

i smoked a pack+ a day for almost 10 years before quitting cold turkey 6 years ago this May.

imo, tobacco addition is 80% to 90% mental and cold turkey is the only way to go.

 

[glenn1]

Chantix worked for me after a few other methods failed. As others stated, while the physical addiction is over relatively quickly, it will take a good year or so before the mental desire to have a smoke finally fades.

 

[Anneka]

I smoked 15-16 years and quit cold turkey. Finished the last one in the pack and have not had one since that day.

For how long ?

 

[boomhower]

There is also the self motivating factor which is almost 60% of any process. had a friend who tried with patches with no result but also his ambition was very low.

Of course if you really don't want to quit your not going to. Nothing is going to make someone quite is isn't ready.

 

[Linflas]

For how long ?

Since November, 1984.

 

[bobdole369]

16.5 months now (I think - the morning (1am) on dec 1 2010 was my last). Have only second hand smoked since.

My motivation now is probably wrong - I'd like to hear peoples thoughts on it. I feel like a bad person when I think this way:

I tell myself what a loser that smoker is. Like how i should pity him for not being as strong as I am. I get angry especially when I see smokers callously flick their used up disgusting ends on the ground. Its like as if I poured coffee grounds out right next to the coffee pot at work. And did it every hour. See how I'm getting angry?

 

[lxskllr]

16.5 months now (I think - the morning (1am) on dec 1 2010 was my last). Have only second hand smoked since.

My motivation now is probably wrong - I'd like to hear peoples thoughts on it. I feel like a bad person when I think this way:

I tell myself what a loser that smoker is. Like how i should pity him for not being as strong as I am. I get angry especially when I see smokers callously flick their used up disgusting ends on the ground. Its like as if I poured coffee grounds out right next to the coffee pot at work. And did it every hour. See how I'm getting angry?

If that's what keeps you quit, then fine. When that thought process enters public policy I start having a problem with it.

 

[Lotheron]

havent touched a cigarette since the night i posted this thread.

i read that book, the allen carr one, and ripped my cigarettes in half about halfway through. initially there were no cravings....then they came back really bad, and now they're finally gone again.

Good for you, keep it up.

 

[dpodblood]

I've never been a smoker, but my GF was when we first started dating. She gave it up by cutting back more and more every day, until she was down to only one cigarette per day. Finally she gave it up completely. She was pretty emotional for the first 72 hours of being smoke free (randomly crying, etc), but after that the cravings started to go down, and her emotional state went back to normal.

 

[bobdole369]

I've never been a smoker, but my GF was when we first started dating. She gave it up by cutting back more and more every day, until she was down to only one cigarette per day. Finally she gave it up completely. She was pretty emotional for the first 72 hours of being smoke free (randomly crying, etc), but after that the cravings started to go down, and her emotional state went back to normal.

This is sort of against what brain chemistry and modern medicine and addiction experts will say. Physiologically - when you smoke your first cigarette your body sort of hates it. Once you get addicted your brain grows extra receptors which serve to reinforce the addiction. WHen a smoker inhales, the nicotine binds to the receptors in the brain, in essence sort of satisfying its need. As the level of nicotine in the body drops, the receptors start screaming and continue getting louder and louder to the brain - this is the craving I suppose, and even a single cigarette will reset those receptors provided the nicotine was sufficient. Now the cycle starts anew. In theory - you can't exactly slowly cut down. Any amount of nicotine will start the withdrawal process over again. Its like being a little bit pregnant. Either you've had enough or you haven't and the receptors calm down or they dont.

There has got to be something to this because I hear it over and over. Granted it did not work for me. Maybe it involves dealing with the psychological aspect BEFORE the physical? I'll say that this quit (my permanent and last quit) I didn't have much physical symptoms. My serious trouble was day 1 and 2, then day 14-30. After which now I'm on autopilot.