Trying to quit smoking...

[TheLonelyPhoenix]

I've given it a few half-hearted attempts before, but, well, you can guess how that went.

I'm much more physically active now than I have been in the past two years, and basically between the money I spend on it and the lung capacity I lose from it I can't keep this habit up anymore. Not to mention, its pretty embarassing when I walk into my job or class and the smoke smell is still clinging to my clothes or skin.

For those of you who have successfully quit (and stayed that way), what did you do or use? Any tricks in particular? I'd prefer to do this without patches/gum/etc. if possible, so advice not involving those would be preferable.

 

[PlatinumGold]

trick is. don't try, just quit.

the worst habit is to get into a habit of quitting and restarting. either quit or don't quit, don't try.

 

[PHiuR]

i just quit cold turkey...and it worked...i do enjoy a ciggy every once in a while tho. i went from 3-5 daily to once every week or so.
anyway. i find that doing physical work helps quitting.


also...i dunno if this will work but an idea..chewing tobacco?(i heard it's harder to quit than smoking) but i don't really find it hard to quit smoking... so yeah.

 

[oogabooga]

I was never a hardcore smoker : but for the cravings i use gum. Just regular storebought gum, not nicorette or such. I know a buddy of mine who was a pretty avid smoker swears by the gum (some sot of nicorette), but i see him chewing on them more then i saw him smoking and make cracks at him

Another trick will be to let people who are close to you know you are quitting, and ask them to help you out by keeping up on your progress, etc. This will also require you to be honest too since if you lie : it's likely that they wont know. But for sure : You gotta WANT to quit and you gotta stop period.

 

[ThePresence]

I smoked a pack a day for 10 years. I haven't had a cigarette in 15 weeks (16 weeks this Thursday), and I never will again.
I woke up one morning coughing and I asked myself WTF am I doing to myself. I gave away the rest of my carton and haven't had one since.

Sure, it's not easy. I get cravings all the time (not as strong as they were right when I stopped), but I fight them off. I will never smoke again.

 

[lokiju]

I smoked for 8 years, then two years ago this week I decided it was enough.

The best help for me was to stay away from other smokers and bars/drinking.

I basically didn't drink at all for almost a full year, which helped the most for me I'd say.

But now I can drink and not have the urge to smoke anymore, so it worked for me.

Good luck and just remember, no one controls you but you, as dumb as that may sound to some, it really is the truth, helped me realize that only I can make myself quit.

 

[ThePresence]

oops

 

[Platypus]

There is a book out there that a lot of people have said helps them quit.. it uses subliminal messages to make you want to stop smoking or something. I will find out the title for you here in a few.

EX. randomly the word smoke is replaced with choke on some pages, others it's not. Stuff like this.

Other than that, just stop buying them. I used to smoke cloves, still do on occasion, you just have do it in moderation.

 

[chrisms]

I quit for two months and started again for a couple days.. then I realized how pointless it was and quit again. Probably been about another month now.

Don't try. Just don't smoke a cigarette. It really isn't that tough.

 

[Gurck]

Why are you against the patch / gum? Cigarettes are partly such a strong addiction because they're both a physical and a mental one, nicotine replacement helps by allowing you to combat one part of it at a time. At any rate, I quit 2.5 years ago with the help of the patch, I had smoked for almost a decade and was up to 2 packs a day. For me, it was really only difficult for the first few months. The hardest part was drinking coffee / alcohol without smoking, and getting used to not having one after each meal. Once I got used to being a non-smoker I only had to deal with the occasional craving, and they weren't very strong at that. In fact, about 10 months after quitting, I got really drunk & bought a pack. Over the course of a week or two I smoked it, and it just reinforced what a smelly habit it was, since by then my sense of smell had returned. I had no desire to start back up after that pack was gone.

 

[alent1234]

there was a book I read around 10 years ago that worked for me. It was written by a wife of a dentist who quit with a plan she developed.

the smoking addiction is physical and psychological. If you quit cold turkey then it's hard because you don't treat the psychological addiction. The psych comes in the form of smoking while drinking alcohol, after eating and drinking coffee. The system basically consists of waiting 20 minutes to an hour between these activities and smoking. You increase the times each week. This also causes you to smoke less so your physical addition drops when you finally quit. Do the above for around 1 month and then try quitting cold turkey.

 

[Nomada]

It's so weird, I smoke heavy but every two weeks I'll go through a hermit phase where I won't leave the apartment, so I won't have a smoke for 4-5 days no sweat. I've never seen the big deal in trying to quit. After 3days it's supposed to be a cakewalk. Good luck. All you can do is keep busy in the interim.

 

[alien42]

i quit on my 30th birthday which was may 26 and have been smoke free for almost 11 days. nicotine is mentally addictive and about as physically addictive as caffeine. i can honestly say that quiting has been extremely easy, you just have to set your mind to it. i think that people who rely on the patch or gum are more likely to fail since it is more of a mental addiction.

i smoked for about 8 years and have since been in clubs, around friends who smoke and have drank (buzzed but not wasted) since i quit.

 

[UsandThem]

Originally posted by: PHiuR

also...i dunno if this will work but an idea..chewing tobacco?(i heard it's harder to quit than smoking) but i don't really find it hard to quit smoking... so yeah.

I wouldn't try this one, as being an ex chewer, chew is more addictive than smoking (at least it was for me).

One can of chew (2.5 ounces I believe), gives your body as much nicotine as a carton (10 packs) of cigarettes.

 

[TheLonelyPhoenix]

Originally posted by: Gurck
Why are you against the patch / gum?

I'm not really against it, I'd just prefer to do it through my own will alone. Someone else in the thread already mentioned how people can get hooked to nicotine cravings from gums/patches as they do from cigs, so that doesn't strike me as an ideal solution.

The mental addiction that people are talking about is what I'm really worried about, since I think that's why I haven't successfully quit yet - I go to a party or bar somewhere and feel like I have to have something in my hand, or after a few hours of staring at books and notes, I want to go take a break and do something else. That's usually when I really want a smoke.

Thanks for the support, everyone, keep 'em coming.

 

[rahvin]

Just a heads up but watch out for the weight gain after quiting. You will find that after about a month after you quit that your taste buds will no longer be affected by the tabaco and food will suddenly taste a LOT better. So watch out for overeating after you do quit, you will find food a LOT more pleasureable and it's easy to go hog wild.

 

[yokomo]

The only method that I have seen work is to take 2weeks and keep your self in a drunken haze so you forget about smoking and after 2weeks it is out of your system and you don't crave it I have 2 friends that have done this and it worked on the first time for both... but you have to have 2 solid weeks and you have to stay blitzed the whole time or it will not work..

 

[psiu]

I quit over a year ago. It's gonna suck, but you will get over it. Hopefully you have someone to encourage and support you. Good luck, have a

no :beer: for awhile, it makes it harder to resist.

 

[Feldenak]

I just quit cold turkey. I'm not completely nicotine free though. I have about 1-2 cigarettes a month. When I asked my doctor about it, he said that 1-2 every month isn't a big deal and while he recommended that I get rid of those 2 monthly cigs, he doesn't see it as a major deal.

 

[Gurck]

Originally posted by: yokomo
The only method that I have seen work is to take 2weeks and keep your self in a drunken haze so you forget about smoking and after 2weeks it is out of your system and you don't crave it I have 2 friends that have done this and it worked on the first time for both... but you have to have 2 solid weeks and you have to stay blitzed the whole time or it will not work..

I do that anyway and it never helped me quit

OP, I wouldn't worry about becoming addicted to the patch or to the gum; the harder part of quitting is quitting the actual smoking; the mental part. You associate the pleasure of smoking with smoking cigarettes, not with gum or a patch. It's also not a time to worry about machismo; quitting is a difficult thing to do and there's no shame in needing help. Further, it's very unhealthy and the sooner you can successfully quit, the better, regardless of how.

Another poster who mentioned weight gain is right; it's a pretty common side effect. I put on about 30 lbs, but then I wasn't really watching myself. Another side effect, I found, was that I became extremely irritable. Others on this board might laugh & think that's a side effect which I'm still experiencing But trust me, it was pretty bad. I spent much of the month or two after quitting alone...

 

[Chode Messiah]

step 1 stop buying cigs
step 2 buy niccorrette

 

[moshquerade]

Originally posted by: PHiuR
i just quit cold turkey...and it worked...i do enjoy a ciggy every once in a while tho. i went from 3-5 daily to once every week or so.
anyway. i find that doing physical work helps quitting.


also...i dunno if this will work but an idea..chewing tobacco?(i heard it's harder to quit than smoking) but i don't really find it hard to quit smoking... so yeah.

are you telling him to quit smoking and take up chewing tobacco?

 

[xSauronx]

Originally posted by: PlatinumGold
trick is. don't try, just quit.

the worst habit is to get into a habit of quitting and restarting. either quit or don't quit, don't try.

my brother is having the same problem, nicorette....more nicorette...

he had quit for a while, but then a friend of his died and he picked up to 2 or 3 a day again.

 

[anno]

I smoked.. seriously... 2+ packs/day for 30 years. way longer than I didn't. and they're right, you can't try to quit. if you're trying to quit, you won't quit. you have to quit. don't try, just do it. I quit smoking at 12:01 AM on 10/15/03.

I used the nicotine gum... substituting one habit for another first, and then substituting one gum for the other. I still have a major gum habit but.. that's ok. gum is cheap.

 

[imported_DocHolliday]

this is where that yoda quote really is true