Time to QUIT SMOKING, any tips?

BonnieandClyde29

Even though I am only 22 I have been smoking since I was 12, yes i know horrifying! I need to quit, and I mostly want to quit I know will power is one thing, but MAN I have more of a problem with smoking then I do stuffing my face, I am scared I will want to snack more, any tips or advice? Another thing is I get so bored working over nights I finish my work usually by 230am and still have four hours to go so usually once an hour or 2 I would go and smoke just to go outside!

stefjc

Keep a quick diary for a few days.

1. Time 2. What you are doing 3. How much did you enjoy the cigarette


It really helps you work out your smoking patterns and you'll be surprised at how few of them you really enjoy, rather than just smoke to pass time.

If you identify, say, 4 cigarettes you really enjoy then you can see that you really only need to quit those 4 - the others you can just distract yourself from.

Distractions should include water - your brain's signal for food and drink is fairly primeval, anything put in the mouth will satisfy it - that's why many smoker's lose weight - they smoke instead of eating. It is also why many gain when they quit - they eat rather than smoke!

One great tip is to wet your hands when distracting yourself - you can't smoke with wet hands - so wash the dishes, take up felting as a hobby - anything!

That and find something you can mimic hand to mouth actions, that's why the pretend cigarettes help. Chew a straw, a pen, anything. Or chewing gum, or learn to play the harmonica

Most of all keep in your head that you are only quitting one cigarette at a time. So if you smoke one all is not lost, you just need to work harder on quitting that one - writing down what you were doing, and how much you did / did not enjoy it will help.

Good luck.

jackiecamarena

Have a partner that will stand by you at all times and break your cigarettes in half when you feel the urge!

thebigcb

Did you try the tablets?

Worked for my girl

sunman00

go to a radiotherapy ward in a hospital and sit in the waiting room for an hour or 2, the palour of the faces, the horrible sounding hacking coughs, the sound of the mucus, mostly not going anywhere and so making the coughing stronger & louder.
that's where smokers are headed, & it's grim enough to put most people off,
good luck.

BonnieandClyde29

go to a radiotherapy ward in a hospital and sit in the waiting room for an hour or 2, the palour of the faces, the horrible sounding hacking coughs, the sound of the mucus, mostly not going anywhere and so making the coughing stronger & louder.
that's where smokers are headed, & it's grim enough to put most people off,
good luck.

I've already been around that before and it didn't bother me to be honest, I know it's unhealthy, and what it does, that usually just irritates me.

BonnieandClyde29

Have a partner that will stand by you at all times and break your cigarettes in half when you feel the urge!

My husband is also trying to quit! Hopefully we arent trying to kill each other!! lol

sijomial

When you get a craving go up to the mirror and pucker up....

Then ask yourself:
"Do I want to have cat's bum lips when I'm thirty?"

BonnieandClyde29

When you get a craving go up to the mirror and pucker up....

Then ask yourself:
"Do I want to have cat's bum lips when I'm thirty?"

lmao!!! that's a good one!!! Never heard of that

hannakengu

My uncle quit smoking years ago by first switching to nicotine gum, and then gradually switching to regular gum. I think it took him two years - first the nicotine gum to quit smoking, and then to the regular gum, and then quit chewing the regular gum. I'm really glad he quit, and the phase where he'd crave regular gum 3 times during a family dinner was quite entertaining for us kids.

benol1

Even though I am only 22 I have been smoking since I was 12, yes i know horrifying! I need to quit, and I mostly want to quit I know will power is one thing, but MAN I have more of a problem with smoking then I do stuffing my face, I am scared I will want to snack more, any tips or advice? Another thing is I get so bored working over nights I finish my work usually by 230am and still have four hours to go so usually once an hour or 2 I would go and smoke just to go outside!

I was successful with nicotine patches with the following 12 week program.
Week 1 - 4: 21mg nicotine patches (24hour)
Week 5 - 9: 14mg nicotine patches (24 hour)
Week 9 - 12: 7mg nicotine patches (24 hour).

I gave up over 10 years ago and haven't had a cigarette (nor felt like one) since.
wishing you all the best,

Ben

JesterMFP

go to a radiotherapy ward in a hospital and sit in the waiting room for an hour or 2, the palour of the faces, the horrible sounding hacking coughs, the sound of the mucus, mostly not going anywhere and so making the coughing stronger & louder.
that's where smokers are headed, & it's grim enough to put most people off,
good luck.

Sadly, I doubt that.

OP, I'm not a smoker, but fwiw I know three different people who read Alan Clark's book "Easy Way to Stop Smoking". Two of them stopped smoking after reading that, just stopped altogether cold turkey, and are still not smoking over a year later. Didn't work for the other one. Might be worth a try.

SadFaerie

go to a radiotherapy ward in a hospital and sit in the waiting room for an hour or 2, the palour of the faces, the horrible sounding hacking coughs, the sound of the mucus, mostly not going anywhere and so making the coughing stronger & louder.
that's where smokers are headed, & it's grim enough to put most people off,
good luck.

Actually, I read a research showing that this way of quitting is ineffective. I can't find the article right now, but it went along these lines: researchers divided two groups of smokers and played videos about dangers of smoking to one group, and about benefits of quitting to the other. In the first group most went to have a cigarette after watching the movie, whereas in the other most did not.

I think it's based on our own reasoning. When watching people suffering we think "Poor folks... but that's not gonna happen to me", but when watching healthy pretty people we kinda want to be like them. It's more motivational.

Lalasharni

Everyone here may not agree with this, but it worked for me.
I went to e-digs - more specifically a shisha tank kit. You can buy them anywhere now.
I originally used the nicotine e-liquid, then scaled the strength down. I use 0% nicotine fruit flavours.
That way the quitting is gradual and you will not go crazy with cravings. Nicotine is a very difficult drug to quit - some peoppe manage cold turkey, but a lot fail that way. Giving your hands a job with the shisha is a way of doing it gradually and you will find that you dont feel so deprived.
In addition, there is no tobacco in a shisha - no cancer causing chemicals, tar or nasty stuff.
I'd give it a go - at least there is no harm in trying.
Good luck - and I applaud you for wanting to quit the tobacco.

BonnieandClyde29

Even though I am only 22 I have been smoking since I was 12, yes i know horrifying! I need to quit, and I mostly want to quit I know will power is one thing, but MAN I have more of a problem with smoking then I do stuffing my face, I am scared I will want to snack more, any tips or advice? Another thing is I get so bored working over nights I finish my work usually by 230am and still have four hours to go so usually once an hour or 2 I would go and smoke just to go outside!

I was successful with nicotine patches with the following 12 week program.
Week 1 - 4: 21mg nicotine patches (24hour)
Week 5 - 9: 14mg nicotine patches (24 hour)
Week 9 - 12: 7mg nicotine patches (24 hour).

I gave up over 10 years ago and haven't had a cigarette (nor felt like one) since.
wishing you all the best,

Ben

Thanks! I'm actually scared to use the patches because last time I tried my skin broke out bad, and my arm just felt hot and swollen

BonnieandClyde29

Everyone here may not agree with this, but it worked for me.
I went to e-digs - more specifically a shisha tank kit. You can buy them anywhere now.
I originally used the nicotine e-liquid, then scaled the strength down. I use 0% nicotine fruit flavours.
That way the quitting is gradual and you will not go crazy with cravings. Nicotine is a very difficult drug to quit - some peoppe manage cold turkey, but a lot fail that way. Giving your hands a job with the shisha is a way of doing it gradually and you will find that you dont feel so deprived.
In addition, there is no tobacco in a shisha - no cancer causing chemicals, tar or nasty stuff.
I'd give it a go - at least there is no harm in trying.
Good luck - and I applaud you for wanting to quit the tobacco.

Thank you! I just recently heard something similar! I may have to check into it

skinnymalinkyscot

Im a non smoker now, but had 2 previous attempts at stopping smoking which were both sucessful. I agree with Ben in that patches are great. You can go to your GP and take part in a stop smoking program which means all patches and inhalers are covered by the cost of a monthly prescription if in the UK and you will get everything you need to support you for the first 3 months. I was such a heavy smoker that I smoked while wearing the first patch until it kicked in an hour later. By the end of the 3 month program I was done, never smoked again for 5 or 6 years. After a small relapse I tried method 2 which has worked for me for the last 10 years. I went cold turkey, I found a great website called quit stop or something like that which wont even let you join weirdly enough until youve stopped for the first 72 hours. But the basic principles are for the first 3 days you only actually get a maximum of 6 cravings a day which last 1 and a half minutes each, you basically count them out next to a clock and realise each of those 18 cravings over 3 days are one step closer to being free of cigarettes. You have to visualise cigarettes as a monster/demon pitted against you and decide you are going to be the winner here, you arent denying yourself anything, you need to swivel your attitude around to the fact you are ESCAPING you are going to be liberated from your addiction and set free.Yes you may well think about them all day long for the first few weeks but that isnt an actual craving, I think about being married to Johnny Depp all day long too but that isnt going to happen either lol. So......if you can get through the nicotine withdrawal stage, then chewing gum is the way to go, you may want to eat round the clock as a replacement but that is a huge mistake, chew gum, chew the ends of pencils, just dont chew food.

mssteel90

I am also gearing up for the leap to non-smoker. And shoot me now but I enjoy smoking, and that makes it really tough to give up. Honestly if the price didn't keep rising I seriously doubt I would even think about quitting but I'm going to go on champix or some such drug. Good luck!

vick441

I'm a non-smoker. Quite a few people around reported quitting smoking with a help of Herbal Beverage (Herbalife), and I understand why, drinking about 2 litres a day of it I rarely have coffee these days, it's a perfect substitute for chocolate or coffee cravings and alike, and it also provides great hydration and antioxidants that are found in green tea that it's based on

bunny92441

I quit back in 1998. I went to the dr with bronchitis and he put me on inhalers. I finally said this is stupid wanted to quit and he put me on Welbutrin. I also had to change my habits. I used to have one with my coffee in the morning. I changed the place where I had my coffee. I had one at lunch, I would eat somewhere else. I didn't go outside after supper. I would do something else. I also had sugar free hard candies on hand. A lot of them!!

I also took up knitting and crocheting so, I would have something to do with my hands in the down times. Like watching tv or whatever. My husband quit the same time as I did. THAT was NOT easy but, we got through it.
Best of luck to you! If you are serious about quitting, you will do it!

stefjc

I quit back in 1998. I went to the dr with bronchitis and he put me on inhalers. I finally said this is stupid wanted to quit and he put me on Welbutrin. I also had to change my habits. I used to have one with my coffee in the morning. I changed the place where I had my coffee. I had one at lunch, I would eat somewhere else. I didn't go outside after supper. I would do something else. I also had sugar free hard candies on hand. A lot of them!!

I also took up knitting and crocheting so, I would have something to do with my hands in the down times. Like watching tv or whatever. My husband quit the same time as I did. THAT was NOT easy but, we got through it.
Best of luck to you! If you are serious about quitting, you will do it!

That identification of why/where/when you smoke and changing the habit is a really powerful tool when you are quitting - it is why most people are advised to keep a cigarette diary for a few days, so you can see the patterns.

Good luck