Ex-smokers! I need some advice to help me quit

danielnoble

being 34years old and smoking a pack a day for 15 years of them I know what your going through. I have tried just about every thing in the book to give up.Here's what I've tried and how it went:
-Patches gave me severe rashes and heart beat irregularities. So they didn't last long, couple of days at most.
-Nicotine gum. I found that these worked ok in resisting the urge, however had a horrible taste, that is until they brought out the fruit flavour. Overall, I found that they didnt alleviate the cravings enough so would light up again.
-Nicotine Inhalers. I found these great, was just like having a smoke except with out the smoke. I still found myself lighting up 1st thing in the morning as inhaler just wasnt enough.
-The pills. They worked great however didnt do so well with my current state of mind. I became aggresive and generally not nice to be around so started smoking again.
-Cold Turkey. after maybe 20 odd attempts of varying success, but ultimate failure, I know call myself a non-smoker. It has only been 6 weeks, I'm not even sure of the date of my last smoke, think it was between christmas and new year. With the aid of the inhaler for approximately 2months I had managed to cut down to about 2 packets a week. One morning I bought a pack on the way to work. I've lite up and thought to myself this doesn't taste right. thinking that maybe it was just a dud smoke I continued puffing away. An hour or so later I light up again and think to myself this is horrible. I end up throwing it away after only a few inhales. I then proceed to place the packet minus the 2 I had smoked into my work collegues pocket. Stating have these i dont want them anymore.

I havent looked back since. And I have never felt better.

Kasya007

This is going to sound very self-absorbed, but you have to hear our stories, to help you start yours. Here goes:

I thought quitting was hard until I read Alan Carr's, The Easy Way to Stop Smoking. (It really is easy.) You have no idea how much that awful addiction holds you back, until you throw it away and start believing in yourself. Really! I will never stop praising that book for helping me to save my own life.

I had the typical smoking story. I started smoking at 13, when I was young & impressionable. I dabbled for the next few years until finally working up to a pack a day at the end of high school. Sure, I "wanted" to quit over the years & poured thousands down the drain in stop smoking aids. I bet I tried every product & pill there was with no success, maybe a few weeks here, or a couple of months there. Finally at 28, I'd had enough, I actually hated myself for being a smoker & being ruled by those stupid sticks. I was negative, cynical & critical all of the time, I felt terrible & depressed, I was sick often (I'm NEVER sick now) & I wheezed...yet I still smoked.

...Then I read that ONE short book and stopped smoking without ANY aid. I was so sick of smoking before I even finished reading, that I just stopped and never picked one back up. It was the best choice I ever made & I haven't touched one in 2 years as of this May. I have no desire to smoke, I dislike being around them, and I wish that I had never started because I can only imagine how much different & how much more successful my life would've been without them. But you can't live with regret, all I can do is know that I beat them & and I am way better for it. I can only go up from here! (Heck, I'm now a very serious runner who will be competing in my first half marathon this fall & my first full marathon next year. I couldn't ever have accomplished that as a smoker.)

To be honest, I've become that preachy ex-smoking, health-nut friend who will actually get up and leave if someone lights up around me. The smell is physically repulsive (practically asphyxiating) & I don't want that second-hand garbage in my body. I deserve better. I've actually ditched almost all of my smoking friends because, I'm better off moving forward alone, than staying back in a stagnant h*ll with them.

You've got to kick the habit, you will be happier than you've ever been in your life, as a non smoker. The minute you realize that you're not depriving yourself & that you're actually freeing yourself...well, it only gets better from there. If you're worried about weight gain, there's nothing to fear, you won't gain a pound if you don't replace the cigarettes with food. And seeing as you've lost 40 already & are tracking your food, you are less likely to replace one habit with another. (I personally gained nothing, but confidence.)

Good luck, you can do it. Give yourself a chance.