QUITTING SMOKING, WHAT ARE YOUR TIPS?!?

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Replies

  • marnistill
    marnistill Posts: 8
    I quit a month ago after smoking heavily on and off for about 11 years. I used nicorette inhalers for the first week and then the patch for a week and have been fine since. I also have an ecigarette for social situations where I feel the insane urge to smoke. I've heard great things about Champix/Chantix however, being a psych student I beg people to please do the research before you go on the pill and decide if it is right for you. Some people will have NO side effects but some have been known to have major psychological breaks and even commit suicide while on it. Just make the decision based on you and your research not on whether or not it worked for someone else. Everyone is different :)

    OH! And also just from my experience exercise REALLY helps with cravings :)
  • mwaid
    mwaid Posts: 19
    I am cutting down until I quit. I am doing it with the electronic cigarette. not only is it healthier, but it's cheaper as well; well I live in WI where cigarettes are 7.00 a pack. In just three days I went from smoking twelve to fifteen cigarettes to smoking five or six. My problem is the oral fixation or socializing I want to constantly smoke. But they do put some nicotine in the cartridges so if you're addicted to nicotine you can wing off of it slowly.

    I would absolutely avoid taking chantix. My family friend had a prescription of that stuff and he got depressed (which is one of the side effects of the pill). So he had to get off of it. Tell your family good luck!
  • marnistill
    marnistill Posts: 8
    7$???? Seriously???! In Canada here in Manitoba my cigarettes were 13.80 a pack!! On a positive note, it gave me a lot of inspiration for quitting and I have save a lot of money so far :) Good luck to everyone in this chat that is quitting! We can do it!!
  • JodieElijah
    JodieElijah Posts: 136 Member
    I was paying $18 for a pack of 25 ciggies here in Australia.

    I am now 62 days smoke free :)

    I use Champix to assist and its been an absolute godsend. My tips would be to drink water every time you feel like having one. Keep healthy snacks around you to munch on such as carrot sticks, take a walk. Breath through the craving.

    Best of luck to your family members in quitting. It can be such a difficult process but you do feel so much better for it :)
  • nanliv32bm3
    nanliv32bm3 Posts: 27 Member
    thank you all for the information. I'm trying to quit smoking as well as losing weight. Can both be done at the same time? or am I just doing everything too quickly? :cry:
  • blv0267
    blv0267 Posts: 100 Member
    I quit cold turkey 3 months ago....because I was ready. So your Mom and Aunt have to be ready and really want to do it.

    I drank lots of water and cranberry juice for the first 3 days to help flush the chemicals out of my body.

    I think what really helped me was that I wanted to feel better, look better and get healthy. I also visited a site called WhyQuit to help me understand what was happening to my body for those first few days - Whenever I wanted a smoke, I would drink water and cranberry juice and read the motivational stuff on that site (I steered clear of the 'scare' stories).
  • kayl3igh88
    kayl3igh88 Posts: 428 Member
    I went from 30 a day down to about 5 by myself and I wanted to quit so badly but I have little to no willpower, so the doc's put me on champix. I haven't wanted a cigarette for around 6 weeks now, and the worst part was finding something to do with my hands. Now I feel like such a hypocrite because I choke every time someone's smoking near me :sick: :laugh:
  • AEB_WV
    AEB_WV Posts: 323 Member
    I took a class offered by the American Lung Association. We picked a quit day and met weekly to work up to that. They gave you a lot of tips on things to do like - stop smoking in certain places beforehand (like in your car and house) to make it more inconvenient. I used nitotine replacement (patches) and that did work for me. I did manage to quit and stay quit which is partly why I've gained so much weight over the lat 6 years : )
    But I wouldn't go back for anything. IMO smoking was worse for me than obesity.

    BUT unfortunately you can't make or even help your family quit. My ex husband and father of my kids died from smoking related condition. My current husband still smokes as do most of our kids, something I hate with all my being. All I can do is set a good example and hope they come to their senses before it is too late.

    and if you set store by such things, The Farmer's Almanac lists 2 best days each month to quit smoking, start a diet, etc!
  • kayl3igh88
    kayl3igh88 Posts: 428 Member
    thank you all for the information. I'm trying to quit smoking as well as losing weight. Can both be done at the same time? or am I just doing everything too quickly? :cry:

    I quit smoking before trying to lose weight as alot of people tend to eat their way out of wanting a cigarette :ohwell: But that shouldn't stop you from trying it first, you can always try a different approach if it dosn't work the way you want it to :flowerforyou:
  • JodieElijah
    JodieElijah Posts: 136 Member
    thank you all for the information. I'm trying to quit smoking as well as losing weight. Can both be done at the same time? or am I just doing everything too quickly? :cry:

    You can definitely do both at the same time :smile: I did!! But... you have to be truly dedicated. I actually ended up putting on about 5kgs during the first month. Thats something that you'd need to watch out for. But i'm fine now :smile:
  • 600racer
    600racer Posts: 149 Member
    Cold turkey sux so I had a system. If you have a cell phone, you have a portable alarm clock. In my case I started with one cig an hour. The next day it was one cig every 65 minutes. Everyday I increased the time 5 minutes until I got to the 4 main ones, breakfast, lunch, supper, bedtime. When I finished the last pack, that was it. To this day I still like the smell of burning tobacco but dont want too smoke. Nicotine is a very strong drug so its best to slowly get it out of your system. If anyone wants to try this method please friend me so I can see how this works for you.

    Good Luck!
  • hpsnickers1
    hpsnickers1 Posts: 2,783 Member
    Look into a book Called Addiction: The Hidden Epidemic by Pam Killeen.

    I've just started taking DL-Phenylaline, GABA and HTP-5 (Amazon. Brand is Source Naturals). These are used for treating addictions to nicotine, sweets/starches, cocaine/meth, heroin/marijuana, downers, uppers, etc. They help replete your neurotransmitters (drugs deplete these. Things like serotonin, endorphins, etc.)

    They are helping with my sugar/carb cravings.
  • kayl3igh88
    kayl3igh88 Posts: 428 Member
    Cold turkey sux so I had a system. If you have a cell phone, you have a portable alarm clock. In my case I started with one cig an hour. The next day it was one cig every 65 minutes. Everyday I increased the time 5 minutes until I got to the 4 main ones, breakfast, lunch, supper, bedtime. When I finished the last pack, that was it. To this day I still like the smell of burning tobacco but dont want too smoke. Nicotine is a very strong drug so its best to slowly get it out of your system. If anyone wants to try this method please friend me so I can see how this works for you.

    Good Luck!

    that's pretty similar to what i did, only as soon as I felt the craving I'd tell myself I'd have the cigarette in half an hour, then fourty-five mins, then an hour, and so on until I forgot i actually wanted one
  • egiakatt
    egiakatt Posts: 90 Member
    You need two things:

    (1) Chantix
    (2) The will to quit.

    Worked for me.

    As sunnydale said, THEY need to make the decision to quit. You can't do it for them.

    This worked for me also. I done things with my hands when I was idle: Cut fresh fruits and veggies, cleaning nicotene off of walls, car seats, etc...Went to the local park and walked every single day (soaking up sun and fresh air). Took LOTS of 30 second breathing exercises (sorta like meditating..kept me from feeling so desparate when the urge was strong) They truly have to set their minds to be a non-smoker. Good luck with them! Your really sweet for researching to help them.
  • Valtishia
    Valtishia Posts: 811 Member
    I used Champix (Chantix if you are in the U.S.), and it worked. You are supposed to take it for atleast 3 months. They started me at 1/2 mg per day then I was supposed to go up to 2mg per day. I never went any higher than 1mg and I only took it for 2 1/2 weeks. I was luck enough not to have any of the really bad side effects but the nausea was really nasty to me, so I had to stop. I could barely work out cause of the nausea and that just wasn,t acceptable to me. I didnt go back to smoking after that anyways.. so it did work.

    The only thing is it potentially can have some nasty side effects, however in a case like mine (18 year smoker), it was worth the chance. My husband started taking it 2 weeks before me and he is still on it after 2 months, but he hasn,t had any nasty side effects at all and has stopped smokng. So its sorta a risk vs rewards kinda thing.

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