NEED ADVICE FROM EX_SMOKERS

lilcupcake213

I switched to an electronic cigarette.. It's not quitting, but I can breath easier..

me too. I smoked for 13 years...I tried to quit numerous times and never stuck with it. All I did was think about smoking. And you're right, it's not completely quitting but it's 1000 times better for you and will help you cut down slowly until you eventually quit.

chokeslam512

I quit cold turkey then started again, then tried doing five pushups every time I had a craving. What finally worked for me was the e-cig. I stepped down the nicotine level and then it broke and I never replaced it.

FlipThis112

Read Allen Carr's the easy way to quit smoking. Works!

This booked inspired me to quit and now I have been smoke free for a year and a half!

SRH7

Read Allen Carr's the easy way to quit smoking. Works!

This booked inspired me to quit and now I have been smoke free for a year and a half!

Ditto - smokefree four years this week! Was also a 40-a-day smoker, so completely sympathise.

My top tips:

1. Buy the Allen Carr EasyWay book - read it from cover to cover and refer back to it any time you want to reach for a cigarette. It makes complete and perfect sense and is, for me, the only method that worked.

2. I avoided any kind of nicotine replacement (patches, e-cigarette, gum etc) as I wan't to get rid of the addiction. I knew it was nicotine that made me want to smoke, so why feed the nicotine monster? I also know plenty of people who kept falling off the wagon using these as the urge to smoke did not go away.

3. Join a free forum. This forum was a massive help: http://forum.nosmokingday.org.uk/

4. Cut up straws into cigarette-sized pieces and use these to 'smoke' with. Sounds daft, but it really kept my hands busy and helped psychologically.

5. Keep yourself busy - if you usually sit and smoke while watching TV in the evening (for example) then find something else to fill that time. Breaking the 'habit' will really help. For example, I avoided going to bars for a month after stopping as I knew it would trigger a smoking urge. After fours weeks I started going again (and got my social life back!) as I was free of nicotine and could resist smoking more easily.

6. Set up a Quit Counter on your computer (see the forum link I pasted above - there are links on it). Every day it shows you how money money you have saved, days of your life added on etc. It's a real incentive.

7. Ask for help - it's great that you've come on here to ask for help. And any time you need any support or want to go out and buy a pack of cigarettes, come on here first and ask for help!

8. Make sure you friends who smoke know you are serious about this and you really need their support to stay smoke free. Let them know it's not a criticism of them but you do need their support - being offered cigarettes is not funny!

9. Fill a jar with old cigarette butts and water and whenever you feel the urge to smoke, open the lid and have a sniff. This is what your hair, clothes and breath smell like when you smoke. I guarantee it will put you off lighting up.

10. Believe you can do it. As you can see from these responses plenty of us have succeeded. It's not easy and I have to admit the first three days were truly horrible. But it does get better - I promise. And once you are free not only of the addiction but the guilt that goes with it you will be so proud of how far you have come.

Take care.

KenosFeoh

I quit spontaneously when I had pneumonia. I had quit a lot of times before that - for each of my 2 pregnancies, etc - but being so sick and having to really work to breathe completely erased any urge to smoke that I had. I think I've taken a puff off my husband's cigarette (he only smokes outside) twice since then (15 years maybe) just to reassure myself that I really don't want to be a smoker. I really don't.

Mia_RagazzaTosta

As soon as that pregnancy test turned positive I quit and never looked back.