Quitting smoking

My husband stop smoking 12/14/2012. I told him that he was spending close to $700.00 dollars or more a year. We want new things and we love traveling! I told him we had to give up our bad habits. His was smoking. We both love eating out. My bad habit was buying DVD's every month which was costing me $300.00 a year! Eating out probably was costing us over $1000.00 or more a year! Go figure! Times had to get hard around here for us to stop our bad habits!

Congratz on quitting. The 2nd time quitting was way easier for me. I smoked for over 15 yrs I think, my bf 15 also. I used herbal cigs for social situations to stave off cravings and my bf used an e-cig. They really helped him for social situations like drinking, eventually he didnt need them. Wait till you can really taste everything again, so wonderful.

I quite 3 yrs ago after smoking a pack a day for 20yrs. I tried several times and each time I learned something new. 1. I am not a social smoker and so just 1 cigarette will have me back to a pack a day. 2. Write a list of the reasons you want to quit with pics if needed, make copies and place one anywhere you may have a trigger. For example, I had one on my dashboard in the car, in my locker at work, on the bathroom mirror, on the outside table, and by the telephone. 3. write a list of your personal triggers and how you plan on dealing with them. You can't avoid your triggers forever, so you need another plan. I ate tootsie pops in the car and kept phone conversations short and sweet. I waited a few months before going to a bar and made a deal with myself that I would leave before smoking.. 4. Except the fact you have quite, not others and there will be times you will be around it. You will have to get over it! 5.There isn't anything wrong with getting help to quite. It isn't just willpower, your body is addicted and your brain will remind you over and over again that you want a cigarette, especially for the first 3 days. 6.It will get easier wit time. 7.Like everyone one else on the planet, you will get angry, bored, sad, angry again, tired, frustrated and down right pissed of! These are not excuses for you to smoke and if they are you will never quite, because these emotions will always happen. Find a constructive way to deal with these emotions. Work out, stay busy, take deep breathes, whatever, but find another way to deal. 8. If at first you don't succeed try and try again...

24 hrs down cold turkey!

Congrats...I'll hit my 1 year as a non-smoker anniversary at the end of this month...it does get easier!

As for the drinking part...are you in a state where people can still smoke in bars? In Michigan, the smoking ban passed a few years ago, and that helps a lot...since drinking can't lead to smoking unless I physically get up and go outside.

Either way...good luck, and hang in there..you can totally do this! :flowerforyou:

I am 38 years old and was recently diagnosed with Sarcoidosis. Never heard of it? Neither had I. The C-T scan found a spot on my lung - YIKES! Well I went to a lung doctor, found out it was Sarcoidosis. (Been smoking since 15). She told me I HAD TO QUIT. Well I liked it darnit! So needless to say I wasn't happy about having to quit. I started using nicotine lozenges. Con - I'm now addicted to those. Pro - Per my doctor they are 99% better than smoking. I use the lozenges, however I can now breathe, exercise, play with my kids and over all just keep up. So I've weighed to con's against the pro's in this case and I've not smoked for over a year. I can't seem to get off the lozenges but I no longer cough, sputter or anything else. I go for a CT scan tomorrow to check up on the spot on my lung. I've been exercising. Gone from 168 - 146 in a little over a year. I'm actually HOPEFULL for a good report and I'm excited to say that. I never thought I'd feel this good. Do what you need to do to quit. If it's taking a nicotine supplement - do it! Your lungs will thank you.

I have recently given up also, today is day 10. Cold turkey. After 20 years of pack a day. the 2 things that keep me going
1. I keep telling myself i am now a non smaoker, sounds corny but feels pretty good.
2. Put away $20 a day which is roughly what i would of spent, i have $200 put away, at the end of the year $7000 would be a good holiday deposit on a boat etc

Good luck, you are now a non smoker

I agree with everyone who suggested Allen Carr's The Easy Way. It cost me the price of a pack of cigarettes and I didn't have my hopes up, but the advice in it is just so smart. He really makes you think about your relationship to cigarettes. It's been one month now and this is the longest I've gone without smoking for over 12 years and I couldn't be happier. Good luck to you!

I quit smoking with the use of Chantix in April of 2012 after about 23 years of smoking I had tried Wellbutrin with no success. I did avoid social situations where I knew I would be tempted. I did not have any bad side effects from the medication. They also offer a very helpful website with tips and they encourage you to log in daily. It provides helpful activities to enable you handle the times when you really want to smoke. Also, it was nice not having to quit cold turkey. Don't give up. It is nice to be able to breathe! It is worth it.

Fear of failure, being a sore loser and arrogance got me off the wicked weed.

I quit at noon on some Monday in 1988. I had no intentions of quitting until I was in a meeting and a buddy gave me piece of Nicorette gum. Later, after realizing I hadnt smoked in a couple of hours (I was a 3 pack a day) I ran to the doctor and got a prescription.

That night I was in my regular bar amidst the clouds of bar room smoke & telling everyone "it didnt bother me; I was a stud and was now, at that very moment, a non smoker. I controlled events; events didnt control Big Jim." Of course everyone hoorahed me hard. They tried every trick including money and hot women to get me to break.

I had realized how addicting the Nicorette was so I only used about 3-4 pieces of it. I instead bought Wrigley's gum. I realized my triggers were phones, driving, coffee, food, booze & after meals. During football season I would often be into the 4th pack of cigarettes. (I think heavy smokers can quit easier than occasional smokers)

I focused on the gum. When I started getting the urge I would focus on Wrigley's. I would tell myself I would chew a piece of Wrigley's in 5 more minutes...then I would get busy and forget, and 5 minutes would pass by, so the time had to start over again....5 more minutes.

When I finally had to use the Wrigley's, I would then focus on the Nicorette, 5 minutes and I would get a piece. Again I would get busy and forget...and time would start over again and the focus would default to the Wrigley's.

I had to stop drinking coffee and start eating. I often smoked a cigarette to kill my hunger, so when I got hungry, dammit, we gotta eat guys, NOW I SAID, NOW! LOL I was a *kitten* for months...and for months I coughed and hacked. I had a constant case of laryngitis. The irony was I never had a smoker's cough until I quit.

I havent had a smoke since - though I kept a piece of Nicorette in my pocket for years and one in the console of my car. Those two pieces of gum got pretty grungy after a time.

As I said, it was arrogance & being a sore loser that was my resource. No way could I let those Aholes in the bar get something like failure to achieve hanging over my head. For years I would always throw it in their face. ie "Boys, when Big Jim tells ya he is gonna do something, he does it. Huh?" LOL They wanted to kill me and stuff a cigarette in every orifice of my body.

Ive told my buddies that the day the last one of them died, I was going to smoke one since they wouldnt know about it.

So I recommend tener cojones & put your pride on the table, bet obnoxiously, bet big and bet loud. Tellem, Big Jim said it. LOL