Crawling the Walls...

Never smoked, but since food was and is my addiction, i would think maybe some substitutes? I've know folks who do well on the lozenges substitutes and you can choose strengths. Walmart has their own brand as does bj's. good luck with it. You just need to get over the first few weeks to create new habits! You can do this!

Cold turkey! It's been 24 years for me & now I can't stand the smell of smoke. It makes me feel like you did when you had your nicotine patch on.

My Mom smoked for 25 years and even though she quit in the mid-80s her lungs have sustained permanent damage and she has COPD & is now using oxygen.

I keep remembering the image from the saying that "kissing a smoker is like licking an ash tray."

You need to find the motivation from within you to quit and never start again. Make a list of all the benefits to quitting and all the benefits to smoking. The choice should be clear.

All the best!

Try the smaller patch.

Hang in there!

I quit smoking 20 years ago after a 20 year pack a day habit. It was the hardest thing I have ever done. I still want a cigarette after all these years. If I smell cigarette smoke I'm like..."Blow it my way". I occasionally have dreams where I am hiding in a closet smoking.

I did it over a period of time. Places where I could smoke got fewer and fewer. Couldn't smoke at work anymore. We bought a new house and my husband told me I couldn't smoke inside. I knew I was absolutely quitting when I found myself outside my own house, on the sidewalk, at 11pm and it was snowing out., I avoided bars, stopped drinking both alcohol and coffee. I tried to keep my hands busy, knitting writing, and playing the piano.

Good luck You can do it. It definitely is hard but good health is the best reward possible.

I also quit cold turkey, I'd tried every other way prior and it never worked. You have to change habits and the way you think about it. After many failed quit attempts, I learned that I needed to stop trying to kid myself into "telling" myself that I didn't want to smoke anymore, because of the various reasons, cost, smell, health, etc. because I did still want to smoke. But when I successfully quit, I told myself constantly that I did still want to smoke cause smoking is ****ing awesome, but it was time to be an adult, and put my big girl panties on and not smoke even though I still wanted to. That was the thought process that finally made it work for me. It's been 4 years for me and I still say that I hope when I'm old I get diagnosed with some disease that gives me six months to live, so I can chain smoke like a mofo for my last six months. I'm gonna be pissed if I get hit by a bus.

I quit cold turkey because I had pneumonia. It was really easy. By the time I had recovered enough to even consider smoking, I didn't want to anymore.

I just joined MFP this week... Quit smoking 30 yrs ago, cold turkey, after trying various methods of the day to quit. Being ready was number 1 motivator to quit and you can do it! I am working on improving my eating habits and quitting the bad ones I have developed which have become addictions. Hope this community will help me with support! It's nice to see so many large number weight losses! Good luck to all.

I applaud you for trying. Perhaps try a lower level of patch. I smoked for the most part since I was 12. I was 45 when I decided I really had to quit because as a diabetic it is a really good way to become an amputee. I did fairly good that first 6 months. I used chantix and it was pretty painless. Almost all of my friends smoke and my husband smokes. Eventually, I would have just a drag here and a drag there and then something bad happened in life and I started full blown smoking again. After a couple months I decided I really had to do it this time. I went cold turkey. I just woke up one morning with no plan in mind and decided it was now.

The one thing I did different this time was I had a stern talk with myself. I realized I was a drug addict and as a nicotine junkie I was allowing a drug to control my life and slowly killing myself with my drug. I can never have just one drag anymore than a heroin addict can shoot up once in a while.

It was really hard the first week but I kept picturing myself in a wheel chair with no legs. I thought of all the people I've met in life who have severe health problems from smoking and yet continued to smoke despite the amputations, oxy tank, having tongues or lips removed due to cancer of the mouth. Ya, I really wanted to be like that.

Changing patterns is important. Figure out your smoking times and find something else to do. Don't drink, that seems to be the universal trigger for everyone. Start a good exercise program. I have found that if I do serious, lung burning stuff like high impact aerobics or running it makes me want to smoke less.

To top off my struggles with quitting you have to imagine what it is like to live with a guy who smokes in the house and car. He has never quit and continues to smoke around me yet somehow I still quit.

You have to be determined. You have to pick yourself up if you fail. You have to accept that it is likely you will gain a few pounds when you first quit but a good exercise program will really help with that and will give you something else to do. It has been nearly 1.5 yrs since I quit. After about 30 years of smoking I feel wonderful. I run 5 miles several times a week which isn't too shabby being I'm 47 and haven't run since I was in my 20s. You can do it, you just need to keep trying until you succeed. Realize that the physical craving will go away in a few days, it is the habit part you have to break.