The struggle to quit smoking

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  • HeidiFuture
    HeidiFuture Posts: 54 Member
    edited August 2016
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    I quit 3 years ago (after 15yrs) Quitting is the best thing I've ever done!!! Quitting got easier when I realized the cravings never lasted more than a minute or two. I would get through those couple of minutes and the cravings were gone. They would come up again, but only lasted a couple minutes. Over time I had less and less cravings. Soon I didn't event think about smoking.

    I have a sense of smell now. I have perfumes and pretty shower gel. It's the best!

    I can smell smokers when they come from outside having a cigarette. Did I smell that bad??? Yes! I can't believe I used to smell like that!!

    It's totally worth gaining 5lb to quit smoking. Just be careful not to replace smoking with large amounts of food. Buy sugar free candy if you want. I used to smoke after meals. Now I don't have that uncomfortable feeling after eating like I need to light up. I just feel full. I don't have to leave everyone to go outside to smoke alone in the sun, rain, snow....

    There are better ways to get through stressful times. Walking, reaching out to friends, doodling, working out, watching movie...

    Why not take a hot bubble bath after gym instead of smoking?

    Feel free to message me for advice/support. You can do this!!
  • emilydurazo
    emilydurazo Posts: 16 Member
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    Yes the after you eat full feeling is the hardest one to kick for me omg!! I literally just picked up all the half butts I had and smoked them, threw them all away and the ash tray just now. I feel so filthy dirty. I really am quitting as of now and happy to be. You all helped with that today I'm bein dead serious. I was so tempted to buy a pack earlier after dinner but I held out. Ill use my vape for the time being when I just need to smoke something and i WILL get through this! My mind is set boom!!!
  • mary25osman
    mary25osman Posts: 7 Member
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    Awesome! I'm so glad to hear that!! YAY!! Don't fall back! And if you do, start again. All the best to you!! :):)
  • HeidiFuture
    HeidiFuture Posts: 54 Member
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    Another trick when you feel stressed is to inhale deeply in and out, as if you are smoking an imaginary cigarette. It will help calm you down. I don't know how vapes work.... But I found just the act of inhaling deeply aleved some immediate stress.
  • Karmavixen
    Karmavixen Posts: 7 Member
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    Quitnet was a godsend at helping me. Also Allen Carr has a fantastic book that makes everything click. It really is one of those things that is 98% mental. Good luck!
  • AnabolicMind2011
    AnabolicMind2011 Posts: 211 Member
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    I tried to quit so many times but was unsuccessful.
    I tried gums and patches with no success.
    I finally got a good vaporizer( not the little 20$ stick kind. I got a good 100$ mod with a good $50 tank) and every week I would buy a lower nicotine level until I was at zero nic. At that point, it was done
    I wasn't one of those people who carried around the vaporizer everywhere, I only used it when i needed it and made sure not to use it too often.
    Each week I would lower the nicotine so it took about 2 months to get to zero. Once i was at zero there was no reason to keep vaping. I haven't smoked a cigarette in three years, the smell makes me sick. Something about the smell turns my stomach now. I can't even be in the room with someone smoking.
    Vaping obviously isn't the same as smoking but you must realize that it's the nicotine that your craving. wean yourself down by vaping if you have to but try not to make vaping a forever thing either. Use it as a tool to get to your goal not a replacement. Go in with a game plan and follow through on it. Even if you have to wean yourself slower( like one month buy 1.2 nic, the next month go to 1 and then go to .8 and so on )
    Having a really good mod and tank will help. The cheap ones where awful and didn't work for me, but once I got a good setup I was ready to go)
  • gothchiq
    gothchiq Posts: 4,598 Member
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    I used to smoke. I could not quit on my own so then I got a prescription for Zyban. Fair warning, insurance won't pay. But it works. It makes cigarette smoke taste like how cat poop smells after like 2-3 days. You won't be able to stand smoking. It also increases your dopamine level. You get dopamine from activities you find rewarding, like smoking. With the med increasing it for you, you don't have that urge to get the reward by smoking. At this point you can choose to vape nic-free as a long term soluton, or you can just say "ok I'm done."
  • Mrmiller0422
    Mrmiller0422 Posts: 91 Member
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    Same here
  • emilydurazo
    emilydurazo Posts: 16 Member
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    I'm really trying to stay strong!!! Thanks so much guys you're helping me more than you think real talk! Obviously the first thing I wanted when I woke up was a cig with my coffee...I grabbed my vape and took my dog out...my neighbor was smoking and I even asked to bum one. she said she would but it was her last one lol I told her good I quit I shouldn't be asking anyway! Another sign I shouldn't be smoking haha
  • emilydurazo
    emilydurazo Posts: 16 Member
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    I got this I just gotta get a higher nicotine juice and non fruity flavors bc this vape ain't doin justice for me lol
  • vingogly
    vingogly Posts: 1,785 Member
    edited August 2016
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    I quit in 1979 after smoking a pipe and cigars for about 15 years. Smoking has a lot of ritualistic aspects surrounding it: associations with food, sex, times of the day. I found I needed to suck on bitter licorice (the Dutch kind with salt in it) -- the oral stimulation helped with the cravings. When I quit drinking in 1993, I craved ice cream and ate about a pint a day (which was not good for the waistline).

    If smoking has been your five minutes of peace break, you may need to find something else to replace it. Try five minutes of mindfulness instead:

    http://www.pocketmindfulness.com/6-mindfulness-exercises-you-can-try-today/
  • mary25osman
    mary25osman Posts: 7 Member
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    Try not only rely on the vape too much. If you can, try doing something else, like listening to a song you really like with your headphones on. Keep going. :)
  • faramelee
    faramelee Posts: 163 Member
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    I smoked for 27 years and if you'd have asked any of my friends or family they would have told you that I'd never quit. I would use the 'stress' excuse but when you look into it you'll see that smoking actually enhances stress - not eliminates it. If you need that 5 minute break find something you enjoy doing/reading/playing and do that instead.
    Allen Carrs Easyway to Stop Smoking was my support, I swear by it, it really did work for me and I didn't feel like I was going without. I've been smoke free for 3 years on the 2nd September and to be honest I sometimes look back and wondered how I smoked....

    Best of luck to you! :)
  • spells1977
    spells1977 Posts: 146 Member
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    I smoked 40 a day for about 15 years but managed to give up 4.5 years ago. I used the patches as I wanted to come off the nicotine gradually. It is truly the best thing I have ever done. I was initially worried as I was already really overweight and didn't want to get bigger by giving up smoking and substituting cigarettes with food so I gave up everything at the same time! I found this amazing site and started to log everything, I gave up drinking caffeine (for health reasons), gave up smoking and joined a gym. It was extremely hard but found it easier to give up smoking as I was concentrating on other things. I also took up doing jigsaw puzzles in the evenings lol as this took my mind off eating junk food and smoking. Oh yes one other thing i made myself do was force myself into situations that i associated with smoking. e.g I made sure that on day two of quitting I went to the pub and had a few drinks etc. I wanted to make sure I didn't end up avoiding places or situations that went hand in hand with smoking. I went home and cried myself to sleep but I did it. I managed to drink alcohol in a pub and not smoke :)
    Good luck to everyone trying to quit. It's hard but worth it.... :)
  • jadefitnow
    jadefitnow Posts: 47 Member
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    I smoked for close to 40 years off and on (from the time I was 15); I would quit and start, sneak and start, hate myself, gain and lose weight and totally beat myself up. Nicotine was the center of my personal support system. Every time I'd quit, I'd miss it completely and eventually go back. Any excuse, I'd fall back into the habit. It's 6 1/2 years since the last time I quit and this time I don't even think about it. The difference? I have no idea, except that I stopped thinking of myself as a smoker and decided in my head that it wasn't happening again. I also joined an online chat room called "Quitnet" for support- any time I craved, I'd go there with other people who were looking to do the same thing. It was extremely helpful to find support any time day or night that I needed it- people from all over the world were in there. I've never looked back- I am now training now to do a triathlon; still have 15 lbs to lose (my other nemesis), but am in better shape than I ever was in my life. GOOD LUCK- YOU CAN QUIT! Its the best gift you can give yourself!
  • MarlowJo13
    MarlowJo13 Posts: 43 Member
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    I smoked for about 10 years and have now quit since May. I used a e-cigarette to quit. I used it with the lowest nicotine level I could find for a week and haven't touched either since. Good luck with quitting! Add me if your like for support!
  • aneedforchange
    aneedforchange Posts: 75 Member
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    I attempted to quit at least 10 times before it stuck but when it comes down to it you have to really want it ..for you and no one else and when you are in that mindset nothing will stop you.

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