How to quit smoking??

13

Replies

  • urloved33
    urloved33 Posts: 3,323 Member
    edited October 2018
    I'm quitting by logistics. so I stopped smoking during my entire work day. then stopped when in my car. then my house. then anytime Im with certain supportive people. then in the am w my coffee../;NOW I just smoke 2-3 cigs after I get home from work OUTSIDE and that's it. ill quit that too but...a little bit each day.
  • MelanieCN77
    MelanieCN77 Posts: 4,047 Member
    I did it with a combo of patches and a little plastic cigarette to draw on, it tasted minty. Also I wanted to. One day I smelled sour coffee and cigarettes on the breath of another woman in my office and I decided that was not for me.
  • sflano1783
    sflano1783 Posts: 117 Member
    I have been off the cigarettes for three weeks then today I bought another pack of cigs how will I get out of this trap I have been using the nicirette mist spray the last three weeks and last week I have been using less of it then lastnight today it just hit me I went and bought cigarettes😞
  • ghudson92
    ghudson92 Posts: 2,061 Member
    edited October 2018
    I quit four years ago using an app by Jason Vale. Some may recognise him as the man who does all the juicing plans, however before he turned in to a woo pedaller, he worked at an Alan Carr smoking clinic. I'm sure if you type his name in to the app store it will come up. The app explains the psychology of smoking and how the marketing works. I stopped my twenty a day habit overnight and haven't looked back.

    Alternatively, my fiancé recently purchased a vape from a reputable store, not a dodgy one from amazon. He is using 12mg of nicotine and has successfully stopped the cigarettes.

    Best of luck to you.
  • Orphia
    Orphia Posts: 7,097 Member
    It's really really hard, and you have to try to do other things to try and stop thinking about cigarettes while you do it.

    Even then, you're going to think about them, because it's hard!

    But you just have to *kitten* do it, because it's always going to be hard.

    Your brain right now is thinking it's too hard, give me a smoke. That's just a glitch. Challenge your thoughts. Don't listen to everything you think.
  • lalabank
    lalabank Posts: 1,009 Member
    I second the vaping! I was a 22 year smoking addict. Two years I completely replaced smoking with vaping. I started with tobacco flavored vape with nicotine in it. I slowly reduced my nicotine level. Within 3 months I was using no nicotine. I switched to just plain glycerin. After six months I pretty much stopped vaping. Now I only use plain glycerin with no nicotine and only if I’m around smokers and having cocktails.
    My husband did it too! It’s amazing, truely changed my life and it wasn’t hard. No awful withdrawal and I had something to do with my hands, it feels kind of like smoking.
    I do not think anyone should start vaping just to vape but as a tool to stop smoking, there is nothing better.
  • ACDodd
    ACDodd Posts: 129 Member
    I stopped smoking years ago.
    I also stopped drinking years ago.
    In both cases I made the decision that I was going to quit and I just did.
    No crutches to get by, no quick stop methods, I just quit.
    It was difficult but it can be done.
    Smoking, drinking, & over eating are all the same when it comes to quitting.
    If you really and truly want to stop you can.
    Nobody can convince you, it has to come from within yourself.
    You know it is killing you slowly otherwise you would not be wanting to quit.
    I have now decided to lose weight and I am.
    Good luck on your battle.
  • jamesalfredo904
    jamesalfredo904 Posts: 1 Member
    Have you tried prescription meds? There’s Zyban and Chantix. Chantix is more effective.
    There’s also vaping (e-cigarettes).
  • SabAteNine
    SabAteNine Posts: 1,867 Member
    I started very early. First time I quit, I had been smoking for about 9 years. I set a date 6 months ahead, on which I quit cold turkey. Somehow the „easing out” never worked, I always found ways to justify having another one if I knew abstinence was temporary.

    Unfortunately, I started again 2 years after that. I'm working up towards quitting 1st of December. In hindsight, what helped was that I quit during vacay, so I will take a couple of days off to get through the worst.

    About motivation, you need to find it within. What are the pressure points? Health doesn't seem to be a big one from what I've read (in diagonal).. but how about money? I've smoked for 13 years, break excluded, that would tally up to about 4,000 packets give or take. Don't know the price of cigarettes where you're from, but I think I could have done better with that amount.
  • Good luck!

    This is what I did

    1. Decrease the number of cigarettes till a pre determine date I chose as the quit date which was About 4 weeks in.

    2. Used an app to log every cigarette I smoke how much I wanted it how much I enjoyed it and how it made me feel. (It was a good app but I don't remember the name)

    3. Tried to break association between smoking and specific triggers. (Like don't smoke after eating or with the morning coffee)

    4. I didn't use any cigarette replacements that mimic the holding action cause I wanted the eliminate this gesture.

    5. I took champix which is a pill specific for that. It helped me by decreasing the nicotine cravings.

    And that is it.
    2.5 years in I don't even miss it.

    One last thing. I only got informed more about lung cancer in the last 8 months. I knew that smoking can cause lung cancers but I dismissed it by compering it to articles that says coffee cause cancer or sweeteners can cause cancer or..... So if everything can cause cancer why should I stop. If I knew before what I know now I probably would have stop years and years before.

    1. The association between lung cancer is not like the association between coffee and cancer. 9 out of 10 lung cancer patients are smokers ex-smokers.

    2. Stage 1 has 90% survival rate. Stage 2 has 20%!

    3. The lungs don't have pain receptors. Therefore its hard to catch lung cancer at first stage. When you start to see symptoms it usually say its advenced.

    Hope that helps too. If u still decide to keep on smoking just don't do it next to other people.
  • lowcarbmale
    lowcarbmale Posts: 145 Member
    edited October 2018
    Get a mean monkey
    giphy.gif

    (just kidding obviously.)

    On a more serious note, just watch this video and decide for yourself if you really want to keep doing that to your body. Just imagine: A living person actually had that thing on the left in his body!
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzdwkQc_5dY&feature=youtu.be&t=17
  • tirowow12385
    tirowow12385 Posts: 697 Member
    pam5762 wrote: »
    just stop ..... easy as that

    Exactly. I stopped 4 years ago cold turkey, easy as pie. It helped that I build up a dislike for smoke - the stink, the fact that the more I smoke, the less buzz I'm feeling, weak stamina, awful after taste. No withdrawals at all. Good riddance! I get buzz of of not smoking.
  • smolmaus
    smolmaus Posts: 442 Member
    I only smoked for a couple of years so take this with a grain of salt obviously, but chalk me up for another vaping recommendation. It is still cheaper in the long run and much easier to taper off the nicotine.

    I had a "real" cigarette recently and it was foul, once you're used to tasting vanilla cookies and strawberry lemonade a menthol cig isn't going to cut it anymore! I know the health risks haven't been 100% tied down yet but anecdotally the improvement in my everyday lung health was almost immediate and pretty amazing.
  • scarlett_k
    scarlett_k Posts: 812 Member
    I found reading about the effects of smoking helpful and really focusing on that happening to me if I carried on. I also got support from a stop smoking forum, and didn't just give up giving up if I ended up smoking one. Being mindful of and avoiding triggers like alcohol is also a good thing to do.
  • scarlett_k
    scarlett_k Posts: 812 Member
    jayemes wrote: »
    I quit a two pack a day habit cold turkey about 12 years ago. I read the first 4 Harry Potter books in 7 days. The big hard cover copies that I needed two hands to hold. And I didn't talk to anyone. After a week I was good. Some people didn't believe I was done, but I knew I was over it.

    Sounds similar to me. I shut myself in the living room with plenty of snacks and entertainment, and warned my other half to try not to bother me at all for a week. Those first weeks are physically and emotionally draining.
  • mbaker566
    mbaker566 Posts: 11,233 Member
    i quit cold turkey.
    one sunday i had my last smoke. enjoyed it.

    monday, i began telling myself i was not a smoker. crabbed at a few people. but otherwise, everyone lived

    full disclosure: i do have a few here and there but overall it's been a year.
  • Safari_Gal
    Safari_Gal Posts: 888 Member
    Stalking this thread for ideas to get my Mom to stop smoking. It’s been a futile war for over 20 years. She has been smoking now over 40 years and I think she just doesn’t want to. This thread gives me hope!
  • hesn92
    hesn92 Posts: 5,966 Member
    edited October 2018
    I quit several times lol. First time I quit was when I got pregnant. I (selfishly) kept smoking here and there for the first half of my pregnancy but when I went in for my 20 week sonogram and saw my son I threw my pack of cigarettes away and didn't smoke again after that. Of course I started back up again later on when he was a baby. I "quit" probably 3-4 times after that, the fourth time it actually stuck. Smoking is really gross. It makes you stink, it makes your teeth yellow, makes your skin look bad as time goes on, it causes cancer and many other health issues... the negatives of smoking are endless, and there are no positives. Other than "gives you something to do"... chew some gum or eat candy or something.
  • sflano1783
    sflano1783 Posts: 117 Member
    Follow up since last year iv been stuck on the nicorette oral spray 1mg per spray iv been on this spray a year now I think im addicted to it now even when I dont want a cigarette and I get a sick stomach from probably nicotine poisoning from the spray my gp was the one who got me hooked on it one bottle last me three days I buy two bottles for around 40euro per week crazy so it is.😨
  • lgfrie
    lgfrie Posts: 1,449 Member
    sflano1783 wrote: »
    Follow up since last year iv been stuck on the nicorette oral spray 1mg per spray iv been on this spray a year now I think im addicted to it now even when I dont want a cigarette and I get a sick stomach from probably nicotine poisoning from the spray my gp was the one who got me hooked on it one bottle last me three days I buy two bottles for around 40euro per week crazy so it is.😨

    Yep. Nicotine replacement products are as or more addicting than cigarettes.

    There is only one way to really do this. You already know what it is.

    Go buy Allen Carr's "Easy Way To Stop Smoking". Do exactly what it says, and get control back over your life.
  • saresimsr36
    saresimsr36 Posts: 128 Member
    I quit 4.5 months ago, I got a prescription from the doctor for a stop smoking aid. I wouldn't be able to stop any other way
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 9,264 Member
    I have never been a smoker - except for 1 or 2 when I was a silly young teenager.

    But I would never so Easy, just stop.
    Addiction is hard to break.

    My husband gave up using hypnotherapy. Went from a packet a day to nothing overnight.
    November 1992 - and never smoked another cigarette again.

    I know it won't work for everyone but was instant magic result for him. Best money he ever spent.
  • airforceman1978
    airforceman1978 Posts: 100 Member
    I tried patches for about 4 days then got pissed at trying to keep them on. So I went cold Turkey after that was 2.5 packs a day. It has been almost 10 years now and there are still times I want one but not bad just a passing thought
  • yourfitnessenemy
    yourfitnessenemy Posts: 121 Member
    I wish I knew. The patch takes the edge off, but I always fall back on this habit. Those who say “just quit” have obviously never struggled with addiction before.
  • sflano1783
    sflano1783 Posts: 117 Member
    Yes I don't smoke now but very addicted to the nicorette oral spray. 😞
  • Lila3701
    Lila3701 Posts: 10 Member
    For me, I used lozenges for a month or so. After that, I had to just break the association of craving/relief. I told myself that the way I was feeling during a craving was finite, and my brain was trying to trick me into thinking I’d be miserable forever without nicotine and that wasn’t true, and I just had to rewire it to send a different message. I tried to think of myself as a non-smoker, since being “a smoker” was part of my identity for so long.

    I had a fuzzy, feverish feeling for the first few days, along with general misery and irritability, but it was better after that, and kept getting better. It’s been seven years now smoke-free. Best of luck to you!
  • sflano1783
    sflano1783 Posts: 117 Member
    Lila3701 wrote: »
    For me, I used lozenges for a month or so. After that, I had to just break the association of craving/relief. I told myself that the way I was feeling during a craving was finite, and my brain was trying to trick me into thinking I’d be miserable forever without nicotine and that wasn’t true, and I just had to rewire it to send a different message. I tried to think of myself as a non-smoker, since being “a smoker” was part of my identity for so long.

    I had a fuzzy, feverish feeling for the first few days, along with general misery and irritability, but it was better after that, and kept getting better. It’s been seven years now smoke-free. Best of luck to you!

    Thats something I wanted to hear im going to try it myself quit using nicotine.
  • lgfrie
    lgfrie Posts: 1,449 Member
    edited December 2019
    I wish I knew. The patch takes the edge off, but I always fall back on this habit. Those who say “just quit” have obviously never struggled with addiction before.

    You're wrong about that. I say "just quit" because I struggled with this addiction, attempting unsuccessfully to quit for many years. Quitting nicotine was the hardest thing I ever did since the day I was born, bar none. Cigarettes were followed by years of nicotine replacement products which I found even more addicting than cigarettes. One day after so many years of all that BS a lightbulb went off and I realized "If you want to quit nicotine you have to f'ing quit" and then I quit. The next three days were torture but then it was over and I had my life back.

    "Just quit" can save someone years of frustration and wasted time, because, when all is said and done, every ex-nicotine addict had one specific day when they stopped using nicotine forever, and the only real question for someone who wants to get out from under nicotine is when that day's gonna be.

    You can't half-quit nicotine. It doesn't work that way. Smoking less, or trading cigs for lozenges or sprays, doesn't work; all it does is postpone the inevitable and, perhaps, make quitting even harder, as was the case for me. At some point, you have to be brave and strong and grab a battle axe and just charge into the field and slay the nicotine monster. You have to "just quit".

    Once again I recommend Carr's book "The Easy Way To Quit Smoking". That book has saved countless lives and cardiovascular systems.
  • Rhumax67
    Rhumax67 Posts: 162 Member
    Chantix - 1 1/2 pk a day Husband 3 pack a day, about 10 yrs ago!
  • geraldaltman
    geraldaltman Posts: 1,739 Member
    Personalization!! Nothing that I or anybody here say will make a damn bit of difference in your efforts. It all comes down to making whatever motivations and methods used strictly and entirely your's!!! Next month will mark ten years of success for me!! After everything I ever tried to do to stop smoking previously, it came down to rage, internalized rage!! I got so pissed off at myself for that last failure that it stoked a fire I didn't know I had!! I knew I had to do this so that I would never have to listen to anyone ever talk to me about smoking. It was the only way. After smoking my last on Jan. 3rd 2010, I decided never again...and I never did!! And along the way I found that each and every obstacle that could have caused me to smoke again was a mirage, FAKE! Soon smoking became a distant unpleasant memory. Quitting is insanely doable!! Find YOUR reasons, YOUR way and just do it!! Nevermind others!!!