Ex-smokers! I need some advice to help me quit

My hubby smoked 3 packs a day for years. ...and stopped with Chantix. He just kept smoking....and soon he thought they tasted terrible....and hasn't had one since. It has been 5 years, and when we go on vacation he has a cigar and still has no desire to smoke cigs!!

Congratulations on losing the 40 pounds! That's awesome! Now that you have a healthier exterior, you WANT a healthier interior! I quit (for the hundredth time) just over a month ago, but after almost 40 years of smoking, it's just time, and this will be the LAST time I have to quit. It's taken a complete change in the way I think and live. I meditate first thing in the morning, then do 10 to 30 minutes worth of exercise. My husband and I eat a plant-based diet and try to play disc golf a couple of times a week which is so much easier now that I've quit. I still get cravings, but I just tell myself NO and distract myself with something...ANYTHING...then praise myself for getting past it again. You can DO this!

My husband quit 10 years ago, after yet another frequent bout of pneumonia (which he doesn't get anymore!) He used lollipops to kick his habit. He chewed on the stick after the candy was gone. Now, he carries gum and when he gets an urge, he pops some gum in his mouth. (I see him doing that when he gets in stressful situations.) He also said that if you hang around with smokers, ditch them. I guess that's true with any habit. You usually do what the people around you are doing. Finding healthy friends will encourage your own healthy behaviors. Good luck! :smokin:

CHANTIX!!! Only side affect I experienced was nausea but I fixed that....I took with food :laugh: :happy:

I smoked 25 years HEAVY took chantix for six weeks and am smoke free. Now it is pure will power and I am proud of that. That is why I decided to lose weight, if I can quit smoking I can learn better eating habits!

I'm a huge advocate of the Cold Turkey Method. Smokers don't want to hear that because it's hard, but I think weaning yourself or using nic supplements just prolong the misery. I smoked for sixteen years and when I wanted to quit, there was nothing I wanted more. I just decided that was it and it was.
Now, just remember, the urges and the temptations are there and they stick around for several weeks, but each day gets easier. After about a week (a week of hell) you will never want to turn around and go back because your over a huge hurdle. The hurdles get smaller and easier after that. After about a month, you still may have a few urges here and there, but nothing like the first week or so. And then before you know it, the urges are gone, you feel great, your super proud of yourself and there's no turning back.

I would disagree with that. I'd quit for brief periods of time in the past - and I knew that *this time* was going to be THE time when I can finally say I am a non-smoker... I wanted to have somewhat of an aid in dealing with the physical withdrawal symptoms. The Nicorette patches say to use them for 12 weeks I think - now THAT would have been way too long for me, I would have gotten hooked on them. LOL Two weeks of the low dose patch was perfect for me to ride out the nicotine withdrawal from my system. Sure, I could have done it cold turkey - my mind was dead set - but why, if I knew *this is it* could I not make it a little less hellish?

What I did, worked. One year plus with NO desire to pick back up.

BUMP!!!!

I am an ex-smoker, 11 1/2 years now. I got ill, was hospitalized, and found I had COPD, from smoking, they gave me some med that curbed my appetite for cig. I was there for five days. I have not had one, since the day I entered hosp. I found if I kept my hands busy, it helped. I am a crochet addict now. Find something you enjoy doing to keep you to busy to smoke. Good luck! You will feel so much better, without the habit. Carol

Not a smoker here, but married to a former smoker and a child of two smokers (one who quit, one who didn't).


My husband quit last year. It took a combination of Chantix, taking up yo-yoing (as in the Duncan variety) to keep his hands busy, and gum and cinnamon/mint toothpicks for oral fixation.


My dad quit cold turkey 5 years ago. He quit the day he found out he had stage IV throat cancer. He had major surgeries, 82 doses of radiation, and 18 doses of chemo. He was in remission for 3 years.

The cancer came back January 2011. It has spread to his bones, lungs, liver, and back into his throat again. He probably won't live another 3 years this time. I see him getting weaker by the month. He will never see his grand kids born, he probably won't see me graduate with my Masters, he won't see me receive my PhD. My children will not have a grandpa (husband's father is deceased as well). I will most likely lose my father before I turn 25.

My mom's still smoking. It's only a matter of time before she gets cancer as well. Her mom, grandmother, and grandfather all died from cancer. I'm probably going to lose both of my parents before I am 30.


Think of your family and think of the holes you will leave in their hearts if you continue to smoke. Please don't make the same mistake my parents are making. Make the change before it is too late.

I quit 18 days ago!! I drank TONS of water when I was craving it, which seems to help. I also found myself working out more if I wanted to reach for a smoke. I think what got me to quit was posting a picture of healthy lungs versus crapy lungs by the patio. Seeing those made me relize what I did to my body and how much better I would be with stoping smoking. Good luck