How to put down that last cigarette!

I quit cold turkey after years of lying to myself that I would. My mother asked me to stop for years and years. Even when she was dying of cancer and begging me to stop I yes’d her and still smoked. The week following her passing I just stopped. Couldn't do it anymore. I just stopped without even thinking about it. I was so consumed in grief that even the habit grabbing a cig after of waking up, eating, leaving the office, breaks, all meals, everything. I had no joy in anything so it wasn't an issue.

Don't wait for something like that to happen...just do it for you! :flowerforyou:

http://www.provape.com <-- had a ProVari for a year. You CAN quit with an e-cigarette. Best e-cig on the market, in my opinion. No USB charging BS. You will still want a real cig because of all the other chemicals (other than nicotine) in them, but it gets you through.

I stopped for 3 months, then stupidly started up again. Looking forward to quitting cigs again in July. It's not easy, but you won't believe how much easier it is to exercise without all that crap in your lungs. And... you'll start to taste and smell again (sometimes that last part sucks a little, ha)

Best of luck.

I smoked for about 8 years, from 15 to 23. I quit four years ago, when my mom caught pneumonia and was hospitalized for a week. During that week, it was discovered that she had COPD. Seeing her lay in that hospital bed, barely able to breathe really woke me up. I did the patch for about a week, but it made me crazy, so I stopped using it. I haven't smoked since. My mom used Chantix to quit. And I'm telling you, seeing her struggle every day...seeing her hooked up to oxygen and having to take breathing treatments...seeing her have five different inhalers that she has to use. I will NEVER smoke a cigarette again. It's just not worth it.

I quit cold turkey at 11:53AM on 12/30/2011. but who's counting...

I've been smoking since I was 8 years old (I was 41 when I quit), and I'd quit multiple times before. Wellbutrin, the patch, gum, lozenges, etc. nothing took. Any type of 'aid' ended up being a crutch for me, and a constant reminder that what I really wanted was a cigarette. So going cold turkey cut me off from that completely.

What got me through was just a constant reminder that the craving would pass. Any time it'd come up, I'd remind myself that I want to be a non-smoker, that the craving will pass, a little Buddah breathing, then an affirmation that I'm honoring my body and my health.

I also used some freeware time trackers so I could count the seconds that I'd been quit as motivation.

AND.... (I think this is what made the difference for me this time)... GO RUN UPHILL! nothing like a mile uphill to remind you why you're quitting.

Best of luck!

12/30/2011: 20/day => 06/09/2012: 26.2m
BE A QUITTER!!!

One other thing I did was to set up a bank account and every week that I don't smoke I put the $50 in the account that I would have wasted on an early death. In two years before my son starts high school we will be going on an extravagant fishing trip to Canada with all the money I saved.

I started to get sick from smoking. When I was stressed I would smoke 2 packs a day. I quit smoking and went on the patch... then I got stressed and the doc said I could smoke up to 5 cigs with the patch. I did and got sick. Now, its been 8 months and I am smoke free You just have to be ready. I could have gone back but the urge to quit has to override your smoking. I miss it, I can't lie but it is the best choice health wise!

My husband and I have been smoking since we were children. I smoke for 17 years and my husband for about 11 or 12. My husband and I finally decided to quit because we A. Don't smoke in our home with our children, B. Don't smoke in our vehicle with our children, C. Were total hypocrites telling our children not to smoke while puffing away on a death stick. We were just confusing the hell out of our 10, 8, and 6 year old children. The breaking point? When our kids took D.A.R.E in school then came home and proceeded to tell us that we were on "Drugs" because we smoked. That really hit hard.

My husband knew that he needed help to quit smoking and had our PCP prescribe him CHANTIX and he says it's his little miracle pill. He quit within a week which is amazing because he was a chain smoking who truly Enjoyed his cigarettes. He'd take a pull off one like a thirsty man in a desert taking his first drink of water.

I had quit two years earlier cold turkey because of severe vomiting and migraines. About 15 months in I started back up because my husband still smoked and it reeled me back in. But April 1 of this year we banded together and quit as a couple and for good. We are so happy to say that we are a smoke free family and our children are so proud of us.

Don't get discouraged. Quitting cigarettes is harder than quitting heroin. It's going to take a couple tries but don't be afraid to ask for help. My husband used the help lines, had the coaches call him, and took his medicine like clock work. If my husband can quit ANYONE can!!

Good Luck and GOD BLESS!!!

I started to get sick from smoking. When I was stressed I would smoke 2 packs a day. I quit smoking and went on the patch... then I got stressed and the doc said I could smoke up to 5 cigs with the patch. I did and got sick. Now, its been 8 months and I am smoke free You just have to be ready. I could have gone back but the urge to quit has to override your smoking. I miss it, I can't lie but it is the best choice health wise!

even after 3 years i still feel like i want one i just remember why i quit in the first place)

See!!! That's scary as hell.

I quit cold turkey too (on July 21, 1996) after smoking a pack a day for about eight years (and many attempts at quitting). I found acupuncture really helped with the cravings, surprisingly.

Also, I found that I had to change the way I thought about smoking. To me, this was the key. Every time I tried to quit, there would always come a time when I would think to myself, "Okay, you've quit, you're not hooked any more, you could have just one." Well, we all know how that turns out. I would have just one, and then I'd be back to a pack a day within twenty-four hours. So I decided that instead of telling myself I wouldn't smoke, I would tell myself that I could never even think about smoking. Every time I started to think that it might be okay to have a cigarette, I would remind myself that thinking about smoking was taboo. This actually worked, believe it or not. It's funny because I usually have a much harder time than that controlling my own thoughts, but in this case it was effective.

I'm one of those casual smokers who is trying to quit. I've tried the Chantix but it made me sick to my stomache. My mom quit about 12 years ago after 40 years of smoking but now has lung cancer. She used to smoke 2 packs a day where the most I think I ever smoked was one pack in a day and that was due to drinking. I did good last week and didn't smoke Mon, Tues or Wed, but Thurs on the way home from work I cracked and bought a pack. I smoked it over the weekend and saved the last one for Monday night after work. I can only imagine the same thing will happen this weekend, but I am not going to quit "quitting". Good luck to everyone trying to quit. Congrats to those who have quit. You won't quit because someone else wants you to quit, it has to be your decision and your will power that gets you through the tough times.