Former smokers

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  • TexasRattlesnake
    TexasRattlesnake Posts: 375 Member
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    Having about 20 cravings a day at the moment but just ignore them and they go after a few minutes.

    A friend gave me the mantra "When you have a craving, whether you smoke or not... it will go away."

    Some of the best advice I've ever received... mind over matter!
  • Kep2005
    Kep2005 Posts: 57 Member
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    My mom went into the hospital on New Years Eve 2009 for what was supposed to be an easy surgery. The day she was supposed to be released, I got a phone call that she was in ICU and it didn't look good. After being in ICU for over a week, she was finally stable enough to be moved to a regular room and released. When she finally woke up, I told her that since she hadn't had a cigarette in almost a month (it was a long stay at the hospital!) that she needed to just keep it going and I promised to quit with her. I smoked my last cig at 11:15pm on my way home from the hospital on Jan 17, 2010. Mom and I are both still cigarette free today :) So for me it was very easy - I love my mom too much to risk losing her and if me quitting helped her, I was all for it!
  • Avandel
    Avandel Posts: 283 Member
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    I smoked for 40 years & quit 7 years ago using the Nicoderm patch & I did it in 4 weeks. I had tried other times because I thought I should, not because I wanted to.

    Various aids seem to work for various people, if you are ready to quit, you will, no matter what way you choose to do it.

    I wish you the very best!:flowerforyou:
  • ambercholtz
    ambercholtz Posts: 84 Member
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    Chantix. Easiest way to quit ever.

    Agreed, I had done the same.

    Smoke free here since January 2011 with no cravings what-so-ever.
  • PunkyRachel
    PunkyRachel Posts: 1,959 Member
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    I quit for my hubby, he is a not smoker, I really liked him and said he wouldn't date me. It was hard, I used gum, every time I wanted one I popped a piece of gum in my mouth, or if I didn't have gum I'd smoked behind my boyfriends back. It took me about 6 months to quit completely. I remember one time about 2-3 month after I completely quit, my boyfriend and I were waiting for a ride, and a few smokers were near by, I got a bad craving and wanted to bum one. So he just held and hugged me and whispered in my ear stuff like. "you can do it. You don't need that cigaret, your strong, your doing great without them, etc, etc, etc."
  • BSchoberg
    BSchoberg Posts: 712 Member
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    Broke a bone and my surgeon said he could fix it with a plate & screws, but if I was still smoking, the plate would snap within 12 months. "Am I going to have trouble with you?" "No, sir!" And he didn't... this was apparently all the motivation I needed! That was the 27th of October, 2011; I quit 10/31/11 and my last nicotine (patches, other "aids") was before Thanksgiving. My surgery was 1/10/12 and I got my final "all-clear" on 7/2.

    I don't particularly recommend this as a quitting method, but you might want to remember that the nicotine in your system impacts a lot more than your lungs and your entire body is poisoned. And seriously - once you make the decision and get past that first sticky patch of needing to deprogram your mind and body - you will say at least once every day how happy you are that you don't smoke any more. I do! Every single day.
  • SRH7
    SRH7 Posts: 2,037 Member
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    Allen Carr, Easy Way ... Did it cold turkey, never looked back after 20 years puffing away.

    Seriously, I owe my freedom from smokes to that man.

    Hurrah! Couldn't agree more.

    I was a 40-a-day smoker and this is how I stopped:

    1. Read the Allen Carr book - an absolute lifesaver!
    2. Went cold turkey (nicotine replacement just keeps you addicted - after three days the nicotine is out of your system so why prolong the cravings?)
    3. Got support from a forum (http://forum.nosmokingday.org.uk/)
    4. Set up a quit counter on my laptop - every time I turn it on it tells me how I am doing. Today it says:

    * I have stopped nicotine for 3 years, 5 months, 26 days, 14 hours, 37 minutes and 31 seconds (1272 days)
    * I've not smoked 25,452 death sticks
    * I've saved £6,707.74
    * I've saved 88 days, 9 hours and 1 minute of my life

    Links to free quit counters are here: http://whyquit.com/whyquit/LinksDMeters.html
  • SRH7
    SRH7 Posts: 2,037 Member
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    I used to hike all day but smoked at various rest points ... I think I associated smoking with appreciating the views/nature, it's just a habit/association that needs breaking.

    Arggggghhh! Me too. Crazy, isn't it? Seems really disgusting now.

    I was climbing a mountain in the Lake District (UK) last week when someone further ahead sat down to have a cigarette - let me tell you, I could have clobbered her for giving me a face full of smoke while I was shuffling up, red-faced, up the scree. Yuk!
  • KatieMae75
    KatieMae75 Posts: 391 Member
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    Thanks for sharing every one, seeing success stories is very encouraging.
    Are you trying to quit my friend? GOOD!!! love ya!!

    I WILL. I have to. I can feel it when I work out, and my chest hurts in the morning. When I do intense cardio, I feel like my chest is being crushed and I'm suffocating. It's affecting my body and I don't want the boys growing up thinking smoking is OK. I did quit once when I was about 20 (I started smoking at 12). It was fairly east to do at that point, not really sure at what point I became a smoker again, but it was within the first year. 17 years later and the idea of quitting scares the hell out of me, yet I can't stand it and WANT to quit.

    My insurance company offers NRT, but I'm not sure if I want to replace nicotine with nicotine, I'd rather just be done. I've got to pick a quit date, stock up on gum, hide from everyone for a few days, and do it.
  • GiddyupTim
    GiddyupTim Posts: 2,819 Member
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    The thing about smoking is that the younger you start, the heavier you smoke and the less likely you will be able to quit. Very few people actually start smoking after age 18 years -- less than 20 percent of smokers -- and most of them can quit 'relatively' easily.
    Likewise, people who start at 17 years of age tend to smoke fewer cigarettes per day than those who started at 16 years of age, who, in turn, smoke less than those who started at 14 years.
    I made my first serious attempt at quitting when I was 24 years of age. I finally quit for good (two years and still going) at age 49 years, with Chantix.
    Keep in mind, however, even Chantix has a very low success rate -- less than 40 percent of people are successful at one year with Chantix. And, my insurance company put up many obstacles to my getting it.
  • MrsSWW
    MrsSWW Posts: 1,590 Member
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    I quit 8.5 years ago. I figured out how many I smoked per day and cut it by one for a week then repeated until it was one a day, then every other day, etc... I found the hardest thing is when you associate smoking with a particular action like breaks, after eating, with coffee or drinks, after sex, etc. The habit is harder to break than the physical addiction. Break the pattern first, then the do the physical part, I think that most of the people that have trouble stopping it's because of trying to break a psychological addiction and a physical one at the same time. Just my theory, not an expert by any stretch of the imagination, just observations of myself, friends and family members.

    Totally, my greatest residual urges to smoke coincides with physical activity as a 'reward' for what I have done ... Very weird considering one contradicts another.

    I used to hike all day but smoked at various rest points ... I think I associated smoking with appreciating the views/nature, it's just a habit/association that needs breaking.

    Same here! My absolute favourite cigarette was the one I'd have as I exited the gym! I used to say that my blood must have too much oxygen in it, lol!

    I quit in 2007, used patches for around 6 weeks until i realised I'd forgotten them a couple of days and then stopped using them. My husband quit soon aftr me and went cold turkey. We've both gained weight so I'd recommend you do some form of exercise as something to break the habit.

    I hate everything about smoking now, especially the smell, but I still miss the feel of them in my hand... :smokin:
  • rpounds1957
    rpounds1957 Posts: 177 Member
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    How'd you quit? So many different things work for different people. I've heard success stories varying from cold turkey to acupuncture. What worked for you, and how long ago did you quit?

    I used the nicotine patches about 4 years ago to quit. The patch really helped control the physical withdrawal symptoms for me, but there was still a huge amount of 'desire' necessary. I really WANTED to quit. Without that mindset, it is so much more of a challenge. I had to put off quitting until I really, really, really wanted it. Have you ever noticed how quickly and easily someone quits when they have a heart attack or find out they have lung cancer? It's because they WANT everything to be okay. Once the desire is truly there, one can accomplish quitting.
  • focus4fitness
    focus4fitness Posts: 551 Member
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    I quit in May 2002. I smoked about a pack and a half a day. I set a date far ahead in the future and as I got closer to that day I tried to being down the number of times I smoked. I was mentally ready to quit by that time. I was serious. When the big day came I tried to avoid all of my triggers.

    I ended up not only quiting smoking but a boyfriend who at the time who was trying to sabatoge me and make me feel bad about myself. I went smoke free and broke up with a long time boyfriend in the same week. Just further proving to me if you mentally prepare you will be ready and not have any excuses when the time comes to actually quit.

    Just wanted to add, both of my parents who smoked for 20+ years also quit about a year before I did. They taught me how to do it and both of them have been smoke free since.
  • KatieMae75
    KatieMae75 Posts: 391 Member
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    Quit at 2am on Sunday morning (sat night) thats when I ran out and thats the last one I will ever have.

    Having about 20 cravings a day at the moment but just ignore them and they go after a few minutes.

    Congratulations! Those first 4 or 5 days are the hardest I've heard, and you've made it part way through. Tha tis huge! You can do it!

    After reading all the replies that came up while I was typing my last one, I decided i"m going to go pick up the Carr book you all are talking about. Chantix isn't an option for me because of another medication I'm on. I'm also going to take the idea of putting that daily money away that I save and do something fun with it. I'll try walks or lifting when I get a craving too. Thanks again!
  • bethmac_va
    bethmac_va Posts: 65
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    I quit on May 5, 2009 and have the weight to prove it! :ohwell: Better than dying of lung cancer or heart disease.

    I used an electronic cigarette. I smoked for 30+ years, and was up to almost 2 ppd when I finally quit. I used both for about a month, fhen realized I didn't need the real thing. For about a year, I weaned myself off the nicotine from the electronic cigarette, then used solutions with no nicotine for about 8-10 months, then finally kicked the hand-to-mouth habit completely in March 2011.

    Best thing I ever did for myself!! :bigsmile:
  • tdp8700
    tdp8700 Posts: 24
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    I quit over 10 years ago using patches. Two weeks on patches the rest just pure will power and support from hubby. Now I chew on everything however. :laugh:
  • Alicat59
    Alicat59 Posts: 13 Member
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    I was a smoker for ten years and quit five and a half years ago using the Commit lozenges and the motivation that my then-boyfriend/now-husband didn't want to seriously date a smoker. Unfortunately I replaced the smoking with eating, hence why I'm here. LOL. I still get cravings now, but very rarely. It's usually when I do something I used to associate with smoking, like driving or walking out of a movie theater after watching a movie. Good luck!!
  • melsinct
    melsinct Posts: 3,512 Member
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    I quit a few weeks ago cold turkey after reading the Allen Carr book "Easyway to Stop Smoking." The book debunks all of the myths to do with withdrawal and made me realize, 90% of quitting is psychological, not a physical addiction. Nicotine replacement didn't strike me as a good idea, why quit smoking only to still feed my body nicotine? I figured it would be easier to just quit cold turkey, get the nicotine out of my system, and be done with it.

    It's nice to see so many former smokers here, all of your stories are encouraging!
  • nataliefamily3
    nataliefamily3 Posts: 190
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    I quit cold turkey in 2009 from a pack a day during weekdays 2 packs on the weekends.
  • kelif5959
    kelif5959 Posts: 202
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    Chantix works awesome - if you can get through the horrible dreams and sleeplessness. Well worth it for me though. Going on 2 years now! :)

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