Share your thoughts and story. I am quitting cigs lately and keep relapsing. Any tips or encouragement would be good at this point. Just bought a pack this morning, smoked two of em and threw the rest of the pack out. Sort of annoying that I keep doing (*)(*)(*)(*) like that.
I quit on New Years Eve 2011 and haven't had a cig since. #1 tip... ask your doctor for something to help you kick the habit. Mine gave me a box of Nicotrol Inhalers... looks like this. I put them on top of the 'fridge and didn't think about them for 2 mos until I decided to quit. Then opened it up to see how it worked and discovered it was a lifesaver since I was at that 'weak' stage of wanting SOMETHING!! You get a pretty healthy dose of nicotine with these (prescription only, and they're EXPENSIVE, so see if you can't get a sample box from the doc... mine gave me one) Used that for about 2 months... then switched to e-cigs. Hot new trend that allows you to 'smoke' without lighting up. There's a huge forum that discusses the e's... check it out. http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/index.php/beginners-ecigarette-tutorial.html I use these so I can still go out on 'smoke breaks' with my buds at work, although if I want to, I can just puff away at my desk!! Lots of help out there... congrats on quitting. You'll feel much better when you realize you never even think about smoking anymore! GOOD LUCK!! http://www.blucigs.com/
I quit once for 10 years. Another time for a couple of years and a year. The key is to never pick one up again. Just having one will start it up again. I always quit cold turkey, you get over the addiction in 3 days. What is difficult to get over is the psychological habit.
After trying all the patches and gum I just went cold turkey and it's been close to 10 years , I just thought of my kids and family ! unfortunately my wife was unable to quit and she lives in bed when she is not at the hospital or a nursing home.
Tobacco is a helluva drug. I might just lock myself in the house for 3 days and when I get the nicotine out of me buy chewing gum to keep my mouth busy.
After 10 years of trying to quit without any help, one thirty minute acupuncture treatment did the trick.
Here is an update : Bummed a Marlboro lite off the mailman, lol. I guess I'm gonna fudge up here and there but I am committed to the cause.
It happens, the biggest challenge for me was that first cigg in the morning mmmmmmm..lol Some people can quit cold turkey, some can't. I know it took me weeks of reducing the amount i was smoking. Week over week until I just didnt have the taste for them anymore.
I smoked in college and my mom came to visit me and i pulled one out, lit up ....and she pulled out hers and did the same. I rolled down the window and threw mine out. Didn't smoke again.
I've quit smoking for prolonged periods (over a year in each case) two seperate times. Once after my first military deployment and once after my second military deployment. I don't really count the other times I "quit" because I was mostly an occasional or social smoker. During my deployments, I was a heavy smoker. I smoked a pack of cigs in three hours one time. I was that bored! Anyway, I quit cold turkey both times and presently I have not smoked a cig in a year and have no worries that I'll ever slip back into it. Once you get over the first week, the urges go away and then it's all psychological. A lot people actually underestimate the psychological aspect of quitting smoking because the physical addiction can be so powerful. Quitting is a mindset. You have to cement the idea of quitting in your head and never let your guard down. It's only a few days, man. It can save your life!!!
I smoked then too. Then a girl that I really liked said that she wouldn't go out with me unless I quit, so I tossed my last pack in the trash. Over 30 years later we're still together...
I quit smoking in 2006 and it was rough. First off you have to go into it knowing that it is going to be a week or two of differing levels of hell. Don't fool yourself, you will just quit when it gets rough if you do. Go into it knowing it is going to suck BAD!!! Be resolute no matter what! Go big or go home! People who "try" to quit are fooling themselves and setting themselves up for failure. There is no "try", just do it! How I did it was bought some of that nicotine gum, it was a step down program and way too expensive, so I just bought a package of the gum and used it. I think I was allowed one piece of gum every two hours. So I would chew the gum, then keep it between my cheek and teeth for 2 hours till I could take the next one. First few days were rough. I kept myself busy any way I could as to divert my mind as much as I could. After a week it was a bit easier, 2 weeks in I was no longer using the gum and well on my way to kicking the habit. For months I would crave a smoke after eating or when I first got up, but in time even that has passed. Just do it! Or keep on torturing yourself by "trying".
I'm off them for about ten years now, and did it cold turkey. I was a heavy smoker, so I had over a month of very bad withdrawal- night sweats, nightmares, severe irritability, headaches, etc. There is only one key to success and that is integrity. No one can make you do anything, but it is your choice to stand by your commitment. What worked for my psychologically, was to swear to myself that I would never buy another cigarette. That gave me permission to bum a smoke if I wanted, but I work alone and none of my friends smoke, so there was little to no chance I would get a cig off anyone. But, I gave myself that out anyway to play with my own head. It's real simple, you make yourself a promise and you abide by your decision, otherwise you are a failure with no one to blame but you. It's not easy, so (*)(*)(*)(*)ing what. Don't be a (*)(*)(*)(*)(*), just quit; you are killing yourself.
recently my uncle was shifted to an aged care center and i must say that those who are smoking then it might become very tough for them to immediately leave this habit but they can slowly slowly leave this unfair habit... even now he smokes in the apartments wash room.... in the early stages he used to smoke 5 cigarettes daily now he only smokes 1..
I quit with Nicorette 15 years ago started smoking again, I am currently quitting with E Cigs. They work!
I quit Jan 1st, 2009 at 5pm. All I can say is that it gets easier and easier wtih time. The first 3 months are the worst. Going to the gym helped alot. Its seems couter productive to workout then go lite up.
I quite November 2010 after 33 years of being a moderate smoker (about 15 a day). The only thing that worked for me was the E-Cig. The first one looked like a cig and was helpful in helping me cut down to about six a day then I switched to the Totally Wicked Tornado (the original version, none of the later ones seem to work for me) with extra strength nicotine fluid (you really don't want to smoke after that!) gradually working down in strength until I quit for good. I really didn't want to quit but I was getting bad bronchitis and chest pains and knew I just couldn't smoke any more, even if I wanted too. I had some medical issues with high blood pressure which my acupuncturist told me was the stress of missing all the "other" chemicals in cigarette smoke but I found CoQ10 QH really helpful there and now my BP is back to normal levels. I'm glad I quit but I still love the smell of cigarette smoke. I just tell myself it's something I can never do again.
I'll tell you all what I miss. I miss sitting on my porch and drinking my coffee, taking blunt hits and having a Marlboro Red. I guess it's funny how we psychologically add smoking to our routines.
Twice! I quit in 1999, managed 3 years, and started again in 2002. Then quit again in 2005 for good. Addiction has interesting effects on the brain. You will tell yourself all sorts of stories why now is not a good time, why you can just have one and then quit, or smoke maybe just today and then stop again tomorrow. It takes an awareness of the tricks your mind will play on you in order to not give in. It also takes two or three days to get over the very worst of it. That's not a good time to hang around with other smokers. It'll take a few more weeks to get over the cravings. Then, for a while, you'll miss smoking. Seriously, don't trust anything you tell yourself during those early days. Your mind wants to go back to a safe point, to keep you safe, and keeping you safe meant smoking. Intellectually you know that smoking will likely eventually kill you, but the mind doesn't look at things long term, it looks at what is comfortable is what is safe and will keep taking you back to those cigarettes. Don't let it. It doesn't hurt to have something handy to deal with the oral fixation. Something to twirl in the fingers or whatever. There are a number of new nicotine options which can help get over the oral fixation before the nicotene addiction. Those never really worked for me. The two times I quit I went cold turkey. I really liked smoking, but decided it wasn't worth paying the government for it. I had restarted while living in Eastern Europe where a pack of good cigarettes was rarely more than $1. Then my fiance asked me to quit before the wedding (the second time I quit), so I did.
For me, that was one of my favorite things. I'd hit the gym, then light up, then get on the motorcycle for my 50 mile commute home (the gym was in the office building.) When I quit, I quit going to the gym for a long time.
Yeah, I get big cravings after a work out. Go figure... I smoked for 23 years, heavy smoker. The routines and habits are hardest to break. I am on the e-cigs now. They help because it feels the same, so I continue to do all the routine stuff. I even go outside and hang with the smokers at work! I really notice the advantage when I am on a plane, train, coffee shop, restaurant or in the cinema. I can puff away luxuriously. The problem is the accessibility when I'm on the move -charging, running out of juice, equipment failure. In these cases I just forgive myself and allow an ordinary cig, and hop back on the e-cigs when I can. Its been working well for me so far.
Disgusting habit really. I smoked for nearly 20 years, Marlboro reds. Now the stench of smokers makes me wonder why I ever started such a filthy habit. Hopefully I will have no adverse affects from it. When this commercial came out I did find it powerful. [video=youtube;Y6kxEQ3czGA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6kxEQ3czGA[/video]
I tried E-Cigs. They taste like (*)(*)(*)(*) and don't do it for me. I ordered some of these http://nicotinefreecigarettes.com/more.html Should be in the mailbox in a few days, I hope they work because my hands have been shaky and I yelled at my beagle for no reason today, lol...
I quit in November 1979 along with two of my work colleagues. Each of us did not want to be the first to crack and after a month the craving was no longer there. When I quit work in 1990, the others had not again smoked and neither had I. That could be the way. Packing it up with the encouragement of others to whom you can also offer encouragement. It worked for us.
