I can’t be the only one here who is trying to quit smoking. I’ve always been a very occasional/social smoker until the last month or so, when stress has led to my smoking way too much. I want to quit entirely, and am planning on going cold turkey after I’ve done the two in my pocket. Anyone want to join this thread as a means of support or sharing experiences?
Go now and buy yourself a book called Allen’s Carr’s Easy Way to Stop Smoking
It’s an excellent book that makes quitting smoking really really easy. And it’s pretty easy and quick to read. You will be glad to quit once you’ve read it.
Good luck!
I second biddee’s suggestion - I came into the thread to link to the same book.
According to my nj.quitnet.com log:
Time Smoke-Free: 2 days, 17 hours, 1 minute and 30 seconds
Cigarettes NOT smoked: 68
Lifetime Saved: 12 hours
Money Saved: $8.75
This is my umpteenth time quitting, but I have a very good feeling about this one. This is the first time I feel really, really motivated to quit. I do not want to smoke anymore, which is a first. Yes, the cravings are still certainly there, but a couple of good, deep breaths usually takes care of them.
I’ve just called out local Barnes & Noble, who confirm they have that book in stock. I believe I’ll be picking up a copy on the way home.
Good luck to you!
I quit as of 8am yesterday. I have a patch on. I haven’t really felt the urge that much, except when I’m in my car. I was a “pack-a-day” smoker. Have been for several years. I think that due to the overwhelming amount of stress I am under right now I don’t think about it because of everything else that is going on. 
(I know that doesn’t make sense to most smokers, but I really do think that’s why it’s been such an easy two days.) Hmmmm…I’ll check back in tomorrow, and we’ll see if the story is the same. Good Luck Ultraviolet!!
Well, this Sunday at 10:30 pm will be exactly 8 weeks since I quit cold turkey. I’ve had some really rough moments. It helped that my fiancee quit with the patch about 3 weeks after I did. His sister and my best friend are the only people who smoke around me now and they’ve both outright refused to give me cigarettes - which has helped. Every time I get the urge to buy a pack, I buy a $5 scratch ticket instead. I’ve won close to $100 so far (and only spent about $65).
I’ve gained about 10lbs. trying to deal with the oral fixation but I think I’ve finally got that under control. I also have issues with needing to keep my hands busy. I’ve had some success by organizing a very large comic book collection. Luckily, most of my problems haven’t been due to actual nicotine addiction. I don’t think I was ever actually addicted in that way. It’s more of a boredom thing for me. My fiancee is having a much harder time. It really is a nicotine problem with him. He’s slipped 4 times in the last 5 weeks but he also stopped using the patch. He started on step 2 because he wasn’t a heavy smoker. He wasn’t sure if he was supposed to do step 3 longer than it took to use up one box so he stopped using them. All 4 of his slips were after he stopped the patch.
Anyway, other than keeping my hands busy and buying scratch tickets - I don’t have any words of wisdom to give. Sorry about that. All I can say is that even though I don’t know you, I’m proud of you for deciding to quit and if you ever need to vent, my e-mail is in my profile.
Good luck!
Yeah, I’m quittin’ too. I wasn’t really that heavy of a smoker, about 3 a day or so but it’s been a long time. And the fact that I’m not letting myself have one is doing nothing but making me want one all the time.
I’m unemployed now and just can’t justify spending the money. I’m always going on and on about how ridiculous it is that my brother his wife and sister in law all complain about how poor they are (they’re on foodstamps and complain about how they can’t afford paper plates) and yet smoke a pack a day. I refuse to be a big 'ol hypocrite and continue to smoke now that I’m unemployed, flat broke and can’t pay my bills. If I keep smoking, I can no longer make fun of them, and that’s one of the few joys in my bleak, unemployed, empty days.
Fortunately smoking grosses the S.O. out who refuses to kiss me if he smells it on me. Considering the fact that I always want to be kissing him, it gives me a little incentive. 
Good luck to us all!
This is exactly my problem! I used to go maybe a couple of months without a smoke, and it never bothered me a bit (I’m very much a social smoker). Now that I have decided to quit altogether, all I can do is think about smoking!
My SO also absolutely hates smoking, so hopefully that will help me along, or make me feel extremely guilty about smoking…
Good luck!
I’m in the debating phase - I know I need to quit, but I also know that as a heavier smoker (around a pack a day, normally), I need to pick up some patches and wear them - even if I go with the lowest level.
I know I need to quit soon. My dad’s going in for a biopsy next week. He had a bout with throat cancer two years ago, and while he’s been fine, they didn’t like the way things looked this time around. He was a heavy smoker for a long time - 2 or 3 packs a day - and went cold turkey when he was diagnosed. I know that if he could do it, I can.
It’s been 4 days, 36 minutes for me. Cold turkey. My first goal was to go a day, then three. Now I’m working on a week.
Today was stressful, and so that made me wish I had a cigarette. Plus I was kinda trapped inside because it’s horrible cold/snowy/icy outside and the boredom really made me want to smoke. But fortunately, in order to get cigs I’dve had to go outside and I wasn’t going to do that!
People always say you have to find other ways to cope with stress/boredom, whatever your triggers are. Who here has some good coping techniques for dealing with cravings brought on by frustration/anger/stress/boredom? These are the things that will drive me to smoke.
I’m on day 17, trudging along.
I started smoking when I was 10. I’ll be 24 in a few months. Other than a two-week vacation to my grandparent’s house where I couldn’t get any cigarettes when I was 14, I hadn’t gone a day without one until now. I’ve been wanting to quit pretty badly for about a year now, and have been smoking very lightly (between 1 and 10 a day, but usually about 6), but just couldn’t get over the edge.
Two Sundays ago I ran out of cigarettes and said to myself, “let’s see what happens if I just don’t buy a pack.” So far the cravings haven’t gone down a bit, and there’ve been several times that if one was within reach, I’d have smoked it. I think I’m only successful right now because no one around me is smoking, but when I go back to school near the end of this month, I know I’m probably going to be back to square one.
This is the first time I’ve really tried to quit, and I think I’m doing pretty good for cold turkey, no patch/gum, etc., so even if I fail this time I think it’s given me the confidence to quit again, especially if I have something to help.
For the social smoker it kind of creeps up on you, or at least it did on me. Hooked for 10 years now. I tried Zyban once. It really helped cut out the physical cravings, but you need to make the mental commitment and recognize your triggers. I read about I guy who said that every time he got an urge he would do 10 pushups.
Good luck.
I quit (cold turkey) 6 weeks and 4 days ago. I haven’t had any really horrible cravings, but I’ve had several vivid dreams about smoking. I’ve quit many times in the past, but this is the longest, and I’m hoping it sticks.
I’ll probably stay away from this thread though, because I do best when I just don’t think about it. Seeing the words smoking and cigarettes just trigger my urge to run out and buy a pack!
So, good luck everyone! Hang in there. 
I’ve been trying to quit for the last few months now and it is not going well. On the upside I’m about to try the “Unemployed and out of money” method of quitting. Good luck to all trying to kick the habit.
I’ve been half time for about three months now - all or nothing. I make it three or four days without, then smoke for three or four days, then stop again, then start again. Between the patches and throwing away my cigarettes and lighter every time I stop, it’s probably twice as expensive as if I just did one or the other! Cigs just went up here - big tax increase - maybe that’ll help.
Couldn’t agree more with this recommendation. I quit after reading this book 5 and a half years ago and have not had a smoke since. I thought I was in it for life before reading the book which made all the difference. Best $18 I ever spent.
46 hours and 15 minutes smoke-free, and I haven’t killed anyone yet. Although it was a close thing with my 14 year old yesterday afternoon. I’m on the patch; it seems to be taking care of the physical cravings, but I’ve been a pack-a-day smoker for 22 years and the psychological cravings are baaaaaaad.
I really believe I’m going to make it this time. It’s weird, I’ve tried to quit smoking before, and every time I did I threw out all my cigarettes, and then spent several days obsessing and panicking because they weren’t there anymore, until I finally broke down and bought a pack. This time, I kept two. They’re tucked away in a drawer in my room. Somehow, knowing I can get one if I really really want one is making it a lot easier for me to ignore the craving.
Has anyone else on the patch experienced an increase in vivid dreams? Yesterday I dreamed I was playing Maximo: Army of Zin and I found a secret level called “Oingy Boingy” and then suddenly I was Maximo and me and a bunch of brightly colored frogs and salamanders and rabbits were merrily bouncing around on hippos and shouting, “Oingy! Boingy! Oingy! Boingy!” I woke up with a big smile on my face. If I can keep having dreams as entertaining as that, this quitting thing might even be fun.
I don’t know if this will help anyone, but I am a social smoker who quit last year and always read threads like this to remind myself how hard it is. I highly recommend it. Every once in a while, I start thinking maybe just one or two (at sometime in the future-present condition doesn’t allow for it)…
Reading these stories, however, and remembering my own attempts, really smacks me upside the head and kicks me in the ass and pokes me in the eyes and pulls my hair out in tufts for even thinking that it’s a habit I want to “toy” with again.
I’ve been smoke free for a year and a half now. (YAY ME!) The motivation was when I thought I had a heart attack. Turns out it was stress and a whole bunch of other stuff, of which smoking was a big one. Anyways, I had a heart catherization and was told that my heart was in fine shape, so I decided then was the time to quit. I took wellbutrin for a while which really helped me. Word of warning if anyone tries this: you have to taper off the wellbutrin. I did taper off and the cravings and desire lessened and lessened til now when I don’t want a cigarette anymore.
I, like a lot of others, stopped smoking several times and always went back after a few months. This has been the longest period and the one that’s sticking. I don’t recommend thinking you’re having a heart attack as a motivator to quit. To everyone who’s trying to quit right now, hang in there. It can be done. I did gain a little weight, which I needed to take off cause that was one of the things I needed to change. I was (still am) a chubby guy. I have lost some and will continue. I’m just taking that part slow and steady, cause for me the main thing was to first change the smoking behavior.
I will say this. The need to stay busy has caused me to have one really clean, organized house. I even clean behind furniture and stuff weekly now. Course my office at work is still a pig sty, but hey, I don’t live there.
Good luck everybody! Hang in there! You can do it!
-swampbear (that last line looks like I’m wearing a short skirt and a tight sweater, jumping around and waving pompoms. That ain’t a pretty picture!)
Oh, I find it a very amusing image, swampy…thinking maybe a word to our friend umop ap!sdn, and a little PSP…
My husband has been quit since Monday morning at 0730. Where can I download the “stop smoking meter” thingy for him?