So… I’m on Zyban. I’ve gone from 2 packs a day (yeah, it got real bad for a minute there) to between 4 and 8 cigarettes a day in the last 5 days or so. I smoked what I sincerely hope was my Last Cigarette EVER like 6 hours ago. And I’m, well, sad.
I like smoking, and I feel like I’m sort of leaving behind a huge part of my life. Does that make ANY sense? But I have to quit, I want to quit; for me, and for my family. I don’t want my family (or myself, really) to go through the pain I see my son’s grandfather going through now from smoking. I want to feel better, look better, and smell better. I want to be able to breathe all the time, without any problems at all. And I want to be here for my son always. Or try anyway.
But this really sucks. Tomorrow is supposed to be my first smoke-free day. My plan is to avoid anyone who smokes and clean everything. I feel like I might tear my face off. I’ve gone through 3 pieces of gum during this post alone.
I am trying. I’m not using anything to help me. I did find out last week that smoking 100’s is a really good way to quit.
I went from lights to ultra lights. I cut back from 1 pack a day to 3/4 of a pack. Then, the store where I get my butts ran out of the regular size. This place costs .60 less per pack than everywhere else around here so I didn’t mind getting the 100’s so much. But, instead of 3/4 of a pack per day, it took me 5 days to finish 2 packs. So, a little less than half a pack a day. Technically, it was even less than that because I could never finish more than half a cigarette. By the end of the 5th day, I didn’t even want to smoke anymore. Then, I broke down and bought a pack when they got the regular stuff in stock again. I’m back up to 3/4 of a pack a day. I think that I’m going to start getting the 100’s again.
I’m sorry to say that I can’t give much advice. The last time I quit, I just decided to do it. That strategy worked for almost 2 years. Then, I got a new boss and I started up again. That guy is now gone from the company and probably wont be back, ever. I think that might be all the motivation I need.
I quit in '91 after 10 years or so. Still smoke-free. It helps to have a husband who’s a rabid anti-smoker.
The thing that I found through my initial attempts was, like an ex-drinker, not even one smoke, because you will probably have another.
I don’t know where I heard this, but I think it helped as well. It’s kinda dorky, but I wrote a contract…typed it up on the computer and everything. Made a pledge and listed every reason I could think of to stop smoking, naming names of people I care about, etc. and signed and dated the darn thing. I wonder where it’s at. I did take it out time and again to remind myself. Oh, I also listened to some tape, every day, that I already had from a previous Nicorette attempt. Or was it Cigarest?
I quit with Zyban over 5 years ago. And I too, loved smoking. But smoking was trashing my lungs and I was only 33 years old. The doctor threatened to take away my birth control pills if I turned 35 and still smoked.
You can do it with Zyban. Avoid other smokers. I don’t know how I would have done if I was around people who smoked.
Yes, I miss smoking. No, I don’t miss hacking up a lung every time someone says something funny or when I inhale plain old air too deeply.
Just keep trying. People who know me still can’t believe I quit. You can too.
I have been smoke free for 1 year, 9 months, and 2 weeks (minus the two birthday cigars, but I didn’t inhale and only finished half or less both times).
I loved to smoke too, but I finally made the choice to not smoke anymore. The first couple of days were pretty rough. I would suggest burning candles, and when you feel the need to smoke putting one of the candles under your nose (SAFELY!) and inhanle deeply. You get the heat without the smoke. If you have an oral fixation, try toothpicks or jolly rancers. Some people need to keep their hands occupado, so I suggest silly putty or even splurging and getting a Gameboy SP! The money you save has to go somewhere!
Remember: Just don’t smoke. Easy. Make the choice, no matter what your body tells you. You are the Captian, the body is the ship. It listens to you. Smoking is bad for your body, you friends, your clothing, your pets, and bad for you in general. Just don’t smoke!!!
I’m another one of those “If I can do it, anyone can” ex-smokers. Dozens of quit attempts, sometimes all within the same week
In my final (successful, so far) attempt to quit I went cold turkey, but it doesn’t really matter what method you use to stop, IMHO - the important part is teaching yourself not to ever start again. What tripped up all my previous quitting attempts was the belief that I could have one “now and again”. I have finally, I think, learned that if I ever do have even one cigarette I will end up a full-time smoker again within weeks.
Good luck. You can do it.
One year, eight months, three weeks, 5 hours, 46 minutes and 48 seconds. 15756 cigarettes not smoked, saving €4,537.43. Life saved: 7 weeks, 5 days, 17 hours, 0 minutes.
I quit a couple of months ago. With no help from nothing.
I think the one thing you have to accept is that your life WILL suck for the next month or so, then after that it’s all down hill. It’s like if you’ve ever been in love then you have to break it off with said person for whatever reasons, then for the next several weeks all you can think about is said person. Untill it practically drives you insane and all you want is to think about something “normal” for at least five seconds to give your brain a rest!!
I smoked for like 17 years, quit for three years, then went through a bad divorce through wich I picked up smoking again for another 4 years untill two months ago I quit again. This time for good!!
Also, (sugarless) gum chewing and hard candy have been my best friends ever since, so keep that up…
Zyban, The patch and the alike are for wussies…/kidding, just had to say that since I quit with no help at all.
The longest success I had was 6 months without smoking. But those six months weren’t nearly as hard as I’d been dreading all the years up until I decided I was no longer a smoker.
And that bit was the key to my success (I still see it as success, even though I started back). Not thinking of myself as “quitting,” but just thinking, “I don’t smoke anymore.” It wasn’t something I was giving up, it was just something that I didn’t need anymore. Every time I’d tried to stop before then, I would always give up after a few days or a week, because I was conscious the entire time that I HAD QUIT SMOKING, that I was denying myself of something that I still liked. I was always thinking “this really sucks” and “I know smoking is really bad for me in thousands of ways, but it’s not all that bad” and “man, I really want a cigarette.”
For those six months, though, I had a totally different attitude. It wasn’t that I was in the process of quitting, it was just that I didn’t need to smoke anymore. I was on the patch for about a week and just realized that I didn’t need it anymore; the cravings weren’t that bad. I was doing stuff with the mindset of this is the stuff in my life that I want/need/have to do, not that this is stuff I’m doing instead of smoking. I didn’t focus on the “triggers” and “danger areas” that the quit-smoking motivational stuff warned about, because I figured that I just wasn’t a smoker anymore; I wasn’t surpressing a desire to do something, I just didn’t have the desire in the first place. And the more I thought that way, the more it became true. I could go out drinking with friends, because I didn’t spend the whole time thinking “I have to be strong because this is going to make me want to smoke.”
(What made me start up again was getting really sick with a cold. In a fit of brilliant misery-logic, I thought “I can’t feel any worse than I do right now, so I might as well just start smoking again.”)
When my current project is over next month, I’m going to not smoke anymore. Not “go through the process of quitting” but just stop smoking. I believe that mindset is 100% necessary to stop; the addiction is mostly mental.
My experience was similar to Grundy’s. Thing is, in the apartment complex I live in tenants will go into the laundry room which is also where the mailboxes and and bring their cigarettes in there and continue smoking.
Combine that with some mega stress and I was back to smoking after three months of being completely smoke free.
Now I’m rolling my own. I just can’t see spending a butt load of money. I smoke 10 or less cigarettes a day. It costs me $12 for everything to make my own 100 Lights.
It’s not healthy, it isn’t good for me. I know I should stop. I just have a hard time caring about it anymore. At least I don’t smoke in the house… which made it very interesting when I got laid recently. Stay in bed and cuddle or dash outside for a smoke. Cuddling won. It was close though. Very close.
Smoked for 4 years, quit for 2, and started again for 4 and counting. I was able to quit cold turkey, but started again after I began working at a really stressful job. Didn’t help that all my friends were smoking at the time as well. My suggestion is to have a good plan for decompression and limit your exposure to smokers. Or at least have them limit smoking around you.
Get yourself a large clear plastic jar. Half a gallon, at least, maybe a gallon. At the end of each day, put the money that you didn’t spend on cigarettes in there. Don’t skip a day. Don’t put in a few days worth at once. Do it every day. At the end of a year, treat yourself to something wonderful. I had about $1,000, though I understand cigarettes cost quite a bit more these days.
Good luck. I know it’s not easy. I also know it’s worth it.
That’s OK! Will power is like a muscle, the more you use it the stronger it gets. Tomorrow is another day. I didn’t do too well on my diet today either - but tomorrow I’ll wake up fresh and work out and do better!
I’m working my way towards another quit attempt. I’ve had decent success with the patch, although I don’t work my way down the levels. Instead, I buy the lowest level and stick with that as I work my way toward breaking the physical/mental habits. It means a big drop in my nicotine intake the first day, but there’s enough there that I don’t get completely weepy and stupid the way I do going cold turkey.
Problem is, I haven’t yet made the real commitment to quitting with any of my previous attempts - it’s something I do temporarily, because of money or a cold or whatever.
This next time, I have to make sure I’m doing it for the right reasons - because if I do it for money, as soon as I have funds again, I’ll pick it right back up. If I do it because I have a cold, I’ll take it up as soon as I feel better (not even all the way better - so I end up with that horrid cough that lingers for a month). Next time, it has to be because I don’t want to be a smoker anymore, not for some external reason. Those may work for other people, but I know myself - and I know it has to be for me.
I almost want to give my housemate the keys to my car when he goes to work tomorrow so I can’t get to the store (it’s like 2 miles and that’s a long way to walk with a small child), but I’ll need my car in case of emergency and stuff. Tomorrow will be a good day I think. I’ve lots of things to keep me busy, and I’m all stocked with gum and stuff, so we’ll see.
I tried Zyban. It screwed with my head. I broke down…Now I’m going to try cold turkey. My problem is work. Everyone smokes there. But, we did quit smoking in the house and it smells so much better…Anyway, Good Luck
I used Wellbutrin and walked a half hour every day, then came inside and did 45 minutes of yoga. I highly recommend exercise – it will help you from gaining weight after you quit, you’ll feel great and you don’t want to smoke when you’ve just done your lungs a big favor.
Hang in there and keep yourself busy. I bought a bunch of plants and spent my first smoke-free day in the yard, digging holes in the ground and getting really dirty. All that mud under my fingernails was also a smoking deterrent.
And yes, it is like losing a good friend or family member. I don’t want to smoke, but I do still miss it and wish it wouldn’t kill me. I still maintain, if I’m ever diagnosed with a fatal disease for which nothing can be done but make me comfortable. . . I’m lighting up those bastards and going out with a smile on my face!
I’m 3 weeks into my third serious attempt. Smoked for 28 years. There are hundreds of tips and tricks. I’ll give you a few of my faves–can’t guarantee they will work for you, but heck, they might. And remember, a quit is very personal. Do what YOU need. Within the law.
There is no such thing as “trying to quit.” You either smoke or you don’t. Once you are done smoking (i.e., you quit), NEVER have another one. NEVER. “One is too many, a thousand isn’t enough.” That quote keeps me going. I quit because of chronic sinus problems. The ENT finally said to me “I can’t guarantee much, but I guarantee if you don’t quit, how you feel now is the best you will ever feel.” This was after 3 weeks of antibiotics and 10 days of Prednisone. And I still felt like crap. And I didn’t want that to be how I felt forever. So I set my quit date for 2 weeks away and mourned. Truly. Went into mourning for having to quit. Went through the 5 stages of grieving and finally accepted that I had to quit. Some people want to quit, others have to quit. You gotta reallyreallyreally wanna quit. No half-assed “well, maybe I won’t smoke today…” Nope. Must commit. Make a list of benefits of quitting. My favorite is that my hair, clothes, car and apartment no longer smell. Breathe deeply when the urge hits. Think “the urge will pass whether I smoke or not.” Some find exercise helps. Identify your trigger times (mine is the evening) and imagine yourself during those times not smoking. And remember that the anticipation is far worse than the reality. Take whatever will help–patches, Zyban/Wellbutrin, lozenges, gum, hypnosis. Do not turn into a self-righteous ex-smoker.
And I’m with dogzilla. I loved smoking and if it wasn’t bad for me, I’d still puff a pack a day.
Hang in there. It really does get easier. And in time, you will be glad you quit.
I quit 3 years ago. had smoked for about 6 years and was up to slightly more than 20 a day when I stopped. Went cold turkey, the first week was a little hairy but after that it was ok. I found it all came down to wanting to stop, rather than stopping because you think you should.
from the company and probably wont be back, ever. I think that might be all the motivation I need.