As of today I have been tobacco free for 2 weeks and 2 days. I had tried Zyban in the past along with nicorette and wasn’t able to stop. In the past I have tried the cold turkey method and usually caved near the end to the second week.
This time I’m doing cold turkey, although I’ve had about 3 pieces of nicorette in the 2 weeks. The thought of my step mothers sister (step aunt?) who died of lung cancer earlier this year, and a good friends mother currently suffering from lung cancer are not so subtle reminders that this time it needs to be permanent.
I should point out that I’m not a heavy smoker. I rarely smoked during the day and I usually smoked by association to things I associated with smoking like drinking and actually various songs make me want to light up. I have a good feeling about it this time.
I just came in here like Khadaji. I don’t smoke, but I wish you a great deal of luck. I understand it’s really difficult in most cases, although I guess there are exceptions.
I know it’s difficult to break yourself of any sort of habit. Best wishes!
I quit cold turkey Aug 19, 2003. I decided my quit day was when I had to go into the hospital for an overnight stay. So I gave my 1/2 pack to a guy in the smoking area, and went into the hospital. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Like peedin said, the anticipation is worse than the reality.
The decision is key. No half-assed “maybe I can do it” will work, IMO.
That said, in the last few months I’ve broken down and smoked one when I was out drinking. About 4 times. It tastes like shit. Maybe I should quit drinking …nah!!! I usually control the urge.
Thanks everyone. Today was a complete success, but I think I’m replacing my nicotine addiction with a Dairy Queen French vanilla moolatte addiction. Those things are fantastic! I’ve invited my sister over tomorrow to teach me how to knit so I can keep myself busy when it gets rough.
Anyway, just wanted to say thanks for the support and the tips.
Quitting smoking was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. So far, I’ve been smoke free for 2.5 years. The first 6 months was the hardest. I know what you mean when you say you feel like you are leaving something behind. Smoking is a "friend’ who is always there. You dedicated a lot of time to this “friend” and it’s hard to stop.
For me, the hardest thing to cope with were the break times at work. I would go on break at my usual 8pm and just roam the building. For 10 years, I would always go outside, sit on the bench and watch people and cars go by…all while sucking on a cigarette. It was hard to give up that. I also used cigarettes as a reward. When I finished a project, my reward was to smoke. When I got off work, I would light up immediately. It’s HARD to give that up. But, I CAN be done. I did it cold turkey, but that’s not for everyone.
A website that helped me is www.quitnet.com. It’s a lifesaver.
My father was a 2 pack a day smoker (Marlboro reds…shorts).
Anyhoo, while we were going out to see a movie at the drive-in, my dad reaches in his pocket to grab a smoke, looks at the pack, mutters “fuck it” crumbles the pack and throws them out the window…never smoked again.
In other words …some folks can go cold turky and some can’t. I’ve tried and found I’m one of the ones who can’t just go cold turky…I’m tryin to quit also.
I’m down to about half a pack a day…
By the way …that was the one and only time my dad said “fuck” in front of me and my sister.
Well, now. I can’t thank you enough for starting this thread. I am quitting on Monday. I may have done it sooner, but I am going to Vegas this weekend, and there’s no way in hell I’m quitting right before that. Puhleez.
I was a little worried about the decision at first, but now it’s starting to make me want to cry. I LIKE to smoke. Always have. I do a little under 1/2 pack a day…never have done more than that. I started when I was 18, and I just turned 32. Part of the decision was based on hating to go to the doctor for any reason and have that militant anti smoker give me the shits over, “when are you going to quit? Have you quit yet? How long until you quit…blah, blah, blah, ad nauseum.” I think finding support here for this difficult decision is just what I would like to have for a bit…Thanks y’all. HELP!!
<sigh> I feel your pain. I quit about a month ago and I’m just starting to slip back into smoking. I still have hope that I can stop the slide before I become a full-blown, buying-my-own-cigarettes person again. I, too, enjoy smoking. That’s the problem. If it were like alcohol, which I can barely stand the taste of, it’d be different.
I quit cold turkey this time. I went through about 3 days of nicotine withdrawl. It was bad, but I could handle it. After that it’s all psychological. Like others have said, the trick is to not “just have one.” We addicts can’t just have one. That’s what bit me in the ass last time I started smoking, too. I have to keep saying to myself, “No, actually, I don’t want a cigarette” and “I’m not a smoker.” That actually helps. Counteracting that little internal dialog that keeps telling you how much you want a cigarette and how much you miss smoking is very important.
I quit almost 16 months ago. A year and four months. I’m proud of myself. What did it for me was a wake up call I had when I thought I was having a heart attack (it wasn’t). I knew not smoking would reduce the chances of that happening again so I quit. I took wellbutrin for a few weeks, tapered that off and from then on it’s been pretty good. It feels good to be an ex-smoker, even though, like so many others have said, I really, really enjoyed it.
Hang in there Silver Fire and others who are struggling now. It can be done.
OK. But make sure that’s your LAST excuse. When Monday comes around, don’t allow yourself to think of what you’re doing the next weekend and how hard it will be not to smoke at it. If you keep doing that you’ll never quit.
Off the smokes for 9 days now. Actually, I had 1 after a lot of drinking with smokers last Saturday… but other than that, it’s going okay. I’m doing it cold turkey.
A few years ago I had managed to quit for 3 years (cold turkey method), then screwed it up by reverting to cigarettes when I was going through a real bad stretch.
This time it’s for keeps.
I’ve been tapering off for the last 6 months. Lately, I probably average 2-3 a day. There are days when I don’t smoke at all. I could probably draw the line, but I don’t think I really want to totally quit bad enough yet. It seems that I’m craving them less and less every day. I bought a pack of old, stale smokes last week and threw them away after one drag. Didn’t smoke again for 3 days. If I get another stale pack that might be enough to do me in. (I’ve actually been thinking about going to the store where they’re $4.50 and nobody buys them much to purposefully get a nasty pack, but I haven’t done it yet.)
Good luck to you, Silver Fire. Hopefully I’ll be smoke-free, too soon.
Thanks for the link. They’re not going to email me 50 times a day, are they?
I went out for a latte this morning and argued with myself on the way into town about whether I’d get a pack of cigarettes or not. I did. I totally suck and now my lungs hurt. So I have to clean everything all over again because I didn’t even smoke outside! :smack:
I tried to quit a few months back and was down to about 2 cigs a day when some tragedy struck my business partner, leaving me a stressball at work.
It’s been 3 months now, and I am ready again. I have a Dr’s appointment Thursday for a physical and I’m going to ask him to help me with some meds.
My aunt recommended Wellbutrin. I hope it doesn’t mess with my brain.
I LIKE smoking too. Alot. It’ll be rough cuz my dad and brother smoke and I live with them. But I can manage because I WANT to stop. I can’t afford it.
It will also be hard because I’ve got braces with rubber bands so I can’t chew gum or snack during the day. And I do most of my smoking in front of the computer, which is where I sit 12 hrs a day (for work…)
But I WANT to quit. Really.
I “quit” sugar about 2 years ago. I feel great and I don’t miss it. Hopefully nicotine will be just as easy to get rid of.
5 years ago, I quit smoking. I had smoked for 8 years or so. I never thought I would quit until I read this book. After I read this book, I quit easily and never looked back. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. Please buy it and read it. It made all the difference to me. The key is turning your mind around from “I like smoking and I don’t really want to quit but I will deny myself the pleasure for the sake of my health/the money/whatever” to “I hate smoking and I can’t wait to be free of this pointless, disgusting, expensive crap”.
This makes all the difference - your state of mind. I know guys who are still hanging out for a smoke 3 years after quitting, whereas I thank God every day that I don’t smoke any more and I wouldn’t have one if you paid me. OK, better sign off cos I’m getting all evangelical here…
Another thing that I’ve found is that (for me) the idea of adding five or ten years to the end of my life was too abstract. Instead, I focused on the immediate benefits of not smoking:
[ul]
[li]I no longer have to schedule my life around smoking breaks[/li][li]I fall asleep easier (well, after the first three weeks, during which I felt like I was crawling out of my skin.)[/li][li]I no longer fear anyone smelling smoke on my breath[/li][li]I no longer feel like a second-class citizen[/li][li]I no longer feel like a pathetic loser enslaved by the cigarette companies[/li][/ul]
I can never have a cigarette again. I’m not one who could stop just like that, so I have to be on guard at all times. Unfortunately, I still have the deeply-rooted feeling that, when my stomach is cramped up or I have a headache, that a cigarette can make me feel better, so I still think of myself as a “smoker who hasn’t smoked for awhile” instead of a non-smoker.
Anyway, everyone’s quitting story is different. Whatever you do, don’t ever stop trying to quit because at some point, some combination of techniques will work for you and you can quit for good. Echoing several posters above, if I can quit, anyone can quit.
My doctor is seeing me this afternoon. I’m gonna get the drugs. I don’t want to take the chance that I’m a pussy and can’t quit cold turkey, thus having any setback.
I can’t wait to update everyone and say that I’m good!
Good luck everyone. Let’s kick this thing’s ass once and for all. If a bunch of intellectuals can’t THINK their way out of something as stupid as smoking, what hope is there for the common man? snort
So I have to clean everything all over again because I didn’t even smoke outside! :smack: