I broke the connection between nicotine cravings and smoking by using a tobacco substitute from the hippie shop. I just kept topping up the smoko pouch with more of the substitute until there was almost no baccy left.
When I found myself picking through the greenery searching for the last one or two golden threads of nicotine laden badness, I realised how bloody pathetic it was and chucked the lot in the bin.
For the first week, whenever I craved a smoke, I’d put two fingers to my lips and inhale, hard and deep, as though the ciggy were there. It wasn’t till several months later that I read that a deep breath will increase the oxygen in the brain and help reduce the craving.
Books didn’t work for me. Hypnosis, patches, gum and cold turkey didn’t work for me. Counting the hours almost guaranteed I’d light up again. My Aunt ate apricots whenever the cravings hit. Cheaper than horse laxatives.
I’ve had one drunken lapse but didn’t use that as an excuse to start again the next day.
Five + years. Getting on for a year since the lapse - and those three days of shaking and nausea (nicotine poisoning and a major hangover) seem to have killed all but the most random cravings.
I am doing what worked for me last time, which was the patch. If it can get me back to where I was (2-3 cigars a week, no need to smoke cigarettes) I will be a happy man. The thing is, I love cigars. I love the whole ritual of them, the taste, the camaraderie between cigar smokers. I also love cigarettes, but not as much, and in a different way. I know cigarettes are much worse for me, and, more importantly, I am totally incapable of controlling my intake of them - like others, I would be a happy man if I could smoke one or two a day, but I can’t.
I decided the cigarettes had to stop when I started smoking in front of my son. And I did it totally subconsciously.
Anyway, day three continues. 58 hours and 18 minutes. And there will no doubt be many more typos, though probably not as amusing as the last.
Probably the easiest time I had quitting was with the patch. Made it for 6 months. Then I got to a very bad, stressful, pissed-off place in my life and started up again. I read the Carr book and made it for two weeks; that book really lays it out and makes a lot of sense. I don’t know why I don’t quit again. Well, I do actually, it’s sheer bloody-mindedness, but I know I don’t need them.
You’ll be okay. My favorite part of quitting? My taste buds came back. I still remember that first piece of chocolate cheesecake after I’d been smoke-free for a while…mmmmmmmmmmm.
More power to you. I truly hope the patch will work for you again. But if it doesn’t, give Carr’s book a try. The ritual of smoking is my sticking point, even with the book explaining it all in black and white. If you can just smoke 2 or 3 cigars a week, that’s great. Good luck!
This is my first post as a non-smoker encouraging a quitter to see it through. I’m two months smoke-free and I feel utterly fantastic. I never believed I would ever successfully quit before the day I smoked my last cigarette. The first week I had my doubts (I’d messed up several times before) that I’d stay quit.
At this point, I have no cravings. Only vague “Hey, I used to smoke when I did this” (sitting at my computer mostly), but not really a craving like I need them because I don’t. Wellbutrin worked for me. But it’s really a mindset. You really have to want to quit more than you want to keep smoking.
Anyway, best of luck to you. Wait, not luck. Best of perseverance to you, man. You can do it!
See, that’s how it’s supposed to work. Yet for some reason whenever I quit I just keep feeling progressively worse and worse until I get to 6 months or so and just give up.
The ‘tomorrow’ thing, though, is a plan that some have used to great effect: they say they’ll have their fix tomorrow, then when tomorow comes round they’ll say they’ll have it the next day and so on.
I know what you mean and I’ve been there, too. Every other time I tried before was exactly as you described. I felt worse with every day that went by: more tense, more irritable, more miserable.
This last time was different. I think once I got past that 7th day, I was golden. As for the cravings the first week, I substituted. Whenever I craved a cig, I ate a sugar free mint. And, yes, I ate a LOT of mints; first day, two whole containers of Ice Breakers! These days, I’ve replaced the mints with water. I suck down water like there’s no tomorrow, which is another positive change to my lifestyle. Drinking water attends to the physical urge to do something and fills me up which keeps me from snacking instead of smoking. It also reduces my coffee intake.
The downside is that I did gain weight. Not because I was subbing eating for smoking, but because my metabolism crashed without the nicotine and less caffeine. But I’m pretty sure that’s only short-term. Not smoking has encouraged me to get fit, eat better, and treat my body more like a temple than a flophouse. It sure does a lot for my self esteem. Once my metabolism levels off as I expect it will, my improved diet and added physical activity (because I don’t feel so over-exerted as quickly) is going to melt those QuitPounds.
The key, as I mentioned, is being ready to quit. You have to own it and know that you are bigger than your physical and mental dependency on tobacco. Old habits can be broken and new habits formed, but only if you’re fully (mostly, even) invested in it.
I’ve taken up running yet the pounds aren’t exactly just shedding away. I used to be really lean, but have trended far more towards pudgy. I still fit in my clothes but some of them make me look a bit fatter.
But yeah, you will gain weight. But not significantly. The problem for me is that this is the most weight I’ve ever had to deal with. But I think that like you eventually the exercise will pay off. When I first started exercising I went a bit crazy and ate everything, but now I’m trying to scale it back again and find my love for healthier foods.
Again though I can’t recommend the Easy Way book any higher. Having read it helped me quit for good this time. After some weekend of heavy partying I probably had a few cigarettes left, so I just finished it and quit. But it was weird, I didn’t have a “quit date.” I generally feel that these things are best done if you sort of surprise yourself. I can seem to do it by just keeping it in the back of the mind and then one day I’m thinking “Okay, today’s the day” and just do it. This is also how I started exercising. I didn’t have time to dread it because I was already out running before I could do so.
If you really want to surprise yourself with it you could get some dice, and roll it. When you hit a one you have to quit. So that way you get a few days (probably)
We’ve got our lesson tonight (djembe), and it’s typically followed by a stop by our favorite dive for a beer and … and … and we’re going to have to … to… to not …not…not… not… sm…sm…s… smoke.
Just so weird.
I also hate the attention it draws. Granted, it’s not much, and certainly less than if we went to a steakhouse and announced we were going vegan, but still.
When I quit almost 9 years ago, Wintergreen LifeSavers were my…well…life saver.
Can’t say they’d work for you - but after 2-3 months of 2 bags of LifeSavers a day, I finally got a handle on it.
I still want a cigarette, but I’d rather brag about how long I’ve NOT been smoking - and to have one now would take my score back to zero.
That’s another thing. Tell all your friends, family, and acquaintances that you’ve quit smoking. Social pressure can help you through many a rough time.
Merk, I started using the tools at Calorie Count Plus to determine my daily caloric intake vs. caloric expenditure. Tracking intake is very time-consuming at first, but also enlightening. I was shocked to discover how many calories I eat when I’m not paying attention, even though I think I’m a relatively healthier eater. The good news is that my carb-protein-lipid breakdown is pretty normal. Now I know how much I should be eating and how to maintain a calorie deficit so I can achieve a reasonable goal weight. It’s funny that quitting smoking made me more conscious of nutritional health.
I guess when you quit smoking, you do have to accept that weight gain is likely and adjust your diet and activity level to minimize the impact the lack of nicotine has on your metabolism; particularly if you quit when you’re older because I think it’s harder to keep the metabolism high as you age unless you’re a serious athlete. The thing to remember is that it’s worth it and the weight gain can be reversed.
Wintergreen Ice Breakers for me because they come in a nifty dispenser. Is there something about wintergreen that curbs the desire for nicotine? I didn’t smoke menthols either, so it wasn’t necessarily flavor similarities.
I have the same attitude. Can you be too proud of yourself for this particular accomplishment? I don’t think so.
More support coming your way. I’ve been smoke-free for 16 weeks now and my calculator says I’ve avoided spending $679 on cigarettes. I’ll say it again: I never thought I’d do it, so I’m pretty sure you can too.
Still cigarette free. Had a wonderfully fine Cuban over the weekend, but it is a crime to travel to a country that does not have a ridiculous boycott and not take advantage of said opportunity.
Still missing them like crazy, but I don’t seem to have blimped up as much this time.
