I’m interested in all those Dopers who have quit smoking.
I would like to know three things…
How did you stop ? e.g. willpower, just decided not to, patches, etc…
How difficult was quitting ? with 10 being the most impossibly hard thing you’ve ever done, and 1 being as easy as blinking (I’m not discriminating all the non-blinkers out there… let it go)
Do you honestly still want one occasionally, or do you have absolutely no desire ?
Thanks for your time 
I smoked in high school. I often smoked fewer than five cigarettes per day, so keep in mind that we’re talking about a very low intake.
And quitting was SO DIFFICULT. It wasn’t the physical cravings that presented a problem for me. It was the ritual, the social aspect, the fact that I always associated certain activities (like riding around in my car) with smoking.
Get rid of all of your smoking paraphenalia. Do not let anyone smoke in your home or your car. I broke down a few times and had a smoke, but I promise you that as you hold out longer and longer, cigarette smoke starts to seem nastier and nastier. Right now, it seems very barely tolerable to me. I can’t believe I used to enjoy the smell.
After an uncertain term of doom, you will begin to appreciate the benefits of not smoking, like improved taste (as in gustatory, not necessarily chic no-tackiness) and a throat that isn’t sore in the morning.
1 - Just tapered off as it became unpopular in the work place, and then in restaurants.
2 - It wasn’t a problem. In fact, smoking itself became the problem as I tapered off. I’d start noticing the smell on my clothes and breath, and avoid it for meeting new people, etc.
3 - I had the desire each day this week, as a matter of fact. But I forgot between the feeling and getting home, and there’s not enough need anymore to jump up and go out for smokes.
I was a smoker. I quit over 6 months ago, April 16, 2001. I used the patches and it was difficult even with them. I think an ‘ex-smoker’ has to be like a reformed alcoholic, you just can’t ‘try one’. This is about the 10th time I’ve quit in the last 10 years, and this is the longest I’ve gone. I feel better this time. I’ve actually gotten over my coughing spells, my wife says I sleep better. I was having sleep apnia I think it’s called. It’s where you sort of stop breathing for what appears to be too long a time. Anyway, I’ve stopped that. Although I don’t feel like I can go out and jog 5 miles without breathing hard, I just feel better.
My longest stint prior to this was 6 weeks, but I kinda cheated. On some mornings, before I put the patch on, I’d have a cigarette. I actually cheated this time, also. When I quit I had 2 cigarettes left in a pack in my car, and on Wednesday (2 days after I started) I had one on the way to work. I’d taken the patch along, and put it on at work. Also on Saturday morning of that week I smoked the last one in that old pack and coughed so much, I really felt guilty and like a bad kid, and vowed I’d not have another…course I couldn’t have any more without buying or bumming one. So, haven’t had one since.
The answer to your questions:
The patches got me started and kept me going for the first 3 weeks or so. After that it was just willpower (and possibly cheapness).
It has to rank as the most difficult thing I’ve ever done. I’ve never exercised willpower before, not to this extent.
That’s an interesting question. During perhaps the first 3 months, yes, I wanted a cigarette especially when I saw someone else enjoying one. But I would always think that I don’t want to break the streak, also I didn’t want to spend money (I never bummed when I was smoking and wasn’t about the start). After about 4-5 months I still wanted them, but it was more of a health reason than monetary (or streak breaking). Recently, I actually think I don’t want one. The hardest part in not wanting one is during times of stress: fight with your wife, things just kinda going wrong, etc. At first it was tough, now I doubt if I would succumb. But never say never. Anyway 6 months is pretty good, I think.
I think I’ve been smoke-free for about a year now, and my “story” is pretty much like Chickenhead’s: I started in high school and never smoked more than about a half a pack a day–which is still a lot when I think back. I was more of a binge smoker, when I partied I’d smoke a pack (maybe more maybe less anyone who smokes at a party knows that to light up is a moocher booty call) and because it was cheaper, more fun, and generally tastier, I started rolling my own, and/or smoking cloves. Which made it even harder to break the psychological grip of smoking. Certain songs, having a drink, reading a book with a cup of coffee on a cool night…getting somewhere in the car was measured by cigarettes, y’know a “two cigarette trip”–kind of like how Texas (or am I thinking of New Mexico) apparently has the one beer, two beer, six pack trip system of driving distance measurement. Think that’s printed on their AAA maps?
I quit because I fell in love with someone who didn’t smoke, because it was very unsexy to hack up big green globbers in the shower with said someone, and because after basically quitting and then going on a cigarette binge during a party I would feel so sick. It happened a few times until I really figured it out that I could drink a bottle of wine and feel fine the next morning, but if I had just a glass of wine and even just one cigarette would make me feel like Death’s ugly bulimic little sister.
I didn’t like the smell of cigarettes even when I smoked; if somebody was smoking and I scented it, I’d gag, but if I was smoking I’d be fine. How f*%$ed up is that?
If you asked these questions because you’re quitting, or trying to, here’s some advice you’ve probably already heard: you’re going to have to change all your habits until the urge to smoke isn’t so strong. I still have the occasional urge, but knowing how I’ll feel later kills it for me. I heard something about using carrot sticks for the whole oral fixation for the unavoidable trigger habits–like driving, but for everything else you just have to avoid it for awhile. Probably not very helpful, but, good luck.
I’m with PhiloVance on treating it like alcoholism–too bad they don’t have a tobacco equivalent af Anabuse.
Started going out with someone who didn’t smoke and got pneumonia. This seemed to me to be a sign from God that I should quit smoking. I just decided not to and stopped more or less cold turkey.
About 4, I’d say. It would have been 10 if my friends/boyfriend smoked.
I sometimes wish that I still smoked, but I never actually want a cigarette because they don’t taste good to me any more (I tried). I’ve had to quit drinking too because I hate the taste of alcohol and used cigarettes to cover it up.
Smoked from 1972 (I was 21) to end-Feb 2001. Started out substituting cigarettes for weed (at first, you get the same woozy high from inhaling cigs), soon was smoking a pack a day.
My wife quit 15 years ago, when she was pregnant with our first kid, and pushed me to quit constantly after that: I tried quitting cigs a few times, figuring I could smoke joints instead when the urge to smoke got too tough to bear. Bad idea, since I’d want tobacco immediately after the weed, so soon I’d be smoking cigarettes again. The rationale was always, “Oh, I can just smoke ONE and then I’ll stop again.”
Finally, for an insurance physical due in end-March 2001, I had to clean up from both types of smoke for 1 month (several doctor friends told me all traces would be undetectable after a month, given the typical insurance company tests). Gave both up at once, took my physical, passed gloriously, smoked a bone the same night after the test, haven’t gone back to cigarettes. The trick for me, evidently, is not to succumb to that “I’ll just smoke ONE” pitfall. So, to answer the OP:
I smoked from 1975 to 1983 or thereabouts.
Quitting wasn’t particularly difficult the first time I quit, which lasted for nearly a week. On average, the next 6-7 times I quit didn’t last as long.
What worked for me was hypnotism. I was by that time a pipe smoker as well as a cigarette smoker (I’d tried to switch to pipes to get off cigarettes and ended up inhaling the pipe smoke plus still smoked cigarettes). I came home from my one and only session, took all my pipes, tobacco pouch, pack of cigarettes, books of matches, pipe cleaners, etc., and carried them into the driveway in back of the house; doused them with gasoline; and set them on fire.
(What the hypnotism did for me was give me certainty and a sense of finality)
There was no aversion stuff; I didn’t mind being around other smoking people (although I’ve since then gotten to the point that I hate being in a small enclosed space with, or downwind from, smokers); didn’t crave a smoke once the physical withdrawam symptoms were over (~4 days).
Every once in awhile I’ll have a nightmare in which I’ve started smoking “one” cigarette “every once in a while” and realize that I’ve gone back on them, and wake up in cold sweaty fear. That isn’t from the hypnotism, though, that’s just because the many efforts to quit make such good nightmare material!
Good luck and don’t look back.
i started smoking when i was 12. i’ve quit at least 6 times since then. and yes, i still want a cigarette every once in a while, at least once a day. i’ve probably only gone 2 full months completely without a cigarette. i tell my younger siblings that smoking was the thing i regretted most about my past. i would have to give it an 8.5 on the scale of “hardest things i have ever done.” although, i really can’t imagine anything that i’ve done that was worse. . . good luck.
I smoked over 2 packs a day for about 15 years. I had TB and lit up on the hospital steps as I was leaving. One day, I said “I’m not going to smoke anymore” and I didn’t. That’s how I do things.
I never had many physical symptoms when I quit. I hadn’t wanted to smoke in a long time, but the week of September 11th, I wished I was back on everything I ever was addicted to (smokes, pot, pills, and esp. booze). That took about a month to pass.
I smoked for about 10 years ('87 to '97) during my twenties.
Quitting was very easy once I made the decision to do so. Cold Turkey. Quit one day and never smoked another cigarette since.
I came down with a bad sore throat and chest cold. I felt real shitty and this thought crossed my mind. As lousy as I felt with that cold, that would most likely be how I felt everyday if I kept smoking, when I was about 55 or 60. I couldn’t bear the thought of having respiratory problems later in life, so that was that, and I haven’t smoked since.
So that is my suggestion, if you are looking to quit, wait until you get a severe chest cold and use that as your opportunity.
I smoked a pack and a half, maybe two packs, a day for 5 years. I finally got tired of the expense, tired of the smell, tired of feeling like hell. I had to just stop - cold turkey. I also started an excercise program at the same time. A mix of willpower and diversion, I suppose.
On a scale of 1-10 for difficulty, I’d give it a 6. I was very motiviated to quit so while it was very difficult for the first week or so, it go easier.
Sure, I’d love to smoke one now and then. My mother quit about 30 years ago and tells me that she could light one up in a heartbeat - she’s never gotten over it.
I quit about 5 years ago. (I was a pack and a half a day for at least ten years.) My mom had a pacemaker put in and for some reason, that just clicked with me.
I did the patch. It worked for me.
It wasn’t really as difficult as I thought. I remember being in meetings at work and during smoke breaks I would stand witht he smokers and just imagine I was smoking. I would put it at about a 4.5 or 5
Sometimes I smoke in my dreams, but that’s really about it. I really look at cigs now and think, how did I ever do that?
I am glad I quit. Now, to loose the weight I gained when I quit…
I quit cold-turkey, with a few psychological props. Finances had a good bit to do with it.
I’d put it at about a 6.5. Harder psychologically than physically.
Every now and then (it’s been, oh, 6-7 years since my last one) I catch a whiff of the brand I smoked, and it’ll kind of tug at me, but it’s easy to resist at this point because Mr. Bobkitty would kill me if I took even a drag.
When I decided to quit, I went to Home Depot, bought some dowels and cut them to the length of a cigarette, then carried those around with me. I found it was more the ‘doing something with my hands’ thing than the enjoyment of the smoking. I still sometimes hold pens like a cigarette… those body memories are really hard to break.
DaddyBobkitty recently quit, after a minimum 1.5 pack/day habit lasting over 50 years. He did the patch and Wellbutrin. I NEVER thought I’d see the day that happened. I swear that if he can do it, ANYone can.
-BK
I quit Dec 9, 1986. I still remember flicking that last cig out the car window. I know I’m bad. Was smoking about a pack a day.
Had tried numerous times before, but this time set a date in advance when to quit. My future wife at the time and I were in it together for support. A couple of time almost not my future wife because we both got real bitchy for a while. Used the gum but very sparingly. Cleaned everything, car, clothes,etc… to get rid of the smell. Changed our habits, no more going to bars, get up and walk away from the table after eating, started to exercise more, avoided friends that smoked. Carried around a small dowel to keep my hands busy. The worst part is the first 2-3 weeks. After that you can start tasting your food better. I realized that when after 2 weeks I noticed how salty McDs fries were. I don’t get colds anymore either.
It was really tough at least a 9. These people saying that it was just a snap aren’t rememebering the urges and the talking to yourself about its okay to have just one. Its like an acoholic, you can never have another.
Every once and a while, but not very often anymore, something will trigger something in me to want another. But you wait and it passes.
I ssecond that don’t even smoke one idea. Some of my buddies can get by with two cigs a day, one in the morning and one at night. If I have one, I have the rest of the pack and then more.
It’s been 3 months smoke free, and pretty clean for the year before.
cold turkey.
It’s tough. I live in China, where smoking is still a real big deal, so those times when you feel weak, there’s someone with a cig ready to spark you up…
I was a pack-a-day man for 10 years before quitting about 4 years ago. I quit with a comibnation of willpower, tpaering off, and about 10 pieces of nicotine gum left over from a previous (unsuccessful) attempt.
It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, way worse than quitting alcohol or drugs or finishing the first year of law school or taking the bar exam.
I still want one a lot of the time, though that sensation has faded over time. Even so, if I have a beer, I instantly want to smoke. After sex, I want to smoke, and often with coffee after a good meal I want to smoke.
You just have to let it pass, and it weakens.
I quit 7 months 1 week 2 days and 27 minutes ago.
Lollypops and the SilkQuit Smoking Meter got me through it. I used to read about those who had quit, feeling quite wistful, because I didn’t think I was strong enough to do it, but to my surprise I found that I was able to muster the willpower when I needed it, and get through it.
Expect the first week to be Hell. The second is just awful. The first month sucks. But after that, it starts to get better. I used the phrase “I’ve gotten this far, if I smoke now I’ll have to start over and suffer it all again” to make myself keep going. I went to spend the day with my non-smoking parents at first, and then I rang the Quit Line one day when I was anxious. My friends helped distract me. But I found that orange and lemon Chupa Chupas were great - not only did they go in my mouth, but something about the citrus helped subdue my cravings. First two weeks I kept a box of candy at my side, and that helped me so much. After two weeks I put the candy away, and was able to cope. No, I didn’t put on a significant amount of weight, and I only did it for two weeks, not long term, so I can’t imagine it contributing to a weight problem.
Take it from me, despite what you think, you can do it! I did! I never believed I’d ever be able to quit because I wasn’t strong enough to hold out but I did it. I’ve not had as much as a puff in all the time I’ve been quit.
Seven months, one week, two days, 12 hours, 34 minutes and 28 seconds. 4470 cigarettes not smoked, saving $1,415.65. Life saved: 2 weeks, 1 day, 12 hours, 30 minutes.
I started when I was 12. I quit when it had long since ceased to be a rebellion and was entrenched as an obligation. I didn’t quit because I have any desire to live a long time. I quit because no addiction is as compelling to me as my need to say “fuck you” to anybody or anything that demands that I can’t do without it.
(Of course that means if Lynn ever bans me here I’ll have to make a hut out of the sofa cushions and refuse to come out)
I started at 17 and smoked a few cigarettes a day for years and never thought I was addicted. I wouldn’t smoke for several days and never think about it. Then, in my 30’s, I became addicted and smoked a pack a day for 7 years. My youngest son then developed allergies, and by then I was getting these terrible pains in my chest periodically that I could feel all the way through my back, and sometimes I was getting nauseus. I had tried to quit only once before but that had lasted one day. This time I told myself I could have a cigarette anytime I wanted, but that I was just choosing at this moment not to. I would also conjure up the nausea and the chest pain and try to visualize it as vividly as possible. After one week, I went to visit a friend who smoked, and I smoked an entire pack of cigarettes in about 6 hours. God, was I sick. And from that night I have never had another cigarette and that has been almost 17 years ago. I would rate quitting a 6. I never crave one, and to this day if I see someone smoking I immediately feel the nausea and physical revulsion I visualized every time I wanted one. I thank God I quit when I did because I have had to have surgery a couple of times and the anesthologist heaved a sigh of relief when he asked me if I smoked and I said “no”. I even had the Dr. tell me my lung capacity was greater than expected for a non-smoker my age. So, you can recover from smoking, even after 24 years.