former smokers- any advice on quitting?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I’m on the last pack of my carton right now. I’ve been stretching it out since Monday and still have 8 left. (Very, very unusual that this is happening.) I’m rather broke right now so I can’t afford any more. Well, I could, but I’d have to give up something like groceries. Although I’m heavily addicted, I’d like to think that I wouldn’t cut out food simply so I can smoke.

Over the past couple of days, just with cutting back to a few cigs a day (from a pack a day habit) I’ve noticed a lot of shaking and a bit of dizziness. Whenever I do allow myself to have one I feel completely nauseous. I also have a knot in my stomach that doesn’t seem to want to go away.

I know I could make this all go away easily by just buying another carton (and living off of ramen for another couple of weeks) but I think it’s finally time to give it up.

So how did you quit? How did you deal with the cravings, especially during those times where it just seems natural to smoke (like driving or sitting at the computer)? And most of all, what kept you from lighting another one up?

2

I’ve felt your pain. I only quit prior to getting pregnant with my two sons – then started again, but at a much lower pace. I’m at 5-10 per day and am pretty OK with that level.

Use the nicotine patches – they really work.

Personally, I have to wonder why everyone who wants to quit smoking has that “all or none” attitude. I don’t know that’s there’s any medical evidence out there that says you’ll die young if you smoke a couple of cigs a day (not trying to rationalize, just stating a fact). I am thin, low blood pressure/cholestoral levels and a vegetarian – so that’s my offset against the smoking. I’d love to get it down to three a day, and then – dammit, try to take those away from me and you’re history. If you exercise at least 5 days a week and eat to live - versus live to eat - I don’t know that an occasional smoke is going to take too many years off your life.
If you do want to cut it out 100%, Check with Q.E.D., he just passed the one-month mark. Good luck!![

3

Yep. I did quit. And so can you! Goooooooo you!!

4

Good luck, ShadiRoxan :slight_smile:

So how did you quit?
I used Allen Carr’s Easyway to Quit Smoking. I have tried cold turkey, cutting back and nicotine gum previous to trying the book and none of them worked for me.
My SO (who quit a year after I did) tried all of the above, plus nicotine patches, and didn’t succeed until he read the book. I know of 8 people who have read the book (IRL) and 7 of them quit successfully. I have heard others say it didn’t work for them, but considering how cheap it is, why not give it a go ?

How did you deal with the cravings?
I had a few minor twinges, similar to the twinge you get when you realise it’s 3pm and you missed lunch. Nothing serious, and very easily ignored. I attribute this to my mental state after reading the book, as other times I’d tried to quit, I remember agonising cravings.
My SO had a rough day two and three, where he nearly lit up, but we went driving and tried to keep him occupied with other things and not in situations where he would normally reach for a smoke.

And most of all, what kept you from lighting another one up?
I no longer had any desire to be a smoker, so it wasn’t hard to refrain from lighting up again. My SO, who had a harder time quitting, also is free from cravings or the urge to light up. We both agreed we’d rather go back to smoking than spend the rest of our lives battling the urge.

5

I was a lighter smoker than you, but I quit cold turkey. Essentially, I bought one last pack of smokes and said to myself “that’s it.” I hope you don’t think this is preachy; I think it’s essential to make it clear to yourself that you really want to quit – it’s a bad idea to quit because you’ve run out of money or because someone else wants you to. The mind can be so persuasive under such conditions.

After I finished my last cig – the whole pack was stretched out over a week or so – I went to the grocery and bought a bunch or oranges and baby carrots. Remember to drink a lot of water and have lots of fiber to munch on. The reasons: you will become constipated and you need something to take care of the oral side.

I’ve heard oranges help because of their ingredients – I suspect it’s because of the burst of fructose energy.

The first week is just plain effed up. Nervous, shaky, sweaty, itchy, grouchy. The second week is much better.

Finally, as a hedge against relapses, include high levels of garlic and onions in your diet. Any cigarette smoked will taste like melting plastic.

Trust me, it’s worth it. Every year, I have one cig on the anniversary to celebrate.

6

After 14 years, I still occasionally crave a smoke. It’s easy to quell the craving when I remember just how stinky of a habit it is.

I quit cold turkey. I smoked my last pack and that was that. I had a few weeks of what I would call mild physical cravings but after that, I believe the “need” was all in my head.

After watching my dad, a lifetime smoker, die of emphysema, I’m extremely glad I quit. Dying with emphysema is a helluva way to live.

Try saving the money aside that you would have spent for smoking and treat yourself to a vacation or something new.

Good luck!

7

I think you have to be mentally ready to quit to actually succeed. On my third try I made it. The longest I went without smoking during the earlier tries was 11 days and I was miserable, constantly wanting to smoke.

The third time I was suffering from a cold and since I didn’t feel like smoking anyway I decided to try again. I still went to work but I didn’t take my cigarettes with me and I didn’t miss them one bit. The next day was the same, and the next.

By the time I was over the cold I had gone several days without a smoke so I kept at it. I didn’t tell myself I would never smoke again, just that I wouldn’t smoke right now. That way I didn’t feel deprived.

It’s been almost twenty years since then and I haven’t smoked a cigarette and never have a craving for one. Occasionally, I see someone smoking and I think about the pleasurable aspect of it but it doesn’t make me want to smoke again.

8

To me smoking was a 2 part addiction: Physical (chemical) addiction to Nicotine (Patches help a lot there, but even without them it wears off fairly soon) and mental. The mental part is the hardest to overcome, as there are so many triggers. I used to smoke after a meal for example, and many other activities had a strong association with smoking. What helped me was to radically change my routine. I changed hobbies, only ate in places where I couldn’t smoke, travelled differently. Pride is an important part too: I was pissed that those murdering SOBs at Phillip Morris had such a hold on me, and I was going to show them. I still remember being almost sad at realizing I would never have a cigaret again, and that such a big part of my life would change. Then I realized how utterly pathetic that was, and how much bigger a person I could/should be. After you’ve been off the cancer sticks for a while, you really notice what a filthy, disgusting habit it is, which helps a lot in staying on the straight and narrow.
Fwiw, I smoked 3 packs/day of cowboykillers for 10 years. I’m off now for 6 years, 5 months, 17 days. good luck, hang in there!

9

Goo, how exactly did the book help? What does it talk about?

10

I decided I was going to do it and did it; I figured that if I could go for an hour without a cigarett, then two hours would be easy; if I could make two hours, then why not four? and so on.

Worked for me, but I think I must have had an easy ride of it.

11

I’ve been off for six weeks now. Personally, a case of bronchitis did the trick. There’s no motivation to quit as powerful as being racked with a chest-collapsing cough.

And Blonde, for some of us the question is not whether we’re going to die from an occasional smoke, it’s how quickly that occasional smoke grows right back into the same habit.

12

You see Blonde- you smoke becuase of the drug nicotine that cigs deliver. If you did it for the “taste” you’d switch to a pipe or good cigars (much safer, but not safe). Thus, your need for this addictive drug will increase, and you will start smoking more & more. I know a young girl- maybe like you- who used to smoke “only at clubs”, then “at clubs and when stressed” and now “I can quit anytime…puff puff”. See nicotine very breifly makes stress less- then increases it when the drug wears off. Thus, you smoke to reduce stress- which CAUSES stressm thus you want to smoke more. Note your own words “damn, I’d love to get it down to 3 a day- then dammit try to take those awy from me & you’re history”. You know they are bad for you, and it is an addiction- and that’s the reason why you indulge- so since you clearly care about your health & have willpower- why not stop? Don’t rationalize your addiction by saying “I live a clean life, and a few won’t hurt”.

On to the OP. You smoke for many reasons. The strongest is nicotine addiction- physical. The patch or gum will fix that. Or, if you MUST- smokeless tobacco (again- safer, but not safe). Then we have the oral & “something to do” problem of nervousness. Gum (mint works best) and carrot sticks help here.

Next is mental. Some systems help a lot here- Goo seems to like that book, why not try it? Lastly as Isosleepy sez- is habit- you are in th ehabit of having a cig with your morning coffee or whatever. Stop that too. Switch to tea or soda or Red Bull. And whatever other habits you assoc with lighting one up.

13

What helped me the most about the book was how it described the different components of a smoking addiction (mental and physical) and gave great advice on how to avoid the mental being a problem, and how the physical is minimal, if the mental is controlled. It’s not hypnosis, but if you take a leap of faith and decided to trust everything he says, it worked for me.
It worked for my partner, because he saw it work so well for me. If it had’ve been a struggle for me, my partner would’ve never been able to take that leap and give it an honest chance. YMMV, as always :slight_smile:

Good luck, with whatever method you choose ! You’ll find some way that works for you, if you’re truly ready to give up, hopefully sooner, rather than later.

14

Much of what I’m saying here will likely be a repeat of what others have said by I may as well give my $.02 before the extra oxygen that’s been rushig to my brain recently renders me a babbling idiot (I recently quit myself and it CAN sometimes do that :wink: )

The best things I can recommend are these.

  1. Check out this link. It’s been very helpful for me during my many attempts at quitting.

  2. If you have a stressful job then quit on a weekend, preferably Friday night. The first few days are by far the worst (Quitnet refers to it as “Hell Week” ) and willl be much easier if you are free to get yourself out of a tempting situation; not always possible at work.

  3. As much as is feasible try to stay away from things that make you want to smoke for the first week. After that you can mostly go back to life as usual and it won’t be as difficult and the cravings won’t be as tough.

  4. Don’t be like me and quit during finals week.

  5. Drink a LOT of water. I mean as much as you can possibly stomach. It will help clean the nicotine out of your system more quickly which will make the withdrawel process that much shorter.

  6. Expect to feel a bit like you have a cold for the first week or so. “Quitter’s Cough” is completely normal as all of the parts of your lungs that have been gunked up for so long begin to heal.

  7. Go out, take a walk, enjoy a fine meal, start an excercise routine, save all the money you’ll be saving from not buying smokes and treat yourself at a certain milestone.

Best of luck to you. be sure to keep us posted as to how it goes.

15

First, you have to want to quit.

Next, get some nic gum. The gum works well to kill the crave when you have it. It hurts your tummy though, so half each piece and chew with a piece of trident.

Keep yourself busy. Go for walks, to the library, do something to take your mind off of it.

Stay away from smokers. Sadly, you lose your smoking friends when you quit.

Don’t drink, or your will power will fly out the window along with the smoke of the cig you will be smoking.

Stay away from family that you don’t see offten. You will be grumpy as a badger.

Get rid of any cigs in the house.

Oh yeah, and one more thing, quit cold turkey and switch to gum. No weening. It does not work.

Good luck. I have been smoke free for about a year and a half. Dont miss it, and in that time, I have saved around $2200.

PS, don’t be surprised if you chew on your fingers a lot. Its an oral thing that you will get over.

16

seven years here and boy, I still have dreams of lighting up a Camel…I used patches but I’d just set there trying to squeez the stuff out of them into me. If you make it a couple weeks it will start to be easier.

17

I used this book by English writer Gillian Riley. It has the most surprising approach to quitting - she advocates using no aids, you carry around cigarettes after quitting, you actively cause yourself to crave cigarettes to then resist the craving. The psychology behind all this is very clever and prevents the belittling approach of most addiction therapies. Since I don’t believe in medical models of addiction I found her approach compelling and gve up with no problems at all. Since I did as she said and didn’t modify my behaviour - going out drinking, having smoke breaks at work, sitting around with cigarettes and ashtray - it was 6 weeks before anyone noticed that I’d quit.

18

I took a vacation with non smokers. Seriously.

I tried gum, patches, etc. However, while they helped with the physical cravings, I still had an urge to smoke while around familiar places that I associated with smoking. So totally changing my routine and environment helped a lot with that.

First of all, set a time for quitting and make a plan for dealing with your cravings, triggers, etc. before you actually quit. That way, you won’t be dealing with all that when your in the throws of a nicotine fit!

Figure out when you usually smoke. Is it after dinner? With your first cup of coffee? Then, either eliminate the triggers or plan something else to do at that time (like take a walk after dinner, etc.). I found I had event triggers (I’d always smoke after doing certain things) and time triggers (I always had the 7:00 cigarette after work). So I planned to be doing something where smoking wasn’t an option then.

Take advantage of the patches, gum, etc. Dealing with the psychological effects first and then the physical addiction just makes it easier.

Find something to do with your hands and mouth (no crude jokes, please). I took up needlepoint and chewed a lot of sugar-free gum. I’m a very fidgety person, so I needed to have something to fiddle with other than a cigarette.

Try to avoid alcohol or keep your drinking to a minimum–your will power is the first to go but your bogus rationalization skills increase 10 fold.

This may sound really silly, but I had to avoid eating a really filling meal. That full-belly feel was a real smoking trigger for me!

Wash all your clothes to get rid of the smoke smell (another trigger) and remove all smoking paraphernalia from your house. Also, air out the house and make sure the smoke-smell is eradicated as best you can.

Learn other methods to de-stress or relax. Try a cup of hot tea (or some other relaxing beverage), take a walk, listen to music. Whatever you can learn to associate with relaxation other than having a cigarette to unwind.

As stated earlier, try to avoid smokers while you’re quitting. They often aren’t supportive and damn but those cigarettes will be calling your name!

Remember that cravings won’t last forever. Sometimes it feels like you’re going to have this aching, empty, needy feeling for the rest of your life and life just ain’t worth living that way! But they do go away. Mine lasted about 15 minutes on average–they were some long 15 minutes. But they passed. The white-knuckled way you feel today is not the way you’ll feel tomorrow, in one week, in one month, and in one year!

Don’t despair when people say “I still have the urge to smoke after 15 years.” It makes it sound like it will always be the tremendous battle it is now. Yes, I do still feel like a cigarette every now and then. But it’s not an overwhelming desire and doesn’t even compare to the desire I had the first month after quitting. It’s more a whistful thought. It’s no longer a big deal that I don’t have that cigarette.

Enjoy your smoke-free state. Take walks and really breath and think about how great your lungs feel. Enjoy the smells of early morning or just post rain. Go to a park and realize that, wow, people actually can smell the flowers!

Don’t assume if you slip up and start again that you’re doomed to failure and will never be able to quit. You can quit again tomorrow. But do make a note of what led you to have that smoke and try to avoid similar situations in the future.

The reason I timed my quitting right before vacation is that I had tried to quit many times before but, as mentioned, couldn’t get out of the old habits. In a totally new environment with a new routine, I didn’t have many of those old triggers. Plus, I knew I’d be really bitchy (some people take Zyban while quitting which may help with this in addition to helping with the urge to smoke). The folks I went on vacation with were good enough of friends that they’d forgive me–and I didn’t have to worry about having a bitch fit at work!

19

I lost my job and refused to smoke off-brands. I was a Marlboro girl for close to 20 years. When I was trying to make 25 bucks a week buy groceries for me and my child, I decided that feeding her was more important.

I kept cravings at bay by avoiding the internet for the first few days(that was my major smoking time), watching the seconds, then minutes, then hours, then days tick off on my Silkquit meter, crunching ice and sunflower seeds and guzzling water.

After almost nine months, I never have cravings. As a matter of fact, I can’t stand the smoke anymore. For the first few months I craved them occasionally, but I was too darned proud of myself to start back. Now I just think about them sometimes, especially when I’m stressed. But I’ve found that a deep breath and a little positive thinking gets my mind off the cigarettes right away

The important thing for you to remember is that the craving you have will only be appeased momentarily by a cigarette. The really strong cravings will go away eventually if you never light up that next cigarette. And hey, no more nausea and dizziness! :wink:

20

Former heavy heavy smoker who smoked the strongest Canadian cigarettes and suffering comments about how deep I sucked down my cigarette smoke. I’ve quit successfully two or three times (I really can’t remember for sure) but deluded myself with the idea that I could get away with 1 cigarette, okay then 2 cigarettes, okay then a pack, ookay then just one week , oh fuck it. I’ve tried nicorettes and zyban which did absolutely nothing for me.

Well I had my last cigarette 10 minutes prior to midnight 1999. after 35 years of smoking. I’ve never had one this millenium. I believe the milestones, 3 days, 3 weeks and three months are very significant. I sucked on cinnamon sticks during that period. I’m happy to say that I’m free, free at last from that millstone around my neck.

I hope to hear that you’ve succeeded in what ever manner you choose. Even if yoiu fail, you can always try again. Remember, its never too late. I quit at the age of 49.