Just remember, the cravings may make you miserable, but they don’t hurt. You can always ride them out.
And don’t backslide, no matter how great the temptation. Do everything you can to avoid having that fatal “just one”. I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to quit before, but take it from me it’s never “just one”. If, however, the worst happens and you do backslide, don’t dwell on your failure. Don’t waste time feeling bad about it. It sucks, but these things can happen. Just accept that it happened, move on, and jump right back on that horse immediately.
Once the cravings have subsided, take a few minutes every day to feel good about the fact that you’re a strong willed person, and that you’ve broken a dangerous habit. Enjoy being a non-smoker. Good luck!
I quit using the method taught by Gillian Riley. Basically it is all about accepting your cravings and dealing with them. I was carrying a pack of cigarettes around for weeks, drinking with smokers, going out to cigarette breaks at work without smoking and believe it or not the whole experience was fun.
Forgot to mention that this is one thing that worked for me…
I kept a cigarette in the house, in a pack, in a closet.
I knew that I would freak out a little bit if there were NONE in the house. I might freak out enough to get in the car and go buy a whole pack (it’s super easy, I live between 3 gas stations). Then, if I had a PACK then I would have TWENTY little temptations sitting around instead of just one.
And you know how easy it is to talk yourself in to “just one more” if you have twenty sitting around.
So, I just kept the one and I avoided it and it was the one cigarette I wasn’t going to smoke and I dealt with it and it was ok.
Then one day I did smoke it and I had the one cigarette and it was not even for a “good reason” but I enjoyed it and it was ok.
Then I had no cigarettes in the house and it was ok.
So my point is that for me, having the one left at first was much better than having none left. Knowing that THIS ONE THING was the ONE thing I was avoiding was easier on my psyche than avoiding going to the store and buying more.
And, I had Chantix and it made me stop having thoughts and feelings for a while. Heh.
You do need to sleep more often, IMHO. Sleep through it.
You said that you think the government should subsidize smoking cessations aides. Here in my county you can go to the local health department and they provide you with a number of things to help quit smoking, including patches. Just FYI
Still fighting the good fight. Just arrived at work. The drive in was hard. Smoking while driving has been etched into me for so long now. Yesterday wasn’t so bad as I was off of work and didn’t have to go anywhere. This morning though…popped a lozenge and gritted it out.
The dreams were funny. I would dream about having a cigarette and wake up feeling guilty that I had smoked. Still get them every now and again.
I have not faltered, yet. I know that at some point in time I will have a cigarette and (hopefully) it won’t start me smoking again. Right now is not that time. I did ride in the car with a friend and she smoked. I kinda wanted one, but I’m glad I held out.
My sense of smell came back first. I remember riding on the El thinking that someone really stank. Then I realized that is just how the El smells. Then the sense of taste came back. Now when I eat I think things taste really salty.
It’s been long enough that many of the old habits and patterns are broken. I don’t crave one in the car or after lunch. Every now and again walking past the store where I bought them does trigger something, but I just tell myself that I don’t smoke anymore.
Yay! Another booster in your corner. I was never a heavy smoker but I did, and so glad I gave it up! My mother, who started smoking at thirteen (OMG, the 70’s!) stopped when she was about my age, now. Took an antidepressant and one of the side effects was that she didn’t want to smoke.
Simple. Man up and quit. Worst case scenario: Do you really want to leave your kids fatherless?
My smoker friends think I’m a jerk because I quit cold turkey. Just decided to quit one Sunday morning and never looked back. Never cheated on it or snuck a puff off of a friend. I can’t even remember if it was one year or two years ago. It is no longer an issue. I can even hang out in bars with smoker friends and am not temped or bugged about it.
Back to happiness: Congratulations! This will be the best choice of your life at this point.
There’s another cliche, but try this: The money you used to spend on smokes every day, put it in a jar. After three months, take the boys out for a fun day and you all can run around, fly kites or just play a ball game or something. (It will be around the end of summer, right?) Six months into it, take the money and get them extra-nice stuff for Xmas. (I’m sure you spend everything you can on your kids, but think about the extra large stuffed animals or what not that is age appropriate.)
Hang in there! It’s worth it.
I agree about the money issue. I was unemployed at the time, and working on the budget. $200 a month is way too much money to spend on a “luxury”. (The subtext of this post is that I hope you find a job soon so you can start nesting money. Good luck!)
Every time you took a puff of a cigarette, it paralyzed the cilia in your lungs for 24 hours. Think about that - the cilia that work to carry the crud you breathe out of your lungs have been paralyzed since you started smoking (and adding an incredible crud burden to what you would normally breathe just living).
I’m pulling for you, too - I wish everyone could end their addiction to nicotine.
Thanks again for the well-wishes. Still plugging away. I am just over halfway through my second tube of lozenges. There are 24 lozenges per tube. I have 5 full tubes left and when those are gone I hope I won’t need any more.
Good stuff, man. Way to be. I myself quit a few months ago, but still have a pack every few weeks or so. The key for me was thinking of quitting as a new adventure, a fun thing to do, and a way to keep myself amused. Obviously, you’ve figured out something equally effective for you.
Do yourself a favor and stay away from pipe smoking, though – I’m constantly smoking a pipe, and it really stains the teeth. Plus, people think you’re the Jew Hunter or some reefer-head or a George Sanders wannabe when you’re walking down the street.
I know; my antelope-suede-patched tweed is at laundry.
It’s funny you mentioned having a beer to test your resolve – after the first five (bad at first) days, I went out and bought a fifth of whiskey just to see if I’d make it through the night. Wasn’t too bad. In fact, I started drinking pretty heavily the first month or so of not smoking, kind of as a “reward” or something. Not speaking too highly of my character, but just by way of an anecdote.
It’s still hard for me the day after smoking a pack once in a while, so I’m going to agree with the others who say it’s not the best idea to dabble. I always thought the ultimate macho test would be to put a pack on my desk, right in eyeview, and will myself to not “give in,” but that’s not going to happen. I guess I’m a wuss.
Echoing the others who’ve mentioned similar: don’t beat yourself up if you slip up or forget that you quit every once in a while. Doesn’t mean a thing.
On March 7, I found myself short of breath after moving 10 cases of paper. I had 3 cigarettes left and I decided that I had to stop smoking.
I went to a store and bought a can of Camel Snus (Swedish moist snuff that comes in little pouches). I dipped the snus until April 26 when I decided that I had traded one bad habit for a worse one.
I went to a tobacco shop and bought an Encore e-cigarette.
I’m going through a cartridge every day and a half roughly. The cartridges cost about $4.00 each ($19 for 5 on the company’s website). The initial cost for the starter kit was $80 and included 5 cartridges.
It tastes like a cigarette, feels like smoke when you inhale, provides the nicotine fix, but doesn’t contain any actual smoke or tobacco, so there’s no tar or carcinogenic compounds clogging up my lungs.
There are several different dosages and I can step down gradually to nothing.
I highly recommend the e-cigarettes. But I learned on the e-cigarette forums…don’t buy the cheap ones because they taste like shit and don’t really work. Expect to spend $70-80 to get started.
My MIL did her nic withdrawl whilst on morphine and being in the hospital from May - September. She hasn’t smoked in 20 years.
If you want to know what it would kinda feel like to die from emphysema, put a pillow over your face and try to breath through it. Now do that all day long.
I’ve watched my brothers slowly smother to death from weak lungs from complications due to Muscular dystrophy. Three were smokers (Not heavy at all, but the difference in their health has been expotential. The last brother , who isn’t doing overly well and is at the end of his road, has rarely been sick or hospitalized in his life. He’s never smoked. His breathing isn’t as bad as the others were.
When I meet teens that smoke I tell them every time they suck on the cigerette and inhale deeply I want them to imagine they are sucking on a diseased penis.
