Quitting smoking is hard

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Okay, perhaps I have no earthly business posting on the subject matter, as I am not personally a smoker, nor have I ever been one.

However, most of my immediate family, friends, co-workers, and the people I have dated have pretty much all been smokers.

I have noticed that pretty much all of them want to quit, but aren’t sure how. Some others don’t care, and more power to 'em. It’s none of my business.

Well, I hold precisely zero degrees and all I really have is my concern for my loved ones and your average problem-solving brain. The problem: Quitting smoking is hard.

I came up with something that’s been working for my friends and loved ones, felt like sharing it.

You can also use this thread to share your own quitting smoking methods, or swap stories, after I’m done sharing my anecdote.

So my co-worker had been smoking about a pack a day or more, couldn’t afford it, wanted to quit. I offered him my know-nothing dumbass advice, and for whatever reason, it’s working for him.

Pulled him aside, told him… what if I were to start smoking today. Do you think I could smoke a pack in a day?

So obviously, I probably could not do that. My body is in no way used to that, and I’d probably end up vomiting. I’d get very sick.

Well, a person who is smoking 20+ cigarettes a day, their body is used to the consumption of this particular bit of chemicals. The sudden absence of which can cause very similar effects. You just might get very sick from trying to drop it all at once, and the addictive effects drive your willpower down to none, and it’s all very unpleasant and uncomfortable and it drives you completely nuts. And the experience is so terrible, you don’t even want to try quitting again.

But, if I were to really try, I could probably manage to choke down one lit cigarette in a day, even though I’m not used to it. Such small changes are how people go from being a non-smoker to being a smoker.

How this is helpful to my co-worker, let’s call him “Tom”: I asked him to count how many cigarettes he normally smokes in a day, just keep track, every day, do that for a week. Then give me the average number.

So he’s at about 21 cigarettes a day.

At this point I tell him he’s got just a couple rules to follow, and they are easy rules to follow.

  1. Give yourself exactly 21 cigarettes at the start of the day.
  2. You do not purchase any more or sneak any more.

This is your normal amount anyway. So it shouldn’t be very hard to follow this rule.

And I told Tom to do this for about a week. Simple simple.

He gets used to the 21 cigs per day and makes it the whole week without breaking the rules.

Then I advise him to set aside only 20 cigarettes for the day at the start of the day, and do this for a week. I tell him that even though it will be very easy to make it through the day with only 20, do not rush the process, do not drop down to 19 the next day. Stay at 20. Stay at 20 for at least a week. You might feel ready, because this is so completely easy, to move on to the next step. But that’s your willpower talking, and your desire to quit. Your body hasn’t quite made the adjustment from 21 to 20. The small drop in chemical is just not enough for your body to get really angry at you. But that’s what your body is expecting tomorrow, and when you drop down to 19, your body will start getting angry at you and your willpower will erode and you’ll start to cheat and give yourself extra cigarettes for making such great progress. And that’s when you start moving backwards.

So he follows my advice and does not rush. He goes the whole week not breaking the rules.

Then I tell him to move down to 19. And again, we don’t rush. We stay at the level we are at, or, we move down one step. We don’t try to take two and three steps at a time, and then fall off the wagon. Give your body time to adjust.

So many weeks go by. A few months go by. Now the man is down to 4 cigarettes a day.

I’ve been asking him how things have been going. He says he’s able to keep to the system quite easily and that he’s never once gone nuts over cravings. I’ve asked him how much money he’s saved on cigarettes so far and it’s obviously a lot of money.

I advise him that the next steps are harder than the ones that came before: this time, with each cigarette removed, you’re removing a greater and greater percentage of the drug from your system. Losing a cigarette from your routine is going to be a lot harder from here on out. But I also have a solution for that.

You take a pair of scissors and you trim the length of the cigarette by a little bit.

Each cigarette is now just a little bit smaller.

Same number, just a little bit less of the drug in it for you to smoke.

From here on out, this is how you reduce your drug intake, and you take baby steps forward.

So we’ll see how things go. I mean, he’s not completely over cigarettes, but he’s smoking less than 1/5th of the number of cigarettes he had been smoking, and he hasn’t been miserable or unable to control his cravings.

If things keep going the way they are, the amount of drug his body needs will be small enough to drop cigarettes entirely and go cold turkey without his body going into utter shock over it.

If my friend can report that he’s gone a week or more without smoking, I’ll update this thread.

Has anyone used a similar method?

How did you quit?

I know some folks just go cold turkey and try to gut it out completely. But these things are like crack, most people just don’t have that kind of willpower.

What methods have you tried that just plain do not work?

2

Very smart.

My dad did it the hard way, and I don’t recommend it to others. He started smoking at fourteen or fifteen and was a two-pack-a-day smoker for over forty years.

Then, one evening, his carotid artery started throwing itty bitty clots at his brain. At the time, they called it a trans-ischemic attack - the clots would hit and then move on, causing only transient symptoms. However, between that, his blood pressure, and a sonogram of his carotid artery finding something like 80% occlusion on one side and 90% occlusion on the other, he was immediately admitted to the hospital for what he called a roto-rooter, and he ended up staying for six weeks. So, at least he was getting morphine and other really good meds while he went through withdrawal. Took him months to cough up all the black junk in his lungs. His last cigarette was the night of his TIA, and the doctors told him that another could very well be his last.

When I was in my twenties, I asked him how hard it had been to quit and if he’d ever had cravings. He told me that no, he really hadn’t. All he had to do was imagine holding the cigarette to his temple like it was a gun and ‘pulling the trigger’. I was a little skeptical even then. My dad had tried to quit multiple times before and had always been a grumpy shading into irascible. A few years later, I stumbled across a study on strokes which struck a particular part of the brain (ventral tegmental area? Nucleus accumbens?). The study found that smokers who’d suffered that particular type of stroke had given up smoking because they no longer felt any need to smoke or reward when they did. A few years ago, after my dad had another small stroke, my mom and I were going over the CAT scan results with his doctor. The doctor pointed out a small part, about the size of a fingertip, which was clearly shriveled. That had been the damage done during his original stroke (it wasn’t a TIA). I asked the doctor what the name of that area was, and it was the same area I’d read about in the study.

So, basically, my dad was able to quit smoking after the damage he’d done to his cardiovascular system killed the part of his brain that really, really liked the nicotine. Better late than never, I guess, but he lost other things with that stroke - the ability to whisper, and the ability to moderate his voice when his emotions were intense. Once his emotions, any emotion, gets past a certain point, he shouts, and he sounds really, really angry. Made my adolescence more difficult than it needed to be.

Overall, I’m going to recommend pizzaguy’s approach over my father’s.

3

Sorry, double post.

4

Having read your very considerate and rational idea of how to wean oneself from nicotine I heartily suggest you never hold a lack of degrees against yourself.

Clearly you are both intelligent and knowledgeable, like so many who have had the opportunity to acquire a degree. And so many who hold a degree lack intelligence and knowledge.

Therefore I humbly suggest the thought that lacking the degree somehow lessens your ideas should be struck from your mind and your future storytelling, for the results of your consideration are evidence that it does not matter.

5

Great idea OP.

6

Nitpick: Transient ischemic attack.

7

The most important thing, the crucial part of actually quitting is, quite simply, being ready to quit.

It can’t be because someone else wants you to (you’ll just do it when they’re not looking).
It can’t be because society looks down on it (you don’t really care).
It can’t be because the law makes it inconvenient (you’ll go wherever you have to).
It can’t be because it’s too expensive (you’ll find a way to afford it).
It can’t be because of the health risks (you already knew them when you started).
It can’t be because you’re already having health problems because of it (you figure it’s already happened, so why stop now?).
It can’t even be because you want to.

That last one may seem counter to my point, but *wanting *to quit and actually being ready to quit are not the same thing.

Tapering down is a good play. But knocking off that last “one-a-day” habit is the hardest part.

8

So noted. Thank you, sir.

You wouldn’t happen to remember which region of the brain, if it’s killed, takes nicotine addiction with it, would you? Bugging me that I can’t remember.

9

And just to riff on pizzaguy’s approach, one I heard had the smoker chart when they smoked, as most people smoke out of habit and in particular circumstances (first smoke of the day, the one right after lunch, et cetera). Once the pattern was understood, the smoker chose one cigarette per day to give up. After a week, they picked another cigarette to give up, and it was with the understanding that the smoker needs to pick a substitute activity to fill the time the cigarette took.

It sounds more specific than pizzaguy’s approach. Perhaps it’s a refinement.

10

Bummer.

11

That’s a good cutdown method. Personally, I switched to ecigarettes and cut down my nicotine intake from full-strength to light (started at 28mg concentration, down to 15mg). I don’t know if I’ll ever get off nicotine entirely, because I feel weird and mentally fuzzy without it. But I’ve been off cigarettes for 16 months now.

12

One of the best ways to make quitting smoking easier is to stop repeating the idea that ‘quitting smoking is hard’.

It’s everywhere, including in TV ads for products that supposedly help you quit. ‘Quitting smoking is hard, you probably can’t do it, but try our nicotine quickmist spray, unitil you fail.’ Or some such bullshit.

Quitting smoking is not necessarily hard if you dont decide to make it hard.

The hardest thing is the realisation that if you want to stop smoking, you will have to stop actually smoking.

13

Since the OP asked, I quit cold turkey 32 years ago. It was like flipping a mental switch, really. I had wanted to quit before that, and managed six months at one point, but it took feeling some chest pains while climbing some stairs to convince me that the time was NOW. It was likely gas, but it got my attention. Tossed out all remaining packs, walked away from it and never looked back. Ate a lot of sunflower seeds as a surrogate for awhile, but ditched them after a few months.

Fast forward to this past week, when I had a CT scan. No blockages, but it revealed two very small aneurysms. The first question the neurologist asked me was “Do you smoke or have you ever smoked?” Reason enough to stop (or never start) for anybody.

14

I typically interject my opinion into any number of subjects where I’m not an expert. Opinions are like anuses, after all.

This subject matter is mostly about health and human welfare, and so I wanted to warn everyone up front I’m not a doctor and I don’t even have any personal experience. So I’m not a reliable source. I don’t want someone to get their hopes up reading what I have to say and be crushed if it doesn’t work. It’s an idea in a marketplace of ideas, some of which will be more factual and contain more wisdom than others. Just how it goes.

The method also relies on the user to commit to a certain set of rules, requiring conscious effort and willpower to follow.

If someone has a personality which is naturally irresponsible (myself, I’m way disorganized and a procrastinator… if I’m not at work getting paid for what I do, I’m pretty irresponsible) then it’s going to be very hard for this system to have any meaning for them.

This system is more for the folks who have decided they want to quit, and they want to quit so badly that they’re willing to go through the horrors of quitting cold turkey. Okay, well I’m betting they’ve tried that already, and just didn’t have the self-control or willpower to gut it all the way through.

They’re as addictive as cocaine. Yeah, some people can just straight-up quit. Some people have excellent willpower and discipline. Me? Well, I can’t even convince myself to go for a jog. I have no willpower and I have no discipline.

If I were addicted to something, I just couldn’t find the discipline or willpower to quit cold turkey. It’s just not in me. I’m not a strong person.

So, I empathize with others who are like me, and just cannot commit to such a massive undertaking.

Some people can jump off of a third-story building and know how to land without breaking all the bones in their body. Me, I’m kind of oval-shaped and don’t work out. A guy like me needs to take the stairs. I am comfortable admitting that because it’s more realistic than trying to be a hero and breaking all my bones. Unless there’s a fire, I’m taking the stairs.

This method is the stairs. You generally don’t run down the stairs 3 or 4 steps at a time, you take your time. And if you’re really, really out of shape, or, let’s say really, really old and your knees just don’t move correctly anymore, you take your time, you hold on to the hand rails, and you gently and gingerly move down one step at a time, and don’t continue moving downward until you are ready.

Not everyone is in shape. And yeah, some people can barely move their knees. How to get down the stairs is a challenge for some people.

That’s why this method is for those of us who have trouble making huge leaps, and view cutting back on cigarettes as a monumental challenge that is likely to cause severe distress and discomfort.

And yes, it is a slow process. The good news is that most of the process happens so easily and gradually that your body can keep up with the changes. It banks on you holding on to that little bit of willpower that you have, and using it to make small enough changes to where you are, that you can barely even tell that you have made it halfway down the stairs, unless you stopped and decided to count them up.

The main problem I have seen with people who quit smoking is sort of that their mind is way, way more ready to quit than their body is, and they want to make progress as rapidly as possible.

The problem is the rush itself. If you can’t move your knees, wanting to dash down the stairs does not equal dashing down the stairs. It equals tripping and falling. You should only move as fast as your body and willpower will allow. If cravings become unbearable then your mind is moving faster along the quit smoking timeline than your body is, and your body is chemically dependent. You can will yourself to not smoke, but you cannot actually just will away the chemical dependence or the problems that come from withdrawal.

That all being said, some folks have the willpower of giants, and can simply decide to make radical changes to their lives and truly gut it out.

I admire them, I’m envious of them, I wish I could be like them. Their method is clearly the best method for persons such as themselves because

A) It worked

B) It worked a lot faster

C) Kind of like ripping off a band-aid, the agony of the process was over with quicker.

But I’m kind of in the big baby camp, admittedly. I don’t have it in me to withstand the pain of the band-aid ripping. I need a method that might take longer but is less painful and easier for someone of my admittedly weak willpower to actually be able to make it through.

My dad was my best friend when I was very young, and one day, disappeared completely from my life for 7 years due to crack cocaine. I know how powerful addiction is and how it can control your life, even if I don’t have personal experience feeling it first-hand. I have seen what withdrawals do to drug users, and that includes harder drugs, and that includes smokers. And since these people have all been very close to me, it pains me to see them go through what they do.

It’s generally hard for me to commit to big changes in my life. I’m a creature of habit. If I am designing a system that could work for a guy like me, it could help people who are stopped from quitting not by absurdly low levels of willpower like myself, but normal, human levels of willpower, countered by a serious chemical addiction.

I want to say thanks to the folks that suggested similar methods or ways of improving it, and offered suggestions like switching to e-cigarettes or charting which cigarette in a day is the easiest one to remove.

The way I see it, such ideas could make sense or appeal to those struggling to quit and if it helps them do so, great.

I agree with messages of positivity along the lines of

True, a negative outlook does not help one’s prospects. Thinking positively about a thing can surely help.

But, it can also help to acknowledge obstacles. Climbing a mountain is hard, particularly if you have never trained, practiced, and are out of shape.

In order for someone like that to climb a mountain, some need to prepare themselves for the task. Such as: getting into better shape. Starting a walking regimen. Getting their cardiovascular system used to extended periods of working harder than just sitting on the couch.

Once you do that, take up hiking. Get used to actually being in the outdoors and moving up and down sloped outdoor surfaces.

Practicing climbing in a facility that has safety harnesses, and so forth.

Sure, climbing a mountain is hard. But it’s not impossible, and it’s a lot more realistic for someone who is out of shape to end up climbing a mountain at the end with an actual plan of action which is feasible.

If their goal is to be able to go hiking without keeling over from exhaustion, and they reach that goal, they can look to their next goal with more confidence- hey, several months ago, I couldn’t even go for a 30 minute walk without being out of breath. Now I’ve gone hiking in the woods for 2 hours.

At that point, formerly out of shape guy looks at a mountain as something he can conquer, and win.

When he was sitting on the couch, that view was just too lofty for him to take seriously.

Such is the case for some who want to make drastic changes to their lives. Some have trouble doing that, without breaking the changes down into something more manageable.

15

It’s not as hard as people make it. I guess your system must work for some people, but it just seems to me like you’re making the process of giving up really complex.

For many people, this is the same as setting yourself up for failure. You’ve got a reay-made excuse (“oh, this is really hard - see how hard it is”).
It’s also a form of procrastination in itself - it’s a system that almost interminably delays the eventual stopping, even though stopping is supposedly what it’s all about.

If you’re going to write a book, you have to put pen to paper - all the pondering, sharpening of pencils, arranging of papers and so on won’t get it done. You have to face up to the fact that you must start writing, and see the job through.

Likewise, if you’re going to stop smoking, you have to Stop. Smoking. A complex plan that allows you to continue smoking without ever actually stopping, is not a plan to stop.

Sorry if this seems like a rant. I guess it is. I gave up smoking about 25 years ago by stopping smoking. I have seen a great many friends try to give up without stopping, and fail again and again.

16

Having actually quit smoking myself, I am a big believer in quitting “cold turkey”.

I do not like your cutting down method. I think quitting would be hard, doing that. Here is why.

Essentially, there are two mutually-reinforcing reasons people smoke: (1) physically, smoking gives you a kick - which, if you are addicted, is really a relief from the ever-present withdrawal symptoms or “cravings”; and (2) psychologically, you associate smoking with lots of good stuff - taking a break, kicking back, etc. - which you have made a part of your daily routine.

Here’s the important part: the “cravings” are made out to be this terrible, horrible burden that the average person just can’t overcome. In my experience, this is just not true. In fact, of the two, the cravings are relatively minor in and of themselves. If you just stop smoking, they mostly go away in a week or two.

What makes quitting hard, is the mental association between “having a smoke” and “taking a break”. The very thought of quitting, to me, was terrible, because in my mind it was like saying “I’ll never have another break”. That’s the key - I was afraid to quit, because it was like giving up the “having a break” thing forever. The fact that when you try to go longer between smoking, you get cravings, just reinforces this - so when you take that smoke, it’s a big relief!

So I made up all sorts of bullshit excuses not to quit. One such excuse that I think many smokers go through is “well, quitting is too hard, I’ll just cut down some”. Of course, inevitably, as soon as I started going longer between smokes than I was used to, I got miserable (those withdrawal symptoms, or cravings, kicking in). Sooner or later, I was back to smoking as much as before.

The only way, at least in my experience, to actually quit is to: (1) stop experiencing withdrawal symptoms; and (2) replace the mental notion of “having a break” with something other than a cigarette. The only way to do (1) is to simply stop using the drug long enough to get over having withdrawal - a miserable couple of weeks. Ways to do (2) vary. :wink:

Gradually cutting down, by contrast, provides extended torment. You are still using the drug, so you never get over withdrawal - but you are using it less and less, so you experience withdrawal longer and longer between smokes. I could take two weeks of withdrawal, but I doubt anyone would enjoy two months of it.

17

I stopped using my vaporizer when I got pneumonia.

18

I cannot recommend Champix (Chantix) more highly. I had never tried to stop before but I had wanted to stop for a long time. I just didn’t think I could do it. I smoked over a pack a day for about 25 years. I started taking Champix and smoking as usual. After about 2 days smoking stopped giving me that feel-good “hit”. After about 6 days I could tell there was no point smoking anymore so I just stopped. Kept on taking the Champix for 2 months and then stopped that too. Easy. and I will NEVER go back.

19

That’s the only thing that worked for me.
Sucks balls but if you can make it through it works, at least for me.

20

I think the OPs suggestion is a reasonable one for people who can’t stop cold turkey. Just like there are different work-out programs and diets, what works for one may not work for another so this method, too, could help somebody quit. Wearing the patch didn’t work for me and neither did chewing the gum. Finally I went cold turkey and didn’t smoke for many years, but then I started back. Then again I have a friend who quit by, for months, stubbing out each cigarette after only three or four puffs. Thirty plus years later she still doesn’t smoke. So, different tokes for different folks.