I’ve never been a smoker – I’m quite allergic to cigarette smoke, as it happens. Nonetheless I did want to congratulate **Draelin **on her decision and wish her every success.
I quit smoking 5 months and one week ago, using the patch. I smoked about a half pack a day for almost 15 years. Everyday is still a struggle for me but I think I am going to make it through 5mos 1wk and 1 day. Hopefully I will then make it to 5mos 1wk and 2 days, but I am not going to look that far ahead.
My lack of self control made quitting the hardest thing I have ever done- and the only way I could do it was to hide from the world. Woke up on my quit day, put the patch on, and then hardly left the house for 6 weeks. For the first two weeks I hardly left the couch. I had someone else do the shopping for me and I ate mostly fruits and veg. Things I could just snack on all day. After the first two weeks of immobility I started doing a little exercise. While watching tv (I watched a lot of tv) I would do some lunges. I brought some cans of soup to the couch and used them as weights. Kept adding more to the routine.
Eventually I started coming out into the world again, and I have been doing ok. Been to the bar a couple times, didn’t want a cig until closing time. Took my first road trip, 12 very long hours.
Sorry for the long post, I just want you to understand how hard it is. Ultimately I think it is going to be worth it. Take it one day at a time. Or, if you are like me, take it one hour at a time. When you want to go buy a pack just look at your watch and tell yourself you aren’t going to go for an hour. After that hour, try to make it one more hour. Or one more half hour. Or fifteen minutes. Eventually it will be bedtime and you will have made it another day!
I don’t recommend the mind-over-matter-cold-turkey stuff. Maybe for people with a strong constitution, but it never worked for me. Without the patch I would still be a smoker.
Life is weird now. Cleaning the house sucks. After you sweep the floor you know what you have to do? Mop it. That’s right. Without a smoke break, you just go from sweeping to mopping. It’s the same thing with baking. Empanadas no longer cook for as long as it takes to smoke a cig. You have to set the timer, and find something to do with yourself.
But it can be done! And I do actually go entire days sometimes where I don’t think about it. For some of us it is just so so hard. So very very hard. The hardest thing ever. Nobody else I know had so much trouble with quitting as I am having. It is only a couple more hours to bedtime though, so I think I will make it, and maybe tomorrow will be easier.
Maybe today has been a really rough day for me and that is why I sound so tragic. Perhaps had I seen this thread tomorrow I would have said ‘not smoking is so great it makes unicorns poop out rainbows of excitement!’ But some days are just really really hard (did I mention that already?) and you just have to stick to it and know that it can be done. It really can.
Two more things. Firstly- you should de-scent your house right away. No sense having to smell the stank, and then you will be less likely to re-stink it up. Secondly- I like to look at a quit meter pretty often. Google for one. Use it. I have saved over $600 and have not smoked almost 2,000 cigs. Which is cool. Hmm, I think I should have looked at the quit meter before this post, as I am feeling good now.
Good luck. You are doing the right thing. Pretend you are strong and you will be.
I meant to address this. If this is true for you, fifty-six, then that is great and must make quitting easier for you, but it is absolutely not true for me. I can think of lots of situations where a smoke would make things better. But I can also think of lots of situations where a smoke (or a nic-fit) would make it worse. I am choosing to not smoke because I would rather have more days where not smoking makes it better.
I wasn’t a smoker because smoking was gross or made me feel like crap. I smoked because I loved the taste and I loved the buzz. Few things on the planet are better than a smoke after a shot of tequila.
I choose not to smoke because I don’t want to have to go outside after every meal for a cig. I choose not to smoke because I want my teeth to not be stained and unhealthy. I choose not to smoke because I don’t want the little ones who look up to me to ever smoke.
But it is not because smoking makes everything worse. I would be kidding myself if I said that. If I could have just a cig or two every so often I would. But I can’t- I am a smoker or I am not a smoker. I choose to not be a smoker.
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Chupa Chups. Not for long, just the worst part which for me was about a month. After that I went from being totally miserable all the time to being fairly miserable most of the time and the misery dulled down from there. I used the Silkquit meter to track my progress and to inspire me not to undo all I’d done - sometimes the idea of resetting back to zero and starting over again was all that stopped me.
Quitting was hard, I felt awful while I was going through it and it took quite a long time for the urge to smoke to almost completely go away but it was so totally worth it. Nine years and counting.
I’ve quit a thousand times lol. No seriously. For five years one time (don’t ask why the hell I started again - I’ve got the stupid gene). What’s weird is one thing can work great one time and then not work at all the next time.
I think the main thing is to make it the most important thing in your life while you’re doing it - and expect that mode to last for a LONG time. Also, if you relapse, obviously you should not let that stop your quit, but realize that each time you do relapse it gets harder the next time. That’s also my experience. I have more tricks, but each quit is harder to maintain and more painful.
You cannot state this as the absolute truth. It may be true for you but it certainly isn’t for everybody. On the patch there was no agonizing process. I had no physical withdrawal at all. By the time I stepped down from the lowest patch dose to no patch I had no physical symptoms of withdrawal. While on the patch I was able to work on the psychological aspect of quitting without worrying about the physical. It was a lot easier to get used to not smoking while driving, after a meal etc, when I wasn’t jittery from nicotine withdrawal.
My wife could not use the patch, she had a bad reaction to it, so she had to go cold turkey. It was much harder for her. And she has had many relapses.
I was a very heavy smoker, and quit using Zyban 5 years ago. I started trying to quit without firm resolve, and took the Zyban with a very skeptical attitude. I took it, and chain smoked like always. And then one day, about 2 weeks later, I got up, lit my morning smoke, and… gah! the cigarette tasted awful! – Ick, blech, phhht. From then on, I went to a routine of smoking a cig when I got up in the morning (ick!, bleah!), then chewing Nicorette the rest of the day (which tasted fine), and having a smoke in the evening (bleah). I did this for about a week, and one morning (9/11/2003) I ran out of cigarettes and never smoked another. I have chewed Nicorette since, though.
When did I do anything of the sort? Reread my post and start with
It is a whole sentence. First you supply you bona fides, then you make your pronoucement. It may not be the way you meant it but reread your post. The way it is written you are saying that as someone you has been through recovery on several occasions you can say that cold turkey is the only real way. You then said that the patch only draws out the agonizing process of withdrawal. There was no “in my opinion” or “Your milege may vary”. Your post was very black and white. And not true for everyone. For me the patch eliminated the withdrawal process. I know I’m not the only one. That is what it is designed to do.
I don’t think that my husband could have quit without the patch. It eased his withdrawal pains, and at the same time, it eliminated the physical acts of smoking. Part of a smoker’s habit is the rituals of smoking…having that first or last smoke of the day, coming home from work and plopping into the recliner and lighting up, and just generally fiddling with cigs and lights. My husband had to unlearn these habits that he’d been doing for about a quarter of a century.
My dad smoked when he was a young man, but quit it when the Surgeon General came out with his report on it. He said that he loved the freedom of not worrying whether he had the next day’s cigarettes before he went to bed at night. He said that he was alway kind of anxious about having enough money for his habit (he smoked when he had two or three young children).
My husband had me give him a container and he put each day’s cigarette money into it as part of his quitting ritual. The money had to be in single bills, and every week or so he’d iron it, bundle it up, and put it in his sock drawer. I think that handling the money that much was part of his will power reinforcement. It gave him a lot of pleasure to look at the money, and count it, and just fondle it. It was tangible proof that he was accomplishing something.
Cold turkey. Never even considered patches, and now close to 20 years since I gave up.
Good luck.
The dreams aren’t great though. I mean they’re not nightmares, but they’re not exactly good dreams either. Just bizarre, and I would wake up feeling like they actually happened.
For me it was worth it though - not to have those nicotine cravings first thing in the morning.
You never know what will work. A friend of mine and his wife did hypnotism. She immediately quit . He went right back.
Best of luck to the OP. I’m curious…how much do you smoke? I ask because those who smoke heavily (2-3 packs a day) go through physical withdrawal much quicker than those in the pack a day range. The CYP2A6 liver enzyme in heavy smokers breaks down nicotine much faster than “regular” smokers. This is why they are heavy smokers. If you are a heavy smoker, a cold turkey quit might be your answer.
I advocate the cold turkey method mainly because it irks the hell out of me that companies like GlaxoSmithKline (makers of NicodermCQ) market nicotine as a medication when it is, in fact, an addictive poison. The key word here is addictive. Smokers are quitting by the tens of thousands (due mostly to social pressure) and companies like GlaxoSmithKline are looking to keep those folks addicted to nicotine by…
Wait a minute. I’m starting to rant. Sorry about that.
Anyway, it sounds like the OP has put together a good coping program for the quit. I’m of the opinion that three days of physical discomfort is a better alternative than six to 10 weeks of drawn-out withdrawal, and possible becoming addicted to the patch or gum (which is what the makers are hoping for).
BTW, I smoked for 30 years, quit cold turkey, and haven’t looked back.
I’ve been cutting down over the last week or so, but I’d say I smoked about a pack a day–though I like to fool myself into thinking it wasn’t so bad because I smoke Ultra Lights. 
After reading these responses, I’m leaning towards attempting the cold-turkey method, if only for the shorter withdrawal period. Friday is The Day, and I don’t know if I’ll be able to make it through work without the strong desire to tear off someone’s arm, beat them to death with it, and then possibly smoke their fingers. But I have Grand Weekend Plans to make it through–I’ve already ceased picking up after myself in any way so I’ll have an enormous amount of cleaning to do. I’ve made plans for craft projects to keep my hands busy, and my roomie and I have about seven Sci-Fi Channel original movies saved on the Tivo to keep our minds numb while our hands are occupied with whatever.
I fully expect to lapse now and then. I’m okay with that. My goal is never to buy another pack–but bumming a single cigarette at the end of a long day once or twice a month is acceptable to me. Hopefully, soon enough I won’t want that at all, but I know myself and my limitations. I believe I’m capable of quitting, but I’m not going to beat myself up if I have one cigarette at odd intervals.
Thanks for the help, everyone. I’ll keep you posted! 
I did not become addicted to the patch. When it was time to take it off for good, I had no withdrawal symptoms whatsoever. YMMV of course.
I need to second this. I was a pack and a half a day smoker until January of this year. I had tried to quit twice before and couldn’t make it stick. The Easy Way worked really well for me, I can’t recommend it highly enough.
Please try very hard not to do this early in your quit attempt, especially if you are planning to go cold turkey. Three days (approximately) after your last butt, your liver has broken down all the nicotine, and all the cotinine has been flushed from your system. The physical addictive cycle has been broken. You brain is reverting back to non-nicotine normalcy. You’ve won. To re-introduce nicotine to your brain now, even with just one or two cigarettes, will create physical dependancy all over again. It’s not like we can avoid it by force of will…it’s just biochemistry is all. And, you’ll have to endure withdrawal all over again (or continue smoking in order to stave it off).
My advice…tell yourself, if need be, that you’ll consider a smoke every now and then, but only after 8-10 months of straight cold turkey.
Trust me, you probably won’t even be contemplating a smoke by then. But if you do light up, you’ll quickly realize that your body will not appreciate the assault, and you’ll wonder why in the hell you ever put a cigarette in your mouth to begin with.
Ok, I do agree that quitting without nicotine replacement is the best way. But, I dont recommend the will power method - or what you guys are calling cold turkey. Cutting down is also a dangerous thing to do.
When you quit with the will power method, you put the nicotine on a pedestal. You don’t smoke out of pure force of will, but “know” how good it would make you feel to give in. Cutting down first, just reinforces it. You’re body starts craving nicotine within minutes of putting your cig out. If you cut back, you are forcing your body into deeper and deeper withdrawal before lighting up again. The effects of the nicotine are amplified and make you feel that much better. Which, consequently makes you think of it as that much more important. And, the people that do quit through pure force of will, claim to have urges to smoke years after quitting. I don’t - plain and simple.
Here’s the kicker. It is not hard to quit - if you are properly prepared mentally. I read the book while sitting on the beach in Cancun - drinking a margarita and smoking to my heart’s content. I finished the book on the last day that we were in Mexico. That night, I chucked my smokes and lighter. The next day, I just didn’t smoke.
I rode the bus from our resort to the airport and didn’t have to suck down a couple before going through customs and waiting for the plane.
I rode the plane to Ohare, and didn’t rush outside to have a smoke as soon as I got my bag.
I then drove 2.5hrs from O’Hare to my house. Never had the urge to smoke.
That’s the great thing about the book. It teaches you how to recognize the withdrawal symptoms and how to recognize them for what they are - and not associate them with an urge to smoke.
It’s not mind control. It’s not scare tactics. It’s just information. You can even smoke while you read it.
Why am I pushing the book so hard? I wanna get the guy as much business as possible. He permanently changed my life for the better and it only cost me $15.