My friend has been a pack-a-day smoker for 8 years and today is her first day of attempting to quit. Let’s just say it’s pretty rough on her right now. Since we aren’t rich, we don’t really want to spend millions on Nicostop, Nicoquit or any of the other thousand equally expensive stop smoking aids unless we are convinced that’s the way to go.
What tips and tricks for successfully quitting smoking have worked for you?
Thanks,
Monica
A mental shift, which was initiated by the book, Allen Carr’s Easyway to Quit Smoking. The book is much cheaper then all the other aids I know of, so why not give it a go, you could probably even find it in your local library. I know of six people (IRL) who have tried it and five were successful, so I reckon it’s worth a go. Worked brilliantly for me. :grin
Another vote for the Allen Carr book. But I just went to www.bn.com, where I’ve bought about 15 copies, and it’s out of print.
Everyone I know who has read the book has quit, and it’s been truly painless.
Almost doesn’t feel right, quitting without stress and withdrawal and kicking the cat. But it’s definitely worth a shot.
Eh, I read the book and thought it was stupid. It didn’t work a lick for me, but if it works for others, more power to 'em. I have my copy at home, so if you want it, email me at shayna61 at yahoo dot com and I’ll mail it to you.
I quit cold turkey, and with the support of my very tolerant and loving husband. I’d say just be supportive no matter what mood she’s in as she gets over the physical and mental addiction.
It might also give her encouragement to download a quit meter to track her progress. I got mine at http://www.silkquit.org She might also find some helpful resources at http://www.stopsmokingcenter.net/
Best of luck to your friend. It’s totally worth the rough ride in the beginning and she’ll be so happy when she’s past it.
It’s been 7 months, 6 days, 18 hours, 18 minutes and 50 seconds since my last cigarette. I’ve not smoked 4435 cigarettes, saving $743.04, and adding 2 weeks, 1 day, 9 hours, 35 minutes to my life to spend with Spiny Norman.
You understand the concept of a ‘false economy’ ?
The obvious thing to say is she won’t quit unless she truly wants to quit – unless she’s absolutely certain, forget it.
Second thing (for me) was to look at the situation for what it really was; I was, quite simply, a drug addict who happened to feed their addiction orally and through tobacco. But a drug addict nonetheless.
When I did stop it was with the help of nicotine patches. It was good for me (each to their own) to be able to deal with the habit thing first (those pressure moments like, after a meal, sex, starting the car, or computer, or answering the phone, etc., etc) – with a patch you still get your full nicotine dose so there’s no withdraw. Just address the habit thing, and only the habit thing. I was amazed that took only 2-3 days for those instinctive habits to pass.
Then I addressed the actual nicotine addiction itself. Patches worked (for me) because there was absolutely no time scale pressure – I didn’t care I was still a drug addict or for how long I stayed that way becaue I wasn’t smoking, the patches fed my addiction with minimum health consequences.
Then, when I felt comfortable, I began to lower the dosage slowly … again, totally at my own pace. Anyway, it worked for me.
Been five + months now and I’ve never, ever craved a single ciggy, having been a 50+ a day smoker. I wouldn’t have thought that possible before starting …
zyban + patch = almost 2 years now.
2 1/2 packs a day!!! dats alotta 'mokes.
Í have never smoked, but my father has recently quit, with the help of the Nicorette gum. He says it helps a lot. Also, for him, he just takes it one day at a time. He doesn’t say to himself “I’m never going to smoke again”, but rather “I’m not going to smoke TODAY”, and that has gotten him through the day for over a month now. Its still early, but it seems to work for him.
I became proficient at quitting by practice…I always went back to smoking. Quit-start-quit-start for several years. I finally quite cold turkey when I accidently burned the cheek of my two year old son. He ran up just as I lowered my hand, and he got a little red spot on his cheek.
The thought of hurting him was enough for me to quit and stay quit.
I’ve quit at least 8 times, once for over a year. Had just quit last summer, as a matter of fact.
Nicorette gum was the most useful standard aid to me. It’d take the edge off the worst pangs during the early physical de-tox stage.
A friend turned me onto the best tip–and it’s cheap. Take ordinary plastic soda straws and cut them in half. When I got blindsided by a stray craving, especially for the familiar hand and mouth feel of a cigarette, “smoking” the straw helped immensely. I’d get a hit of pure air instead of smoke, which helped the craving pass right there, and it’d tide me over the few bad minutes.
Cutting down toward quitting–again,
Veb
My son, age 6, asking me to please quit. I believe he’d heard some horror stories at school. But it worked. Was able to quit cold turkey my 20-year pipe-smoking habit.
At first, chewing gum, lots of it, to replace the “oral fix.” There was even a “chew” – packaged like Copenhagen in those little round tins – that was made out of mint. It actually made your breath smell good, instead of bad. That was another help.
That was 14 years ago, and I’ve been clean since. Currently, though, I’m working at whacking back the weight I gained when I recovered my sense of taste and smell.
My mother quit after twenty years of smoking. She went to a hypnotist, and in a few weeks she stopped and hasn’t touched them for over 15 years now.
But, if you’re trying to keep it cheap, a hypnotist is probably not for you.
Although, if i were you i’d heed London_Calling’s advice about false economy. A small investment now might help you attain a lifetime of not having to pay for cigarettes.
7 years ago I quit, Doctor, patches, and a genuine desire to quit.
Wife and I both quit using Wellbutrin/Zyban. Great advice from Doctor helped too. Seems the pharmacists tell you to quit smoking within a week or two after starting the pills. Doc said don’t listen, take them as long as you want, and start cutting down one of the “habit” cigs a day, like the one when you first get up, the one you always light when you get to the end of your street on the way to work, etc… After a month or so, we were down to smoking just a couple a day and not enjoying them at all. Finally we said “whats the point?” and we gave them up. It was almost 5 years ago.
Three years and 4 days since I last smoked, thanks to Zyban and a lotta will power. Good luck to your friend.
Pictures of cancerous lungs and people, liberally spread about the house, will help you in the motivation area.
I started running twice a day when I quit. Ran until I couldn’t run anymore due to the coughing and hacking. Got rid of a lot of tar and resins really quick that way - my lungs were surprisingly clearer and “lighter” (when you smoke, or at least when I smoked, your chest feels “heavier”, for want of a better description) by the end of the first week. Bonus: you have NO desire for a cigarette after a hard run/jog.
Of course, the thing that truly made me quit was the decision to quit. I just didn’t want to smoke any more: had no more desire for it. I just gave them up one day a few years ago and had little problems since. Occassionally I’ll get an desire for a cig, but it goes away in a couple of minutes regardless what I do. But I never had any problems with going to convenience stores or being around smoking friends… I mean, I just quit. And that’s the secret.
I liked the patch, but eventually I ended up quitting using sheer willpower. It’s a quicker detox that way - you get rid of all the nicotine out of your system quickly, so the physical addiction ends sooner.
That’s what my dad did - he was a 2-3 pack smoker for (let’s see…he’s 60ish…) probably 40 years, I’d guess. It took a diagnosis of throat cancer (possibly not caused by the smoking - acid reflux may have played a role) and his facing radiation treatments for him to go cold turkey. He’s not had a cigarette since November. I’m amazed by that.
I’m in the cutting down phase at the moment, and planning to go completely off them March 5th, at the latest.
I quit over 20 years ago, cold turkey, never went back. This is what I did, which worked really well for me:
I cut out coffee until I felt I’d really kicked cigarettes. That was 2 weeks of pain. I love coffee.
This was the key part of quitting for me. Every time I had a craving for a cigarette, I wrote down the time of the craving, and I wrote down how long the craving lasted. I noted that starting Day 1, the cravings started getting spaced farther apart, and they lasted for a smaller period of time each round. That made me realize I was making progress. I also noted that the cravings only lasted for a few seconds anyway.
Smoking sucks! Good luck!
At $3.50/pack, aren’t the pharmaceutical aids cost effective by comparison?
This is probably not the easiest method to come by, but it’s the most interesting one I’ve heard. A friend of mine, last February 2nd, had the worst dream of his life. He refuses to discuss it, other than to say that it involved smoking. He hasn’t smoked since. When he gets a craving, he thinks of his dream and it goes away.