Quitting Smoking

[markaugust]

for me the thing that helped most was accepting it was such a powerfull force that I would need help to fight it. I am not much into selfhelpbooks, but for me a variant on alan carrs book gave me the right push to just see straight for a second on what a stupid habbbit it is. how dirty nasty and unprofitable. You dont see when you are totally in there (the addiction), so you need to stop the brainwash for a moment (the brainwash that your cigarette supposedly is your helping friend in all those situations)
You gain nothing except the illusion it helps you relax, which is nonsense, cauz smokin or not, uncomfortable moments are inevitable sometimes; and immediately lighting up a cigarette in such a situation seems relieving, but all you doin is stopping the aching for a few moments, and after finishing it; to do the same cycle of feeding that little monster again time after time.
My biggest mistake has been with the two times I quitted; to permit myself to still smoke reefers/joints with nicotine from time to time; which resulted in feeding that little monster again; till he gets enough strength to let you: A: smoke joints/reefers every day; or B: make you so tired of being stoned so much (cauz you allow yourself that as not really smoking) and slowly accept that you are addicted again and buy your first packet the next day.

end of rant - main point;

accept the magnitude and force of the addiction it is, and don't hesitate to seek help. It's a mean mfr, so help in what way is always benifitial.

[bencodec]

hey, i'm glad someone mentioned alan carr. i know that it sounds very very weird but his book "the easy eay to quit smoking" was extremely helpful to me when i quit. smoked for 8 years and i haven't touched one in 3. with the book it was pretty painless to quit cold turkey. it just sorts your head out which was great since the menal addiction is much stronger then the physical one.

[formatk]

I'm in the process of giving up.... smoked a few in the last three weeks, but I was smoking 40 a day. cold turkey, but if I do slip up, I don't act as if I've failed.

[gerard]

Trying to quit right now. I already quit 2 times, once 6 months and once for 16 months. I'm 27 and have been smoking for nearly 10 years. My problem is that I get depression and anxiety attacks in the night during the first days I stop...

[Benno]

I quit two years ago and aint been back since. Infact, im the worst ex smoker there has ever been, i hate people who smoke near me and when i play out i have to shower before i go to bed because i stink that much. The funniest thing about the smoke is that i have to air my laptop and controller etc overnight, because if i dont, i can smell the smoke on them for days. Even if i remove the battery cover, i can smell it inside the case. Not that i have a habit of sniffing my battery cover....

Anyway, back to quitting. Most people who decide to quit cut down first. The problem is that by doing this you end up smoking only when you cannot live without it. Whether its after a meal, or with your morning coffee. Mine was when i went out on the beers. I was fine until i had a drink and then i had to have a cig. I eventually managed to stop, it was the hardest thing that first nite on the beer without a smoke but i did it. I thought wow, i can do this. And i did.

I do have cravings but they get less and less over time. I think when you try and quit you should cut down to smoking only when you dont want one, like outside the gym before you hit the treadmil!

[earthloop]

I had to spend a week in hospital a couple of years ago...serious issue! I was in a ward where I was put next to a guy who was in the final stages of emphasema! Not nice!

The rattling and wheezing as he tried to breath were terrible. As were the attempts of his relatives trying to comfort him. Before I realized exactly what his situation was I asked the nurse if I could be moved because it was freaking me out. The nurse replied chillingly. "Oh, he won't be here much longer!!!

But it got worse!I woke up the next morning and the full impact of what the nurse said hit me! He was gone! Then his replacement, an older gentleman who looked really crook had a visit from a nurse who pulled the curtin around his bed, and I heard her say to him...

" now mister xxx, I need to ask you some questions. Do you need anything for the pain? (he moaned) OK...so mr xxx, have you had chemo therapy before?"

At that moment, I decided I had smoked my last cigarette...and havn't touched one since! Sometimes it takes that sort of severe reality adjustment to confront you to make you get your health priorities in order.

I will quote Yul Brynner (if anyone remembers his anti smoking ads made while he was dying of cancer?

"Just Don't Smoke! Whatever you do, don't smoke!"

I have seen what can happen. Aweful!

[Johnisfaster]

what worked for me:

1) it was just plain time to quit

2) started drinking more water and eating some healthier foods, both for oral stimulation and just cause I figured if you're gonna fight addiction you might as well be in good physical shape ie. hydrated and such.

3) blame cigarettes for how shitty you feel from withdrawls. this is the biggest help I think. instead of wanting a cig when you're freaking out just blame the cig like "god damn cigarettes suck, they did this to me!" reverse psychology kinda but it's easy to do and it works wonders.

it's been a year and a half now, I still want to smoke now and then to be honost but I don't plan on going back.

[frankie123]

i managed to bring it down to 3 per day, basically only after i eat a meal. i told my doctor about this and he said "i probbaly shouldn't say this but you could smoke like that for the rest of your life with no worries. it's likely you breath in more crap waiting for the subway on your way to work". probably not great advice from a doctor and i'd still like to officially quit sometime soon, would be a lot easier if they weren't so fuckin tasty. but i'm 28 now, which means i've been smoking about half my life, which just sounds awful. if you're not afraid of gaining weight i found that eating constantly is a good way to keep the cravings down. good luck bro!

Yeah, thats pretty terrible advice coming from your doctor. It's highly subjective how smoking will affect someone in the long term, I do think that any amount of cigarettes daily will affect you in the long term. The best way to quit smoking is working out. It takes a lot of discipline to quit, but so do a lot of things.

[Hypomixolydian]

Someone earlier in this post said don't quit cold turkey. I disagree totally. Nor use patches. I quit cold turkey and the worst day for me was the first day, after that it was easy. However, you will only succeed if you really want to stop. I did't succeed in my first few attempts, but that was because I didn't really want to give up. I haven't touched a cigarette in 9 years. I used to smoke a pack a day,plus joints. I now have become the world's worst reformed smoker. I can't stand the smell of them and hate being in a room where someone has smoked. In fact I leave, I hate it so much.
I read Alan Carr's book after I quit, but there are some interesting points he raises. First of all, nicotine withdrawal won't kill you. From memory he said something along the lines that 90% of nicotine is dispelled from your body within an hour, which is why people light up and have another one, to replace the nicotine.
He also said something along the lines of that most people see giving up as a sacrifice, which is the wrong way to look at it. Instead of seeing it as something you are "giving up", see it as something you are gaining. So freedom from addiction.
Finally, what also helped me was that I was pissed off by the fact that I was a slave to cigarette companies who in essence make a product designed to get you addicted.

That's my two bobs worth. Good luck. It's not hard if you really want to give up.

[steve-o]

I quit cold turkey Janury 1st 2002 - after smoking for nearly ten years. I was also spinning out at the time, holding down two residencies; people smoked in front of me and even shoved cigs in my face. Here's what I did:

1) Stopped drinking
2) Started doing MASSIVE amounts of cardio. I used to be a swimmer, so I started swimming again. I swam 3500 - 1000 yards a day, and sometime added the eliptical trainer in the mornings.
3) Started eating really healthy.

All this made me get into shape real quick, and gave me so much will power to resist cravings, which honestly, without the drink, were very weak.

Whe I started to drink again, I kept up the swiming and healthy eating, and still didn't have cravings. Now I rarely drink anymore, but the bottom line: quiting for me was hard without making serious lifestlye changes, quiting other bad habits that were connected with cigs. After stopping all of those, I couldn't believe how much I smoked. Like another posted said, now I have to shower if I go out with my smoking buddies because the smell is toxic. But i'm not an anti-smoker; I loved it for man years and have many fond memories. It's just not my thing; to each their own...

[suburbanbather]

To hell with cigs!

Use the money you would have spent on smokes on modular synth modules instead.

Get one or two modules every month.

How about that, a constructive addiction that can actually be theraputic.

[frankie123]

I quit cold turkey Janury 1st 2002 - after smoking for nearly ten years. I was also spinning out at the time, holding down two residencies; people smoked in front of me and even shoved cigs in my face. Here's what I did:

1) Stopped drinking
2) Started doing MASSIVE amounts of cardio. I used to be a swimmer, so I started swimming again. I swam 3500 - 1000 yards a day, and sometime added the eliptical trainer in the mornings.
3) Started eating really healthy.

All this made me get into shape real quick, and gave me so much will power to resist cravings, which honestly, without the drink, were very weak.

Whe I started to drink again, I kept up the swiming and healthy eating, and still didn't have cravings. Now I rarely drink anymore, but the bottom line: quiting for me was hard without making serious lifestlye changes, quiting other bad habits that were connected with cigs. After stopping all of those, I couldn't believe how much I smoked. Like another posted said, now I have to shower if I go out with my smoking buddies because the smell is toxic. But i'm not an anti-smoker; I loved it for man years and have many fond memories. It's just not my thing; to each their own...

You're lucky you were athletic when you were younger. From what I've seen, the cigarette smokers that have it the hardest are ones that were never physically active. So essentially it becomes two things, quitting smoking, and working out for the first time. Not easy.

[steve-o]

I quit cold turkey Janury 1st 2002 - after smoking for nearly ten years. I was also spinning out at the time, holding down two residencies; people smoked in front of me and even shoved cigs in my face. Here's what I did:

1) Stopped drinking
2) Started doing MASSIVE amounts of cardio. I used to be a swimmer, so I started swimming again. I swam 3500 - 1000 yards a day, and sometime added the eliptical trainer in the mornings.
3) Started eating really healthy.

All this made me get into shape real quick, and gave me so much will power to resist cravings, which honestly, without the drink, were very weak.

Whe I started to drink again, I kept up the swiming and healthy eating, and still didn't have cravings. Now I rarely drink anymore, but the bottom line: quiting for me was hard without making serious lifestlye changes, quiting other bad habits that were connected with cigs. After stopping all of those, I couldn't believe how much I smoked. Like another posted said, now I have to shower if I go out with my smoking buddies because the smell is toxic. But i'm not an anti-smoker; I loved it for man years and have many fond memories. It's just not my thing; to each their own...

You're lucky you were athletic when you were younger. From what I've seen, the cigarette smokers that have it the hardest are ones that were never physically active. So essentially it becomes two things, quitting smoking, and working out for the first time. Not easy.

Absolutely right. I would maybe even suggest start working out BEFORE you start to quit. Don't worry so much about quitting at first; rather focus on making a lifestyle change; smoking won't be able to survive a true lifestyle change, I think.

[zordon]

Im curious, not judging or pointing fingers. It seems to me that being addicted to cigarettes is more psychological than physical. I have purchased a pack of cigarettes before and it will last me about a month and a half. However now i rarely smoke at all. I have never found them to be that addictive. Does it all depend on your personality?? I could never see myself getting addicted to cigarettes.

[frankie123]

I could never see myself getting addicted to cigarettes.

Famous last words.