Best ways of quitting smoking?
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Help for Quitters
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X-Halers Smokeless Cigarette and CD Stop Smoking Program
Price: $29.95
List Price: $39.95 |
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Equate - Clear Nicotine Transdermal System - Step One - Stop Smoking Aid, 21 mg, 14 Patches
Price: $33.33
List Price: $36.32 |
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Commit Nicotine Stop Smoking Aid -7 Pack
Price: $99.99
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Commit Lozenges, 4 mg, 108-Count Box (Original Flavor)
Price: $54.20
List Price: $57.99 |
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Zerosmoke Smoking Cessation Product
Price: Too low to display
List Price: $39.95 |
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Your Smoking Bahbit: 7 Steps to Stop Smoking Now System (Complete Product with 4 hour class DVD)
Price: $237.00
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Nicocure Stop Smoking Aid 30 Day Supply
Price: $15.00
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What Worked For Me
I was a heavy smoker for 30 years. I tried and failed to quit smoking close to a dozen times. Most of my attempts were cold turkey, but I also tried hypnosis, accupucture, nicotine gum, cutting back gradually, smoking cigars instead of cigarettes and various behavioral programs and therapies. .In the end it was Smokenders along with the nicotine patch that did it for me. I haven't had a cigarette since the year 2000. I have no cravings and no desire to smoke. I don't miss it and wouldn't go back to it for anything. Believe me, if I can do it anybody can.
Different things work for different people and some people have a harder time quitting than others. Here are my tips for success:
Don't Give up Giving Up --Each time you manage to quit, even for a few days or weeks, you learn something and you get stronger. I hate to tell you this, but very few hard core smokers are able to kick the habit the first time out. The main thing is to realize that just because you didn't make it, doesn't mean you can't. Use the time after a failed attempt to gather your thoughts and come up with new strategies for the next time.
Pick a Quit Date and Do It. Smoke that last cigarette and then get all the cigarettes and smoking paraphanalia out of the house. Don't let friends and family members smoke around you. Surround yourself with people who either don't smoke or have already quit. Stay away from smokers--just for a little while. Whether they know it or not they have a vested interest in keeping you hooked. Don't even stand next to a smoker at a party or watch a movie in which people are smoking. One day it won't bother you, but in the beginning you are very vulnerable so be strict and don't go anywhere near smoking of any kind. This is a serious addiction and you need to take it seriously in order to kick it. To expect yourself to be able to be around smoke and smokers when you have just quit is unreasonable. It isn't a matter of weakness, it's a matter of addiction. The further away you get from the addiction, the weaker it will become. You'll increase your chances of success by not letting anyone( including a spouse or room mate) smoke in your house or anywhere around you for several months after you have quit.
Don't Think You can Have Just One. We all know former smokers who can have the occasional cigarette. They are the exception not the rule and the beginning stages of giving up smoking are no time to find out if you are one of them. Sad to say, you probably aren't. I can't tell you how many times after weeks or months of not smoking I impulsively picked up just one and was off to the races. Do not have even a puff. I promise you that for most smokers, there is no such thing as just one cigarette. One puff will have you thinking about cigarettes like a long lost friend, which will lead to bumming one every now and then, which will eventually lead to buying a pack and then you are on the merrygoround again and telling yourself that you just can't quit because it is too too hard and you are just too weak.
Use Every Bit of Help You Can Get Get a support group. There are lots of them online. In the real world both the American Lung Association and Smokendersrun wonderful seminars that are really helpful in defusing behavioral triggers like smoking after meals, with alcohol and coffee, under stress, when you are happy, when you are sad, when you are talking on the phone--well you get the idea.. Check out online support groups with chats and forums you can become a part of. Read some stop smoking blogs or start your own. You are not alone!
Talk to your physician. Wellbutrin helps some people and there are new drugs out all the time. Chantix is the latest and works well for many people. Use nicotine lozanges, gum or patches if you want to ease withdrawel. I would suggest that you have a supply on hand in advance of your quit date and let them help you through those first few days especially. Nicotine in gum, patch or lozenge form can really help you make it. One thing though, do not under any circumstances use gum patches or lozenges while you are still smoking. It is dangerous, so don't even think about it.
Ride through cravings. You will have them and they can be intense but they rarely last more than 15 minutes. I used to set a timer. If you can get through three weeks without even one cigarette it should get a lot easier.
Start Walking Even before your quit date, try to walk at least half an hour a day. Getting regular exercise will help you through those early days and will always help lessen cravings, but there is another benefit as well. Smoking raises your metabolism. Even if you don't eat one bite more after you quit, you will probably gain some weight as your body will require a couple of hundred calories less per day to function. 30 minutes of walking every day will go a long way towards minimizing this inevitable lowering of your metabolism, plus it's fun. Don't worry about weight gain and don't try to diet while you are trying to quit smoking. That's a sure way to sabotage both efforts. Most people gain some weight. A few gain quite a lot. The good news is that once you have been off cigarettes for a year or so your body will re-adjust and you will either lose the weight spontaneously or find it comes off easily when you watch what you eat and exercise a bit more.
Think of the Money You'll Save I got a big jar and every day I put the amount of money I usually spent on cigarettes in it. After six weeks I had quite a bit of cash and as I remember I used it to buy some very expensive designer boots. Whatever you save--spend it on yourself. You deserve it.
I wish I could tell you it's easy to quit smoking and stay quit. It isn't. Getting off cigarettes and quitting smoking for good was one of the hardest things I've ever done, but now that I can run up and down stairs without getting winded, now that I don't get bronchitis every winter, now that my skin and gums are healthy and my house and hair don't reek of stale smoke I can say that it was well worth the effort..Just think--I never have to go rooting through an ashtray late at night, looking for a long enough butt to smoke. I'm free. Isn't that fabulous?
Watch the video below. it won't shame or scare you but it will help you when you are ready to quit. If I can do it so can you--I promise.
A Video to Help Not Scare You:-)
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Comments
congrats on quitting. :) I won't go into the political aspects of taxing one vice to death over another or even the politics of vice taxes period, but instead be glad for you that you were able to quit and admire your useful advice and hub.
Great hub! Congrats on being able to quit. Keep these hubs coming--you are a great writer.
good morning jg,pg and Iðunn and thanks for the comments. Iðunn--I think the way smokers are treated sucks. In my view smoking is a serious addiction and people buy cigs because the have to not because they want to--it's not a choice once you are hooked. Thus the gov. should take cigs off the market if they are so bad for you and not penalize addicted smokers with a sin tax that benefits only the gov. and shareholders in big tobacco. It isn'tfair. Smoking is not a moral issue g-r-r-r-r-r-r.
ah, I should have known once again you would have the common sense. I just like you more and more. :)
Awwww shucks:-) < see me looking down at my feet in embarrassment> I just spent too many years being humiliated by people who didn't understand why I would stand out in the cold and rain just to suck on a "cowboy killer"(Marlboro was my brand). I didn'twant to-- I had to. I needed my nicotine fix. If the government is going to collect all that tax money, the least they could do is use it for nicotine rehabs. Sometimes I think heroin addicts get treated better because everybody udnerstands that heroin is an addiction, not a moral weakness. How sanctimonious to tell people they should quit and not help them do it.
agree. I think what's pretty appalling is they are trying to legislate to increase yet again and use the tax money from cigarettes to fund middle class health costs, when most smokers tend to be working class. talk about stealing from the poor to give to the rich.
it's not smoker's fault that middle class people live out of their means and borrow against their homes and run up 40k average in credit card debt and then can't afford to pay health insurance and it's not the poor's duty to cover that difference for them while they eat their ramen noodles every night to have utilities covered.
our stupid dems are behind that one, by the way. bush vetoed it.
Well, without getting into class warfare<see me munching my ramen noodles:-)> I would say it makes no sense to use taxes on something that causes health problems to fund health care for anyone. Would make more sense to fund quitting programs so people wouldn't need the healthcare in the first place. But your point about smokers tending to be working class iswell taken as the tax on cigarettes comes down harder working class smokers than than on those further ujp the food chain-- as always--follow the money:-)
you are so adorable. follow the money, indeed. you sound just like me and I rather like myself - how could I not love to read you. :) I'm so glad you found Hubs.
Shucks again--me too- I'm glad I found Hubs too. I'm becoming a regular hubaholic. Do you think there is a rehab for hubaholics? rotfl---hey--the socks are back. Hello, socks:-)
no rehab allowed :( yeah, toldja they would make a return.
I got my concert shirt pic, anecdotes and vids up for the flogging concert if you want to check out reverend peyton's band vid, in that flogging thread. not sure if you'd seen since I updated. would love your opinion on that band. to me, I fell in total love. I bought their CD too at the concert and I think I'm going to Hub them their own page.
we are catching this one from the bottom up, by the way. they only started touring a year ago or less and this is their first album. :D I love catching the new talent before others. ego <---- *blush*
I'm on my way-- off to check out the Rev.:-)
I think you have to feel the power inside to quit...
I quited twice..then my realization was I don't want to quit..too bad, I know.
hehe, rabi. me too. :p I just can't find it in me to want to enough yet, maybe 50-50. still I'm glad robie could. yay her~
congrats to robie!!!
Naaah--I was over 50, wheezing and coughing, smoking 2 packs a day and watching my father-in-law slowly die from emphasema--my back was against the wall or I wouldn't have stopped. No strength of character her, believe me.
I'm still giving you points for achievement for whatever reasons. I haven't hit that point yet, maybe I can quit then, too.
The money I spent for my cigarettes shook me up. The amount was equivalent to my electricity and water bills! From then on, I refused to be a slave to those white slim sticks! Thanks for sharing.
Good for you that you quit, cleopatra. It is soooooo hard. But soooooo worth it:-) I shever to think what cigarettes cost these days. Thanks for taking the time to read and comment.
Great hub, it is hard - but it can be done. I quit about 30 times before I quit for good LOL. Thanks.
Always great to meet another ex--thanks for the comment, Ponderize.....yup hard hard hard--but definitely possible:-)
Thanks robie2! Great hub. I plan to refer back to it OFTEN!
Congratulations on quitting! It took me forever to kick the habit as well, good job.
And congrats to you too-- isn't it great to be free, free, free? Thanks for reading and commenting.
Oh Robie, you are my new idol! I have tried all the same methods you did, and Welbutrin besides. Still have my books and tapes of the method that cost me a hundred bucks and was guaranteed to work. I've been considering the new pill that's come out recently. I would love not to smell like smoke, and not to smoke away my money.
Thanks for this!
Hi Shirley- Every time you put some time between you and the cigs, you are a success. It took me years and many tries to finally kick the habit.I had an ex smoker who was also an ex concaine addict tell me that giving up smoking was harder--how about that! It's great yoo've already tried to quit a couple of times.... every attempt to quit is a little success ooops I sound like a cheerleader or something LOL anyway, I hope you will try again when you are ready--it really is wonderful to be free of it.
robie, I would love to see the day a very good friend of mine stops smoking. I am going to forward this hub to her. Thanks for the tips. :) And its wonderful to know you are free. Let's continue to celebrate life...smoke free hehehe
Thanks for your comment, Ripplemaker, I hope your friend can quit. Of course first she has to want to:-) It is soooooo hard. People don't realize what a powerful and addictive drug nicotine is. I think that is because it is legal LOL But honestly, it is very very hard to kick once you are hooked. My observation is that most people whio are still smoking in spite of the social pressure not to, are doing it because they have to not because they want to--no matter what they say. Don't mean to sound like the Carrie Nation of nicotine--but life is so much better without it and yes let's celebrate being alive every day:-)
Good luck to your friend and bless you for caring.
Great post, the info is nice to have from another source.
Glad you liked it:-)
Hello robie2,
I was looking around and saw this hub. You're right on with the advice. I help people quit smoking and I touch a lot of these bases along the way in my hypnosis sessions.
I was a smoker myself so I've been on both sides of the road so to speak.
Any time a person quits it is a major victory in their life, not only the money but the health benefits are huge.
Anyone out there thinking about quitting, remember there"is" life after cigarettes, the party is just starting, not ending! :)
Thank you soooo much, geig for that inspiring comment. You put it so well--the party is just starting, not ending--yes yes yes. It is so hard to quit--but so worth it, isn't it???
Good information robie2. Like you I was a heavy smoker for more than 30 yrs. I am just a recent quitter (July) so I could slip back to smoking easily. I like to visit these quit smoking hubs to stay educated on what works and does not work so I have a plan just in case I slip back.
I do feel great and I feel like I have been given a second chance. My lungs feel good, no more coughing and I am jogging with my 19 yr. old daughter who has given me a double high five for doing so well. That felt good. Thanks for writing this hub. It felt good just to put my thoughts down. :)
Yeah-- it takes a long time for the compulsion to let go, but eventually it does. I used to keep telling myself " If I pick up a cigarette, I'm not picking up just one, I'm picking up two packs a day" I think reading the quit smoking hubs on hubpages is a great idea for good support-- I may just add it and some links to this hub........ Great that you have joined the ranks of ex smokers and Happy New Year and thanks so much for reading and commenting.
Hey ! I would appreciate if you could share your experience on We In Recovery - Addiction Support Group. This will help other in recovery.
It's http://addictionsupport.aarogya.com
Thanks.
Happy to-- will go check out your link:-)
Great hub, Robie. I have tried soooo many times. I've used the methods you've mentioned - gum, patch, hypnosis, cold turkey, cutting back, herbal cigarettes, programs, smoking cigars. I can't take Welbutrin, it does nasty things to me. Hypnosis came the closest to working, until my first crisis situation. Then, I was right back at it again.
I too, know people who only smoke at parties and such. I can't imagine how they do it - it must taste awful to them or be hard to stop smoking when they leave the party.
Anyway, I guess that when I am ready, I'll do it. It's coming.
Thanks for all this great advice!
Hi Shirley-- always so happy when you stop by and leave a comment:-) You describe it all so well and so honestly-- it's like you really want to give it up but after a certain number of tries, you have the gnawing feeling inside that maybe you just can't and you feel trapped and almost too tired to even try again. But really, every try gives you ammunition for the next time--every attempt is a success not a failure. They don't call smoking an addiction for nothing--it's TOUGH to kick:-) So kudos for all your efforts so far and you are right, when you are ready it will happen.
Robie,
I'm so glad you did quit! Nicotine must be the most addictive of all drugs; I quit in 1973 and still have dreams that I'm smoking! It's so crazy, nothing else could possibly be that addictive.
Good for you, it's not easy to quit after all those years. My fiance told me he wouldn't live with a smoker. So, I decided he was more sexy than I was when holding a cigarette! I quit on our wedding day, 35 years ago. I'm so glad it's out of my life.
Madison
Madison-- thanks so much for sharing your quitting story here. I agree that nicotine must be the most addictive substance. I had a former heroin addict tell me once that quitting smoking was harder for him than kicking the big H.......but lots of us have done it-- of course some of us had to try over and over and over before we got there LOL. Congrats on quitting:-)
i smoked for less than 10 years and never had a desire to quit until all of a sudden i felt like i couldn't. God made me quit! great article.
Glad you liked this and soooo happy you were able to quit. Thanks for reading and commenting :-)
my daddy keeps smoking and he wont quit.My and my family donn't know what to do and everytimme we tell him to take it outside he says no way its not doing anything to your else anyways. He doesn't believe the facts and he says "Oh well, you gotta die sometime" and it just sucks alot!!! what sould i do
I've tried just about every method there is out there and there is only one I can recommend - NLP! It eliminates the cravings. Gum patches and all the other just did not cut it for me, not to mention cold turkey which was the hardest, I even tried the electric cig and it is just no match to the real thing.
Check out this article: http://www.squidoo.com/Not_Smoking_Any_More it’s the one that got me off the cigs and smoke free for GOOD even without gaining weight! :)
Good luck kicking the habit!
J.
great hub ,,zopngratulations ,for you quiting smoking
oh the hair on my arms stands up to realize that there are tons of people out there struggling like I am .....to quit. I've quit dozens of times already....that sounds so silly. But I'm not free YET!
Nice hub , I have once struggled like everyone too..
Hi Jmell---you are definitely not alone-- just keep on keeping on. it will work eventually:-) thanks for reading and commenting
quit smoking now-- thanks for your comment too.
Everyone has their method to quit. The key ingredient to all successful quitters is that they found a way to address both the physical and psychological addiction to smoking. Some can quit cold turkey. Some require medical help. The key is to find that method that helps you to remain an ex-smoker.
JerseyGirl says:
2 years ago
Wow, great Hub. Thank you. Here, in New Jersey, ciggs are $6.57 PER pack. So, you smoke one pack a day, its just about $50. bucks a week. Multiply that by two smokers in the house (husband and wife), and its a car payment.
It's sad to see that the price of ciggs have gone up; although, its also sad to see that the number of cig related deaths have gone up also.
We all complain about the tax on ciggs.... and maybe; just maybe; the tax is for a reason.
Let's band together.... admit that cig smoking is NOT good for your health and your family's health, and lets do something about it.
What we win? Well, healthy children, healty pets, homes that dont smell like smoke, less interior painting (yes, if you smoke, look at your walls!), lower health insurance and life insurance rates, maybe just feeling better all together.
Thanks for publishing such a great hub, which I know will attract many visitors. Best of luck to you.