I am struggling with quitting smoking, how did you quit, I need help?
I am struggling with quitting smoking, how did you quit, I need help?
Smoking for about 34 years now, have tried to quit on many occasions without lasting results. I'm determined to be free of this addiction and would like to know if there was anything specific you have found that worked for you. Tried patches and pills before without much success, I know there is a certain amount of will power involved, lacking in that area a bit I guess. Any tips would be appreciated, thanks.Take the time to become fully aware of the feelings that bubble up in your stomach and chest and anywhere else for that matter when you do not light up. Then discover what those emotions are about and what the need is behind the emotion and explore alternative to meeting those needs other than smoking.
Stop trying to quite and simply STOP. Check out the book, "How To Stop Smoking Without Killing Anyone." or check out the website http://www.stopdontquit.com.
Be kind to yourself. Smoking is a powerful powerful powerful addiction. We're not talking will power here, we are talking addiction. The nicotine alters your brain chemistry and makes you you think you have to have a cigarette to both survive and to be happy. Pretty powerful drug!
Get a buddy to stop with you. Go to a twelve step program.
Pray!! or keep smoking and take your chances!
It is not about will power, but it is about choices.
It is pretty simple, but no easy. But you could purchase a Staples easy button and every time you do not light up, you could hit the easy button. You can also distort time so that each fifteen minute segment equals a day, so after one day, 24 hours times four = 96 days. So after one day, I have been a non smoker for 96 days which can be a powerful motivator for not smoking yet another day or yet another 96 days.
I quit all tobacco in 1982. Quit cigs in 1969, but it took several years to totally totally quit, but the morning cough scared me to only have a cig once in a while, but continued with occasional cigar and regular pipe. When I was licensed as a therapist in 1982, I decided it looked nutty to be a therapist and a smoker at the same time!.
Hope this helps a little bit or a LOT!
VernWow vrbmft, thanks for the comprehensive answer. Some great tips for me to use, yes I do need to change my focus. I appreciate you taking the time to respond here. I want to stop, I want to succeed. I'll take what you suggest onboard and look into the sites you mention too.
Thanks again.- Butch Newsposted 13 years ago
0You will have to avoid anyone you know who smokes and that may be very, very difficult.
I quit by stopping buying cigarettes. If I felt the need I would walk up to strangers and ask to buy one. The point was to make it as hard as possible on myself. I would pick up butts and roll them in papers to make it as disgusting as possible. Then one day I had the courage to go cold turkey.
The first week was pretty horrible and I was extremely irritable, but it got better. Now I can't stand the smell of cigarettes or to be around them at all. I've been free for over 10 years now. Patch, water bottle with you 24/7, run, walk, or do some other form of exercise as often as possible in the beginning to tire yourself out and keep your mind off the battle.
And make no mistake, it is a battle. When you feel stress coming on, hit that patch on your arm, it's your security blanket, it takes the edge off, hit it hard and rub that nicotine into your skin! Tell yourself that you will start smoking again when you are seventy-five. That way it's not like it's permanent or anything. BELIEVE that your life will be better without cigarettes, because it will, hands down. And avoid triggers like the plague -- coffee, soda, alcohol, listening to a certain CD in the car -- whatever you love to smoke while you do, don't do, period. And always remember that those sick and twisted tobacco company scientists and tobacco executives are doing everything they can to manipulate you into staying addicted to their cigarettes forever. Are you going to let them control you like that?I used a combination af the nicotine and patch and inhaler. I realised I was just as addicted to the habit of smoking as to the nicotine. I felt satisfied and had little urge to smoke by using both of these stop smoking methods at the same time.
You will mourn the loss of your cigarettes, especially if you hvae smoked for a long time. I started at 12 years old and smoking was really one of the biggest parts of my life, as ashamed as I am to admit that. It was a coping mechanism for almost everything from anger to sadness to happiness. It was part of how I socialised. It seemed that nearly all my friends were smokers as we met and socialised in smoking areas. You will have to find replacements for the social and coping aspects of smoking and find new habits that make you fulfilled. And it may take a few tries before you get the hang f being smoke free. Good luck.I have quit smoking several times but to get rid of it completely, I am also searching for this answer. I can understand how you feel. I am going through the same.
I was a 40 a day for 20 years man and gave up, cold turkey 17 years ago, for love. I'm still with her and this is how I did it.
1) I booked a 2 week holiday a few weeks ahead (not to go anywhere but just so I would be able to concentrate and not have any distractions)
2) Up until the holiday, I smoked my head off, smiling as I went, knowing that I would soon be rid of this awful habit that I sadly loved so much
3) During the lead up to the holiday, I was psyching myself up in various ways and in so doing became very bossy and overbearing with everyone I came in contact with, as I was preparing for the biggest fight of my life...GIVING UP SMOKING!!
4) By the eve of 'D-Day' I was so hyped up, I actually flushed away 30 cigarettes I could have smoked that day. I couldn't wait for the fight to begin
5) Guess what? It was a doddle for the first day, even the second day was okay. Expect to get irritable and drink plenty of orange juice.
6) DANGER: You think you have beaten it and that it was so easy, you could start smoking 'socially'. WRONG!!! Light up again and you will be smoking even more, as I proved to myself in previous lame attempts to kick the habit
6) One of the reasons I was reluctant to give up smoking in the past was because I liked a drink in a pub and drinking and smoking go hand in hand. So instead of stopping smoking AND drinking, I went to the local pub, put a sign on the notice board saying that I would give £100 to any charity if anyone saw me smoking at anytime for a period of 1 year. I then carried on enjoying my drink BUT whereas the pint would remain on the bar during my smoking in the past, I now found myself holding the glass all the time (you need something for your hands to do when you give up smoking) and as a result I was drinking more and quicker. I also ate more during the day but I never smoked another cigarette again and I didn't wear any nicotine patches or chew gum.
RESULT: I gave up smoking and within 2 weeks my appalling morning cough had gone but over the first few years I put on 4 and one half stones. Half of that has since come off.
Bye the way: During the weeks I stopped, I went and bought myself a new suit with the money I saved.I quit when I was in the hospital after suffering a heart attack at the age of 42. Cold turkey is the best way to go. Plan on doing nothing for three days - after three days the nicotine is gone from your body and it is just the habit that is left.
Believe it or not, the most effective thing I've seen is the electric cigarette. Know & people who have quit in the last 3 months. It has a nicotine cartridge and an atomiser with lthium batterey. Looks like a cigarette, taste like a cigarette but no carcinogins, no tar, no chemicals. You get the instant hit from nicotine but no smoke, no smell and no harmful chemicals. You start with 16mg cartridge and go down to 11, then 6 then 0. Web search it. Its incredible.
Dont leave smoking for your self , quit it for others , b'cos you cannot be murderer .. your smoke is inhaled by others , your family members your friends ...... think on it !!
Quit smoking with smoking therapy. It is quite simple. Take a cigar and smoke taking as much time as possible. Let it be half an hour or one hour. Be aware of what you are doing. Within no time, you will find the folly of smoking. All the best in your therapy.
I fought the smoking urge one cigerrette at a time. I also ate almonds. Which helped me mentally. It has been years now since I smoked. The occassional urge still arrives. The fight is won in the early rounds. Good luck.
If you want mental reenforcement visit a cancer ward.I'm sorry that you're dealing with this sort of thing. I was able to quit by using the patches. What I can recommend right now is to get together with your doctor (primary care physician) and let him or her know of your concerns. There are various kinds of quitting methods, and some may work better for you. What I was addicted to was the strong dose of nicotine that I was getting by taking in the drag through my lungs. It was like (shooting) the drug into my brain within seconds of the drag (if you know what I mean). My wife told me of a person that she knows, (and this person is in the medical profession). She recently quit smoking by using some kind of psychological drug that enabled her to continue smoking while taking the medication. After a while, her urge to keep smoking diminished until she became smoke free. Talk to your doc..ok? Good luck! I wish you all the best in quitting.
http://hubpages.com/hub/livecigarettefreeMy parents quit "cold-turkey." You don't always need products but the ability to control your mind.
I am so with you on this one. I know in my sane mind I need to quit after 36 years of it. I am at the point where I am just trying to be smarter about smoking. I found some good articles that helped me so I wrote a hub about healthier smoking while I persevere to quit. Best Wishes!
http://hubpages.com/hub/Tips-for-Healthier-SmokingFIRST of all dear i want to say that if u love urself then it's too easy,,,,,,,,so b confident nd get ready for it,,,,,....first read the detailed description on smoking by any xpert...analyse the merits and demertis of smoking on human body.....concentrate ur mind on urself try yoga and meditations .i presumeably say that everything in the world has merits nd demerits,,,so if u a smart thinker then u can analyze it..try to reduce the time interval between two consecutive chances in decreasing order nd reach to null in months,,but these all need a strong commitment of u.u can put habit of another thing instead of smoking.u can take help from any councellor also.but think once that it's need ur strong confidence no proper way which leads u to no smoking
..good bbyeI smoked for 20+ years. Like you I had decided I really needed to quit. The next time I got a cold/flu whatever it was where I had chest congestion, I put the cigarettes down. I never picked them up again. That was over 20 years ago.
Today I hate cigarette smoke. I smell it and I want to gag.
You have to set your mind to believe that cigarettes are your enemy and you hate them for being so evil. Once you believe it, it is easier to walk away and never go back. Tell yourself over and over you hate them will all your soul, they are your worst enemy.
- Harlan- Spiritual Growthposted 13 years ago0
Hello there. I have not read the other answers so hope I am not repeating anything, but I had given up a gazillion times and then I read Alan Carr's book about stopping and have not had a cigarette since. I think that I was ready to give up, but the bok is what did it for me.
Good luck with whatever you try- it is so worth it in the end!
Love and blessings,
Caroline xxx I need HELP! I have tried everything except for the new prescription that is out there. I, actually, tried to get hypnotized by a Doctor, but that did not work. What a question to ask me today! My husband wants me to quit now! My prescription is ready at the Drug Store. Will I do it? Please read on and find out. Any suggestions?
To quit smoking you have to find the right reason.
The physical addiction to smoking is only part of the problem. Truth is the hardest part of quitting (at least in my opinion) is overcoming the psychological
addiction.
Finding the right reason to quit smoking is where you start.
Until you find the right reason to quit smoking you’ll continue to smoke. And the only person in the world who can find that reason is you, so look deep inside yourself and find your right reason to kick. For what it’s worth I smoked for over thirty years before I quit, and I’ve been smoke free for over 16 years now. No matter what anyone tells you, You Must First Quit in Your Mind. You do this by finding a reason to kick smoking that is so important to you that you’ll be willing to see it through to the end. Look inside yourself and find that reason. Think about it: How many people quit and go back? They go back to smoking because they never really quit in their mind. Trust me if you begin with a right reason you can quit and you’ll never go back. Keep in mind that if you decide to use e-ciggs and other nicotine replacement products, all you’re really doing is changing the nicotine delivery system you’ve been using. Although this may be a good first step because you will be bypassing the tars, and some of the other poisons inherent in cigarettes .You ultimately want to be totally free of this addiction not just trade one for another. You need three things to kick smoking, First: A Real good Reason, (you find this in yourself) , Second: you need a Method that works for you ( e-ciggs ,meds,patches,gum, it doesn’t matter , just be sure to find a method you can work with) Thirdly you need a strategy ( How you will fight the battle to win)
Remember you first need to find the right reason to quit smoking for yourself. Once you do that everything else falls into line.
Find Your Reason – Good Luck
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