Tips on quitting cigerettes

I remember quitting cigarettes. It was one of the most difficult things I did.

Stated smoking at age 12. In the high school I attended, there was a student smoking lounge with a cigarette machine where we could buy our cigarettes. That sounds outrageous today!

I quit at age 22, right out of college because I kept telling myself, "Someday I'll quit." But someday never would come if I didn't decide to quit then. Otherwise I might still be smoking into my old age.

They used to sell these goofy cigarette holders that came in a pack of five, with each one letting less and less smoke come through.

By the time you worked your way up to #5, you would darn near get a hernia from trying to suck the smoke through the thing. And, of course the number of cigarettes smoked each day would increase because each holder/filter let less smoke into your body

I used the holder/filter things, but at some point I had to make it cold turkey, and just quit. It took about 2 weeks to get over the withdrawal, then it was fine - except for the constant feeling that I needed to put something into my mouth.

I chewed up more pencil ends, pens, ruined 2 pairs of eye-glasses by chewing off the stems, but I stayed "quit"

That was a long time ago... 1970. A good friend of mine, the same age as I, couldn't quit. He almost died from pneumonia 9 years ago. They had to put him into a drug induced coma in the hospital so they could intubate him.

Today he has to carry his oxygen bottle. He has to take it everywhere he goes. He uses a walker, and can barely get around. He even smokes while using oxygen. I' afraid he's going to blow himself to pieces like that.

He has COPD and advanced emphysima, and looks like he is 85 years old. It is ALL from the cigarettes.

Save a life. Your own. Do whatever it takes to get off those things. Someday never comes unless you decide today is someday.

:-Don

Very good Don.

It can be done if you just make up your mind to do it.

Then JUST DO IT.

... and with the requisite horror story to seal the deal!

Yep - I am in all the stop smoking threads. That is as far as I ever get to quitting and I also have tried everything under the sun.

Quit day is always Sunday now because it is my day off - not so much stress.
It's the day I go out and get air, sun and act healthy.

... but then it is too much space - too boring, so no it's not the day to quit either.

I have an excuse for every day of the week but I won't bore you.

I guess I am waiting for my own horror story and I secretly know it will take something like super scary to reach me.

Funny I am not afraid of or opposed to dying - but now living all messed up - that is pretty scary alright.

I have some symptoms finally after smoking so many decades and chain smoking the last 8. Starting to feel slightly impaired and it is starting to show on my face even though I smoke 'additive free, pure American tobacco and pay close to $7 a pack every day.

When I feel that I am glad because I know at some point it will actually compute that I need to quit YESTERDAY. Maybe that will work.

I know it is addiction, obsession, compulsion, stuffing, filling a void.

But the bottom line is I just don't want to.

Your mindset is number one, you must want to quit.

If so, this works and is cost free in many ways (the stop smoking ads are just a scam in that they tell you it cant be done with out their product, it's a load of crock.)

You will need 3 things with your mindset they are

clean clear drinking water, either filtered or bottled water
chew-able vitamin C
lolly snakes

The water will flush your body so start drinking away as much as you can, the chew-able vitamin C, they will take away the cravings, chew them down in as many as you need (no need for patches drips or other crap) and the lolly snakes will keep your hands and mouth busy as you stretch and chew these down.

Put those three together and within a few days you will be past the worst and starting you life smoke free, many say its the addiction to nicotine, but watch and observe your hands and you will see habit is a big player, with out thinking you will reach for the ashtray or smoke packet (the snakes replace these habits so keep them handy).

i think you should replace the cigerettes with some candies or peanuts

I smoked for about 10 years. I was up to two packs a day. When I decided to quit, I quit cold turkey and never looked back. The key ... is making up your mind to quit.

There is no try, you decide you will quit and then quit. The people I know that try to quit and fail, don't really decide to quit, they decide to try to quit. There's a big difference in attitude and commitment between deciding to quit and deciding to try to quit.

My wife smoked for about 30 years. When she quit, she decided to quit and never looked back. The only thing stopping you from successfully quitting is you. The only help you need is to make that decision and commitment and then be true to yourself.

Is it easy? Who cares, just do it. Lots of things in life aren't easy, but we get through them. The worst is over in a few days for most people. Keep your eyes looking forward to the goal, not inward on past mental programming that tells you to have one. That voice will shut up after a while when it learns who's the boss.

Stop looking for help outside of yourself. You have all the power you need if you will just use it.

I'd wish you good luck, but you don't need it. Now just do it if you want to do it. Do and be done with it. Move forward with your life.

all i know is to take those lozenges that would make you stop craving for the cigarette..

I remember many years ago I read a scientific report which said some people are genetically born to be smokers and there's little to do about it.On the other hand, I know many people who quit smoking when they had to face a dramatic choice. If they continued smoking the chances of dying were too high.
It all depends on the person. If you are extremely motivated,have the support of your family, I guess it's possible to achieve your goal.

Search for "nlp quit smoking"
NLP is Neuro linguistic programming.

Good luck

Instead of cigarette, use e.cigarette gadget to lose your desire for the real cigarette.

Here's what worked for me, back in '75 after 23 years of smoking.

1. Be absolutely sure you want to quit. No doubts. Decide you want to be healthy. Until you make this mind shift, you won't quit. If you fail once, try again. I must have failed about 10 times, kept convincing myself I enjoyed them, before I finally and fully made up my mind.

2. Don't expect an easy solution. It takes work to quit. If you expect an easy out, you'll keep looking for the solution externally. The solution is within YOU.

3. Smoking is a habit. Change the habits that cause you to smoke - things, events and foods that end with a cigarette. These include: a) coffee breaks b) spicy foods c) drinking at the bar or parties, etc. If you smoke with a coffee during breaks, after meals or while relaxing at home, change those habits. Instead of coffee, drink juice or water or maybe iced tea. Stay away from spicy foods because they trigger the desire to smoke. If you tend to smoke while relaxing, take yourself out of that situation - go for a walk, step outside and inhale some fresh, clean air. If you drink alcohol, you need to lay off because it lowers your defenses and you will not be able to stop yourself from grabbing a cig.

4. Exercise to remove the nicotine that's built up in your system. Walk after lunch, before bed, anytime you get the urge to smoke.

5. Drink water to flush your system. When I quit, I kept a glass of water at my desk. When the urge struck, I'd sip water.

6. Stay out of smoking environments.

7. Pick a time to quit. I had the mindset that when I wake in the morning, I've already gone 8 hours without smoking. I can go another hour. I'd get busy, and soon it was 12 hours, and so on.

8. Don't think about it as quitting cold turkey, that you'll never have another cigarette. That sets you up to fail, because you see it as a long, long journey. It's not. Think one day, one hour at a time. Think of "putting it off", rather than "quitting", and then keep putting it off.

9. It helped me to keep 3 cigarettes that were left in my last pack. I knew they were always there, so I didn't have to panic. When I thought I'd like to have one, I'd ask "How much do I really want one," and the answer usually was, "I can wait." Several months later when I decided it was safe to throw those 3 cigs out, they were so dry they would have gone up in a puff of smoke had I lit them.

10. It really only takes 7 days to quite smoking. Those are the toughest. The farther you get from the last cigarette, the less you will think about it. Then, one day a few months down the road, you'll suddenly realize you no longer want a cigarette.

Here's how it goes. You feel strong urges in the first day, which gets stronger on the second and third days as the nicotine in you begins to dissipate. Stay strong. Keep telling yourself you can wait. Keep sipping water (it replaces the hand/mouth action of smoking). Water and a sack of candies helped me. After about the fourth day, the craving eases. By the 7th day, they are minimal. Each week thereafter, you think about smoking less and less.

Easy-Peasy.

Go for it! You can do it.

Sylvia

Well, I have never smoked but a good way to quit is to smoke one less cigarette a day. Let's say you smoke 20 a day. On Saturday smoke 19, Sunday 18, Monday 17, and so on. Your body will slowly get over it's desire for cigarettes. If you feel you are going to fast say, you are down to 14 a day and don't feel well, then smoke 14 a day for a week and then get down to 13 until you smoke no more.

This may help

so dont smoke

Hi Sylvia -

I have for some reason really 'grokked' a lot of what you have said in this thread - funny how even things I have heard before when said a different way somehow reach the computing area of my addicted brain.

I have tried everything and I know it is just making up my mind and then having some coping mechanisms.

Of all you said somewhere you mentioned the 'oral fixation' - To me it has always been the whole ritual - not just the oral part but the whole 'kit' - lighter, pack, ashtray, and all the actions with those.

Well - something clicked - I had seen these organic chocolate mint cough drops - the chocolate part got me and the package is chocolate brown.

They went on sale so I bought a bag. They are all herbal and good tasting unlike the majority of cough drops. Good stuff chocolate, marshmallow root, lots of nice camphor.

Today I am going back to that store and buying all of the bags they have (marked down to $1.00 each).

Anyway Sunday is my day where I always say it is 'quit day' as I have the least stress and go for a long hike over the bridge right near here and get my lungs blown out with the gale force winds.

So I am going to do one of those cough drops every time I get the urge for a cig and for real serious withdrawal I have my electronic cig (which while taking away the fiendishness =searching the garbage for butts, going to the gas station at 2:am) - during normal hours, it has never made me not want a real cigarette.

Maybe I will make it past one day for a change. I have so many reasons to quit and no reason to keep smoking other than 'the monkey'.

So anyway - thanks for the encouragement - I will come back and read all your posts during the hell days. Bless you.

Go out and buy the nastiest, crappiest cigarettes you can find...then vow to only chain-smoke them (and only them) for a day...two days...three...whatever - just long enough for your taste buds to completely give up, your lungs to give out, and your brain to say..."ok - that's it! Ive had about enough of this..."

Do like me, begin with snus!



You will not miss your cigs after you've tried snus because one "portion" of snus contains x10 more nicotine then a cig and the nicotine flush into your blood immediately after you've putted the "portion" in your upper-lip.

Try using an electronic cigarette. It worked for me and for a lot of my friends and even family.

With addiction, the addicting substance causes the craving for continued use of the addicting substance. The feeling of withdrawal come from the very substance wearing off.

To taper off gradually really doesn't work, because even a little of the addicting substance causes a craving for more. This is why the only thing that works really works is quitting cold turkey.

That is also why taking the first drink will trigger the cravings for a recovering alcoholic, the first drug will trigger cravings for more for a recovering addict , and having just one cigarette will start the smoking cycle all over again for anyone trying to quit nicotine. Even snus will keep the nicotine cravings going. (Tobacco is a carcinogen. So is asbestos. You wouldn't put asbestos into you mouth would you?)

And Patrician mentioned the "ritual."

I know a couple fellows who are recovered heroin addicts. I met both of them years after they had become clean and sober. I have heard each one of them say they also needed to get over (move past) thoughts of the "ritual" of using heroin. The ritual becomes part of the addiction. Because of this, they refer to themselves as "recovering" rather than "recovered," and see themselves today as being non-users.

Imagine a recovered alcoholic who has been sober for several years. He becomes angry at his next door neighbor and says to himself, "I'll show that no-good %#$*)( son of a @#$%^$*. I'll go get drunk."

Huh? That doesn't make sense. It is totally illogical as to why he would want to harm himself because he is angry at his neighbor, but going back to the addiction is a reaction to stress.

That is exactly like finding yourself in a stressful situation and doing something harmful to you body by lighting up a cigarette. It feels like the thing to do, but it is also illogical.

Of course, addition isn't logical.

Participation in any of the 12-step groups helps people get over the "ritual" of their addiction, and gives a positive outlet for stress, so they don't need to fall back on their addiction.

:-Don

Every time you want a cig, instead of lighting it....set your face on fire.

Shouldn't take more than a week or so to kick the habit...

You have to be mentally focused and willing to really quit cigarettes. If you are not really willing to quit it, no tips, do doctor can help you to quit it.

I used to smoke cigarettes way back 2007. But I managed to quit smoking just this year because now, I'm starting to go to gym everyday. I want to make my body sexy and good muscles. I have no choice but to quit because whenever I smoke, I dont have enough endurance to stay in the gym so I decided to quit. Now, I've gained 9 lbs because I was to skinny before.