Quiting Smoking

[alexk]

Any one out there who is in the process of or has quit? 

I know im young and I started with the boys at school but now ive decided to quit, its stupid, expesive ect so thats it, So far its been one full day and im not feeling that bad.


So my Question to all you Ex- Smokers  is what helped? what made you quit?

thanks

Alex

 

[Alex]

I've been smoke free for about a year. Mind you I was never a huge smoker, but I was in your situation, I started with the kids at school. I think the biggest help for me was just identifying why I was smoking. For me I usually lit up because I was stressed or tired, so I usually smoked after class at school. After that, I found other ways to take care of stress- taking a walk or a run or working out. The biggest thing is just doing something to keep your mind off smoking. That being said, I was still addicted so it didn't always work. If you don't smoke for any particular reason, and you're addicted to the cigarettes, then the hardest but most important thing is keeping your mind of smoking, like I said.

If you tend to light up when your friends do, go somewhere else when they are smoking.

Celebrate your small victories- a day without smoking is decent. Try and keep going. Remember though, don't use the "one more cigarette can't hurt" rule, because the fact is, one more cigarette will hurt if you're trying to quit. Try and go as long as you can- if you have to, try gum or the patch- it doesn't always work for everybody, but it's worth a shot.

Last piece of advice- don't expect it to happen overnight. It might take you really short time, but it could also take you a really really really long time. Good luck!

 

[winchable]

Quite a few of my family memebers smoke, they smoke from these big pipes! It's seen as something that men do on a hot afternoon when they're sitting around debating with each other.
So that was the environment I was around when I was growing up, cigarettes were the next natural step.
The best thing that works is to find another hobby, martial arts are extremely good, or some kind of workout system (Pilates, Tae Bo, etc.) where you can get past a craving AND get in shape. Of course it's useless without willpower, but nicorette tells you the same thing and isn't nearly as healthy.

I never smoked alot, but enough so that I would get pretty irritable if I didn't have one. So perhaps it is different for you, but this is what worked for me. Now I can look at my relatives and friends smoking and I actually get sick thinking about it because I can't stand the thought of smoking then going to the Dojo or doing a workout and being all sick, dizzy and out of breath from smoking.
Word to the wise, the martial arts route is best, there is nothing like the motivation of having your ass kicked in a sparring match to stop you from smoking.

 

[Redeye]

See your doc about a prescription for Zyban.  It's not cheap, but it worked amazingly for me.  Think of it as an investment.

 

[Figure11]

I second the Zyban. I stopped 3 years ago and it makes quitting a whole lot easier. A word of advice: when you quit and have a craving; :crybaby: don't think about living the rest of your life without a smoke, just think about getting through the next five minutes and you will do fine! Good Luck!

 

[alexk]

I only smoked about 5 to 7 ciggarets a day for 2 years

i find id smoke because im bored,  but when i feel the urge to have one i cant, my mom smoked for 29 years and has been smoke free for about a week.

Its kinda funny were bothe quiting smokeing together but only one of us knows about it. 

again thanks

 

[winchable]

Throwing away all your cigarettes helps...or smoking the last pack and not buying them works too. Removing the option to smoke can give your willpower a hand.

 

[mclipper]

Try changing some of your habits.  For example, if you normally had a smoke after a meal, get up and go check your e-mail, wash the dishes, anything that moves you away and takes your mind off that smoke.  Basically, change your routine.  They say that the physical craving for nicotine is gone after 7 to 10 days and after that it's all mental.  That's the hardest part.  Good luck! 

 

[Pieman]

I third zyban, I smoked for 7 years and it worked well. I used a no name brand of the drug called 'Buproprion HCL' which was quite a bit cheaper than zyban but it is really exactly the same thing. The trick with this drug is that you have to be careful to take it at the right time as it can cause serious sleeping problems.

I was supposed to go on a two month treatment, but I stopped after one month and have not even touched a smoke in two years. Nor do I even get the craving when someone is sitting next to me smoking, amazing eh?

Actually, I read that the drug is an anti-depressant and it was given to veterans coming back from Vietnam and one of the side effects was that they did not want to smoke anymore.

 

[dutchie]

Congrats on choosing to quit, and good on ya.

I quit after over 10 yrs of smoking about 2 yrs ago.  I challenged myself everyday not to smoke that day, and I sometimes would set up a reward for not smoking if I thought it was going to be a tough day.

But the biggest things for me was my desire to be a non-smoker. I knew I was going to succeed eventually. I also knew that a certain amount pain I had to go through, and that for every smoke/puff I had, I was putting my self back a few steps, and I was going to have to get through it eventually. Think of it as walking 100 metres over broken glass. The start line is the day you quit, and the 100 m mark is when you don;t have consistant serious cravings. You have to walk that 100 metres, and every smoke you have, go back 10 metres. If you give in to a craving to get over the agony, you will eventually have to go through it again anyhow, so why bother?

I also used nicorette to get me through the tough cravings (about the 3rd or 4th day).

Good luck. 

 

[ladyengineer942]

This is my FIRST post...and how fitting....for the last few months I have been trying soo hard to stop smoking!!   I am back on Zyban and this time I am really hoping that I can stop completely.   Zyban is a good drug but it does have side effects...sleep patterns and dreams are very weird!

I did stop for 11 years but 4 years ago a Sig Emotional Event caused me to reach for a "borrowed" cigarette.   I have regretted it ever since..because now the addiction is so overwelming!

I can last about 2 days and then I start to "climb" the walls.   I understand the one day at a time attitude and to have a cigarette would put me back "10 metres".

I want to thank all of you for your encouragement, support and words of advise.   Please keep it coming!

Perhaps a challenge to all of us who really want to stop??   Mark July 31st on your calendar as an "official quit date!"..it is a full moon day, what better reason to stop than that?

 

[Fruss]

The first thing to say I think is: It ain't gonna be easy!!  But for sure you can do it!!!  I smoked for about 5 years and stopped 1 1/2 years ago..  I used the patches, it helped a lot, you can try to like, go for a run EVERY time you have a craving..  you'll get in shape pretty fast and after running for 5 minutes, you will remember what cigarette brought you..  lazyness, bad lungs, but you're getting better now..

I used the reward system..  I told myself, after 2 months, I will have enough moeny to buy a DVD player (I was kind of retarted on this field ). It worked fine..  Don't keep a pack thinking to take it only if you really NEED it..  don't stick around places where it's easy to smoke..  try to stop the things you used to do when smoking (for me, it was drinking coffee at a restaurant..) and be careful!!!  I almost turned alcoholic after stopping...  trying to do something of my 10 fingers..

Good luck and hang on!!

Frank

 

[Figure11]

Another tip when quitting is not to start counting days. Just forget, if you can, what day you chucked the smokes for the last time. Don't count days or weeks. When a month or two has gone by you'll be wondering why you ever smoked in the first place. It worked for me and that was over three years ago. I know it was sometime in June of 2001 when I quit but I dont know what day it was.

 

[SprCForr]

You'll love being a non-smoker, believe me (1 1/2 pks per day for 20 years) I quit 5 years ago and don't miss it a bit.

21 days and all traces of nicotine will be out of your body. It is strictly mental after that. A couple of weeks farther and you'll notice the stink of smoking on people and in places.   It is not appealing.   :-X It will help reinforce the desire to quit for good. The suggestions about Zyban and breaking routine all help.You'll start getting your lung capacity back too. Handy for PT. Keep thinking about what it has done to your bod and how you are getting better everyday for not lighting up.

I find I will still occasionally get a twinge but just as fast it's gone.

I'm pulling for ya!

 

[alexk]

WOW SprCForr thats a big feat!!! makes what i smoke nothing at all
but today I had a few with the security guard at work, hes an old arty boy and shure has alot of good storeis, i work at an art gallery (theres a resturant inside) doing kitchen stuff and hes a commisionaire.  but after having one after a day and a half when i had it, it made my body feel like garbage, so thats it



But ive decided that thats all im not going to let it happen again, and that after 2 months im gonna buy myself a Walkman for when i run at the gym, I still use and tape player NOW thats OLD SCHOOL lol



again guys and gals thanks alot for your support

 

[muskrat89]

I got hypnotized along with several friends and co-workers. I think it cost about 50 bucks. Worked like a charm for those of us that really wanted to quit. For the people who "just went along" because the others talked them into it, it didn't work as well...

 

[Redeye]

I third zyban, I smoked for 7 years and it worked well. I used a no name brand of the drug called 'Buproprion HCL' which was quite a bit cheaper than zyban but it is really exactly the same thing. The trick with this drug is that you have to be careful to take it at the right time as it can cause serious sleeping problems.

I was supposed to go on a two month treatment, but I stopped after one month and have not even touched a smoke in two years. Nor do I even get the craving when someone is sitting next to me smoking, amazing eh?

Actually, I read that the drug is an anti-depressant and it was given to veterans coming back from Vietnam and one of the side effects was that they did not want to smoke anymore.

The chemical that is the active ingredient in Zyban, buproprion hydrochloride, is extensively used as an anti-depressant under the name "Wellbutrin" - same stuff.  It was discovered to be an effective smoking cessation aid too.

It's pretty common for pharmaceutical companies to rebrand existing drugs for different purposes.  Pfizer discovered that fluorexine HCl (Prozac) also is a good treatment for PMS-type mood disorders, so they sell it also under the name Sarafem for that indication.  Any way to stretch out the patent, right?

 

[Scott]

Zyban gave me the shakes. I chucked the stuff after two months. My boss, however, went on Zyban and the patch, he hasn't smoked in over a year and a half.

I quit once for over a year and what helped me greatly was the fact that I didn't touch booze for the first six months.

 

[winchable]

Oh you absolutely have to lay off the booze too.
I know there's some chemical reason for needing cigarettes and alcohol at the same time if you've had them once, you'll have em again.

 

[Hedgehog18]

just a final note guys and girls quit young as soon as you can buy them your selves the task is 100 times harder in my experience anyway .

Howard Greffel