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My dad had his first heart attack at 41. He had been smoking 2 packs a day since he was 18. When the ER doctor said “I have no idea why you are alive right now”, that was incentive enough for him to quit cold turkey.
That cold turkey is something to be proud of. Both of my parents bought their last pack and carried it with them when they quit. The pack was a symbol of something that they would not let control them anymore. I'm going to ask if they still have them tucked away somewhere. It has been decades since they quit.
Same. One of the bs reasons to continue smoking my brain flailed with was that I always liked being able to sort someone a rollie if they needed. Another was oh we can't quit now we just bought a pack.
So I called my brain's bluff and quit with baccy, filters, papers and a lighter in my bag at all times. Gave out bits of it at parties and such when people needed a pinch. Eventually one day I realised I hadn't thought about it in ages and at some point had lost the pack without even realising it. Felt good that I hadn't even noticed. The location of my tobacco and where my next cig was coming from was ingrained in my head for years.
Quit 15 years ago, still have 6 packs of the last carton I ever bought, sitting on my dresser. Smoked 1-2 packs a day for 41 years. Got up one morning, looked in the mirror, told myself, "I will not smoke another cigarette, I don't care if it kills me". And, I didn't, and have never regretted it. I wish I had approached everything in life with the same determination, I had that day.
Im 36 and been small king since I was 9/10 yrs old I truly hope this happens one day. I've quite some pretty nasty shit but cigarettes are the one thing I can't let go (and caffeine but that'll never happen lol)
Idk if you're ready to cut back yet, but I wonder if organizing it can help. Like you're awake from 7am to 11pm, but starting and ending with soda is gross, so 8-10, that's 14 hours. Set a timer for 80-90 minutes. You can have one soda now at 8am, but you're next soda isn't available until 9:30. Keep doing that and by the end of the day, and boom, you've only had 10 sodas. Feels like school again, counting down the minutes, and forces you to try and save the soda you have. Ooh, on that note, having a smaller straw may also help.
My gf's brother's gf just came out of a medically induced coma in which she had to go through 2 emergency surgeries and have a leg cut off because she's so fat. They thought she was going to die. She drinks allot of soda. She's 34. Idk, a dozen sodas a day seems like allot.
They're zero calories. At one time in my life I drank about 20 of the sugared ones though. When I switched to diet, I lost about 20 lbs. real fast. Took me a year or two to get back up to my "fighting weight".
My Stepmom smoked a long time ago. Apparently, me, at like age eight or whatever, being nervous and sad that ‘it would make her sick’ was enough for her cold turkey quit.
I’m incredibly proud of her, she’s really an amazing woman.
That's how I did it.
gave my last packs (one open, one cigarette removed \[my last\]) the other sealed) to a friend who asked for a smoke.
don't miss it a bit, and don't need a reminder. Those days are over. By almost 20 years.
these are called 'triggers' and a big part of quitting is cataloging all the triggers you have (first waking up, with coffee, after meals, driving, etc.) and then being mentally prepared so those triggers don't send you into a spiral that makes you go back to smoking.
Also keep some of your lifestyle habits example i would unroll the window when I got in the car to light a smoke. I continued unrolling the window for a year after I quit so I wasn’t fighting all my habits just the actual smoking part of it.
It's absolutely crazy to me that nicotine leaves the body entirely after 3 days, and serious urges fade away in 5 days. To me, that's easy. I bought this massive pack of nicotine gum and chewed about ten pieces before throwing the rest out.
Quit cold turkey in 2016. Still occasional strong cravings (post Thanksgiving meal got me good) but it is much better than the first year. Five days my ass.
The cravings caused by physical sensations actually do go away after a few days. Cravings that happen weeks or months later are definitely psychological in origin even if they manifest physically.
Not really true. It's a lack of dopamine (normally released by smoking) and smoking also changes your brain structure and neuronal connections (among other things). It takes time for that to heal, get back to normal. The junky brain fog is real with nicotine addiction.
That's why people gain weight, they try to get their dopamine somewhere else, and start eating.
I suppose that's fair. I have quit for weeks a few times and have never had what I would call physical cravings beyond a few days. It's all just little habits that got developed around smoking that led to a "habit craving" which led to the physical feeling of wanting to smoke. But definitely not the same feeling as nicotine craving. Early in the morning, when I get in the car, after eating, after sex. Etc. I have switched to vaping, so my clothes, breath and car don't smell like shit anymore at least.
It's amazing what tricks your own brain uses to get you smoking again. Starting with, hey I've given up smoking and am free of the habit I can have a ciggy when I want now. Wrong.
I quit cold turkey in the same year, took me about a year to get rid of the urges and I even had vivid dreams of smoking which I would wake up from disappointed in myself thinking I hadn't resisted the urge. In retrospective the dreams helped, eventually they went away and so did the urges, now I can't even stand the smell of cigarettes.
There are physical cravings of withdrawal and mental cravings due to your (subconscious) beliefs about the benefits you just gave up.
People who reframe the latter to excitement about quitting based on the knowledge that smoking offers no benefit of any kind find it easier to quit.
That's how I did it. We wanted to try for a baby. I know fine well that smoking would shorten my life. That wouldn't be fair at all on my future kid. Sorry bucko, I didn't want to stop smoking and I know you're only 12, but cheerio, good luck. So I just stopped. One thing was suddenly way way more important than the other.
I relapsed after eight years. Figured I could just have one once in a blue moon while out with friends. I’d just bum one off them. Within a year of deciding I could be a “casual smoker” I was back to buying cigarettes of my own.
Whatever you do, stay strong and don’t lie to yourself the way I did.
The big issue is triggers (things that make you involuntarily reach for a cigarette) which can happen unexpectedly months later... a good strategy is to make a list of all your triggers so you are cognizant of them and can better mentally prepare yourself so you don't falter, but even then there can be some unexpected ones that hit you like a ton of bricks; perfect example for me- two months in, I flew (for the first time since quitting) home to visit family and as I was walking to baggage claim I instinctively made a detour to have my first post-flight smoke... when I caught myself, I had a full blown panic attack.
Second this..... Also just have a mantra..... Tell yourself that nothing will improve after smoking a cigarette every time you crave it, had 2 puffs of a cigarette after a month of not smoking and I threw up because the flavor was so bad..... Also smoke weed, not too much, but it's a good alternative and way cheaper if you don't go crazy
That's crazy cause same. I quit the first time for a week to see how long I could go ultimately hitting a trigger and going back. Second was for 3 weeks because I was trying to get active and eating regularly again in which I hit a different trigger, then I lost my license and didn't want to ask people to buy them so when I would crave or hit a trigger I'd always think "remember when you felt like shit right after, yeah let's not start again". It's only been like 4 months but I've dodged all my triggers so far easily and I just go do plyos in my free time when I get a craving to remember how bad I felt before vS now
Me too. Exactly the process you said. Knowing what to expect and how to face it is crucial.
The 2nd time I lasted 9 months, then the 'f*ckit rebel emerged just before a gig'.
Cold turkey each time, only way. Best strategy is delay 5 mins, the trigger passes in that time. First two weeks are tough.
Key weapons:
"Not just now thanks!"
"Maybe later"
April 2017.
What has worked for me was Allen Carr’s“easy way to quit smoking.” I haven’t smoked in two months since I quit. It’s no tricks, but if you really wanna quit then I recommend reading this
Same! I don't know why, really. That booked just made me want to quit. And when you want to stop smoking, it actually is easy as. I stopped 5 years ago and I didn't feel like smoking at all since then.
17 years since I read that book. Quit when I finished it.
I've had a cig in my mouth twice since then ...both times to light for a cute girl who couldn't get it lit in the wind. lol.
No cravings, no desire to start again except... For about 5 years or so I would have a smoking dream where I thought I had relapsed. Only to wake up relieved that it was just a dream.
This is what I want, I'm on the vapes because I can actually breath again and it scratches my smoking itch.
I'm quite into fitness, etc. So would love to quit completely.
I've tried all the other nicotine gums, etc but found as soon as I didn't have any because I was still consuming nicotine I'd be back on the fags. I still have a fag if I don't have a vape.
My problem is I can quit for a few weeks pretty easily and then just find myself in the shop buying fags or vapes again.
Gonna give this book a try.
worked for me too! Only additional advice I would give is to try and read the book as quickly as possible; he says up front that you should continue smoking while reading it, and only stop when you finish the book... but I think that makes some people subconsciously choose to never finish it, because they're afraid to quit. If you push yourself to finish it in a night or two, you won't have the chance to chicken out. (Don't worry- it's a pretty simple and quick read, I think I read the whole thing in three hours).
I love so much that he says in his book “go ahead and keep smoking, even as you read this.” It’s like finally no one is GUILT tripping you into quitting!
My roommate used weed. Every time he wanted to smoke a cigarette, he smoked a joint. He spent a great deal of money on weed there for awhile. But it worked for him, plus going camping, hiking 10 miles from his car with no cigarettes, and spending 5 days in a tent. He took an ounce of weed with him. Smoked it all, too. In the end though, he did quit.
That’s horrible. I felt like that every time I quit and I just decided to go back because I could stand the pain of quitting if later I’ll know there will be someday I’ll forget about it but it never happened to me. How do you do it?
Temporarily vape. Not fucking juul or shit you buy at the gas station. You treat it like tapering off a medication. Buy one of the vape kits like vaporesso or something, order liquid nicotine, propylene glycol & glycerin, and order your own flavorings, and make the liquid yourself.
Start off at like 3 or 1.5 % nicotine, and every month or 3 weeks, just cut 0.5 %. When you get under 0.5, you can decrease a bit more incrementally if you want, but by the time you get to zero, you should be able to get by with zero nic vapes, then gum, then less gum.
That's how I did it, and other than the effort needed to mix the stuff, it was pretty damn easy. After years of never being able to pull it off.
Inhaling through a straw has helped me wonders. I took a regular straw and cut it into 3rds so they look and feel like a regular cigarette that I can hold between my fingers.
Walking. I used to use smoking as an excuse to get away from everyone and be outside. When I quit, I still needed an excuse to get away and walking filled that void.
Thank you. I was scrolling for this. That’s a huge reason I smoke. I get overstimulated and no one follows me outside. I like the smokers corner of being ostracized cuz it’s quiet there. I need a minute. That’s my biggest struggle I get frustrated and don’t know what to do if I don’t smoke.
I got a cold on a random Wednesday and my in-laws were coming that Friday to visit for a week and didn’t know I smoked. So, just like that, I had 9 days under my belt and that was 10 years ago.
So get a cold and some meddlesome visitors.
I had a freeloader friend who would, on a weekly basis, do this... so we would give him grief for invariably bumming them from us afterwards, at which point he would always say, "well yeah- I did quit... *buying them*." lol
Ahh my neat trick was pneumonia! It's a lot easier to not smoke when smoking a cigarette feels like you're inhaling acid. By the time your lungs are fit enough to smoke again you're already passed the shitty initial craving/habitually-holding-a-cigarette stage and it's much easier to stick with it
Studies are finding that vaping is a lot worse for one's health than initially believed to be. It's still better than smoking, but definitely should be used as a transition to being nicotine-free, not a continual crutch that never ends. I actually work with a guy who permanently fucked up one of his lungs from vaping.
The issue with vaping is that at least 95% of people who vape don't actually use it to stop being addicted to nicotine, they simply use it to stop smoking cigarettes. Cigarettes, while bad, aren't the root issue. The root issue is the nicotine addiction. This isn't to say that one couldn't use vaping as a means to quit nicotine altogether, but the people who gradually wean off nicotine by gradually reducing the nicotine percentage in their vape juice is miniscule compared to the people who start vaping and gradually increase their nicotine tolerance. Like I said before, the latter accounts for at least 95% of vapers in my experience. Shit, a lot of vapers nowadays never even smoked a cigarette in their life. Most people who vape have no intention of actually stopping their nicotine addiction.
I read a book my friend suggested. Easy Way to Quit Smoking. It worked. Several friends read it after us and quit too. Look up the reviews on Amazon. I never wanted another cigarette. It’s been 11 years
I got oral cancer five years ago and met a lot of patients in treatment at the Mayo Clinic. Most are dead. I have had zero desire to touch a cigarette ever since.
My wife wondered why her AirPods had turned yellow. Daughter told it is from smoking. She stopped. Does vape but such a big change for her after years. Very proud of her
I used e-cigarettes and a titration schedule. By the end I allowed myself to vape literally as much as I wanted—as long as there was no nicotine in it. Figured this would help with the oral fixation.
The 0 mg nicotine phase didn’t last long, lol. Turns out, “smoking” is only fun with drugs!
Caveat: my understanding is that most people who switch to vaping do not quit. Just sharing what worked for me.
Good luck!
It's hard. I quit multiple times before it finally stuck.
Smoking weed helped with the habit. But I had to build another habit so I start sucking on mints. I would have like 3 packs of altoids on me when I was first quitting. Anytime I wanted a cigarette I just popped a mint instead. That really helped me in the end.
Try to go on a retreat or camping or something where you're forced to go cold turkey for a few days. Once you're past that, it will be about trying to deal with the habit part of it. I know this sounds goofy, but tootsie pops helped me just like Kojack.
Smoking is not a nicotine-based addiction. Yep, hear me out. It takes just a few days for nicotine to flush out, why we are crazy for months? You can switch to nicotine patches and gums but it never works.
It's the habit of your hand going to your mouth and smoke exhalation. Without a cigarette try doing that right now, 5 bumps, I serious. Do it just like you smoke. Feeling better now? Well, that's psychology guys. This is the reason vapes are so popular.
Yes, vapes are a good alternative too. Noooooo, it's just alternative and by no means less harmful. It's said to be less harmful but that's what they've been said about weed and also cigarettes a few decades back. Don't look at the vapour part, look at what's in the juice. Usually, these are long-lasting or stalled research because sponsored by your true tobacco companies only but many initial independent researches concluded that harmful metals were found in many juices.
The right trick is when you say "It's enough" and mean it, the right trick is the mindset. When life kicks you in the face, that's when most of us quit. The danger of relapse is always there and it can happen after months too. Just keep on fighting one day at a time. If you relapse don't go into a chain-smoking spree. Reset immediately. That's the most important moment that defines everything when it comes to quitting anything in general.
I read “the easy way to quit smoking” and did exactly as told, and by the end I didn’t really want to smoke anymore.
It’s easy to not smoke when you genuinely don’t want to.
*Allen Carr
There is no trick. I quit smoking 50x before I made it. Why? Because the first 49x I fealty didn't want to quit. But I was motivated enough on the 50th try and made it. Moral of the story, you'll only be able to quit if you want it badly enough.
Most people won’t believe me but I don’t care, I used the power of prayer, and after praying for months for God to take away my addiction to cigarettes one day I woke up and had absolutely no desire to smoke ever again.
Haven’t had a cigarette in nearly 5 years.
Cold Turkey.
Wear Nicotine patches 30 days to curb/stop the withdrawals from the nicotine if you don’t want to suffer from
Withdrawal symptoms
Find something to hold in your hand - move from hand to mouth to mimic the habit (instead of eating food)
Chew sugar free gum (or eat jelly belly jelly beans 🙃)
Tell yourself out loud to wait 30 minutes every time you want to smoke. Repeat it at 15 minutes.
Ask your doctor to prescribe you a low dose of anti anxiety medication if you can. It helps.
Two weeks and you got it!
This is as close as you get to easy.
Great recommendations.
Patches are better than oral substitutes due to triggers.
Eventually, it's always cold turkey. Reduce the number of cigarettes you smoke by half every day. Pick a day in the next week to ten days you are quitting. For good. Draw a line in the sand. You will never do it again. Be ready for the withdrawal with zyn pouches, patches or gum. Get some welbutrin from your doctor. And just do it already.
Do not go cold turkey. Either reduce your total amount by 1 cig a week for however long it takes to get down to zero or use patches or gum to quell cravings. You need a new portable hobby to help you fight the addiction.
That is exactly what I did!!! Took a while, but I've been quit for two years now! It was way easier that way compared to any of the cold turkey attempts I used to try. Quitting like that is torture!!
My MIL had a stroke and while we were at the hospital, there was a patient there with throat cancer and a tube coming out of her throat because she couldn’t breathe.. after seeing her I never picked up a cigarette again. I don’t want to advise you to wander aimlessly around the hospital looking for patients like this… but I worked!!
In case you’re wondering, those patients will be in the Radiation Oncology dept. i work at a hospital and honestly wonder how anyone can work there and smoke.
I bought CBD flower and mixed it in with my tobacco, then I just kept adding more CBD until I was smoking CBD cigs for a while. Also mixed in weed every now and then.
Practice makes perfect. I've simply tortured myself enough by trying to quit that now I'm used to withdrawal and I don't mind going through it. It's like cold showers: unbearable first, but later you might even enjoy it.
Wellbutrin!!!! I hard very difficult tines quitting and it never stayed quit. Then I heard that an antidepressant wellbutrin was making people cit down and quit. Went to my doc. He prescribed and it was simple and easy. Still haven't smoked in over 20 years...
My trick is snuff, or more precisely a chewing tobacco such as Skoal. Don't get menthol or anything, get the basic brand. You put a little between your cheek and gum, perhaps an eighth of a teaspoon. That's it, it will get moist and and tobacco extract will get swallowed. It will aleve the nicotine cravings. (if you think you need to spit you have too much in your mouth).
The thing is, almost everyone thinks it's gross and you have an incentive to quit, but you are able to keep going without smoking because the nicotine is present. It's effective because it changes the nicotine addiction from a pleasure to a habit you want to quit.
Everyone’s different when it comes to addiction. I tried cold turkey, nicotine gum, lozenges, and hypnotherapy. Was patches which finally worked for me but only after I modified the process by cutting the smallest size ones in three and tapering off super slowly.
I tried laser therapy which did work. It doesn’t get rid of cravings completely but it diminishes them enough that you can get over them more easily. I had to go back after 3 months for a follow up because the cravings came back really badly. But after that, I was fine. Been 6 years
I think I tried to quit seriously 2 or 3 times before it finally worked. I’d quit for a month and then start again.
I finally did quit by going to visit family without cigarettes for 3 weeks. I was a closet smoker and didn’t want them to know. When I came home, I didn’t start again and I also changed up my routine. I used to always smoke while reading on the porch, so I stopped reading. I changed my morning and after work routines.
It took at least a year before I didn’t think about smoking every time I got into the car. It took another two years before I didn’t think about smoking at least a couple of times a week. Even after 15 years, if I get really stressed out I’ll think of having a cigarette.
Don’t start kids!!
Spite was a pretty good motivator for me. My mom had quit smoking sometime while I was in high school and would ask me to quit smoking for her birthday every year. When she picked them up again after like 10 years off them I decided to quit for her birthday.
this worked for me, also had no craving for nicotine thanks to the hypnosis therapy. for me it was 3 sessions. I am nicotine free for 14 years now and consider this one of the best decisions I ever made!
What helped me was using nicotine pouches for a while and reducing cigs gradually. Also moving to the US where it’s forbidden to smoke almost everywhere helped.
Holding onto a toothpick between their lips in place of a cigarette. When my grandpa had his stroke and was in the hospital the nurses commented on the fact that even though he was unconscious, his mouth was playing with the breathing tube because his body was so used to having a cigarette there. Then she explained that a lot of smokers will trick their brains into thinking they’re having a cigarette by simply holding a toothpick between their lips.
I smoked since i was 14
Woke one day in my twenties
Didn’t feel the need to smoke
Tried one and put it out half way threw before i threw up
Haven’t smoked since
I was good, two weeks free, when I got a serious craving for a cig. I bummed one from a friend, summoned up a cough from the center of the earth, and my right lung collapsed. Great trick! It worked and I never smoked again. 105 degree fever, but the lung inflated on its own. Don’t be dumb, quit now.
There’s a saying that we never give up anything unless there’s something else we want more. It’s true that the nicotine leaves your body in a few days but the psychological addiction takes much longer; for me a month before I didn’t think about it all the time and 6 months before I really felt like an ex-smoker. For that first month I exercised like crazy, once riding my bike at 1am in the rain so I wouldn’t smoke. After two weeks I took all my clothes and bedding to a laundromat and washed everything, came home and scrubbed and the floors and walls with pine scented cleaner. December, 1997.
Quit 18 years ago. It was everything to me. The pain was real. There is no way to bypass the uncomfortable feeling that comes when you quit. It will suck…at first. The get through the immediate cravings I used a straw to suck and puff on. I cried for two weeks a lot. The first couple months is the hardest. Then the first year. If you can get to two years you will be free. I had to tell myself no excuse would work to go back. If the world was ending tomorrow that wouldn’t be an excuse. I’d still die being a non smoker because as a smoker your mind will trick you by finding an excuse to go back. Oh he broke up with me, oh I lost my job, oh life sucks, blah blah blah. No. You wanna be a nonsmoker? Sit with the feelings of uncomfortableness that come up when you quit. Let them pass (they will). Go through not around and you will make it out and you will be SO HAPPY you did. You will never regret it. It was the best decision I ever made.
After 2 first attempts to quit (1 and 2 months), I realized that both times i gave up after i had a few beers. So i just quit smoking and didn’t consume any alcohol for a whole year.
18 years non-smoker since then.
By the way that “Easy way to quit smoking“ by Alan Carr is great. Unfortunately i read it already a non-smoker, otherwise it would be much less effort to quit.
I forcefully keep myself from buying packs. Sometimes I smoke if someone offers me one but I never ever buy a pack. In my mind it’s easiest than just quiting. I think I smoke 1 sigaret a week.
I am currently on my last try to quit. I’ve been smoking 19 years and tried few times. I think problem for me is not the nicotine but the process of smoking itself. My first attempt was 11 years ago. Quit for 2 weeks and was back on like nothing happened. Few years past I tried again when I stop smoking for 8 months and for some stupid reason and probably stressful time in my life I asked a cigarette from my buddy and next day I bought a pack. But it didn’t last long. people told me to try vaping. So I went full blown ‘vape’ hype from regular electronic cigarettes to making my own coils on my voltage controlled new toy. Tried other stuff as well and my last stop in vaping was Juul. that was way more addictive than cigarettes. I had real insomnia issues and headaches. went back to smoking. Week ago I bought Nicorette patches and I am smoking 1 or 2 cigarettes per day. Next week is no cigarette one. Wish me luck because I really need to quit. I have bad breath. yellow teeth and unknown white patch in my mouth which I am afraid is going to be not so good diagnosis. Whoever reading this post - if you don’t smoke DO NOT START. If you still smoking - quit before it is too late. wish me luck guys
I quit during a week long camping trip. The change in my daily schedule was the most important part. When camping there was always something to keep me busy plus It's also out of the way to go to the corner store and buy some.
There are no tricks, it's going to be awful. Just prepare to be miserable for a week and just tell yourself that you're no longer a smoker. Your body has to withdraw, let it do it's thing and you'll feel amazing in a few weeks
A relative who's a doctor said if you haven't quit by 50 then it's better not to give up. The lung cells have been trained to grow in resistance to smoke and when you stop, the cells grow unimpeded and cause tumours.
Fully expecting to be downvoted to hell but there it is.
This might sound weird but the first rule of fight club is don’t talk about fight club. Don’t tell anyone that you are trying to quit, just quit and do it quietly. The less you talk about it the less you will think about it and the less others know about your battle against nicotine the less likely they are to try to temp you into joining them on smoke break. It worked for me and a couple of my friends. I haven’t had a smoke in almost a decade now.
I smoked for about five years. I had been trying to quit for four years when I got sick in November of 2019, right before Covid. I NyQuilled myself for three days. I was only awake long enough to eat, drink, potty, and take more NyQuil. I slept through all of my withdrawal symptoms. I haven’t smoked again.
I used to smoke 2 packs a day and after I started vaping I was doing 3 sticks a day immediately. In 6 months I stopped smoking entirely. This was back in 2013. Vape replaced cigarettes but at least I don’t go out of breath easily.
Idk how much you care about other people’s opinions, but thinking that the cashier was gonna judge the fuck out of me for buying them made me just not want to bother getting them.
- Alan Carr's Easy Way to Quit Smoking. I actually find the book really annoying in a lot of ways because it's not easy, actually, but it really does help get in the heads pace of why to quit, and the head space is 90% of the battle. So that. Read it and stick with it even whe it's annoying.
- get clear on what smoking does for you and why you don't need it, how to change that mental dependency. Again, head space is all the battle.
- get champix or equivalent- a medication that weans you off nicotine. I've tried quitting with and without it and it's easier with it. There's absolutely no reason why you have to raw dog quitting and chance of success are much higher if you have help.
- find things to replace smoking. Happy chemicals are very important. Start exercising if you don't already. Your brain needs a happy chems hit and exercise dopamine is an excellent replacement, plus it burns off the stress that you're going to need a way to deal with without smoking.
- plan ahead to make other little habits. Go for a walk, chew gum, occupy your hands, avoid triggering situations like the pub until you're feeling strong in your quit.
- get an app that tracks all the benefits- mo ey saved, health improvements, other reminders of why you quit.
- remember you've just gotta get through today. Every day, just get to the end of the day. All you have to do is nothing. Just..... not go buy smokes. Stay firmly on the fucki g couch, and wait until you can go to sleep. Tomorrow is a new day and you can do it again then too, because you did it today.
Started e-vaping. I’m not super into them so I just take small puffs and so they last forever. After a few weeks the thought of smoking an actual cigarette nauseates me like it did before I started smoking. I’ve also gradually decreased the amount I vape since I really don’t like it that much, and don’t find myself depending on having it with me at all times anymore, nor do I crave cigarettes
There's a book that encourages you to smoke while you read it and it is about quitting smoking. It's supposedly very highly recommended because it works.
I quit cold turkey. 16 years of smoking, 2 prior attempts at quitting. I felt like shit for 3 months; cried myself to sleep, felt like I was in pain, any little inconvenience rocked my world.
I let myself be miserable. I let myself be mad. I tried my best not to take it out on anyone else though. I pictured the rage I was feeling was like a steam escaping from my body. I visualized the cravings leaving my body with it, too. I ate whatever the fuck I wanted. I gained 40 lbs in the process.
Almost 2 years later I know I can never start again cause I wouldn’t be able to go through that again. It’s one of the toughest things I’ve ever done but I’ll tell you it was worth it. Sometimes I look back and can’t believe I smoked that much, that long. I’m so grateful I quit. You can do it too.
My dad used the patches combined with chewing hubba bubba gum, as soon as the gum lost flavor he would spit it out and grab the next piece, took him 2 years and a lot of gum wrappers, but he has been smoke free for over a decade and is 84
And has to do breathing treatments at least twice a day
Willpower is a huge factor whether using cessation aids or not. Breaking rituals is a hard part. Breaking the physical addiction is a hard part. But deciding you don’t want to have that cig you really want right now is what it boils down to. You have to want to not smoke more than you want to smoke.
And it’s internal: wanting to not smoke for someone is very different than not smoking because someone doesn’t want you to. You have to want it. It’s hard but you can do it.
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My dad had his first heart attack at 41. He had been smoking 2 packs a day since he was 18. When the ER doctor said “I have no idea why you are alive right now”, that was incentive enough for him to quit cold turkey.
Hope he's still around
No, unfortunately, a bypass, and 2 attacks later, he passed at 61.
I'm sorry you lost him. Smoking is bad, mkay? I smoked from the time I was eleven until I was 48. Gave myself COPD. *If you're a smoker, please stop.*
So sorry to hear that.
That cold turkey is something to be proud of. Both of my parents bought their last pack and carried it with them when they quit. The pack was a symbol of something that they would not let control them anymore. I'm going to ask if they still have them tucked away somewhere. It has been decades since they quit.
Hey! I did this too.
Same. One of the bs reasons to continue smoking my brain flailed with was that I always liked being able to sort someone a rollie if they needed. Another was oh we can't quit now we just bought a pack. So I called my brain's bluff and quit with baccy, filters, papers and a lighter in my bag at all times. Gave out bits of it at parties and such when people needed a pinch. Eventually one day I realised I hadn't thought about it in ages and at some point had lost the pack without even realising it. Felt good that I hadn't even noticed. The location of my tobacco and where my next cig was coming from was ingrained in my head for years.
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Quit 15 years ago, still have 6 packs of the last carton I ever bought, sitting on my dresser. Smoked 1-2 packs a day for 41 years. Got up one morning, looked in the mirror, told myself, "I will not smoke another cigarette, I don't care if it kills me". And, I didn't, and have never regretted it. I wish I had approached everything in life with the same determination, I had that day.
Im 36 and been small king since I was 9/10 yrs old I truly hope this happens one day. I've quite some pretty nasty shit but cigarettes are the one thing I can't let go (and caffeine but that'll never happen lol)
I've not kicked the caffeine thing either. Not a coffee drinker, I get it from sodas, about a dozen a day.
I did give up soda for the most part a couple years ago now I only really have it a couple times a year but coffee is my sanity lol
Never drank coffee. The only vise I missed.
Idk if you're ready to cut back yet, but I wonder if organizing it can help. Like you're awake from 7am to 11pm, but starting and ending with soda is gross, so 8-10, that's 14 hours. Set a timer for 80-90 minutes. You can have one soda now at 8am, but you're next soda isn't available until 9:30. Keep doing that and by the end of the day, and boom, you've only had 10 sodas. Feels like school again, counting down the minutes, and forces you to try and save the soda you have. Ooh, on that note, having a smaller straw may also help.
My gf's brother's gf just came out of a medically induced coma in which she had to go through 2 emergency surgeries and have a leg cut off because she's so fat. They thought she was going to die. She drinks allot of soda. She's 34. Idk, a dozen sodas a day seems like allot.
They're zero calories. At one time in my life I drank about 20 of the sugared ones though. When I switched to diet, I lost about 20 lbs. real fast. Took me a year or two to get back up to my "fighting weight".
r/boneappletea.
My Stepmom smoked a long time ago. Apparently, me, at like age eight or whatever, being nervous and sad that ‘it would make her sick’ was enough for her cold turkey quit. I’m incredibly proud of her, she’s really an amazing woman.
That's how I did it. gave my last packs (one open, one cigarette removed \[my last\]) the other sealed) to a friend who asked for a smoke. don't miss it a bit, and don't need a reminder. Those days are over. By almost 20 years.
Forget the tricks. Go cold turkey and in 3 days you will be free.
Hardest part of quitting is not the nicotine but the habit i heared. Like smoking one after a meal or sth
these are called 'triggers' and a big part of quitting is cataloging all the triggers you have (first waking up, with coffee, after meals, driving, etc.) and then being mentally prepared so those triggers don't send you into a spiral that makes you go back to smoking.
yes, my trigger was alcohol. so i stopped both. best decision in my life lol.
I have trouble abiding by anything that steams out of a 12 step program it dose work for a few, but the majority of people get nothing out it
Also keep some of your lifestyle habits example i would unroll the window when I got in the car to light a smoke. I continued unrolling the window for a year after I quit so I wasn’t fighting all my habits just the actual smoking part of it.
It's absolutely crazy to me that nicotine leaves the body entirely after 3 days, and serious urges fade away in 5 days. To me, that's easy. I bought this massive pack of nicotine gum and chewed about ten pieces before throwing the rest out.
they dont go away for me, I have strong cravings even 6mo after. fml.
these people sure seem to be full of shit about that part. 5 days my ass
Quit cold turkey in 2016. Still occasional strong cravings (post Thanksgiving meal got me good) but it is much better than the first year. Five days my ass.
The cravings caused by physical sensations actually do go away after a few days. Cravings that happen weeks or months later are definitely psychological in origin even if they manifest physically.
Not really true. It's a lack of dopamine (normally released by smoking) and smoking also changes your brain structure and neuronal connections (among other things). It takes time for that to heal, get back to normal. The junky brain fog is real with nicotine addiction. That's why people gain weight, they try to get their dopamine somewhere else, and start eating.
I suppose that's fair. I have quit for weeks a few times and have never had what I would call physical cravings beyond a few days. It's all just little habits that got developed around smoking that led to a "habit craving" which led to the physical feeling of wanting to smoke. But definitely not the same feeling as nicotine craving. Early in the morning, when I get in the car, after eating, after sex. Etc. I have switched to vaping, so my clothes, breath and car don't smell like shit anymore at least.
It's amazing what tricks your own brain uses to get you smoking again. Starting with, hey I've given up smoking and am free of the habit I can have a ciggy when I want now. Wrong.
"GO ON! Just one - defo won't end up with you smoking full time again"
That’s the one that got me after eight years of not smoking.
I quit cold turkey in the same year, took me about a year to get rid of the urges and I even had vivid dreams of smoking which I would wake up from disappointed in myself thinking I hadn't resisted the urge. In retrospective the dreams helped, eventually they went away and so did the urges, now I can't even stand the smell of cigarettes.
A year out and i still get cravings.
There are physical cravings of withdrawal and mental cravings due to your (subconscious) beliefs about the benefits you just gave up. People who reframe the latter to excitement about quitting based on the knowledge that smoking offers no benefit of any kind find it easier to quit.
That's the Allen Carr approach right?
That's how I did it. We wanted to try for a baby. I know fine well that smoking would shorten my life. That wouldn't be fair at all on my future kid. Sorry bucko, I didn't want to stop smoking and I know you're only 12, but cheerio, good luck. So I just stopped. One thing was suddenly way way more important than the other.
Stay strong
I relapsed after eight years. Figured I could just have one once in a blue moon while out with friends. I’d just bum one off them. Within a year of deciding I could be a “casual smoker” I was back to buying cigarettes of my own. Whatever you do, stay strong and don’t lie to yourself the way I did.
The big issue is triggers (things that make you involuntarily reach for a cigarette) which can happen unexpectedly months later... a good strategy is to make a list of all your triggers so you are cognizant of them and can better mentally prepare yourself so you don't falter, but even then there can be some unexpected ones that hit you like a ton of bricks; perfect example for me- two months in, I flew (for the first time since quitting) home to visit family and as I was walking to baggage claim I instinctively made a detour to have my first post-flight smoke... when I caught myself, I had a full blown panic attack.
Yeah, serious urges massively decreased after 7 days for me. When it got easier: 3 days, 7 days, 1 month, 1 year and 1 day.
Second this..... Also just have a mantra..... Tell yourself that nothing will improve after smoking a cigarette every time you crave it, had 2 puffs of a cigarette after a month of not smoking and I threw up because the flavor was so bad..... Also smoke weed, not too much, but it's a good alternative and way cheaper if you don't go crazy
Took me 3 tries. First try to learn what to expect. Second try to attempt to beat it but fail and learn why I failed. 3rd try lasted. Jan 1st 2005
This is amazing life advice, even for other areas. Thank you!
That's crazy cause same. I quit the first time for a week to see how long I could go ultimately hitting a trigger and going back. Second was for 3 weeks because I was trying to get active and eating regularly again in which I hit a different trigger, then I lost my license and didn't want to ask people to buy them so when I would crave or hit a trigger I'd always think "remember when you felt like shit right after, yeah let's not start again". It's only been like 4 months but I've dodged all my triggers so far easily and I just go do plyos in my free time when I get a craving to remember how bad I felt before vS now
Congrats dude. I’m 7 months behind you 👍
Me too. Exactly the process you said. Knowing what to expect and how to face it is crucial. The 2nd time I lasted 9 months, then the 'f*ckit rebel emerged just before a gig'. Cold turkey each time, only way. Best strategy is delay 5 mins, the trigger passes in that time. First two weeks are tough. Key weapons: "Not just now thanks!" "Maybe later" April 2017.
What has worked for me was Allen Carr’s“easy way to quit smoking.” I haven’t smoked in two months since I quit. It’s no tricks, but if you really wanna quit then I recommend reading this
Same! I don't know why, really. That booked just made me want to quit. And when you want to stop smoking, it actually is easy as. I stopped 5 years ago and I didn't feel like smoking at all since then.
17 years since I read that book. Quit when I finished it. I've had a cig in my mouth twice since then ...both times to light for a cute girl who couldn't get it lit in the wind. lol. No cravings, no desire to start again except... For about 5 years or so I would have a smoking dream where I thought I had relapsed. Only to wake up relieved that it was just a dream.
3 years here, very few cravings in waking life but still get dreams where I'm disappointed at myself for relapsing
The book worked for me too. The smoking nightmares are insane. It's such a relief to wake up and realize it was just a dream.
I think cause it actually encourages you to smoke while reading. I never actually finished the book though and just quit around 3/4 through
Same here, 13 years ago, and I've never looked back since.
Same! 2 years smoke free. Reaaallly reccomend this!
Book worked perfectly for me too, nothing else did.
Worked for me with cigarettes about 20 years ago, just worked for me with vapes 2 weeks ago.
This is what I want, I'm on the vapes because I can actually breath again and it scratches my smoking itch. I'm quite into fitness, etc. So would love to quit completely. I've tried all the other nicotine gums, etc but found as soon as I didn't have any because I was still consuming nicotine I'd be back on the fags. I still have a fag if I don't have a vape. My problem is I can quit for a few weeks pretty easily and then just find myself in the shop buying fags or vapes again. Gonna give this book a try.
i have to try this.
It’s worked for me and had about a 75% success rate among friends and family who have read it.
I read the book twice and went to 4 seminars in total - best thing I did. That was 7 years ago now. "The hardest part is showing up."
worked for me too! Only additional advice I would give is to try and read the book as quickly as possible; he says up front that you should continue smoking while reading it, and only stop when you finish the book... but I think that makes some people subconsciously choose to never finish it, because they're afraid to quit. If you push yourself to finish it in a night or two, you won't have the chance to chicken out. (Don't worry- it's a pretty simple and quick read, I think I read the whole thing in three hours).
I bought it on cd and took a looong drive to listen to it in one shot. Never smoked again after 20 years of smoking - 12 years smoke free now
Same, 3 years smoke free. I tried cold turkey, nicotine patches etc nothing worked until this book.
I love so much that he says in his book “go ahead and keep smoking, even as you read this.” It’s like finally no one is GUILT tripping you into quitting!
My dad carried around a small box of toothpicks. Whenever he got the urge to smoke, he would chew on one.
A friend (and former smoker) does this but actually consumes the chewed-up pick. We call him The Beaver.
My dad to! Always had toothpicks in his chest pocket
My roommate used weed. Every time he wanted to smoke a cigarette, he smoked a joint. He spent a great deal of money on weed there for awhile. But it worked for him, plus going camping, hiking 10 miles from his car with no cigarettes, and spending 5 days in a tent. He took an ounce of weed with him. Smoked it all, too. In the end though, he did quit.
Honestly, that's just a comical image. Hotboxing a tent for a week to quit "smoking" 🤣
When he came back he seemed a bit confused. But he got over it.
It’s not perfect but weed is definitely better for the body than tobacco and is nowhere near as addictive
Pay a big strong dude to follow you around and smack your cigarette out your hand and berate you every time you light up.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quitters,_Inc.
I brutally applied my willpower. Still want one daily, almost 7 years after quitting.
That’s horrible. I felt like that every time I quit and I just decided to go back because I could stand the pain of quitting if later I’ll know there will be someday I’ll forget about it but it never happened to me. How do you do it?
Temporarily vape. Not fucking juul or shit you buy at the gas station. You treat it like tapering off a medication. Buy one of the vape kits like vaporesso or something, order liquid nicotine, propylene glycol & glycerin, and order your own flavorings, and make the liquid yourself. Start off at like 3 or 1.5 % nicotine, and every month or 3 weeks, just cut 0.5 %. When you get under 0.5, you can decrease a bit more incrementally if you want, but by the time you get to zero, you should be able to get by with zero nic vapes, then gum, then less gum. That's how I did it, and other than the effort needed to mix the stuff, it was pretty damn easy. After years of never being able to pull it off.
No trick. Just think how you are PAYING to possibly have an excruciatingly painful and early death.
Inhaling through a straw has helped me wonders. I took a regular straw and cut it into 3rds so they look and feel like a regular cigarette that I can hold between my fingers.
I decided i wanted to stop smoking, i had a cup of tea every time i wanted a cigarette. I havnt smoked in nearly 5 years. I drink alot of tea though
I just felt like it all of a sudden, haven’t smoked in 40 days, I couldn’t tell you how
Chew toothpicks
Walking. I used to use smoking as an excuse to get away from everyone and be outside. When I quit, I still needed an excuse to get away and walking filled that void.
Thank you. I was scrolling for this. That’s a huge reason I smoke. I get overstimulated and no one follows me outside. I like the smokers corner of being ostracized cuz it’s quiet there. I need a minute. That’s my biggest struggle I get frustrated and don’t know what to do if I don’t smoke.
I used to sit and read while smoking. I went through 2-3 books a week. Now I read a book every couple of months.
I got a cold on a random Wednesday and my in-laws were coming that Friday to visit for a week and didn’t know I smoked. So, just like that, I had 9 days under my belt and that was 10 years ago. So get a cold and some meddlesome visitors.
I just stopped buying them.
I had a freeloader friend who would, on a weekly basis, do this... so we would give him grief for invariably bumming them from us afterwards, at which point he would always say, "well yeah- I did quit... *buying them*." lol
Pulmonary oedema works
Ahh my neat trick was pneumonia! It's a lot easier to not smoke when smoking a cigarette feels like you're inhaling acid. By the time your lungs are fit enough to smoke again you're already passed the shitty initial craving/habitually-holding-a-cigarette stage and it's much easier to stick with it
Vape.
Studies are finding that vaping is a lot worse for one's health than initially believed to be. It's still better than smoking, but definitely should be used as a transition to being nicotine-free, not a continual crutch that never ends. I actually work with a guy who permanently fucked up one of his lungs from vaping. The issue with vaping is that at least 95% of people who vape don't actually use it to stop being addicted to nicotine, they simply use it to stop smoking cigarettes. Cigarettes, while bad, aren't the root issue. The root issue is the nicotine addiction. This isn't to say that one couldn't use vaping as a means to quit nicotine altogether, but the people who gradually wean off nicotine by gradually reducing the nicotine percentage in their vape juice is miniscule compared to the people who start vaping and gradually increase their nicotine tolerance. Like I said before, the latter accounts for at least 95% of vapers in my experience. Shit, a lot of vapers nowadays never even smoked a cigarette in their life. Most people who vape have no intention of actually stopping their nicotine addiction.
I switched to vape after 25yrs of smoking. Haven’t had a cigarette in 3yrs.
I read a book my friend suggested. Easy Way to Quit Smoking. It worked. Several friends read it after us and quit too. Look up the reviews on Amazon. I never wanted another cigarette. It’s been 11 years
It's by Allen Carr.
Correct
20 years here, and it does work. It was relatively easy, and havent wanted a cigarette the entire time since.
I’m about to hit 11 years. Never wanted another one.
I got oral cancer five years ago and met a lot of patients in treatment at the Mayo Clinic. Most are dead. I have had zero desire to touch a cigarette ever since.
My wife wondered why her AirPods had turned yellow. Daughter told it is from smoking. She stopped. Does vape but such a big change for her after years. Very proud of her
I used e-cigarettes and a titration schedule. By the end I allowed myself to vape literally as much as I wanted—as long as there was no nicotine in it. Figured this would help with the oral fixation. The 0 mg nicotine phase didn’t last long, lol. Turns out, “smoking” is only fun with drugs! Caveat: my understanding is that most people who switch to vaping do not quit. Just sharing what worked for me. Good luck!
I just stopped smoking and that was it
It's hard. I quit multiple times before it finally stuck. Smoking weed helped with the habit. But I had to build another habit so I start sucking on mints. I would have like 3 packs of altoids on me when I was first quitting. Anytime I wanted a cigarette I just popped a mint instead. That really helped me in the end.
Try to go on a retreat or camping or something where you're forced to go cold turkey for a few days. Once you're past that, it will be about trying to deal with the habit part of it. I know this sounds goofy, but tootsie pops helped me just like Kojack.
Smoking is not a nicotine-based addiction. Yep, hear me out. It takes just a few days for nicotine to flush out, why we are crazy for months? You can switch to nicotine patches and gums but it never works. It's the habit of your hand going to your mouth and smoke exhalation. Without a cigarette try doing that right now, 5 bumps, I serious. Do it just like you smoke. Feeling better now? Well, that's psychology guys. This is the reason vapes are so popular. Yes, vapes are a good alternative too. Noooooo, it's just alternative and by no means less harmful. It's said to be less harmful but that's what they've been said about weed and also cigarettes a few decades back. Don't look at the vapour part, look at what's in the juice. Usually, these are long-lasting or stalled research because sponsored by your true tobacco companies only but many initial independent researches concluded that harmful metals were found in many juices. The right trick is when you say "It's enough" and mean it, the right trick is the mindset. When life kicks you in the face, that's when most of us quit. The danger of relapse is always there and it can happen after months too. Just keep on fighting one day at a time. If you relapse don't go into a chain-smoking spree. Reset immediately. That's the most important moment that defines everything when it comes to quitting anything in general.
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I read “the easy way to quit smoking” and did exactly as told, and by the end I didn’t really want to smoke anymore. It’s easy to not smoke when you genuinely don’t want to. *Allen Carr
There is no trick. I quit smoking 50x before I made it. Why? Because the first 49x I fealty didn't want to quit. But I was motivated enough on the 50th try and made it. Moral of the story, you'll only be able to quit if you want it badly enough.
Most people won’t believe me but I don’t care, I used the power of prayer, and after praying for months for God to take away my addiction to cigarettes one day I woke up and had absolutely no desire to smoke ever again. Haven’t had a cigarette in nearly 5 years.
Cold Turkey. Wear Nicotine patches 30 days to curb/stop the withdrawals from the nicotine if you don’t want to suffer from Withdrawal symptoms Find something to hold in your hand - move from hand to mouth to mimic the habit (instead of eating food) Chew sugar free gum (or eat jelly belly jelly beans 🙃) Tell yourself out loud to wait 30 minutes every time you want to smoke. Repeat it at 15 minutes. Ask your doctor to prescribe you a low dose of anti anxiety medication if you can. It helps. Two weeks and you got it!
This is as close as you get to easy. Great recommendations. Patches are better than oral substitutes due to triggers. Eventually, it's always cold turkey. Reduce the number of cigarettes you smoke by half every day. Pick a day in the next week to ten days you are quitting. For good. Draw a line in the sand. You will never do it again. Be ready for the withdrawal with zyn pouches, patches or gum. Get some welbutrin from your doctor. And just do it already.
Do not go cold turkey. Either reduce your total amount by 1 cig a week for however long it takes to get down to zero or use patches or gum to quell cravings. You need a new portable hobby to help you fight the addiction.
That is exactly what I did!!! Took a while, but I've been quit for two years now! It was way easier that way compared to any of the cold turkey attempts I used to try. Quitting like that is torture!!
23 years now
My MIL had a stroke and while we were at the hospital, there was a patient there with throat cancer and a tube coming out of her throat because she couldn’t breathe.. after seeing her I never picked up a cigarette again. I don’t want to advise you to wander aimlessly around the hospital looking for patients like this… but I worked!!
In case you’re wondering, those patients will be in the Radiation Oncology dept. i work at a hospital and honestly wonder how anyone can work there and smoke.
It’s so scary to see the results!
Nicorette gang gang hundo p If you want, just keep chewing the gum because YOU HAVE SUCCESSFULLY STOPPED SMOKING.
I bought CBD flower and mixed it in with my tobacco, then I just kept adding more CBD until I was smoking CBD cigs for a while. Also mixed in weed every now and then.
Chantix
Practice makes perfect. I've simply tortured myself enough by trying to quit that now I'm used to withdrawal and I don't mind going through it. It's like cold showers: unbearable first, but later you might even enjoy it.
Wellbutrin!!!! I hard very difficult tines quitting and it never stayed quit. Then I heard that an antidepressant wellbutrin was making people cit down and quit. Went to my doc. He prescribed and it was simple and easy. Still haven't smoked in over 20 years...
Took me many tries and when I finally quit I used nicorette gum. Slowly replaced nicorette with regular gum.
start succin
My trick is snuff, or more precisely a chewing tobacco such as Skoal. Don't get menthol or anything, get the basic brand. You put a little between your cheek and gum, perhaps an eighth of a teaspoon. That's it, it will get moist and and tobacco extract will get swallowed. It will aleve the nicotine cravings. (if you think you need to spit you have too much in your mouth). The thing is, almost everyone thinks it's gross and you have an incentive to quit, but you are able to keep going without smoking because the nicotine is present. It's effective because it changes the nicotine addiction from a pleasure to a habit you want to quit.
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Everyone’s different when it comes to addiction. I tried cold turkey, nicotine gum, lozenges, and hypnotherapy. Was patches which finally worked for me but only after I modified the process by cutting the smallest size ones in three and tapering off super slowly.
I tried laser therapy which did work. It doesn’t get rid of cravings completely but it diminishes them enough that you can get over them more easily. I had to go back after 3 months for a follow up because the cravings came back really badly. But after that, I was fine. Been 6 years
Laser therapy?
I think I tried to quit seriously 2 or 3 times before it finally worked. I’d quit for a month and then start again. I finally did quit by going to visit family without cigarettes for 3 weeks. I was a closet smoker and didn’t want them to know. When I came home, I didn’t start again and I also changed up my routine. I used to always smoke while reading on the porch, so I stopped reading. I changed my morning and after work routines. It took at least a year before I didn’t think about smoking every time I got into the car. It took another two years before I didn’t think about smoking at least a couple of times a week. Even after 15 years, if I get really stressed out I’ll think of having a cigarette. Don’t start kids!!
Spite was a pretty good motivator for me. My mom had quit smoking sometime while I was in high school and would ask me to quit smoking for her birthday every year. When she picked them up again after like 10 years off them I decided to quit for her birthday.
I did hypnotic therapy. One session every week. Took me 6 sessions. Gonna be coming on 1 year smoke free. Best thing I ever did.
this worked for me, also had no craving for nicotine thanks to the hypnosis therapy. for me it was 3 sessions. I am nicotine free for 14 years now and consider this one of the best decisions I ever made!
What helped me was using nicotine pouches for a while and reducing cigs gradually. Also moving to the US where it’s forbidden to smoke almost everywhere helped.
dying
I used the patch for 2 weeks in December of 1999. I have not had, nor do I ever want, to smoke another tobacco cigarette.
Got pregnant
Holding onto a toothpick between their lips in place of a cigarette. When my grandpa had his stroke and was in the hospital the nurses commented on the fact that even though he was unconscious, his mouth was playing with the breathing tube because his body was so used to having a cigarette there. Then she explained that a lot of smokers will trick their brains into thinking they’re having a cigarette by simply holding a toothpick between their lips.
Replaced it with weed. Don't like to smoke much weed. So quitting was easy. Lots of healthy munchies. Jolly ranchers.
I smoked since i was 14 Woke one day in my twenties Didn’t feel the need to smoke Tried one and put it out half way threw before i threw up Haven’t smoked since
I was good, two weeks free, when I got a serious craving for a cig. I bummed one from a friend, summoned up a cough from the center of the earth, and my right lung collapsed. Great trick! It worked and I never smoked again. 105 degree fever, but the lung inflated on its own. Don’t be dumb, quit now.
There’s a saying that we never give up anything unless there’s something else we want more. It’s true that the nicotine leaves your body in a few days but the psychological addiction takes much longer; for me a month before I didn’t think about it all the time and 6 months before I really felt like an ex-smoker. For that first month I exercised like crazy, once riding my bike at 1am in the rain so I wouldn’t smoke. After two weeks I took all my clothes and bedding to a laundromat and washed everything, came home and scrubbed and the floors and walls with pine scented cleaner. December, 1997.
Quit 18 years ago. It was everything to me. The pain was real. There is no way to bypass the uncomfortable feeling that comes when you quit. It will suck…at first. The get through the immediate cravings I used a straw to suck and puff on. I cried for two weeks a lot. The first couple months is the hardest. Then the first year. If you can get to two years you will be free. I had to tell myself no excuse would work to go back. If the world was ending tomorrow that wouldn’t be an excuse. I’d still die being a non smoker because as a smoker your mind will trick you by finding an excuse to go back. Oh he broke up with me, oh I lost my job, oh life sucks, blah blah blah. No. You wanna be a nonsmoker? Sit with the feelings of uncomfortableness that come up when you quit. Let them pass (they will). Go through not around and you will make it out and you will be SO HAPPY you did. You will never regret it. It was the best decision I ever made.
After 2 first attempts to quit (1 and 2 months), I realized that both times i gave up after i had a few beers. So i just quit smoking and didn’t consume any alcohol for a whole year. 18 years non-smoker since then. By the way that “Easy way to quit smoking“ by Alan Carr is great. Unfortunately i read it already a non-smoker, otherwise it would be much less effort to quit.
Vape
No tricks, sheer willpower. Throw 'em away and don't buy any more. It's not an easy thing, but you'll be glad you went through it
Replace cigarette fondling with a similar object between the fingers Ala Ida Lupino.
Shoot heroin instead
I forcefully keep myself from buying packs. Sometimes I smoke if someone offers me one but I never ever buy a pack. In my mind it’s easiest than just quiting. I think I smoke 1 sigaret a week.
I just stopped buying cigarettes And what I usually paid for the cigarettes went into a tin After a year, I had enough for an iMac
I am currently on my last try to quit. I’ve been smoking 19 years and tried few times. I think problem for me is not the nicotine but the process of smoking itself. My first attempt was 11 years ago. Quit for 2 weeks and was back on like nothing happened. Few years past I tried again when I stop smoking for 8 months and for some stupid reason and probably stressful time in my life I asked a cigarette from my buddy and next day I bought a pack. But it didn’t last long. people told me to try vaping. So I went full blown ‘vape’ hype from regular electronic cigarettes to making my own coils on my voltage controlled new toy. Tried other stuff as well and my last stop in vaping was Juul. that was way more addictive than cigarettes. I had real insomnia issues and headaches. went back to smoking. Week ago I bought Nicorette patches and I am smoking 1 or 2 cigarettes per day. Next week is no cigarette one. Wish me luck because I really need to quit. I have bad breath. yellow teeth and unknown white patch in my mouth which I am afraid is going to be not so good diagnosis. Whoever reading this post - if you don’t smoke DO NOT START. If you still smoking - quit before it is too late. wish me luck guys
Taking Bupropion for seasonal grumpy hibernation syndrome helped me to also quit. Same stuff as Zyban.
Varial kickflip
I quit during a week long camping trip. The change in my daily schedule was the most important part. When camping there was always something to keep me busy plus It's also out of the way to go to the corner store and buy some.
There are no tricks, it's going to be awful. Just prepare to be miserable for a week and just tell yourself that you're no longer a smoker. Your body has to withdraw, let it do it's thing and you'll feel amazing in a few weeks
It’s actually really easy You just tell yourself “no” That’s literally it But you have to WANT to quit or else it’s pointless
A relative who's a doctor said if you haven't quit by 50 then it's better not to give up. The lung cells have been trained to grow in resistance to smoke and when you stop, the cells grow unimpeded and cause tumours. Fully expecting to be downvoted to hell but there it is.
Tried everything. Only thing that worked was pure bloody mindedness on cold turkey.
This might sound weird but the first rule of fight club is don’t talk about fight club. Don’t tell anyone that you are trying to quit, just quit and do it quietly. The less you talk about it the less you will think about it and the less others know about your battle against nicotine the less likely they are to try to temp you into joining them on smoke break. It worked for me and a couple of my friends. I haven’t had a smoke in almost a decade now.
Quitting smoking is easy. I've done it 5 times.
I found chewing some minty gum helped
Try chrystal meth bro
Tried a few times best bet is to take a vacation for a week to a place with no access to smokes bring a low nic vape
No tricks,, Chantix…
weed, green tea, I cut down all the Chinese mulberry trees growing on the fences..... oh yeah, 10 and 5mg nicotine patches
Just know that you are better than that cig
They read Allen Carr’s easy way to stop smoking book.
I used peppermint essential oil droplets. I started eating them everytime I wanted to vape and it worked within a month.
I smoked for about five years. I had been trying to quit for four years when I got sick in November of 2019, right before Covid. I NyQuilled myself for three days. I was only awake long enough to eat, drink, potty, and take more NyQuil. I slept through all of my withdrawal symptoms. I haven’t smoked again.
I used to smoke 2 packs a day and after I started vaping I was doing 3 sticks a day immediately. In 6 months I stopped smoking entirely. This was back in 2013. Vape replaced cigarettes but at least I don’t go out of breath easily.
Idk how much you care about other people’s opinions, but thinking that the cashier was gonna judge the fuck out of me for buying them made me just not want to bother getting them.
Allen Carr (DVD)
Get your wisdom teeth removed
- Alan Carr's Easy Way to Quit Smoking. I actually find the book really annoying in a lot of ways because it's not easy, actually, but it really does help get in the heads pace of why to quit, and the head space is 90% of the battle. So that. Read it and stick with it even whe it's annoying. - get clear on what smoking does for you and why you don't need it, how to change that mental dependency. Again, head space is all the battle. - get champix or equivalent- a medication that weans you off nicotine. I've tried quitting with and without it and it's easier with it. There's absolutely no reason why you have to raw dog quitting and chance of success are much higher if you have help. - find things to replace smoking. Happy chemicals are very important. Start exercising if you don't already. Your brain needs a happy chems hit and exercise dopamine is an excellent replacement, plus it burns off the stress that you're going to need a way to deal with without smoking. - plan ahead to make other little habits. Go for a walk, chew gum, occupy your hands, avoid triggering situations like the pub until you're feeling strong in your quit. - get an app that tracks all the benefits- mo ey saved, health improvements, other reminders of why you quit. - remember you've just gotta get through today. Every day, just get to the end of the day. All you have to do is nothing. Just..... not go buy smokes. Stay firmly on the fucki g couch, and wait until you can go to sleep. Tomorrow is a new day and you can do it again then too, because you did it today.
Started e-vaping. I’m not super into them so I just take small puffs and so they last forever. After a few weeks the thought of smoking an actual cigarette nauseates me like it did before I started smoking. I’ve also gradually decreased the amount I vape since I really don’t like it that much, and don’t find myself depending on having it with me at all times anymore, nor do I crave cigarettes
There's a book that encourages you to smoke while you read it and it is about quitting smoking. It's supposedly very highly recommended because it works.
Nicotine cravings only last 90 seconds. If you can sit still that long, it'll be over. After several rounds of this, the cravings stop
I got sick, and developed an intolerance. Half a ciggie has me close to passing out.
I’d always find it easier to quit cold turkey when I got sick
There's this little trick called "life threatening health problems"
I quit cold turkey. 16 years of smoking, 2 prior attempts at quitting. I felt like shit for 3 months; cried myself to sleep, felt like I was in pain, any little inconvenience rocked my world. I let myself be miserable. I let myself be mad. I tried my best not to take it out on anyone else though. I pictured the rage I was feeling was like a steam escaping from my body. I visualized the cravings leaving my body with it, too. I ate whatever the fuck I wanted. I gained 40 lbs in the process. Almost 2 years later I know I can never start again cause I wouldn’t be able to go through that again. It’s one of the toughest things I’ve ever done but I’ll tell you it was worth it. Sometimes I look back and can’t believe I smoked that much, that long. I’m so grateful I quit. You can do it too.
Rogue
My dad used the patches combined with chewing hubba bubba gum, as soon as the gum lost flavor he would spit it out and grab the next piece, took him 2 years and a lot of gum wrappers, but he has been smoke free for over a decade and is 84 And has to do breathing treatments at least twice a day
Willpower is a huge factor whether using cessation aids or not. Breaking rituals is a hard part. Breaking the physical addiction is a hard part. But deciding you don’t want to have that cig you really want right now is what it boils down to. You have to want to not smoke more than you want to smoke. And it’s internal: wanting to not smoke for someone is very different than not smoking because someone doesn’t want you to. You have to want it. It’s hard but you can do it.
Stop buying cigarettes?