How did you quit? I wanna quit and am having a helluva time. At least I’m down 50% in the last month but going to zero I’ve hit a wall. Thanks in advance
Well, I quit back in February of 2018. For me, I cut to about half of my normal smoking and then, from that point of reduction, just quit. Haven't looked back.
Quit in January 1986. "Cold turkey". My motivation was a series of chest colds that never ended. Just one into the next, into the next. I was 25. Once I was out of the worst of it, I found cigs nauseating in short order. I was done. I wish you well with the struggle.
I used the gum. It has worked for me a couple times. I switched my addiction from cigarettes to gum....it was still hard quitting the gum. I started at 4mg then went to 2 mg then quit. It took me a year to quit the gum after I quit smoking.
well, i quit for a good minute back in atlanta when i was living in the dekalb county jail. so, maybe if you lock yourself in a cage?
I did it through replacement therapy. I was a 3 1/2 pack a day guy when in college. By the time I moved to KC I had calmed down and was at 1 pack a day. Mainly due to the prices and being broke. When I did quit in 2006, I could afford it but wanted to stop. My cousin was getting married and clearing out some stuff. I wanted his motorcycle so I did the math and it added up. For me to pull a small loan and insure the bike it would cost me $6 a month more to own the bike than it did to smoke a pack a day. The money I saved on gas more than made up for it too. I replaced the coffin nails with a motorcycle and a daily nicorette patch for 2 weeks.
Thanks. Had a huge scare recently, was convinced I was ****ed and by my own doing. Long story short, CT scans of my heart and lungs were great but the waiting to get the scans and then the waiting for results, I felt like I was floating in space. My doc has been on my case to quit and finally drilled it into my head. He said this was a wake up call and I was very lucky so quit and don’t press your luck. Message definitely received!
I stopped in '94 after 27 years of it. It was messing with my singing voice. I did it by treating it for what it is... an addiction. Everything a junkie does to stop doing whatever junk they do, I did. Because I am a junkie too. Nicotine is my junk. First thing to keep in mind: It's a process, not an event
Most important element is will. If you don't really want it, there is no method. 1) tsp of baking soda in some water in the morning slows the burn of nicotine in your system. 2) Patches work if you're consistent with them CRAVINGS 1) everytime you get a craving remind yourself that most cravings will pass in a matter of 2-3 minutes and you can certainly wait that long. 2) get a craving, pick up your guitar or anything else which occupies both hands and your brain. guitar is good. tell yourself you won't have a cigarette until you can master something you're working on. By the time you concentrate hard enough on it, the craving will have passed. 3) remind yourself, even ticking off a list, of all the crappy stuff cigarettes cause and that you won't hae to deal with. Lung cancer is too obvious. How much freaking money you'll save is almost as obvious. How about no more burn marks on your guitar? or no more holes in your clothes? nor more butt smell? (some people keep a jar of butts around and open it and sniff them to kill urges), my favorite, because I had a ton of triggers related to driving was not having to drive with the window down when it was raining. There's a million inconveniences attendant on smoking. Remind yourself of what you gain by holding the course. 4) find your triggers. it's all patterning. deliberately disrupt those routines that lead to a cigarette. Take a hit off a joint...it'll substitute the craving, you can't smoke a whole one..(if you can, get better weed)...and the short term memory loss can distract you from the urge.....OOOO>..look! a squirrel!!! OH.....and write scales....
I went into the hospital for a week, and decided I was over the worst of quitting, so I just stopped. Lisa quit a few weeks later.
I applaud all of you who have quit smoking.... it's a huge accomplishment. I'm so glad that I never smoked.
I tried cutting back in hopes of quitting but that never worked for me so I went cold turkey and I chewed regular gum for a taste/flavor and used a toothpick to give my hands something to do to keep busy (I just kept it in my mouth and would change it to a different location in my mouth - I didn't "Pick" my teeth with it lol). Good luck, you CAN do it if you really want to stop. LMSS
I gave up smoking a strange way. Back in 1988, I was getting through about 20 a day, but I shared an office with two people who didn't smoke. I felt so bad, I stopped smoking at work. That about halved my smoking. Then I met my wife, and I was so happy, I just couldn't be bothered to smoke anymore. There was a packet of cigarettes in my pocket for months, but I never wanted to touch them.
