How to give up smoking? I've tried everything!

[Minilogue]

abitbroken kind of summed up how I'm feeling. I want to quit to open up opportunities to find someone. Because when I say I smoke, I chain smoke about 2 packs a day (more if I'm out at a club/bar/pub/festival) but I've been cutting down recently to one pack a day which is better. I know it doesn't look good smoking that much, and it's hard to meet someone who will accept you for who you are when you have a smoke hanging out of your mouth every 15 minutes.

 

I had a pregnancy scare with a girl 5 years ago, and I've always said to myself I'll quit when I have kids because I don't want them to be around a smoker growing up. I kind of wished I had a kid then because I know I would of given up for sure then. I know I wasn't ready to have children then but I do want them now and while I'm not ready to have them yet, I am ready to meet someone who does want children in the future. But smoking cuts that chance to basically zero for any decent girl

 

I don't think it's about addiction though I know some will say yes it is. Smoking has become just such a core part of my personality over the years and it's the way I cope with stress and it's hard to find reasons to give up when there is no motivation to give up like a relationship/children. The physical addiction part I can kick easily that I know, but it's just the psychological part that I can't shake.

 

It also get's harder when you get older, smoking is acceptable in your early twenties but when you get into the thirties trying to find someone that accepts it is very very hard.

[sharky988]

I've quit now for ten years by reading this book, along with nicotine gum: link removed

 

Good luck!

[Glowguy]

I will second the recommendation for the Allen Carr book - it really is very effective at getting you into the right mindset. I've been smoke free for over two years now and I was at over a pack a day right before I stopped. I would advise against any sort of nicotine replacement strategy - cold turkey is the most effective method because it gets rid of the nicotine dependence straight away. The psychological traps are more insidious and some of them never really go away. I still get the urge to light up every now and then but it's only a fleeting moment.

[tiredofvampires]

Hey, OP! I think I recognize you from another thread. Good to see you interested in doing away with one of those activities that makes you a "non-boring" person!

 

I don't think it's about addiction though I know some will say yes it is. Smoking has become just such a core part of my personality over the years and it's the way I cope with stress

 

You've just defined addiction, how it feels to everyone who is addicted.

 

If these aren't good reasons to quit without needing a partner or kids for motivation, I don't know what might be:

 

 

 

 

 

(once you get emphysema, by the way, it's incurable -- it's progressive)

 

I know people who are starting new love lives, later in life, at these ages.

 

It's never too late for love.

 

These people are dead. It's too late for them.

 

(By the way, if you think you'd stop for kids/wife, time to get real: kids are very difficult and stressful, and you'd be right back to smoking once parenting puts the screws on tight. You HAVE to quit for YOURSELF first, or it will never work.)

[Minilogue]

I've quit now for ten years by reading this book, along with nicotine gum: link removed

 

Good luck!

 

Read it. Didn't do anything! I get where he is coming from but I didn't want to give up after reading it.

[Minilogue]

Scare tactics don't work. So watching youtube videos will do nothing tiredofvamps!!! & smoking is different to other drugs, it serves no purpose really. To me it does help with stress, that's the issue. Maybe I need a squish ball or voodoo doll of my ex I can stick pins in when I'm feeling stressed or something.

 

 

*puffs on a smoke*

[Zuri]

I didn't read the entire thread (sorry) but every single person I know (I would estimate between 15-20) said they just had had enough and gave it up cold turkey. Some are people in their 60's who smoked for a mild blowing number of years. I am a smoker and haved asked advice from these quitters. They blow my mind.

[itsallgrand]

Scare tactics don't work. So watching youtube videos will do nothing tiredofvamps!!! & smoking is different to other drugs, it serves no purpose really. To me it does help with stress, that's the issue. Maybe I need a squish ball or voodoo doll of my ex I can stick pins in when I'm feeling stressed or something.

 

 

*puffs on a smoke*

 

Stress, anxiety, eh?!

 

Same reason I became a smoker, and same reason I wanted to quit! And finally did. When I realized, after going long enough not smoking, that I was actually much more calm as a non smoker. Ohh not for the first little while; but that was because I was addicted and wanted my drug + I didn't have very good coping skills to deal with the level of anxiety I was living with on a daily basis to start with.

 

So it was two way - just pushing through with motivation to want to quit, and seeing the results of getting what I wanted : to be a calmer, less anxious person.

 

My main motivation for quitting was for peace of mind. I'd literally lay awake at night worried about what may happen to me. Not only about the smoking, but that contributed.

[RainyCoast]

I've been an on/off smoker for years now. I wouldn't say I "relapse" because I don't go back to smoking because I feel like i NEED it, it's always been a choice (dumb one) because giving it up has turned out so easy once I threw my packs away that after long months of being "clean" I went back to smoking thinking "since quitting is so much easier than they say I can smoke a few and quit again".

 

So my advice:

#1 once you quit don't fall for silly "reasons" to start again. There aren't any reasons to smoke. #2 paint your walls. I turned my granddad's garage into a teenytiny apartment where i lived for a while. Then mold happened. Lots of it. Went deep into the walls. I couldn't afford to pay people to fix the issue so I had to take like 5cm of wall down myself, kill remaining mold with algicide, "rebuild" and repaint the walls etc as well as fix the leak that caused the mold etc. I'm tiny and it took me weeks to get it done. During those weeks, as i was scraping layer after layer of wall off I was shocked that every single layer reeked of nicotine like an old pub (I expected the layer of paint would stink, still can't believe it goes that deep into the walls). This was a major turn off and I couldn't imagine smoking any more at that point so i quit immediately and had no cravings. #3 keep busy. I got up at 5 or 6 in the morning and worked till about 9pm, showered and went straight to sleep and had no trouble falling asleep since the work had me exhausted. The work and constantly cleaning utensils, sweeping the floor, hidrating myself etc had me busy all day and I wanted to wrap up on time so I couldn't think much about smoking even though I otherwise always do! #4 detox. I have lazy digestion and find that I mostly smoke as an attempt to ease the fullness in my stomach after a meal (there are healthier ways, I know) so switching to a very healthy diet and smaller meals helps reduce the need for cigarettes A LOT! In fact, I always coupled my quitting phase with the detox phase + either physical work or a more demanding exercise program and ended up not only quitting but feeling way better, sleeping better and looking toned as hell- not to mention my features looked great without the puffiness and my skin was fabulous! Gosh just thinking about it makes me wanna quit again and for good this time , THINK I WILL #5 If you're still smoking, maybe try tobacco or stronger cigarettes. Yes that does go against what you want but here's why. Cigarettes have become so expensive that I started rolling my own. Did that for many months. It gave me horrible bronchitis. All it took was one puff and I felt it BUUUUUUURN my airways all the way down to my gut, I would cough (the cough felt like it burned too!), especially at night, so vehemently that my entire body was not only shaking but jumping up and down on the bed and I'm sure half the neighborhood heard me- the fits of cough could last several minutes and I felt like I would suffocate. Tried switching back to cigarettes but it didn't subside. Had no choice but to quit. This tip sounds bad and I take it back- don't intentionally smoke heavier stuff to induce bronchitis, that's horrible. But if your respiratory tract isn't this bad yet- it will be, so spare yourself.#6 the patch is optional. I once used it and it was okay, but then again, I was so turned off by smoking and intent on quitting that I think I would've done just as well without the patch. This other time I tried quitting with a patch but didn't feel quite as motivated and ended up ripping the patch off and lighting up anyway- a very dangerous practice that'll easily land one at the ER with nicotine poisoning.#7 i agree with the folks who said you shouldn't wait for someone to be your reason for quitting. That's never a good idea. I dated a guy who gave up a bad habit for me and it made me feel very uncomfortable. Of course when we were disagreeing about something or arguing even he immediately felt like I had given him less of a reason to quit so he started again. External motivation is not reliable. Your health and your life choices should not depend on something that may be here today and gone tomorrow. #8 sipping delicious fruit tea helps and it's a great alternative to snacking or chewing. (I never replace ciggies with snacks). #9 kinda unsavory to mention this but have a 2-3 days prepping period to empty your bowels well. Hard to be motivated and lithe with all those toxins in your system.

 

To conclude, I think if you make quitting a part of a more general "health makeover" you're far more likely to succeed. Think of the stuff you're sick of. Flabby muscles? Bad skin? Tired much? Oversleeping/insomnia? Depression? Lack of organization and routine? Turn it around! And it's not like you're struggling for weeks before you're clean- at least it hasn't been for me. I was doing the general "health makeover" and when you do that you get daily "updates" on your improvement that keep you very motivated: a good night's sleep, a nice voice, glowing skin, flexible joints, high energy level and feeling very good all the time (that was shocker for me)!

 

Good luck and tell us how it goes. Think I'm gonna start my 3day prepping now

[Minilogue]

Still smoking 25 cigarettes+ a day I want to give up now. I think it's time to let them go.

 

How do I give up? That is the question. I really have tried everything, and I mean everything.

 

Also how have other people given up? I need some ideas on how to deal with withdrawals this time.

[nbreau]

Hi Minilogue, I've helped people get off both cigarettes and other addictive substances. There is a lot of long posts in this thread and I haven't read them so I'm sorry if this is a repeat, but start by identifying the triggers, when does your brain tell you it's time to go for a smoke (is it when you're overwhelemed at work and need a break for example). The approach I take to quitting smoking involves letting go of the emotions responsible for the triggers as well as reprogramming the subconscious pattern (think of it as a program running inside your brain). In terms of withdrawls something I've found very effective is a technique called EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) which involves tapping on a few select accupressure points which helps release the craving.

[Jeffbobo]

If you've tried numerous times and you can't quit cold turkey, I'd recommend e-cigs also known as vaping. Smoking is pretty addictive both physically and psychologically. Vaping would take care of both so that you'd get your nicotine fix as well as the sensation of smoking. With vaping, you could also adjust the amount of nicotine in the liquid so that over time you could still Vape to get that sensation but only ingest a small amount of nicotine or none at all (kinda like decaf coffee). I think it's worth checking out and though not smoking at all and being totally nicotine free would be best vaping may be a step in the right direction for you.

[Minilogue]

Hmmmm e-cigs. Haven't tried them. Thanks, I might give them a whirl.