I want to quit smoking!! I have my quit date set for March 18th. I tried about 2 weeks ago to quit and only lasted about 6 hours before I completely broke down hysterically crying. So, I do believe that I am going to need nicotine replacement therapy. My dilemma is that I do not know which one to choose!! I was going to try the gum, but then my doctor suggested the lozenge, and now all I hear is great stuff about the patch.
Is there anyone here who has quit successfully that has any advice for me?
I've never smoked, but my sister's boyfriend quit several weeks ago. He's using some kind of inhaler device. It looks like a cigerette, so you get the same physical sensations in your hand and mouth.
I need to quite....I know where you are comeing from with the 6 hours..lol I think you lasted longer that me I have the gum I dont think I have given it enought time to do the job I will try again this weekend..See if I can last longer that a few hours....
Well, I was smoking a pack and a half a day. SInce my quitting incident two weeks ago, I'm down to between 11 and 17 cigarettes a day. So, I think I'm doing a pretty good job with cutting down.
I just need to make up my mind on whether I'm going to use the patch, the gum or the lozenge for when I do stop all together!
I quit my pack a day habit about a year and a half ago and I can tell you one thing, I ain't easy that's for sure! I had previously tried the patch to quit but that didn't seem to help at all but maybe others have had more success with it.
This last time I just quit cold turkey and it was ROUGH. But there is good news, the first couple days are the worst, after that it's better, and after like two weeks you're wondering why you ever smoked when you can breathe so much better now.
Some tips and things I've noticed that might help (from my experience):
-try not to replace cigarettes with food, if you are craving a smoke DO NOT go in the kitchen, try to find something else to keep busy with
-throw away everything that has to do with smoking, lighters, ashtrays, etc. (I know it's scary but you have to)
-if you are the only smoker in the house wash all your clothing and do whatever you can to get the smoke smell out of the house
-don't keep an "emergency" stash
-when you do get a craving just try to wait it out, tell yourself that will wait 15 minutes, 30 minutes, an hour, whatever
-you will, at least to my knowledge, get cravings for a cigarette occasionally for the rest of your life however they are very very manageable
-eventually, those habits (lighting up when you get in the car, after a meal, when you wake up, etc, etc.) do go away, they just kind of vanish
-NEVER ever ever ever think to yourself that you can never have another cigarette in your life even though that is exactly what you are trying to do. There is nothing more frightening that thinking that the object you most depend on and desire is not going to be in your life anymore .
So, summing up, if you can get through those first 2-3 days it gets sooo much easier and it is so worth it. I don't have that smokey smell attached to my clothes, hair, and breath anymore and more importantly, I don't wake up in the morning feeling like there is a cinderblock on my chest, I can breathe!
I hope someone else chimes in with info about nicotine replacement therapies for you and if I can be of any further help feel free to PM me .
See, the thing is, I'm bipolar with severe anxiety problems. I cannot just quit cold turkey. I tried it two weeks ago and it sent me into a SEVERE anxiety attack. I'm going to need something to help with the cravings. I just don'tk now what to choose!
I'm sorry for not being clearer in my initial post, I wasn't trying to suggest that you quit cold turkey, to each his (or her) own I think so if you need an aid then by all means use one. I was just trying to give you a few things that I had noticed when I quit because with or without nicotine replacement it is still not going to be a piece of cake.
Now I'm not trying to be pessimistic and I'm certainly not trying to scare you or anything but nicotine replacements only address the physical addiction to nicotine, not the psychological addiction (you know, the need for a cig in super stressful times). So it might be helpful to have a plan in place for when you have a "mental" craving.
Also, as I said before I only tried the patch once but I also had a friend who used the nicotine inhaler to quit, I believe they are prescription but I could be wrong. Anyway, if I had to quit again I would probably try the inhaler.
I quit about 5 years ago using Wellbutrin / Zyban. I am not sure if they are still prescribing this for quitting smoking, but I don't know if I would have been able to quit without it. It really lessened the anxiety for me and made the cravings tolerable. They didn't disappear, but they were nowhere near as intense as when I tried before.
There is the physiological issue with quitting smoking, but also the habits are tough in the beginning. I hadn’t realized how much of my life revolved around the fact that I smoked. Breaks at work were for cigarettes. The amount of time it took a pot of pasta to cook? 1 cigarette. How long should I wait before calling so and so back? 1 cigarette. How long should I wait for my friend who is late? 2 cigarettes, etc. Also, I had NO idea what to do with my hands. It took awhile to not feel awkward all the time.
I “quit” about 16 months ago. Is say “quit” in quotation marks because I did have a cigarette about 4 months after my quit date and have been know to bum smokes on occasion after I’ve been out drinking too much (another lovely vice!) or just can’t resist the smell around other smokers and tell myself I’ve been so good I deserve it (it’s stupid, but sometimes I just can’t help myself). I’m not saying this is a good idea, some people have that slippery slope reaction where one smoke sends them back to a pack a day, but it seems to be working out OK for me right now. I went through periods on the verge of complete relapse, but now I don’t smoke more than a cigarette or two a month and smoking doesn’t even cross my mind every day any more. Someday I will find a reason profound enough to power through even those moments of weakness and to kick the cigs for good. And Holly is absolutely right, never tell yourself you can never ever have a cig again in your life. I believe leaving the mental door open to possibly having another smoke before I died is at least partially responsible for what progress I’ve made. It helped take some of the pressure and the stress away from an already very stressful thing.
I can’t offer any advice on nicotine replacement, I went cold turkey and took to straw chewing for a few weeks (it looks dumb, but it helps with those really gnarly cravings if you have something to grind your teeth on). I just want you to know that you can do it! It will suck, and you will doubt your resolve. Be good to yourself and don’t get too down and stress yourself out if you mess up. It’s just another opportunity to learn from your experience and do better next time. Good luck!
I was a pack and a half per day smoker for 15 years (started as a teen). I quit painlessly (seriously) back in the early 1980s. I'll tell you how.
One Step at a Time.
No, I'm not trying to be cute or funny. That's seriously the name of the product I used. Before making this recommendation, I checked -- they are still in business, you can Google it (or Yahoo or whatever you use).
One Step at a Time is a series of 4 filters. You attach a filter to your cigarette and smoke through it. You use each filter for 2 weeks (you can clean them when they get gross -- looking at what collects in the filter is a smoking deterrent in itself). Each filter successively cuts down the amount of nicotine you can draw.
If memory serves, Filter 1 cuts your nicotine consumption by 25%, Filter 2 = 50%, Filter 3 = 70%, Filter 4 = 90%. I'll check after posting and if the percentages are different, I'll edit this post.
((( Edit: I originally stated Filter 3 = 75%. In fact, it is 70%. Change made above. )))
You WILL find yourself smoking more during the first part of Filter 1. I went up to 2 packs, trying to compensate for the reduced nicotine. But after that, I went back to 1-1/2 packs, then down to 1 pack, then just a few smokes a day...
By the time you finish Filter 4 (about 2 months after you start), you will probably be able to just stop on your own. I stopped about 10 days into Filter 4 and have never picked up another cigarette. Never. No withdrawals symptoms at all, because the nicotine was reduced so gradually.
Have I ever craved a cigarette? Nope. I will admit I occasionally find myself thinking "I should be having a cigarette now" (as in after dinner), but I've never acted on it and it's never an uncomfortable feeling. This is funny -- every now and then I find myself holding a pencil like I used to hold a cigarette. Old habit .
In any event, no drugs, no patches, you should be able to pick it up OTC, no prescription and, at least back then, it was relatively cheap. Like under $30 cheap. And I can tell you from experience, it works.
Good luck in whatever you choose. You can do it .
Last edited by Less of Lena; 02-15-2006 at 07:21 PM.
I don't smoke, so I am not sure about what you're going through. Its probably like whats food been to me.
My father quit smoking a year ago. He used to smoke pack and a half a day and he smoked Marlboro red. When he had heart attack about a year and half ago, doctors told him that he needed to quit smoking. It wasn't easy for him, so he actually started to smoke one of those really thin and short ones instead of Marlboro Red. When he came to visit me in the states, we talked and he decided to try Nicorette chewing gum. It really worked for him. But he said gum was little tough to chew, and made his jaw hurt, so he switched to the lozenge. He used them about month, and he doesn't smoke now. Its been a year now. I hope that you will find what works for you!!! Good Luck
Good luck on quitting smoking..I also need to quit..just don't have the willpower yet.. Good luck and am sure you will succeed..you accomplished in weight loss very good and I know you will accomplished your smoking habit..Keep us posted..
cemetarysiren, I am SO glad you went to the ssc. I'm on there with a different name...Rusty. Let me know who you are if you want to. There's also a diet thread on there.
Lilliann, if you wait until you have the willpower you may never do it. May I suggest that you go to the site I mentioned and just look around?
Quitting Smoking
.
.
.
