Cigarettes

[kerryman]

Anyone else out there trying to give up the smokes or has given them up?? Ive been trying since christmas now.The best i've done is three weeks .I'm using the gum at the moment but every now and then when i get stressed the temptation overcomes me. Anyone have any advice?? The three weeks i was off them i was basically living like a hermit if i head out with my mates after a few beers it can be tempting .Does it get easier after a month ?? Any advice would be appreciated

[Semi-Sly]

I have quit smoking so many times and used so many methods to do it that I consider myself and "expert" at it. 

I smoked 3.5 packs of marboro 100's for many, many years.

I tried the "cutting back" method.  I tried the smoking only half of the cigarette method.  I tried the smoking one less cigarette each day method.  I tried hypnosis.  I tried the Nicorette chewing gum.  Etc., etc.,etc.

All of the "methods" sucked!!!!!  Using everyone of them - all I was doing was thinking about how long it was since the last cigarette and how long it would be until the next cigarette!  IT WAS AGONY!!!!

By FAR, the EASIEST way I tried to quit was simply going cold turkey!  Sure, the first three days were pure hell, but by the fourth day I realized; "hey, I just went 10 seconds without even thinking about a cigarette!"  It was an amazing epiphany!  And then I noticed that in the ensuing couple of days the amount of time I went without thinking about a cigarette got exponentially longer and longer!  The end result was that using the cold turkey method, the "pain" only lasted five days!  Whereas in using the other methods the pain just dragged on and on and on!

I have used the cold turkey method twice.  the first time I quit for an entire year - but then was such an a$$hole that I decided to "have just one" on New Years Day -which withing two weeks was back up to a 3 pack a day habit!

The second time I quit cold turkey was 27 years ago.  Haven't had a cigarette or cigar since.  Oddly, the only time I still get a craving is when I am OUTDOORS and someone lights a cigarette with an old fashioned alcohol cigarette lighter!?!?!



The last time I quit smoking was about 27 years ago - and I haven't smoked since

[Razor X]

I smoked 3.5 packs of marboro 100's for many, many years.

Not to hijack the thread or pick on you but how is that possible?  That's 70 cigarettes a day or approximately 4 an hour every waking hour, assuming that one sleeps 8 hours a day. That's non-stop smoking. It just seems like a lot, even in the days when smoking was much less restricted than it is now.

Just something I've always wondered about.

[beardbald]

I have up for four years but when my relationship broke down 18 months ago a cigarette was the fist thing I reached for and now I'm hooked agan

[Semi-Sly]

I smoked 3.5 packs of marboro 100's for many, many years.

Not to hijack the thread or pick on you but how is that possible?  That's 70 cigarettes a day or approximately 4 an hour every waking hour, assuming that one sleeps 8 hours a day. That's non-stop smoking. It just seems like a lot, even in the days when smoking was much less restricted than it is now.

Just something I've always wondered about.

Yes, but I smoked a lot more than 4 an hour!  I had one (and sometimes two) lit at all times!

[amatlock2778]

Ive tried, to no success many of the methods, and i find that for me quit aids like niccorette gum, or the nicotine patch, only increase my cravings. Luckily for me i didnt spend any money on the ones i tried, as they were provided to me free by a smoking cessation hotline in my area. I think my next attempt will be cold turkey, but ill have to go off somewhere where i would have a long trip to get anywhere i could buy a pack, but since i enjoy camping alot, i figure when im ready for that next attempt, ill go find a nice remote campsite and once the cigarettes i have upon arrival are gone, well then i have no choice but to go cold turkey. Then its just a matter of planning the trip to last long enough to get over those initial nicotine withdrawl symptoms.

[kerryman]

Not what i was wanting to hear  to be honest cold turkey is damn hard . . I'm day 3 without a smoke the third time of trying .I wouldn't mind trying cold turkey if i could make it to day 7.To be honest anyone who has given them that i know always say cold turkey is the only way !! I'm using gum at the moment so fingers crossed

[amatlock2778]

Not what i was wanting to hear  to be honest cold turkey is damn hard . . I'm day 3 without a smoke the third time of trying .I wouldn't mind trying cold turkey if i could make it to day 7.To be honest anyone who has given them that i know always say cold turkey is the only way !! I'm using gum at the moment so fingers crossed

Thats how my grandmother did it, after my 5 year old self apparently asked her to stop (i dont remember asking, but im told that was her motivation).  I never would have started myself, but i fell in with the wrong crowd, got hooked on drugs, and when i finally stopped that about 11 years ago, smoking cigarettes was what got me through the cravings. I know, replacement addiction, but it worked to get me away from the much worse stuff i had been doing. Now im ready to stop the cigarettes,  but because of how i started, its all the more difficult for me.

[kerryman]

Not what i was wanting to hear  to be honest cold turkey is damn hard . . I'm day 3 without a smoke the third time of trying .I wouldn't mind trying cold turkey if i could make it to day 7.To be honest anyone who has given them that i know always say cold turkey is the only way !! I'm using gum at the moment so fingers crossed

Thats how my grandmother did it, after my 5 year old self apparently asked her to stop (i dont remember asking, but im told that was her motivation).  I never would have started myself, but i fell in with the wrong crowd, got hooked on drugs, and when i finally stopped that about 11 years ago, smoking cigarettes was what got me through the cravings. I know, replacement addiction, but it worked to get me away from the much worse stuff i had been doing. Now im ready to stop the cigarettes,  but because of how i started, its all the more difficult for me.

.Same as peer pressure can be a balls when you're younger !! Like a mate of mine said :you're better giving them up now then being told by a doctor ten or twenty years down the road .Im still young so i definitely want to beat them this year plus they are €10.50 a box !!

[Semi-Sly]

Ive tried, to no success many of the methods, and i find that for me quit aids like niccorette gum, or the nicotine patch, only increase my cravings. Luckily for me i didnt spend any money on the ones i tried, as they were provided to me free by a smoking cessation hotline in my area. I think my next attempt will be cold turkey, but ill have to go off somewhere where i would have a long trip to get anywhere i could buy a pack, but since i enjoy camping alot, i figure when im ready for that next attempt, ill go find a nice remote campsite and once the cigarettes i have upon arrival are gone, well then i have no choice but to go cold turkey. Then its just a matter of planning the trip to last long enough to get over those initial nicotine withdrawl symptoms.


Actually, I found that trying to quit while taking off somewhere, etc. was worse.  I found that when I HAD to follow my normal routine, (going go work, cooking dinner, doing the laundry, etc.) the cold turkey was a little less painful.  Having all of the routine things that I was required to do kept my mind busy.

[baldjoeg]

Good luck with trying to quit smoking. Keep trying and you will eventually be successful.

[J_Scott]

I know how you feel Kerryman, I've been trying hard to quit smoking myself since the year has started. I've been on and off the patch, and it's done wonders, if only I could stop sneaking smokes from friends especially when I'm out drinking. It also doesn't help that my roommate and family members all smoke. Best of luck though.