Topic : Trying to Quit Smoking?

What have you tried to do in the past to try to quit smoking? I have quit several times in the past for long periods, but when life gets hard, I start smoking again. I quit smoking on the 1st. I have not had a single puff. It is starting to get much easier. The first day was actually pretty easy to get through, but I REALLY had a hard time on the second day. But, I made it through. I really hope that this is the time it "takes". You have to keep yourself busy all the time. I chose to clean. My house has never been cleaner. I went beyond spring cleaning. It gave me something to concentrate on instead of sitting around and wishing I could smoke. Also, if you could plan to throw off your normal routine and try to be around people who will support you not smoking for a few days. I spent a lot of time over at my friend's house. I know that they have worked for others, but I didn't feel that the patches or the gums helped me much. I think because the actual nicotine addiction is only like 10% of problem, the other 90% is mental and emotional and it becomes such a habit. Just like if you chewed your fingernails when you were bored, anxious, etc., it wouldn't be every easy to just stop. There is no addictive substance, just the habit. I have always been able to quit just "cold turkey". I throw out all of my cigarettes, lighters, ashtrays, etc. the night before my quit date and just make plans to keep busy and also realizing that it is gonna suck and be really hard, but I'll get through it. Set a quit date for the near future and make your environment supportive of quitting. If you can't make it through and you end up smoking again, don't beat yourself up!! Set another quit date and keep trying. It is a very tough thing to overcome, but you can do it. Good Luck!! 

  

6 days, 11 hours,17 minutes, 20 seconds. Amount saved: $23.81. Cigarettes not smoked 129. Life saved: 10 hours, 45 minutes. 

Well this is my first of many postings i am sure. My quit date is this coming Mon. Jan 9th. I have had 3 other dates in the past 2 months that didn't work. It is sooooo hard. I make it thru the first 2 or 3 days and I don't know what happens. I get frustrated or upset and I just really want to smoke. I have some new ideas I am going to try like working out or using stress putty. I hope my family can survive. I want to be healthy again.

  Hi! This is my first time on this site/posting. I thoughr it would help me emotionally right now. I quit smoking at 11:30 p.m. on 1/1. This is the second time I am quitting for REAL... The first time I quit  I stayed smoke free for 5 years. Can you believe it?! Now you can say that you "know" someone who quit for 5 yrs. and went back...Stupid I know... The second worst mistake (1st = picking up the first cig. years ago)    I have been so depressed and moody as to be expected. These withdrawal symptoms ALL SUCK. I know it is worth it though b/c I have been on both sides. That and I want to live longer!! I really wish this nasty habit didn't kill you and that I didn't love it soooo much. Unfortunately for me, I will always want to do it/love it, and that just makes it harder b/c it will always be on my mind. I am trying to keep this New Year's resolution b/c I know eventually I will HAVE to quit so why not now. It still does not change the fact that it sucks though. 

Stick it out. Are you going to quit cold turkey? That is how I quit before and what I am doing now. As far as your mess. about going a few days and then getting upset and wanting to smoke, that is exactly what happens. We are going to get frustrated, sad, upset , mad, depressed , and stressed and want to smoke - esp. after you quit, and that's when most people give in. We give in b/c it makes us feel beeter/calms us down, but then we are back to square one. That is what the tobacco companies want us to do to. They are banking on it. It is a truly hard addiction to give up (compared to heroin and cocaine) so it is going to be hard. I can tell you it is definitely harder the second time around. For being so educated, I was really really dumb! I knew that I could never even take another puff again (which is why I went completely smoke free without cheating) - and ended up doing just that 5 1/2 years after I quit. I am definitely paying the price now. I will tell you what worked for me (the first time) and pray will do the same this 2nd time. You need to take one day at a time. On the second day, think I went a whole day without smoking.... Which a true smoker knows is even super hard to do...   Challenge yourself everyday with that thought. I say to myself, "It's been 2 whole days...3 days... 4 days...5 days..". - at that point I want one more than anything (like now), but think " wow it's been five days... This sucks but I've went this long, and I don't want tro start this same process all over again..." Believe it or not that does help! I didn't quit b/c I wanted to, I quit because I feel I have to. That makes it twice as hard in my opinion , but I am taking it one day at a time and hope in another week or two I will at least feel better physically/emotionally. It usually takes 2-3 weeks, or at least that is what I remember from the last time I quit "for good." 

After that it is all mind over matter. That is hard too, but with support and another way of releasing stress it can be done. I am going to start working out too. The first time I quit I gained 33 pounds b/c all I did was eat. That was almost 8 yrs. ago. I quit for 5 1/2 years and went back for 2 1/2 years. (Started back in Sept. of '03) I am older and wiser now so I am going to try to take care of things in a better way besides eating. That is another bad thing. I gained 60 pounds in the last 2 1/2 years, lost 29 pounds a few months ago, and already put five back on. I need to lose like 40 more pounds and here I go quitting smoking! Bad timing for so many other things I want to change, but I realized there is NEVER going to be that "perfect time". Do you know what I mean?  

Well, good liuck to you. We should talk more. I think we could help eachother out. The first time I quit I didn't talk to anyone/support, this time I know I need to. 

Feel free to send me an email.    

I quit smoking.  I must tell you that it took me truthfully 7 years and I do want a cigarette when I am around people that smoke.  I use a crutch; that crutch is nicotine gum.  I hope I can say this:  Wal-mart nicotine gum is reasonable--the Equate brand.  If I did not chew it, I would be stuffing food in my mouth.  I went through that when I first tried to quit.  Keeping the weigh down was why I started smoking in the first place. 

  

What helps the most is that everyone that I know who smoked quit smoking.  When I quit smoking, everyone was going through smoking cessation (quitting); that embarrassed me into quitting.  If you can get your buddies to stop smoking with you that will be a plus.  I also live in NYC.  Climbing steps takes away your breath and reminds you why you want to quit smoking.   

  

Truthfully, this is how I did it.  (I am not married and I was living alone when I did the first days of quitting.)  I bought a 5 liter box of wine and stayed drunk the whole time.  I know this sounds very unhealthy but it worked for me.  While I was going through the withdrawal symptoms (skin on my back burning), I was alone and too drunk to go out to get cigarettes.  Basically, I slept through those first 3 days; i never left my apartment.  When time came to leave my apartment (a 4th floor walk-up), climbing the stairs reminded me why I was quitting.  Times came when I would go for a cigarette left in an ashtray.  I mean, I was hooked.  I would actually look on the street for unfinished cigarettes. 

  

Smoking is not allowed in the workplace; the workplace is a good place to spend time.   

  

Points that will help you: 

1. Stay away from people who smoke.  People who smoke will tempt you. 

2. Do not buy cigarettes. 

3. When you feel the urge to smoke, wait 5 minutes.  Time yourself.  The urge will go away after 5 min. (anyway, it did for me). 

4. Do not go where people smoke.  

5. Hang out or live with non-smokers. 

  

After all this time, if I am around smokers, I want a cigarette.  Do your best to avoid smokers. 

  

Good luck. 

  

1.  

As I said before, I chew nicotine gum.  My brother who is 45, nine years younger than I am, quit cold turkey.  How, he was scared into quitting, he was diagnosed with lung cancer last year, underwent lung surgery and that did it for him.  Remember Peter Jennings. 

  

If you try my way (I live in NYC so I have no car), do it alone with no access to a car.  Book yourself into a hotel or motel with stairs, a few flights with no access to buying cigarettes.  Get a crutch for yourself nicotine gum or an inhaler first.  Being alone is the best because you may be in a foul mood, also, get the crutch before you begin.  Equate has a refill package of 170 pieces now.  The crutch will guarantee your success. 

Well, today is my one week mark. I have not cheated at all. I really can't believe that i actually made it through a whole week. It has definitely been extremely hard, but I know that it is worth it. I quit cold turkey and so did my husband. I really think that this will be the last time I go through this. I have quit 3 times in the past for relatively long periods. Twice for pregnancies and once last year. Last year I quit for about 10 months. I started having a hard time in certain areas of my life and noticed that I was gaining weight because eating is one of the ways that I handle stress, another is smoking. So, since I didn't want to gain any more weight, I started smoking again. Big mistake! Of course I didn't plan on smoking a pack a day again, but that is how it ended up. In the past, when I have quit, my husband was still smoking, which was so incredibly hard. Being around him smoking and knowing that the cigarettes were always there was difficult. I really don't know how I was able to quit back then to be honest. I know that this time there were times that if cigarettes had been around, I would have given in and smoked, especially on the 2nd day. That was the hardest day for me. It is still pretty hard, but now the cravings are habitual and mental. I wake up in the morning and smoking a cigarette is the first thing that comes to mind and it takes a second for me to realize that I am not smoking anymore. If I could offer any advice, it would be to stay busy, don't be around people who smoke, and have a support system. Having my husband go through this with me really made a big difference. 

One week, 10 hours, 49 minutes and 49 seconds. 149 cigarettes not smoked, saving $27.42. Life saved: 12 hours, 25 minutes.
 

The night before the big quit date and aready I feel anxsious. It is so unfair that cigs can have such a hold on a person. My husband doesn't smoke and he gets upset every time i say i am going to quit and then have a relapse. He thinks it should be so easy. I am worried about the sllepless nights and the frustraion I am going to feel. I don't want to take that all out on my family. I also can't afford to put any more weight on that is why I hope the exercising and eating right helps.Well wish me luck on day one of living healthier.

I had quit smoking in 2003 for 3 months.  My thyroid went nuts and I gained 20 lbs!  I do plan to try and quit again.....   I find it easy not to smoke when I'm out and busy.  I don't even take any smokes with me.  The hard part is when I am home alone.  Yikes........    I guess I should find away to replace the cig.  It can't be with food though......LOL 

I will look at the web address www.silkquit.org/meter.html 

Thx!
 

  Thought I'd take a look at this board.  so far it seems everyone quit so I wonder about support for us still smoking.  Having said that, out on a limb, I wonder why I can't seem to quit.  Why do I sabotage myself everytime?  I am 42 and have smoked since I was eleven.  I can remember my first cigerette just like a drunk can remember his first drink.  

  I had given up as I just fail each time, and then my youngest was watching a commercial on TV about quitting.  He looked at me and said" I know you can do it Mom, you are the best and can do anything you want too!"   

  So where is the best place to go to get a plan? Don't say the doctor as I have no insurance. 

  

  Thanks for listening 

   Hey1 Good luck tomorrow. I know it is really unfair. My husband never smoked a day in his life and always gets upset about me saying I'm going to quit and then it doesn't work. I have said it so many times that he doesn't even believe I can do it. I hope to prove him wrong this time. If one doesn't smoke, they have no idea what it's like!! Tell your husband that. I'm  sure he understands at least that part. I told my husband that all the time. It is truly one of the hardest things to do. That is a fact, so there is nothing easy about it! 

I know you do not want to take anything out on your family, but I am sure they will  understand if that happens. You going through a temporary phase of insanity is worth not smoking and living longer. Just keep saying "I'm sorry" and you will be fine... Send me an email if you have to vent. Where do you live?    Exercising will help w/ your stress and help keep the weight down.  

I sincerely wish you all the best of luck! I know I have a week on you, but remember I am in the same boat. I totally understand and feel your pain. Take Care & hope to hear from you soon. 

~Jamie (BigKid)