How to quit smoking?

[Jane004]

Dear Everybody.
Please share the experience how to quit smoking (
if somebody has done it.

[Ree]

I quit cold turkey in 1993, using a plan I got from the American Cancer Society called "21 Days to a Fresh Start." Haven't smoked since. Here are a few of the tips I used that helped me:

On a piece of paper you can keep, write down the top three reasons you want to quit smoking. Be Absolutely Honest! This is for your eyes only. Carry this paper with you EVERYWHERE. Look at it often, especially when you are seriously craving a cigarette.

Replace the habit of smoking with another, good habit. I drank lemon water in place of smoking. The process of slicing the lemon and squeezing it into the water took the place of lighting the cigarette. Lemon water is great for you and helps flush the toxins out of your system.

If you don't already have an exercise program in place, get one and use it! I was very worried that I would gain weight when I quit smoking. I began an exercise program for the first time and I still do it today. In fact, I LOST weight at the same time I quit smoking.

After three weeks the physical craving is over. It is purely emotional habit after that.

Know that you can do it. Once you quit, think of yourself as a non-smoker. Don't say, "I'm in the process of quitting," or "I'm trying to quit." Say, "I AM A NON-SMOKER."

GOOD LUCK!

[John P]

A friend of mine quit smoking a few years ago and told me a bit about how he'd done it. He said that he decided to quit one time when he had the flu and was stuck in bed, but still wanted to smoke as he usually did. For some reason, as he laid there in bed, feeling absolutely terrible and yet still smoking, he was overcome with disgust with the habit.

So he carried around a lung cancer pamphlet for a couple of months and would read through it every time he went outside for a smoke. Eventually, he decided he was ready and quit for good that day.

[Angela]

I quit drinking last summer using Alan Carr's The Easy Way to Quit Drinking, and it really has been easy. Carr is better known for the great results people have gotten from his The Easy Way to Quit Smoking.... in fact, there have been people here in these forms who quit using his method. Maybe you'd like to pick up that book and give it a try. They also have seminars, I think it's one day long, after which many participants are non-smokers.

Best wishes to you. What an incredibly kind thing you're doing to your own body and others by letting go of this habit.

[Amatrine]

Its hard, Im now in the same boat. I quit tears ago, using the gum.
I had a bad cold, bought some gum, and after three days threw out the gum. I made it two years . When I became paralized, I was so stressed I started again. This time I tried to quit, but I now have autonomic dysfunction,
where my bp is VERY low. When you stop smoking, the BP drops even further. For two weeks , I kept fainting and ended up in the hospital.
My doctor , said she does not condone smoking, but in my case, said I should probably start again, and only stop with complete care from a neurologist!

I saw the nero, and he recomended the new drug chantix, gave me prescription. But it is VERY expesive. 150 bucks for only 1 week of pills. Insurace does not cover it, and I can not afford it. So I am stuck. I want to quit, but I dont want to end up in the hospital from a major heart arythmeia due to the bp drop again. Im stuck

Ama

[Dan.Linehan]

I took a Monday off work so I'd have a 3 day weekend and detoxed myself. Holed up in my bedroom, didn't talk to anyone, didn't leave the house, just ate junk food and played video games for 3 days straight.

Tuesday morning I bought the gum and the lozenges. That weekend was kind of hellish, I was literally aching for a cigarette. But I'll always remember that its something I never want to go through again, so it keeps me from ever starting to smoke another.

I've also head good things about Alan Carr's easy way books, as previous posters mentioned.

[simon]

Hi Jane

I only smoked for two and a half years but toward the end I was making myself ill and depressed by the number of rollys or cigarettes I was smoking. I know that it may be different for people who have ingrained the habit for longer than I have; but my friends and I had a lot of success with Allen Carr's EasyWay to Quit Smoking book.

It's exceptional because it takes your thoughts on smoking, analyses them and then reverses them. Some of my friends have bought the book but never committed to stopping; others just stopped, but from experience the only true way to quit is through the Allen Carr method. If there was a Carr Cult, I would be in it !

When I first got the book, I read it within four days and stopped smoking for two months. Then I changed environment and got unfortunately got dragged back into smoking for three months or so. I persevered and re-read the book again, got things straight in my mind and since October 07 I've now been free and feeling better than I've ever felt.

I guess my only other advice is that you must know your enemy and how it works before you can win - the book helps you do just that.

[JimOfferman]

My uncle quit smoking using the simplest method imaginable: he smoked until his last pack of cigarettes ran out and then he just stopped.

I don't know about you, but I always feel very reassured when another man (or woman) can do something. It means that I should be able to do that too.

Kudos to you for even considering to quit! That is the first and foremost step.

Good luck!

[Tobias Zimpel]

I used to be a smoker, and for nearly 4 years, I'm now a non-smoker. No, not an ex-smoker. I'm a non-smoker, and I became one the moment I threw my last cigarette away and exhaled the last smoke out of my lungs - technically at least. Mentally, I have already been a non-smoker for some time while I was still smoking.

How does that go together? I followed the advice from Allen Carr's Book that was already recommended here - and although it is not perfect, it still is the best way to go non-smoking available.

I found that Allen basically follows a LoA approach to quit smoking: First you have to become a non-smoker internally, and then you do the transition outside. If you try it the other way around, you will most likely always stay a smoker craving for a cigarette.

So I strongly suggest that you get that book and read it. It will open your eyes about smoking - and even if you keep on smoking afterwards (as I did initially), you still planted a seed that will continue to grow over time.

So you have nothing to lose and everything to win!

[Ree]

Hey Jane! Keep us posted on your progress.

And Good Luck!

[aquietmind]

Here's how I did it.


A good friend of mine wanted to quit smoking for the sake of his young son's health and the bad influence that he believed he was by smoking around him and his little friends. He felt terribly guilty about his smoking and really wanted to drop the habit. One night he handed me a book that I will not mention that had been making the rounds at work and folks had begun to quit like crazy.

I read a few chapters of the book and commented that I thought it was a very negative way to quit. He said, "Man everybody at work I know that read that book has quit... it's great!" I disagreed relating to him that I thought it focused making you feel guilty and wrong for smoking it said things like, your a bad person if you smoke That and you stink and people hate you because your a smoker etc.

I said to him that he could quit more effectively and possibly for good if he tried a more tactful and passive approach. I suggested that he say something to himself each time he inhaled. Like this, "I allow this body to be nicotine free" He looked at me harshly and said, " It would sound a lot better and have more effect if I you weren't holding a cigarette in your hand right now!" I had to laugh cause he was so right it didn't hold much water coming from someone who was smoking and telling someone to quit. So I thought I would prove my point and try to be of help too. I had had been a smoker for over twenty years and never really wanted to quit, but I was determined to be of service through example and I really thought it would work.


Long story short, I decided to practice what I preached and began reciting " I allow this body to be nicotine free" every time I inhaled a drag off my smoke. I didn't judge myself as some horrific monster because I smoked, nor did I say to anyone that I was quitting smoking. I just said those words over and over again. Needless to say one day I just didn't smoke anymore...really! I think it took a couple of months.


So after those two months I confronted my friend rather boastfully and said, "Hey look I took my own advise and did the allowing thing and I don't smoke anymore. What do you think, pretty amazing huh?" So he says, "Talk to me in two years, then maybe I will be amazed." Hey Rodger it's been over two years now and it's your turn!


Why not give this a try?



robert

[Lynn 007]

Hi Jane
Good for you on trying to quit smokng. I have smoked a pack a day for over 20 years and will be celebrating my one year anniversary as a non-smoker next month (Feb.11).
Although for me, it was very difficult to quit as I have tried a number of times over the years using everything from cold turkey, hypnosis, acupuncture, gum and the patch. What I used last February was the patch. Suggestions I have are you have to take one day at a time and:

1. You have to WANT to quit and be 100% committed to being successful.
2. Change your routine when you have your fav cigarettes. One of my favs was with my morning coffee and after meals. Instead of waking up and having a coffee and cigarette, I woke up and went for a walk and after a meal did housework.
3. Drink lots of water
4. Keep busy
5. Deep breathing exercises
6. Be aware of potential situations where you may smoke and remove yourself from them. For the first three months I advised my friends I could not accept any invitations to meet at the pub for drinks as I associate drinking with smoking and I couldn't take the chance of lighting up again.

Good luck

[Samuel Bryson]

I know a few people who quite smoking. All of them were convinced that they no longer wanted to smoke. That is the most important first step. Consider the damage smoking does to you and those around you as well as its financial cost, these are often primary motivators for smokers to quit.

Still the process of quiting is not easy. As one would with any addiction its very useful to boost your endorphin and dopamine levels when you crave something. These are essentially happy hormones! How do you do this? One of the best and simplest ways is just to do some quick exercise. One of my friends walked around the block everytime he craved a cigarette. Another one used to do some quick weight lifting, just one exercise, just to take his mind of it.

Exercise has many wonderful benefits both physically and pscyhologically. See my website if your interested in learning more:

Total Wellbeing: The Many Benefits of Exercise, Part 1:

[Jim11]

I quit smoking several years ago. When I was 100% committed to quitting the following helped me quit cold turkey:

I played mental games, telling myself that these cravings and headaches are significantly more bearable than if I were to have the flu or a bad illness, and that I just needed to suck it up.

I kept telling myself that I am far stronger than some rolled tobacco. Can I really let myself be controlled by something like this? I am THIS WEAK?

I also told myself right when I decided to quit that I am NOW a non-smoker. I didn't concern myself with the long process. I have decided to quit, so I won't think about how long it will take, etc. I am simply now someone who does not smoke.

Put new routines in place of smoking and avoided all areas where people do it, for the first couple weeks.
Drank lots of water, ate junk, whatever....
Only problem was I got addicted to eating Wendy's instead at the time! that only last a couple weeks though

Good luck.

You are freeing yourself from the tyranny of nicotine, so enjoy the process and its benefits.

[Chrysalis]

I had smoked for around 12 years and had quit once with a combination of the patch and support groups.

The second and last time (non smoker for the past 6 years) I had a great doctor that prescribed me the nicotine inhaler and also Welbutrin (a mild anti-depressant). I took the welbutrin for the first couple of weeks, but I think what really did the trick for me was the inhaler. With the inhaler you get the same feeling as you do when you actually smoke. For the first few days I used the inhaler just like I did cigarettes, on my breaks and so forth. Then I started doing other things on those 15 min breaks like walking. Then I only used the inhaler in those situation when I felt like I was having a nicotine fit, or when I was in a situation that I used a cigarette as a coping device. I never had to buy a second box of the cartridges. My lungs were healing and I had regained my sense of smell and taste. The smell of smoke in the air or on a smoker made me wonder how I could have ever lived with myself and that awful smell.

I HIGHLY recommend the nicotine inhaler to anyone trying to kick the habit. My insurance didn't cover the inhaler but I think it was only 50 dollars or something like that for a box of the cartridges. When you think about it 50 dollars is nothing compared to what you already spend on cigarettes.

Quitting cold Turkey is fine if you can hack it. I was at a pack a day habit and had tried cold turkey with no success.

Good luck, quitting smoking is the best thing I've done for my health.

On a side note, since I quit smoking, I met my wife (a non smoker) we married and have three beautiful children. This would have never happened if I had still been a smoker. Apparently the cigarettes had lowered my sperm count so far that I was basically sterile and my wife would not have given me the time of day if I had been a smoker when we met.

I hope you can kick the habit, but no matter which method you decide to try, the single biggest factor in your success will be an overwhelming desire to stop smoking and become a non smoker.

Best wishes for you.

~Chrys

[Mused]

I started smoking when I was 17. I quit cold turkey when I was 21 and haven't smoked for 10+ years. I 100% quit because I wanted to and not because my friends, family etc. wanted me to quit. Deciding I was no longer a smoker was the biggest factor for me. You have to 100% believe you are a non smoker before you can become one.

The second biggest factor was altering the habit.

Smoking for me was not just a mental,physical habit. It was a social habit.

For the first few months I stopped hanging out in places where I'd be around smokers such as coffee shops, outside smoke break areas at work, bars and even stopped hanging out with certain friends. Basically I stopped acting like a smoker.

If cold turkey sounds a bit overwhelming there's always OTC stuff you can take and as a last resort prescription medication (Chantix, Zyban etc) to help. People sometimes think they cant afford smoking cessation meds. Funny thing is a month supply of meds is typically the same price if not less than you'd pay for a month supply of cigarettes.

Best of luck to you.

[xray kimono]

i smoked for 12 years- came from family of smokers. i used the tony robbins personal power methods to quit smoking..

if you reprogram your brain to associate more bad feelings with smoking than the pleasures of it---(WHICH I LOVED SMOKING)----then you will never want one again. NOW everytime i even think about a cigarette being inhaled in my body- i get nauseous. being around people that smoke, even while they smoke, doesn't bother me though; it is just when i think about putting it in my body. this is because of the nuerological response that i have programmed into my mind--- it then has gotten into my subconscious by repetition and emotion added to the thoughts that were programmed. if you havent applied tony robbins personal power programs to this area of your life-- i highly suggest that you do it. i know i will never again smoke a cig and havent in over 2 years now.

[Samuel Bryson]

I just wrote an article yesterday called Total Wellbeing: Breaking an addiction:, which might help. Its rather generic but it is important to realise the background processes that have lead someone to become addicted. Smoking has a strong physical addiction to it, but even so pscyhologically it also becomes important, as most addictions do. Thankfully quitting smoking is probably easier than many other addictions as it is more physically rooted, and therefore doing other things to raise endorphin levels (like exercise) should help to greatly reduce cravings.