quit smoking cold turkey or cut down till zero?

[James81]

Cold turkey on the cigs, but use some sort of nicotine replacement therapy to help with the withdrawals (not the physical ones, the MENTAL ones).

The physical withdrawals are gone after 3 days, but unfortunately that's usually when the REAL withdrawals happen. Most people tell you that the first 3 days are the hardest, and that is BS. The hardest days come when you are no longer sending nicotine into your body/brain where it's blocking certain dopamine receptors. So you begin suffering feelings of loss, as if you are losing a friend.

Recognizing that this will/can happen is important because you want to figure out new coping mechanisms for this kind of thing.

Recognizing (and listing) all your known triggers and facing them one at a time, replacing the crutch of the cigarette with a new coping mechanism helps immensely too.

Listing the monetary benefits (which extend beyond just the price of a pack of cigs btw), and then putting the money you save from buying cigs each day into an "reward" account, where you can reward yourself at certain levels of your goal (5 days, 10 days, 1 month, 3 months, etc.) with something you want or something of increasing value.

Good luck bro. Today is day 1 for me, but I've been down this road several times before and all of the above are things that have helped me get further with each try.

[RagsToRiches]

I "quit" a few times before being sucessful.

Cold turkey is the way to go - plus take up some vigourous excercise twice a week.

The coughing fits and sore throats which begin after about a week of cold turkey were enough to carry me through the first three months. Since then I have been very active in martial arts and am still, 8 months after quitting, frustrated by my very gradually recovering lung capacity.

I'll never smoke again.

[Wildside]

I can't recommend Allen Carrs Easy way to Quit Smoking book enough. He even insists that you smoke the whole time reading it and don't even try to quit until you are done. He kind of brainwashes you into not wanting to smoke by the end of it...and he explains that you are really not giving anything up...because there are no benefits to smoking...you are simply gaining freedom from the slavery of nicotine addiction. That being said I have had an on again off again relationship with cigerattes for over 20 years...ever since high school I have smoked when I have drinks, which is mostly on weekends, and simply put them in a drawer until the next time...sometimes that will be a week or two later. I have quit for 6-8 months many many times. My last long quit of 8 months ended about 2 months ago when I broke up with my long time girlfriend, I know I will quit again soon...probably after hockey playoffs lol. I haven't had a smoke since the last Vancouver Canuck game on saturday night...I will probably have some tonight as they play again. I would like to not ever want one but I have come to the realization that life is to short to beat myself up about it...people are always amazed at my abilitly to not smoke for long periods of time...it works for me, for now. I think one of these times I go for 6-8 months I will probably quit for good. I might look into one of these electronic cigs that someone mentioned...it might be just the thing I need as I think I am so conditioned to have a smoke when I go out for drinks or celebrate. Anyway, good luck with your quit and do yourself a favor and read Allen Carr's The Easy Way to Quit Smoking book...you will not regret it.

[warrku]

Addiction of any kind is not good for health be it smoking, alcohol or drugs. Once a person gets addicted to such things then it's very tough to get over it because of the addictive nature of these things. It takes immense will power and dedication to get over such habits. I quit smoking on Chantix though I have tried to do cold turkey on two occasions, but of no use. I have smoked for around 5 yrs with pack a day. Thanks to chantix and the support my family provided me. Best luck to all those who want to give up there habits.

[Alexi]

Cold turkey is best...the sooner you get the concept out of your head the better. Tapering off will probably keep you wanting to smoke, if not more. If you know WHY you want to quit and that you WILL quit, you'll do fine.

[Alexi]

Cold turkey is best...the sooner you get the concept out of your head the better. Tapering off will probably keep you wanting to smoke, if not more. If you know WHY you want to quit and that you WILL quit, you'll do fine.

[alexplatups]

cold turkey is definitely the most effective approach, there is some serious
suffering to go through (at least I suffered, big time!) but after I quit cold
turkey 15 years ago, to this day I have not smoked, and do not ever want
to smoke cigarretes ever again

I simply decided that no matter how I will feel I will not smoke another
cigarrete in my life, and the first few weeks it was massively uncomfortable,
waves of cravings for nicotene hit me on a regular basis

then after a few months they came back once a week, and with time they
stopped and currently I can't even imagine smoking a cigarrete

I will be honest and say that when I go on vacation, I do hit the coffeeshops
and vaporize that Amsterdam *coffee* like there is no tomorrow

but as far as nicotene, I do not see myself ever touching it again

[Epiphany]

I quit by using nicorette patches. To be honest, it really helped with the ''withdrawals'' but what helped me more was Allen Carr’s book: ‘’ The Easy to quit smoking’’.
Society has brained washed us into thinking it’s hard to quit. It’s not hard. It’s easy. Just quit.