The title pretty much explains it. I've been trying to quit smoking for a while now. I smoke cigarettes and pipe tobacco. I have to have one or the other. I am trying to quit both though. When I can I smoke my pipe instead of cigarettes just because it's not AS bad for you. Anyway, does anyone have tips for quitting? Some thing that has helped you? I've tried quitting cold turkey, that just makes me have anxiety. I've also tried slowly weening myself and it seems like if I have them at all then I can't quit. I've also tried just keeping myself busy but that only works for so long. IF anyone can help, I would greatly appreciate it!
I'm no smoker so I can't pretend to understand exactly what you're going through, but have you tried quitting aids, like patches and gum? I heard that they are quite effective. Good luck in kicking this habit!!! :eusa_clap
I haven't tried them, but that's only because I am trying to save money by quitting and the patches and gum are fairly expensive. I've thought about buying a vaporizer and smoking that, which is also known as an e-cigg, but again those can be very expensive. Thank you
Part of it can be a willpower thing. If you don't buy cigarettes and stuff, then you can't smoke once you run out, for example. So if you were able to stop yourself from buying any... that might help. There are nicotine gum things that are a nice stepping stone, as they still give you nicotine but are much healthier than cigarettes. Read up on this for a quick brush up: Nicotine gum - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia What's your smoking hand? If you had some sort of reminder on that hand, like a bracelet or ring, that might help, as well. Quitting cold turkey is hard for many, for cigarettes specifically. You might have more lasting progress if you did something in between completely quitting and just continuing as you are. If you take track of your smoking habits, perhaps you could start by cutting down. Also, if you smoke when you're at certain areas or places, perhaps you could avoid those places more often. Maybe the most important thing, though, would be to remind yourself of all the benefits of quitting smoking. Besides health issues, the smell also lingers on clothes and such, and aesthetically it damages your body in a way that's seen as unattractive. Furthermore, it costs money and that money may be able to be spent elsewhere. Do you think there are reasons that you smoke? For example, my dad smokes when he's stressed out... which is a lot. If you could find a reason or the reasons why you smoke, if there are any, you might be able to handle those reasons by dealing with them in a different way. So, for example, instead of reducing stress by smoking, you could reduce it by working out or cooking or buying an iced coffee from Starbucks or what-have-you. Perhaps some things that I've said may still be of use to you. I know it's a hard thing to do, but if you can follow through in the end, ultimately you'll likely be happier. I'd like to remind you that it's okay to have slip-ups and it's okay to stumble or maybe relapse a bit, but those instances should be stepping stones for you to improve, and you should move forward, and not backwards, from such times. Don't beat yourself up over small losses, so to speak. Also, don't lose sight of your goal and remind yourself of why you're doing this. Perhaps you might want to have some sort of written recordings of your journey. It can be pleasing to note one's past successes and can be helpful and inspiring. It also helps reinforce that you're in it to win it... so to speak. Cheers to you and best of luck. I wish you the best =)
I smoke when I am stressed, bored, at times I do it as a reward for myself when I've accomplished something. I do it for the tastes of my pipe tobacco. I also smoke just because I love having smoke in my mouth and I like the action of smoking. I smoke with both of my hands, I am ambidextrous. It does help if I keep a cigarette in my hand but don't light, I just eventually have to light it. I also do try not buying them, the withdrawls just cause me soo much anxiety. I think part of the problem with me quitting is partly, I really don't want to. I enjoy it entirely too much. But I've noticed bad side effects, headache, stomach ache, I don't like the withdrawls. I think keeping track of my smoking habits and trying to slowly cut back will help. I am going to try that and see how it goes. Thank you for the advice!
Withdrawal symptoms should be much less, or even negated, if you gradually stopped smoking. That goes for smoking or medicine, and probably quite a few other things as well. Finding other ways to occupy your time besides smoking could be one thing that could help. Also, try to reward yourself in other ways that are healthier. Reducing stress through other ways besides smoking can only help you in the long run, too. =)
Ahhh, okay. Well think about it, patches and gum may save you money in the long run if they end up helping you quit faster and for real.
I am cutting down before I quit. I got really sick the first time I tried, but that was when I was smoking half a pack to one whole pack a day. For the first bit, I'm really spacing out my smoking. If I kind of feel like I want one, I wait, distract myself and then have one later. I don't smoke when I'm bored. I eat or drink something small to see if I'm not transferring my hunger or thirst into desire to smoke (that happens to me a lot). This has freed me up to only smoking like three or four cigarettes a day and I already feel better. From here, I think I'll be able to go cold turkey. I don't think I would have been able to do it when I was still smoking every hour or every other hour. Other than that, I've found that drinking a lot of water has made me feel better about cutting down my nicotine. I don't know why, other than using my water bottle is a hand-to-mouth motion and water helps me not get headaches which make me want to smoke. Anyway, my scheduled last cigarette is today and I don't feel that anxious about it, now that I hardly smoke at all anyway. So cutting down could definitely work for you, but you have to be diligent about keeping it up and not letting yourself go back up to the level you just came from. It sucks, but not as bad as cold turkey. Good luck
The hospital I was in was a no smoking hospital. I had to rehab for several weeks without smoking. I was very cranky with the nurses so they finally gave me a nicotine patch. I got out of the hospital with no patches and relapsed a few times. Then I got an e-cig. It worked fairly well. The e-cig allowed me to taper off until I was able to quit altogether. It's been two years now without smoking!
Good for you! I had an uncle who quit cold turkey. He was always hard to get along with, according to everybody, so maybe he became more so after that. Basically, he was surrounded by too many "no smoking" zones and gave it up. Some women I know gave it up once they became pregnant. As for other friends, I just they just tapered off by reducing the number of cigarettes they smoked.
Just smoke one less cigarette every day or week. That helped my dad who quit smoking before my older sister was born. Nicotine gum and patches could work.
Cut back your intake. Try only smoking at the end of the day. A lot of people find it easier to quit if they're not removing tobacco completely. Just the thought of having a cigarette at the end of the day can help you do this. Everytime you crave a smoke, just think that yes you will get you fix, but later. This will slowly help decrease urges because you are settling for "having a smoke" but "not right now". People CAN release DOPAMINE and get their physical reward just by thinking about or knowing you will have a cigarette, this is proven. The lack of dopamine is what creates a problem for quitters, however you can "trick" your body into releasing it by "giving into urges", but just not that second. My brother is trying to quit, he tries to only smoke at the end of the day, and says it is easier not to smoke during the day if he "knows" he will eventually get the smoke. The problem with this is you will have to eventually stop, and that will be hard, but it will be significantly easier to quit if your dependence is low, and your intake is low. So smoking at the end of the day is a good day to handle urges, without dealing with the effects of quitting cold turkey. When you are irritated at the lack of smoking, try to think about how ridiculous it is to "want" to smoke that bad,and that the problems you are feeling are very miniscule problems, people accomplish much greater things than stopping smoking, so you have to kind of downsize your problem,compare it to REAL problems, and realize that it is chemical reactions that are causing you to "want" a cigarette, you don't "want" a cigarette, your addiction does, and you are not your addiction. Do what YOU WANT, not what a "nicotine brain" wants.
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Try to think about what things in your life that smoking negatively affects. I only smoked for a short period of time, (about 2 months) so it didn't negatively affect me too much, but I wanted to quit while I was ahead. I'm on swim team and choir, so I figured that I should quit smoking cigs before they affected the things that I enjoy doing. I know a dude that runs, and he switched to e cigs, which saved him a lot of money and was much healthier than smoking the real thing, so you might want to consider trying electronic cigarettes in order to quit. The main thing that helped me quit was marijuana. I was chilling with some friends down by a creek, and we were toking up, and as I left, I threw them away, and I haven't smoked cigarettes since then.
I have not had tobacco in almost 7 months now, thanks to my e-cig. In that time i have spent less than 300$. The key is shopping around. To start with you will only need 2 ego batteries, a few clearomizers, and a bottle of juice. If you( or anyone else) would like help shopping around, send me a PM.
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