Has anyone here ever quit smoking? I’m currently going through that hell and typing this post while actually really craving a smoke. :mad:
I smoke about 30 cigarettes a day and started when I was about 15. I don’t actually know what it is like not to smoke. Really, what do non-smokers do???
Generally, I like to believe that I am a logical, strong person and can happily control myself under just about any circumstances - that is why I’m not fat, alcoholic or drug addicted. However, I struggle to understand why I can’t simply forget about lighting that fag.
Anyway, I just thought I’d start this thread, it may be interesting to hear other’s opinions, experiences or even advice on the topic.
You understand that cigarettes are addictive, right? I’m not being sarcastic or anything, I’m just wondering if you know that they are, because you seem like you don’t.
Personally, I’ve never had a cigarette in my life (cigars and pipe for me :P), but from what I understand, they’re extremely hard to quit, once you start. You could look into nicotine patches. They’re supposed to help a lot.
Sorry I don’t have any personal stories to share. 
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Myself I’m a social smoker - someone who’ll nick a cigerette if people around me are smoking (preferance for roll-ups) but doesn’t smoke alone.
Me and the band I’m in are all making an attempt to stop smoking as of last saturday. I’m not as heavy a smoker as you, but I’ll tell you if it works.
I droped once for 2 weeks after few years of smoking…
First week was like a horror, then it was ok. I wasn’t addicted anymore.
But I found new job and had nothing to do on breaks, so somehow I returned to it.
One smoked cigar make your life 5 min. shorter. Bur one not smoked cigar makes your work day 5 mins longer 
All in all, if you don’t smoke, you just spend more time in work.
winks
I know…
Loxl, of course I understand that. Something that I do struggle to understand is addiction itself. Don’t get me wrong, I know many people who are addicted to all sorts of stuff, and always thought that they are weak, however, I’m currently experiencing the power of addiction…
I took a slightly different approach about 25 years ago that really, really helped me. I wanted to quit, but couldn’t do it. I’d go cold turkey, throwing my cigarettes away, then buy a new pack as soon as I got around other smokers, or I had a drink at a bar. I just couldn’t seem to make myself do it.
So, I decided I wouldn’t quit. Quitting is forever, and that’s just too hard. I made the decision not to smoke right now. I started by giving myself an hour. I would make myself live for an hour without a cigarette. At the end of the hour, I’d start a new hour. I lived from hour to hour for the first few days, then I got to where I would try to get through one whole day without a cigarette. And so on. It was really painful for a few days (nicotine withdrawal, I expect) but after a while, I got to the point where I’d tell myself that I’d get through this week without a cigarette. And so on.
It was pretty tough, and I had a few lapses, but every time I’d get right back on the horse and try again. I just kept telling myself, “not right now”. Let’s get to ten o’clock, and we’ll re-evaulate the position. Then, at ten, I’d say, “okay, let’s shoot for eleven o’clock”. And so on.
Today, I still consider myself a smoker. I could pick up a cigarette right now and be back up to two packs a day in no time. I’m just a smoker who hasn’t had a cigarette in, oh, 20 years or so, and it does get easier with time. I can be around people who smoke now, and the craving isn’t really bad at all. But it’s still there, I’m afraid, so I always try to keep a little eye on it.
If you can do it, you will feel so much better. And you won’t believe how much extra pocket change you’ll have.
You know how they call an addiction as well?
A habit.
Maybe there’s your answer… Your body and your mind are so used to that fag, that without it, they feel helpless. Like all of the sudden your testicles stopped producing testestorone… you’d feel veeeeery weak. Only that you don’t need nicotine to survive and you DO need testestorone.
Some say you have to build down the dose of nicotine by using nicotine chewing gum or those patches. Others say you need to be able to quit one day and never touch a fag again, withstanding the symptoms you experience when quiting any drug.
That’s my .02, because I don’t have any experience with fags.
The best to all of you smokers who want to quit,
Peter
Try carrying around a pack of mint gum and a tooth paste/brush. Whenever you get the physical craving, run it out with the mint. I don’t smoke, but I have friends who have quit. Maybe it helps.
Well, not going down the road while people start doing drugs (that seriously includes alcohol and cigarettes!). There are too many individual factors.
The addiction-part is brainwise pretty easy. Your brain started correlating smoking with something positive (might anything between social contacts or getting dumber because of the lack of oxygen).
That is where the craving comes from. It is at least partly an subconcious fear of losing the “benefits” of smoking - actually they might not be there anymore anyway, but because your brain does the thinking for you, you end up not wanting to quit.
Now the physical addiction is far more easy to overcome. Mainly because it goes a lot faster and secondly because you actually have a feeling for it (like pain for example). The body, especially the brain has to learn to live again without niccotin, which is dificult because your whole system has adapted to being flooded with these toxins and needs to majorly readjust.
The nice thing is, it can readjust and after some years, even the risk for most cancers will go down to something, unaddicted people might expect.
The not so nice thing is, that in a society and social surroundings, where people smoke, your brain will make you think (like any addict would) “Oh, I already quit, there can be no harm doing one cigarette” or “Well, smoking myself is better than all the time having to passive-smoke”.
The important thing to note, and this is also what makes it that hard, is:
These thoughts are true - very shortsightedly and only very partly, but if you do not watch yourself, you might start believing them AGAIN.
As any rational thinker might see within a second, the bigger part is the false part:
- Passive-smoking, while if possible avoid it, is still healthier than smoking yourself and it also increases your risk of relapse
- The notion, that these thoughts are rational while they are not, is something you have to train yourself thinking. These thoughts will come in different shapes, words, etc. . Believe me, the brain never gets more creative than it is craving for some trained stimulus.
A very interesting example might be the post of Nebular:
While claiming to have overcome the addiction, he or she states:
“so somehow I returned to it”. This then is followed by an apparently rational thought:
“if you don’t smoke, you just spend more time in work”
Why not do more breaks? Why not do some more interesting work for that matter? Smoking certainly is not the solution to this problem but the brain makes you think it is, so you continue what it wants you to do.
Well, if this sounds, like the brain and body might have a life of its own - well yeah, they do. There is not only a rational mind inside your body. Otherwise you would have to regulate your blood-pressure, your breathing, your heart, your temperature and really everything yourself :eek:
The point is in becoming aware of these “voices” and recognizing them
so you can think about the rationality of their “proposals”
Remember, any cigarette is one to many. Life is way to wonderfull to shorten it voluntarily
Just my two cents, nothing personal (even smokers are wonderfull beings - while they may not do something wonderfull while smoking), really just a general description of my “knowledge”.
Yeah, I know that one, that was my biggest and only problem with smoking, the feeling that I couldn’t give up. In my attempts to quit I would become quite irritable and bad tempered (driving around London was a nightmare).
I used those patch things in the end, and they worked quite well, there was no physical craving, just the odd pang at those certain times of day that you would normally have a cigarette, 'cos lets face it, one of the best things (especially with the tight workplace legislation nowadays) is those 5 minutes of peace that are your own, where no one bothers you, 'cos they know you’ll be back in a minute and in a bad mood if you are disturbed.
The only problem I did find with them was that it was so easy to quit, I found I know longer wanted to, because my inability to do so was the only thing that irked me about smoking.
I have a large collection of different types of tobacco, some for my pipes, some for my Turkish bong (yes, you don’t need to smoke pot in them, good for social occasions), and few cigars for sharing with friends.
I am definitely still a smoker, but don’t have that 30 a day habit, I smoke 4 or 5 times a week maybe, I feel it’s the difference between having to goto the pub for 4 pints every night, and someone who enjoys the odd glass of whiskey. I can’t remember the last time I smoked a cigarette, but I know I didn’t enjoy it much at all.
Some smokers are very persistent… They’ll quit smoking several times.
Don’t let one failure get you down. Keep going for it.
//Mathias
I have quit so many times, I can’t even count them now.
But as of right now, I am not smoking constantly. I can’t say that I have quit 100%, as I still have the odd smoke while at a party or in the car while driving around. But I don’t smoke all the time anymore either. I am basically down to about 3-5 smokes a week, at the very most.
I honestly have no advice other than keep on trying. Nothing has really worked for me.
BgDM
yeah, I would say definitely start by cutting back - 10 a day is quite a bit and will save you some money too. one of the best tips I heard was if you crave a cig, smoke about 25% of one and then toss it. it satisfies the craving and (maybe) mitigates some of the health effects. you are also slowly lessening your dependence on nicotine.
I doubt this will help you but when I quit for two month (back to like 5 a day now) I smoked a lot of weed to compensate, and it worked! of course, I was fucking stoned off my ass all day, but at least I didn’t smoke!
I also ate a lot of mentos (mint flavor), and I think popping mentos when you want a smoke actually works too. of course, I would eat like five packs of mentos a day, so then there’s the issue of getting fat…
good luck. if all else fails hypnotherapy has a 40% success rate or something.
Good that you want to quit, you’re almost begging for health problems later in life if you smoke and you waste a lot of money too.
I’d say either try those Nicotine patches or cut back slowly until you finally quit. I’ve never smoked but I know what they can do.
One small note for those who may not konw.
If you stop smoking even for many years you still have more chances to smoke again than someone who has never smoked before.
Also some people were helped to give up smoking after a sad event connected to smoking(I personally know a guy who give up smoking as his father died from smoking…)
If you feel that you need a sock to give up smoking see this:
The lungs of a smoker(rotten and black) and the lungs of a non smoker
Also by smoking you increae your chances to get cancer ,liver problems,thrombosis and many other probelms.
Also one small advice: DONT GIVE UP YOUR ATTEMPT TO STOP SMOKING. IT MAY BE DIFFICULT BUT IF YOU ARE WILLING ENOUGH YOU WILL ACHIEVE YOUR GOAL.
Also do a small search in google if you want learn more about illnesses related to smoking
drink lotsa mint tea 
im a smoker, but when ever i drink mint tea, i rely don’t want any siggies at all, tho it will take alot of tea 
apparently one good way, is one night, get maybe 5-10 times as many fags as you would usually smoke, then force yourself to smoke them all-youll feel really bad doing it, but after that you will find smoking the most repulsive thing ever, and won’t be able to stand it anymore.
No guarantees though
Have spent 19 years working on destroying my lungs and various other internal organs. Daft as it sounds until I discovered Blender and clean air [Ztony don’t allow us to speak religion so I’ll avoid that tangent] Now I loath smokers big time. Was last at the Blender conference dinner and not one smoker at our table! And even another vegetarian!! Life is good = if only you can see it that way [through the smoke screens that is] Good luck!
Lol! A few years ago I tried that. I actually thought that I succesfully gave up cigarettes, until I realised that I simply could never go out to see clients, etc, being stoned all day. Blue eyes don’t hide the level of ganja in your system too well.
Anyway, for now, I’ve decided to just get used to smoking about 10 a day. Then I’ll see about the next step. I think the plan that Capt. Jack followed makes quite a bit of sense to me.
Off-topic: It is interesting to note that here in South Africa, the richest man in the country was always Anton Rupert. He pasted away some months ago. He made his money by being the first man in the country to mass-produce cigarettes. His company, Rembrandt still controlls the cigarette industry here. He used to live about 100 meters from our house when I was a kid, in Stellenbosch and was also a personal friend of Nelson Mandela, F.W. de Clerk, etc. I always found it interesting how many people honoured him here. Even the church used to love him, quickly forgetting how he made his money. Of course, he donated a lot of money to many institutions, like the church, ANC, and even built several lung cancer hospitals!
I quit by seizing the day.
Somedays, I would wake up, and know there was no way I was going to quit. Other days, I would wake up, and think, hmm, I might have a chance.
This meant, usually, I would not save a smoke for the morning, just in case a day would come along where I would wake up and think, “today might be the day”
I havene’t smoked for over a year, and I still crave them, I suspect I always will.
BTW, to me, cold turkey has always been the only way. (i have quit for over a year three times)