Quiting Smoking, need help!

As the title suggests I'm trying to kick the habit. Now anyone know how to fight the cravings cause the gum isn't working!

My vote is for negative re-enforcement. Every time you want a cigarette, poke yourself in the arm with a pin, or something.

at this point I think quitting is gonna kill me quicker than the cigarettes

you're giving up? I'll help remove temptation...gimme your ciggies!

Billybob - I used the gum AND the patch when I first started to quit. I used the lowest dosage of both so I did not kill myself, but it seemed to work for me at first. Then I weaned my self off the patch the first two weeks. I then went to the 4mg of the gum for a about 4 months and then to the 2mg and well.. I still will buy the gum once in awhile under very stressful conditions (like hurricanes).

But it's been six years and I still have not started smoking again, so I guess that counts for something.

Some of the things I did habit wise - I avoided the spots where I used to smoke. I changed the spot where I sat at night, I changed where I sat at my computer. When I felt like a smoke I went and worked on my plants for awhile. Plus it helped that my husband and I moved to a new house, so no smoking in the new house. I did slip once or twice as all of my friends are smokers and they would come over and they would slip me a smoke at first, this was during the first year. Now I no longer am even tempted, in fact the smell kind of makes me ill but I don't say anything to my friends because I don't want to be one of those radical non-smokers, since I know how it feels.

Don't freak because you slip and have one smoke - just don't buy a pack.

Good Luck!

.

I quit smoking tobacco May 24th, 1999. It was prolly the hardest thing I ever did, but well worth it.

I went through a program at work where a nurse advisor helped us out with a prep program to get geared up and was a person we could call if we were about to give in to the urge. (I say 'us' but I took the individual option cuz I'm not into group therapy shit).

I also used the nicatrol inhaler, which helped sate the urges when they occured.

Really though, it was a matter of deciding to make a lifestyle change, and then following through on that decision.

I still to this day get urges for cigarettes, often even when walking down the street and I smell someone's cigarette burning.

It's all a matter of willpower.

-Ghoti

unfortunately, I am quitting all tobbacco use, smoking and dipping and it is REALLY hard.

Billy, I can only offer you encouragement. I was a 2-pack-a-day smoker in college but once I got married and wanted to have kids I realized the cigs had to go.

Quitting was easy - I quit dozens of times But I stuck with it. I learned how to redefine my self-image from a "smoker" who wanted to stop wanting smokes, to a non-smoker who was trying to get back to the real me. I gained some weight from too many peppermint candies, but then discovered that exercise was also a good way to feel better about myself without smoking. That was over 10 years ago and I never have urges to smoke these days.

So the best way is to cut yourself off cold turkey (no bargaining "just one more", throw out all your smokes somewhere you can't get them back. Exercise. Shampoo the carpet and drapes in your house to cleanse some of the smoke odor (repaint too!). Stop doing the things you associate with smoking - like going to bars, etc. Start seeing yourself as a non-smoker and know that it's the best thing you can ever do for yourself.

I'm not a huge poster.Unless it's important. This seems important. Keep posting. Even if it's just spam. Everytime you want to light up or dip. Post..masturbate, kick a wall, walk your dog, tune up your dodge, whatever. But DO somthing. Don't sit there and dwell on the fact you don't have that vile nasty thing smouldering away on your lip. Cause thats almost torture. And keep eating the gum. Tastes like shirt but. It is prolly doing somthing in there even if you don't physically register it as yet.

I feel you, brother.
I'm into my third week and, I'll tell you, the only thing that gets rid of the cravings? NOTHING! Nothing at all. I'm DYING for a cigarette (I know, I know... the irony. Dying for and dying from... at this point, when they get really bad, I don't care.)
Billy, the best thing that I've found, for me, I'm not suggesting this, just throwing it out there, is to have a cigarette at home. Not smoke it, just have it there. During the day, life is a WHOLE lot more bearable when you can say to yourself, "If I can just get through today, I can have one when I get home." Then when you get home, you say, "If I can gte through tonight, I can have this tomorrow morning..." and in the morning, yadda yadda.
Just keep putting off having one. I think, at this point, it's getting out of the habit of smoking, the putting your hand to your mouth (I bought about 5 of those Listerine Breath Sprays and have one everywhere I go. Whenever I want to take a drag on a ciggy, I blast one of those in my gob a couple of times. That shit'll burn the back of your eyes out through your sinuses! Takes the edge off for a few seconds... er.. minutes.), the going out at certain times... the HABITs of smoking, rather than the physical addiction.
Patch up (I've found they work best to stop you smoking if you put them directly over your mouth, but the doctor told me to stop doing that.*grin*), gum up, inhaler up, whatever it takes to cut down that craving a little.

We can do this, mon ami.

Another phrase I like to use comes to me from a story I read about Jason Mewes of Jay and Silent Bob fame.

"Not today. Hopefully, not tomorrow."

Just get through today.
Smoke tomorrow if you want, just don't today.

Can you tell I don't have my patch on?

I have been hopelessly addicted to Nicorette for about 3 years now.

I've mastered the art of chain-chewing, and have even woken up some mornings with the gum still in my mouth. I go through about 15-20 pieces of the mint 4mg per day.

On the bright side, I haven't had a cigarette in 3 years

Allen Carr's Easy Way to Stop Smoking ...

THE BEST BOOK IN THE WORLD! (Also a seminar thingy. Check it out if it's near you)

http://allencarr.com/central/

Did it work for me? No ... because I haven't finished the book ... and then someone took it across the country with them to New York. So I have to order it again.

BUT!!!

This guy smoked 100 cigarettes a day. He woke up one day and had an entirely new philosophy. He developed his technique, started having sessions with smokers, and enabled many of them to quit (easily). The basis of his outlook is -- basically -- un-brainwashing yourself (why do we smoke? Why do we always have one after a meal? Why is it ruining our life?). It's not shock treatment (IT'S NOT "LOOK AT THIS HORRIBLE SAD PERSON WITH HALF A THROAT!!!" and it's not gum or patch. That works for me. None of those other techniques made sense to me anyhow.

Seriously, he GETS in your head, he knows exactly how a smoker feels. Read it. It's amazing. You can also get it in audio form and whatnot.

I can only offer you encouragement and good luck on quitting smoking. I quit smoking almost 6 years ago, but I had gotten pregnant and it made me violently ill to smoke (I don't think that's likely to happen to you). Oooo, I know, make yourself vomit every time you light one up.. Negative reinforcement works WONDERS!

Seriously, good luck to you. I know that it's difficult to quit. I smoked for almost 14 years - a pack a day - and tried to quit several times before getting pregnant.

I also quit in 1999, but finally just used the 'cold turkey' method. For me, the gum and patch techniques didn't work, as in my mind, it just seemed to drag (no pun intended ), out the quitting process, and I'd always return to smoking. Cold Turkey is not as horrible as it sounds, and as you'll discover, those gut wrenching urges that make you think you cannot live another day, or hour, without a cigarette, will begin to diminish after a few weeks or so. The hardest part about initially quitting, is losing the ability to fine tune your moods throughout the day, which this habit so successfully fosters. Learning to overcome life's little, and big bumps without the crutch of your old friend tobacco is one of the hardest, but most rewarding things you can do for yourself and your loved ones. Just hang in there, and know this, the urges will die with time, as the toxins are flushed from your body, and as you become mentally stronger from your battle, before long, you'll be free of that insidious monkey on your back! Bottom line, my friend, no one can quit for you. This mission is yours alone. Great success to you!

This should be easier than it is, its the second time I have quit. I quit smoking when I went to Basic Training and then started again when I was deployed to Kosovo.

i quit a long time ago -- don't actually remember when. I lived on a four-floor walkup on the top floor. it was the middle of a boston winter. i allowed myself to have a cigarette if i wanted -- but first i had to walk up to my apt, divest myself of my winter outerwear, and think about it for five minutes. just five. and then, if i really wanted a cigarette i could get my boots and coat back on and walk back down and down to the store to get a pack.

it was sheer laziness that helped me quit.

Billybob, I wish you all the luck in the world. I've tried to quit a few times and haven't been successful so I know how hard it can be. I plan to try again in a couple of months. I turn 40 in September and I figure since that's going to make me feel like shit to begin with I might as well compound it and really feel like shit!

It's not so much the health aspect that makes me want to quit, or even how absurdly expensive it is... it's all those nights at 2am when I've just finished my last pack and then I have to get dressed and drive to the store like a friggin idiot because I can't stand the thought of not having one handy if I need it. That's when it's most glaringly obvious what a slave to the habit I am.

Mickey, I like your advice about keeping one as a reward that you keep putting off. That makes a lot of sense to me because when I make those late night excursions I often don't even end up smoking one. Just knowing that I have them often takes away the craving.

Another thing I've seen people do which I think is a cool idea is to take the money you would have spent on cigs and save it up for something you really want... a trip or a toy or hookers and beer. I think that'd make it easier to suffer since you can see it building up towards a tangible reward.

I'll be crossing my fingers for you Billybob. Don't beat yourself up if you slip or declare your attempt a failure. Just keep on going and do the best you can.

Healthy Lung

Cancerous Lung

Various lung cancers

I know I need to quit, I'm just struggling with it.

I used the patch last year when I quit and it helped alot. If you do use the patch make sure they are the clear ones and not the original band-aid type ones. The clear ones are much less itchy and friendly to the skin.

Dipping? Oh yech you must be a real pleasure to kiss.

Have you ever seen the pictures of what that chewing wackytabacky does to a persons mouth and throat? It is G R O S S.

Briana Dawson

why do you think I am quitting and I only dip when I can't smoke, like here at work.

This is the kind of thing that people would send to me when I did smoke that would make me feel like I should just keep on smoking because it just did not really matter anyway.

.

I usually blow smoke into their face, just to annoy them

Yeah. Shock treatments really don't work. May sound silly to everyone (it sounds silly to even me) but all they make you do is get stressed out about smoking and then you go outside to have one.