Stopping Smoking

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I gave up smoking nine years ago, cold turkey and gave up alcohol at the same time. wasn't easy that is for sure. Hard but worth it.

Hang in there. Just think about the money you'll save.

I do not need to stop smoking, because I have never smoked in my life, oh yeah!

Most of us connect smoking with very dear rituals, such as drinking coffee (the classic).
In order not to have to give up your beloved coffee, or what else, you like to enjoy, you must separate it from the smoke.

When I quit smoking, I used both patches and gum, because I didn´t want to feel ANY physical discomfort at all. The psychological stuff is hard enough.

Then I went out and bought the best and most luxurious coffee and learned to enjoy it without smoke. In fact, it very quickly became clear, that smoking while drinking that kind of coffee would be a major offence.

Whenever the need for smoke came over me, I repeated my MANTRA: "This is my brain believing it needs a cigarette, but it is not going to have one, because I AM IN CHARGE!"
It worked for me. The first three months I had to be VERY alert. Then it got easier, and 6 months after, it was almost out of my mind.
The gum and patches I used much longer, than adviced, but the need gradually fazed out by itself.
Anyway, - gum and patches are way more healthy/less unhealthy than smoke.

Remember: An ex-smoker is an old drug addict. If, after quitting, you fancy just one or two and give in to it, - you can start all over again!
(Learned that the hard way myself)

Every year, I say I need to quit smoking. I seriously doubt it's ever gonna happen. As someone said, there are those who smoke and those who love to, and I'm in the latter category. You might that smoking is one of my special interests. I love tobacco. I don't even connect it to anything else, because it dominates everything else. It's my absolute favorite thing. Just to give you an impression about how bad off I am. I just got my FAFSA refund, so I'm in Camels again. For the last couple months of unemployment, I've literally been rolling pipe tobacco (I had a huge stockpile; It's gone now.) in printer paper and taping around the roach to hold it together.

Been smoking for ten years. Probably gonna die of cancer. Is it weird that that doesn't really bother me?

Yes! Weird..... or..... It is a known fact, that smokers and other addicts tend to suppress the anxieties about the possible consequences of their addiction for as long as possible because quitting "costs".

I ended up being very afraid, hating the taste and especially hating the smell. At last I discovered, that the anti smoke campaigns in fact made me give up quitting for years: I was already "finished", I thought. (I had been smoking or 38 years!)

These campaigns are designed to scare young people from starting to smoke, but they discourage older smokers from ever trying to stop in order to maintain the health, because they lead them to believe, that their health is already lost.

Hello Bigdave,

You need to choose to be a ex-smoker.

Write down the reasons why you want to stop.

Make the choice and go cold turkey again, you can do it.

(30 years of smoking, 6 weeks clean, going to make it work this time)

Best regards and good luck.

I've done it a few times. The first time I did it with the patch and Xanax. I cut out caffeine and alcohol as well because they were triggers for smoking. No morning coffee and no glass of wine or beer after the kids went to sleep. I stayed quit for a couple of years that time, but started back when I had to fly. This was before 9/11 and back when you could still smoke in airports but not on airplanes. I'm a nervous flyer and I smoked in the airport bar because I had a few drinks to make me less nervous (this is when you could still fly if you were a little buzzed too). I planned on only smoking during the flight up there and back, but when I got to where my friends were, there was lots of drinking and most people smoked so I said I'd quit again when I got home. I did not.

I've quit a few times with Welbutrin, from several months to a year. The last time I started back because my oldest had his appendix out and had to stay in the hospital over night. I stayed with him. He was 20 but acted like a damn two year old and drove me crazy so I went outside and smoked his cigarettes which he couldn't smoke because he couldn't leave the bed. I planned on quitting after I left the hospital. I did not.

I quit this time cold turkey with no Welbutrin until a month later, no patch, no Xanax, no nothing. I quit at midnight on New Years eve, and I was drinking wine at the time. I put out my cigarette at midnight, gave my pack away to another family member who smokes, I finished my glass of wine and then went to bed and didn't smoke after that. It's been three whole months and I'm starting the fourth now. I had to give up alcohol for now and I'm only drinking a limited amount of coffee, but I am drinking caffeine. It's the coffee that triggers the urge. I have cravings from time to time, but so far I haven't slipped up and started back. I'm not going to say this is forever, or even for the rest of today. If I start back, I start back. I'm not putting pressure on myself. I'm just taking it as it comes and doing what I can do. Otherwise I'll cave.

_________________
I'm giving it another shot. We will see.
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