Has anyone here ever tried to quit smoking?

[Angel]

"It's easy to quit smoking. I've done it hundreds of times." - Mark Twain

Funny this should come up, as I just celebrated my five-year anniversary of being smoke-free (well, from tobacco anyways... ;-) ) and I was reflecting on it recently. Like most people, I made many attempts (nine, I think?) and I tried several methods - Zyban, the patch, nicotine gum, etc. - before I finally kicked my two-packs-a-day habit by going flat-out cold turkey. I'll add some of my advice to the very good suggestions above (sorry for any repetition):

- Make the decision to be a NON-SMOKER. Some people have the uncanny ability to smoke once in a while, calling themselves "social smokers" without ever becoming addicted. I'm not one of those people, and sure enough, even after quitting for months, I always came back to it gradually, always starting with my first "special occasion" smoke. You're either a smoker, or a non-smoker; for those of us who are/were nicotine addicts, there is no middle ground.

- There will ALWAYS be a special occasion. Your birthday comes every year, as does New Year's Eve, St. Paddy's Day, or the anniversary of your first sexual experience. You'll always have an excuse to indulge, and it's deciding not to indulge that allows you to finally quit for good.

- Develop a COMMITMENT RESPONSE. Remove yourself from situations where you might be tempted. Don't go drinking with the buddies if there are going to be people smoking around you. Don't go outside on your lunch break, and try to avoid the "smoker's entrance" in your building. If you're dating a smoker, this could be a serious roadblock in your attempt to quit.

- Satisfy your ORAL FIXATION in other ways. For me, the answer was regular chewing gum (Nicorette to start, but I weaned myself off it very quickly) but carrot or celery sticks work well, or if you have a sweet tooth, Twizzlers and lollipops are fantastic.

- Respond to cravings with the WAIT FIVE MINUTES approach. Recognize your craving, and don't try to repress it. Instead, let yourself feel the craving, and say, "if I can make it through the next five minutes, the craving will go away." It's a lot easier to stick to a five-minute commitment than a lifelong commitment, so if you can hold off until the craving goes away, you give yourself confidence that you can achieve your goal. And the cravings DO get rarer and rarer, as you get farther removed from your last smoke.

- BREAKING THE HABIT is the hardest part. For weeks after I quit, I would still sit down in my car, roll down the window a crack, and reach for the pack beside me... even though it wasn't there anymore. It's the "habitual cigarette" that's associated with another activity/product that is the hardest to break. The cigarette while you're drinking... after a meal... with your morning coffee... after sex... breaking the association will be the hardest part, because your cravings will be triggered by events, not just second-hand smoke or other smokers.

Which brings me to the last, most important point:

- You have to DE-CONDITION YOURSELF to no longer enjoy smoking. Your addiction to cigarettes is largely the result of Pavlovian (also called Classical) Conditioning. Nobody ever likes their first cigarette, but we condition ourselves into liking it, through a variety of stimulus/response patterns. That's why the craving and habit endures, long after our bodies no longer contain nicotine. That's why the habit is so hard to break. But the the good news is, since you conditioned yourself into being a smoker, you can also condition yourself out of it. The craving is the stimulus, and the cigarette is the response; all you need to do is alter your response pattern.

Before quitting: Craving --> Cigarette.

After quitting: Craving --> Wait five minutes.
OR: Craving --> Chew some gum/eat a twizzler.
OR: Craving --> Go for a walk.
OR: Craving --> some other positive substitute for a cigarette.

You can also minimize the cravings by avoiding other stimuli that are often paired with smoking, such as social settings involving drinking, or avoiding other smokers during the first few weeks or months after you quit. But even in the absence of paired stimuli such as booze or coffee or other smokers, you'll still have those cravings at the most undesirable times. That's why developing a new response pattern is critical to success.

Anyways, I've said way more than my $0.02, so I'll wish your friend the best of luck! It definitely can be done, with the right attitude, and the right approach, and hopefully your friend will have a better chance of success with all the great advice in this thread. :great:

 

[leeroy c]

Funny you say that, I met a woman from a singles site and during our talks, she said (since she didn't smoke) that "anytime I felt like smoking, she had something better to use my mouth for..."....too bad it didn't work out lol.....

 

[Pompal 09.]

: That habit definitely a lot healthier than smoking

 

[awesome1]

Start doing Crack or Cocaine.

 

[mehdi m]

No. You have to remember it's primary indication is as an antidepressant, and depressed people are more likely to be suicidal.

Many smokers have an underlying depression, and smoking essentially self medicates the depression through the release of neurotransmitters. The thought is by treating the underlying depression, the craving to smoke may be mitigated.

While it is not a fool proof test, generally speaking if someone smokes within 10 minutes of awakening in the morning, there is an element of self medication.

 

[t (2)]

you should change doctors. seriously.

 

[Murzy]

Smoke a pipe and use nasal snuff.

Works well for me.

 

[Ewas]

Some smoking related links:

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1998021-1,00.html

http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/content/36/23/20.full

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE63D48O20100414

http://www.modernmedicine.com/moder...Article/detail/665341?contextCategoryId=40131

http://health.msn.com/health-topics/quit-smoking/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100244397&GT1=31020

http://health.yahoo.net/tips/3-quit-smoking-strategies-that-work

http://health.yahoo.net/videos/healthination/strategies-to-quit-smoking

http://health.msn.com/health-topics...story.aspx?cp-documentid=100254714&cp-catid=2

 

[Senthil k]

Thanks for the links.

Day 2 and not a single felony committed. Several in the planning stages. :grrrrrr::grrrrrr:

 

[Yes I]

Tried? No.
Quit? Yes

I went cold turkey. Made the decision to not buy another pack.

I went thought a huge amount of gum the first two weeks, and I changed my habits so that I would not be in a position where I would want to smoke. No beer with the boys for a month after I made the decision not to smoke.

Lots of celery, and I spent time with non-smokers.

With the exception of Zyban, most stop smoking aids only prolong the pain. If you are going to quit, go cold turkey.

A friend of mine would get up in the morning, light a butt before getting out of bed, would generally have a second cig before going for breakfast, then have a butt with coffee. He quit over 15 years ago now, and he says that he still occasionally wakes up, turns off the alarm and reaches for the pack. He, and others, get random cravings.

The first 48 hours are the worst. If you can make it 2 weeks, you have made it over the hump and you are probably going to succeed.

Avoid the temptation to have a butt for a "special occasion" or think that one won't hurt you.

Good luck with it.

 

[Ava Lynn born 8-4-09]

I quit smoking 6 years ago. Had my last cigerrette on the way to the hopital. Butted ir out on the steps of emergency before I walked in. Heart valve issues, mainly a birth defect but I'm sure the smoking made it worse. Thought I might have had a small heart attack.

Turns out it was just the valve acting up but they kept me for the weekend to do tests Monday morning. Put me on low dose of a drug called metropolol, commonly called a beta blocker. After 24 hours I was impressed that I wasn't climbing the walls for a smoke, after 48 I was amazed. I had read somewhere that after 72 hours you have beaten the physical addiction and the rest is just mental.

Quite frankly it was easy. No cravings , no sweats , no walking down the hall and out the front dragging an IV pole and grasping the back of your hospital gown. This from a guy who smoked a pack and a half per day. Someone who had tried the patch ( loved the dreams) and zyban. Got close three or four times but could never quit entirely and invariably within a few weeks was back to a pack plus per day. Six years last month and not another puff and I still like the smell.

Metropolol is a heart medication that lowers your heart rate and helps with angina. A couple of years ago it was speculated that professional golfers were using it to improve their putting. For me it was a wonder "stop smoking" drug.

 

[Steve N]

 

[Isadora]

LOL!!

 

[kori p]

I knew a pack a day smoker who could up and quit at the drop of a hat. She's been quit for years at this point. I'm on the other end of the spectrum-- I get sweats, shakes, can't sleep, can't concentrate, and generally bitchy / angry. I also get nightmares, feel like my equilibrium is off, and crave every moment. The physical addiction is bad--

If try to quit, and I have butts sitting in an ashtray, I'll smoke them. Ditto for butts in the garbage. See that butt on the street? If nobody was looking I'd smoke that as well. Push a little old lady, sure! I literally have to get rid of everything capable of making fire, and flush all butts so they're gone. Get a weekend of food, and lock myself in. The biggest problem is that by day 3 I feel just good enough to buy a pack of smokes, and usually do just to not be 'sick' anymore. (That's why I need the patch.)

I think that's one reason why I have so much compassion for people with physical addictions to illegal things. There's the physiological components as well, but it's that raging physical addiction that keeps you coming back.

As far as you co-worker goes, he must be a 2+ pack (50 cigs) a day smoker if he can't go half an hour. Myself, I've pared back to a 20 pack a day, on a sober day. I can go a couple of hours before I start to feel it, though I prefer 1 smoke an hour, and one after every meal, one when I get up and one before I go to sleep. Most smokers can wean back to the 20 a day mark before you hit some magical floor where your addiction isn't being sated.

 

[hockeyguy]

I don't know how nicotine makes a brain function, but going without it definitely makes me stupid. :roll:

 

[Stefi28]

:tongue:

 

[Leone]

and I have a terrible cough.

and an attitude.

 

[diamonds24]

You'd be a nut to take it up as an adult. I think I was 14 (or 13), much to my parents horror. Literally, 3 - 4 days of utter hell, 3 - 4 weeks of moderate hell, and the craving never fully leaves you for years (from experience). That's why things like the patch, or other quitting methods, are so helpful. My Zyban experience was awful, really awful, but it was still less bad than cold turkey.

 

[baby face]

I think that is a matter of personal experience.

I quit cold turkey, and yes it was difficult to get passed the cravings and habitual lighting up, but I persevered and overcame the addiction to the point of now, when I see people smoking, it is meh... Sure, I find it personally repulsive, but recognize that it is a choice. As long as they don't endanger or inconvenience or annoy those of us around them that choose not to smoke- let them. It is their choice and theirs alone to make.

 

[Passion (recovered)]

I agree-- but just telling a lot of smokers to 'buck up and quit' is deeply counterproductive in many cases. Dare I ask, how long have you been quit for? Even over a year out I was still getting cravings.