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If applicable, how did you quit smoking?

I'm ready to quit smoking but have found it more difficult than the first go-around. How did you quit and did it stick?

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ashortbeauty 8 Mar 7
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59 comments (26 - 50)

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1

I switched to a pipe for about a year to stop inhaling the smoke but got enough nicotine to keep the craving at bay. Then I came down with the flu and it was easy to not smoking while getting over that. Then two months later when completely over the flu, I didn't miss the nicotine and just didn't pull the pipe out again..

1

After smoking for decades and several unsuccessful runs with gum and patches, I went the vape route. The problem with patches and gum is they don't satisfy my craving. Like, at ALL.

So I dropped about $60 on a vaporizer and juice. You can decide on how much nicotine you want, not some silly amount like is in the gum/patches. I started with 18mg, and decided to try out 24mg, but it made me feel queezy, like my very first cigarette. I had to cut it with 12mg in order to use it. I eventually cut down to 12mg, then 6, then 3, then "one drop," the weakest they could make it. I hardly ever even think about it, might hit it once a month. It was totally pain free for me to quit this way.

1

The patched worked on my 6th quit try. I also used pumpkin seeds seemed to help a lot. The best advice I would give anyone is do not pretend to quit with intent of going back. Put it in your mind to quit no scapegoats. I have not smoked in over 10 years and can't stand the smell of cigarette smoke.

1

Hypnotherapy, 12 years ago.

1

Started with the gum to get away from the habits of smoking, then switched to the patch to diminish the nicotine craving and quite completely.

@WizardBill sorry for the type. Should have been gum.

1

I tried a few dozen times before it took. Don't give up!

1

I just quit cold turkey one day and never went back.

Roman Level 5 Mar 7, 2018
1

Cold turkey. I decided that I wasn't going to smoke anymore and didn't.

1

I quit smoking about 15 years ago. I always say that I was lucky as I had cancer!

I was lucky. It wasnt a malignant tumor but I didnt know that till they cut it out, My kids were 7 and 8 at the time and I just thought this is NOT going to happen. I was determined that my children would remember me as the crazy old bloke that played tunes, climbed cliffs and fell off surfboards not the old codger that sat in the corner for years fighting for breath from an oxygen mask.

The mad thing was that after only 3 or 4 days, despite countless previous attempts, I knew I'd cracked it. And Ive never smoked since. TBH I don't really like the smell

Another one whose determination broth them through. I'm starting to see a pattern here. Glad that you're here with us.

1

20 years ago, I weened myself off in a couple months. Drinking in the bars was the hardest part I would have a cigar... luckly in Massachusetts they banned smoking in bars shortly after

1

The last time I quit was actually really easy. I simply exchanged that dried out brown stuff for green.

1

I used the nicotine lozenges, the cheaper generics work the same as the name brands. I had quit before for 3 years and went back but this time I have been nicotine free for 7 years and see no danger of smoking tobacco again.

1

I quit at around 28 yrs old. I'd smoked since 15, and had just had enough, at 28, of feeling like my chest was always being squeezed, and shortness of breath.

Tapering off was the easiest way for me. At first I smoked fewer (unfiltered) cigarettes, then went to filtered cigarettes, then went to that brand that poked holes in the filters so you didn't draw as much smoke. Once I got down to 3 or 4 of those/day, it wasn't too difficult to quit altogether.

For a few short years after that, I could smoke a cigarette every now and then and not be tempted to start up again. Once my daughter was born, that was it, no more cigarettes.

I am assuming here that you are referring to regular tobacco, not wacky tobaccy.

Lol @ wacky tobaccy!
Yeah my eight years clean was while I was having and raising up my kids. Then one fine stressful section I threw it all away.

@ashortbeauty aaahh, no one's perfect. I've indulged in the devil weed for over 50 yrs now, off and on (mostly off, to be honest).

1

I had to get to the point where I really wanted to quit. I quit a couple of times before, but after a couple of years I started up again. I quit cold turkey all three times the last one took. It's been 17 yrs.

1

I worked up to it. I knew an elderly couple who still smoked and the woman had had a stroke, she would bring the cigarette to her mouth shaking. Everytime I wanted a cigarette I would picture here and think that will be me if I don't quit. It worked, I smoke for 30 years and haven't had a cigarette for 17 years.

Congrats on staying smoke free B-)

Yeah some of us are more motivated by the avoidance of negatives than by what we "should" do. I'm that way too. I used to weigh 80 lbs more than I do now, and I would picture myself like a beached whale, with tubes running out of me, in a permanent care facility, with my retinas fallen off and my feet amputated (diabetes) and it worked. Even for someone who rather dislikes physical activity / exercise. I now walk 10,000 steps per day, and eat better, too.

1

One day at a time....

1

A vaporizer worked for me. I tried quitting a few times, twice for two years, and during all those times, if you were to ask me, "if the world was going to end tomorrow, would you start smoking again?", my answer was always, "Yes". The Ego brand vaporizer is what I finally arrived at, after getting ripped off a few times with those e-cigarettes that look like the real thing. I came at it with the attitude that I am doing perhaps the hardest thing I've ever done so I did it this way: there were places I did not smoke, like at the office and in my bedroom, so, I continued to smoke, and, on top of that, I vaped where I would not normally smoke, so, in the beginning, I was taking in even More nicotine. Over time, it took a few months, I naturally backed off the cigarettes. I also cut back on the amount of nicotine in my vape liquid, not consciously, I would be vaping and realize it didn't taste good so I went down on the amount of nicotine. After about 3 years, I was down to Zero nicotine, another year and I'm not even using my vaporizer anymore .. it's been 6 years now. I recommend you start at 36mg. nicotine (the higher the number the more nicotine) and try to stay away from alcohol and caffeine, I noticed they enhanced my craving.

Thank you for the details. 🙂

1

I was successful using Chantix.

JK666 Level 7 Mar 7, 2018
1

Am currently halfway through a course of champix not had a ciggarete for over a month but the crazy dreams and headaches every morning are taking their toll

0

I just stopped just over 20 years ago and had no problem with it. I stopped boozing at the same time with no problem at all.

0
I used to quit every year or two just to be sure that I could, that was long before nicotine patches existed. The last time was so tough that I never went back. But always in my mind was that vid.
0

Niquitin mini lozenges

0

One on one hypnosis session. I stated reasons why I wanted to quit and the therapist used those same words/phrases during the session. She told me that if I started smoking again, hypnosis would not work the second time around. I had zero cravings afterward. That was in 1997.

JGal Level 7 Dec 20, 2018
0

Wellbutrin (Bupropion)

0

Giving up smoking is not easy. Don't beat yourself up if you can't. One day the time will be right but the anxiety of not giving up gives the power straight back to the weed and compounds the situation.One day you will decide and you'll never smoke again. As the old adage goes, 'don't give up giving up'

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