How did you quit smoking ? -
I am finally going to do it and I need practical advice from people who have been there. Please don-t send a bunch of links because I won-t check them out. I am also against substituting one addiction for another (gum). I prefer to do this without any kind of -medicine-.
You said you don-t want a substitute. I tried that and it didn-t work. What did work for me WAS a substitute. I read about addictions and how to stop. Nicotine is a chemical addiction AND a mental addiction. You can stop one, the mental first then address the physical by weaning.
What I did was get literature on smoking from the lung association and the Cancer society,all free. I read how many people quit and took what I thought may help me.
I also, and this is VERY important, Got a nicotine patch. I was told not to use the strongest but the next one down. Read the instructions. You put one on every am. It HELPS. I forgot to put one on once and I was a crabby B all day. AND you can after awhile reduce the dose and wean yourself off of them. That part is easy!!! Do it! You are an addict!
I picked a quit date and quit. I made plans. That day I went places where I couldn-t smoke, the mall, movies etc. I exercised also and drank tons of water.
I also stayed away, as much as poss. from people who smoked! I had many mad at me. I didn-t care I did this for ME.
There are also triggers that tell you to smoke, getting into your car, talking on phone, first thing in morning. Have a substitute, Carrots, a straw to suck on. it really did help! and pray!
Have a plan. If you are going somewhere that people you know will smoke have a plan of what you will do instead! and do it! Don-t drink alcohol! I even changed from coffee to tea.
It took me 5 trys but finally did it. Whew, I-m free for 11 years now and I don-t want a cig at ALL-ick.
Also seeing my mother who has emphysema struggle for breath was a real motivator. Now she has heart probs from smoking too. She-s suffered a great deal from smoking, a slow painful death!
Good luck and God bless.
Because i never smoked
go to
www.quitnet.com
The folks there can help you and give the greatest support. Click on communities, and then click on Quitstop. They have all been there and done that.
I used Nicorette gum. It helped somewhat with my body-s addiction to nicotine. The first 3 days are torture...so bad that you physically hurt all over. But if you get past that, the rest is pretty easy. I told everyone that I knew a week before that I was going to quit and that I was going to need their help. So when the day finally came, they all checked up on me and told me how great I was doing. Everybody at work watched me and made sure that I wasn-t smoking, so my support group was what helped me the most. According to the package, you-re supposed to chew Nicorette for about 12 weeks, but I didn-t even finish the treatment; I think I chewed it for about 4 weeks and that was all I needed. Good luck.
I tried over and over again. And I stopped by taking a break from it all for a few days. I tried stopping consuming alcohol and caffeine, sugar and high fat foods. I started walking and eating small meals. And I started writing things down more. But it doesn-t matter that I succeeded this way. Some do less. Some do more. If you have made your mind up, keep doing it til it works. Good luck.
First, count how many cigarettes you smoke a day. Reduce it to half each week. For instance, if you smoke 1 pack of 20 cigarettes each day this week, next week make one pack enough for two days. And so on and so on. After some time, you-ll be able to reach just one cigarette a day and that-s quite the perfect time to quit.
Second effort is to make the cigarettes count for each time you take it. Take me for instance, I like to smoke with my morning coffee, after lunch, after dinner, or when I-m in the bathroom doing number two. So take your cigarettes ONLY at that time (around 5 each day) , then reduce it to what you like the best. Like ONLY after you eat, or ONLY in the bathroom.
I gave up smoking four months ago. But I did not quit. I just call myself a social smoker because I manage to hold myself to smoke only one cigarette in one week and that-s on the weekend when I-m hanging out with my friends.
Good luck. I hope this is usefull.
Hi,
I quit this time last year having had a 30 a day habit. I-d tried and failed with allsorts until I a friend recommended this program - see below.
It also came with a 100% money back guarantee and has a 90% success rate - can-t say fairer than that!
All the best.
dun not take those gums, it doesn-t work. u may stop for a while, but after, u can become a worst smoker. 1.) never find a subsitute to it. once u get bored, u-ll turn back again. 2.) give yrself a gd reason to quit. I told myself to quit smoking when i was pregnant b-cos of the health of my baby. and i give birth, i jus dun feel the desire to smoke again. 3.) dun force yrself into a time limit. give yr body and mind some time to adapt to the changes in it. 4.) cut down the quantity one at a time. u can try limit yrself to smoke only after a meal, or only at night, or 3 times a day... sort of like rehabitate yr mind and body. 5.) stop drinking alcohol for a period of time. do u realise that drinking and smoking are best friends? my friend dun smoke most of the time, but when we go clubbing, she-ll starts smoking after a few drinks. 6.) if u are concern abt yr looks, tell yrself tat smokes make u looked older, look at the mirror and tell yrself tat. point at those lines running around yr eyes area, forehead and laughlines, look at them, see how dry and wrinkle they are. 7.) smokes makes yr mouth smells foul... tell yrself tat too. my hubby smokes too, and i find it too hard to kiss him. thank god i-ve quit.
I belive u can make it... good lucks...