Does anyone know how one can quit smoking? -
i,ve tried everything, but it seems i can-t quit. i even become hysterical i i don-t smoke for three days. i-m also afraid i-ll get fat. please help me
I stopped smoking after 35 years with the help of the site below, it-s the only place that has really helped me cope with the withdrawls and everything else that goes with quiting. Of course, you have to make up your mind to stop first. The site also has a downloadable timer that keeps track of the hours, days, months, money saved, life added by stopping smoking. Good luck.
I have been quit for 3 Months, 2 Weeks, 2 Days, 4 hours, 20 minutes and 14 seconds (107 days). I have saved $401.92 by not smoking 2,679 cigarettes. I have saved 1 Week, 2 Days, 7 hours and 15 minutes of my life. My Quit Date: 4/7/2006 11:00 AM
http://communicate.msn.com/KEEPTHEQUITCL…
The Defiant One is right. I still smoke, but I know that it-s a waste of my time to quit until I am seriously ready to kick the habit.
If you-re not ready to put it down, and you-re doing it because of the fact that your friends and family are telling you to do so, you are not ready to quit.
As far as the weight gain is concerned, every time you want a smoke, go run outside for a bit, instead of using eating (another hand-to-mouth motion) to comfort you. You-re going to be uncomfortable for the first couple of weeks, and that-s just that.
You may get depressed, and you may not be able to sleep well, but I assure that this is only temporary.
If you are going to quit, you gotta wanna!
GOOD LUCK!
I-ve tried everything too .. two things that might work .. I once read a book by Alan Carey .. I think it was just called How to Stop Smoking .. it was not great literature but it talked about the psychological addiction being what keeps us from quitting successfully. At the end of reading that book, I just stopped smoking. Just like that.
Oh but hold on .. that-s not the happy ending .. after two years, I got into an abusive relationship and somehow ended up back on cigarettes and am finding it just as hard as it ever was, to quit.
I have heard that there is an anti-depressant that about 85% of smokers have reported helps them to quit .. apparently it works on the reward system of the brain and reduces the need to light up. It-s called Buproprion Hydrochloride, the brand names are Zyban, Bupron and I think Wellbutrin. I haven-t tried it as yet but am planning to start in about a fortnight.
One of the reasons people get fat after quitting is that we start comfort eating. We replace one emotional crutch with another. But being overweight is any day better than dying of cancer I figure. So if you take steps to counter this you can avoid putting on weight. Find healthy snacks to munch on, drink plenty of water (often what we think is hunger is really thirst did you know?) and begin some regular exercise like going for a daily walk .. that would boost your mood (exercise is a GREAT anti-depressant .. unfortunately I-ve found that when I-m depressed, it-s also the LAST thing I feel like doing!) If you work on your emotions and mood, you-re less likely to overeat or to feel like going back to smoking.
Good luck!
Just quit
I-d like to know how long you-ve been smoking. I-ve been at it almost 40 years and I hate myself for it. I-ve done everything from smoker stoppers, patches, gum, and even being hypnotized All a waste of money. Cold Turkey has to be the only way. One thing that might help is doing the math and seeing how much money your wasting. Good Luck
EVERYTHING in life is a choice. Choose not to smoke.
i THINK THE BEST WAY IS TO GET SOME TIME ALONE AND GO COLD TURKEY...
Lowering stress levels through deep breathing is supposed to help a lot It reduces the stress hormone cortisol. Try breathing in to a count of two and out to a count of four. Do this about ten times. You won-t get fat if you chose to eat right and exercise. Cigarette cravings eventually go away. I know many people who-ve quit and don-t have any desire to smoke anymore. Ask for support. When you want a cigarette ask God to take away your craving. I saw someone on a talk show once who said they did that with a heroin or cocaine addiction and their addiction disappeared miraculously.
There is even more nicotine in cigarettes now days than there were many years ago and that is a very addictive substance. Tell yourself to hold on. It will get out of your system and you will lose the desire to smoke and you are worth the effort!
16 years ago I gave up a 3 pack a day habit....cold turkey....
wasn-t easy but I was ready...never touched another cigarette again....Your mind has to be ready for this task.
And why would you get fat?thats a myth.....
Good luck.
Yes.
Do not pick up another one and light it.
That would be a good place to start.
I-m going through the same thing right now and you just have to be ready to do it. I did quit for 3 weeks and I chewed alot of gum and drank alot of water when I had urges, but then got into a fight with the b/f and wound up smoking again....I just wasn-t mentally ready to quit yet. I
What is the -everything- you-ve tried? Weaning yourself off them (smoking fewer and fewer over time), the patch, the pill, the gum? You CAN quit but it takes a lot of willpower and self control...
...gaining weight should not be an excuse to not quit smoking...quit because you want to quit...you have control over what you put in your mouth...you won-t gain weight if you don-t overeat...perhaps take up exercise in conjunction with quitting...not only would it help you worry less about weight gain, it would be good for your overall health, AND give you a distraction from the desire to smoke.
Good luck!
It will be hard but you have to keep trying and have your family and friends help you. It is normal for you to feel that way because your body is used to the nicotine. Try using pacthes. They will help. Even if from time to time you smoke, keep trying. Some people take three to four months trying to quit smoking while others take less time than that. So keep at it, pray and get some help. Good luck!
Use self control and go cold Turkey.
I know it sounds corny, but you have to really want to quit. I have been an on-again-off-again smoke for 10 years. I have quit three times. Right now I am smoking, and have been for about 9 months. I use it as a stress relief mechanism, and when my life is stressful, I need the calming effects of nicotine. Eventually I reach a point where the thought of smoking disgusts me, and I just quit.
Of course, if you feel the need to lay off the cigarettes, but can-t quit cold-turkey, you can try nicotine replacement products, like the patch and the gum. Some of my friends have used these with mixed success. I guess it works for some people and not others.
About the getting fat thing, OK yes nicotine does act as an appetite suppressant, but if you watch what you eat and get some exercise you should have nothing to worry about.
Try talking to your doctor about Wellbutrin. It is used to ease tobacco withdrawal symptoms and is very effective. If you are worried about your weight, just figure out a sensible exercise program and avoid processed sugar. The weight should melt!
Two things:
1) Remember, the drive that makes you -need- another cigarette will be completely gone after a week or so, so you do not need to think that the -battle- will go on forever, because it won-t. It is the idea of having to fight cravings forever that makes people give up. Actually, the chemical addiction is cleaned out of your body after three days, so after that, it-s habit force that-s driving you.
2) Habit force is a very powerful thing, so the best way to get rid of a bad habit is to replace it with a good one.
As to your fear of getting fat, research has demonstrated that of the people who quit smoking, 1/3 gain weight, 1/3 lose weight, and 1/3 stay the same. It comes down to what habit you replace the smoking with. If you replace smoking with eating ... fat city.
One last point, do NOT use any type of patch, gum, pill or any other nicotene replacement or drug. This just replaces one expensive addiction for another.
SUCCESS!
when I decided the millionth time to really quit...first I got ready to get ready to quit. I wrote out the pro-s and con-s of smoking and the pro-s and con-s of quitting. Then I wrote out my fears and resentments about having to quit. I put a small piece of paper in the celophane of my pack and kept track by date of how many I smoked a day... Started at a million I think LOL.. I weeded it down to ten a day.. then 7... (made myself write it down).. Then when I quit I was done.. I still had about 5 cigarrettes left. I actually got on my knees and asked God to help me quit and stay quit. I haven-t smoked since. I figured if I got crabby or bitchy (which I did a lot!!) I could apologize later..but that it would pass. Start watching people around you when they are smoking. This one lady was drinking coffee, chewing gum and smoking all at the same time. It was freaking incredible. She-d chew the gum..take a slug of the coffee, take a huge drag of the smoke and blow the smoke right into her coffee cup. EEEWWW. I couldn-t believe it. I would clean out all the ashtrays in your house and only have ONE going at a time. And be HONEST with yourself about how much you really are smoking.. Make a check mark on the paper all day long for every smoke you smoke. Good luck.. Quitting smoking is rough. I found out that the chemical makeup of nicotine is almost exactly the same as heroin.. just missing a circle and a line on one of those moleculor structure maps. That-s why it-s so hard to quit. It-s just as if not more addictive than heroin. It-s the only habit I ever had that I hated the whole time I was doing it.
The only way I could quit was to sit down and chain smoke an entire carton of cigarettes. I literally lit the next cigarette off the last one for almost ten hours straight. Buy the time I was done I didn-t ever want to see, smell, or taste another cigarette ever again.