Trying to quit smoking

[Nebuchadnezzar]

Saturday, I decided to quit smoking after 30 years of a pack a day. My problem is that I really don't want to quit but I know I have to so I'm weening myself off, cutting back and waiting longer and longer between cigarettes.

Saturday, I smoked 9 cigarettes total as well as Sunday. So far today, I'm smoking my fourth cigarette right now since I woke up at 2am.

Today, I'm forcing myself to wait every 2 hours between smoke breaks and tomorrow I'll increase that time by 10-15 minutes or longer. I've tried cold turkey before and it just didn't work, I get very irritable and mean. I've tried the patches, gum and pills, but all didn't work. I would smoke while chewing the gum or had the patch on, lol.

If I can stick to this plan, I'm sure eventually I'll break this habit.

[Se ky bengal]

(07-13-2015, 09:09 AM)Nebuchadnezzar Wrote: Saturday, I decided to quit smoking after 30 years of a pack a day. My problem is that I really don't want to quit but I know I have to so I'm weening myself off, cutting back and waiting longer and longer between cigarettes.

Saturday, I smoked 9 cigarettes total as well as Sunday. So far today, I'm smoking my fourth cigarette right now since I woke up at 2am.

Today, I'm forcing myself to wait every 2 hours between smoke breaks and tomorrow I'll increase that time by 10-15 minutes or longer. I've tried cold turkey before and it just didn't work, I get very irritable and mean. I've tried the patches, gum and pills, but all didn't work. I would smoke while chewing the gum or had the patch on, lol.

If I can stick to this plan, I'm sure eventually I'll break this habit.

Good luck, I know exactly what you're going through,I've tried many time to quit myself. 
It's a hard road ahead, but I know it can be won. Seen people to it. It's one hardest things I've ever tried to do. As a coal miner, we aren't allowed to have any thing smoking related underground. So I aways carry can dip underground. Hope you beat this terrible habit  

[bengal_fan_in_toronto]

i was a pack and a half a day for 25 years and i'm one month away from being two years as a non smoker. I quit cold turkey.

i will not sugar coat it. it is still tough to this day. those evil little sticks will pop into your mind for the rest of your life. i've had thoughts of smoking for the last month and have not caved. i will not cave. there is no going back to them. there is no such thing as having just one when you are an addict. one will eventually become 25 again.

the first two weeks were hell as the crap leaves your system.

i read Allan Carr's "easy way to stop smoking". finished the book and have not had a smoke since. I HIGHLY recommend reading this book. it will help you take your life back. READ THE BOOK. don't buy into the pharma quick fix bullshit. it truly is mind over matter and its not about popping pills and sticking post it notes on your arm.

i don't know you from nobody, but if i did it, so can you. all the things they say about quitting (food tastes better, you will breathe easier, your little soldier will work better etc. they are all true. i feel better than ever.

[Belsnickel]

I am coming up on 2.5 years cigarette free, and I'm a little over 2 years tobacco free completely (cigars were my thing). I just quit one day, said I'm done. I wish you all the best on this one, but you really need to want it. If you don't really want to quit, it won't stick. This is what I have learned from all my experience with friends and everything. You can usually quit for a time, but if you don't have a good reason to quit or don't really want to, you're much more likely to go back to it. I don't want to discourage you, but I want to encourage you to find a good reason to want to quit. That will make all the difference in the long run because a couple of months later if you are thinking how much you miss it you start wondering why you quit and you bum one off someone. Next thing you know you're buying a pack a week, then every other day, until your right back to where you were before. It is definitely all about being in the right mindset.

[Tiger Teeth]

Weened myself off smokes almost one and a half years ago using blu e-cigs. I know there's going to be someone who says those aren't healthy, but they got me off of real cigarettes, which I'm sure are much worse. Been totally free from anything since about Feb. 2014.

[bengal_fan_in_toronto]

(07-13-2015, 11:23 AM)Belsnickel Wrote: I am coming up on 2.5 years cigarette free, and I'm a little over 2 years tobacco free completely (cigars were my thing). I just quit one day, said I'm done. I wish you all the best on this one, but you really need to want it. If you don't really want to quit, it won't stick. This is what I have learned from all my experience with friends and everything. You can usually quit for a time, but if you don't have a good reason to quit or don't really want to, you're much more likely to go back to it. I don't want to discourage you, but I want to encourage you to find a good reason to want to quit. That will make all the difference in the long run because a couple of months later if you are thinking how much you miss it you start wondering why you quit and you bum one off someone. Next thing you know you're buying a pack a week, then every other day, until your right back to where you were before. It is definitely all about being in the right mindset.

Truth.

my new gf (who is awesome) is a non smoker, so besides the obvious reasons for not smoking again she has now become the most important reason for me to never go back.

[XenoMorph]

good luck man its not an easy road ive been trying to cut back myself but there are certain things that have a cig in my hand before i even notice.

[Benton]

I used Chantix after using nicotine gum. Gum for a couple years, Chantix to quit the gum. I know more people who Chantix doesn't work for than those it did, but I took it for two days and didn't want nicotine at all. I took it a full week to make sure, and haven't looked back. That was a few years ago. I was a two pack a day smoker before that.

It's rough, but you can do it. The best thing to do though is move and don't go anywhere you normally smoke.

[BengalHawk62]

Best of luck man!  Its tough.  I quit once for 6-8 months.  then got back on them.  I don't smoke much though, 3-5 smokes a day, a pack or two a week.  but when i did quit, the hardest thing for me to get through was just having a smoke in hand and bringing it up to your mouth.  just that physical act.  it was all mental, i needed something to do with my hands.  it was weird. 

[Helldog]

This threads filled with a bunch of quitters..


in other news about to go light up a smoke.

[*Awful Llama*]

(07-13-2015, 01:54 PM)XenoMorph Wrote: good luck man its not an easy road ive been trying to cut back myself but there are certain things that have a cig in my hand before i even notice.

Yeah, quitting smoking or drinking as Bengal fan must be twice as hard.

I've never smoked. My parents both did and it took them years to hang it up, so that kept me away. Good luck to anyone trying to accomplish that.

[packerbacker]

Best wishes to you on quitting. You can do it.

[masonbengals fan]

You can do it. Just think of all that money you are gonna save and the things you can buy with it. Not counting the health benefits. I smoked for years up to 2 packs a day and quit cold turkey. Don't miss it one bit now. I did at first escpecially while drinking beer & after meals was the worst. I can be in a room full of smokers now and have no desire to ever go back to those days. Grew up on a tobacco farm also.

[Stewy]

(07-13-2015, 10:22 AM)bengal_fan_in_toronto Wrote: i was a pack and a half a day for 25 years and i'm one month away from being two years as a non smoker.  I quit cold turkey.

i will not sugar coat it.  it is still tough to this day.  those evil little sticks will pop into your mind for the rest of your life.  i've had thoughts of smoking for the last month and have not caved.  i will not cave.  there is no going back to them.  there is no such thing as having just one when you are an addict.  one will eventually become 25 again.

the first two weeks were hell as the crap leaves your system.  

i read Allan Carr's "easy way to stop smoking".  finished the book and have not had a smoke since.  I HIGHLY recommend reading this book.  it will help you take your life back.  READ THE BOOK.  don't buy into the pharma quick fix bullshit.  it truly is mind over matter and its not about popping pills and sticking post it notes on your arm.

i don't know you from nobody, but if i did it, so can you.   all the things they say about quitting (food tastes better, you will breathe easier, your little soldier will work better etc.  they are all true.  i feel better than ever.

(07-13-2015, 11:23 AM)Belsnickel Wrote: I am coming up on 2.5 years cigarette free, and I'm a little over 2 years tobacco free completely (cigars were my thing). I just quit one day, said I'm done. I wish you all the best on this one, but you really need to want it. If you don't really want to quit, it won't stick. This is what I have learned from all my experience with friends and everything. You can usually quit for a time, but if you don't have a good reason to quit or don't really want to, you're much more likely to go back to it. I don't want to discourage you, but I want to encourage you to find a good reason to want to quit. That will make all the difference in the long run because a couple of months later if you are thinking how much you miss it you start wondering why you quit and you bum one off someone. Next thing you know you're buying a pack a week, then every other day, until your right back to where you were before. It is definitely all about being in the right mindset.

Right mindset and/or right reason to quit, but the most important thing is that you have to want to quit. 

My wife tried to quit for years, basically on and off from High School till 3 years ago.  She was never a heavy smoker, and she would quit for several months at a time, but she always went back.  Once she became a nurse, she found that many of the hospitals around Houston refuse to hire nurses who smoke so she decided to quit and went to our Primary Care Doc for assistance.  She did the Chantix and had some bad side effects.  He then switched her to something else and she's been off cigs for 3+ years now.  She's slowly taking less and less of whatever it is she's on.  She should be off it within the next year or so.  Our insurance covers most of the cost, so it isn't a big financial commitment.

Summary:  If you have issues quitting, and have tried and failed to quit permanently, take the drugs.  While the above quoted testimonials are well and good and very admirable, they are however, extraordinary.  Most smokers can't quit cold turkey and on the first shot.  Nicotine is an awful/awful drug.

[Belsnickel]

(07-15-2015, 11:06 AM)Stewy Wrote: Right mindset and/or right reason to quit, but the most important thing is that you have to want to quit. 

My wife tried to quit for years, basically on and off from High School till 3 years ago.  She was never a heavy smoker, and she would quit for several months at a time, but she always went back.  Once she became a nurse, she found that many of the hospitals around Houston refuse to hire nurses who smoke so she decided to quit and went to our Primary Care Doc for assistance.  She did the Chantix and had some bad side effects.  He then switched her to something else and she's been off cigs for 3+ years now.  She's slowly taking less and less of whatever it is she's on.  She should be off it within the next year or so.  Our insurance covers most of the cost, so it isn't a big financial commitment.

Summary:  If you have issues quitting, and have tried and failed to quit permanently, take the drugs.  While the above quoted testimonials are well and good and very admirable, they are however, extraordinary.  Most smokers can't quit cold turkey and on the first shot.  Nicotine is an awful/awful drug.

Yeah, I should have emphasized that not everyone can just quit cold turkey. Everyone is different. But with or without the drugs/aids you still have to have the right mindset/reason/desire or you will go back. I can't tell you how many different methods one friend of mine has tried. He has gone for as long as a year without them. But no matter what he tries he goes back because he likes to smoke. He was in a medically induced coma for about 4 months. There was no nicotine in his system after that, none. He had an opportunity for a fresh start. He's back up to about two packs a day.

[Stewy]

(07-15-2015, 11:15 AM)Belsnickel Wrote: Yeah, I should have emphasized that not everyone can just quit cold turkey. Everyone is different. But with or without the drugs/aids you still have to have the right mindset/reason/desire or you will go back. I can't tell you how many different methods one friend of mine has tried. He has gone for as long as a year without them. But no matter what he tries he goes back because he likes to smoke. He was in a medically induced coma for about 4 months. There was no nicotine in his system after that, none. He had an opportunity for a fresh start. He's back up to about two packs a day.

Yep you have to want to quit.  Quitting for family, for spouse or for any reason other than yourself won't work.

[*Wyche'sWarrior*]

I used to smoke up to two packs a day.....drinking a few beers? Forget about it....two packs in a session! Then came a clogged circumflex, and type II. I pretty much quit, then I'd have one here and there....and got to where I was smoking 3 or 4 a day. I finally said enough and got committed.

As someone noted, there is the weird habit of just the motions of bringing the cigarette up to your mouth....something for your hands to do. My solution was toothpicks. I go through a box of 300 a month!

Also, I had to cut WWWAAAAYYYYY back on drinking, so I limit myself to one special occasion a month. This was always my achilles heel.....so, I went out and bought myself an e-cig with 0 mg of nicotine. Between using it when the urge REALLY hits me and the toothpicks, I have managed to stay away from the cigarettes even when having a few drinks.

It can be done, best of luck to you.....you can do this.

[Nebuchadnezzar]

UPDATE:

I am down to 10 cigarettes per day. There are times when I watch the clock, but I get my mind on something else and am able to hold off.

This coming week I'm going to cut them down to five.

[*bfine32*]

My wife quite after a 20 year habit. She said her motivation is every time you think about taking a puff. imagine sucking on the tailpipe of a car

[Beaker]

(07-13-2015, 09:09 AM)Nebuchadnezzar Wrote: I decided to quit smoking after 30 years of a pack a day. My problem is that I really don't want to quit but I know I have to

At this point, why bother?

Not being mean, but after 30 years, the damage you will/might do is already set in motion.