Trying to quit smoking

[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.