Quitting Smoking
Bsides
4,244 Posts
3 days down baby. Yes sir!Might not sound all that impressive, but ive been a pack a day or more for over 11-12 years and never tried to quit before. Now i need to however because of a medical procedure, and im looking for some advice. currently the patch is helping. Anybody else have experiences to share that might help? much appreciated.
Comments
2) Chewing gum all damn day actually works. Key is satisfying your oral fixation. I can imagine those cinnamon toothpicks to work as well.
3) Switching to cigars, although with time I found out cigars are just as addictive, so I stopped that bullshit as well.
4) Break your association of smoking with stress, work, depressing/frustrating events, and alcohol. This means, staying away from those damn "social smoker" types, and walking, stretching, and maybe having an apple on your office break.
5) Go out with a girl that hates smoking.
6) After you go through a couple weeks/months of putting down the cancer stick, you'll soon realize how idiotic it is for people to indulge in the act of putting toxic smoke into your lungs.
* I was the anywhere from 1-10 a day type for 6 years. I've been off for about half a year. When you feel compelled to have one, ask yourself why. Is it because you just saw someone deliciously inhale smoke into their lungs? is it to reward yourself with toxic smoke after a hard day's work? or is it because some idiot was driving recklessly? There's no better time to take some deep breaths, and do some pushups. Once you get over these first few tests, you should be on your way to quitting cold turkey. As described in above, all you need is will power, healthy alternatives, and maybe a change in lifestyle. GOOD LUCK. It can be done.
For me it was all will power. I smoked for ten years and said fuck it. I convinced myself that the negatives aren't worth the good flavor.
Just hang on. In a month you'll wonder why you even smoked in the first place. That's a great feeling.
Food tastes better, too.
YOU CAN DO EET
I wish I wanted to quit
i am eating allot of fruit tough ... and i kinda gained like 10 pounds
For me its just about freedom. I just hate being such a Frickin' slave bitch to those things. Like walking out of a social situation cause i gotta huff one down. Come back smelling all nasty. That shit is done!
Quitting i mean.
but has anyone tried the nicotine gum? Ive heard people just get addicted to that.
This shit did the trick for me throughout the day. Except it tastes really bad at night drinking beer. So the alcohol/smoking hole was still
One suggestion with the gum- you'll find target and drug store off-brands alongside nicorette. The main difference is the taste-- the off brands taste like shit!! But seriously, buy the off-brand because of the shitty taste. You'll want to chew it less and less and after about a week, you'll only chew it if you're having some sort of serious nic-fix-breakdown.
Oh yeah- don't chew the gum if you've got a patch on, it will make you sick.
Good luck. I def. know how hard it is to attempt quitting. The best part for me was the ability to wake up. Your lungs start loosening up as they heal, and you get more oxygen when you sleep. You sleep way better and as a result, wake up right when the alarm goes off all refreshed and ready to go. I know that doesn't sound crazy, but it's quite a noticeable difference for anyone who smoked for more than five years.
Identify why you smoked in the first place and address that. I think the patch and the gum and everything are great but don't think that they get to the root of the problem, which basically boils down to some sort of suicidal urge. I think all complex / interesting people (for instance record collectors) have some sort of death wish or at least a lot of self-destructiveness. Once you confront that it means a lot more than just quitting smoking, your whole life will improve.
Third, there's no such thing as sneaking a smoke. If you have a Euro joint or have even a puff of someone's cigarette, you're smoking again and you can restart your quit clock. If you dabble you are almost definitely going to be buying packs within a week or two, no doubt, so make sure you know what you're doing.
Ok fourth and final piece of advice you won't hear much -- go to one Nicotine Anonymous meeting. This might sound ridiculous and be hard to do if you don't live in a major city, but it's worth it to just one time call yourself an addict in front of a bunch of strangers and be comforted by the reality that you're not alone. I went to two meetings and they made a big difference, if only because I knew that the only way to feel like I never needed to go to one of these things again was to just really be quit for good.
This sounds like a good idea.
Day 1 starts now.
As others already said, it really helps to have something to distract yourself with. I found apples helped me, the motions of eating one are similar to smoking, and you can reinforce the health benefits of what you're doing every time you eat an apple, instead of lighting up.
But just try and find something you really like, that would suit you.
I've got this hypnosis record somewhere that tries to help you quit by convincing you that cigarettes are the most foul tasting thing every.
Also the dreams you get when you go cold turkey are pretty wild, like a David Lynch painting.
One of the breakthroughs for me was going out drinking the first weekend after quitting just as I would normally. It was excruciating, hanging around all these smoking people and not being able to smoke. The experience definately made me stronger mentally and more equipped to quit.
I decided I wouldn't change my life too much, only cut out the situations where smoking was the primary reason for being in that situation, if that makes any sense. I would even follow my friends when they'd go to smoke, mostly because of the conversation. If I would stay indoors alone while my friends were out smoking that would make me want to smoke even more than watching them smoke away.
That approach (not changing your habits too much) worked for me but might not work unless you have some aid like Zyban that essentially takes the edge off your cravings. Having a replacement (like gum) might work too. There are some side effects to the drug since it was designed as an anti-depressant but all I felt was that it makes you dream all sorts of crazy shit and really intensely. Strange.
Anyway, good luck with quitting and when you feel like having a smoke just think about what you're throwing away by having that cigarette, all the hard work. Plus keep in mind it's gonna taste like absolute shit and not just what the doctor ordered.
quitting is easy. ive done it like 10 times already.
ironically its social situations the prevent me from quitting.
i hear however, that cinnamon sticks are a great substitute. keeping one in your mouth/chewing satisfies the oral fixation *pause and cinnamon has that woody dirt taste similar to cigarettes. i havent tried it yet. been meaning to though.
This might be the dumbest thing I have ever read on soul Strut. Who the fuck is not stressed when they are out of work? oh yeah, 16 year olds who live with their parents.
that was supposed to be a joke, right?
re: being unemployed being less stressful, how are you not stressed if you aren't employed in some way? live off mommy/daddy dollaz or what? i'd be 10x as stressed if I didn't have a job or any source of income.
As I've mentioned before, the easiest way for me to quit was to do it while I was sick with a bad cold or the flu or whatever it was. I always thought cigarettes tasted/smelled so disgusting when I was sick that I wouldn't smoke. I was sick for 4 or 5 days once and used that to get through the first few days of the physical addicition. After that, it was really just me making the decision that I really wanted to quit that kept from doing it. I haven't smoked in 3 or 4 years now (I lost count).
If you don't really want to quit, you won't.
haha, beat me to it.
Some things I learned/suggestions.
-You have to want to quit. Just knowing that you should quit won't cut it.
-Instead of using gum, try sugarfree lollipops. Eating these not only satisifies any oral fixation, but also any habit/weirdness with your hands. It's 100% better than Juicy Fruit, guaranteed.
-Not to spout recovery propaganda, but you are an addict. You can not smoke 1 cigarette. If you try to control your smoking, you are fucked.
-Exercise as much as possible. It's the best stress relief in the world,
and you will need a new healthy way to relieve stress. I also kind of believe that we never rid ourselves of habits, we just replace them with new ones. I traded smoking for the gym, and I've gone from a stinky, smoke-smelling 360 lb. loser to a debonair 235 lb. Adonis. Belieeeve dat.
-Unfortunately, you must be especially vigilant for at least 2 years from the time you stop. If you look at statistics, up until 2 years smokefree the recidivism rate remains quite high, but if you can make it 2 years and you're not a total fuckup, you have a good shot at making it.
Good luck!
i thought he banned himself and came back as hug nasty?
He needs to go on the strut patch (err, the soul patch? nah), he is an addict.
one of my roommates keeps cinnamon sticks to grind up and make his own cinnamon out of, but i might grab a couple and give this a try. is this what Hub from the Roots was always chewin on during shows? i always wondered what he was chompin on up there.
Hub is chewing on these things, you used to see a lot of dudes in NYC with these things back in the day: http://www.houseofnubian.com/IBS/SimpleCat/Shelf/ASP/Hierarchy/04.html
I quit about 10 years ago, mostly because I had to have hernia surgery, and the pain of coughing with staples in my groin was far worse than my nic cravings.
Hey Bsides,
quitting anything your addicted too is a major bitch i nthe first few days. it's a bigger deal that you made it into your fourth day than you are letting on.
I've never had a cigarette problem but quitting other shit has been a major bitch, whoever recomended that NA meeting may be onto something. also it sounds like all these oral fixation substitutions are good moves as well.
Have you destroyed/ got rid of all cigarettes and lighters you got? It may help, especially when you know you got to spend money to re-up.
good luck man
however, my grandfather, who is not known for his will power, quit smoking after 52 years! i am sure he was at least a pack a day dude for most of that time. he finally quit because my non-smoking grandmother was coughing up black stuff. he did it cold turkey and has never smoked again. somehow, he makes it sound easy.
now he's drunk by 10 in the morning, but an 84 year old man who's experiencing macular degeneration and married to a woman so deep in dementia that she has no idea who he is, must have some vice to keep him sane. i guess....
i've lost a lot of weight and am eating healthier but still can't kick this one. feel like a total hypocrite, i don't eat fast food but i'll smoke!
oh well, people aren't always consistent.
i have to admit though the craving never really goes away, just subsides a little, but after a meal even when i hadn't had a cigarette for two years, i still wanted a cigarette.
there is an actual physiological change to your brains structure. very addictive. nicotine in itself is not bad, there have been studies that have shown maybe it is good for you, for people with mental illnesses and side effects of certain meds. but inhaling burning leaves into your lungs is not good. there is nothing wrong with nicotine gum, i used it to quit when i quit; you use it for the first two weeks or so, then the cravings disapate enough to where you don't need it anymore.
you have to use this knowledge to overcome the cravings. it's just some neurotransmitters screaming for nicotine!
you can kick it, and you'll feel much better. and live longer!
good luck!