any quitting smoking tips?

[Doug S]

Just this topic alone has given me the encouragement to give it my best shot to quit.  I know it's going to be extremely hard to quit at work where there is more stress, but it's worth a shot.  I'm tired of feeling self-conscious when talking to people knowing that I smell like smoke not to mention the other benefits of quitting.  I've been at it for 11 years now and I'm at atleast a pack and a half a day.  The sad thing is that I had it whipped for 1 month about a year ago and stupid me used the excuse of an argument with my wife to buy a pack.  Well you know the rest of the story.

[Gilligan]

My wife used to smoke and quit... she was one that could smoke a couple one day around some friends and then not again the next day.  BUT, she would also LOVE to smoke again.

Now though, when I come home from a bar, club or customer's house and I smell like smoke she gets all pissy and grossed out.  LOL  I'm like, you know that I had to live with that on you for years... get over it!

But when I had long hair and was in a band the next morning taking my shower with the hair around my face... *puke*  That is one disgusting smell.

[tpitman]

One thing to help is to avoid the situations where you are used to lighting up. If you have a smoke after a meal, find something else to do instead. If you smoke after pokin' your old lady, well, I don't know what to tell you to do. Back in the day what made quitting hard for me was to sit in a bar and not smoke . . . the two went pretty much hand-in-hand. And as JBLUE says, after a couple of days, you'll get over the desire. It's the habit that's hardest to break, I think.
When I was in college, after having smoked for 3 years, I'd wake up with a tightness in my chest every morning, and I figured, well, that's that. Within a week of quitting after 20 years of it, the tightness disappeared. I couldn't believe it.
Oh, and you'll start getting fat. Not much sense in sugarcoating it for you.

[jason-23]

i quit  a long time ago with my now wife cold turkey. All I can say is drink a lot of water, avoid your triggers like after dinner, after sex, your friends that smoke, any thing you would do when you smoke really. The first 3-7 days,if you drink at least a gallon of water a day, is all chemicals from smoking leaving your body telling you to just smoke one and if you do you have to start all over. After that its all in you mind, mind over matter and smoking don't matter. You have to want to stop smoking to stop smoking and that means you have to remove yourself from the things that trigger you to want one and that means your friends too. Sounds harsh but if you could see what your lungs look like right now you would be shocked. Not to mention smoking causes so many problems and it does nothing for stress, NOTHING!!! It actually makes stress worse, think about it. When your stressed your blood pressure and heart rate rise which is normal for your body and mind so that you can think, respond and move. Ok so that's normal and some stress it good but add to that the smoking,caffeine, salt, poor sleep and any thing else that stimulates your body then your blood pressure and heart rate are really jacked up and stay jacked long after the real stress has passed. And that is what well kill you or leave you half screwed up from a stroke or a heart attack. Lets don't even get started on the cancer kick because we all have had a loved one die from that crap and if you haven't then it just a matter of time before you do see a friend or family member die from cancer and smoking causes a lot of different cancers.

I remember when i started smoking cigarettes, I started smoking cigs because I started smoking weed first at the age if 16 and then soon after that cigs because all my "friends" were doing it ,like it was a weed substitute cause you could just walk around smoking weed in public. All that pushed me into other drugs so bad I could do it any longer and had to remove myself from them and even the town. I basically hit the reset button on my life, stopped smoking, drugs, went to college, found my wife, found God but know I now that He was there the whole time.

You can do it man, I have faith in you and I will keep you in my prayers. You first have to really want to STOP, not quit, but STOP smoking. Stay away from your triggers for at least a year, find other things to do, every time you have a craving just say to yourself "I can wait till the next craving" and keep doing and saying that. And drink lots of water to help flush out the the toxins quicker. One more thing try not to eat to much because youll want to eat and thats where the extra 20 lbs comes from. Its also an oral thing for so people which started when your mom gave you that pacifier.  You can do it on your own will power...

[screenxpress]

I was a 3 pack a day chain-smoker.   I went cold turkey in 1975.

I know everyone cannot do it the same way.  Somehow I had started to mentally develop the image that they were dirty and filthy.  Thoughts of things like a butt ground out on the ground or one broken open and they just looked icky (lol).

Worked for me. 

No idea how much money I've saved.  Nowadays, just the smell is a total turn-off.

[sweetts]

get hypnotized it worked for me 

[tpitman]

I was a 3 pack a day chain-smoker.   I went cold turkey in 1975.

I know everyone cannot do it the same way.  Somehow I had started to mentally develop the image that they were dirty and filthy.  Thoughts of things like a butt ground out on the ground or one broken open and they just looked icky (lol).

Worked for me. 

No idea how much money I've saved.  Nowadays, just the smell is a total turn-off.

Before I was jolted into quitting, I still enjoyed a few smokes in the morning with coffee while reading the paper, but by the afternoon, I found myself washing my hands after a smoke to get the smell off. In some ways I think I was ready to quit anyway.
Like many, I started in college with a roommate who smoked, and at the time it was the cheapest habit I had. I spent a year and a half in a small college in North Carolina, where taxes were low, and a pack of smokes out of a machine was .25, and a carton was $1.90 unless you liked the 100mm jobs that would set you back $2.10. A coke cost more than a pack of smokes. With what they cost now, I couldn't afford to smoke.

[Hegemone]

The patch made all the difference for me but only once I was right in the head to quit. I also chugged a bottle of water when I started thinking about smoking. I found out that thirst and a cigarette craving were pretty much the same.  Dehydration was not my friend.  Also no booze. I have an addictive personality so one beer and my will power went out the window.

[Donnie]

I starting smoking in HS. I found that I used smoking as a reinforcement for doing something. I'll light up after I read this assignment, eat ect. It was always a reward.  It was very difficult for me to quit. I tried everything including dipping which scared me way more than smoking with sores popping up on my lips or gums. I was always athletic, playing basketball, baseball and track.  Finally I tried running. Holy sh!t did my lungs burn at first and I realized what smoking was doing to me. I ran up to 2 miles a day for about a year. It hastened the process quite a bit. I never felt better.  Now the smell of smoke makes me sick. I can't stand to be around it.

[Prosperi-Tees]

Thanks Jason for the prayers and all for your tips! Its gonna be tough but I'm gonna geter done.

[Gabe]

 I also quit 8 years ago after 15 years smoking a pack a day
program myself to quit when i was 25 years of age
I said to myself i`m going to have all the fun in the world,
go in to concerts, bars, the beach, putas
but when i turn 30 i`m gonna quit smoking which i did.
to hell with the patch, the gum, cold turkey
i started jogging is when i realize i was so out of shape
that feeling pretty much did it for me
i know is not easy you don`t give up

[bimmridder]

July 21, 2008.  month and a week after a flood totally devastated our business. A long month of back breaking work to salvage what we could, and plan for starting all over. I was just opening my second pack of the day. I looked at the smokes and asked myself what the eff I was doing. I tossed them to an employee and said he could have them. Haven't touched one since then. Besides, I want to be around longer to make my kids' lives a little more miserable.   Side note: Yesterday I did the Gladiator Assault Challenge. Five miles and thirty obstacle from fire to mud. Couldn't have done that five years ago.

[beanie357]

quit. stressed. started again. now need to quit again. will seek stress help this time and attack a root behavior causation. smoking sucks. I smoke a lot, as I am some kind of ocd kook.

[stitches4815]

My wife and I used Chantix.  We didn't have the depression, or psychotic episodes.  Our dreams were really vivid though.  Not wet or anything like that, it was like full color 3-D type stuff.  I really do miss the dreams.  Anyways, we followed the directions and slowly (about a month for me) I had quit smoking.  My wife took a little longer.  Every now and then we get a brief urge for a smoke, that is common because smoking as you know is an addiction.  We tried everything, patches, smoking programs, welbutron.  The only thing we didn't do was hypnotism.  It has been almost two years since I quite and I don't have any regrets.  I wish you the best of luck but I am sure you will do it.

[sportsshoppe]

Over a year ago I had some spots show up on X-Ray after being hospitalized with phenumonia (? spelling). I had a appt. with a specialist and he suggested a snip off the spots in my lungs by going through my nose. I was not all the way under so I was hearing everything they said, scary! The results came back negative but that along let me quit COLD Turkey or Scared Turkey which ever you want to say. Since then I feel better than I have in a long time. I use to blame the cough on a cold and the short breath on just getting old ( turning 50 6-12 ) it was neither it was them Cigs. With God's help and good family support I am smoke free and it feels good. I never knew how much that stunk until I quit. No I did not gain a bunch of weight I am really active outside when off from here so holding the weight down. Good Luck and you can do it and you will never look back.