Please could those of you who have quit give me some advice... I think I'm ready to stop now.

is smoking in public places, like bars and restaurants legal in south africa? having it banned in most places in the US makes it a lot easier to quit...

1. If you smoke in the car - go sit in the car without a cigarette - and roll up the windows and just take a good whiff... Smells lovely doesn't it.
2. Take the last item of clothing you wore while smoking and give that a good whiff... delightful fragrance.
3. Now, take a towel fresh from teh dryer or wash line and smelll that - much better scent.. thats what you should be smelling.

I'm not a fan of using replacements for cigarettes... though I must admit I've been known to hold a pen like a cigarette from time to time... it's the thing in my hand that I need generally -not the nicotine... oral fixations I don't always buy - so i woulnd't replace the cigarette with gum, candy or whatever... sometimes it' sjust something in you hand that you need...

Cutting back on your habit is a good place to start... Give yourself a day - and mark it on the calendar and say -that day is the day I cut back to XX amount of cigarettes.. and keep that up for a week or two weeks.. thenc ut the number in half... til you're down to 0 cigarettes a day.

SMoking is a habit... eating is habit.. you've changed your eating habits - so use that focus to change your smoking habit.. .replaace the cigarette with something else...

I quit after 18 years and have been smoke free for 6 months.
I foound that once you get rid of the mental need to smoke you can break the physical need pretty easy.
I was on the patch for a week and a half to break the mental habit.
Then just stopped. You need to want to though. Without that you are doomed to fail.

you need to want to though. Without that you are doomed to fail.


ding ding ding ding...

I smoked for like 8yrs and quit December 17, 2006!

I tried the cutting back - didn't work. I tried the cold turkey - didn't work. I tried the patch - couldn't get the damn things to stay on me.

so then I talked to my dr. about it and she asked me several times...."Are you sure YOU are ready to quit?"

I was as ready as I had ever been...I was sick and tired of the nasty little habit...every time I smoked I'd just get disgusted.

I went on Zyban for 5 weeks. You are suppose to take it for like 3 months or something but at 5 weeks it was starting to make me feel batty in the head and I was pretty sure I could stay quit without.....I had overcome the emotional rollercoaster of quitting.

It's not easy....it's still not easy. I generally don't ever crave a cigarette unless I've been drinking a lot = I rarely drink anymore especially for that reason!

It's great if you can do it on your own but I just wanna say that if you cant and you do need to use something .... that is just fine .... don't look at it as a sign of weakness because regardless it is one hard addiction to overcome.

And like maleficent said....find something to replace it with...something GOOD and somehting healthy!!

That is my only regret about quitting smoking is that I let go of smoking but then became an emotional eater....now I"m conquering that one step at a time! It's definately worth the years I"ve added onto my life though!

Best of luck to you!!!!!

ding ding ding ding...

Yay!:D
what do i win?

sorry - that was the shoplifter alarm going off :)

I quit smoking 4 months 5 days and 41 minutes ago. I have a silk quit ticker in my task bar. I smoked 2 packs a day for 35 years. I loved smoking. I would still love to smoke. People say it stinks and all the bad things that go with it. I love the smell of a cigarette. I had never tried to quit. Never wanted to quit. Then one day I was at WalMart and I saw a display for the cherry flavored commit losenges. And for some reason it hit me. I am going to be 50 years old. I have smoked all these years. I have had my fun, now it is time to quit. I bought one package, used them for a month then laid them down and never used anything else. I didn't use nearly the amount they recommend. I put on an additional 15 pounds to the weight I had been lugging around so exactly one month later I started my new eating program. Then a month after that I added the gym. I could never just cut back on cigarettes. I know today that if I smoked just one I would be smoking 2 packs. I wish that I could just set down food like I did the cigarettes. I think that is what makes dieting so much harder. You can't just stop eating, there is no all or nothing with food. But they are right when they say if you are ready, you can do it. I was ready, and didn't find it nearly as hard as I had anticipated. I am sure that you can do it if you want to, and we will all be here to help you if you need us.:waving:

sorry - that was the shoplifter alarm going off :)
Crap.
Thought i won something.

you did - you won clean healthy lungs -

all the better for hollering at the demon spawn :D

Thank you all for your input!

I have been on Zyban before. It has the exact same chemical composition as Wellbutrin, the antidepressant I am now on... so the not wanting to smoke effects have kinda worn off :(

I've gone off it for a while and then back on to quit (again) once before, but I really don't wanna mess with my meds now as it only leads to trouble. So I don't think Zyban is a viable option right now. (It did work shockingly well, though!)

Mal, yes, there are smoking sections in bars and restaurants... and you can smoke in public freely as long as it is outside, like open air. Shopping centers and cinemas are no smoking... (hmmm, wouldn't mind spending all my time in those... :p)

I have recently (8 weeks ago) started exercising regularly and I'm still doing it... I also want to stop to better my running (lung capacity). Luckily my boyfriend doesn't smoke cigarettes :sifone: so it's easy not to smoke around him.

I have an idea... now and then I buy rolling tobacco and roll my own for a while... was thinking of buying a symbolic "last bag of Virginia Gold" tobacco and finishing that as I start quitting (hehe). Anyone had success with having something symbolic/ ceremonious about their quitting experience??

I have tried to quit many times and have tried many methods :( but I do realize that it doesn't really matter which method I go with, as long as I can stick with it (and it's healthy :) ) This is going to have to come from not wanting to smoke anymore, period. And I am starting to get my head around this at the moment :)

I think I shall do the cutting down thing for a start... It can't hurt, right!? I will decide on a plan of action tomorrow, as I'm really tired right now... Thank you all for your help!

:seeya:

Personally the 'cutting down' method never worked for me. The bottom line is the issue with nicotine addiction is that you are in withdrawal as soon as you stub out the cigarette. Cutting down does nothing because you are then going through withdrawal over and over still. This is also why i got off the patch as soon as possible. I did not want to have to quit nicotine after I quit smoking so i decided after 9 days to get rid of the mental habits- smoking while driving, with coffee, etc- was enough and i got off the patch.
From my research on the subject when I quit nicotine stays in the system for 96 hours. Basically if you can go 4 days without smoking the physical addiction is over, that leaves the mental only.
This is where you have to want to quit for you. Not someone else, not kind of, not maybe. You have to want to or it simply is not going to happen. The mental habits and little triggers are the hardest thing to break and are what keep alot of people from quitting 100%

BTW- it is exactly 6 months today that I had my last cigarette. :D

I quit 3 years ago. You have to be ready to quit, it doesn't matter what you try if you don't want it.
I tried the patch, gum, zyban (totally screwed me up. don't take antidepressants if you're not depressed!), and finally did cold turkey. I remember the night before I smoked the remainder of my cigarettes....so many that it made me sick.

Yes I have quit too. You have to be ready to quit and know that you want to. I stopped 3 years ago I had a full packet and smoked the first one and I finished it off and thought I shouldn't be doing this. So in the bin they went never to be seen again.

Phew! Ok, so I'm thinking Monday... (always a good starting day hehe!)

Wish me luck in my preparation!

Ankebuzz,

The best way is to completely stop. Most people I know who have stopped smoking have done it this way. The first couple of weeks are hard but it only gets easier. The big thing is the first step you sound like youre already there. Try and fill your time where you would smoke with something else.

Like I say after the first couple of weeks it gets easier. Good Luck.

What did the book do for you that you couldn't do youself? Darn spammers.

I just wanted to add....

I always hated it when people said "you have to really want to quit" because I always thought...why are they underestimating the level of how much I really want to quit. Not until after I was successful did I understand what exactly they were saying.

It's simply more about really being ready than the wanting I think.

And I agree...I say set a date and try to go cold turkey. Cutting back never worked for me because I'd just keep pushing back the date that I would give it up forever.

But to each their own and I hope that you find what will work for you!

Keep us updated!

I am increasing my lung capacity as of today. :)

Is it alright if I keep this thread going here? I would bump it every now and then for an update on how the quitting is going...

DAY ONE

So far so good :)

Day One! WHOOO HOOO! Congrats on the first step. This is the hardest part, it gets easier from here. Distraction is your best tool through these first couple of weeks. Have a distraction planned. (If I am tempted, that's when I will get up and do XXX instead.) Good Luck!!:waving:

Ok, so... DAY ONE... again...

Do you know what prompted the cigarette yesterday?

Or if you could have had an alternative?

Sometimes understanding why is a step in helping to quit...

Good luck on day one :)

ankebuzz
i have struggled with quitting myself. i smoked 6 years (started at 14) and then finally was able to quit for good last december. i had tried to quit millions of times prior to that but would always start smoking again. what was different this time: i knew deep inside that after i promised myself i'd quit, i'd immediatly regret having that one cigarette that broke the period of non-smoking - so since i knew i'd regret this, i just never was able to justify having another cigarette. (learned i'd regret it by trying previously to quit so many times) hope that makes sense? sort of hard to explain. and i was also finally READY to quit... that made a huge difference. i wont lie though, it never gets easy and its a daily struggle for a while - but if you want it enough you can do it. GOOD LUCK sweetie! and let us know how it goes

Thanks Mal! Basically what prompted it was impulse and rationalising... I went to my friend's place and he smokes... I mentioned I'm stopping... he said he would like to as well... he had half a box to finish so we did it and quit together.

Amagheti, I was also 14 and I am 20 now... I'm ready to kick this... I don't feel like I'm an athlete when I smoke, and I want to be one. I want to run races and things... and dance professionally maybe... I need all the lung capacity I can get!

Thanks guys, I really appreciate the support!

I am on Day 2 and all is going SWELL!!! :hurray:

Day 3... put a 5mg patch on today, the lightest one. Yesterday I was having hot and cold sweats, churning stomach, fleeting headaches, dizziness, nausea, sore throat, coughing and post nasal drip. I also had a serious loss of appetite. Luckily I exercised in the early morning before feeling like this.

Sounds like a flu, huh? But when I went to sleep and woke up in the middle of the night I suddenly felt back to normal. When I woke up this morning I still felt fine, but within an hour of waking the dizziness has come back. Throat and cough seem to be slightly better, but I just couldn't handle another day of shakes and nausea, so I put on a patch.

For some reason I feel like I'm letting myself down, though that's not true at all. I'm using the resources available to me to quit, no matter what it takes!

But now I'm scared... will the patch not bring back the hooked-ness and when I stop wearing them (I only have 3 more) will I feel like crap all over again!? Can you really wean yourself off nicotine?

you can wean yourself off the nicotine.. it takes about a week or so... the biggest addiction to fight is the cigarette feel... that thing in your hand...

You'd doing fine...

just poppin in to see how you are doing.

yeah I remember when I quit I had dry/sore throat and any form of physical for the first year after my throat would get a slight burning feeling. It's better now though.

Don't feel bad for using the resources available to you....they are there for a reason...we are all different and have different needs.

with that said....good for you...day 3 for whatever reason was one of my roughest days!

Stay strong....you can do this!

You are doing great!!! This is the hardest time, these first few days. Once you get a week or so into it the motivation becomes, I don't want to have to do that first week all over again, so I can't go back now. Use your resources, getting rid of the nicotine is alot easier than getting rid of the habit. It is normal to think you are not doing as well as you should. It is that little cigarette devil sitting on your shoulder whispering in your ear. He is trying to convince you to just give up and go back to smoking. Brush him off and tell him where he can go!!

Way to go Anke! I was never a 'real' smoker - I used to smoke every once in awhile when I drank, maybe a grand total of 2 or 3 packs in my life. But my brother and his wife smoke. They have tried to quit many many times and it never sticks. They just got pregnant though and I think this time it will take hold!

Good luck on your journey. It's hard but SO worth it.

Thanks everyone... your support means so much to me!

Day 3 is basically over and I am through it okay, all be it with shakes and hot flushes! Was a little better than yesterday, so that's good!

Keep a positive attitude. Remember this is not an impossible task. After quitting this bad habit, you will feel proud and be happy. A feeling of achievement will fill you with confidence and you will be a happier person.

It gets easier every day. Then just like everything else you will have some days that are better than others, but by then, the addiction is over and it is just the old crutch you are looking for. I use a silkquit.com ticker in my taskbar. I like that it is always there keeping track of how long I have not smoked, how much money I have saved, and how much time I have added to my life. I find it motivational. You are doing sooooo good, keep it up!

Thanks guys!

I am on day 5 now, wow... Now tonight I have to go to a barbecue and drinks evening... the food and drink's not a problem, but both friends smoke... I don't think I'll crave though. Got a few packs of sugar free gum to chew on if I'm desperate!

WOW day 5 already...you are doing great!!!!

Now we are all a little different but I'll tell you that being around others who smoke + drinking = CRAVINGS!

Just remember....It won't be as good as your little head thinks it will be so if you get the slightest craving remind yourself of that....BUT with that said you are awesome and I'm sure you'll do just fine!!!!!

I am on DAY 9!!!

This is getting easier. I started exercising again this morning.... things are looking up!

I am on DAY 9!!!

This is getting easier. I started exercising again this morning.... things are looking up!

Day 9? Thats awesome! You Rock!

That is awesome!!! I talked to my friend who is in kind of the same boat you are and she still isn't smoking either! I'm so proud of the both of you because like I told you before, and she would tell you: "If she can do it, you can do it"... I promise you that ;)

-Sam

Over a week! You're awesome!!! :D

Nice work! I quit smoking on Jan 1, 2007. Haven't even touched a cig since then... tried 3-4 times before then by weaning off, or with the patch... but in the end only WANTING to quit made me quit. :) It's still hard sometimes, but I just think about the things I can do now (run a 5k, for one...) that I couldn't do before. It's definitely made this whole dieting/losing weight/getting fit thing much easier and much more possible.

Cravings only last 2-5 minutes, so if you can divert your attention elsewhere for those short few seconds, you're golden. Wish you the best!

Thanks guys!

Now, I need to admit this: I'm still smoking green. More so now... :( Will be cutting down, then also just stopping in a few weeks.

Otherwise, day 10 is going fine!

My friend's still smoking green too, so no worries :D It's the tobacco and the nicotine that she is done with... One thing at a time, right. Cigarettes are hard enough by themselves. Quitting the green will come in time.

-Sam

Thanks guys!

Now, I need to admit this: I'm still smoking green. More so now... :( Will be cutting down, then also just stopping in a few weeks.

Otherwise, day 10 is going fine!

I still smoke green also. I don't find that it hinders me nearly as much as tobacco did. I could never even run a block without wheezing, but that has all changed. I've gone a few weeks without, and couldn't really tell a difference... so I say whatever. :)

Hehe, thanks.... I really don't feel so bad anymore.... and yeah, me and my guy are planning on stopping pretty soon... He wants to start jogging with me, which is SO awesome :)

I have completed 10 DAYS of no cigarettes!!!! Wooohoooo :hurray:

You are doing awesome...keep it up! And about still smoking the green....one thing at a time! You are reallllly doing it...you must be soo proud of yourself!

haha ya quitting the green was a different story for me too. well, i never got around to quitting it either, but hey at least it probably doesnt have even half of the amount of chemicals cigarettes have. proud of ya girl! keep it up

So, Anke, I haven't heard the update in a while. Are you still off the cigarettes? :sifone:

So, Anke, I haven't heard the update in a while. Are you still off the cigarettes? :sifone:

Nosy little guy arent you?
:D

Nosy little guy arent you?
:D

Just looking to give some atta-girls if so.

Anke, here's your :hurray: in anticipation of a positive response.

:grouphug:

hehehe, Tuesday will be 6 weeks! I'm gonna stop counting the weeks now, just months... :)

Also haven't smoked doobie in 4 days... not that hard!!! :hurray:

Thanks Trops :)

6 Weeks is great. I think you are officially a non smoker now.

Great Job!!!

i need to quit for many reasons. health is the first and main reason.i have no will power to quit and stress isnt helping eahter. advise anyone ?

You say you have no willpower to quit, but do you WANT to quit?

That's what will eventually work for you. Knowing, really knowing you do not want to smoke. You won't stop until you're ready, in my opinion.

I'd say to get ready quicker, cutting down never hurts as a first step... another I did was start rolling my own... such a hassle that I ended up smoking less, plus the cigarettes were stronger and therefore I smoked less too...

Good luck!

Well, this past Tuesday (9 Sep) was my official 8 weeks of no smoking.

The 15th of Sep will be the actual date of 2 months later. Yay!!!

Now for the green stuff... Monday is always a good day to start :) :sifone:

way the go Anke!!! i personally know how hard it can be and know what you are going through with quitting. for me, it never gets easier and you have to deal with the cravings and seeing other people smoke daily, but this too diminishes with time. today in one of my lectures i sat beside this girl that just reeked of cigs, and i was so appaled by the smell. all the best to ya and keep up the great work:hurray:

Well, this past Tuesday (9 Sep) was my official 8 weeks of no smoking.

The 15th of Sep will be the actual date of 2 months later. Yay!!!

Now for the green stuff... Monday is always a good day to start :) :sifone:

Phenomenal job, It has been 4 weeks for me and it's going well so far.

YOU CAN DO IT!

I loved to smoke and gave it up when my wife became preggo with our son. It's a mental thing. Remember that.

i was addicted to smoking in 8th grade...

i was in good shape and quit the habit before i could see any real health effects. like i was getting winded easier, but i wasnt coughing or anything. i was a heavy smoker for about months and it took a month to quit. my case wasnt that bad time wise, but age wise it was stupid and retarded. i know how hard it is to quit even when the addiction isnt too bad yet, but i do know that everybody can do it.