I wanna quit smoking. Does anyone have experience in quitting smoking? I tried it many times. And I always failed. How to quit.
Hello and welcome!
I smoked for about 15 years and I managed to quit cold turkey once but picked it back up a year later. I tried patches with no luck. Tried to cut back to fewer cigs per day… didn’t work.
Then one day I stopped trying to quit just to quit.
I realized that I might not make it to see my kids grow up. I decided that I wanted to be there for them and that quitting smoking would increase my chances.
So that’s how it worked for me. I quit cold turkey again, threw out all my cigs, lighters and matches. I remember drinking a glass of water during each craving. Also, I used a counter and online forums to keep track of my days smoke free.
It’s been over 10 years smoke free now!
Best of luck to you!
Haven’t licked nicotine myself just yet. There’s a great thread here with pages of advice and an awesome group of support though:
Might see you there soon!
Welcome to the forum! I smoked for just over 10 years and quit almost 14 years ago. It definitly took a few tries for me to finally quit but what i found helped me was using the step down method of the Nicorette patch along with the Nicorette gum (back then they didnt have the Nicorette sprays but my husband who is currently trying to quit, says they get rid of the craving instantly). I also had to cut out coffee for a bit and basically switch up my daily routine. Did what i could to keep busy, exercise etc and drank alot of water. I also used drops of lemon juice on my tongue which helped me alot when craving a cigarette. Strange i know lol i think it has something to do with changing the taste buds on your tongue when a craving comes. I also have heard from others that the Allen Carr stop smoking book does wonders. I got the book for my husband. He hasnt read it yet but we have heard good things about it.
Welcome to the forum and welcome to a chance to get away from the smoking
When you go to the grumpy thread you will see a lot of what people have written and hopefully it will be helpful. Jump in to the thread and prepare yourself to quit smoking. There is a member who’s going to quit smoking on August 1. Once you get away from it you will wonder why in the world you ever did it
And be grateful that you in fact quit.
I sucked lozenges for a few days, thought I was having a stroke or heart attack due to the shock of it all, cried a bit and decided I never wanted to go through this again so the only way that was going to happen was don’t light up again.
I went cold turkey after a couple of years of using different NRT products.
I was more interested in smoking than I was in following the directions.
I liked the nice high even level of nicotine that the patches gave me.
I spent a ton of money on it.
When I finally said I’m going to go cold turkey that’s when it worked.
NRT products have their benefit for people who can use them and follow the directions.
I quit cigarettes about 40 years ago. I remember vividly where I was and the moment I quit. I had smoked about three cigarettes out of the new pack and just decided that I needed to quit doing something that was harming my body. I smoked, I drank, and I over ate. I wasn’t about to give up drinking because I was having too much fun, and socializing included eating so dieting wasn’t going to work. That left cigarettes. I took the pack and threw it in the trash and never picked up again. In all honesty, I think my dreams kept me from lighting up. I would dream several times a week that I had started back smoking and the disappointment that I felt when I woke up was an overwhelming sense of letting myself down. As soon as I realized it was a dream, I was so elated.
Best cigarette I ever had was in a dream, God I needed it. Those smokes and drinks are what got me through the waking day sometimes
I’m assuming nicotine?
I quit smoking the same day I quit drinking, cold turkey.
I basically lived on the couch the first 6 days, letting the worst of the withdrawals pass without having to do much. That helped.
I replaced nicotine cigarettes with herbal cigarettes to taper down my cravings without losing the act of smoking. After about a month I got tired of the taste of the herbals and dropped those too. I am almost 6 months nicotine free and have only fallen back to smoking a herbal cigarette once or twice and only when I know I will be facing one specific trigger that might cause me to cave to nicotine.
My husband still smokes and so far I am standing strong. Keep trying until you get the right combo. I did read Alan Carr’s book and found it helpful.
Was the gym or the fags and the gym won , that was over 35 years ago now and when i was getting sober you could smoke anywere in the eighties but i was determined to quit like the booze . and it worked .
I’m just here for the helpful advice because I’m still lighting up on the daily. The last time I tried to quit I was using the patches and the gum and it caused some kind of chemical imbalance and my family thought I was on drugs and filed a mental hygiene order on me and I was taken away in handcuffs and I never broke a single law. It was actually the cleanest I’d ever been in my life. So after they determined I wasnt drunk or on drug’s they gave me a new therapist who helped me a lot so that worked out for me. But yes, I’d love to quit smoking too. Just haven’t figured out how I’m going to go about it just yet. I might be more successful this time because I’m not trying to quit two other bad habits on top of that. I hope so anyways. Good luck to you. Hope it work’s out. I might quit with you lol