Quitting Cigarettes (Question for Successful Quitters)

[gnarl]

Question for smokers who quit:

How long did it take for cravings to go away? How long had you been smoking in the first place?
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Smoked for 5 years, not a long time - but long enough to get addicted. I'm about to be on day 5, with no smoking. Only thing that's changed is the fact that I can't stop eating (which sucks! not that i'm overweight, far from it. just inconvenient).

[tandy1000]

Well, I was able to quit successfully for 7 months now, but I've gained 30 lbs since then. Not being around people who smoke has helped me the most.

[Bhrazz]

Ive smoked since 11... and I'm 29... So 17 years when I quit smoking a year ago. About a pack a day... The ''craving'' was always there even when: You find disgusting the smell of cigarette. Your near someone who stink cigarettes. You pretty much will smell the smoke from miles away.

You just learn to live with it as it fades but you often think about it

If you want a quick advice. Even if is been MONTHS you already quit, don't think ''one tonight can't hurt''. Or ''only when I'm drunk'' type of thing. I ended up drunk almost every night of the week and ended up smoking again because I'm a fukn moron! After 1-2 week is already much better and the hardest days...

Don't give up and kudos for quitting!

[tandy1000]

Ive smoked since 11... and I'm 29... So 17 years when I quit smoking a year ago. About a pack a day... The ''craving'' was always there even when: You find disgusting the smell of cigarette. Your near someone who stink cigarettes. You pretty much will smell the smoke from miles away.

You just learn to live with it as it fades but you often think about it

If you want a quick advice. Even if is been MONTHS you already quit, don't think ''one tonight can't hurt''. Or ''only when I'm drunk'' type of thing. I ended up drunk almost every night of the week and ended up smoking again because I'm a fukn moron! After 1-2 week is already much better and the hardest days...

Don't give up and kudos for quitting!

I've had many thoughts of having a drink as an excuse to smoke, I probably tasted alcohol only 3 times in 7 months now to avoid it. I'm such a bitter person this year lol.

[gnarl]

Yeah cigarettes seem like the icing on the cake that is alcohol..

[Ninjerk]

I don't think the cravings ever lasted more than a week after I've quit. I've started up again once or twice because I genuinely like it, but yeah, it's mostly mental/oral habit.

[arttorney]

Two weeks cold turkey before the worst of it is over. Don't have sex with people who smoke within the first year or you are going to relapse. (voice of experience. Only one thing could get me to smoke menthol KOOLs ... and she had it.)

[gnarl]

(voice of experience. Only one thing could get me to smoke menthol KOOLs ... and she had it.)

That made me lol.

[Jasonwclark]

I quit for three years and then started again when I went to New York - go figure. I thought it was an expensive habit in California, but damn - 11 bones a pack?

Anyway my advice would be to get a prescription for the nicotrol inhaler. Having it helps in the first two months after quitting, because if you break down completely and the craving for nicotine overwhelms you, then you can handle that without actually smoking. It’s still a step backward, but not as bad as actually lighting up (which is addictive on a whole host of levels beyond just the nicotine.) The Rx isn't very expensive when compared to a pack a day, and some of the units contain this pepper taste that is really obnoxious. You still get the fix, but the pepper thing makes it so you don't want to use them all the time, and slowly weans you away from the habit.

I'm not a big drinker so that wasn't really a problem for me, but I did gain about 20 pounds, so expect to fill out a bit unless you start exercising like you used to smoke. I was really bad with it before, chainsmoking and such. I've been drifting back that direction lately which is a bummer, but my motivation to quit again isn't as strong as it was. My ex didn't smoke and she used to stay on me about it, but now I'm back around my old friends again, and they're all chimneys since highschool so it's pretty hard not to smoke. One of these days for sure though.

Did you use the patch? And if so, did you wear it at night?
And if you wore it night, what were your dreams like?

I'm curious if other's who've done this had more lucid dreaming experiences like I did. Mine were very intense, not like nightmares necessarily but really vivid and more continuous than usual. Like every so often I'll have a dream where I'm speaking to someone and then suddenly realize that I'm dreaming, at which point they invariably become like shells of a personality, really expressionless and frightening, and I would always wake up immediately whenever that happened. I used to tell my girlfriend that it felt like dream demons, fucking with me... really creepy. But when I was using the nicotine patch at night that didn't happen, and if I realized I was dreaming I wouldn't wake up right away. Instead, in the same situation, where I was talking to someone and then realized they were part of the dream, rather than being scary it just went lucid. By lucid I mean, when you’re aware that you’re dreaming and the dream continues, not necessarily that you’re in control of what’s going on.

Anything like that happen ever happened to you?

Don't have sex with people who smoke within the first year or you are going to relapse.

Listen to the man - that shit is no joke

[VirusArtist]

waitasec- a pack of cigs is 11 bucks in the us?!?!? actually a price like that would be reason enough for me to stop smoking.

@ gnarl: good luck- you're gonna need it (coming from a heavy smoker who tried to quit countless times)

[gnarl]

Did you use the patch? And if so, did you wear it at night?
And if you wore it night, what were your dreams like?

I'm not using it now, but I have before and know exactly what you're talking about. My dreams were extremely vivid, but also pretty fucking demented. Scared the living hell out of me. Then I learned to go lucid and used the patches like a dream drug lol.

[Kfeeras]

Everything you do is connected with smoking. Eating, Going out, Having Breaks, Holidays, and so on. You have to learn to do those things without smoking. And you have to take care that you dont start again in situations that don't occur often, like breaking up with somebody.

[Gokce]

I quit about two years ago--and had been smoking for over a decade. The cravings happened only on the second day of my quitting, I used a few nicotine gums on that day but they tasted so awful that I didn't use them after that day Whereas my husband, who quit a few months ago, became addicted to nicotine gums instead, and now he won't leave home without them. My point is that you have to be willing enough to quit, and then do so by quitting cold turkey, you will not feel cravings after the first few days, in fact I craved for only one day. It's all in your head, really. Hope this helps & good luck

[gnarl]

I had cravings for the first 2 days, none the 3rd or 4th. Then the 5th day(now) had a really strong craving that subsided after about 20 or 30 minutes - That's why I made this thread

I'm thinking it wont be too hard, none of my friends smoke, or drink much. I really didn't even plan on quiting, I just ran out of cigarettes and kind of didn't care. One of those things where I was on a roll for a little bit and just went with it. I only smoked about half a pack to 3/4 a day.

Things helping me:
-Salty snacks or
-Some engaging activity

[Ninjerk]

If you start exercising after a couple of weeks, it will shock you how much your breath comes back.

Also:

that shit is no joke

I had to back up off of it and set my cup down

[dierat]

I smoked on and off for years since I was 12 (I'm 25). I never really got addicted to it as I would often fall out of contact with my smoker friends and just stop smoking automatically. I think right now it's been about 3 years since the last time I smoked. But for some reason every few years I'll suddenly have some huge dramatic dream where I'm a total smoking addict and I'm hoarding cartons of cigarettes and hiding them under the floorboards, and then I get paranoid that people will find them so I build a secret cellar and bury them there, then I finally open the packages and they're filled with charcoal. Really weird.

[Hookswords]

I dont think I was every REALLY addicted. I could stop when I was sick so that the sickness wouldnt linger longer. I've been on and off since high school. I guess I've always had a reason when I quit. A lot of times that reason also included some manner of health improvement. When I started martial arts I quit. But I did start again. Usually following something stressful or heart breaking. The first couple weeks can be tough. But after that you dont think about it much. And once your lungs clear the chunks out and you get some sense of smell back the smell of the smoke is nasty and you dont want one. You may find to that your taste buds will change as well. You might have liked your sandwich with tons of onions. Order that now and it might be repulsive. So this new freedom has some interests to be explored. Dont listen to "Just one more pack, that will be my last", "Only when I'm drinking.", etc. You have to break the habits that go with smoking. The after dinner smoke, the with a beer smoke, the after sex smoke, etc. A lot of people talk about gaining weight and eating all the time once quitting. I would suggest that with quitting you put in a diet change. Use the money you're saving by not smoking and put it towards better food. So, if you do stuff your face it's something good for you and not bad fats and high fructose corn syrup.

Don't have sex with people who smoke within the first year or you are going to relapse.

Yes, yes, to Obi-Wan you must listen

[Qitsune]

According to some scientific magazines I read, only about 30% of smokers get physically addicted to the nicotine. I'm not a smoker but I know many people who stoped with the Alan Carr method. And now you can even play videogames to stop smoking (also based on Alan Carr's!)
http://blogcritics.org/gaming/articl...-stop-smoking/

[Qitsune]

Don't have sex with people who smoke within the first year or you are going to relapse.

And you might end up with cigarette burns in weird places!

[Aphotic Phoenix]

Don't have sex with people who smoke within the first year or you are going to relapse.

I guess you're referring to the "after sex" cigarette which I was never really keen on in the first place. Since I usually end up dating non-smokers...well it's pretty darn rude to light up in their house in the first place, and I'd much rather roll over and go to sleep instead of put on clothes to go outside (unless it was so awful that I want to leave immediately anyway. XD )

[Slash]

I quit some years ago, was a pack-a-day smoker for about 8-9 years. Basically what i did was tell myself i can't have any cigarettes. Its just not an option. I told myself that i didn't want it, and truth be told, i really didn't want it either! I didn't want to have foul breath, i didn't wanna waste my money, i didn't want to be wheezing after a flight of stairs. And most of all i didn't want to have a factor that i didn't have control over in my life.

On rare occasions i indulge in a cigarette, since its a nice sensation after all. But i always draw clear lines about it, telling myself that i'm gonna smoke this/these cigs, and after that its over. And i stick to that. I treat it like i would treat a good single malt. Every now and then i'll have a glass, but its not something i want to make a daily habit, or do in excess. The most severe relapse i had was when i lived in lebanon for 3 months earlier this year, where i smoked most of my stay. It was cheap, it was all around me, and you could smoke everywhere. But a week before i left i told myself that enough was enough, and quit cold turkey.

So i guess i don't really have any good advice, except exercising firm self discipline. And even tho i manage to indulge every now and then (like once every three-four months or so) i don't recommend it. Quitting cigs is REALLY hard for some, and you shouldn't fuck it up by gambling on "just one cig".

[Peter Coene]

um, well, I smoke a pipe, and only on rare occasions. I'll sometimes smoke cigarettes, but I'm still on a pack that I bought more than a month ago and most of them I've given away. I don't feel that it would be too difficult to quit... but then again, if it was bad enough that I needed to quit then it would probably be a lot more difficult to quit.

It definately stands out to be hanging around smoking a churchwarden or walking down the street puffing on a corncob.

[Kodi<3]

I smoked for like a year and a half..and ive quit for about 6 months...everyonce and a while i still get cravings...but not nearly as much or nearly as bad. hang in there (=

[aspenboy]

If you're trying to quit - forget about niquitin, nicorette and similar stuff that has nicotine. Been there, done that - doesn't work.

I've used tabex and I must say it really works (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabex), and it's cheaper than nicorette.

[Ninjerk]

So i guess i don't really have any good advice, except exercising firm self discipline. And even tho i manage to indulge every now and then (like once every three-four months or so) i don't recommend it. Quitting cigs is REALLY hard for some, and you shouldn't fuck it up by gambling on "just one cig".

This is the best advice in the thread, imo. If you can just hold on to that commitment through that one really anxious period where you're telling yourself, "I just need this cigarette now, and then I'll be fine...No, no cigarettes...except this one...NO...etc."

[NicG]

I quit almost 10 years ago and I still have cravings occassionally but it's easier now. Also I work as a Respiratory Therapist so it's easier to resist when I spend all day watching people die from it. Even so, I've been known to smoke if I'm drinking and around other smokers (the last time was about a year ago).
I don't know if you're using anything like the patch or Zyban or anything but I quit cold turkey for a reason... Every minute/hour/day I was closer to being at the end of the withdrawal period and if i smoked and brought my nicotine levels back up I knew I would have to start all over again .

Oh yeah... and that first year I got every cold and flu that came my way. It was worth it though. I had to buy cigarettes for a friend the other day and I thought the store ripped me off. $8.00 a pack, I thought that was bad but $11.00!!!!

Anyway, hang in there. It gets better.

[guggemmaneuver]

haha.... I phased cigarettes out in the beginning of this year. See, last year, at my last job we made this huge horrible ppt about the dangers of smoking for a big, powerful client: a tobacco company. It started at King James (*of bible fame...) and went all the way through the present documenting how the deleterious health effects have always been well known and publicised. particularly since the early 50s.

It seems to me to be a self-discipline thing...and that you have to figure out your "code" so that you can tell your cravings "F*** NO!!!" it's doable, but difficult. Everytime i'm tempted to use tobacco i associate it with trying to draw and design stuff in ppt 2007 and the misery that that entailed for months and months of my life...

[MarkWinters]

I smoked for about 10 years and have been cig free for about 5 years now. It took me forever to quit. I tried gums, patches and even nicotine free cigarettes. Nothing worked. Then one afternoon I simply thought of myself as a nonsmoker. I changed how I looked at myself. Haven't had a cig since.

I did have physical cravings for while but I made a sort of game out of it where I would project those cravings onto other things - like Maseratis or Heidi Klum. The heavy cravings subsided after a few weeks, but they'd constantly sneak up. Pretty much completely gone after a year.

[Ryan K]

...I'll sometimes smoke cigarettes, but I'm still on a pack that I bought more than a month ago and most of them I've given away.

I envy people who have that control, very few.

[EagleVision]

I quit cigarette to save money and buy Wacom cintiq ... this make lots of hope and help me to fight craving.

Anyway, years passed, I have Cintiq on my desk and quit smoking at all!
Try it and don't loss your money with packs of cigarettes.

You can set your own goals to reduce craving!