Quitting smoking: any tips?

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was the big factor for me stopping. $80/carton for Players (el cheapo brand to non-Canucks)! I'm glad I don't know anyone still in the military or it would be PX time.

@DotW - You're doing fine. Checking out parking lots for crushed butts is normal...isn't it?

 

Well, the day went along nicely, despite my being a bit edgy and somewhat short-tempered. I went through a pack and a half of gum till now, and like 35 toothpicks. Still, I'm holding fine.

 

Take up something else to take your mind off it. Beer is my way .

 

As an ex-smoker who smoked for 30 years I'll give my 30 cents.

1. As already advised rmove the smell claen everything including ceilings, light fittings etc.
2. remove all ashtrays and smoking parapharnalia from the rooms and get rid of it.
3. Don't use the gums, patches etc they aren't reaaly helping you have to do it cold turkey for myself and other ex-smokers I know, we all found that using the patches helped us give up but soon as we finished them we had the addiction to nicotine to cope with and we all started again.
4. Try and avoid socialising events, pubs etc as much as possible for the first 30 days and for the first week tire yourslelf out physically so you can't think about anything but sleep.

I was lucky in that I was in hospital for a week after my first heart attack and then taken away for a month after I left hospital to convalesce, by the time I returned home the place had been scrubbed from top to bottom by the housekeeper and eveything removed, so it smelled fresh.

BUT it is still day by day that you cope with this addiction and it is hard to keep that battle going sometimes and 3 things help me keep going.

1. Things smell so much better
2. My sense of taste has improved so that when drinking my wines and brandy they taste so much better.
3. My lungs are clearer and I don't get colds, coughs so often. After the first week when you're coughing the crap out of your lungs and you breath deeper and easier.

Reminding myself of these 3 things works for me, with time you'll find something that makes the difference for you.

Good Luck, keep the faith, and remember it's ok to lose the odd battle here and there (especially when drinking) as long as you win the war.

 

you're only physically addicted to nicotine for the first 48 hours after you quit, everything else after that is just down to unthinking habit; so well done on getting over the first and biggest hurdle. What you need to do now is to keep reminding yourself that you don't actually need a cig now whenever you feel like one - it's tough to begin with, but it does get easier after about the first week or so when, as DarkStrider mentions, you begin to notice the benefits of not smoking

 

Thanks everyone for your valuable inputs.

Well, it's my third day, now, and I must say that the second one was a bit hard... I was edgy, hot-tempered and somewhat violent.

Fortunatly, everything has settled, and the third day is going smooth. As you mentioned, DS, I am beginning to feel a slight improvement in taste and smell. Pretty damn good news. I will fully enjoy spirits and food, now.

And as for wiping the cigarette smell... irony how this happens, we're moving in a bigger apartment, because my love will come stay with us. So another good point.

As for the social part... that's okay, because I have no life

 

Something occured to me this morning - are you stopping smoking just cigars or everything else? You've mentioned you smoke other things, too.

As a sidenote, supposedly the damage done to internal organs (lungs and heart) from smoking fixes itself after you stop. It takes a long time though.

 

Of course it takes a long time; if you have smoked for some 5+ years you have litres of tar in your lungs and that stuff does not come off easily. Not to mention the other poisons in your blood.

 

If you need something in your mouth, get guitar picks: they last a long time, and they won't make you gain wait. The only problem is that you have to pay attention so that you won't swallow them and choke...

And yes, are you just stopping smoking cigars/cigarettes, or are you stopping *everything*?

 

I didn't! I use a bong or vapourizer, if you can get DotW I reommend the vapourizer very healthy.

 

Well, to be honest, I still haven't decided if I will also quit smoking pot. I presently got my hands full with *stopping* smoking cigars, to tell the truth. Quitting pot would be pretty easy since it isn't addictive, but I'm not sure. Smoking blunts makes for interesting and hilarious friday nights.

Maybe I'll also quit pot, maybe not. I still haven't made my mind on that.

 

watch some lung cancer movie or tour the hospital's lung cancer ward. the latter worked for Spiderman's wife, Mary Jane. Yes, yes, it's a comic but it should work IRL

 

My girlfriend asked me to figure out the odds and ends of smokeing vs. non smokeing for her one day.

She smokes I never started (sports got in the way). I figured it's costing her almost $1500-2000 a year and like I told her, she's always complaining about money but she willing drops that on smokes. She doesn't work full time and attends school so $1500-2000 could help her alot. Hell and extra $1500 could help me and I work full time at a fairly decent wage.

Then I did the research and found that for the amount of time you smoked it will that the same amount for your lungs to regenerate. So if you've smoked for 5 years it will take 5 years for your lungs to be healty again.

She wants to stop smokeing mostly because of me, and the fact that my house and vehicle are non smokeing and she doesn't smoke in front of me. So it would just be easier. But like the people here have said it will only work if you are 110% committed.

Anyways. The first three days are the hardest is what I've been told. After that it gets easier. Mostly because the actually addiction to nicatine begins to fade.

I can't say that I'm a saint though. I did smoke weed for like 7 years, but up and stopped one day. And like DoTW said, quitting weed must be way easier that cigarettes. Unless I have some crazy willpower which is a little true.

 

Yeah, the first week is the hardest... I'm holding pretty well, I have survived Xmas without smoking any cigars at all, though I did smoked some Mary-Jane, and I didn't had any cravings for a cigar. I was probably too busy giggling like a moron to possibly think about smoking cigars

I'm already feeling a difference in budget, too! I went to the bank and stashed some more money for a more recent BlackBerry (I have a 5810... old reliable), and the trip in Mexico. Not buying a box of cigars allowed me to stash one more red (50 bucks bill, DUH!). I am also feeling a difference in smell and taste. Life is so much better as an ex-smoker.

 

Somewhat 8 months ago my brother said he was going to quit. He smoked ever since he was 16, and when he said he was going to quit he was 37. I remember how cynical i replied to that, and how i predicted he was going to smoke again within a day. How wrong i was about my bro's determination to trally quit. He even made it harder for himself, by always having a pack of fags within reach, in the house and in the car. But he hasn't touched a smoke since he said he was going to quit, and that's pretty amazing considering he smoked for 21 years. I guess it's all a mather of willpower, nothing else. Addiction is all between the ears, if you really want to quit, you either do it, or you don't.

 

I was talking to a smoker who resently quit, a few days ago, and he said he found the best way was the opposite to what people above have described. Over six months or so he slowly cut down on the number of smokes per day, taking one small step at a time, until he was smoke free.

[Edit]Good luck!

 

Thats hard though because you don't actually break the addiction. My girlfriend tried it that way as well and found it way harder.

 

hope for ciggarettes to get so expensive that you would starve if you wouldn't quit... and of course, chew some gumm... and drink some

 

when i stopped i took a carrot everytime i felt like smoking.

and promised it to my GF who hated me smoking, this was probalby not so good, cause i felt like she hated me smoking, so i smoked when she wasnt there etc. eventually got a bad cansciense(spl) and decided to stop again, i only smoke sometimes at parties now and stopped about a year ago

oh and try to run for like 5 miles two times,
1 smoking before or while runnning
2 not smoking interely

this will help you see how bad it hurts you


i'm crossing my fingers for ya

 

I took a break from smoking. It's a dirty habit. The problem is being around smokers make it very difficult. I know I will smoke again, it's just a matter of time. You have to be in a good environment. Avoid stress (easier said than done -one of the major reasons I can't q... er stop ).
Try jogging or working out it will help if you eat too much to compensate.
Good luck.