24 hours ago

[Polar]

I quit smoking. Please pray for me, or whatever your beliefs are. Its friday and I plan on having some drinks. Im not going to smoke though, but I also have to take (3) 10 year old Divas to the bowling alley tonight. 

[Tolo[TK]]

I've been in your shoes, I know it's hard. I tried the patches, cold turkey, but, the only thing that kept me out of smoking was the e-cigarettes. I started with 12mg of nicotine in my e-juices, going slowly down to the point I had 0mg of nicotine. Now, I don't even use my e-cigarettes anymore, but, when stressful time happens and I scared of taking a cigarette, Intake a couple of puffs in my e-cig and I'm good. Don't have the nicotine effects of addiction, or the bad 1003 chemicals in a cigarette.

 

 

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[I'm Batman[501st]]

6 years for me! Had to use tablets (can't remember what they were called). From a pack a day to nothing overnight. Wouldn't be able to afford this little hobby, if I still had that habit.

[Tolo[TK]]

6 years for me! Had to use tablets (can't remember what they were called). From a pack a day to nothing overnight. Wouldn't be able to afford this little hobby, if I still had that habit.

Especially at 10$ a pack (well here in Canada)...

[Darth Aloha[Admin]]

Good lord man. I don't recommend quitting for anyone. It's terrible!

 

Kidding aside... you can do it. Just set small goals for yourself. Tell yourself "all I have to do is not smoke until tomorrow morning" and then tomorrow morning tell yourself a new goal time. And after a few times reaching your goal you can tell yourself "I totally survived and made it through the last goal. It won't ever get any harder than that." 

 

I found that keeping your mouth feeling clean and fresh helps. Pepperminty mints or gum worked for me.

 

-Eric

[Clamps[TK]]

Going on 9 years cold turkey of being finished. It is still hard. I still miss it. My goal was to be healthier and a better role model for my daughter and now son. When it gets tough I think about that and the desire fades fast.

 

Good luck and congrats for making the decision to be done with it.

[Nicky]

Maybe this could help... I quit smoking after my immune system together with a violent pollen allergy decided to go oversensitive to everything I put in my body.

 

At the same time as I quit smoking, I struck about 80% of the dairy, sugary, fatty, carby shucks off my diet. The whole transition to eating very safely was a huge change and it was a healthy change, but it did make me angry, frustrated, when I couldn't eat this or that, or couldn't give in to urges, then I got a bit depressed but I found ways to make my food very tastey and yet safe. So it ended well.

 

I was very addicted to nicotine, I used no alternative after I quit, and the effects of withdrawal were making me jumpy but I went through two brutal changes at once, my behavior and my subconscious got them two mixed up. That way when I was urging for a smoke, it felt like I was urging for pizza, burgers, soda, cake, etc. and since my allergies caused mean rashes to my face it was out of the question to relapse. I haven't had a smoke in half a year and it would be very dumb to start again because I don't even feel like smoking at all. However, if the world was about to end: I'd eat pizza with extra cheese, cream cheese on top, and... NO. No. 

 

So yeah, my advice: don't just quit smoking alone, change something else at the same time, eat healthier, work out. Make sure your body doesn't ONLY miss cigarettes because there will be that one time of vulnerability and it's less harmful to cheat on a diet thing instead and whatever "occasional emptiness" felt will be filled.

Edited January 4, 2015 by Nicky

[JohnnyChaos]

good luck dude.

 

I used patches when I quit, I think they helped a lot, but i also quit going out drinking as I knew id struggle to resist if id had a drink.

I poured my focus into surfing and kite buggying which helped.

 

I also told my girlfriend (now wife) to please not take offence if i get arsey. Which i did.

[cm325i]

I quit 3 years ago. I didn't drink at all for the first few months since I knew I'd want to smoke too. I also read this book. "The Easy Way to Stop Smoking" by Allen Carr. I know self-help books sound corny and I never read them, but this one completely changed my outlook on smoking and quitting smoking. Here's a free PDF of it...

 

and here's a little blog I was asked to write for Livestrong...

 

Good Luck!!

[svache[501st]]

I quit in 2007 when I was still living in the Netherlands, with the only reason being that I was going to fly to Hawaii to meet the one I loved (she's now my wife, note the past tense.. just kidding with that haha!). Anyways, yeah, she was the only reason for me to stop. I needed a reason, and at the time that was as good of one as any, especially considering the flight time (about 24 hours total).

 

So up until then I had smoked about 1.5-2 packages (about 35-40 smokes) a day. Needless to say, quitting wasn't easy. I saw my doctor before I actually stopped smoking, to get some advise and he prescribed me Zyban (Bupropion), which is an anti-depressant. I don't know if it helped at all, it unfortunately had some nasty side effects within the first days, and you start taking it a few weeks before you actually stop smoking. I got highly irritable and developed a rash. The doctor told me to stop with it, and I decided to continue cold turkey (and I'm happy I did, replacements for smoking can sometimes create a new addiction).

 

The first week, maybe even weeks, I couldn't stop shaking my hands. I had serious withdrawal issues and felt like I was some druggie lol (funny enough, I visited my mother and grandmother the first day I quit, and my grandmother actually offered me a smoke, to help with the withdrawal that I was experiencing.. to think back to that is quite hilarious now, back then, not so much lol. All it takes to be back to square one, is one simple puff, thankfully I skipped the offer lol. 

 

What helped me a lot during the first weeks, I think, was the fact that I locked myself up (with my laptop) in my bedroom as much as possible. Only to come out to get food and drinks (I ate and drank in the bedroom, too), and to go to the bathroom and such. This may sound silly, but it was the only room I never smoked, and I noticed that whenever I came out of my bedroom, saw my couch, desk, or drove my car, that I felt a lot more need to smoke than when I was in my bedroom. So I automatically made the decision to stay in that room as much as possible, to help resist the urge to smoke. And I think that is about the best advice I could give anyone.. not necessarily to lock yourself up in the bedroom, but to do things for the time being, to be in places, that you get reminded of smoking the least. Nicotine is addictive to both body and mind, and this was for me the way to kick the mind part.

 

After time went by, it became easier and easier to resist the smoking addiction. I don't know when it was that I truly felt to be done with smoking, but it had to be way before I went to Hawaii (I stopped in July of that year, and traveled halfway September). I think I'm safe to say that I quit smoking successfully for years now, even though I was a chain smoker for years. I have no problem being in any area that reminds me of smoking, or to be around smokers (or even to be downwind from them). I actually can say that I kind of like the smell of their cigarettes, even though I don't feel the urge to light one up myself.

 

Anyways, good luck kicking this thing. Be strong! It takes time, but it will get easier every day.

[Polar]

Thanks! Thats an awesome story there. My DR refuses to prescribe me anything , told me to more or less suck it up and be a man lol, gotta love him. Ive known him for years and he knows I am strong willed, so he tells me to be strong willed about this, think of your 4 kids, your wife, your family etc and that helps a lot! 

[TK Keith[TK]]

I don't smoke and never have, so I don't have any encouraging stories or words of advice.... But I wish you the best of luck and hope that you are having success so far!

[Polar]

so far so good! I eat carrots at work when I get the urge, felling much better too. My truck stinks now!!!!!!!!! 

[TK Keith[TK]]

Good for you; keep it up trooper!

[iconoclasta_88[501st]]

Good for you bro.

I have never smoked so I can't know how it is to quit smoking, but... I was a heavy drinker of Coca Cola. Really, probably 15-20 cans a day. So it was making my kidneys just shut down.

One day I just said, this is the last coke I will have ever. Been 7 years with not one single zip of any carbonated beverages.

I'm not saying it is the same, but will should be the same. Just do it, it is more will than anything else.

Did the same with bread. I love bread but one day just stop eating it for a year. Decided to have some this holidays but will go back to not eating bread in Monday.

Saludos.

[Tolo[TK]]

Good for you bro.

I have never smoked so I can't know how it is to quit smoking, but... I was a heavy drinker of Coca Cola. Really, probably 15-20 cans a day. So it was making my kidneys just shut down.

One day I just said, this is the last coke I will have ever. Been 7 years with not one single zip of any carbonated beverages.

I'm not saying it is the same, but will should be the same. Just do it, it is more will than anything else.

Did the same with bread. I love bread but one day just stop eating it for a year. Decided to have some this holidays but will go back to not eating bread in Monday.

Saludos.

It is the same. A friend of mine stopped drinking Pepsi, he was drinking 2 two litter bottle everyday. He decided to stop, cold turkey, he was shaking, depressed and had major headache. It was as bas as a drug addict. It was really messed up.

 

 

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[Sabyre]

Good luck brother. I started using an E-cig to quit smoking. It will be one year this Valentines Day, which is my daughters birth day, and I don't miss the real thing. I was smoking two or more packs a day, and had tried to quit many times. Every time I quit, I would be doing ok at first but then I would smell it from across the parking lot, watch my friends smoking, get stressed or aggravated, or worse yet go out drinking. I couldn't have a single beer without the need for a cigarette. With this E-cig, not only do I not miss or feel the need for a smoke, but now I can't stand the smell of it. I had to scrub my tuck down because of the smell.

 

Keep up the good work brother it's worth it. I'll be pulling for Ya.

[Tolo[TK]]

Good luck brother. I started using an E-cig to quit smoking. It will be one year this Valentines Day, which is my daughters birth day, and I don't miss the real thing. I was smoking two or more packs a day, and had tried to quit many times. Every time I quit, I would be doing ok at first but then I would smell it from across the parking lot, watch my friends smoking, get stressed or aggravated, or worse yet go out drinking. I couldn't have a single beer without the need for a cigarette. With this E-cig, not only do I not miss or feel the need for a smoke, but now I can't stand the smell of it. I had to scrub my tuck down because of the smell.

 

Keep up the good work brother it's worth it. I'll be pulling for Ya.

My e-juice flavor is Banana bread. Never had anyone complaining about the smell of it. Better than smelling the smoke crap.

 

 

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[HansDC[TK]]

I was never a heavy smoker. Probably averaged 2 a day and a few more on the weekends. But I have been a smoker for 23 years. My story is a little different, in that I didn't intend to quit in the first place. Over a few months, I had a friend whom I saw out at parties or what not - he had an e-ciggie. I was intrigued and played with it whenever he pulled it out. So I ended up doing some research and bought one. After a couple of weeks of tinkering with it to get it right, I brought it out for the first time to a party. I remember hanging out in the smokers area and having my mates laugh at my new 'hipster' toy. I succumbed and finally asked for a drag of someone else's cigarette. Took one puff and almost threw up. From then I knew that I was on a good thing. This month will mark 7 months for me.

 

I don't miss it. And over the last couple of months I only use the vaporiser when Im out at social events. I think pretty soon I will be off that too. I did get really sick right after I quit. But my GP said that it would be my body getting rid of all the shucks Ive put into it over the last two decades. 

Good Luck buddy! Its tough, but also very achievable. Your life will change. 

 

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

14 years now for me, still have the cravings from time to time, still can smell a smoker 10 cars away. Wish you best of luck, be strong, you will get there in the end

[Jim Fred]

I also have quit . Last smoke was day after thanksgiving . Been using the patches but are now drying my skin terrible! So this week will be the last of those . My girlfriend doesn't believe me when I tell her I can smell a smoker on the highway or across a parking lot , I'll have to show her this thread to prove its not my imagination .

 

 

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[bjsavage7[TK]]

I quit smoking a few years ago. If I can do it, anybody can!  

[charlesnarles]

About 6 solid years of 1/2 a pack a day (just by circumstance or I'd have been worse). Metal rods implanted in my spine (not caused by cigs) = cold turkey for me.

I agree that one should try to replace the habit rather than focusing on extinguishing it.

Remember: Do or do not; there is no "try"

And mtfbwy buddy

[Polar]

Ive kinda cheated a bit, but not near as bad as I was. Have had only a few, and those only a few were kinda gross.