Who Here Has Quit Smoking And how???`

[graham_h]

My wife quit soon after I met her.
Wasn't easy though.
She'd buy a new packet, I'd flush them down the bog !! LOL
Worked though. Took 3-5 days from what I remeber.
She absolutely can't stand the smell any more.

[Scott]

^^ reformed smokers are the worst.

[Cookie-XR8]

Originally Posted by GT0132

I hear Zyban and the other new drug (starts with c) have had good results, but I also hear they can have side affects involving depression and suicide.

i had champix it nearlly worked over about 4 days but i got really depressed and everything went down hill, in every aspect of life so i stoped taking them and it was gone within 24 hours,


250$ for a session in brisbane and if it wont work on you they will tell you before you do it, im seriouslly thinking about it, im going to try that book first though, i can now get it online thanks to some handy tips from a member

[Cookie-XR8]

and kinda have my dream car but i could do with a bfxr6t lol,

[ea90gl]

Great thread guys plenty of good tips, Im in the same position as the thread starter, been thinking about quitting for a long time but havnt tried properly before. The time to quit should be nearing soon since the fiance and I have just got our first home therefore I'd much rather put the $60 or so a week on bills/mortgage etc etc. I've done some research and one thing for sure is that everyone is different and it will vary on how hard/easy it will be to quit. One things Ive noticed and has been mentioned is alot of the smokes I have is due to habit and is more from the mental need for a smoke, not from physical. For instance you've done a set job which has taken an hour at home, you sit back light up a smoke and assess what you've done. Did you need the smoke or could you have gone another hour? If you can determine when you want or need a smoke can help you quit I would say. I have used nicotine lozenges before while on a plane for an overseas trip and despite the horrible taste they worked very well. A friend of mine used to smoke like a train and he hasnt touched a smoke in about 4 months now, he went cold turkey and tried to substitue the smoke for other things which eventually helped. He also owns a pizza bar which he is at 7 days so that was a big effort on his behalf. It is possible to quit yet obviously will be hard, I think its up to the individual to figure out what will work best to help them on the journey. As for the depression from quit drugs, I've read it's actually not the drug that causes the side effects but mainly from the physical/mental withdrawl of the nicotine. However I'm no expert but something to think about

[marty1000cc]

Zyban for me.........But it sent a couple of my mates temporarly loopy.
I reckon you need to be in the right head space for Zyban and Champix.

[Captain Falcon]

Gave up cold turkey after smoking 2 packs a day, i gave them up for my girlfriend now Fiancee. Was the best decision i ever made. I found i had more energy and i wasn't coughing my lungs up all the time.

But i dont think you totally get over them, i haven't touched a cigarette for 2 and a half years now, but i still get cravings. They are especially strong when i'm having a few beers.

[gz1]

I tried patches, gum, zyban, hypnotherapy, cold turkey, hot turkey, and a few other things. Most I could quit for was three months and then would start again.
Almost had it after reading the book "the easy way to quit smoking" by david car, but it only lasted three months or so.
Last year I had a heart attack and spent a month in hospital. Haven't touched a ciggie since.
Would not reccomend the heart attack part to anyone but perhaps the thought of it may motivate you.

[GT0132]

Originally Posted by GTP006

I gave up and found it pretty easy - pity about 3 months later I convinced myself I could just have one with a beer!

My approach was to just stop. If I got a craving, I reminded myself that it would pass in a couple of minutes... and it did. After a couple of days, I was pretty cranky and irritable, the first week is the hardest by a mile. If you can be tough enough to just live with it for a week, you will do fine.

i think you need to get it into your head that cigarettes don't actually do anything for you. You want one, you smoke it, you don't want one then you do again. It costs a fortune and what do you really get out of it?

That was my mindset anyway - Why am I going to light this stick of paper? What will it do for me?

After a fortnight, I had pretty much just forgotten about smokes - the smell was horrible and my bank balance was better - not just the cost of teh smokes but the other stuff like drinks & magazines etc you buy whilst you are in the servo.

For a few months I hardly thought about it until oneday I stupidly thought - why not just have one. So I did. I didn't have another for a week and thought "this is easy!", so I had a couple..... then I bought a packet that was supposed to last for a few months... bad idea.

So are you back on them then GTP006?

[goldfire]

I smoked for over 10 years and am now in the 2nd quit period hehe, which has so far lasted just over 6 months.

Quitting smoking, believe it or not is very simple.. remember you started smoking, a choice you made.. you wheren't born with a pack of winnie blues where you?. As it was a choice to START smoking.. It needs to be a choice to stop.

NOW.. One thing you need to know, that with ANY addiction involving inbound chemicals and/or chemicals that alter your brains base chemistry, there are 2 components that must be addressed.

1: The PHYSICAL addiction - This is the actual physical biochemical dependance your body/brain develops for the chemical being in your system, like if you've seen heroin/crack addicts going cold turkey what they go through, not as extreme but the principles are the same.

2: The MENTAL addiction - THIS!!.. is the hardest one to overcome, while you can defeat the physical addiction with replacement therapy then weaning, the mental addiction is so so much harder. So I suggest the following which worked for me once I realised this system.

-------------------

1: "WANT TO QUIT" - If you don't really want to quit, then your not going to. It's as simple as that, you will self sabotage yourself at every turn as is already evidenced by some of the posts in this thread ("oh i'll only have 1 with beer.." then 1 becomes 2.. 2 becomes a pack and the cycle starts again) it's also one of the hardest steps to make.

2: "IDENTIFY" - Identify when and why you smoke, then remove those triggers from your environment, or if it's the environment itself, remove yourself from it. By knowing what makes you want to smoke EG: Drinking with the boys, Stressfull times, Smoko/Lunch. You can begin to eliminate these triggers THEREFORE reducing your desire to smoke.

3: "REPLACE" - Over 75% of "Cold Turkey" quitters fail in their quit attempt. This is clinically/statistically proven (Given to me by quitline). Like a heroin addict you'll have a greater chance of success if you replace the addictive chemical (nicotine) OR replace it's delivery method (I used patches for 7-14 days then that was it). Subsequent benefits of replacement are but not limited to.

3.1: Greater sense of taste/smell - Some smokers will tell you their sense of taste/smell is fine, their delusional, get it, understand it, accept it, move on.

3.2: Greater cardiovascular strength/endurance - Your lungs will begin to heal from anywhere between 24-96 hours AFTER your last cigarette. Now the healing is a slow process, and by god are you going to cough your *** up, use it as punishment if you want, you abused your body this long, now it's revenge time. HOWEVER you should begin to notice an improvement at around the month mark, after that it just keeps getting better.

3.3: Clothes/hair/fingers don't stink anymore - again known fact, accept it and move on, you'll feel better for it garauntee'd.

4: "COMMUNICATE" - If your quitting and your mates still smoke, ask them to move away/outside/downwind. It's a simple request that involves very little and when your mates see your success, it may encourage them to quit as well.

On a side note, I would suggest perhaps not going with hypno, whilst i'm not bashing it, it's doing nothing that you can't do yourself and it can't make you do something you dont' want to do (see point 1). Plus the cost you spend on that could be on your patches and some free willpower, again if hypno fails and you start smoking, then hypno didn't fail, you did, and you just flushed $XX down the drain.

Finally, again this has to be something you want to do, I will bullet form MY method that I used with the above info for you so you can get an idea and remember this.

"The journy of a thousand miles, starts with but a single step" - so make that first step..

Best wishes and goodluck.

METHOD:

1: Final ciggy @ night before bed
2: 12 hour patch in morning, begin changing trigger habits - remove patch before bed.
3: Stay on patches for 7-14 days consecutive while further removing/fixing trigger behaviour.
4: Move of patches completely, carry on with willpower and behaviour modification. Have been smoke free for 6+ months now.

[pks54]

goldfire is on to something here....so are many others on this thread.
Iv been smoke free for nearly six years. Went cold turkey, but you must prepare yourself mentally.
Ask yourself why people can quit overnight after heart attacks as others have mentioned. Ask yourself why do people smoke more while at a pub as others have mentioned. Is it because your addicted to Nocotine. People smoke as its just more of a mental addiction. Nicotine is not an addictive drug. You smoke as its simply just a bad social habit and its a very conveneant to be addicted to this. I mean you could be addicted to caffine, but carrying a portable expresso machine with you is out of the question, yet those ciggy packets a just soooo handy.

Before people start flaming me about my "Nicotine is not a addictive drug" comment. This is what Im trying to get at-The mental addiction and bad habit to break is the hardest part. You must convince yourself mentally that you want to quit. Hope this makes sence.

Anyway I smoked about 30 ciggies a day for about 15-20 years and then went cold turky, you must want to quit. And as others have said I gained a few kilo's as well.

I want to add a funny thing. I sometimes dream that Im a smoker, and I realise that I have quit smoking and I ask myself why the #### I started again. Untill I wake up and realise that it was just a dream.

[zx10]

I quit cold turkey about 3 years ago (took 3 goes). My girlfriend still smokes, which makes it really hard (she says she will quit when we have kids, yeah right!).

I would spend about $50 a week if I didn't go out, if I went out about $80. I made a promise to myself that I would quit for real the last time so I increased the loan payments on my car by $80 a week then couldn't afford to smoke.

It really made it a lot easier that smoking in pubs and clubs became outlawed. Would always have a drink in one hand and a smoke in the other.

Good luck to all who are trying to quit.

[goldfire]

Originally Posted by pks54

Nicotine is not an addictive drug.

Sorry to correct you here mate but nicotine has been clinically proven to be addictive, granted in side by side comparison with other drugs it's on the bottom of the ladder.

[XR6_661]

I can remember when the old boy used to smoke.

He woke up one day and said "That's the last smoke I'll ever have."

That was probably a good 8 or 9 years ago. Hasn't touched one since. Now that's will power!

I'm 21, never even held a smoke before in my life. Can't stand them.

[bok1]

tried zyban and it certainly makes you feel very strange and did not work.weighed up the cost of how much i was spending and woke up 1 day and said bugger it ad gave up just like that.been 7 years now.have had an extra few thousand dollars each year which pay's for a great family holiday each year.

phil

[Mark s]

Originally Posted by Dazza XL

I found Nicotine gum worked quite well for me, gave me the instant hit that a cigarette normally would. After a month on this, I simply swapped it for Extra & Juicy Fruit. Quite easy to wean myself off it, as it wasn't flavoured & tasted like crap!
Good luck.

I had been a smoker for around 20 years. I tried to give up 4 - 5 times ovr that period. My last smoke was 3 years ago. I found the gum works wonders for me as well. It did give that instant hit that Dazza talked about.

Attitude is the biggest thing in giving up smoking. If you really want to give up, then I think you will with those aids. If your giving up because the other half nags you about it, etc. Then I think your chance of stopping are minimal as best.


I still have wives of friends who say to husbands "look Mark gave up, why cant you" I would simply tell them that they have to want to give up and nagging, whinging, etc does not really help.

Mate good luck.

If you do start smoking again, remember it's not the end of the world and it is still a part of giving up.


Cheers
Mark

[GT0132]

Originally Posted by pks54

. Nicotine is not an addictive drug. You smoke as its simply just a bad social habit and its a very conveneant to be addicted to this. I mean you could be addicted to caffine, but carrying a portable expresso machine with you is out of the question, yet those ciggy packets a just soooo handy.

I tend to agree with this comment.

I went through a stage of always having to go downstairs and buy chocolate at 3.30pm every afternoon...This went on for two years until i left that job and moved somewhere else.

Suddenly after changing jobs the desire to have chocolate was all gone

Its all to do with what you get used to and a sudden change in the behaviour cycle can break any routine.

[MAD]

Originally Posted by pks54

I want to add a funny thing. I sometimes dream that Im a smoker, and I realise that I have quit smoking and I ask myself why the #### I started again. Untill I wake up and realise that it was just a dream.

You know I had the exact same thing at about the 2-3 month period for a month or two. During the dream I felt so let down by myself, really quite sad that I had wasted the opportunity and taken up smoking again.
Waking up from these dreams and realising I still didnt smoke was a fantastic feeling.

[pks54]

Originally Posted by goldfire

Sorry to correct you here mate but nicotine has been clinically proven to be addictive, granted in side by side comparison with other drugs it's on the bottom of the ladder.

Your correct.....late night....this is what I meant
There's two sides of quitting. The physical and the mental. If it was just physical addiction then the patches dilivering nicotine to your body would work 100% of the time, but poeple still find the urge to light one up. This is when the mental part comes in and this is the hardest. To break that routine. You must prepare yourself and must really want to quit.

Good luck to the thread starter.

[Pedro]

A mate and I quit many years ago when we took up gymnastics. We both quit cold turkey but it was hard for the first 3 months. Every time I had a beer, I'd reach for a smoke. My solution was to sticky tape the lid shut and take the pack with me to the pub. After a few beers I'd reach for a smoke only to find the lid taped shut and this would trigger my quit affirmation. I carried that damn pack around in the car for weeks.

[Cappy_Hamper]

Originally Posted by goldfire

Sorry to correct you here mate but nicotine has been clinically proven to be addictive, granted in side by side comparison with other drugs it's on the bottom of the ladder.

Don't think so, nicotine is more addictive than heroin I'm told

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicotine

In low concentrations (an average cigarette yields about 1 mg of absorbed nicotine), the substance acts as a stimulant in mammals and is one of the main factors responsible for the dependence-forming properties of tobacco smoking. According to the American Heart Association, "Nicotine addiction has historically been one of the hardest addictions to break." The pharmacological and behavioral characteristics that determine tobacco addiction are similar to those that determine addiction to drugs such as heroin and cocaine.[3]

[xbcool]

I gave up 16 years ago , a few reasons were getting marrieid ,having kids and my health.
went to a hypnotherapy course run by Charles Borden (spelling?) ,sat in a room at the local ex servicemans club with about 250 other desperates.
session went for about 2 hours but felt like 10mins . when it was over I felt like superman and havn't looked back , no desire to have a smoke since that night .
the only side affect was getting in the old xc to drive home and the smell of the ash tray was nasty ,it was promptly ripped from the dash and chucked out the window never to be seen again.

I may have put on a bit of weight over the last 16 years (a dainty 110kilos) but am fitter at 40 than in my early 20s.


steve




a bizaar thing on the night was having a last smoke then tossing the remaining packet on stage with everybody elses ,sitting though the session ,then waking up to hear some bloke saying it didn't work and he felt like a smoke , the people running the show apoligised and said it only worked for about 95% of people and he was welcome to have a refund and get his smokes off the stage.

he walked to the stage ,stood there for a good 2 minutes turned and walked away with tears streamingdown his cheeks ,when asked what happen he said he wanted them but couldn't pick them up.


good luck to those giving up it's a life saving action.


steve

[Cookie-XR8]

im getting hypno done in two weeks

[Spudz27]

Cold turkey for me (wasn't that hard) all that is needed is the will to quit. My mrs told me she was pregnant with our 1st. I immediately put my smokes down and never lit up again. It was easier to do cold turkey because I had a really good reason to quit.

I had smoked for 8 years (no where near as much as others) and about 30 a day.

[Bucknaked]

Originally Posted by EDfutura25

Cold turkey for me (wasn't that hard) all that is needed is the will to quit. My mrs told me she was pregnant with our 1st. I immediately put my smokes down and never lit up again. It was easier to do cold turkey because I had a really good reason to quit.

I had smoked for 8 years (no where near as much as others) and about 30 a day.

The exact same reason I quit. Except it wasn't immediate. It was already 3 months into the Mrs pregnancy. But 8 years ago we made the decision that as expected parent'a, with us both smokers that we wanted our child to live in a smoke free environment. So we agreed to quit at the same time. We did and we have both been without ciggy's for 8 years.

Cold turkey the only way. Put your mind too it and stick too it. Remember, its about quality of life as well as quantity of life. No matter how hard it gets, focus on the bigger picture, grown some hairy ones and make the effort. It's so easy to cave and make excuses. There are no excuses. Do it.

[cupic]

As i wrote in another thread I had my 4 wisdom teeth out ,and part of rehab was no smoking for 2 weeks (for gums to heal properly)and that was 18 years ago when fags where $3 each ,Id say i save a fortune.Maybe enough for a HO


cheers

[tango07]

I smoked from the age of 14 stopped at 63 every time I wanted a smoke I had a tic tac or 2. always carried a packet of Tic Tacks. I am now 80 and still have my Tic Tacks. but no smaking.

[IDT]

Originally Posted by gnarlyau

im getting hypno done in two weeks

gnarlyau, I have been trying for ages as well. Tried hypno, patches, inhaler all useless, gum has been the most effective in cutting down. I am 40 in September and getting married (again) in October. I made a vow to myself I wouldn't hit 40 and still be a smoker. I reckon I can make today my last day and prepared to put the challenge out there to those like me who want to quit to join me.

Any takers?

[T3ts50]

I am currently using Zyban. Im in my fourth week, with another six weeks to go. Even though I havent fully quit, I have cut down from a pack a day to 2 packs a week.

Even though it works well, It is not the best option.

[mickeybull]

I went cold turkey last year, however I have developed a bad ECLIPSE mint habit, about half a tin a day. Cheaper than smokes though.