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Trying to quit smoking

I'm ready to take the plunge and quit smoking cigarettes. The price is getting insane and it's not doing any wonders for my health. Anybody have any opinions about which works best patches, gum etc.

Thanks,
Adam
 
I gave up the chew and the only method that worked for me was staight up cold turkey. It sucks in a specific way but it's the only effective way I found. The first week is the worst by far. I won't lie, I took the pipe up again, but it was several months after giving up the dip so it isn't about the nicotine or an addiction, it's about relaxation and enjoyment. For me it's a great stress reliever. I can take or leave the pipe and not suffer any sort of withdrawl or overwhelming urge.

I wish you the best of luck, it is difficult but if you can make it 3-4 weeks without you'll be home free.
 
11 weeks 2 days for me today. The local hospital teamed up with my employer and paid for the full 10 weeks of patches so that helped. I smoked for about 35 years , I believe the patches helped a little but it was not easy even with them. I did chew alot of regular gum but it is really all being mentally ready to do it. It sounds like you have the want to quit thats a good start. I quit for 4 years and started again so I am not kidding myself that it cant happen again but here they are $6.00 a pack and my blood pressure went crazy for a while so I use that as my motivation. Good Luck to you and if I can help please feel free to pm
 
Its been almost a year for me. I used Altoids cinnamon mints. Every time I wanted to smoke I put 3 mints in my mouth and drank a bottle or large glass of cold water. Good luck its not easy but it is doable.
 
I've tried and failed numerous times. One of the aids I used is called Chantix. After a week of taking it, my wife said to either stop or she was moving out. Completely changed my personality from a sweet guy into a raging neurotic. Anything, I mean any little thing would set me off, so that's one thing I'm not trying again.

Don't like to chew or dip, (reminds me of my grandmother who dipped and always had a thin dribble of juice running down her chin, then would say "come here and give us a kiss". YUCK. Smoke a pipe or cigar every once in a while, but really don't care for either.

I have an order of snuff coming and maybe that will help.

None of the stop smoking aids I've tried helped the nicotine craving, so the best I've been able to do is cut consumption from 2-2 1/2 packs a day down to 1 or so.

Best wishes on cutting out the "coffin nails".

Ron
 
Electronic cigarettes.

My wife started smoking at 12, and decades later, tried over and over to quit.

She tried everything... the patches, the prescription meds, the inhalers, the gums, laser treatments, etc. nothing worked.

Then we started looking at electronic cigarettes, and just as we were debating the jump, we found a (somewhat) local kiosk that had one. By the time we charged it (in the car on the way home) and she tried it for the first time, she declared that this would work.

It's been a year and only once did she have a couple of drags of a regular cigarette and it was enough to make her feel sick.

From many forums discussion about these devices, it's a very common story...

These things are what works for the most hardcore smokers.

She's still using the liquid with nicotine but slowly weening herself off, but the advantages are so many.

-cheaper once you get your starter kit
-no more bad chemicals from smoke
-no smell on the person
-not smoke so can be used just about anywhere
etc...

Recommendation: get something with a large enough battery. She uses the Ego-T, which is better than the slim ones, but there's many models and such.
 
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I had a laser treatment in January of 2007 and had no withdrawal or desire for nicotine since the treatment. It cost a bit, 250 dollars but I figured I saved that much in not buying cigarettes fairly quickly. It's been over five years now and I'm still nicotine free.
 

Slash McCoy

I freehand dog rockets
Quitting is tough. You have to GET tough to do it. You can't say "try"... you have to DO. "Try" concedes the possibility or probability of defeat. "DONE" declares that you are successful. The best way is to set a date and time for your last cigarette. At that time, take every cigarette you have out of its pack, and crumble it up into the trash. Don't give them away... that gives them a value. Destroy and discard them. Treat them like the trash that they are, the poison that they are.

Stay out of bars, unless you are somewhere that has outlawed smoking in bars. A couple of drinks around other smokers smoking is all it takes to fall off the wagon. It is extremely helpful if nobody else in your house smokes, or if they quit with you.

After declaring that you HAVE QUIT, live your life one decision at a time. Every time you light up a cigarette, you have made a decision to do so. From now on, your decisions should simply be to NOT light up, to NOT "borrow" a cigarette, or buy a pack. Every decision must be to NOT smoke. It's not about the future... it's about the now. It's about each decision as you make it. It's about the fact that you are now a non-smoker. An ex-smoker.

Gums, patches, etc just prolong the agony. They pump money into the same industry that knowingly marketed and sold poison to you, fully aware that it is addictive. Don't do it. Don't taper off. Just quit.
 
What Slash said....

Except that patches worked for me. They helped the cold turkey by a lot, then I gradually weaned myself off them in 4 weeks. Been 4 1/2 years since.
Still, the biggest hurdle is mental, not physical. Took me 10 years to build up a big enough mental wall that I couldn't break now if I tried.
 
I weaned myself by taking up a pipe. One pipe at the end of the day to reward myself for no smokes. Then it was every other day, etc. Ive been quit for about 4 years now and can enjoy pipes/cigars as often or not as I please. I've quit and then started again before, but I'll never take up cigarettes again.
 
It works in different ways for different people, the only way it worked for me is cold turkey, no patches or gums will help if you are not mentally ready. If you are around people that smoke, you need to limit the time you spend with them. If you have a cup of coffee and have that sucking sensation, anticipating a cig, feeling joy, etc. you need to change your routine a bit, eliminate those cravings.
22 years in and just over 2 years smoke free. Good luck to you!
 
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