I didn’t want to steal anyone else’s topic so I made my own.
I’ve decided to quit smoking, they say telling friends is one of the best options, and you all are the closest thing I have to friends these days, so I’m quitting. It’s a bad habit, it’s bad for my health, it’s costly, and it’s a pain for others. My goal is two weeks which is when I usually buy more so I’d like to say by then I don’t have to shell out money for more and be free of this addiction. It’d also be nice to see my pdoc and crowd again and announce that I’ve successfully quit once and for all.
I have quit for two months I am taking nicorette mini lozenges and they work great. It’s all about finding what method works for you and learning from the experience. Treat yourself to things you find special instead of cigarettes. For me it’s coffee and chai tea. Then I took some of the money I spent and bought t-shirts instead. I figured out a $30 shirt is only 3 packs of smokes, so I could buy one every week for the first month. A pack lasts me about 2 1/2 days. They have awesome shirts on eBay. I bought one that said “Always be yourself, unless you can be a unicorn, then always be a unicorn.”
I will get there. I know I will. I’m still holding at three a day. Soon I will cut to two a day. I am in awe of people who can just say “this is the last one” and have it be the last one.
Im off the smokes 4 years. Its really worth it. Your lungs will get a whole new lease of life. They will be revitalised. Your physical health will improve a lot. You wont regret giving up one bit.
Just make that choice and stick with it. Remember if you don’t give up you could be one of the unlucky ones to be struck down with cancer. And that’s an awful way to die.
I haven’t had a cigarette for 3 days. That is really good for me as I haven’t been able to quit completely. Smoking cigarettes for my is more like self medicating. I was smoking a pack a day. I’m using the patch and lozenges together. That is really helping me. I haven’t tried the spray. I tried switching to e-cigs . I may go back to those if I can’t quit. I’m 60 years old so I have to think of my health…which is new for me.
I quit in 1999 and haven’t had a cigarette since, although I stayed on the lozenges for about 3 years after my quit date. I used the American Lung Association book: 7 Steps to a Smoke Free life and thought it had a lot of good advice. (I also read the Smokenders book but found its cold turkey approach a little too hard for me.) I think I also went to an American Lung Association class but I don’t remember much about it.
I especially used the idea of rewarding myself on milestone dates. I celebrated one year of smokeless living by buying myself a new stereo.
I gained about 30 lbs after I quit but got all of it off eventually by walking 40 minutes every day. My weight has creeped up again since then but that has more to do with my other addiction to food!
I can’t say I totally regret smoking… I think it helped me with my paranoia and auditory hallucination during a tough time after I was hospitalized 6 times over a two year period. If my symptoms get worse again I would probably consider going back on nicotine lozenges.
How did you go about going off of the lozenges? Did you use the same method as for cigarettes? I chew nicotine gum I’d like to get rid of. I have to say this last time with the gum I picked it up so it would make me calmer. I had forgotten how hard it had been to quit before.
It took me a long time to get off the lozenges… I first switched from the 4mg ones to the 2mg ones and managed to taper off them slowly. Fortunately in 2002 I got my wife to quit smoking too so we both weaned off the lozenges together… When I got down to taking 2 or 3 a day I was able to quit them cold turkey. But again we spent the money we saved on a reward every time we hit a milestone (1 day, 1 week, 1 month, 1 year)… The bigger the milestone the bigger the reward.
I am taking nicorette mini lozenges and they work great. It’s all about finding what method works for you and learning from the experience. Treat yourself to things you find special instead of cigarettes. For me it’s coffee and chai tea. Then I took some of the money I spent and bought t-shirts instead. I figured out a $30 shirt is only 3 packs of smokes, so I could buy one every week for the first month. A pack lasts me about 2 1/2 days. They have awesome shirts on eBay. I bought one that said “Always be yourself, unless you can be a unicorn, then always be a unicorn.”