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I smoked for 17 yrs. Mostly casually but could go through a pack in 2 days.
I tried quitting several times, never lasted.
This is what worked for me.
I had my varicos veins done and spent few days in a hospital. Back in ol country, rooms always had several patients. My neighbor to the right was a mid age man with below the knee amputation left side. I still see him in my head. Leg is wrapped in dressing oozing with puss. Doctor shows up and looks at the residuum. It's all inflamed, nasty looking. Doc shakes head and says - well, gangrene is starting. We will have to go above the knee. Patient utters something, doc says what docs say, before leaving -doc looks into patient eyes and says - Hey, and no smoking. Patient Swares that he quit, that he's ON IT. By the time doc stepped out and door shut close, guy gets under the blanket, pulls a sig and starts smoking.
I look at him aghast and say - are you nuts? What are you doing? I can't stop, I can't stop!! utters fella.
5 minutes down the road, his wife shows up. BEAUTIFUL woman. He passes doctor's "news" onto her, she burts into tears.
That DID IT for me. Did BAD. Been smoke free since 1986. Oh, and btw. I also spent 3 months as morgue assistant. Basically, opening dead bodies for pathologist to look at internal organs. You should SEE what's inside chain smoker lungs.
Good diet, tool, too, I bet. I wouldn't be able to eat for days.
I quit on December 12, 2011. Went to a guy who did what they call "auricular therapy". He had a group of us that he talked to for about an hour, giving us a mantra to say 60 times a day for the next 30 days (It took about five minutes and I did it on my drive to the train station) "I hate it, I quit, I know I quit, I'm done, I'm free, and I'm happy", lol. He also said, with humor, that when we saw other people going out to have a cigarette not to envy them but instead say to ourselves, "Oh look at those poor bastards."
He said that was for the psychological aspect of quitting, but that the auricular therapy would remove the physical craving. They had told us to smoke our last cigarette an hour before, so by the time he was done talking I wanted a cigarette. Then one by one he took us into a room and with some little electrode gun thing, he went all along the rim of the ears. Didn't feel anything except as if someone was touching my ear.
The craving for a cigarette disappeared as soon as he did it. I can't explain it, and maybe it's all some kind of psych voodoo, but I don't care. I smoked for 35 years, and I have not had a cigarette since that night. I can sit with smokers and it doesn't bother me at all (except my clothes smell funny when I get home).
I believe that the fact that I was READY to quit had something to do with this, too. Frankly, I was not worried about my health, but the damn things just cost too much.
You don't state your AGE, but six months is manageable for quitting. You become IMPRINTED on anything the younger you are. Cigarettes, and the "new" cigarette, pot, are a anti-psychotic. Actually, the worlds' most popular anti-psychotic. Start there. Find out why you seem to have it as a "need".
I quit 25 years ago. I used Nicorette gum. I think it’s still around. When I did it, you needed an rx, but I couldn’t afford to see a Dr., so I went to Mexico and bought it otc.
Somebody I loved died of small cell lung cancer, from smoking. I saw her 3 days before she died. She as all yellow, her skin, whites of her eyes. The cancer was everywhere in her body. She weighed about 60 pounds. I am haunted by that.
Good luck to anyone who wants to get off smokes. You can do it.
November 5, 2006 (remember, remember, the 5th of November........) I quit smoking after 30+ years of being a heavy smoker - I mean I was a seriousv"she will never quit" smoker. My doctor talked me into taking Chantix. I really didn't even want to quit. He told me if I still wanted to smoke after a week on it, he would leave me alone, but for that to happen, I needed to get the RX filled and had to read a booklet on nicotine addiction. It sounded like a reasonable request and at the same time, get him off my back.
I could not believe it - week 2, I wanted nothing to do with cigarettes. I read that booklet and understood if I got through my 4th day without nicotine, any craving felt was mental, not physical. That knowledge made it possible for me to keep off the smokes. Due to the length of time I was a smoker, I was kept on Chantix for a long time.
Every once in a while, I will find myself searching for my smokes.....and I remind myself, I quit over a decade ago. The craving is over before it ever takes hold. I was lucky, only minor side effects.
Many years ago I woke up with a collapsed lung. Smoking stopped immediately. That was the most intense pain I have ever experienced, ever. That was in 1963. Since then I avoid any place where there are people smoking.
I smoked a pack a day for 44 years. Wow. What brought me to quit was not all the health problems I would face (My aunt and uncle died from throat cancer) But in 2009, it was the $$. The price for a pack hit $5.
My psyche instructor way back in nursing school said that when you WANT to quit, you will. And so right she was.
I used the patch ( the strongest dose) for 3 months and put a little note by my computer that said "give your old friend cigarettes a proper burial."
My husband continued to smoke but I didn't give in to the pressure. I was determined to be free and I had to separate myself from his problem. It was about me, and me only.
I did have to chew sugarless gum for a year or 2 regularly to wean off the oral fixation. But the O.P. said they only have been smoking for 6 months, and it shouldn't drag on like mine. (44yrs.)
So I wish you luck friend.
BTW, when I went to work, I was amazed at the freedom I had not to have to leave the building for that nasty garbage crutch, sucking in and wrinkling my mouth!
So here I am, 12 years smoke free- 70 y.o. - and have no health problems that will kill me. Thank God!
Once I came to my senses, QUITTING was easy..
Smoking is the STUPIDEST thing a person can do..
BUY CIGARETTES AND PAY SOMEONE TO DISCOUNT YOUR HEALTH AND LONGEVITY?
And, the reward with smoking?? There is none, at least not for me. I didn't get anything out of it...
I also quit drinking alcohol because I drank to much, and that was harder for me. With alcohol there is great reward when you drink - you get a buzz and it lifts your spirits.
Eating fatty foods and sugary foods, is one Im working on now.. Its tough because there is a dopamine reward from the good tasting foods I eat. I exercise, so it hasnt packed to many LB's on...
QUIT QUIT QUIT!!!
I responded in this thread years ago. Well, I still haven’t smoked. I quit November 11, 2009, smartest thing I ever did.
Congratulations!! My quit date was May 13, 2006.
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