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I woke up one morning with a collapsed lung, the worst pain I have ever experienced, and I have had some other problems along the way. The intensity of that pain convinced me that I would never again do anything that might cause me a lung problem.
I didn't think it was possible to stop smoking, but I did stop and it was cold turkey. Whenever I thought I couldn't do it, I would stand up and do exercises --- touching the floor with my fingertips, until the moment passed. Back then we were told if we quit smoking in 10 years our lungs would be clear and it would be as if we never smoked, but that turned out to not be true.
But, I did manage to quit and after a few weeks I was amazed how the taste of food changed. It helped so much that my husband quit also when I told him my plans.
It was a life-changing event. Cigarettes no longer controlled me. I could go to a movie and not wish I was in the lobby smoking. Knowing how difficult it was to stop has caused me never to try it again the times I was tempted.
If I could stop anyone can stop because no one could be more hooked than I was.
I quit with an ecig almost 5 years ago! You can satisfy your food cravings by using different flavors, though I've stuck with one flavor that entire time. Nicotine is a stimulant much like caffeine and most recently nicotine is shown to have positive medical uses. One of those is with Alzheimer's patients and since my Dad passed with it, I'll keep sucking on my ecig with 22mg of nicotine added.
Quit looking at your cigarettes as a cigarette. I hate peas so I imagined the cigarette as tasting like peas. Was very successful for me!
The entire time I've been quit, hubby has continued to smoke so that smoke is still in my house and around me. A few weeks after I "quit" I lit a cig for him and it was the most disgusting taste I've ever come across! I knew then I had succeeded in quitting when I didn't intend to!
I can not tell myself I will never smoke again. That will frighten me and make me run to get more cigs. I have to tell myself I am eliminating all the times I smoke out of habit (without even noticing) and will now only smoke when I really want it.
This is what addiction is!!!
I quit with patches (many, many of them) and an e cig (for that really painful craving). Quit everything in 5 months
I carried a pack of cigs with me at all times with 3 back ups at the house. Never touched any of them. But never wanted to tell myself "never" again either.
I have not smoked anything in 2 years and still have 2 full packs of unopened cigs. Gave one full pack to a homeless guy in Trenton (with a lighter). And hope to give the other 2 packs away too. Not too many people want them.
Long term cigarette smoking has some less than desirable ways to prematurely take you to the promised land.
Cancer where your body is painfully eaten alive over the course of several years.
And/Or COPD where you lose the ability to breathe kinda like you are drowning, i recently watched my Mom succumb to this method of departure and had i not already given up smoking that would have been motivation enough to get me off of cigarettes.
Throw what cigarettes you have in the garbage,dont ever smoke another one,sure you will have big cravings for the nicotine over the first couple of weeks but do whatever it takes to overide those cravings as thats the nature of kicking the addiction,perhaps use a nicotine replacement instead, you have many choices Patch,gum,losenge,pill, I dont recommend vapor type cigarettes as its too close to still smoking only in a plastic gizmo device.There are also many online support groups/forums that may give you support when needed, ultimately it comes down to the inevitable=STOP SMOKING.
education is key so you will know what to expect when you do quit. many people can quit cold turkey. I could not, my physical withdrawal was too difficult to manage. I used the patch and well butrin. the patch made the craving go from a ten to very manageable. know that the craving last only a few minutes. it has a start a peek and an end. breathe through it, take a walk, just get through it.
some of the issues with quitting is fear of the unknown, thinking you will never be able to smoke again. take it a day at a time. after awhile you will never want to smoke again. ery day without smoking is something to be proud of, do not fall for your inner junkie thinking, and have a smoke because you deserve it for not smoking for a few days. addiction has some strange ideas, and sometimes the addicted voice takes over rationale. there are several quit forums on line, was is at about dot com. there you will get support and also an education on what to expect, how to deal with it.
you can do it and you will be happy you did. hang tight, every puff you take has to be detoxed out, so don't go backward.
A collapsed lung, tube in my side and a few nights in the hospital worked for me.
That's how gravely serious this issue is imo.
I quit smoking when I last drank alcohol over 11 years ago. I quit chewing Copenhagen in about 2006. Now that was sort of tough, but quitting tobacco has been the easiest addiction to kick physically that I've ever experienced.
Try quitting coffee sometime. Now that's painful.
My mom is a lung cancer survivor and has macular degeneration to look forward to now due to smoking.
If you don't want to quit smoking, we can do nor say nothing right for you.
If you truly want to quit smoking for good and all, we can do no wrong and you will listen to us.
At that point, I might elaborate, if I feel like it.
But in the meantime, I'd like to add what a disgusting and nasty habit smoking is. I got to see a smoking convention for the last week as I was just out in Vegas. I have no sympathy for the smoker's plight going forward.
I wish weed would become 100% legal one day and replace that nasty and worthless substance.
In 2004, my malfunctioning aortic valve began to get worse (it had been mild and stable since I was a child). It was determined that I would have valve-replacement surgery, which was scheduled for January '05. Having smoked heavily for 55 years, I had a hellacious smoker's cough which caused a 20 minute hacking every morning. Knowing that I would have a long incision bisecting my upper chest, I knew that the coughing would be most uncomfortable so I knew quitting was necessary.
My doctor gave me a script for Wellbutrin and I began taking it in late October. On Tuesday, November 2 2004 at 6:30AM, I smoked my last cigarette. I washed my hands a lot. I mopped the floor a lot. Took a lot of walks and a lot of showers. I watched the cravings come rolling in and then I pictured them rolling out again. Pretty soon, the frequency diminished. I got through the next three months without a puff. I drank a lot of water; pulled the guts out of a white Bic pen and cut it to the length of a cigarette and drew on that like I was smoking it.
I had my surgery but the hospital didn't include Wellbutrin in with my meds so for the duration of my hospital stay, I had no crutch. Found I didn't need it.
Here's the deal with the nicotine: It makes your brain happy. And like any drug, your brain becomes accustomed to it and wants ever-increasing amounts. The beginning smoker doesn't know this and thinks a couple of smokes a day can't hurt. Until the morning he/she wakes up and realizes he/she has been smoking a couple of packs a day. Only one way to slay the dragon - don't give it what it wants. Not a drop. When you try cutting down, your brain is not going to let you. Tough it out for a week or ten days and then you have to concentrate on the mechanics of smoking, i.e., opening the pack, tapping out the cig, flicking the lighter and dragging on that first puff. You need to find something to replace all that fondling and handling.
Learn to knit. Learn to whittle. Play the guitar (or any other instrument). Sing. Yodel. Tell yourself that you can do it. Sure it's tough. But not impossible.
It's been 10 1/2 years and I'm still a smoker - I just don't smoke.
Takes about eight weeks to make a habit - that's not an unreachable goal. Good luck.
Cold turkey is the only way! But, you need something to replace the habit temporary. I quit cold turkey about 15 years ago. When I quit, I had a bag of pretzels with me at all times. Whenever I had an urge to smoke, I ate a pretzel. I would even take pretzel breaks at work just as I took smoke breaks. Eventually I didn't have the urge to smoke anymore and stopped eating pretzels.
The key to be successful is to replace the bad habit with something less bad. It will work if you tell yourself it will work.
As Henry Ford once said, "Whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're probably right."
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This is what addiction is!!!
