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I stopped mid-cigarette, because at that moment I realized that part of the stress of quitting was the time leading up to it -and the way to avoid that was to stop without any lead-up. I further realized that, having had this epiphany, I could only take advantage of not having any lead-up if I quit then and there. So I did. Mid-cigarette, as I said. I threw away my half-full pack of cigarettes, endured about three unpleasant weeks and then resisted milder temptations for about a year.
I stopped smoking 14 years ago. (March 20.1999) I started to realize I was headed for an early grave if I didn't stop. I smoked a pack a day for 15 years. For me, nicotine gum helped me. I tried to stop other times by cold turkey, that is too painful! The gum gives you some nicotine while you wean off the cigarettes. There's a lot of things now that can truly help. As for drinking, I haven't stopped that but I drink in moderation.
I tried eight times to quit cold turkey but couldn't hack it (pun intended). It was just too traumatic for my mind and body to suddenly be without my nicotine fix. (In those days, nicotine gum and patches had not yet been invented.)
What finally got me to stop smoking was a behavioral approach, set forth in self-help book now long out of print called the WCBS Smoker's Clinic. It was written by Art Athens, a radio talk show host who himself was addicted to cigarettes and decided to invite his listeners to quit with him on the air. Then program was so popular and successful that he wrote a book about it.
The program worked for me because it helped me to relearn how to live without cigarettes, one day at a time. It's a three-week process. The first day you can smoke all you want with one condition: You have to wrap your cigarette in a piece of white paper with rubber bands. Before every cigarette, you have to first unwrap the pack, then write down which cigarette of the day it is (#1, #2, etc.) and record, on a scale of one to four, how badly you wanted that cigarette. Then, and only then, can you smoke it.
The results were amazing. On the first day, I cut down my cigarette consumption by one-half without even trying. Each day of the program adds another small restriction, such as when, where and how you can smoke. Later you have to change brands, and you can't smoke until 30 minutes after rising or 30 minutes before bed. Then you can only smoke outdoors. Et cetera, et cetera. By the end of two weeks, the restrictions had taught me that I could live without cigarettes, and I didn't even need to finish the program. I was ready to quit on my own.
For the next year, I always kept one cigarette with me. I told myself that I could smoke one cigarette a month if I really wanted to. By the end of that year, the few cigarettes I had smoked tasted nasty and made me feel sick. I didn't want another one. That was over 30 years ago, and I've never smoked again or even felt tempted.
I will forever be grateful to Art Athens, whose method succeeded when all others had failed. Here is a link to a tribute page all about Art's career with an image of the book's cover.
Quit smoking cold turkey. There are a few stop smoking relaxation vids on You Tube that I would watch if I felt agitated from a bad craving.
Had quit for 2 years using a patch and nicotine gum in years prior, but all those did was keep the nicotine in my system and prolong the agony of quitting.
Never quit drinking. No reason to where there is no addiction involved there.
Quit smoking in the early 80's. Always smoked at night after the kids went to bed so I couldn't accidently
burn them..but I would chain smoke all evening. There were no patches that I knew of, I took some Benydryl,
I thought it would help. Anyway that was the end of it. No smoking since.
I never drank much, husband either, we'd get sick if we did.
1) I set a quit date months in advance - New Years Day.
2) I told everyone in my life, including the clerk at the store where I bought cigarettes, that I would be quitting.
3) I read a ridiculous and hilarious book called The Easy Way to Stop Smoking. To sum it up, it basically said the way to stop smoking was to stop smoking. I loved that advice.
4) The night before my quit day, New Years Eve 2004, I smoked as I wished and right before I went to bed I tore the remainder of my cigarettes to shreds and threw away my lighters and ash trays.
5) I woke up on New Years Day knowing that I could never smoke again.
6) I let the cravings happen, let myself feel the discomfort and agitation, reassured myself that this would not kill me, and reminded myself that continuing to smoke would eventually cause me far greater misery than what I was experiencing in quitting.
This method worked for me because I am strong willed and I wanted to quit. Had I lacked either the will or the desire, it would not have worked.
I quit smoking 20 years ago by using the nicotine patch - I had a physical addition and the patch helped me gradually get off of the tobacco drug. My sister died gasping for air because of cigarettes.
I only drink in moderation but as I get older I feel the urge to drink is less. Many people do not become alcoholics until they hit their forties. The ones that started before that are mostly dead from liver damage.
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