Anyone quit smoking? how did you quit? I am going to try again..
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Quit Smoking
- Thread starter oldhifi
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I just gave up. Though I was able to control it and only smoke 5-7 a week. I did quit and pick it up a few times before quitting for good. I stopped cigars a few years ago. Though I do get tempted from time to time.
The last time I quit for a few months I used acupuncture, so how long have you been smoke free?
I want to say 2008 was about the last time I smoked a regular cigarette. Possibly 2010 because I remember going back to it while out of the country. I think the addiction part of my brain doesn't work with nicotine well. I do have addiction to safer substances which I am fully aware of that I have. Make sense?
For me despite smoking so little I had very bad headaches for months and just aching all over. Much like a flu symptom that doesn't stop. I regained taste about half a year later which surprised me because of how little I reached for a cigarette. Cigars being mainly tobacco are a lot different and have their own flavor profile. Still get an urge here and there.
I've never believed in acupuncture, so I can't quite comment. If you take a look at clinically obese individuals, they have a food addiction. But at its core they need to figure out what it is about food that makes them eat it. No person in the right state of mind gorges. Is there an underlying psychological issue? Is it a texture thing? Flavor? Just having something in their mouth? Sugar addiction?
For me it was, "Well, I'll have two or three today and not smoke for a few days. I really want to go for a half pack today, but I really shouldn't. It's always going to be available."
For me despite smoking so little I had very bad headaches for months and just aching all over. Much like a flu symptom that doesn't stop. I regained taste about half a year later which surprised me because of how little I reached for a cigarette. Cigars being mainly tobacco are a lot different and have their own flavor profile. Still get an urge here and there.
I've never believed in acupuncture, so I can't quite comment. If you take a look at clinically obese individuals, they have a food addiction. But at its core they need to figure out what it is about food that makes them eat it. No person in the right state of mind gorges. Is there an underlying psychological issue? Is it a texture thing? Flavor? Just having something in their mouth? Sugar addiction?
For me it was, "Well, I'll have two or three today and not smoke for a few days. I really want to go for a half pack today, but I really shouldn't. It's always going to be available."
I too went cold turkey, decades ago, after reaching the point of smoking a lot on a daily basis. At one point I was basically lighting one off the other.
But it wasn’t as hard to stop as I expected. Yes, rough at first, but not for that long. I stayed hydrated, and when the urge to smoke arrived, I’d tell myself to wait for 15 minutes. Usually the urge would pass before 15 minutes was up, and often I’d forgotten about it.
The problem was, I didn’t look at my ‘habit’ for what it was - an addiction.
So after a few years, I dabbled here and there with various other forms, including snuff, and wound up as a pretty heavy user of copenhagen while working outdoors. I thought - well, at least I’m not smoking.
Then one day I bummed a cigarette. Six months later, I found myself at the checkout counter buying a pack. When I realized what had happened, I quit again. That was probably 25 years ago.
I now treat tobacco as the incredibly addictive substance it is - at least for me - and believe that if I allow myself to take it in any form, I’ll eventually be back into it, full on.
Once I accepted that fact, I’m very rarely tempted, and almost never think about it now.
That’s my experience. Not sure if that helps, but I wish you success.
But it wasn’t as hard to stop as I expected. Yes, rough at first, but not for that long. I stayed hydrated, and when the urge to smoke arrived, I’d tell myself to wait for 15 minutes. Usually the urge would pass before 15 minutes was up, and often I’d forgotten about it.
The problem was, I didn’t look at my ‘habit’ for what it was - an addiction.
So after a few years, I dabbled here and there with various other forms, including snuff, and wound up as a pretty heavy user of copenhagen while working outdoors. I thought - well, at least I’m not smoking.
Then one day I bummed a cigarette. Six months later, I found myself at the checkout counter buying a pack. When I realized what had happened, I quit again. That was probably 25 years ago.
I now treat tobacco as the incredibly addictive substance it is - at least for me - and believe that if I allow myself to take it in any form, I’ll eventually be back into it, full on.
Once I accepted that fact, I’m very rarely tempted, and almost never think about it now.
That’s my experience. Not sure if that helps, but I wish you success.
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It's not easy. The fact you can crave one or a cigar years later to the point of getting up and getting something else like a carrot to trick yourself amazes me. Last time I was near a cigar bar I kept doing the back and forth dance while thinking about it. That was five months ago, and I was terribly ill at the time with a lengthy cold. Think the "bar" owner came out and asked if I needed to use his restroom.
Right now I'd like to think chewing tobacco is what's popular with younger folk apart from vaping. Chewing tobacco used to be hard to find here but its grown in popularity. It's disconcerting to see kids as young as 16 vaping. The state has passed laws but I sincerely doubt the police care as much as they did with pot years ago.
Right now I'd like to think chewing tobacco is what's popular with younger folk apart from vaping. Chewing tobacco used to be hard to find here but its grown in popularity. It's disconcerting to see kids as young as 16 vaping. The state has passed laws but I sincerely doubt the police care as much as they did with pot years ago.
16 years smoke free. Used Nicoderm CQ (the clear patches) to great success. Used the max dosage ones and when it came time to step down dosage I just quit. Made things a lot easier.
When it comes to quitting smoking, a real serious medical issue can sure help.
Back when I was in my 50's and had my first heart problems, I quit cold turkey.
Now some 30 odd years later and still a non smoker I can say there can be many added benefits.
Haven't had a cold or a sore throat since forever, and these used to happen regularly when I was a smoker.
Back when I was in my 50's and had my first heart problems, I quit cold turkey.
Now some 30 odd years later and still a non smoker I can say there can be many added benefits.
Haven't had a cold or a sore throat since forever, and these used to happen regularly when I was a smoker.
This is true. Heart problems also prompted my uncle to quit smoking cold turkey, and the man had smoked for nearly forty years at least a pack a day. Every time after that when he had a craving, he took a glass of wine and the fact that he could taste the wine made him not relapse.
In my case, though, in the past few years every time I've quit cold turkey a chronic illness I have has, without fail, flared up in a matter of days or weeks. In these cases no other variable in my life style has changed other than the quitting of smoking. I even had one doctor, obviously off the record, tell me that it can happen, and that nicotine actually can alleviate the symptoms or kind of keep the condition in check.
I've thought about trying to switch to gum or patches or something, but as it stands, and as absurd as it sounds, nicotine just seems to agree with me. Good thing I've been able to cut back pretty drastically, at least.
My father smoked from the time he was a young man (perhaps even a teenager) to the night before his major heart operation in September 2001 (which involved a by-pass and stents) when he smoked his pipe for the very last time, savoured it, and went cold turkey from the following day.
He never smoked again for the remainder of his life.
He never smoked again for the remainder of his life.
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This is my Father. He tried to quit smoking for 30 years and failed using a variety of methods including the patch. This was after quitting alcohol, but smoking was too big a hurdle until they found a growth in his bladder. Then he stopped cold turkey and has not smoked since.
But cold turkey and serious health issues combined can work, as my father's situation attested.
Mind you, he liked his wine and whisky, and - as a sort of substitute for, and reward for foregoing tobacco - he developed a taste for Leonidas chocolates.
But, he never touched tobacco again after his heart procedure; and - as with others - there had been a number of unsuccessful attempts to quit earlier.
An interesting article: http://www.treatobacco.net/en/page_62.php.
It says that nicotine is not much of a carcinogen, if any but it is the other ingredients in tobacco smoke that cause cancer and the presence of nicotine promotes mitastisis and appears related to tumor growth, so maybe this statement splits hairs. It’s as if tobacco smoke is the perfect blend of ingredients to kill you based on a certain gene makeup of the individual.
Other tobacco smoke constituents, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, tobacco-specific nitrosamines, aldehydes, acrolein, 1,3-butadiene, benzene and aromatic amines, are believed to be responsible for the induction of cancers associated with tobacco use (Hoffman & Hecht, 1990; Hecht, 1999).
So it's not just me with the chocolate thingy, good to know.
So it's not just me with the chocolate thingy, good to know.
To be honest, it kind of surprised us, as he was in his early seventies at the time, but yes, he developed quite a passion for Leonidas chocolates (it could only be the good stuff) - devouring up to two boxes a week - once he recovered from his cardiac procedure and had given up smoking.
I've noticed that since I stopped drinking caffeinated coffee and started with no caffeine, herbal teas, I don't crave them, but I do enjoy having almost exactly on my old coffee routine of a mug in the morning and one in the evening.
Have you stopped taking coffee completely?
When I was a student, I drank coffee endlessly, and that continued when I was teaching.
These days, the only coffee that is a daily must, is the first dream mug in the morning.
Others I will have for social reasons, or when attending meetings, or perhaps, a solitary coffee in the afternoon, or, after dinner, or - quite often if I am on my own, none at all.
But that first morning cup is a necessity and a most welcome one.
Zero coffee. As I age, and little things pop up like being told to take Cozaar for borderline high blood pressure, then researching and seeing that caffeine in some individuals can lead to high blood pressure, and making a decision that I don’t need to consume this particular drug on a schedule and cut it out. I know from my battle with sweets which continues to this day, that moderation for myself can be difficult to manage so cutting it out is best if I can do that, which so far, I’ve had zero craving to go back. And in hindsight, I really don’t need it. My alertness in the mornings is good.
As you most likely remember, my Dad is a recovered alcoholic and smoker, so I am familiar with addictions, although alcohol is not a issue for me, I’ve been unable to cut out sweets, but I am moderating them adequately although I currently weigh about 210 lb, so maybe that is debateable.
Since zero coffee, an added bonus, I have not needed to take an acid reflux medication, which in hindsight, coffee was the culprit, sixteen ounces of acid in the morning and the same in the evening, approx 380mg of caffeine daily. Of note, my understanding is that decaffeinated coffee (which I did not drink) is even more acid than regular, and still has some caffeine in it.
Like @Scepticalscribe I just need 1-2 cups a day, preferably in the morning, to get me awake and going. The rest is for social and I suppose enjoying the nuanced flavors in a cup. I have somewhere between 40-70 coffees a week. So, as you can see, it isn't terribly healthy.
My mom used hypnosis to quit smoking. When she told me and my brother she was going to do it, we were highly skeptical. However, it worked. After a lifetime of smoking, she never smoked after that.