ANSWERS: 31
  • It sounds corny, but I highly suggest Allen Carr's "The EasyWay to Quit Smoking." He's easy to read, makes excellent points, and you find yourself laughing at some of the silly assumptions you make about smoking. The most important thing to remember is to relax, and realize you don't need cigarettes.
  • By wanting bad enough and just doing it. No time to think of how, just stop. Did you know that it costs the tobacco companies less than 10 cents to make just one of those cig packs. Why would you want to pay them so much to ruin your health?
  • what worked for me was quittng several times and eventually getting too sick to smoke. let me elaborate the process, when you quit smoking your lungs begin a healing process, with relatively healthier lungs you are able to inhale more smoke when you start up again. repeating this will leave your lungs in a heap of pain and quitting will be your only option. and welbutrin help kept me mellow until i no longer desired smoke. i smoked 24 yrs. and have been smoke-free for 4 1/2yrs! it took about ten yrs. to quit.
  • I told my husband when we were dating that I would not marry a smoker but would be fine with dating for awhile. He saw a future, so he quit with help from the patch. The depression was bad but brief, thank goodness. 12 years and no smoking!
  • This is an extremely good, yet tough question. The easiest way for me to quite smoking was to stop going to the bars and drinking so much, when I had an urge (at home) to smoke, I would try to keep myself occupied with something else. Overtime I saw that I was not thinking about smoking as much, and my habits started to change, but going through the withdrawl is very difficult. To counter the side effects of (detoxing) I started up at the gym. Although this cost money, I figured that I would save by not buying a pack every three days...and it worked! I overcame my addiction to smoking, saved money, and became healthier. Now I can go to the bar, and have drinks, and if I smell someone smoking I don't even want one. I wouldn't bother with all the medical methods etc. at least never helped me, if you really want to quite, you will. If you stay committed you can do it. Good Luck!!
  • I was a hard-core smoker of +25 years. First I had to get to the point where I wanted to quit. One day, at my job, I had to walk up a flight of stairs for a meeting. When I got there, I was so winded I couldn't speak for over two minues. That did it for me. Next, I went on the nicotine patch, the one where you receive a max dose at first, then slowly lower the dossage over time. I can honestly say that the cravings were very manageable. Take the advice of some of the other posters and avoid bars and other places that provide a positive image of smoking. Also, smoking habits can be hard to break, like always carrying a lighter, having a smoke at certain times, like with morning coffee. Hang in there & the best of luck!
  • You wan't to quit smoking? Quit right now or it night be too late. There are people who love you....at least you can quit for them... Wishing you all the best, Loads of love, Shade
  • Get someone really supportive who's willing to take a shitload of verbal abuse from you and just go cold turkey. Don't even leave the house for the first 24 hours, and try to hang around your quit buddy as much as possible for the first week. Keep reminding yourself, it's all downhill after 3 days.
  • Forcing myself to go as long as I could withstand without a cigarette worked for me. If you think about it, it's like any other kind of training...at first it's difficult and your will may be weak, but in time you grow stronger in the task you are trying to accomplish.
  • The nicotine gum worked for me. I had to do it twice, but that is because I didnt finish the whole box the first time. However, the first time, I was able to go without smoking for 4-5 days without smoking. That was a good start. I messed up by not using the gum when I wanted a cigarette. I caved in and would buy some. So then I tried again, and had a good start from the first time. I knew I was doing good when I had gone 2 weeks without a cigarette. So if you try the gum, just remember to use it! Especially when you want a cigarette! And don't feel guilty if you aren't entirely sucessful (sneak a cig). If you can go even a few days without one, that's a very good start! Your medical insurance may help pay for it. My house and clothes smell so much better now. So does my breath. No more spilt ashtrays or running to the store for a pack. Plus I am putting money in the bank that I would have spent on cigarettes.
  • Everybody's body is different. Some will respond to the patch; some to the gum. What worked for me was gradually reducing the amount of cigarettes AND avoiding others who smoked (at least while they did it.) I never was a heavy smoker, maybe half a pack a day, but I slowly increased the time between; setting a schedule in my head: (Okay, I can only have one at lunch, 3pm, 5pm, 8pm...) That way I reduced my consumption to 2-4 per day, then 1-2 per day, then some days none. The longer you go without, when you return to it (and feel it is OK to do so if you want one, but always keep the set pattern and desire to quit as close as planned) the more disgusting it gets, until you don't even want one anymore. But an equally big (if not the greatest) aspect to success was the social situation. Deliberately avoid hanging around people when they are smoking (and asking them politely to respect your situation and goal.) Also, be prepared mentally when an action or situation happens when you know you are used to a cigarette. For me, it was driving. My hands felt empty while I was behind the wheel. I was always tempted to swing into a gas station and grab a pack. And I did once or twice, continuing my desire, but still deliberately stepping it down to reduce it. Eventually one time you finish your pack days after your previous cigarette, and there is such a faint desire you can't justify wasting the money on 'one more pack'. At this point I was able to smell the other smokers and how disgusting it is. Whether you're behind them on the highway going 70 MPH, or you are standing in front of someone and you can smell it on their clothes, hear their raspy goat voice, or see the wrinkles prematurely forming on their face or their stained teeth, you'll know you've made the right choice. From peak habit to when I was sure I wouldn't want another, even if offered was probably about two months. That's what worked for me...good luck to you!
  • Buy a pack of good flavored gum....and everytime you want a cig just chew some gum and after about a week you will be good to go. :)
  • Smoke rolling tobacco instead. You will smoke far less and it's bloody horrible too. You'll soon grow weary of it.
  • Regardless of all the crutches available on the market you will not stop smoking unless/until you determine in your mind to stop.
  • Throw away your cigs. Stay away from places where people are smoking. Maybe ask people to go to the store for you, so you won't be tempted. Remind yourself that dying of cancer isn't cool. Think of the racketeering tobacco industry & how you don't want to turn your money over to them.
  • ive never smoked, i would just quit cold turkey
  • For me there were two important things I had to do BEFORE quitting 1) Totally commit to it and leave no options for failure and 2) Be prepared for your own mind games when you begin to think quitting was a bad idea and "hell, I can smoke if I want to smoke and I am under no obligation to quit". You have to catch yourself as those thoughts arise. You will also think at some point "Why can other people smoke but not me? WTF!" I suggest keeping a pack of smokes around. Do that because if you think that not having them around will keep you from smoking sooner or later you will discover that there is a "work around" for that. It's pretty hard for the first week, easier but still on your mind a lot for the second week, then for a several weeks you will have a mild desire to smoke but can pretty easily ignore it. Whatever you do, don't let some stress kill the effort "Because you can't help yourself", you can!
  • You have to really want to. The only thing that worked for me was Chantix. The patch didn't work. Gum didn't work. I even tried hypnosis.
  • i never started smoking in the first place
  • I just decided to quit and didn't buy anymore.
  • Smoke Enders worked for me. I smoked for 30 years.
  • The day the doctor told me, "You have emphysema. It's a progressive disease and incurable." That was the day I decided quitting might not be a bad idea. It took a couple of years before I was successful, but I spent those few years learning everything I could about it. At that time, it was said that the life expectancy for someone with emphysema was around 4 years - and I was well into my 3rd. I never found the miracle cure I was looking for, but science has progressed and it's been 17 years. I've learned how to deal with it and I've not had any symptoms since. ¶ As for quitting, there is no such thing as "tapering off" or "cutting back" because after going a day or so without smoking, the moment you light up again, you're just as much a smoker as you ever were before that temporary hiatus. Being successful requires a constant reminder that you're trying to quit. This can be achieved in one of two ways: 1) keep an empty pack where you normally keep your smokes. When you reach for one without thinking and pull out the empty pack, it becomes a reminder that you're quitting. If that isn't a strong enough incentive, 2) slide a photo of someone you deeply care about behind the cellophane wrapper - someone who would be very hurt if you died from smoking. It only takes a couple of weeks to get past the cravings.
    • notyouraveragedummy
      Best piece you've ever written!
  • After 60+ years smoking, I quit the "easy" way, a HEART ATTACK. Taken by ambulance to the hospital, held for a month with no access to cigarettes or other smokers. I knew that my time in the hospital would be the time to detox (overcome the physical addiction). Since I was so sick, I slept most of that time. Then when I returned home, I had my daughter remove the remaining cartons from my home. Now it was mind over matter, that if I weakened once, my next chance would be my death. To avoid the long hospital stay, I recommend the responses from Quicknuss and Army Veteran.
  • I used the nicotine gum replacement until I was over the smoking. Then I had to wean myself off of the gum. It is a process, but it can be done. I haven't smoked since 2009. I have quit for years before though, and picked up the habit again, so I'm just trying to make sure I don't do that again. 12/23/22
  • I smoked 3 packs a day for almost 10 years. I tried everything. The only thing that worked for me was Cold turkey. I just took all my cigarettes and threw them out. It's more then 20 years and I haven't touched them
  • You've already taken the first step, knowing that you need to quit. So that will set you in the right path moving forwards.
  • You will never stop until you believe in your mind and body you can, then it doesn't take anything special, you will just quit and stay that way. The hardest thing to do when quitting is to quit reaching. It took me over 5 years to quit reaching.
  • I had watched my cousin die a miserable death from lung cancer. I did NOT want that fate for me, so I quit for ME!!! I got tired of being controlled by something that was taking more than it was giving; so I went cold turkey after 26 years of a heavy habit. If you don't have any in the house, you cant smoke them. I also went for a walk every time I got the urge to give in. When back home, I had lost the urge to light up. I stopped hearing that little voice in my head that was saying "just 1 won't hurt you" because I knew that was a lie!!! The first 24 hours was the hardest & I cursed myself a LOT!!! I understood that I had to love MYSELF more than the demon weed!!! I argued with myself a LOT & got pretty dayum good at saying NOWAY to myself!!! Any time I felt myself getting weak, I went through the tough love in my head. YOU will be the weakest link in your journey & keeping yourself strong for ALL the right reasons will help. I cut out a lot of smokers from my friends list & didn't replace them with smokers.. I understood that it wasn't as important to them as it was to me. I've lost my desire to smoke now, so it's NOT so hard for me anymore. Every now & then someone will flick their Bic & my ears go straight up. Still, I don't want or need to light one, so I DON'T!!! Yet the sound almost gives me whiplash!!! 😒
  • The first time I quit it lasted for two years. My undoing was the booze. Don't mix the two.| Here were my steps 1) Write down all the reasons you want to quit 2) Write down all the reasons you want a cigarette 3) Write down alternative ways to deal with those situations. 4) Practice step 2 until you have it right. 5) Set a date and stick to it 6) If you fail get back up. Don't let guilt hold you back.
  • The second time lasted for more than 12 years. I had to because an ulcer wouldn't heal unless I did.
  • Cutting down by creating distractions to entertain yourself can be a good way to get you started on the road to stopping the long-term.

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