Quitting smoking, any hints and tips?

I sound like a text book on that thread, but it's advice that worked for me. Read Allen Carrs Easy way to stop smoking - it worked for me, I haven't smoked tobacco for over 8 months (after smoking 20 day for 15 years)

Every year thousands of smokers find the will power to stop. Few regret it. Why shorten your life and give money to evil multi-national tobacco corportations? I know its not easy but you can do it.

Oh, I also run about 15 miles a week and sometimes I wonder if this combination is worse for my lungs than just the smoking alone ( i only smoke 1/2 pack per day or less).

Opus: "38."
Steve Dallas: "Get me a f*@!# cigarette before I stick you in a blender."

Ah...Bloom County...

Although the first time it happens, take a stronger pain reliever eg. a big fat paracetamol. Try to avoid smoking situations for three days, dosing up on aspirin every time your veins start singing for a fag. Sometimes when people crave there is a slight metallic taste in the mouth, so brush teeth when that happens. Try not to do oral-fixation things (I don't like any gum, it reminds you what you're not doing). You will probably lose your temper with someone for no apparent reason in the first 24 hours; that's a nic fit.

I'm pretty sure Felicity used this method successfully and said so elsewhere, but no threadorak has dredged it out yet. I've used it with some success, as I've given up smoking the cigarettes but not zoots.

Other things that can help:

Your lungs will be full of SHIT and you will cough up yucch for days. to slightly accelerate the process, go to a sauna/steam room/turkish bath and drink a whole bottle of still water while you're sitting in the heat (not all at once: nip out of there for a cool shower after the first 15 minutes, then go back in for another 15 minutes, shower, repeat until the water is gone. You'll chug 1/3 of it and then sip the rest as the session passes). This is a good detox because when you get out of there, cig smoke smells bad, you've probably dislodged a few lung cookies, and your taste buds return.

Eat oranges, mostly because when you smoke, that inhibits vitamin C, and you need all of that you can get. Tomatoes are good for C too, always have them in salad form because oranges can get boring ALL THE TIME. Also they contain lycopene, which the good people at Kiehl's have convinved me is an Antioxidant Good Thing. You have to be careful with food to avoid comfort eating when quitting, but you won't bloat on a summer diet. I'm doing banana/orange juice smoothies (bananas are for serotonin, ATTENTION CLUBBERS), salads with some combination of tomato, rocket, spinach, watercress, avocado and basil, dressing balsamic vinegar or cider vinegar dressing with mustard, olive oil and lots of salt and pepper, grilled meat, not much bread and a lot of fruit.

Avoid caffeine and alcohol for a couple of weeks because of cig associations and drink lots of water. Leave clubbing for a few weeks and stick to red bull, Coke and water when you go back.

Don't allow peer pressure to come into it. If someone asks you to come for a smoke, decline but don't mention you're quitting. Or you know exactly what conversation will ensue, and THAT will make you want either a cigarette or a large hammer to strike the questioner about the head with repeatedly.

You can give yourself booze after a while, but stay away from the brands/types that you associate having a fag with. Sea breezes are good for detox. People have had success taking magnesium supplements because it appears to help them not want to drink constantly if it's on offer (apparently the avg. UK diet is magnesium-poor).

I'm guessing that after a few weeks of staying away from cigs and the situations where they are tempting, you'll enter a club and be the way you were about sidesmoke before you picked up a cigarette yourself (which I'm assuming is, 'fire one up, just don't blow it in my face').
If you smoke weed UK style, stay away from solid, don't skimp on the green in the last few zoots, else it's a short transfer to 'just having one 'cos I'm out of W' and oh joy, you have to start all over. It might be best to skip zoot for a few weeks too. If you want to sit at a cafe all day, bring something to do to busy your hands and only have one coffee.

Another thing about smoking - it's really bad for your circulation. The steam room helps to sort that out, but if you can't find one after looking, go swimming or walking more than you would normally.

sometimes, even 7 months later i still really fancy one.
only ever, it has to be said, when drunk.

I would like a cigarette, though. And my lungs feel funny.

If I've made it two weeks, though, I'll stay quit; it'd be three and a half weeks or so if I hadn't had a cigarette at the wedding. I don't feel cranky, although I do feel less focused than I'd like to.

Of course, this method only works if you're really cheap and/or need to be concerned about saving money.

I had a pre-existing chest infection anyway, which partly prompted the cessation of smoking activitie. Maybe I should get antibiotics

Ok, any tips on how partners handle it? My husband quit smoking but is having a very hard time. I'm not sure how to approach it. I feel as though maybe I'm *too* understanding and should show my disappointment when he slips. Should I? Should I be angry? Should I say:"Fuck it, go back to smoking then!" or should I just say:"Well, I understand how hard it is..." I really don't know what to do. I really want him to stick to it, but I fear that my attitude isn't really helping. *argh*

Don't leave me out here in the smokefree cold! :-)

That's a really tough position to be in, Nath. I remember back in college, when I quit (I have long since restarted), my gf at the time was very keen on playing the bad cop in making sure I didn't slip up. On the one hand, it was helpful to have help with my resolve, but on the other hand, I totally resented her for it--this is my life I can do what I want etc etc.

Perhaps needless to say, however, this was not the healthiest of relationships, which I think had a lot to do with said resentment. I don't think I was comfortable enough seeing her as a long-term partner to really accept that she was someone who could influence me that much. Obviously this changes with a partner you plan to spend the rest of your life with. You'll have more leeway to be strict with him, because you're making a life+family with him and obviously his health/decisions are your business too.

The only people I know who smoke have partners who smoke and so when they try to give up they both egg each other on to start again! So you're already in a better position than them.

Have you tried withholding...ahem...conjugal rights?

My advice is to leave him to it.

Reading quitting smoking threads makes me want to smoke. Two and a half years I've been off it, apart from a couple of drunken relapses.

smoking is bad for you

Ned, dude, I don't think even I could put up with me having a "headache." ;-)

You're right, though, Onimo, I don't think I have any right to tell him he needs to quit. I told him upfront that I prefer him to be a non-smoker but that, ultimately, I don't have any power over him and that I wouldn't actually want that. I understand very well how difficult it is for him. I only smoked for about half year and I'm hooked for life (even though I don't smoke at the moment). I realize that for me and for him I will forever have to resist that urge. Especially for him it's extremely hard as he's been a smoker for 16 years so it's built into his lifestyle. (Actually even in mine: I really have to adapt to him not going to the *smoke room* every half hour or more. And, no, I didn't force him to only smoke in said room.)

The only problems I have is with his outbursts. I totally understand them but I have this tendency to just hurl back at him which I know is the wrong thing to do, but I can't help my reflexes. I'm trying though. :-)

RJG, ya don't say! WTF! You mean, like you can get lung cancer and shit? ;-)

RJGOTM

The only problems I have is with his outbursts. I totally understand them but I have this tendency to just hurl back at him which I know is the wrong thing to do

If he's being an grumpy asshole, understandably so or otherwise, he has to accept people will react.

The most my wife ever got involved with my attempts to quit was with the occasional "I'm so disappointed" look when I fell off the wagon.

Smoking Doesn't Pay

by Emily Hazelton

Stop and Think
Smoke this And
You'll stink!

After all, pigs don't know pigs stink; Smokers don't know that Smokers stink!!!!!

Why don't you go and smoke a road? It is healthier! Personally I don't want to stink and be yellow! But you do! No? Don't smoke then!!

Q: So how long have you been taking drugs?

A: However long you have been smoking.

I don't smoke; I like life! Every time you smoke you are committing suicide. For goodness sake, it would be healthier and nicer to yourself and the others around you, if you just committed Suicide ! It is quicker too!!!!

Think of all that money you would save if you didn't smoke. You could buy a new house, car, or go on holiday.

When you smoke, do you know what you are doing to yourself?

You think you are just breathing in and blowing out smoke, taking a stress relief, making yourself attractive and cool. But No!

First of all when you think you are just blowing out smoke your body is doing something else.

1. The hairs in your nose are being damaged and destroyed, because they are trying to get rid of the smoke and tar as a result, they are killed and then they can't stop the muck and grime from going up your nose! 2. Next your Mouth, if you smoke then you are in grave danger of getting Mouth Cancer. Your teeth and tongue, but mainly your teeth are stained from smoking. I can always tell a smoker from their teeth, they are a grimey yellow, thick with plaque that will never come off, therefore the teeth are stained for life. Your breath! If you don't smoke, fine. But you smokers, oh! If you are smoking and the person you are talking to is a non-smoker, you will notice that they aren't saying much, this is because they are holding their breath. If you look closely you will see them turning slowly green. This is all because of your breath! It is mouldy, mankey, and utterly repulsive! Not even the mintiest or strongest toothpaste, mouth freshener or chewing gum can take away the smell of cigarettes from your breath.

3. Your throat, now when a non- smoker coughs, then it is a cough not much of a deal, but this is not so with the cough of a smoker when they cough (I wouldn't call it a cough I would call it a bark or a roar). Their cough is gritty with small molecules of tar. Also they cough up phlegm and catarrh every time. A non-smoker will notice a throaty sound in a smoker's cough. Because the lumps of catarrh, phlegm and small black pieces of tar, are getting stuck in their throat. This is because of the smoke. It has damaged the walls of the throat, so that the wall is replaced with tar. And tar is sticky so the particles are getting stuck. You can't get these particles out. Frustrating!

Just think of this a non-smoker doesn't have to put up with that!

Next on the list, The Lungs. The lungs on a non-smoker are a lovely healthy pink colour. But sorry smokers your lungs are bad news! Yours are cracked, wrinkly and black. Tar sticks to your lungs, so that you can't breath. I wonder what sort of tar? It could be tar that was meant for a new road or a motorway perhaps. This tar stops the oxygen from getting to where it is meant to go.

The Heart; with all this tar going to the lungs and other vital organs, the heart has to pump a lot harder. This is why smokers get out of breath so much. In the end the heart can't take it any more, and it stops. This is the �Heart Attack�.

The Kidneys. Those poor old kidneys. They are only small and it is not right for you too become your body's worst enemy. Why are you trying to kill your kidneys? When you smoke, your kidneys are doing their job by filtering, the blood. However they can't work properly. so they have to work over time; so like the heart they give up and stop working.

Now the whole body, smokers are a different race entirely of their own. Things that make smokers a different race are:

1) They smell! Sorry I don't mean to offend anyone but it is a cruel fact that smokers stink. You can smell a smoker in the house next door. If a non-smoker goes into a shop or a cafe and the owner or the person before you has been smoking, you can smell it, and if you are near someone who is smoking then you will come out smelling of smoke. So that you feel ill, and that you need a bath or a shower; even your clothes smell and need to go straight in the wash. Because the smell lingers.

If you don't smoke and you go into someone's house, who smokes, you can smell it in the air and when you sit on smokers' sofa for example. The smell wafts up in your face. Because the smell lingers, it sticks to your face, your hair, your clothes; your whole body and (if you are a smoker) no amount of washing, perfume and spray will get rid of that smell of cigarettes.

If you are a grown-up with children and you smoke, then they will smell of smoke too. It is no wonder that the teachers get suspicious, and ask if your child has been smoking, because they will smell like they have been smoking. If you open the bag of a child whose parents smoke, you will know that they do because the smell hits you in the face. And the unfortunate person who this is happening to thinks "Oh if this is what one bag smells like, just imagine smelling like this all the time!"

So you can't blame people for saying things behind your back. Just think that if humans lived for a few hundred years smokers would turn completely yellow. Now for me that would be very embarrassing!

Now be honest with yourself, do you want to be yellow and stink or would you rather be a normal, natural colour and smell sweet, like a non-smoker. I definitely know which one I would choose to be! It is not a really hard choice, is it?

2) Smokers all have the same number 1 hobby and habit, smoking. You may think that it is something else but while you are doing that, you will be sure to find yourself smoking. Therefore all smokers' favourite hobbies are expensive, unhealthy and they really don't bring any joy or comfort in the end; which is the point of hobbies. Also as all smokers presumably enjoy smoking, then they must enjoy, smelling and being a yellowish colour. What a sad hobby! Is your life so miserable and boring that you enjoy doing that; Poor you! |And if you have better things to do, and that you really can not say that smoking is your number one hobby then that must mean that you don't enjoy it. So if you don't enjoy it , then why do you do it? That just seems extremely silly to me. Also smokers favourite hobbies always end up killing you. Surely a hobby is something that calms and relaxes you, but not something that kills you. You know very well that smoking always kills you, in different types of ways. So is killing you another of your number hobbies? Like I said before, just go and commit suicide. Someone should add smoking to the list of ways to commit suicide.

3). This is hard for me to say without offending anyone. But I have to tell you. Smokers when they are smoking, they are being very selfish. I don't think that smokers know that. But smoking in public places, bars and restaurants or even at home, in the same house as another human being, especially children. There is only one thing that is worse than a lungful of second hand smoke, and that is smoke straight from the death trap of a cigarette. Second hand smoke, breathed in by another person is called Passive Smoking. This is the smoker is at their most selfish point. It is so horrible and cruel, what did they ever do to deserve that. All the utterly repulsive things that are going on, on the inside of a smoker's body, are now starting to happen on the inside of the other persons body too. You really can't imagine how unpopular this makes you. People dread coming to your house because of you smoking.

So overall do you really think that smoking is good for you? I certainly don't! And I will tell, you that I will scream, yell and definitely give a long lecture to, the person who tries to get me to smoke. I know however that many of you grow up and smoke. I hope that when you are asked if you want to try a cigarette, you will remember some of what I have said or just that smoking kills, and refuse!

Just remember:
Stop and think;
Smoking makes you stink!
Smoking doesn't pay!!!!!

My helpful smoke quitting tip (well it worked for me anyway):

Keep a pack of cigarettes in your home somewhere. I kept a pack ontop of the fridge, so that when i was out and about and jonesing for a smoke i could pull it together by thinking about the pack on the fridge. i could say to myself "i can always have one when i get home", and that would be enough to stop me from buying some or hassling a stranger for one. Then when i got home i had other distractions to keep my mind off it AKA Food, now i am a fattie :(

yeah I'm keeping my cigs out in my car right now and it's working pretty well (started smoking in January b/c I am a dumbass). coughing up a lot of tar now.

Crutis!!!
>:|

Weird thing for me: I smoke a fair bit but I've never coughed up "stuff", ever. This kind of weirds me out.

My bf is a non smoker and frets over it and I keep meaning to stop...sigh.

Wel, well. This thread's reminded me I've been non-smokin' for mo' than four years now. Good for me, yay.

cigarettes impair your lungs' ability to repair themselves. I didn't cough anything up till I started cutting back.

Oh my god you spend a week hacking up mollusk colonies in the first week of post-smoking.

i still have 19 pages left in the alan carr book. i read 100 pages in about 3 hours and then i realised i would have to stop smoking as soon as i finished it. that was a couple of months ago...

It does the trick. (That said I started smoking again recently.)

ok i just saw yr WDYLL and posted 'i thought you quit?'

oh abbott, you were gonna be my inspiration :/

Okay I stopped again RR. And I want to kill someone but just for today.

I stopped yesterday.

I have made it more than two months and am doing great. I was a miserable piece of shit for exactly two days, but then pretty smooth sailing. Yes, thank you Mr Carr.

I need to reread that book but I've kind of needed to be angry for a while and I'm really bad at being angry so this is actually kind of nice.

IT'S KIND OF AWESOME ACTUALLY

fuck the wowd!

STILL ANGRY

Kudos.

Wearing a patch helped neutralize the homicidal feelings of the first few days.
Then nicotine gum.

Coupons are here.

Yoga is quite helpful, too.

i just stopped one day and that was it. for me it wasn't too hard.

I hope Emily Hazelton was 16 when she wrote that piece.

So - more hints on what worked best for you?

I have to quit soon and am dreading it. I have quit before with some success but always start back up again. :-(

How much did the patch really help you? What were your biggest motivators?

Please respond. Will check back after I return from smoke break. ha.

I didn't really like the patch - I used it for a few months after having to quit for three days to prevent air pockets after wisdom teeth removal.. That lasted three months, as did another time when I quit reading the Alan Carr book. I re-read the book in November and quit again that month, but the real impetus was that I had been having horrible problems getting full gasps of breath. Anyway as I said in the other thread I'm going strong now and feel comfortable occasionally picking up cigarettes for fun (though never buying except for recent camping trip!) so I am due for a re-read of the book obviously, haha. Six months though! I've never made it this far... My boyfriend and I also did the $5/day in the jar thing and combined it with Christmas money and bought our super cute $900 puppy, Maxwell Edison, in no time.

OMG - that puppy!!! I am contemplating getting a dog so that might be just the kind of motivation that would actually work for me.

Yes, the fluffy white puppy! Our money jars each had a picture of a Bichon (the breed we wanted/got) on them. It was ridiculous how quickly the money piled up, and now that we got the puppy we can't afford to smoke (kidding - but the vet bills in the first year are intense!)

I think what I need to do is what worked for me the first time:

1. Read Alan Carr again, guy is fucking spot on.

2. Remember my most evil and hated person, former 76-year-old neighbor Will Long. He was a sour, bitter, belligerent, insulting sumbitch. He had emphysema, which meant he pretty much sat in bed all day, tried to remember to use his oxygen tank, and peed into jars, which his wife emptied. (Getting up/moving really hurt his lungs.) And the guy STILL SMOKED. He's take off his oxygen to smoke a Kool, but the ashes would get all over his disgusting shirtless pepper-haired torso, and onto his revolting third nipple. Would I like to end up with a crippling condition and still be smoking? No! It also helps that this guy is the world's biggest asshole and I want to do zero of the things he does. As much as I hate thinking about this man, I think I need to, because my revulsion was a giant motivator.

I quit smoking almost 2 weeks ago. Ive noticed the only times I have smoked since then were when I was drunk or with a friend who had cigs. Luckily for me it there was only 2 days in these 2 weeks that involved cigs. I think I'm really gonna quit this time. The craving seems to be only there when there is alcohol or anxiety involved. The peer pressure thing isn't that bad actually.

nathalie, why don't you offer him sex every time he wants a cigarette.. then you can both have fun and it takes his mind off it.

I keep lapsing into smoking tabs even though I've been a "non-smoker" for over a month now. Shitty!

If you screw up and buy a pack, run the unused ones under water before you throw them in the trash.

I was never that big of a smoker, but I seem to have fallen off the wagon. It's always the same, try the patches, they work for a while and then they lose their effect on me. Then I had the lozenges, same thing. The gum worked REALLY WELL but I get a sore jaw chewing it all the time. I'm back to the lozenges for now because they soothe a sore mouth and throat and at least they taste good, unlike the gum which tastes like burnt rubber or something.

On the bright side, my dad quit after smoking since his teens! Hasn't smoked in a year!

I just quit. Smoked half a pack per day. I just have tp pick the right day. That works for me. I mean, shit, of course I crave for a cigarette, but I haven't fallen off the wagon. And I won't. It's been two weeks now? Yeah, something like that.

I quit almost a year ago (right before Thanksgiving) after 8 years of major smoking. The cold turkey approach works. Avoid bars. Hang with people that don't smoke if at all possible. Tell everyone you are quitting and ask for their help. They can stop you from bumming cigs

Tell everyone you are quitting and ask for their help. They can stop you from bumming cigs

bad advice imo

though maybe other people have friends who aren't chronic bad influences

i just quit smoking last month, feels great

xp I bet you are a bad influence on your friends as well?

no i am an angel

Harm reduction strategies:
Lots of people smoke to effectively self-medicate for situational anxiety, and patches and gum don't help much here, as they have a slow absorbtion profile. I tried quitting for years, but wasn't successful for more than a few weeks till I found alternate forms of quick acting vitamin N. Nicotine from snus, snuff, or e-cigs still acts a vasoconstrictor and hence increases risk of cardiovascular disease, but since no combustion takes place they don't also load the lungs with 2000+ odd chemicals, most notably the known carcinogen tobacco specific nitrosamines, also found in flue-cured (American) oral tobacco.

Swedish snus (oral micro teabags of steam-cured tobacco held under the lip) was the harm and dose reduction tool I used. Once I shifted my nic habit to snus, I could lose the reflexive motor habits around manipulating and inhaling cigarettes. That made it a good deal easier to wind down snus consumption. If you want to try these, check out the SnusOn forum.

E-cigarettes are another interesting option, which vaporize nicotine in a (usually flavored) propylene glycol or vegetable glycerin solution. It's got a steeper entry cost (good starter kits will run $40 and up) doesn't give quite the throat hit, and messing with e-liquid and battery recharging can be a hassle till you sort out what works (I liked the intellicig and Joye eGo). You still get the appeal of deep breathing, watching vapor swirl and evaporate, can pick from literally hundreds of flavors (most non-tobacco) profered by small entrepeneurs in varying nicotine concentrations (even zero) or mix your own, doesn't leave any residue from ash and smoke, and is potentially much cheaper than cigs. The e-cigarette forum is the big community for these.

Oh, continuing, I can't think of a public situation where using nasal snuff wouldn't look suspicious. But its by far the fastest nic hit and arguably the lowest harm. Haven't tried it.

I am entering the stage where I rrreally crave. But I prefer to focus on the positive effect: my breathing is already a lot better. Really clear throat