So , i'm going to try to quit smoking today , any advice?

[theultimateend]

Yeah so i'm 22 years of age , been amoking for 3 years , and today for the first time i want to quit , people always say that quitting soking is hard . I wouldn't know because this is the first time i try to quit . So any advice for me ? I'm not going to take patches or whatever the new product for quitting sokim , i'm going to try to do it with old fashioned willpower ( what will power still exists in 2011??) . I used to smoke half a pack a day and i'm going to quit cold turkey . So what to and not to do would be appreciated , and online support is cool too .

Supposedly the most effective method is Cold Turkey.

Just keep a few things in mind:

1) Cigarettes have the longest withdrawal symptoms of any recreational drug. That's why they sell so well. They make people feel like shit for a long time when they stop.

2) Sigmund Freud quit Cocaine nearly on a dare from a friend, he chewed tobacco through multiple jaw surgeries till he finally died. He had written multiple times about how impossible it felt to quit.

Just be a man about it. If you feel like shit go work out or get a punching bag. If you are a woman just be a woman about it, go work out or get a punching bag.

In the end, it is going to suck ass. I'd suggest not picking up any other drugs later on.

If you start drinking don't become an alcoholic because the withdrawal symptoms from heavy drinking and then stopping is Delerium Tremens which'll likely kill you if not treated .

Our psychopharmacology professor said if he had to suggest a drug to us, between things like cocaine, heroine, Weed, and tobacco. He'd usually say "Anything but tobacco." He then put out his hands and quickly amended "Or none at all!"

 

[go-10]

I quit at the begging of the year wasn't too hard really, I had been smoking for 13 years and then I just woke up one day and said "you know what I don't want to smoke anymore" threw my cigarettes away and stopped, simple as that; the urge came on from time to time but I knew I wasn't gonna die from it so I just ignored it.
I don't think I'll ever smoke again but in the end all you need to do is stop, I know simple right? but that's the beauty of it, its easy

 

[Futureman]

try to start some new hobbies for sure

 

[Robert Ewing]

Your life will significantly improve in a few weeks, trust me- It's so, so, sooooo uplifting.

Not to mention all the health problems you've just avoided. But yeah, You just need to really stick to it. You can beat the addiction chap, don't worry!

 

[alandavidson]

Try not, do.

Seriously, dropping addictions is mostly mind over matter. Been there, done that.

 

[Shifty]

If you decide to go "cold turkey" be aware of the following (its what happened to me)

You will be irritable for the first few days to a week
It is easier than you think, a lot of what stops people is the fear of never smoking
If you drink try and limit it for a month (that's where I always failed the first few times I tried to give up)
Be careful of the three week itch. Around this time maybe a month you will want a cigarette and will convince yourself that you can give up smoking anytime
Your appetite will increase but will go back to normal after a week or two - but fruit and nuts to snack on.

Try and do the following if you can

Reward yourself - Set yourself goals and stick to them. say if you have not smoked in 2 weeks you will buy yourself X with the money you saved. If you cheated do not get yourself X. Be straight. You can get whatever it is you want after the next two weeks you go without a cigarette Its the stick and carrot method.

Change routine - If you can change your routine. It helps break the mental addiction. Keep away from places where you smoke normally if possible.

Take up a sport / exercise. I cannot stress this enough how much this will help. You will feel better. I started swimming. After a swim I would go into a very hot sauna. after this I didn't want to smoke.

Best of luck. I do mean this as this is probably one of the most important decisions you will make in your life. Both health and money wise. I stopped smoking after 10 years of smoking 40+ a day. And remember the big milestones... 3 days, 3 weeks, 3 months, 3 years. Only after 3 years can you truly call yourself a non smoker.

 

[Cosplay Horatio]

First you need to get the nicotine out of your system. To do that the most difficult but most effective is to fast. You must wake up around 3am and have your breakfast then for the rest of the day till sunset don't eat or drink anything. If you don't want to go through the day without having something don't eat but just have water but that's not really fasting. In three days it should be out of your system.

The easiest way is to substitute smoking with coffee. It should take about a week to two weeks but this way you don't have to give up eating during the day. Good luck!

 

[Fetzenfisch]

i would just.. not smoke anymore.
Its just as hard as it is habitual.
I am in the lucky situation that my appartment, one of my jobs and my GF's flat are non-smoking areas. so i only get to smoke when i go out, am at our club at the uni or just outdoors. and since i am too lazy to get down and out the house at my / her home and i cant go out during the job i just accepted that smoking is just a thing i do at a club/café/friends place/university.
so if i want to quit, i just do it on holidays and stay home.
I had to do a big paper for uni last month and just didnt smoke for 12 days because i only left the house for shopping.
just try to attach the "i cant smoke here" thought to more and more places and situations and it will be easier to quit completely.
Or just do like i did and enjoy your smokes only on 2-3 days/evenings/nights a week. you safe money and can buy the good stuff that actually is enjoyable too.
or maybe get yourself a pipe. pipes are teh coolest

but to actually quit as easy as i could i guess it is important to become a little bit more like me. is it easy to get you exited and interested about stuff? things you then want to try or to research? yes ? great. then do it. i just think about so much stuff all the time that i actually dont think about smoking when i am not at a place i use to do it. I think about my linguistic works, i think about my writing, the preparations for my RP group, things we could do that would be fun with friends and gf, spontaneously figure out you never went to a sealife park and just do it. yeah just dont get bored and keep your mind busy with interesting stuff


when i realise "wait its sunday again? wow then thats my first smoke in 6 days now" my smoking buddys always tell me i am too absent minded to actually develop an addiction. maybe thats the secret. But when i am smoking at a friends place or at job nr.2 or a club, i smoke as much as every other smoker and really feel the urge to again. it just ends when i get home or when i get really drunk (where most people start to smoke even more, i just dont want anymore then)

 

[Delsana]

First you need to get the nicotine out of your system. To do that the most difficult but most effective is to fast. You must wake up around 3am and have your breakfast then for the rest of the day till sunset don't eat or drink anything. If you don't want to go through the day without having something don't eat but just have water but that's not really fasting. In three days it should be out of your system.

The easiest way is to substitute smoking with coffee. It should take about a week to two weeks but this way you don't have to give up eating during the day. Good luck!

You need water to live and you should be drinking 8 glasses a day.

THAT will help expedite your system NOT not drinking.

 

[HentMas]

snip

Cold Turkey huh??

Step one, throw away any and all ash trays, lighters and fags you might have, seriously, do it now, what? that thing is a memento?? THROW IT AWAY it´s useless to you now, or give it to someone you like just TAKE IT OUT OF YOUR HOUSE

well, considering you only smoked halve a pack its not going to be that hard to go cold turkey, stock up on tutsi pops, gum and hard candy (the tablets that you suck, not the ones you chew) there are a few things you should know

First of all, your body is going to confuse its cravings and the most basic craving you will feel is for food, (the primal need) so what you have to do is whenever you get ANY kind of craving for junk food, take some gum and chew away, that will help you to not gain weight (you can also eat, but you are definitely going to gain weight doing that) and whenever you feel like you want to have a smoke, take a pop and suck on it, that will help with the oral fixation

you have to understand that the "feels good" thing about smoking is NOT having something on your mouth, or even inhaling the smoke, the most pleasure you take is from exhaling, that tickling sensation on your throat, so no matter what you do you will never get to satisfy that sensation again (there is no way of reproducing it without putting smoke in your lungs), so the most common side effect of stopping is getting a sore throat, as if you had a cold, i recommend some mint or pepper mint candy to try and ease that feeling

STOP hanging out with smokers, if you cant, STOP them from smoking in your car or your house or your room, seriously.

until you have being going for a month without a smoke, avoid drinking at bars, you are going to end up smoking,

remember, Cold Turkey is about "consistency", you CANT smoke, not even one, if you think "hey! its just one smoke! just to ease the pain" you already lost, because one is never enough

I smoke since i was 18, now i am 25 one full pack of fags a day... i have stopped smoking for short periods of time, the longest was 3 months, but i always fail in that final resolution of "just the last one, it wont hurt"

 

[v3n0mat3]

E-cigs. Healthier alternative, and, trust me, you'll lose the taste for regular cigs after you start smoking them. Or, do what I did at first, and just say "I'm done" and quit.

 

[HentMas]

Its not so much the phisical addiction, its mental. Just find some nicotine pills or sumthin, take up something else addictive (I recommend Minecraft), and if you really fel like you need a cig, just pop an nicotine pill and put a cig-shaped-thing in you mouth.

no no no, he needs something that requires his hands and his mouth to be bussy, Minecraft leaves plenty of room to keep smoking

 

[Get_A_Grip_]

Going 'cold turkey' after three years is not going to be easy.
I would reccommend using the patches or the gum, it will make it the quitting process a lot easier.
Also, try to avoid hanging around smokers if at all possible, seeing people smoking when you're quitting is going to drive you insane. Hell, even the smell of the smokers will make you want to smoke again.

 

[DustyDrB]

Just quit. Don't dwell on it, just do other things. Keep yourself busy enough to where you won't think about it.

Or you can move to my city, where it's illegal to smoke nearly everywhere but your own home.

 

[galn345]

Haha I'm so glad I found this! I quit today as well. I'm 24 years old, been smoking since I was 16, I quit for 2 years before university, and now that I'm out I'm giving up again. I have a few tips to share with anyone going through the same:

-That pain in your lungs is actually a good thing

-DON'T throw away your cigarettes. Not having a choice to smoke isn't the same as quitting. Keep them out of site, but keep them, so you know you're CHOOSING not to smoke.

-Avoid drinking, especially in the first week or so. If you have to drink, try eating bar snacks like peanuts.

-Try to keep your mind off smoking. If you try and stay away from doing things you normally associate with smoking, life will be a lot easier. Often just when you think you can't go another second without a cigarette can be right before you totally forget you needed one in the first place.

-Don't entertain the idea that you COULD have a cigarette. Find yourself trying to convince yourself that you need another cigarette? Use this to remind yourself how severe your addiction is, and just think how much harder it will be next time you decide to quit.

 

[The Rockerfly]

I can offer little help except for my emotional support. Good luck dude

 

[Blow_Pop]

best of luck to you. Best advice if you have friends who smoke DON'T hang around them while you are trying to quit. I use to smoke and I stopped hanging out with friends who smoked when I quit. I still occasionally hang out with smokers but not as often.