Need to quit smoking!

chayton

aka LooHoo
webmeister
PABnonaccred
CAG
Joined
Jun 5, 2006
Location
Edmonton Canada
Hey has anyone quit smoking? If so, please let me know how you did it - did you use a patch or a pill or a crutch of any kind? I just found out that I need to have some pretty extensive surgery and the doctor wants me to quit smoking first. I've been smoking about a pack a day for like 30 years. urk.

My family doctor gave me a prescription for something called Champix but I haven't gotten it yet - it's fairly expensive (though not as expensive as cigarettes here in Canada) - has anyone tried that?

Any tips or advice? I have about a month....
 
IMO, I would not take a pill to quit smoking...ALL pills have side effects (and I know this for sure, trust me) the patch I heard sometimes works but if you smoke while you have it on you can have a heart attack (there is a small chance)

Do you HAVE to quit? What happens if you don't?

If you HAVE to...just do it cold turkey, it's been done, I know about a dozen of people who have done it, just set your mind to it and do it.

Oh, I heard little tips like eat a M&M (or any kind of candy your prefer) everytime you crave a cig, or chew gum constantly. Or even when you get a craving, go do something, like wash a dish or go outside for 5 minutes and that particular craving will pass.
 
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I smoked cigarettes since I was 8 years old...I quit in 2000 . I smoked a pack to a pack and a half a day...sometimes two..

I used Welbutrin prescription and the plastic coffee stirrers

I tried 3 times in 2 months...Welbutrin gave me some serious headaches the first two times...but when I couldn't breathe good one night...I tried the third time and I stuck to it ..it took 7 days before I could quit taking the pills..I carried the stirrers for the mouth habit...

Evy time I thought of smoking..I would start chewing on a straw...you can carry them in your pocket, or anywhere and you can get them from anywhere they sell coffee if you run out...

It is the best thing I ever did for myself...I didn't stop carrying them until about 4 months later...just in case I had a panic attack and needed a smoke..which I never did...it was a security blanket knowing I had them and I could smoke them...but didn't..

I finally tossed the stale things away!

Good Luck!

.
 
I thought about trying the electronic cigarette advertised here
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The buzz about Chantix is that it causes suicidal thoughts :eek2:. I quit a few years ago with the patch though when I stopped using it, the nicotine cravings returned (duh). :eek:
 
on Nov 23rd 2007 I decided to quit smoking so I asked my Dr for Chantix this was before they decided to come public that if you have a mental illness do not use this product
my quit date was decided for Dec 1st they allow you to smoke the 1st week of taking the pill then on the 2nd week they say no smoking ok im cool not smoking at all by the 3rd week I decide I got to have just 1 ciggy I light up I get that feeeling of all the oxygen leaving my brain i sorta get dizzy next thing I know I am in the bathroom getting violently sick

I decide well hell I am not gonna smoke again an I am not gonna take a pill again but then the weird stuff started happening I was telling people that I want this ring to go to that person an that car to go to this 1 I was giving away my possessions verbally thinkin I was gonna die I talked on the phone to a few online people an was telling them that when I passed to tell my kids where this was an that was

I did not go to a Dr during all these weird out thoughts as I didn't realize I was having them until my daughter had brought it to my attention by then the meds was out of my system an I guess I woke up but as i look back i really believe if i had continued taking Chantix I would not be here today

six months after I had my experience with Chantix they came out with the medical warning on it about if you think you have a mental illness do not take funny all the paperwork I have on it no where does it say this

I do not smoke to this day
but if you do take Chantix
make sure your Loved one's know that you are on it an that they watch over you


Good Luck

Cindy

an I still have 9 weeks of that damn pill tooo
 
Tough one chayton as it seems with everything going on for you this would not be the best time to give the smokes up. I can go 8 9 months and then soon as life hits them that low blow. Off i go smoking again. Keeping your hands busy is the hardest for me i never crave a smoke. Try knitting needle point where you keep busy all the time. Soft candies. Chopped fruit is always good dry it out in the oven. And when that craving hits treat yourself with a drop of icecream with the fruit. If this was spring walking your pet is good but to cold to be out there every 15 minutes. I had a friend not long ago use buckleys cough syrup to stop smoking. Gawd i would throw up. He hated the taste so each time wanted that cig to the point ready to lite up. He had a sip. Took his breath away mind off it and least to say last thing he wanted was a smoke after that.
good luck not easy hun
 
Good info on the pills, in my current state of mind it's probably not a great idea. I'd be a little concerned about taking anything that will make me feel lousier than I already do.

I've got some nicorette gum that I've tried before but it really doesn't seem to do much for me. I don't think it's the nicotine that I'm addicted to, it's more of the hand/mouth habit. Of course I've never quit for long enough to get withdrawals so who knows. Maybe a substitute ciggie would be the best thing. Coffee stirrers, that's a good idea. I'm gonna go check the electronic cig, I've never heard of that before. Thanks everyone.
 
I had a friend not long ago use buckleys cough syrup to stop smoking. Gawd i would throw up. He hated the taste so each time wanted that cig to the point ready to lite up. He had a sip. Took his breath away mind off it and least to say last thing he wanted was a smoke after that.

actually that would work - at home aversion therapy. If you really want a smoke, first you have to eat a live cockroach or a rat dropping.

***DISCLAIMER***
I apologize to the makers of Buckley's for comparing their wonderful product to roaches and rat poo. But man, that stuff tastes horrible.
 
Tastes awful, Hell I was choking as i typed the word in there. Best yet their own commercials states just that. Tastes awful but it works. I bet after a sip of that no way can you have that cig LOL
 
Chayton, there is a nicorette inhaler as well as the gum. I've had my best successes using that in combination with Wellbutrin (Zyban).

I actually managed to quit smoking during my first hospitalization, and stayed quit until I was so badly bungled that I was told the horror I was going through might be lifelong. Lousy excuse, but the stress and being in pain all the time and housebound drove me back.

Time for another go at it. I've always found it easier in the winter, it's so damn miserable to go outside for a smoke.

I need to go back on the Wellbutrin anyway at this time of year for my SAD, so as good as time as any.

The most common side effects for Wellbutrin are vivid dreams (which happens to a lot of people who quit smoking with or without aids) and loss of appetite. It can cause insomnia, but for most people the dreams and insomnia settle after a couple of weeks. Also, the insomnia is minimized by taking the drug early in the day.
 
Jazzy - I've been looking for the inhalers but none of the drugstores I've been to lately have them or else they're sold out.
 
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"Definition of Dopamine
By Terry Martin, About.com Guide".....


"A hormone and neurotransmitter in the brain that produces feelings of happiness and well-being. Research has shown that nicotine increases the level of dopamine in the brain, accounting for the pleasurable effect the smoker experiences when lighting up."

This may help you and accounts for a lot of the withdrawal issues posted in this thread. In simple terms, quitting smoking is chemically similar to quitting cocaine. One is illegal and people may spend thousands of dollars for rehab. The other is legal and there might as well be rehab.

I have read studies that the numbers at least those that tend to not be influenced by possible conflicts of interest whereby 5% of people are able to quit cocaine (w/o relapse) thru rehab. The same figure applies to those who quit w/o rehab. help. So!!
 
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Chantix is a great drug but it does strange things to some people and I mean strange but if you can get it on Insurance and pay $5.00 to $10.00 for it go for it because the cost for it goes from $300 to $400.
If you feel crappy as your taking it STOP that's all.
You have nothing to lose.
I know many people that used it and it works.
Good Luck to you Chayton
Put your Health First we only live once.
~T~
 
I would suggest you to read Allen Carr's book "Easy way to Stop smoking". 90% of those why read this book stopped smoking forever! Try this!
 
Threads that go bump int he night

This not the most recent thread about quitting smoking, biut is was the easiest to find.

Many of us have either conquered this addiction, or strive to conquer it.

I turn 56 on Friday, and I have mostly been a smoker more than 40 years. I impacts my health, and not just recently.

Better late than never. I have some supports planned for me, and it is funny that this thread from 2009 slotmaster recommends Allen's Carr's book, I plan to finish reading it this weekend. A friend of mine quit cold turkey with it, her son quit but has gone back, and her daughter I have a PDF of this available if anyone else would like it. Just pm me.

Sometimes you need to make your own luck, and there is no better place for me to start than by quitting smoking.

My daughter just turned 30, and I would rather she did not have to bury me before her sons are teenagers.

She's got enough on her plate.

If anyone would care to link to one of the more recent threads, I'm jiggy with that.

I do know that those with support are more successful at quitting. My fellow CMs are available 24/7. Not each and everyone one of you, but I can come here and talk, and I am pretty sure with the next 48 hours some else will talk back.I did see a quit smoking counsellor this week, and I got some nictonine replacement and I set my date for the day after my birthday. I had considered setting on my birthday, but no. I however will run out of smokes either on the 20th or 21st, and that was the plan last weekend when I only bought one carton (a week's worth) instead of two. We go biweekly.

I will bumpty bump this again very soon. A few words of encouragement are really helpful.

We are really lucky we get two new years a year... the calendar new year, and our own birth anniversary. Always a good time for change, or at least to revisit that was the year that was.

I do plan on using an e-cig on my path to redemption. Plus, I do have some pharmaceutical help. Less than 10% of my cigarettes give me pleasure, and it's been that way for a lonnnnng time.

I did not totally agree with my friend when he said the basis of ALL addiction was you were addicted to more, but nictotine is a greedy sumabitch.

Allen Carr's book points this out pretty vividly to people that so not yet know that. I have not yet finished reading it, and I think I delayed finishing it to some degree over the past few months, because I was not yet willing to leave that bad relationship.

Thank you in advance for those of you share your struggles and triumphs here.

I need this for my life, and it is not easy. I ask for a whole lot all the time, but from many people so it gets spread out some. I don't ask very much here at CM, or at least not recently.


It takes a lot of time to post, and post thoughtful and considered replys. But a WTG or a thanks whatever choice is there in this thread will help to not think I am talking to dead air.

Writing things out is very therapeutic.

I have joined barely over a handful of forums over the years, it was a conversation on my porch today.

I should and may join a quit smoking forum, but I already know and trust you folks (well, many of you).

Thanks again for indulging my working it out process.
 
Presenting: "words of encouragement"

Persevere, goal, health, live, prosper, breathe, kids, overcome, hippopotamus.
:D

But seriously: very good that you are going to try, and surely succeed!
Keep us posted, I've seen a lot of people who'm i had hardly given credit to, successfully stop, and now they're happier and healthier for it:)

You are really a great gal, and we need you around as long as possible, so hope this works out for you:)
Good luck, i'll be rootin and tootin for ya!
 
I quit smoking after reading Allen Carr's book "Easy Way to Stop Smoking" 8 years ago. :thumbsup:
You can buy it in paper or download e-book for free.
With money saved I can probably buy a car (not new, but in good condition) :)
 
This not the most recent thread about quitting smoking, biut is was the easiest to find.

Many of us have either conquered this addiction, or strive to conquer it.

I turn 56 on Friday, and I have mostly been a smoker more than 40 years. I impacts my health, and not just recently.

A friend has told me that personally feeling the 'need' and the 'want to' to quit is the great key to actually quitting.... not the nasty anti smoking commercials we're seeing in the states, not the doc saying 'every disease known to god and man is caused by smoking', not your friend saying 'yes, your car/house/clothes smell like an ashtray'.

I sincerely wish you all the strength of will you need to quit. And always remember that if you go nutso one day and smoke a cig, don't give up! Enjoy that one (if you've been quit for a week or two they'll probably taste nasty anyway) then give the pack away or flush them or if you have a cat, open the pack and break up the ciggies into the kitty poop you've scooped for the trash - then go right back to NOT smoking.

Make it a point to change your little 'this is when I really enjoy a cig' moments.... with morning coffee in the kitchen? drink hot tea in the den instead. After eating? Go rinse with a really strong mouthwash... that nasty orange flavor Listerine might work. LOL (I'm going by what my friend who has quit has told me.)

I need to quit, not just for my health, but for financial reasons. I mean dang... if I could squirrel away the money I spend on cigs it would mean a significant boost to my budget. I'll be watching for tips. I'll be where you are one day, and I need to make it sooner rather than later.

We're here for you and I'll offer a huge hug of encouragement to start you off. You go girl!! :thumbsup:
 
I been smoking the e cigs they work great . Have cut down loads seen having them .Hopefully I give it up very soon down to 3 rollups a day now not bad :cool:
 
I quit smoking over a year ago with help from e-cigs. I have had a couple of slip ups but none in the last six months. Now if I can only find a way to quit e-cigs I'd be sorted.:p
 
Not easy

I quit cold turkey 25 years ago and never looked back. The hardest part was the cig and coffee and the evenings with the wine. After a week you'll feel great. After two weeks, you'll be tempted to start again. Don't! I think the fact that I was pregnant gave me enough incentive to stay off the cigs. And, then after the 9 months I figured if I lived without them that long, I can live without them forever. Good luck to you. One of the hardest things Ive ever done indeed. Those patches never took my cravings away by the way.
 

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