To Ex-Smokers

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To those who used to smoke:

I self medicate myself with cigarettes. It helps calm me down in anxiety-ridden situations, but now it has been a habit for over 8 years. I've tried to quit many times by replacing the cigarettes with gum or candy and even having a tiny squeeze ball in my pocket. They didn't last. I know it's a terrible addiction and I do not want to seek help through medication or patches.

What did you do to quit?

Hypnosis.


I think it's important to be 100% mentally willing when you do it, so you can trust the person doing it and keep focussed on believing what they're telling you - which is something along the lines of 'you never want to smell or taste cigarettes again'. It worked for me. I think in some wierd way I used my own naivete to my advantage.

nothing really. I just stopped enjoying them, began to really hate the taste. the only thing that was hard to quit was the habit, I still have to have my hands occupied when out with friends for example, always making a little pile of torn bottle labels, beer coasters, straws, anything I get my hands on lol.

I do have an occasional one but always end up regretting so I think I might stop that too, just don't see the point of doing it anymore.

I went to Quitnet

http://www.quitnet.com

They provide information that you need to quit. I had no idea - it was the golden key for me. They also provide support 24-7. The site is run by Harvard University but it's not academic. Please have a look, it's free. I wish you success.

I started by stepping down gradually from about a pack and a half per day to a few cigarettes a day, then I went on Nicorette gum. It wasn't easy at first, but it took enough of the edge off that I was able to stick with it. Now I just chew regular gum and I haven't had a cigarette in over a year after smoking for 6.

When my wife became pregnant & I read that children of smokers have a 30% greater chance of developing health problems .. I quit cold turkey.

I takes about 21 days for the physical addiction to be broken, the mental craving is a bit longer.. it took me about 2 years until they no longer smelled good.

You cannot think of yourself as an ex-smoker, you are a non-smoker.

Thank you for the responses! I really do appreciate them. I took a look at the site quitnet and it's definitely a good resource and I've found myself going on that site many times today. And thank you again for giving me the specifics on how long the physical addiction will last. I was told it would be 3-4 days, but my numerous attempts told me otherwise and 21 days sounds more appropriate. Maybe it was my mental addiction too.

This is day one for me. This may sound silly, but I am terribly grateful for your responses. I feel ashamed for picking up such a bad habit and being a closet smoker and pretending I didn't have an addiction. I really like the term non-smoker.

you first used them to reduce anxiety. I would say because of the highly addictive nature of and the short halflife of nicotine it is far more likely to induce anxiety. I have noticed this and it is one of the reasons i stopped

Some words of advice from a little green guy.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcFx4ymZFgU[/youtube]

hi JigSawing,

approximately four months ago i stopped smoking, this was after being a moderate, though committed, smoker (12-15 peter stuyvesant or silk cut [8mg] a day) for 15 or so years.

i went for a night out (a proper bender for the first time in a year or so) to see a friend off and picked up a bad case of the flu, my Doctor made the suggestion to quit to help expediate recovery... so i did*, and that was that. i am not sure how i did it, and i am not sure how i was able to just scratch the habit from my life.

i have had no moments of weakness, and within the last four months i have been through some quite stressful experiences... especially within the last fortnight.


*why i just quit of my own choosing earlier i am not sure.

I started smoking again in august after being quit for 5 years, I gave up last time by reading Alan Carrs 'easy way' book.

Im quiting cold turkey at the moment. Ive been trying to quit for several months useing patches and tabs but I think it makes it harder as it drags the addiction out longer, where as with cold turkey its only the first couple of days which are the worst.

I know what you mean OP about suffering from anxiety and stress, Ive always resorted to smoking when under extreme socialising conditions, and Ive always found smoking made me less anxious. Doctors and smoking advisors never agreed with me though and said smoking makes people more anxious, where as in my case all the time Ive been a non smoker Ive had to be house bound to maintain it. I suspect there is a chemical in cigerettes which effects aspergers in some way (much like it was found dope effected MS). I think its best to just not socialise much and try to avoid stress, rather than smoke.

Everytime I want a cigerette, I read an article on 'quit smoking' websites to motivate me, this one is good
http://whyquit.com/

and I drink a pint of water. Each craving is suposed to last from 3-5 minutes so I think its good to distract myself and try and ride the craving like a surfer on a wave.

I quit 6 weeks ago after getting a prescription for Chantix.

I'm sure I'll be jumped on by a bunch of people who think that all prescription drugs are evil, but it made quitting as painless as it could possibly be.

It nearly eliminates the nicotine withdrawals without actually using nicotine (gum, etc) - meaning you don't have to kick the drug after you've kicked the cigarettes.

You are supposed to take it for 12 weeks, but I stopped at 4 with no problems at all.

I couldn't recommend it more highly, but your experience may differ of course.

these are helpful articles about stress/anger and smoking
http://whyquit.com/whyquit/A_AttitudeTo ... tress.html
http://www.ffn.yuku.com/topic/12462

I found it difficult at first and it took quite a few attempts to give up. It took a lot of willpower to do so. Then after that, I started again a couple of years later (I used depression as an excuse, silly me), but the result was that, every time I had a cigarette, I felt physically sick. That put a stop to it for good. I haven't smoked now for 3 years, and when others smoke around me, it makes me cough now whereas it didn't when I smoked.