anyone have any tips on how they gave up smoking without the use of patches or tablets.?

Answer 1

This is essentially an add-on to going cold turkey, but I think its utterly important, and I could never have quit without it. Also, let me say I consider every type of quitting as cold-turkey when you strip it down to the bare bones. You're either smoking or you're not, right? All the gum/candy/pills don't change the fact you're not having a cigarette.

Anyway, here it is. Only thing that ever worked for me:

First: Don't tell anybody you quit smoking. This is huge, because when you tell everyone and make a big deal out of it, you're constantly being asked how you're doing, whats it like, are you gonna make it, do you want one right now, etc etc. Its like having someone constantly dangle a lit cigarette in front of you and telling you all you have to do is take one drag and you'll feel better.

You'd think everyone would notice right away, but I went cold turkey, and didn't tell my wife for a full week, and she hadn't noticed at all. When I asked her if she'd noticed anything different, she said no, and when I told her I hadn't taken a drag from a smoke in a week she almost started crying at not having noticed.The reason why she didn't notice? The same reason nobody else did either. That leads me to part two:

Second: Carry a pack and your lighter with you at all times. When somebody wants to bum one, give them one with no fanfare. When you deprive yourself of something as a means to quitting it, its not really quitting in my book. Keep them out and in sight of everyone which you as of yet have not told you are quitting. Deprivation by way of not keeping them close is a forced absenteeism from your addiction, and will cause you to think about them more. To me, this is close to being put in jail and telling your friends and family that you are just "quitting freedom" for a little while. The key to quitting is knowing you constantly have them on hand, and constantly are able to smoke one whenever you want because A) They are in your pocket and B) Nobody knows you quit, so you are relaxed, and pressure free. You're able to do as you please, and if you want to quit smoking for you, its nice not having to make announcements like "I've still been successful" or "I officially didn't succeed" to everyone. The lower level of stress from using this route to quitting likely led me to crave a cigarette less then I normally would until I had gone a full week and finally decided to start mentioning it to friends and family. I carried around the same half-full pack and lighter for literally ten months, everywhere I went before I put it away (still in the house though) and stopped carrying it.

Hope this helps. Honestly, I think its a hundred times better then the grandiose "attempts to quit" which they tell you are necessary in quitting. Help from your friends, family, co workers, treatment, gum.... All that crap just builds you up for bigger failure, and at the same time, seems to make it more acceptable to fail. Don't ask why it seems this way, it just does. When you do it silently, on your own, and wow everyone with the knowledge you've ALREADY quit, and its BEEN a week, a month, whatever, its really vindicating to have the pressure of everyone's anticpiation that you're going to fail already off your shoulders from the moment they know.....

I wish you the best.

Answer 2

I quit many times without the patch or Wellbutrin and a few times with. The trick is to be able to recognize and deal with smoking for what it is - a really wicked addiction. When you choose a "quit day", try to find a day when you'll be completely busy and not able to buy cigarettes. You could be traveling on an airplane or spending the day at a theme park like Disney Land with a friend or spouse. Plan it so you'll be busy with something you like.
Get your family/friends to agree to help you for the first few weeks. They should not let you "bum" cigarettes no matter how much you beg. Let them know how you might experience completely unexpected mood swings, even explosions of temper out of the blue. Ask everyone to be patient. You're going to need an "oral fix" like chewing gum or sugarless cough drops for a while. You're like a baby on a "binky".
After the first week and after the first month, I often experienced an unexpected weak time, when I was vulnerable to picking up the habit again, usually due to some kind of emotional crisis. You'll need to go through it, but by then probably you'll realize that the stress periods vanish and return to normal more quickly. One stress bout doesn't have to ruin your whole day. If someone is severely annoying you, it's OK to escape to the bathroom!
You are not alone, it's not your fault. You're an addict and some people have a much tougher time with it than others. I hope it goes will with you. I am trying to quit too. I've had 2 ultra ultra ultra slims in the last 10 days.

Answer 3

It took me three attempts to quit completely. And every now and then I still want a smoke. Back in the early 80's, I went to a class at a local hospital, stopped smoking,got a certificate, and that helped for a while. A few months later I had a fight with my wife and started smoking again. A month or so back into smoking I decided again to quit. At our shop at work I took a brass plate and with letter stamps wrote "If I ever smoke again you can take my eyes out with a spoon". I hung that on a wall at home. The whole family saw it and I got threatened quite a bit. But I failed again. Maybe it was a fight with the wife or stress at work but I again started smoking. Along with the smoking I was a drinker too. That figures into this story. When I felt bad I drank and I smoked. I would drink bourbon whiskey and coke and have a smoke and I felt lots better. After a few whiskeys and a few smokes hell I felt real good. But I was a working man with a new ready made family. I knew what I had to do. There was no room for bad habits. I remembered reading that a bad habit must be destroyed and a good habit must be developed to take its place. Finally I took all my smokes, cheap lighters, ashtrays, beer, whiskey bottles, grabbed my Remington 870 12 ga pump and went to the local shooting area. I had a last smoke and a last drink. Then I lined up my whiskey bottles, cans of beer, packs of cigarettes and blasted away with the 12 gauge. That helped for a while. I think as I remember I did that trick with the shotgun three times. Finally I realized what I was doing and just quit smoking. I don't think I developed a specific good habit to replace the now dead smoking and drinking habit unless it was a family and a job and a home to take care of. Anyway thats how I quit smoking about 25 years ago.

Answer 4

I have tried to quit on several different occasions. The first was me trying cold turkey but that doesn't help when you are around someone that smokes or see someone smoking because it's too easy to go and buy them or bumm one off someone else.
As of now I have been smoke free for 1year and i am still going strong. What helped me to quit was when i had to serve a little time locked up. although it was only a few weeks, I was put in a position whereas i didn't have a choice. Once i got out i hit a cig but i felt so much better just knowing that i hadn't been smoking that I decided to never again. I have been in some very stressing situations where i wanted to but i just had to keep reminding myself that I mean a hell of a lot to me.
Just ask yourself which means more, your health and life or putting money in some tobacco company's pockets? I'm sure you will say that you are and if that is true.....stop smoking!!!! it won't be easy but everytime it gets tempting, grab a bite to eat or some candy or heck a side salad..... whatever you choose, please spare yourself the opportunity to live happily and healthy....
GOOD LUCK!!!!!!

Answer 5

First, I tapered down to ultralights, then I gradually decreased the number of cigs I smoked, I kept increasing the time between cigarettes. I started with not having one unless two hours or more has elapsed. Next day, 21/2 or more. You get the idea.
Second, I listed and kept reviewing all the reasons for my stopping.
Third, I chose a stop date. In fact, because of the above, I stopped a day before my stop date. I just was ready.
When you have smoked your last cigarette, begin drinking at least 10 to 12 glasses of water a day. Water flushes out nicotine from your body. This is a crucial step.
When a craving hit, I'd breathe deeply, and remind myself that I don't need to smoke, I don't want to smoke, and after a while my body will stop craving this poisonous habit.
Never again allow yourself one puff. After 5 or 6 days, the strong cravings are gone, but there will be plenty of milder cravings that you have to sit through--deep breaths and water will get you through. Call a friend and tell them you're wanting to smoke, and they will talk you through the craving.
Stay strong, that's what I'm doing. You can do this.

Answer 6

<---used the patch to quit smoking...it worked too. But being dumb I started to use smokless tobacco about two years after...but only very rarely at first...but eventually I was back to snuff chewing a can a day before I knew it...

So, I used the gum this time and it worked...but every so often I do slip and have some tobacco of some sort (usually at the bar I may bum a smoke)...however, I am trying to limit that or do away with those little slip-ups completely.

All you really need is a "Can do it" attitude. All that other stuff is just a crutch to get you weened off the tobacco...the rest is just the mental attrackion to it. I only chewed the gum for a few weeks and then switched to breathmints (altoids) after that.

Answer 7

I quit many times....just never lasted very long. I've tried everything available. This time I tried with the patches. I was on the patches for a week when I realized I didn't need them anymore. This time I really tackled the emotional aspect. I sat down and wrote pros and cons list...I couldn't think of any pros....just the cons. That really opened my eyes. I have been smoke free for almost 2 months...(2 months on the 28th) I still crave...but I really do believe I wont start up again. Take a look at my yahoo 360 page. I wrote out my whole struggle on there. That was the whole reason I started blogging.

Answer 8

Very Good - No patches or tablets would do the wonder

Smoking -
It is a silent poison for death.

You can not stop it by-
gradually reducing or
reducing step by step or
smoking only on occasions etc.etc.,

You have to decide and implement on that moment itself and throw the cigarettes in had.
Only WILL POWER will achieve your stop smoking.

By smoking you do not get any sort of enjoyment and whatever you feel is only an illusion and on the other hand it helps persons to get heart ailments and cancer fast.

I am writing this with my personal experience.

Good Luck for quiting SMOKING

Answer 9

Somebody i know quit smoking after 45 yearsor chain smoking, ofcourse; that involved a quadruple bipass, an aortic anheurism ans lung cancer to kept that person motivated. I don't suggest you wait that long.

The person's comments on the subject are that smoking was easy to stop when the attractive nature of it went away.

The only problem is the oral fixation. You should stock up on sugarless cookies to help with that compulsion.

You should also start a walking/exercise program to try and clear your lungs. It will take seven years to significantly clean all the tar and nicotene which is currently polluting your lungs.

You should also think about throwing away your wardrobe. It carries that scent of the cigarretes which will continually remind you of what you are giving up. And get somebody to clean up the house, curtains and all to get the smell out of the furniture. Your senses will be your tormentors.

Drink lots of water, at least eight glasses a day, (64 oz.) This will keep you from getting dry mouth and help your organs to pass the impurities currently in your system.

The plan here is to get you healthy, to focus on getting you free of the temptations to go back to smoking, and to avoid using nicotene as a crutch along the way.

Work on your diet. Find yourself some distactions. Focus on your breathing. And whenever possible relax trying not to get angy or frustrated. You have been using the nicotene for so long it is bound to make you jittery to get off of it. Take it easy.

Answer 10

I remembered reading that a bad habit must be destroyed and a good habit must be developed to take its place. Finally I took all my smokes, cheap lighters, ashtrays, beer, whiskey bottles, grabbed my Remington 870 12 ga pump and went to the local shooting area. I had a last smoke and a last drink. Then I lined up my whiskey bottles, cans of beer, packs of cigarettes and blasted away with the 12 gauge. That helped for a while. I think as I remember I did that trick with the shotgun three times. Finally I realized what I was doing and just quit smoking. I don't think I developed a specific good habit to replace the now dead smoking and drinking habit unless it was a family and a job and a home to take care of. Anyway thats how I quit smoking about 25 years ago.

Answer 11

i used www.quitnet.org and took a lot of their tests. It really helped me figure out why I smoke, and how to "fix" it. I personally used the patch because I worked in situations where smoking was the thing to do. (Bars etc...) I don't know your reasons for not wanting to use a patch or gum etc, but I'm sure they're good ones. Just wanted to say that the patch worked wonders for me with the help from the website I listed. The patch did me no good without it though too.