How did you stop smoking after so many years?

Question

All ex CIGARETTE smokers.. please comment,, and if you have any tips they are welcome to :)

to all those who did quit.. Congrats.. i will be joining you guys soon :)

Answer 1

I used to smoke. I just stopped.

Answer 2

I smoked for 38 years and I had my last cig. on 12-07-04. It is not easy, It has only been the last couple of months that sometimes a day goes by without me wanting to smoke. It was the fourth or fifth time i had tried to quit, once I made it about six months. I know I cannot have even one or I'll be right back at the pack and a half a day. I quit partly for health, I was having surgery and smoking and anesthetics don' t do well together. But mostly I was sick of stinking, Hair,clothes. breath, house. It had also gotten awfully expensive, with an increase in our states taxes on them my brand had gone up over 50$ a carton, and thats a three week trip to Europe! I picked the day, finished the pack I had open and gave away seven cartons of cigs. I put on the nicotine patch which I used for about a month, to get through the worst of the physical addiction. I also stocked up on sugar free suckers, I could have something in my mouth that simulated that cig. I enlisted a cheering squad of friends and family. Their support and encouragement was really helpful. I found getting out and walking, even for just five minutes elped get past an urge to smoke. I also tried to keep my hands busy with needlework. I did gain about 10 pounds in 3 or 4 months but they came off over the next year, I think from the walking. All I can say is try, and try again,
Good Luck.

Answer 3

With great difficulty. Drugs etc are not the total answer, you need willpower.
First you must plan. Make a list of the times and places where you smoke and decide to break the habit by not going there. My biggest problem was in the pub. That wonderful smell of other peoples smoke made my taste buds start and I used to light up simply from that trigger.
I stopped going to the pub and took nicobrevin ( dont know if its still around) - its a nicotine substitute. However its like going cold turkey and you have to ask all your family and friends to help you over the first few months.
It took me 6 months to get the habit out of my system but, even after 16 years I sometimes get the odd urge if I am in a smokers company.
One good way to encourage yourself is to put a large jar in the bedroom and put in the cost of the cigs on a daily basis. You set a treat you want and write it down where you can see it each day and its your reward when you have gone past say three months without smoking.

Good luck

Answer 4

First of many congratulations to all you ex smokers for quitting iam still a smoker who is desperate to quit iv tried many treatment to help such as patches, the tablets, hypnotherapy, the gum and the inhaler but to no avail as well as my weak will power but i believe 1 day i will do it, iv smoked from the age of 11 and im now 29 and over the years iv built up to 30-40 cigs a day and i hate this so much, my new quit date is this coming monday so wish me the best of luck and good luck to you honey we both need the encouragement

Answer 5

I'm an ex-smoker of an 80 a day habit. I was undertaking a Diploma in Anatomy and Physiology and as a project, we had to do research on a specific disorder or disease of our choice. I chose smoking-related diseases since I wanted to stop and thought the best way to help me do that was to actually look into it.

It turns out that was the best thing - I stopped less than three weeks into the research because I just felt so sick that I was willingly inhaling that crap for all those years.

Look into it, research it and I promise you, as long as you really WANT to stop, you will. I stopped from 80 a day one day, cut down to 40 the next, 20 the third and on the fourth day cut it out completely, just stopped dead.

April 11 th, 2000 - and I haven't had one since.

If you need support, advice or a kick up the butt, give me a shout and I'll try to help. ;)

Answer 6

I smoked for 30 years and tried to give up many times using will power. Then I went to a Chinese doctor had acupuncture and stopped smoking instantly.
2 sessions at £40 each, a needle under each eye, a needle in each cheek, some charming banter and a little traditional Chinese music in a darkened room. The best money I have ever spent.
Hardly felt a thing, but after, I was so relaxed !

Answer 7

On my fourth time quitting, I tried did the patch for two weeks straight, but it got itchy as hell. I accompanied that with a lot of water and walking. No alcohol for the next three months, cuz I drink and smoked together alot. And it also helped that my boyfriend was a non-smoker, so I got a lot of encouragement from that. That was last year July. I'm still smoke free after 10 years of smoking.

Answer 8

Get yourself an Allen Carr book, he is the inventor of Easyway - as the name suggests this is an easy way to stop smoking; no willpower, no replacement therapy, no need to cut down before quitting, no weight gain, no depression, no cravings.

Hard to believe, but that is only because you have been taught all your life that quitting smoking needs to be hard when it doesn't, it can be easy and enjoyable - it's hard to believe until you actually do it, and get over the idea that quitting smoking needs to be hard....you suffer from smoking, you suffer from quitting, social attitude leaves you damned if you do and damned if you don't, unfortanatly society is anti-smoking so methods like this are not allowed to be advertised on television - they need to state 'willpower required' where as with Easyway there is no willpower required at all.

His books have been on the best sellers list for over twenty years now throughout many countries, and their clinics boast a 90% success rate. The book costs less than a packet of cigarettes from Amazon, it also gives you money off clinic visits if you should feel you need it, the clinics offer a money back guarantee if you do not quit.

The website;
http://www.allencarrseasyway.com

The book;
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Allen-Carrs-Easy-Stop-Smoking/dp/0141026898/sr=8-1/qid=1159920094/ref=pd_ka_1/026-8010815-4385217?ie=UTF8&s=books
From Amazon £5.39, New & used £4.11, or older editions for as little as 22p

It costs you very little to at least try, you have nothing to loose, and trust me when I say you will find quitting a lot easier with this method of quitting smoking. Good luck.

Answer 9

I quit cold turkey after smoking for only about 5 years. I threw out every pack of cigarette I could find in my house and purses and took up constructive hobbies. I try not to hang around my friends when they are smoking. And it doesn't hurt that every recent boyfriend I've had has no tolerance for smokers.

Every time you think about smoking, also think about the health effects, and ask if they are worth it. Good luck with kicking your addiction!

Answer 10

i smoked from age 15 till age 27. that was 2 years ago. the fact that you are asking about giving up means that it is in your head, and that is the first step. you need a really good reaon to stick to giving up - money/pregnancy/health.
you need to get a date in mind - and not like tomorow - i mean, maybe 1st december. if you are over 18 you can go to your gp and get those patches. they are what i used. or, you can get tablets that make you feel sick when you smoke. or there is a pen type thing that you can suck on. i recommend the patches.

you start on patches with about 25 cigs worth of niccotine in them (you wear one per day) and that should be enough. after a few weeks, you go down in potency, and thn again a couple of weeks later, until you gradually dont need them anymore.

one thing i would say, is dont wear them overnight as they can disturb your sleep and cause nightmares!

i didnt even need to finish the course as i didnt need them anymore. it will be 2 years exctly on halloween this year, and i havent had a single one.

dont get me wrong, it is difficult - i wanted a cig alot over the first few months. but now, i dont even think about it, and actually hate sitting in smoking areas in pubs etc as my clothes end up stinking so much. i never could imagine myself as one of those non-smokers......i mean, what do they do with their lives if they dont smoke!!!!!

anyway, i feel LOADS better for giving up, and am saving myself 30 quid a month from not smoking. best of luck, i really hope you manage it!

Answer 11

For the last two years of my smoking the cancer sticks actually tastes yucky, but couldn't stop yet, wasn't ready. Finally after 40 years of smoking I put them down, had 3 cigarettes, total, in the next 6 months, and then well let's just put it this way - I'm FREE I'm FREE
Let go and let God