How does a person quit smoking after 25 years?

Answer 1

For me, the patch helped alot, but I also had other help that is required if you really want to quit.

Number 1, you have to really want to quit, not 1/2 way. Have a clear goal and reason why you want to quit. Just because they are expensive, people say, "I'll just cut back on steak and still smoke". Reasons like, "it makes my clothes smell" are better than expense reasons.

Number 2, have a plan. Tell others that you are quitting so that they can harass you if you are tempted to start again. It does help. Also, the nicotine is just half the battle. For 25 years, you have a physical addiction also. How you pack the pack before you open it...The unique way one opens a pack. The cigarette in the mouth, the light, the first draw....the cigarette when you get in the car, or finish a meal, or enjoy private time with spouse.....All of these are things that one has tied to smoking and each one has to be addressed with the quit.

One thing that really helped me was a "fake" cigarette that I could draw air on to help with the physical part.

They also now have a drug you can take that makes cigarettes taste really bad. I've heard it is expensive (around $4 a day), but if all else fails, it might be worth it and pay for itself in a year.

Answer 2

Although it sounds good to say "just quit cold turkey," research says this is the best way to fail. The highest success rates that I have seen in my patients, and in what I had read, are a combination of a smoking cessation program, some kind of nicotine replacement, such as gum, or a patch, and either welbutrin, or chantix. I think according to the inital results, chantix is proving to be more effective. I know several long time smokers who have had good luck using it. Ask your Dr. about it. Good luck!

Answer 3

Half of all adult smokers have quit, so you can— too. That’s the good news. There are millions of people alive today who have learned to face life without a cigarette.

I quit using Nicorette gum. It really works as it not only gives you the nicotine fix but it also helped break the habit of wanting to put a cigarette in my mouth. I immediately stop buying cigarettes, you will be deterred to smoke if you have to keep bumming cigarettes from people.

Some tips:
1. Don’t smoke any number or any kind of cigarette. Smoking even a few cigarettes a day can hurt your health. If you try to smoke fewer cigarettes, but do not stop completely, soon you’ll be smoking the same amount again.

Smoking "low-tar, low-nicotine" cigarettes usually does little good, either. Because nicotine is so addictive, if you switch to lower-nicotine brands you’ll likely just puff harder, longer, and more often on each cigarette. The only safe choice is to quit completely.

2. Write down why you want to quit. Do you want to—

* Feel in control of you life?
* Have better health?
* Set a good example for your children?
* Protect your family from breathing other people’s smoke?

Really wanting to quit smoking is very important to how much success you will have in quitting. Smokers who live after a heart attack are the most likely to quit for good—they're very motivated. Find a reason for quitting before you have no choice.

3. Know that it will take effort to quit smoking. Nicotine is habit forming. Half of the battle in quitting is knowing you need to quit. This knowledge will help you be more able to deal with the symptoms of withdrawal that can occur, such as bad moods and really wanting to smoke. There are many ways smokers quit, including using nicotine replacement products (gum and patches), but there is no easy way. Nearly all smokers have some feelings of nicotine withdrawal when they try to quit. Give yourself a month to get over these feelings. Take quitting one day at a time, even one minute at a time—whatever you need to succeed.

4. Get help if you need it. Many groups offer written materials, programs, and advice to help smokers quit for good. Your doctor or dentist is also a good source of help and support. See a list of National Groups with information and resources on how to quit.

Answer 4

There are two ways:

1-You can die, and quit immediately.

2-You can look deep within yourself and find the determination to succeed.

Real determination is not whim or fancy. It comes from deep within you and, once activated, becomes a driving force to succeed, and will push obstacles aside. If you have or develop enough of it, you will not be swayed from your goal.

Determination is the greatest factor for achieving success, and maintaining that success. Nothing else comes close.

This not only applies to habits, but to all great achievements. Ask any top athlete.

There are many options you can try that will help in various ways, but there is truly no equal for self determination, and there is nothing except death that is more likely to see you succeed.

Answer 5

I just quit after 11 years. I just said to myself if I do it I do it if I don't no big deal. To me the key was no pressure. Also stay away from gum and suckers or things you put in your mouth the only thing that does is make you realize your aren't having a smoke

Answer 6

Cold turkey .I can tell you how it is laying in the hospital with a collapsed lung.A tube in your chest W\ Blood trickleing out into a bottle untill it fills and they have to come change your bottle .Then if that is not enough three months later you still haven't quit and your lung collapses again .They cut another hole in your chest for another tube and go through the whole prosess again .And a full year after that you still cant breath very good .

Answer 7

it's not been quite 25 yrs for me, but I am in the process of trying to quit...I'm starting with just regulating my cigs...1 and hour or 1 every two hours, then I wait as long as I can till I have a craving..and try to busy myself with something like laundry, or yahoo answers till it passes usually about 3-15 min.....for me it is just trying to wait longer and longer between smoking so the cravings decrease...and eventually you will wind down to just a couple a day, then quit all together...also I'm practicing breathing exercises in the mean time, like I'm smoking, but without the cig....good luck!

Answer 8

My mom suddenly realized she had emphazema, reduced lung capacity and her veins are like threads. She got so scared that she stopped by herself cold turkey. She's in her 70's and has been smoking for nearly 60 years. She's having trouble breathing.

Many of my older friends etc.. have died from various effects of smoking.

I know it can be either or both mentally & physically addictive. I wish you the best.

Answer 9

My husband did and the American Lung Assn. offers an online clinic to help

http://www.ffsonline.org/

Answer 10

after close to 50 yrs think have it licked with Chantix
(by prescription) so far so good

lots o luck