How do I quit smoking?

Question

cold turkey does not work for me i tried it many times...i want to quit but then i change my mind after a couple months

Answer 1

I smoked a pack a day for ten years, tried unsuccessfully to quit well over 100 times, and finally gave it up for good in 1997.

Things that didn't work for me included nicotine replacement (gum and transdermals), gradually cutting back on the amount I smoked, and attempting to quit cold turkey without altering my mood with antidepressants. Sometime in 1996 or 1997, though, the New York Times ran an article in which they stated that nicotine has an antidepressant effect. As far as I know, this was before Wellbutrin and other antidepressants were being marketed to help people quit smoking. Something clicked when I read this article and, though I had never considered nicotine an antidepressant before, I realized that my lack of success in quitting smoking could largely be attributed to the intense depression/anhedonia (lack of ability to find pleasure in anything) that I experienced whenever I quit. Basically, I had been medicating myself for depression and had become addicted to the medicine. This was essentially the reason why I would start out really wanting to quit but would lose interest in staying quit after a few days or weeks - it's hard to want to quit when you feel too miserable to want anything other than to feel better. With this in mind, I went to the doc and asked for a prescription to Prozac. I responded very well to Prozac, and a week later, I quit smoking for good. While it wasn't exactly an easy process and still required a substantial exercise of will, it was much easier than when I had tried in the past, namely because I was able to find other things (activities, hobbies, etc.) that gave me pleasure during the process of physical and psychological withdrawal. Two years after beginning the Prozac, I quit that, too, without any great difficulty. If you're serious about quitting smoking, I'd recommend trying this approach, but please do your research about Prozac and other SSRIs (the class of drugs Prozac is a part of) before you begin. Some people do experience serious side effects, and though they're not likely to be as bad as those that can ultimately result from twenty or thirty years of smoking, you should know about them before you begin a course of medication.

I think a certain amount of "self-hypnosis" also helped me. By self-hypnosis, I mean spending a few minutes a day before and during the process of withdrawal focusing or meditating on everything I found displeasing about smoking - the bronchitis, diminished lung capacity, accelerated heart rate, damage to my sense of smell, yellow fingers, smoky smelling apartment and car, the feeling of being a slave to the tobacco industry, etc. By doing this enough, I was eventually able to alter my immediate response to the thought of tobacco from craving and desire to repulsion and disgust.

Answer 2

You have to make cold turkey work. Here's how--set a date. That day comes, throw all your smokes out and your lighters and ashtrays too, its all gone. If you can, schedule your quitting for when you are going to be starting a vacation, or otherwise away from familiar surroundings. Then just don't get any more. You will think about smoking. EVERY time you do, give yourself some MILD negative reinforcement, like a fairly strong pinch on your forearm, or drop for 20 pushups, or walk around the block. You will train your mind to not even think about smoking. Take up a few healthy activities so you can make health a focus of your mind--a little light exercising, whatever. And above all, love yourself.

Answer 3

since you smoke that much everyday, your body got adjusted having these poisons running ur body. That's why people with more serious drug problems can actually die by quiting abruptly. You hav to take decrease your amount of cigarettes maybe every few weeks or whatever you're comfortable with. The reason why you were coughing and stuff (tryign to not smoke) was because your body was so used to having 2-5 cigarettes a day. So each week you should decrease slowly from 2-4cigarettes, then another few weeks, 2-3, then so on.

Answer 4

If you keep changing your mind, then you're not ready to quit. You can only really quit when you WANT to quit, and when you want it for yourself.

And when that happens, then cold turkey might just work.

Because you really can do anything you want, but the wanting is the hard part. You'd think it would be easy, just wanting something, but we so often lie to ourselves, and that's the real problem.

So the problem here is that you don't really want to quit. You're doing it for some other reason, and that other reason just isn't a good enough reason for you to make the quitting stick.

Answer 5

Well have someone that smokes and wants to quit too so then you both would encourage each other or talk to someone that has quit smoking.

Answer 6

How well I hear you *S*. I went for 42 years thinking nothing would work and being too afraid of failing to give it a real shot. You mention you keep changing your mind. This might be the key to what you need to work on to help you through this very, very hard job of quiting. Have you talked to your Dr. about nicotine replacement?

What worked for me was to go on line, read every darn thing I could, steal their idea's for substitutions, walking three miles a day, a combination of suggestions. I went cold turkey physically but not mentally - I read, went to sites, and chats. Good luck and grab all the help you can get. Janie

Answer 7

I'm not ready to quit smoking yet, but I have plans for when I do. There's the patch, the gum, the pill, or hypnotism. Hypnotism costs some money, but it worked for my dad. he quit for 5 years! I think when I quit I'm going to eating tons and tons of sunflower seeds to keep my mouth busy, just like the warden on the movie HOLES. Good luck, I hope you succeed! Best wishes! :)

Answer 8

I read this somewhere...there are three things that help you stop smoking.
Before you smoke, or want to smoke,
1. Drink a cup of water. This destroys the need for taste of cigarettes.
2. A bowl of fruit. I forgot how this helps but it does!
3. I forget. IM SO SORRY!
i would recommend: DRINK A CUP OF WATER WHENEVER YOU FEEL LIKE SMOKING. and.
have someone to nag you always. i nagged my uncle and he stopped.

Answer 9

Personal challenges such as this are of great difficulty, and may prove to be more revealing then you are comfortable with. How you respond to such a challenge will determine how you respond to other greater challenges down the road. The fact that you were able to stop for a couple of months showed greater courage and determination. To keep on, would be a victory that you could hold out to others as an example of your personal strength.
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Answer 10

You must have determination. When you feel like smoking, take something nice to eat, like a roast chicken or a potato chip.

Also, frequently drink more water.