Thread: Anyone here quit smoking successfully?

I thought an update was in order. It's been a little over four months since I had a cigarette. I tried Chantix in the Fall but it made me SUPER moody. Went with the patch and determination. The craving is still there but it's under control.
Only gained 20 pounds!

I haven't smoked for 13 years now. Stopped and started several times over a 65 year span. Tried nicotine gum once - what a farce. All the other times were one day smoking the next x number of weeks/months/years and then staring again. The last time was waking up in the middle of the night with a hell of a bronchitis attack. Lived 8 blocks from an emergency room, went there, got treated, walked out and haven't smoked since. To my mind, I don't know about other people's minds, all the OTC and Rx items are just a crutch. If you really want to stop it's a matter of mind over matter. I can control that aspect of my life and as an example of mind over matter, show me a chocolate cake and I have no will power to control my urge to eat the whole damn thing in one sitting.

What I am saying is, if you want to really stop, you will. If you don't really want to stop you will find all kind of reasons to continue to smoke.

Just realized I had posted earlier. Only correction I want to make is 6 block, not 8, from the emergency room.

Congratulations. Be proud of this accomplishment Leather Stockings. All it takes to be successful is one day at a time. Gung ho!!!
Tom

I started on the e-cig just over 6 months ago, I started with 24mg nicotine and have worked toward lowering the nicotine level.
I was using 18mg for a couple months and I have just stepped down to 12mg.
In a few months I will go to the 6mg and then 0mg if I feel I need the security blanket if you will.

Great job Leatherstockiings
keep up the good work!

Chantix worked for my X and her mom...twice!!! Yeah, they both started back eventually.

I've quit snuff twice. AND I'LL NEVER QUIT IT AGAIN!

The first time wasn't that bad, the second time was a freakin' nightmare. I made it. I think it was in 2010. I have to go look at the cans in the freezer.

Part of keeping the nicotine monkey off your back is to not run out. That sets off other alarms and panic. So I, as my mom did many years ago, quit with tobacco on hand. She kept that 1/2 carton around for 20 years. I think i actually threw out my snuff after 3 years. Might be some out in the shop.

Nicotine is a wicked wicked addiction. That's all tobacco use really is, besides a fund-raiser for PM and RJR, is the AVOIDANCE OF THE WITHDRAWAL CRAVINGS! There's no fun buzz or high to enjoy once you get a month or two into it. It's just avoiding the antsy irritability that is THE MONKEY craving more nicotine 4 u.

A couple of days is easy. A week is a good step. 2 weeks is gettin' there. 3 weeks and the stuff starts stinking to you...then you're nearly done. Until crisis or party hits. Try to avoid those things. Yeah, one is easier than the other.

I'll still walk up to my snuffer pals and say "Gimme a dip" and they'll hand me a can, and I'll take a big whiff. And that's where it stops.

The reason I'll never quit again is the promise I made to myself as I was quitting the second time...that if I EVER started back, that I'd never go through the AGONY of quitting again.

You have to be in the right mindset, able to maintain that mindset, and YOU are the only one who can determine when that is. Without the proper mindset all the drugs/aids/alternatives in the world won't keep the monkey off your back.

I totally get it, and NEVER give anybody any shit about smoking/snuffing or quitting. It's your bag. I just tell how I did it, if asked.

So if i live to be 85 or so, I might get me another can...go out spittin' and a cussin'!

I applaud those that want to quit Tobbaco,try everything you can to get off the drug if that is what you want to do.
My Dad Died at 85,started smoaking when he was 10,he just died of old age.
Have had many friends that died of Lung cancer after quitting 10/15 yrs prior,if your your young < 40, quit now.
I quit for 6 mos, gained 35 lbs, my BP went from normal to 165/120 due to the excess wgt gain,that will kill ya faster than the cigs.
50 yr smoaker here,two packs of pall malls a day, blood pres, is back to normal as is my wgt, 205 lbs, at 6 ft tall.
If they kill me, so be it,they say that cooking a a pce of beef on the Que can cause cancer because of the nitrates reacting with the protien.
Is a fact that a six pack of Heinikens has far more Nitrates than a lb of bacon.
Living causes cancer,JMO

There is no doubt that genetics play a roll. My father began smoking at 15 and smoked non filter cigs until he was 40. Began smoking a pipe, no more cigs, and continued until the week before he died at 84 ....... of 'old age.' (That was before 60 was the new 40, and $100.00 was the new $10.00)

I've been smoking since I was 15. Cigs for 36 years, quit them completely 14 years ago, and a pipe before and since. Also dipped copenhagen for quite awhile but gave that up maybe 5 years ago. Started dippin when a can of copenhagen was $0.35 and quit when the same can was $7.00.

I would really like to give tobacco up completely and I'm getting back into the mindset of doing so. It is tough. Especially for a pipe smoker who not only is addicted to the habit and ritual, the nicotine, but also is a pipe collector and you have the plethora of favorite pipes that you hate to give up.

I don't want to quit out of fear of getting this or that. Addicts don't scare easy. Rather it is a quality of life issue. Even though I don't inhale I know I'm breathing in a certain amount and would be better off without it. I don't like being mastered by a substance that dictates my coming and going. My apt and everything I own smells of tobacco, or so they tell me. I can't smell it, or much else, because I'm constantly puffing on a pipe.

Picture a baby crying and mother comes over and sticks the bottle or the 'pacifier' in the baby's mouth. There you have the smoker.

Originally Posted by Leatherstockiings

I am going to ask about Chantix.

My sister tried the Chanix stuff but it was way too strong and made her feel sick & had to get of it and try other nicotine drugs. Sorry not sure what her final patch or tablet option was last year when she boot them

SWMBO had a hearty scare early last year, that got here to quit cold turkey within a week, pity it only lasted most of the year, until she finished all the testing etc and got told it was only anxiety attacks, now taken the damn filth back up but not as much, her problem is habit & when drinking, because she knows it is possible to boot them.

I quit many many years ago cold turkey, cut down in number & strength from a pack a day of Winfield red over a week or 2 then through out last half pack ( a symbolic move for myself to throw the habit)
I quit drinking at the same time that lasted about 9 months but never took the filth back up,
Did like a good cigar on very special occasions (child births and marriages). & still love the flavour of drawing on an old port rolly I just don't light them anymore.lol

There are many options and support networks to help quit now days, so I wish you and anyone else trying to quit all the best in kicking them for good,
your body will thank you,
your wallet will thank you
and then you can thank yourself for your potential extra time with your loved ones
knowing you have done your bit to prolong your life to stay with them on this earth as long as possibly.
Then the hard bit is trying to get the rest of the body fit also. LOL

I stopped smoking some years ago, had a really bad cold at Christmas, smoking was just making things worse, so I quit.
Both my parents were heavy smokers, both died of lung cancer.
No death is pleasant, but to sit with my parents as they died unable to breathe, eventually even with an oxygen supply, showed just what smoking could do. Neither were young but I'd say both lost about 10 years of active life.
I sat with my best friend most days for about 3 months as he died from liver disease. I haven't given up alcohol, but I've cut back.
These habits are a gamble, some are genetically more prone than others to disease, but almost no smokers get their full lifespan unaffected by the habit.

I quit with e-cigs, I might still have a real one now and then, I've had maybe 10 in the last year. When I know I'm going to do something that is my smoking trigger (long drives, music gig etc) I buy a disposable e-cig