Do you have any ideas on how to quit smoking?

I am in the same situation. I have tried almost everything to quit smoking and nothing has worked. Now that my husband and I are tying to conceive, I find that having something that will motivate you to quit smoking helps. I have cut back on smoking, not fully quit yet, but I know that by having a goal and motivation like that, I will be fully quiting soon.

 

YES! Have her go talk to her doctor. I quit 15 years ago now with a combination of the patch and wellbutrin. Neither would have worked alone I don't think. But I talked to my doctor and she said people who used the combo had the highest rate of successfully quitting. I am very sure that all these years later more advances have been made and if she has insurance it may even pay for it. I saved enough to buy a house, just from quitting smoking (I was a very heavy smoker) and cigarettes were half what they are now.

 

Wellbutrin worked for my mom, but that other anti-depressant worked for my brother (Chantix?).

My father quits cold turkey, then after 3 or 5 years, starts up again. He's 63 and just quit again 3 weeks ago. We'll see how long this one lasts.

I don't have any advice personally as I'm not a smoker, but I can tell you how my husband quit. I told him when we were dating that I wouldn't kiss a smoker. He switched to dip. When he proposed, I told him I would marry a man who dipped. He quit.

I know when he's really stressed (or playing poker or camping with all men) he still dips, but it is infrequent enough for me that I let it go. Absolute no go on cigarettes though. i hate the way they taste and smell.

 

I think you've gotten some great advice. I think it is not just one thing (usually) but a multiple of different factors that can help someone quit.

Sometimes is might be necessary to treat the issue that is leading her to want to smoke. This is usually stress related. I know in some situations this is impossible to do, but it might help to try to limit the stresses in life. And, better yet, find better ways to deal with the stress. I think it is a great to try a counselor and/or support group. Even massages could help - after all, but not smoking you are saving $$$ on cigarettes, so just use the money for an occasional massage or treat.

Quitting smoking is VERY difficult, but if you friendly TRULY wants to, she will find the way to quit. I don't mean to sound harsh, but the first step to quitting is changing your attitude and priority.

 

The best way to quit smoking or overcome any addiction begins with setting realistic goals. Most people can't quit cold turkey. It takes time for the body to adjust to lacking the substance it's been used to. So cutting down on the number of cigars she smokes daily would be a good step forward. She can then proceed trying to stretch the time between having one cigar and another. Eventually, the craving for nicotine will go down and it will the be easier to quit smoking altogether.

Another method I've heard though I don't if it works or not, is fasting. I've heard that it works by breaking physical dependency on any substance. If the body can do without food for a number of days, it can do without the harmful substances, right?

 

I suggest you guys try vaporizers. It's not completely studied yet but just based on surface level benefit possibilities alone I think it has a good chance of proving itself to be a good alternative. For one thing it doesn't contain tar which is the most harmful substance in cigarettes, also it uses vapor instead if smoke which is probably a lot less harsh on your lungs. A lot of people around me have already quit cigarettes with the use of these.

 

I don't smoke, but I know a lot of people who died and were successful in kicking the habit. Some of the ways that they told me on how they were able to accomplish this are:
1. The person has to really want to quit. He or she should not be forced by people.
2. Stay away from temptation - smoking areas, cigarette stores, etc.
3. Put the craving on other things - candies/gums.

 

I think most people fail at quitting because they expect these methods to make it easy on them. It's an addiction. Addiction isn't pretty and cigarettes are amongst the worst and hardest to kick. I personally think cold turkey is the way to go, once you commit to pushing through the torturous phase. If you give up whenever it gets hard, it will just never happen. It will never be easy. I also suggest stuffing her fridge with fruits.. especially those high in vitamin c.. smoking depletes C and her body will soak it up as a great craving buster. I used candies too. As long as she isn't pigging out whenever she craves, she's not going to gain weight. In fact, if the majority of what she pigs out on during cravings is fruit, she'll likely lose weight instead.

There is no easy way and the other methods just delay the inevitable. You have to expect it to get ugly and when it does, you know you're definitely on the road to being a healthy non smoker.

 

I'm not a smoker, but I witnessed how my dad quit smoking. He went the cold turkey route. I've read somewhere that this may not be the best thing to do and it may even be detrimental to one's health. But this was how my dad did it. He also told me that every single day, he would tell somebody, "Hey I will no longer smoke." People found him funny and weird but he said that it worked very well as a reminder for what he was trying to accomplish.

 

I quit smoking while I was pregnant. You wont want to go cold turkey. I definitely recommend cutting back gradually until you are at one a day or none. Also, find low calorie but filling snacks that you can munch on and not feel guilty about -- because the lack of nicotine will likely drive you to eat. Also, try not to be around people who are smoking. If your family smokes, leave the room when they do so. Seeing it will make you want it -- even if you have not been cheating.

 

Chantix worked really well for my mom. I also think e-cigarettes are a great invention and relatively low risk. However, some people will still crave real cigarettes. You will have to make an effort to switch to 100% e-cigarette long term.

It is so important to quit smoking because you don't want to have health problems later on in life. I know all smokers know this but I just have to tell you. My grandmother smoked for 60+ years and her doctors told her over a decade ago to really quit because of her heart and lung problems. She cut way back but couldn't give up having just one cigarette a day. Well she developed COPD and in the last year of her life she was very ill and needed 24-hour caretakers. At that point she finally switched to e-cigarettes because she was forced to, but it was too late. It was heartbreaking to see her so weak and sick and having to rely on caretakers, because she was always so independent and relatively healthy. She was so miserable and depressed. She passed away a year ago.
Good news is you can reverse most or all of the bodily damage if you quit!

 

This is what I did:

The first step I took towards quitting after more than 30 years of doing so was to journal every time i lit a cigarette. I would put down the day of the week, the time, what I was doing, and how I felt.

After two weeks of that, I looked over them and figured a few things out. The most important was what sorts of things I was doing when I made the decision to light up. Not surprisingly to me, my most frequent times were when I picked up the phone and when I got in my car.

I found that what I was feeling had little to do with my lighting up, and it appeared to be, in those cases, a matter of habit.

So I made a conscious effort to NOT smoke when I was driving or on the phone.

At first, this was difficult, particularly quitting while driving, as I always felt like something just wasn't right as I pulled out of the driveway. Like maybe I left the oven on or forgot to put on my nylons.

Anyway, for two weeks, I didn't smoke on the phone or in the car. Then I took the other situations one at a time and tackled them.

When it was difficult to not smoke, I used nicotine lozenges, which seemed to work for me better than patches or nicotine gum. And sometimes, I would chew/suck on a cinnamon stick.

That took me from about 3 packs a day to half a pack in about two months.

I would still smoke "with the girls" at work or when I visited certain friends who also smoked. i had made it a point not to smoke at home and had incorporated that in my elimination of situations.

Then I noticed after a snowy holiday that I hadn't smoked for 3 days. That was a great feeling. It empowered me. So I built on that, like you would an investment. So, I would go a couple of weeks without a cigarette and then smoke one. Then a pack started lasting me a month, after which cigarettes tasted stale.

And then one day, I just stopped.

I'm not sure if that method would work for others, but it sure did for me. And as an aside, I was cleaning my office just yesterday and found a container still full of nicotine lozenges. I put them in my desk drawer...just in case.

 

I might add this fact: I was a heroin addict for 18 years. I have now been clean and sober since November 18, 1988.

After the first five years, I have never had the urge to fix again.

I still, however, crave a cigarette from time to time, frequently when I exit a mall or building where people are smoking outside. It just smells so good!

I mention that because you've probably heard that it's more difficult to quit smoking than to quit heroin. It is. It definitely is.

But when the urge to smoke hits me, I make this deal with myself: "I will not smoke right now. If I still feel like it in two hours, I will reconsider it."

That has worked so far.

 

Good for you Michelle! I don't know you, but I'm so proud of you This is one of those "if I can do it, you can do it" situations, because any time an ex smoker says it, the rest go into denial. You've fought and beat nicotine AND heroin.. that is no small feat. It takes a lot of strength and determination to be healthy and happy to push through all that and come out the other end successfully. ANYone can quit.. addiction is never easy. It's a matter of telling it to screw itself when it tries to sabotage your efforts. Anyway, just wanted to send you kudos and hope others going through the worst of it find your post.

 

Thank you, Josie. I had a lot of help, and I was in residential treatment for a VERY long, because it turns out that I couldn''t just stop being addicted. I had to change pretty much everything about myself.

But the other thing I should add here -- and I am now proving what I said in one of my first posts about being a compulsive writer -- is that it is not uncommon to stop one addiction/habit and pick up another.

I didn't want to believe the experts on this, but in the end, it turns out they were right.

I quit heroin, drinking, and other substances. At that time, I started smoking more. I also found that eating was quite pleasant. So I started gaining weight. A LOT of weight. But it was enough for a long time that I had saved my life by being clean and sober.

When I got to 300 pounds, I started thinking about perhaps losing some weight. I won't go into the whole thing, but I ended up in surgery and losing 180 pounds.

Then I started smoking more to make up for not being able to chow down all day long.

It was another few years before I came to my senses and stopped smoking.

But hear this: I will -=NOT=- give up caffeine. No!

 

I used to smoke 1 and half pack of cigarettes a day and now down to only 1-2 sticks per day and it took me 3 years to do that. My father died of cancer and it was the reason why I am trying to win the battle and put a stop on this very bad habit. Your friend should first find a motivation to do it as well... it's all in the mind.