I quite the day I found out someone i dearly loved had got lung cancer.
the person had smoked for 65 years, and the day i found out, i had one last cig, crumpled up my pack and threw it in the garbage. I watched this person go through chemo and radiation and die an excruciating death about year later.
I quit Cold turkey.
I was nearly 30 at the time, and had smoked since i was 15...i never had tried to quit before and used to love everything about smoking. I am not much of a drinker so smoking was my main vice.
when i decided to quite i was up to just under 2 packs a day, and it was really starting to effect me I believed.
the first few weeks and months were utterly brutal from a craving standpoint (both physically and mentally)...and to be honest it has been 6 years and 4 months since the day i quit cold turkey, and there are certainly times when i think, I'd like one...but it passes quickly, and i have no physical cravings and haven't for years.
Everytime i am around smokers (which is frequent), the next morning i wake up and can barely breathe and my throat hurts, so it shows me just how dangerous it really is as a habit.
Anyway, I would highly recommend these tricks, which helped me immeasurably.
1. Get a lot of exercise...take walks be outside as much as you can.
2. Chew gum, mints/ altoids, tic tacs etc...to give your mouth something to do.
3. keep a lollipop stick, or tooth pick etc. in your mouth, to replace the missing sensation of a cigarette.
4. keep a small cigar around, to just chew on once in a while, you wont smoke it, and it is effective in the first two months or so, just to have it in your mouth.
5. get one of those plastic eggs of silly putty...sounds silly, but it helps immeasurably to have something to do with your hand at all times! You can squeeze the shit out of it when you are feeling tense as well.
6. Most importantly, don't give up! The cravings are ferocious, but you just have to remember that you are stronger then it, and once the physical cravings/addiction has subsided, it becomes a mental fight, and you just have to be stronger, and the craving will subside, they get less frequent and less intense, and pass easier and easier. It no longer will be the first thing you want to do in the morning etc.
7. Try to avoid for the first month or two, situations like going out to bars and parties, just till you are more stable...I waited about a month before I did, and it was brutally tough the first time, but got easier and easier.
cold turkey is the only real way, because once you have beat it completely physically, it is strictly mental...still using nicotine gums or patches means you are still addicted to the drug, which keeps the mental craving strong.
good luck! you can do it!
the person had smoked for 65 years, and the day i found out, i had one last cig, crumpled up my pack and threw it in the garbage. I watched this person go through chemo and radiation and die an excruciating death about year later.
I quit Cold turkey.
I was nearly 30 at the time, and had smoked since i was 15...i never had tried to quit before and used to love everything about smoking. I am not much of a drinker so smoking was my main vice.
when i decided to quite i was up to just under 2 packs a day, and it was really starting to effect me I believed.
the first few weeks and months were utterly brutal from a craving standpoint (both physically and mentally)...and to be honest it has been 6 years and 4 months since the day i quit cold turkey, and there are certainly times when i think, I'd like one...but it passes quickly, and i have no physical cravings and haven't for years.
Everytime i am around smokers (which is frequent), the next morning i wake up and can barely breathe and my throat hurts, so it shows me just how dangerous it really is as a habit.
Anyway, I would highly recommend these tricks, which helped me immeasurably.
1. Get a lot of exercise...take walks be outside as much as you can.
2. Chew gum, mints/ altoids, tic tacs etc...to give your mouth something to do.
3. keep a lollipop stick, or tooth pick etc. in your mouth, to replace the missing sensation of a cigarette.
4. keep a small cigar around, to just chew on once in a while, you wont smoke it, and it is effective in the first two months or so, just to have it in your mouth.
5. get one of those plastic eggs of silly putty...sounds silly, but it helps immeasurably to have something to do with your hand at all times! You can squeeze the shit out of it when you are feeling tense as well.
6. Most importantly, don't give up! The cravings are ferocious, but you just have to remember that you are stronger then it, and once the physical cravings/addiction has subsided, it becomes a mental fight, and you just have to be stronger, and the craving will subside, they get less frequent and less intense, and pass easier and easier. It no longer will be the first thing you want to do in the morning etc.
7. Try to avoid for the first month or two, situations like going out to bars and parties, just till you are more stable...I waited about a month before I did, and it was brutally tough the first time, but got easier and easier.
cold turkey is the only real way, because once you have beat it completely physically, it is strictly mental...still using nicotine gums or patches means you are still addicted to the drug, which keeps the mental craving strong.
good luck! you can do it!
