Have you quit smoking

[heartsandkisses0]

How did you do it? how long has is been now? and was it hard?

Coming up 6years. I used ecigs for 12months reducing nicotine. Then my 2nd ecig broke and I decided to go cold turkey. Was at the lowest setting, so now or never. When I got a craving I didn't ignore it. I'd sit and acknowledge exactly what it feels like and then feel it pass. Food tastes amazing now. I remember trying some cheap spars own orange juice and couldn't believe how fruity it was years on I still get cravings but I'm pretty sure I'd just be sick if I tried one. Best thing I ever did but also one of the hardest.

Picked a day (had minor operation so excellent day to stop), stuck to it, used patches and lozenges for cravings, will have stopped for a year later this month.
Was sick of the cost, the health risks, the having to plan to buy them so I didn’t run out, of having to plan where to go outside and smoke them ......everything about smoking pissed me off apart from the initial rush of a lovely, lovely fag . Could pick one up tomorrow and it would be fabulous in isolation, but all the danger and expense? Nah. Smoking and I are Over.

Gave up hmm 10-13 years ago I think. I had tried before but no success. I was smoking 20-30 a day and loved it! But then I was diagnosed with a neurological disease and a year or so later some research came out that said smoking could make the symptoms worse. I gave up straight away, since then I have maybe smoked a couple on 2-3 nights out but that’s it, and that wasn’t until I’d given up for a couple of years.

I do still miss it- but since that initial research came out, now they are pretty certain smoking is a cause of my disease, as well as definitely making it worse day to day. So very glad I gave up. And the horror of the prices now!!

Long before I actually quit I was complaining about the price of tobacco and I said when a 2oz/50g pouch hit £20 I would quit. Few years later it was £20 so I made it my last pouch. That was about 4 years ago and I haven't touched it since. I like smoking and I miss it but I like the money in my pocket more.

I got a chest infection and tonsillitis 4 years ago and vowed to quit. Wasn't a big smoker 2-3 a day but when drinking could be 20+. I was too ill to smoke for about a month but whilst at the pharmacy I mentioned I wanted to give up so they told me to come back when I needed help (I was still very ill). I got better and the craving came back so went to pharmacy they checked my levels and I was 4 I think anyway used those white plastic nhs vape things when I had my urges then stopped them after a couple of weeks. Best thing ever I rarely get sick now and don't miss it.
I was definitely in the camp of not giving up as I enjoyed it but apart from the odd dream of smoking not touched one since!

Switched to e-cigs.

Well done to everyone who has managed to do it.

I am asking because my ds is trying to give up and really struggling

I’d tried before but the motivation wasn’t there. So tell him to keep trying, one day it will just click and he won’t be a smoker any more.

Vaping made it soooo much easier for me, having tried several unsuccessful times in the past. I’m now 6 months cig-free. I have had about 2 cigs in that time but god, never thought I’d say this, I really did not enjoy them at all.

I gave up over 12 years ago. Smoked for well over 15 years, at least 10 a day, more at weekends. Two things worked. I read Allan Carr's book which helped me think of stopping as being free from the addiction rather than as giving it up. I also carried an open packet for months so that if I wanted one I could just have it and didn't need to go get a pack and spend money as then I'd have smoked the lot.

I've properly quit now for nearly 2 years. I was very addicted, I loved smoking. I quit smoking, started running, went on a strict diet all at the same time (I suppose like a whole lifestyle overhaul) and it did work for me.

I do still think about cigarettes though, I'd smoke one now if I didn't think It would make me feel so crappy and affect my running. I think about smoking while running sometimes. The huge cost of cigarettes puts me off massively now, no way would I pay £10 a day, but the thought of having one still hits me at least once a week. What I experience now isn't craving as such, it's just a fleeting recall, like it's a programme in my brain that's hardwired to think 'cigarette' at certain times and then it goes. I think recognising this and accepting it will happen and training myself to ignore it is what has finally made me quit for good.

Allen Carr's stop smoking clinic 3.5 years ago. Paid around £250 for a days seminar and never looked back. His book is good too but didn't last as long for me.

I got pregnant! Switched to the vape for 2 weeks then stopped altogether. Been a non smoker for 8 weeks now! Guess the nausea helps with not even wanting to walk past a smoker.

7 years for me
Did the Paul McKenna book & cd
Was the best thing for me
Never been tempted since

2nd December 2007 I ditched the fags and never looked back. I quit using Champix (it was still a controlled drug and in trials back then). Best thing I ever did and was infinitely easiler than trying the patches, lozenges and gum (I'd tried them all previously).

Best of luck to those who want to quit. Your body and purses will thank you for the rest of your lives. It's like paying to give yourself cancer which I have never understood and the unnecessary strain it would put on the NHS with smoking-related diseases is (to me) just ridiculous.

You can do it!

11 years this month. Didn't want to give up at all but knew I had to as I wanted more kids and didn't like the fact that I wasn't able to quit when having my firstborn (she was absolutely perfect despite my smoking)

I used patches and an inhalator and honestly? It was HORRIBLE. The hardest thing I have ever done in my life.
That said, I don't regret it.

It's much easier these days to quit though. You have those tablets you can get from the GP that make you not crave and of course there's vaping.

i think he needs to give it the headspace a tricky addiction requires and make a plan personal to him.
Think about what the triggers are for him reaching for a cigarette- habit/ stress/ times of day/ using a cigarette as a reward eg at the end of a long day/ using a cigarette as an excuse to take a break/ using a cigarette to socialise with others that smoke/ Using a cigarette as a prop when nervous/
straight up nicotine need.

I found for me that lots of the cigarettes I smoked weren’t very enjoyable and were just a learnt response to certain situations. A small example was realising that I automatically reached for a cigarette whenever I sat down with a cup of tea. What helped there was I switched to fruit tea and that helped with the association of tea and the taste of the cigarette.

if the idea of giving up completely is too much then he could do it in steps . He could make the inside of the house smoke free zone so that it is a faff to smoke even at home- so not giving up smoking just giving up smoking inside the house to start the cutting down process. A friend of mine who was on over 30 a day cut down by each day putting out the cigarettes she was allowing herself to smoke in a row on the table. Then she automatically started to pace herself as they were a finite number and each day put out one less cigarette.

What sort of rewards does he like - putting the money aside that he would have spent? Would he take up the gym instead? A friend he can quit with? Big fat tick on the calendar every day he goes without? He will know what appeals to him.

I went out and got hideously drunk, smoked like a chimney and woke up the next day and the last I wanted was a cigarette, I hung on to the stomach churning feeling and haven't smoked since. It was easy.

3 years quit now. Used "visualisation" in a way. Everyime I had/wanted a smoke I imagined myself (really visualised what it would look and feel like) dying a painful coughing choking death from lung cancer.
Have no interest in smoking ever again.

I smoked for 13years gave up when I was pregnant, I would have a few on rare occasions I had a drink.

I went back on them 6 years ago for 2 years when life was extremely stressful.
I gave up again and used to vape on a night out.

Then I watched a very close family member die from smoking related illness and it was horrendous. I vowed to never touch a cigarette again in my whole life.

It is such a hard thing to give up but the rewards are so much more than having your life ruled by smoking.
I wish him luck and hope he succeeds, the earlier the better!

Yes ten years ago. I was thinking about this yesterday as the strategy I used is proving helpful in other areas. Basically I got a calendar and ticked off every day of not smoking. I made a goal to get to six weeks and the thought of having to start again with the ticks bothered me so I kept going (one failed attempt after five days then started again).

There were lots of other things I had done prior that helped, which were:

Cutting down
Buying a box, having one then chucking it away (bloody expensive but I suppose I was making myself accountable)
Changing my social life (less going to the pub and parties which was always a trigger)
Reading Allen Carr (made me believe I COULD do it and worked for a few weeks)

By the time I actually quit I had a well worn path in my brain of what to do and what to avoid. I think this has made it stick more.

A friend quit by using the NHS Stop Smoking service and patches, going down in stages with the help of follow up appointments. She was a very heavy smoker so this worked for her, although the patches give you vivid dreams.

@Dizzywhizz

I was diagnosed with a rare sporadic disease possibly caused by gene mutation- could smoking have played a part- quite possibly.

I spent some time on a chest ward in hospital - if I hadn't quit by then I sure as hell would have there and then. There were people in their 50s who had smoked all their life having tumours removed and the lightbulb was dropping for them that they were bloody lucky. And there were people with emphysema still in denial.

If you take a straw and breathe only through the straw , that is what diseases like emphysema, COPD feel like, and imagine that every day.