If you have given up smoking, How did you do it?

[irwtdt]

I really need to stop smoking, Not sure which way to go between patches, gum, ecig.

Anyone who has successfully given up, Which worked for you?

I switched to vaping. I actually started to like it more than cigarettes and before long I was using it excessively! I did manage to give that up too, but I craved it for ages and ages. I mean, I successfully gave up both smoking and vaping, but switching to vaping was maybe not the easiest way.

I got my hair off with it all. My fave fags (menthol) taken away last May due to legislation (vague). I was frightened to visit the shops at height of pandemic just to buy fucking fags, and the girls in the corner shop were all so scared of each customer.

So I went cold turkey. And that, dear reader, was that. No meds, no vape, no nothing just grit teeth and one half day at a time. As in, after lunch, if you really MUST. and then, in the morning, if you really MUST repeat repeat repeat.
But I never did. Choc helped.

You can do it.

I am stupendously competitive and going head to head with myself was quite clever.

So 15 months fag free, it feels great.

I read Alan carrs easy way to stop smoking. I finished the book, put it down, and haven't touched a cigarette since. My partner also quit after reading this book.

Cold turkey. But I was ready, really ready. I had tried and failed numerous times. I made a list of all the things I hated about being a smoker, and all the things I loved about being a smoker. The second list was pretty short. I kept the list in my purse and read it every day, sometimes two or three times a day. I prepared myself for cravings - how long they would last and learned to recognise the difference between physical cravings (feeling lightheaded, restless, over in a couple of minutes, only last a few days) and psychological cravings - (feeling like a sulky teenager, get worse the more I indulged them, lasted for ages). Took about 3 years to stop seeing myself as an ex-smoker, now am just a none-smoker. Stopped over 13 years ago, after being a 20 a day smoker for 20 years.

You gotta wanna though.... I wish you the very best of luck. It is a huge source of personal pride that I was able to break the addiction.

Same as stealingbeauty, got hooked on ecig for 2 years after giving up tobacco.

Evil things in many ways as cigarette smoking start/stop cues are absent so ended up sucking on the vape cig constantly like an adult dummy.

Nicotine replacement products are not much better imo as that’s another thing to have to give up eventually.

Long winded way of voting for Cold Turkey :)

Free from all smoking since mid March this year & enjoying the freedom of not having to think about it constantly anymore in addition to the usual smell/expense benefits.

Took around 3 months for the well worn smoking cue brain paths ie cravings to calm down.

Totally worth it, good luck OP!

After 10 years of dicking about start / stopping I finally worked it out... just don't have any more cigarettes at all, zero nothing nada.

Once you stop feeding the little nicotine devil, he goes away and haunts someone else.

By complete coincidence everyone was really irritating, for 2-3 weeks, Good luck.

I gave up 2 months ago, using 24 hour patches. I stopped them after a month because they were giving me horrendous nightmares (I think. It’s been a really stressful time for me in general). So then I went cold turkey.

You’ll hear this a lot, but I’m SO glad I’m doing it. It’s so liberating, and I’m a better mother, wife and friend now I’m not smoking.

I was unprepared for the head-fucking emotional rollercoaster it’s been though. I’ve cried a lot, because I think that before, when I was stressed or worried or angry, I’d have a cigarette. But now I cry! That does seem to be better since I passed the 2 month mark though.

Seriously, good luck. May we all never look back.

Also read Allen Carr's easy way to stop smoking. Chose to give up on the anniversary of a dear friend's death in honour of him and when I was tempted in the early days, I didn't want to let him down.
Not smoked in 22 years now.

Prescribed zyban by my gp. Some years ago now.

Strangest thing. You take it and carry on smoking, only as the days wear on you stop wanting to smoke and slowly cut down to a stop without thinking about it. It's as if you forget you amok, or at least it was for me.

I will say though I had years of attempts with Alan Caa, gum, patches. None of them worked for the simple reason I was quitting because others wanted me to. Until I actually properly wanted to quit I was unsuccessful and I think that's the key.

Another reader of Allen Carr. 20 years of smoking, stopped just like that. It’s been over ten years smoke free for me now.

@GarnetsandRubies

I read Alan carrs easy way to stop smoking. I finished the book, put it down, and haven't touched a cigarette since. My partner also quit after reading this book.

The book worked for me too, I tried NRT with NHS stop smoking and didn't work as I started smoking again. The thing with Alan Carrs book is that once I finished reading it I never craved a cigarette again and that was 8 yrs ago, I had smoked for 15 years and given up a few times,once for a year but still craved smoking. My husband smokes socially one or so a month so there are cigarettes in the house but I feel like someone who has never smoked and have no interest, I smoked 20 a day when I stopped.

Tried and failed numerous times, went to support groups, tried patches and I just couldn't do it. Then I got so fed up with myself and really wanted to start running to keep fit. With that in mind I went cold turkey and haven't had a cigarette since. It is one of the best things I have done a night am not even tempted to have one now and completely detest the smell of cigarette smoke on people. Keep trying, you will do it when you are ready. Get a goal in mind which is conditional on you stopping smoking and do it!

Allen Carr also.

Then 5 years later when my marriage broke down I stupidly had a cig when I was drunk and started smoking again. The book didn't work the second time(!) but I desperately wanted to stop, then ended up in hospital for a few nights which broke my habit (kidney stones: I do not recommend this as a method ) and haven't smoked since and never will

A vape has changed my life.

It did feel like cheating because it worked so well for me I only had 2 days of craving cigarettes (I would recommend stocking up on different nicotine % and flavours beforehand as I didn't and it took 2 days to find the right one) I am now onto 0% nicotine juice.

Nothing else worked for me as I have crap willpower, I seem to be the only person Alan Carr didn't work for and neither did hypnosis (which was heartbreaking because everyone raved about it)

Yet another Allan Carr convert. Completely changed my mindset about smoking which I'd done seriously since I was 18. Went cold turkey at 35. Carried an open packet of fags around with me for about 6 months but never felt tempted so eventually chucked them. Over 15 years clean now.

The Allen Carr book for me too. Costs about £7, no patches, no gum, no stress, no vaping, no cravings.

Got pregnant. 15 years of smoking done. 9 years later, never touched another one.

One night I smoked an unfiltered Russian cigarette (was desperate for a cig)

It made me so ill that I physically couldn't smoke anymore! Not even the lightest cigs. For about 2 years. And by then I didn't want to anymore.

Getting pregnant did it for me, I smoked 20 a day and stopped the day I found out I was pregnant. That was 10 years ago. Didn't use any aids, just sheer willpower. Think of the money you will save!

Patches for me! Although, it took a little longer to shake the habit entirely. But they really helped with the nicotine.

I nearly managed it with the nicorette inhalator about 10 years ago (I caved on a bpoozy night out though), I have ADHD so I think it might be a 'fingers and hands' habit thing for me

My husband gave up cold turkey.

I switched to the vape for a month, coming off that was far far easier than trying to come off cigarettes. Switched to 0 nicotine for a week before stopping altogether.

Never thought I’d be able to give up the fags. No one I knew would have believed I could have. It’s been 15 months now.

I used a vape... started on highest strength liquid and I'm now down to zero percent

The problem with me was I couldn't drink and not smoke, so it was doubly hard to quit. Switched to vaping, initially had a tobacco flavoured one for the same hit at the back of throat then switched to flavoured. After 2 years I got pregnant so quit vaping quite easily, had a few cravings but because there was no drinking it wasn't too bad, after a couple of weeks it was non existent. Now have learned to drink without the smoking or vaping and will never ever touch them again. Not even tempted. The best way to quit is cold turkey, of course the Nicolette type company's won't tell you that- bad for business

Combination of Champix and Allen Carr - made it remarkably easy (I'd had a 20+ a day habit for over 25 years).

I read the Allen Carr book. Started Champix, and when I got close to my quit date, reread Allen Carr. Smoke free for over a year now.

I do think lockdown helped, oddly. I gave up in April, and I really didn't feel good about just nipping to the shops for cigarettes, so as long as I could avoid picking them up when I did my weekly shop, I was fine. My mum (72, smoked since she was 13), also gave up in lockdown. Her car broke down and she lives very rurally, so was reliant on neighbours doing her shopping for a month or so - she didn't feel she could ask for fags!