I need help - I gave up smoking but now I think I need them again

[AutumnDance]

I used to smoke from my teenage years to my middle 30s. I reached a point where they were getting too expensive and I wanted to give up. It was hard because I also enjoyed smoking. It was definitely a stress thing. I enjoyed a cigarette or two in the morning. Then I could go all day without a cigarette in work and the minute I finished work and got home, I literally ate the packet of 20 cigarettes leaving one or two for the morning. Then rinse and repeat for the whole entire week.

I gave up using the vape 4 and half years ago. Then by accident I gave up the vape in 2020. Just last year I threw out my vape supplies because it was about 15 months since I used them.

This past week has been unreal. Work is shit. I am now at a point where I want to literally eat cigarettes. I know I can't go back on them again and I think I won't be able to tolerate them any more but this craving and intensity for cigarettes is huge. I need a fag. If work wasn't so torturous I think it would be manageable.

Should I move back onto the vapes to prevent myself from taking up smoking again? Would that help.

No don't spoil your great progress!! Take some deep breaths and try some relaxation exercises. If you need a nicotine hit try some nicorette chewing gum

I still get the horrendous urges to smoke. I can't go back as my lungs are screwed so I chew furiously on chewing gum until the urge passes or my jaw locks from excessive chewing. Sometimes its just for a couple of hours, sometimes days but it works, probably bc my brain is so fixated on the chewing it can't have the cigarette thoughts....or maybe my brain can't cope with simultaneous thoughts

Ex heavy smoker, vapes are my do to.
I have a small % of nicotine in it now but the habit of going outside helps and it does give me the fix.

It's horrendous when your really needing one but stay strong and go buy a vape

You've done so well. I've been there. But it's not worth it. Get yourself a nicotine patch if you really need to or some gum

No don't do it! You've been nicotene free for so long it will make you feel nauseous, if oyu push past that you'll become addicted again. Buy Alan Carr's Easiway to Stop Smoking and read it.

www.amazon.com/Allen-Carrs-Easy-Stop-Smoking/dp/0615482155?tag=mumsnetforu03-21

If you need something calming try quiet life tablets, or a low dose of CBD oil in a vape machine. They are both non addictive.

Don't do it, and don't have anything with nicotine, not vapes, not gum
or patches, you will just readdict yourself!
Try things you can't do with a fag in hand, swim, run, crochet.
I found hypnotherapy worked wonders, it's expensive but it works.
You could give that a go, but really, you've done the hard bit, just find something to do to deal with the stress.