To all ex-smokers…

[ButteryNut]

How did you manage to quit?

Tell me your secrets, NRT? Knitting? Drinking water every time you got a craving?

Allen Carr book. Finished it and didn’t smoke a single cigarette since, it’s been about 10 years. I didn’t believe it would work going in to it either! Recommended it to loads of people since and I know about 5 or 6 who’ve actually tried it and all quit as well.

Pregnancy. Only thing that stopped me after 20 years (I started at 13)

The day I saw that positive test I never touched another cigarette. I'll do it to myself but not to my child. Currently breastfeeding so although tempted I haven't caved

Not a smoker myself but my FIL was told by his Dr at age 74 after having cellulitis that if he didn’t stop he would lose his leg. He just stopped, total willpower. Lived until he was 92.

That's what I used and then had to use something else to get rid of that. Good stuff that spray to get you off the actual cigs.

I quit using patches, although it was my 4th or 5th attempt. What really helped me was getting into cycling. Not only could I feel the physical effects it was having (particularly uphill) I was also socialising with mostly non smokers which helped too

Allen Carr book. Amazing

I used lozenges. Just moved down strengths and then swapped out for just a normal gum. It took 5 years of trying on and off though. That was 5 years ago now and I never think of it at all. Took me 12 months to get to this place though. Keep trying!

Vaping - starting at 12mg, down to 6mg, then 3mg then 0mg. Basically you wean yourself off your addiction to nicotine and then you're just breaking the habit with your hands.

The website I used was vape club. They're great have a chat service or you can call and they will help guide you.

It's a bit overwhelming when you start with the equipment eliquid etc but once I figured it out it was all really straight forward.

You need an element of willpower at the start but the stats don't lie - vaping has been a game changer for getting people to quit smoking.

Unfortunately, some people have picked up vaping who were never smokers and I do blame the way vapes are marketed for that. But for those of who were smoking well before the ban came in circa 2006 and who had tried and failed to quit multiple times - vaping has had a huge impact. Everyone I know who was a full time pack a day smoker and was in their 30s or 40s between 2015 and 2020 - all quit smoking by vaping.

And I would say 3/4 of them then went on to quit vaping too. 1/4 of them just switched to vaping with no intention of quitting that, but they are still healthier and wealthier for it!

I had Asian flu. Two weeks in bed and I never smoked again. Quite extreme, I admit...

It was time.

I had hated myself for smoking for the last few months before I gave up. I smoked so much, two packs a day, particularly during the time my father was sick. And then my father died (of non-smoking related cancer), and I stopped a few weeks later.

For the first few months, I used nicotine patches, and every time I craved a cigarette, I would get on my bike and cycle to Patisserie Valerie. And over time, it just got easier. The cycling and cakes stopped, as did the patches. I think the extra money was a huge incentive to stop too. That was fourteen years ago.

I dream about smoking, and sometimes I get the urge so much that it's palpable, but have only cracked once, and that was a few months after I first stopped. But a drag on a cigarette on Parkway made me vomit. That memory alone is enough to make me never succumb again. That said, the real fear is that if I start again, I will never stop. Sometimes, I dream I'm back to smoking two packs and day and the disappointment at myself always wakes me up.

I fell pregnant

Chewed the nicotine gum when needed, especially with coffee in the morning. Within a week, the gum made me queasy. Told myself if I made it a week, I would never smoke again and started literally counting the hours. 23 years ago, and never picked it back up.

Vapes.
Cut down the percentage nicotine until I was on 0%
Then gave that up. 😊

Vaping here too, but I also did the smoking cessation clinic thing with Boots alongside it and had patches for a few weeks. Really it was just the right time though. People would always say, stop smoking, and I would think, no, I like smoking. Then I didn’t, so I quit.

I smoked for 20 years. I tried everything to give up including smoking a pipe, patches and the rest. In the end the only thing that worked for me was cold turkey and a few weeks of misery. Someone said to me drink a bit of pure orange juice every time you get a craving. It worked for me and I haven't smoked for 25 years now.
I'd like to say I gave up for health reSo s but I actual gVe up because I had black rings under my eyes, my skin and hair was bad and my teeth were getting loose. All those reversed once I gave up.

Another Allen Carr convert it took me a couple times through the book though.

I got pregnant -- would not recommend unless you definitely want a baby (although mine is 6 now and an absolute delight 😅)

I got Cancer .

I read Alan Carrs ' How to stop smoking '
By the time I'd finished the book I'd quit. That was about 15 years ago

Not read the full thread but like others, I was ready to do it after several failed attempts. I used an app called quit now and I went cold turkey. The app was brilliant I would highly recommend it.

Sheer bloody mindedness !

I'm proper stubborn as well .

I quit with vapes.

At the start it was just swapping one habit for another (albeit healthier).

Once the cravings passed I started weaning down the nicotine strength in the vapes I used. They sell 2%, 1% etc. and eventually onto nicotine free.

Then I stopped the vapes also.

Same

Once I decided to quit, I started to carry around a really old pack of cigarettes that I'd dropped and then found behind a chest of drawers. I told myself that if I was ever on the brink of buying cigarettes, I would just smoke one of those instead. But knowing how old and grotty they were turned me off them and I never did! Just knowing they were there helped somehow, I eventually threw away the pack after about a year 🤣

Just stopped but I cut down on alcohol for a bit as boozing was a total trigger for smoking.

Been over 18 months now and won't go back - you can do it!