To ask your best advice to stop smoking

[UsernameNotAvailableApparently]

I’ve smoked for nearly 20 years and I hate it.

Starting Stoptober from tomorrow and am desperate to be a non-smoker.

I tried the Allan Carr book in the past - lasted 24 hours the first time and about a week the second.

I’ve thrown away all my cigarettes and asked my DH to hide his and not smoke in front of me.

I’ve also had a ceremonial last cigarette and thought of all the best things that’ll happen from tomorrow.

Oh and I’ve got some niquitin minis.

Any other advice please?

Patches are the only
Thing that helped me definitely give them a go

I've been stopped actual cigarettes for 4 weeks tomorrow. Smoked for more than 20 years. Been using Elf Bars, disposable vapes. Each one is equivalent to 40 cigs. 10 puffs at a time was enough to get me through a craving. Appreciate vaping is probably not without its risks either but I have been using it less frequently as the weeks go on so hopefully won't be forever. Good luck😊

I smoked 10-15 a day, and quit using patches and gum. The patches were the most useful for preventing cravings - the brand that worked best for me was niquitin. Gum was for when the cravings were still there - they offered a little hit of nicotine and something to do with my mouth.

Lots of votes for patches so going to pop to the shops and get some in the morning - and maybe some healthy snacks to keep me busy

Thank you everyone, this has been so helpful!

I gave up 5 months ago - I've hardly thought about smoking in last 2 months.

It's arduous but doable. Cold turkey is best - gets the pain over quicker.

Keep a daily diary - mark the passing hours/days/weeks.

Read, read, read about smoking - this was my lifesaver - so much brilliant knowledge - loads of research in all these brilliant chapters: whyquit.com/ffn/chapters/FFN_00B_TOC.pdf

Just know that after first couple of weeks it gets a little easier every single day - and it's tangible so keep going - don't stop, never look back.

I started smoking at 13 and gave up when my eldest was about 3. I quit smoking so many times but the thing that made me stop for good was when I got a job in a nursing home, one day happened to catch a family just watching their mum on oxygen gasping desperately for air and snapped me to my senses. She was quite young.
I decided I didn't want to pay good money to increase the chance of that being me or my kids. It was an emotionally tough job that I hated, I started exercising to give me some headspace and never looked back, I'd never smoke again. I bloody loved it but I could cry at the amount of money I've smoked away.

Other than that awful image, things that helped me most were menthol flavoured chewing gum and yoga. I went cold turkey in the end having tried everything else. Good luck!

Stop drinking until you are confident it won’t trigger smoking.

Read the ‘Benefits of Quitting Smoking Timeline’ (Google it there are loads online) which tells you how stopping benefits your body after 20 minutes, 24 hours, two weeks, ten years etc. Read it every time you want to smoke.

I gave up smoking 5 weeks ago, I have been a heavy smoker for 20 years too. I switched to a vape but mentally it was a huge hurdle.
The smoke free app has worked for me, I didn’t want to have to reset the smoke free timer! Such a silly thing but once I’d gone a day without one (huge achievement for me!) I didn’t want that to be wasted just by having a puff and re setting it.
I put 1 emergency cigarette in the cupboard, after 1 week I snapped it and put it in the bin.
All my friends are amazed I gave up, I’m the smoker that everyone thought would always be. I’d done everything before-books, patches, other vapes, champix, hypnosis, Alan Carr course (lit up in the car park on leaving!)
In the end a silly little app worked!!
Good luck

@UsernameNotAvailableApparently

Lots of votes for patches so going to pop to the shops and get some in the morning - and maybe some healthy snacks to keep me busy

Thank you everyone, this has been so helpful!

I think if you go down the patches or vaping route you keep the nicotine/habit in your system and it’s easier to fall off the wagon personally.

Exh did an Allen Carr course. Don't know what they did to him but he's not smoked since and that was 16 years ago.

Well done!
I was a sneaky non admitting smoker so it was easier but whenever I started up, a holiday or chnage of scenery where i wouldn't smoke was the starting point. Id never smoke at my parent's for example so I'd chuck out what I had left when i went to the bus and come back a week later feeling cleaner and happier so wouldn't buy more. My husband lived on gum, now it's a few pastils a day and a vape for emergencies .

Find a really good reason.

I know that seemed daft but my health and finances weren't enough to make me stop. Fundraising for a course abroad made me stop as I felt guilty spending the money whilst asking others to help.

Maybe try doing something that required funding like a marathon or a course

3 years clean btw.

Also I was a habit addict not a nicotine addict. Ive never felt any pull to nicotine so it was far easier for me to stop. I think nicotine addiction is unpleasant so i am impressed by your decision and wish you.luck!

I stopped 2 weeks ago, I'd started again after starting to date a smoker and having the odd puff and the odd joint with him...then lockdown hit at Xmas and my stress levels went through the roof..since then I've smoked a packet of tobacco a week or so, which wasn't loads but I hated the smell etc...plus it was 80 odd quid a month I couldn't afford...I also did it sneakily, so would hide out the back when the kids were asleep, or busy, poisoning myself, in the rain...it was my treat 🤣😬

I used the quitsure app, it's brilliant, totally free and it's a 6 day program, I've really only had the odd urge to smoke since my last one,but I haven't had one at all, and I really don't miss it. It educates you about the way nicotine works and it's actually quite enjoyable, letting the slightly tense feeling of wanting one just wash over you...knowing it's just nicotine receptors dying off...i really think the worst bit was just the second day, after that it was totally fine. I've been around my bf when he smokes now and I really haven't wanted one. Only problem is now, I can smell it so much more 😬 bloody love him but he smells like an ashtray. He's no hope of stopping but I wish he would. He's still convinced he loves it, not that he's just an addict.
I don't know if I found it easier because I'd stoped years ago, was a non smoker for over 15 years...used hypnosis that time.

@SuperCaliFragalistic

Distractions and removing the triggers. For me I always smoked out the back, in the evening after the kids were in bed. For about 3 months i went to my bedroom at the same time as the kids (about 8.30) and read or worked or folded laundry or whatever. Nicotine mints helped a lot. But above all I had to be really ready for it inside myself.

This definitely. There will be times of day when you've always had a cigarette in the past - don't assume that you'll just do the same thing as before during those times but without a cigarette, as it's very hard. Break your routine so that you're doing something else during those times - so after supper I'd immediately have a shower, or whatever.

That said, my reason for quitting nearly 17 years ago turns 16 this weekend, so I had a little extra motivation! Good luck OP.

I stopped in April. I had smoked for 44 years and through 4 pregnancies. I got wellbutrin , I think the anti smoking version is Chantix. Im in USA so my insurance will pay for wellbutrin but not for Chantix so my doctor gave me a prescription for the same dose of wellbutin.
I took it for a month then just decided not to smoke any more and that was that. No cravings, no weight gain, I actually lost a stone, no grumpy stressed mess. I have had ZERO desire to smoke and stopped taking it in July. My husband still smokes like a fiend but I still have no desire to go back to it. It has not been even remotely difficult.

This goes against all the advice I’ve ever read, but what worked for me was telling myself I wasn’t giving up forever, just for a little while. It just seemed easier to think this was a temporary, not permanent deprivation. And then I just never restarted.

I tried many different ways of quitting and the only one that's actually worked was going cold turkey. Completely stopped and had no patches/gum.
It was brutal but my DH doesn't smoke and never has and tbh that helped. It'll be more difficult with your DH smoking but not impossible.

I'm 6 years smoke free and have never looked back.
You can do this!!

I quit cold turkey. Found the first 5 days awful, time dragged so much. Finding things to do during the time I'd normally have a rollie was hard but doable. Mint chewing gum, snacks and brushing teeth helped. I also avoided alcohol for first few weeks. Never gone back to proper smoking but have fallen off wagon and had a few at weddings/Christmas etc over the years when drunk but once I quit I realised how absolutely disgusting the habit was so am always disgusted with myself the next day.

Good luck, you can do it.

I smoked for 30 odd years. Gave up 2 and a half years ago. Went on to the vape and it was a 2 step process once I had decided that I was ready to quit.

Step 1 was to slowly decrease the level of nicotine in that until I was having nicotine free vapes thus kicking that habit.

Step 2 was to wait until the vape filter was fully blocked (you have to change the filter along the way) and then give up the second part of the addiction/habit.

And the best part, didn't have to make any changes to my alcohol consumption!

One tip though... once you start using the vape do not have another ciggarette.. you cannot combine the two at any stage or it will fail.

Best of luck!

@Theghostofchristmasarse - sorry to be such a technophobe but if I have an old iPhone which doesn't do emails - can I download that quit sure app ? Am sure I can get DS to help but a steer would be great - thank you & congratulations

The money in a jar didn't work for me because I could easily afford the cigarettes and other luxuries at the time.

Are you competitive? What worked for me was going to NHS stop smoking classes (if they even still exist!). The group was a complete mixed bag cross section of society of different ages and motivations but with a common goal. The info tips and tooled were handy, but what really did it for me was thinking that if 'they can do it, I bloody well can too'. Each week I wanted to be part of the non smokers gang.

And they gave us a big piece of paper with a box for every day of the year and you tick off each day you don't smoke. That was a nice competition for me against myself and satisfying to see the ticks mount up.

Also had patches.

Break the patterns of habits of times/places when you'd smoke.

And as pp have said, after a few weeks you'll be through the worst.

Good luck.

I smoked for 20 years and stopped again last year. I switched to a vape and it's worked for me. I can also have a cigarette when I have a drink (not often) and I don't have a craving to smoke the next day if anything I can smell it on myself and it tastes foul. Good luck OP