AIBU to ask you how you quit smoking?

[BooksAndGin]

I'm going on a massive life change mission in January.
I suffer with chronic illnesses, bad mental health that's effected in every way possible, I always come to a crash in April as it's the anniversary of my three sons death.
I don't want that to happen next year. I want to be level headed and positive.
So the first thing I need to do for myself is quit smoking (for my DC, my health! And myself)

How did you give up smoking? I don't want tablets, vaping, patches or anything like that but at the same time I can't go cold turkey as I tried this year and failed.

Thank you

Vaping worked for me. I did love vaping and did it too long but managed to quit that a year ago. I don't miss either smoking or vaping.

Hypnotherapy. One very expensive session, but it worked. The hypnotherapist said not ever to give in to even just one - if you allow that possibility then you are likely to end up smoking fulltime again.
There are a few people who can stop and start quite easily, but for most of us it is hard.
Hypnotherapy made it bearable.

I took Champix prescribed by gp. It makes cigarettes taste disgusting. You do also need to change some habits though to not fall back when the medication is finished (smoking in car or having a drink outside etc). Good luck.

DH did Alan Carr too. He keeps it by his bed and reads a few key sentences when he's had a wobble.

i stopped by having one later and later in the day....never took them out etc with me...in days i got out of the habit of checking bag for the pack and a lighter etc...it dont take long to break habits.

@DimplesToadfoot I think you win this one 🙌

It sounds awful and it is but I ‘faced the reality’- which is, it will likely kill you. I honestly think I’d any smoker really held that thought in mind and allowed it to sink in- ‘it will probably kill you’ - it’s terrifying. I think most people who smoke think it wont happen to them. They’ll be one of the people who it doesn’t touch… not true. That’s the cold hard truth. I had a conversation with a colleague who also smoked; and we’d read something that said 1 of 2 will die from smoking, and we looked at each other and realised it would be one of us, statistically. It made me shit myself and decide enough!! Now when I see colleagues or my neighbour smoking, like multiple times a day, I genuinely feel frightened for their future.

If you really understand that it will probably kill you, and what that death will look like, I think it’s enough to make you stop. I thought about that probable death every time i wanted to smoke until I stopped thinking about needing a cigarette. I smoked for a long time. Xo

I don't recommend vaping. I'm 10 years down the line and still on 12mg. Lower than I started but I feel like I'll be vaping for the rest of my life. I just can't get off it.

Another vote for Alan Carrs easy way. 20 a day for 20 years, stopped more than 10 years ago now.

Allen Carr. Interesting to see how many people said the same!

I had an increasingly guilty worry about how I'd feel if I got diagnosed with a smoking related cancer and how I'd explain it to my children.
So, I decided I wasn't going to smoke and stopped. After 30 years. Just stopped.

An old boss of mine simply said "stop buying them" as his best tip to give up

At first I thought he was mental but literally if you manage to find any reason to avoid going to the shop to buy a pack, you're 90% of the way there. It won't be instant but after about 1-2 weeks of not buying fags every time you want one, it sort of uncouples

I don’t understand this? Using patches defeats the whole ethos of the Alan Carr method surely…
@HappyGirlNow Patches helped me to deal more easily with the psychological addiction by taking the edge off the physical cravings.
I had quit many times before that (including for seven years the first time) but I know it's for good this time. Almost 13 years smoke-free now.

I had my tonsils removed then a complication requiring re-cauterisation four days post op so couldn’t smoke for about 2 and a half weeks - didn’t see the point in starting again

1 Get a good Vape set-up with customer service in-store.

1. Get free of tobacco product.
2. Asses one year from now

@userxx I made the most useless comment :-/ but wouldn't it be good if we could simply forget our bad habits 😅

I think everyone who has given up, or are thinking about giving up are winners 😀

I smoked for 25 years and gave up 12 years ago using nicorette gum. I was on the gum much longer than I should have been but weaned myself off it using ordinary gum. The best thing I ever did. Use whatever helps you because in the long term it will be one of the best things you can do for yourself.

I did the Allen Carr (not the comedian!) Method and cannot recommend it enough. There are very expensive seminars, but I used the DVD. I don't know how to explain it really, possibly a bit of NLP? Technically it IS cold turkey, but it uses logic to break down the arguments for smoking. I never get cravings.

Allan Carr. My whole family quit cold turkey with that book. I was a heavy smoker, started when I was 11, smoked constantly. Tried to give up sooooo many times. I actually quit with the Allan Carr book, started again six months later, and quit again with the book a couple of years later. Has now been 20 years and I can honestly say I've never been tempted to light up. It is great to be free of smoking!

Good luck OP. You can do it!

Alan Carrs book to stop smoking- helped me 10 years ago.

Try Veganuary! It's only a month and you can stop sooner, but honestly I can't believe how much better I feel since going plant based! (Straight From meat eater, was a learning curve but so worth it). Never thought I'd do that.

Good luck with it all!

Thank you everyone.

I've downloaded Alan Carrs book as an audiobook and I'm going to give it a try. I want to quit for myself and it's important that I do.

Another vote for The Easy Way to Stop Smoking. Committed 20plus a day smoker to 0. March 1st 2003 was my last day as a smoker. I read his book but I think there might be audible versions too. Interestingly I owned the book for a while and didn't finish reading it two or three times. I had to make up my mind to stop plus following his method. Not willpower exactly, more mindfully following his method. Good luck!

I used the chamois tablets and it was so easy, took tablets but carried on smoking and by 3 weeks in I had stopped. It was great

I smoked 20 a day and when I fell pregnant I knew I had to stop. I was never one of those people who could smoke half a cigarette and put it back in the packet, the smell made me feel sick. What I did was light a cigarette put it out and leave it in the ashtray, every time I thought about smoking I would smell that cigarette and the ashtray and I just stopped wanting one, been given up 17 years now