Quitting smoking

Hang in there it was supper tuff for me as well. I used redvines as a substitue for the smokes in my hands it worked great and well now all I have is a redvine addiction. But it is better than smoking:)

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Originally Posted by spitzu

The downside is the hand-mouth association thing and I can't seem to break it. I've been shoveling candy/chocolate/sunflower seeds/gum into my face since the day I quit.

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My jaw hurts from the amount of gum I have been chewing the past couple of weeks:(

I smoked lightly for about 6 months 3 years ago. It seemed to help with the stress of school and a 4 year relationship ending.. Went to Mexico for spring break and while there decided it was stupid and quit. I found being distracted all day for the first week to pretty much took care of it for me. The only thing I noticed was the hand-mouth habit. I started carrying around a bottle of water which helped the symptoms but man I had to pee all the time for a couple weeks.

Quiting smoking is very difficult. There are lots of philosophies and schools of thought on how to do it. Probably the best way is to do it is cold turkey. This is good because you are eliminating the chemicals from your system and forcibly breaking the associated habits. Consequently, this is also the hardest approach. Also, there is credible research that suggests that withdrawal is not so much connected to the amount & length of time smoking. So you are likely to experience equal levels of withdrawal regardeless of whether you cut down on your amount first.

You can use medication aids. I am not to familiar with Chantix, but if you don't have luck with that you can consider Zyban/Wellbutrin (same exact drug but marketed as Zyban for smoking and as Wellbutrin for depression). If your insurance won't cover Zyban, they may cover Wellbutrin.

Some people try nicotene replacement therapies (e.g. the patch or gum). This can sometimes help by allowing the person to stop/break the physical habits associated with smoking before kicking nicotene itself. It also elimiates the smoking part which is more dangerous than the nicotene itself. This is similar to methadone treatment for heroin.

Hmm.. that is all I can think of. I hope some of this helps!

LGray hows the quitting smoking going?? You and I have VERY similar background stories. I started smoking before the [crummy] marriage and hid it through the majority of it. After my divorce i picked up back into full force and never looked back. Scares me to death to think ive been smoking for almost 8 years. What damage have i done? it worries me even more when i think about how bad i feel. Always feeling like crap and coughing and all that nastyness that comes along. I tried quitting a couple weeks ago and as much as i HATE admitting it i broke at 24hrs. Ive notice while trying to quit i turn into such [a jerk] my kids dont want to be around me and neither does my girlfriend. Quitting sucks. I need to soon though! just curious as to how your doing.
Thanks.

hey leah,
congrats on taking that step!

a couple of my guys are in the process of quitting and use this. i was actually just looking at this to get for my mom for christmas.

one of the guys hasnt smoked a real cigarette in 6 months and doesnt miss it at all.

Good luck with quitting :) I'm unable to become addicted. I smoked almost a pack a day for three months straight just because I liked smoking. Quit one day out of the blue for health reasons with no adverse affects whatsoever. Wish everyone was so fortunate :)

Best of luck dropping this horrible habit. I think it's my turn as well. I'm about tired or waking up in the morning and only being able to take 60% of a whole breath without feeling like my lungs are going to explode. No matter what they say, dont ever try to use one of those electronic cigarettes to step down with. They might be a safe alternative to smoking but they're nothing like a real cigarette and if you're not careful you'll be back to smoking again when your goal was to quit. Good luck!

I quit after 30 years. I got Welbutrin, try that instaed of the Chantix, too many horror stories with that Leah. It'll be 3 years in January.

My last quit attempt started in February and I was fine until about a month ago. Today is day 3 of attempt #412328. /sigh