Quitting smoking

I started smoking cigarettes when I was just 14 years old. I was never a bad kid, always got good grades in school, and honestly, other than chewing my nails, smoking was my biggest flaw. I don't really know why I started in the first place.

At 17 years old, I found out I was pregnant. It was so much easier to just quit cold turkey when it was affecting the little person inside me. I got married, had my son, and was stuck in a horrible marriage. I hated my ex husband, he really did some damage to me. I was scared to death to be a single mom, even though I was raking in all the money while he sat at home. I started smoking again at 19 years old, my son was just over a year old. Between the stress of being miserable at home, having to work 8-16 hours a day and then having to come home and deal with my ex I had no escape. I knew it was stupid to start again, but it helped me at the time.

I've been separated since August of 2009, divorced since April of this year (he contested it...which made it drag on longer...) and I feel like I really need to quit smoking. I've always thought "I'm young, I can just keep smoking now and worry about it later". Well, after trying to quit cold turkey almost 2 weeks ago, I realized that maybe I need to cut down first. I was miserable, had all the withdrawel symptoms, physical and mental. My boyfriend, who's been such a huge help though it, decided he could ration them out to me, since I'd be too tempted having them in my own possession. It helped, but I needed more. I made an appointment with my doctor to start Chantix.

I've heard mixed reviews. Some people have some really bad side effects and some take it really well. I decided it was worth it. I am now on day 2 of Chantix. You can smoke for the first week which is good. I have cut down a lot so I'm hoping the urges will stop soon. I'm sitting here at work right now, and I feel like I haven't had a cigarette all day, even though I had one right before work. I'm a little shakey, and jittery and I'm like CRAP...why do I feel like this? Well I go on the Chantix website, and apparently it weans you off nicotine by blocking the nicotine receptors in your brain. So I am starting the withdrawels while I am still smoking. It definitely is not as intense as it was that first day cold turkey with no help, but I just had to share this. The doctor told me that if I had kept smoking for another 5 years (granted I've only been smoking consistently for about 4 years), the damage to my lungs would have been irreversible. She said now that I am quitting now, my lungs should be like a normal life-long non smoker by my 30's. I had no idea the damage it does. I need to be here as long as possible for my son, so the time is now. Wish me luck, either way I need to quit, I'm just hoping it's not as unbearable.

I was a smoker for 7 years and it was a hard habit to kick. I had to stop drinking coffee at the same time as I could not have one without the other which was double hard.

In the end you just have to look for the light at the end of the tunnel. Strong will and determination along with the help of those that you hold close will bring you to the finish line successful.

Good Luck and Stay Strong!

Good luck! You could do it. I smoked very heavily for 4 years straight (anywhere from 1/2 pack a day to a pack a day).

Honestly, I know this is a really cliche term, but if I can quit smoking, so can you. I was so heavily addicted that I turned into a monster when I quit smoking. I get addicted to things really easily, and smoking was how I dealt with stress (my life has been pretty stressful). I quit in my first year of University, you can just imagine.

Your boyfriend helping you is a good thing. If my boyfriend never help me quit, then I would have never quit!

I've been free of cigarettes for a few years now!

Good luck, you can do it! The first couple weeks are always the worst.

:oops:

good luck to you and i hope it doesnt go too bad. i had started at like 12 or 13, mostly from peer pressure which was dumb and smoked up until halloween of last year when i quit cold turkey. i think it helped that i was getting a cold and cigarettes just made me feel worse and maybe the cold blocked out the withdrawal. but i havent really had the urge, but have had multiple chances because everyone smokes and no one pays attention, and its almost a year now so i hope it goes that well for you.

Good Luck Leah! Yes, it is very difficult to quit but I know you can do it! I had smoked for a very long time and I just made up my mind one day that I did not want to do it anymore. Yes, I was a train wreck for the first couple of weeks but after that it got so much easier. I wish you the best young lady!

all the best. I picked it up while living a few years in spain, since it's almost obligatory to smoke over there, and unfortunately I've only experienced your previous level of fleeting success so far. I'm sure you'll prove stronger than I have been.

Good luck to you!!
I know its not easy, wife and I have both smoked for 20+ years.
Chantix is working great for her................me on the other hand is a problem.
I cannot figure out what to do with my hands so I start thinking about a cig, then I seem to will myself into one without really wanting one. Its hard when I drive all day and I can go through one and a half to two packs a day.:mad:

Good for you and congratulations on making that decision! I'm not a smoker and can't offer any advice, just words of encouragement. That says a lot for you and about you that you put your son at the forefront of your motivation for quitting. Here's to a long and healthy life for you and he to share together while he grows up! :gj:

Everything is about motivation... Cigarets are more mental habit than physical addiction. I start i high school was 16 i believe... was smoking for almost 9 years till I met girl with dont accept this at all... People do strange things when they in love :rofl: so I drop cigarets... 3 week later i got dropped :weirdface... but I realized that if I wasn't smoking for 3 weeks.... there is no sense to coming back..
time pass...

I moved to US... start working in restaurant... slowly going up in the ladder... got moved to high volume dinner... High pressure of work ( 500 breakfast between 8am-1pm on weekends) put me back to this habit... believe me in the middle of Saturday or Sunday breakfast rush this minute outside of line was like true blessing...
Then economy in US start going down... even in small but busy touristic locations like St. Augustine Florida... things start falling... I lost my job... was couple months in limbo .. and decided to move to NYC...
Knowing that pack of Marlboro cost around 11$ (4-4.5 in Florida for example) I decided to quit again.
I'm clean for 2.5 years...
Every time I quit i was doing this by myself.. no therapies no pills.. no lowering dosage of smoked cigarets per day... Just Trow last empty package to garbage and tell yourself THAT'S IT... and hang on there...

I had few steps of shaking addiction...

First 3 days are Uhhhh... :rage::rage::rage:...
Then after initial withdraw from nicotine.. after a week I had day when i almost kill for cigarette ... Then Again same day after next week... then again after a month.. then after 3 months.
Those was days when i almost smoked again...
Even now after 2.5 years there are days when i think about cigarette... They say You will be totally cured if You dont smoke same amount of days you smoke... is a true ??
9y - 6y + 2y - 2.5y = .... yea I'll tell You in 2 and half year...

I keep My fingers crossed for ya... Be Strong Girl :gj::gj::gj:

Hang in there. It's been almost 10 months for me, by far my best attempt in the 10+ years I've been a smoker. The mental cravings were constant for the first few months. Then down to maybe once a day. Now I only get cravings occasionally, usually when I see/smell someone else smoking.

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.

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

I used to smoke too, just realize that it's just a decision, is your word your worth, say that you are a nonsmoker and then don't go back on your word!!!

When the pain of staying the same becomes greater than the pain of change, you'll change!!

i wish you the best of luck! im working on quitting myself and have made a pack last me 2 days so far going into the 3rd which is a major cut back for me

:gj: you can do it, but it is hard!