Did you just say .. right thats it! Im not going to stop.. and stopped there + then? Or did you plan it for a few weeks/days before hand?
Only asking really as when i plan quite i cant seem to quit :confused:
I think i put too much pressure on my self
Arrrrggghhhh!!!
I just woke up on the 4th jan and thought right after smoking for 22 years thats it no more, and i havent had a single puff since. It hasnt been easy i will admit but now 52 days on you have your days when you forget about smoking and you also stop worrying what your doing to your health. I am proud of myself cos i never thought i could do it and doing it cold turkey as amazed me.
I hope whatever way you choose to stop works for you...it gets easier after the first week and you will be so proud of yourself.
good luck.xx
i was thinking about quitting for a while and then on new years eve i went out and got totally drunk and smoked my heart out! needless to say i was soooooo sick on new years day and didnt even want to look at a drink or a cig...so the next day i thought let me try and keep this going. i will be quit for 8 weeks tomorrow and so proud of myself for getting this far and making it through the stressful times when i could have caved any moment....im strong..i proved that to myself....good luck and many wishes for a good quit!!!!
I had flu (possibly the swine variety) which brought on severe asthma, and despite my best efforts to choke down tobacco, after 22/12 I was literally unable to smoke. Once I recovered and wanted to smoke again I just thought no, I'm done. This is as good a time as any to stop, and 24 years is just long-e-bloody-nough.
I have not had one puff since. And this is the longest I've been quit since I was expecting my second baby (who is now 8 and a half). So spur of the moment worked!
I'd been thinking about it for a long time. Thinking not doing. Although I had bought patches and gum on the principal that was at least showing willing (2 boxes of gum went off before I used them!).
Then one night the husband was away and I forgot to buy any fags on the way home (his job normally you see!). I had 3 left and I thought "OK that's enough for tonight, tomorrow I give up"
So I did.
I've tried and tried and tried before and never got beyond day 3. This time the differences have been:
This forum - MASSIVE help.
O/H who has also given up, soooo much easier
Not planning - and hence not feeling like a martyr.
Good Luck, whatever works for you, works for you!
Old Post Alert.
oooooo.. my own thread..
Thank you, you're all so kind.
When i stopped 12 months ago I sort of knew on the very day that this wasn't going to be a couple of days or weeks off the fags and that my attitude was really set for a massive if not permanent quit.
I can't believe how fast a year has gone and how easy the quit has been.
I'm not sure I ever had a "crave" and I certainly didn't get to the crawling the walls stage. Many, many times things felt "odd" until I realised that the odd feeling was the fact that I was doing something that normally needed a fag break. The early months are jammed full of triggers and each one needs to be deliberately ignored.
The speed at which I realized that being a non-smoker was so much better than a smoker was alarming. The cessation of popping out during band-practice, commercial breaks, cinemas, restaurants, pubs, gigs, parties, meals, work, etc was very rewarding. You very quickly notice that the majority of people don't smoke and this pathetic little "time out" we did a couple of times an hour looks so funny from a non-smoker's point of view.
The horrible thing about the whole process is that the easiest ride is achieved with the most determined mind. Stopping smoking, if you don't really want to, is going to be a painfully drawn out process with no guarantee of success. Hiding ash-trays, burning fags, avoiding smokers, avoiding forums and "not thinking about fags" is no guarantee of success.
If you want to stop, you'll stop. Even if you work in a cigarette factory and get company fags.
If you don't want to stop, don't bother trying because you will fail and you'll hate every day until you do.
The trick is wanting to stop. Not just saying that you want to stop, not just telling your partner or GP or kids that you want to stop, that is not enough.
On Friday I went out and spent my entire year's savings on a new amplifier. I bought summat I could never afford because all of a sudden I could. Weirdly I look far cooler stood in front of it than I ever did holding a fag, it even smells nicer.
Now I'm just hoping for someone to ask me (and I so hope it's a smoker) how I can afford one of Petaluma's finest and I can tell them it's simply because I don't smoke!
update: If you can plan to stop in a week and be in the right frame of mind when that time comes then you may succeed. Failing that you lurk around in a "no-smoking" mood until something clicks. Sometimes it clicks without even thinking of quitting.
Statistically "just stopping" is streets ahead of "planning to quit" despite what the "official advice" is.
Quitting is easy with the right motivation.
My sister stopped the moment she discovered she was pregnant and then started again driving home with the new baby. She had the motivation to stop but had not learnt the bit about "not actually giving anything up!"
It's a funny old world for sure.. 
Old Post Alert.
update: If you can plan to stop in a week and be in the right frame of mind when that time comes then you may succeed. Failing that you lurk around in a "no-smoking" mood until something clicks. Sometimes it clicks without even thinking of quitting.
I think you're right austinlegro. I really think the state of ones mind is very very important.
But I do think some people can induce this themselves by planning, reading, wanting to give up. For others it just happens for some reason they may not even be aware of.
Hello Emma,
I wrote out 25 reasons why I should (want to) quit, from not being yellow fingered to seeing my kiddies grow up and if lucky, get married.
It was my second prescription for champix; on day 8, I finished my carton of smokes and was too butt stuborn to go out and buy more. I did not want to quit on day 8, I did not have a proper goodbye, but I knew if I prolonged it this time, I would die a smoker. I do not want to die a smoker Emma; I want more and I want to show my children more.
Emma, I am glad to say I am truly proud of myself; it's like I've climbed a mountain or slayed the dragon...now if I could just stop eating ENTIRE cakes at one sitting....
I'd been quitting tomorrow for about 6 months. Never actually went through with it, just told myself that every day.
Then, one Monday morning, i was heading out to work & went to light up for the drive down & something just stopped me. I realised that there was never gonna be a perfect time to do it, so i may as well do it now.
Left the smokes at home & went to work, then binned them once i got home that night.
That was it. Wish i'd had the sense to do it 14 years ago.
I had planned after I was given bad news about my health.
I planned for after my holiday, but not a specific day.
I never did the buying a pack at a time, I either had loads of duty frees of bought 200 at a time.
My way was when I have smoked all my fags I will stop, and thats what I did, I had 3 or 4 left that day and finished my last one at work. In the car on the way home I found a pack and drove right to my friends house and gave them to her.
I have not even touched a cig since then; Four months, two weeks, two days, 3 hours, 31 minutes and 16 seconds. 2782 cigarettes not smoked, saving £668.10. Life saved: 1 week, 2 days, 15 hours, 50 minutes.
I think the success this time has been not setting a date, so not having something terrible looming ahead of me.
Good luck to you, its not the easiest thing you will ever do, but its one of the best.
Did you just say .. right thats it! Im not going to stop.. and stopped there + then? Or did you plan it for a few weeks/days before hand?
Only asking really as when i plan quite i cant seem to quit :confused:
I think i put too much pressure on my self
Arrrrggghhhh!!!
Hi Emma
First off yes you CAN quit, oof course you can, if you knew it was going to end your life in a painful way in 24 hours time you ould stop in an intant wouldnt you. You would value your life and just stop dead no matter how hard you knew it would be. So why not stop now? Dying isn't going gto be a nice experience even in a healthy life so it's bound to be worse as a smoker, save yourself now i say!!
How did i stop?
I had my wisdom teeth taken out in hospital and i decided to quit 3 weeks prior, about 2 days before i quit i found this forum and got hooked on reading other peoples experiences. I got into the community here, read the links in peoples signitures and then took on a very strong 'i'm gonna do this' attitude and made quitting smoking my number 1 priority. I prepared myself mentally and i knew it would be tough so i took on running to put some positive vibes into my mind, i did loads of positive affirmations, avoided smoking people, ate loads of chocolate! posted on here loads too. No matter what i just kept going one day at a time knowing that with every day it does get easier, the cravings go after 3 days if you ct. The rest i just psycholgical memories and old habits of what to do with your hands etc. Keep busy and positive, in 4 weeks you will never look back.
Smoking is just crazy, in hyar time people will look back and wonder how anyone ever smoked. You can do it if you really want to thats what i say. Good luck to everyone quitting.
I avoided smoking people ...
I found that useful too, the after taste wasn't to my liking 
Hey FA, your first year smoke free is nearly upon you, is it not? :cool:
I found that useful too, the after taste wasn't to my liking
LOL. Those with long hair are better - more of a filter. 
You can do it
Mind over matter all the way. I have been told off a bit for my views on this. I do understand the concept of NRT and related methods but consider the thought of stopping smoking and then relying on a patch that allows you to get through the day. Why not try to get through a small amount of time that will be very hard and then hold your head high and be proud of bein nicotine free. Cold turkey is perceived as bein a sacrifice but in reality alls you are sacrificing is the time you would have wasted using NRT and worrying about what will happen when you don't have the NRT to get you through, in turn bringing unneeded stress
Cold turkey is perceived as being a sacrifice
Only to some I certainly wouldn't put it on a pedestal.
I, like you Simon, used patches for an amount of days but came off them early.
They had there place and were an initial tool, but didn't suit me for entirely different reasons. I could not stand the way they effected my sense of smell. I may well have stayed on them longer had it been otherwise ... I rather enjoyed the dreams which were more vivid for being on patches than without They were for me, a useful crutch.
Had it not been for serious dental surgery and the strong recommendation to quit smoking for 1 week prior and 8 weeks after I may have succumbed coming off early, who knows. Best aid I had was finding this site ..... read and read and gain knowledge of what quitting involves as being prepared for the road ahead is the most valuable quit aid.
Education as always is the best way to begin a quit and to then continue it, plus it compliments any other 'bought in quit aid' in addition to CT.
Kudos to anyone quitting regardless of method of choice.
I didnt use NRT but that was my choice, based on previous experiences. Quitting is the aim, and as long as you arrive there as quickly as possible, dont see that the route used is that important.
I sort of planned my quit, as used Easyway, and decided that when the book and my last packet were finished so was I.
Quitting is the aim, and as long as you arrive there as quickly as possible, dont see that the route used is that important.
Well said SBV
Personally mine was planned. I had tried CT and NRT in the past with no success but this time tried Champix. In hindsight I think I would have quit regardless of method as I wanted it to happen this time - all the other times had been for the wrong reasons.
I think your mind just needs to be in the right place
To clear this up, I'm being slatted for my view on this. If you stop smoking using patches or any NRT it replaces the nicotine to mask the withdrawal but you still need will power just like you need will power for any other aspect of your life, unless your the lucky one that gets everything done for you, people have said I am putting a downer or some sort of fear into stopping because of my comments, if someone can type a comment into a forum that you have never met nor will ever meet and it is making you feel less positive about your chance of stopping then I think you need to think wether you are strong enough to face the world without the deadly weed
Mind over matter all the way. I have been told off a bit for my views on this. I do understand the concept of NRT and related methods but consider the thought of stopping smoking and then relying on a patch that allows you to get through the day. Why not try to get through a small amount of time that will be very hard and then hold your head high and be proud of bein nicotine free. Cold turkey is perceived as bein a sacrifice but in reality alls you are sacrificing is the time you would have wasted using NRT and worrying about what will happen when you don't have the NRT to get you through, in turn bringing unneeded stress
Errr yes Simon a couple of us have already said that we find your attitude towards NRT, (and therefore by implication those of us using NRT, a teensy weensy bit patronising and demoralising. So I'm quite surprised you've continued in the same vein. Perhaps I was too subtle before, please stop.
I don't need people on this forum making me feel bad, I'm quite capable of doing that on my own. This place is for help, support, learning, laughing and generally getting through it.
You are of course entitled to your opnions, but maybe you could find a way of expressing them without being quite so definitive.
And forgive me for pointing this out.. you used NRT to start with and THEN decided to go CT. So did you go CT? No you didn't, you started out on NRT.
Me, I'm using CAKE (and NRT gum and chocolate and Werthers and bread, crips, biscuits, bagels, peanuts... well you get message. Basically if it comes from Tescos it's not safe!)
To clear this up, I'm being slatted for my view on this. If you stop smoking using patches or any NRT it replaces the nicotine to mask the withdrawal but you still need will power just like you need will power for any other aspect of your life, unless your the lucky one that gets everything done for you, people have said I am putting a downer or some sort of fear into stopping because of my comments, if someone can type a comment into a forum that you have never met nor will ever meet and it is making you feel less positive about your chance of stopping then I think you need to think wether you are strong enough to face the world without the deadly weed
Please stop patronising us Simon.
I do understand how NRT works. Only I can tell how positive, or not I may be feeling at any given time, and only I can stop or start smoking.
But I log on here for help and support and some laughs with other people who understand how I'm feeling. Not to be told the manner in which I am choosing to tackle my addiction is wrong.
Yes I probably am one of the lucky ones in life, and I'm certainly grateful of that. But somehow despite this it doesn't making giving up something I am addicted to any easier. I am an extremely strong-willed person, but we all have our little Achilles heel, and mine is smoking.
I will beat this but I will beat it in the way I choose, which makes it RIGHT FOR ME.
Your so correct I did start out on NRT for 5 days. Then realised that I would have to stop that as well, it is all in the mind not what you fill the nicotine void with. It's all very PC these days and people are scared of sayin how it is, ask any long term ex smoker, drug addict or alcoholic and they will say that it is will power and how much you really want it not that you think you should do it.
Here's my 2 pence worth....personally i'm a "CTer" but overall i think if NRT helps people stop putting the other billion poisons in their body and quit smoking, why not use it?
Same goes for champix, hypnotherapy, acupuncture, and wearing pants on your head
Here's my 2 pence worth....personally i'm a "CTer" but overall i think if NRT helps people stop putting the other billion poisons in their body and quit smoking, why not use it?
Same goes for champix, hypnotherapy, acupuncture, and wearing pants on your head
LOL. Is the pants theory so you can't get a fag in your mouth, or a little known, but about to be huge, fashion statement?
LOL. Is the pants theory so you can't get a fag in your mouth, or a little known, but about to be huge, fashion statement?
....err not sure, but should it appear in Vogue, i want the credit!
Simon, whilst I sincerely applaud all those that have the ability to go C/T, I do not have the ability to quit in that fashion.
I agree with Lula that we should use (almost) any means necessary in order to stop, within reason; pants on head are of course entirely optional.
You are also entitled to your opinion that C/T is the better way; it just does not happen for all
I think my point is being missed, I am saying use whatever to stop but you can't use something for the rest of your life. At the end of the day it comes down to you to stop long term. Somebody did say that it's harder to change the habit than the addiction, and he/she was correct. It's more important to work on how you view smoking and your own mind. If you want it bad enough you would do it no matter what.
...if someone, that you have never met nor will ever meet, can type a comment into a forum and it is making you feel less positive about your chance of stopping then I think you need to think whether you are strong enough to face the world without the deadly weed
That's a disgusting thing to say on the day 1 page of a quitting smoking forum.
The NRT, Champix, AllenCarr threads have continued to be a constant on this forum for as long as I can remember so you're not bringing anything new to the party.
There are many of us here that don't follow the 'head in the sand' official approach to smoking cessation but there are many that do! Consequently those of us with slightly radical views, and I hope I speak for others, try to post in a manner that is not too confrontational and overly opinionated. Yes, eggs need breaking for omelettes but one at a time and with care not simply by dropping the box and picking out the resulting pieces of shell.
Also bear in mind that some of us DO meet...
...I am saying use whatever to stop but you can't use something for the rest of your life. At the end of the day it comes down to you to stop long term. Somebody did say that it's harder to change the habit than the addiction...
Quitting smoking is stopping the habit. Quitting nicotine is quitting nicotine. When both are stopped at the same time some quitters have a real tough time, not necessarily because it is tough but because they're advised that it'll be tough and they're expecting it to be tough.
Like it or not, the gospel according to NRT has been preached for a long time and has many followers. Attacking the congregation rather than the church is not the best approach.
The congregation don't need conversion they just want support to stop smoking. If they think they need NRT to quit then actually they do! that's how the mind works.
At day 1 I'd advise rubbing your forehead with a dead badger if it'll help get to day 2.
At day 7 maybe a little, "now about this nicotine......" conversation might be prudent.
Tobacco cessation is the sole aim, political statements are mere condiments.
Maybe people don't like the truth in this forum. You are either defeated before you start, or you really want it bad enough that you could do it without anything. People like me get slatted for the truth because don't like to hear it. I have also seen that most of the long term quitters used cold turkey. NRT only keeps the substance that got everyone into this mess in your system.
Karri I wish you the best in your quit, but if my comments put you off I think you have a very weak mind and think you need all the luck you can get. I am not a know it all but looking at your position and at mine it seems I have something you don't. Stop bein such a baby and using me as a excuse to keep smoking.
Wow, Simon you are one pretty smug rude young immature pup.
You really need to learn how to interact with folk and bring over your views in a more receptive manner.
Like I said people don't like the truth.
Good Morning to all on the forum, I am sad to be closing this thread as in principle it was a good topic but as it turns out it has become a slightly provocative one which is not the direction we like threads to go.
Please consider your comments when posting on threads and also remember that to continue in the same vein only creates a larger problem.
Regards Mod 2
How do you tackle the psychological cravings?
