I've quit cold turkey, and I started searching the web for some statistics on the success rates of people who choose this method. I've seen everything from 5% to 86%. I don't know who to believe.
I'm going to succeed, of that I'm certain, but I'd like to know what odds I'm bucking.
Anyone got some reliable figures?
Not sure if this is what you are looking for. It does state in that article that 90% of ex smokers quit using cold turkey method. No idea what ratio of people who were successful though.
Don't smoke again. You will have succeeded. End of.....
You don't need a % as an excuse!
Not looking for an excuse. I am simply curious about the percentages of folks who succeed at CT. I plan to be in the percentage that did succeed; I'd like to know what that number is.
The figures aren't as reliable as some methods because CT is not a method in itself.
In some studies CT will be those people who weren't given the 'product.'
Usually the figures will emerge as the result of a study but it won't be the CT figures that are being studied.
If you have a test group and the CT quitters are the control, those that were included but not tested, you can see why their success or failure rates can vary considerably.
CT with support, is very different to CT without.
CT because you've suddenly had the smokefree epiphany is very different to CT 'cos the price of fags has just gone up.
This all ends up with CT having an accepted <10% success rate which puts it in the same bracket as all the prescription remedies (despite what the NHS try to tell us)
Where some of the confusion arises is because when you gather data from 12 month + quitters CT is the most common method used simply because the data pool of ex-smokers is huge and they are never really studied.
Consequently the <10% figure could be way out, but, as long as it's better or on par with the competition it doesn't really matter. 
CT because you've suddenly had the smokefree epiphany is very different to CT 'cos the price of fags has just gone up.
Why's it different Austin? Just wondered why you thought it was. CT is CT isn't it?
Lisa x
Why's it different Austin? Just wondered why you thought it was. CT is CT isn't it?
Lisa x
At a guess I'd say it's a mindset thing
Makes no difference...my mother-in-law said she'd quit when the price of fags hit £5. She's been quit 10 years (give or take) now and hates cigarettes...wouldn't want one if you paid her to smoke it. I'm the same but had different reasons to quit. Maybe she'd sorted out her mindset AND the price of fags determined when she would quit. I dunno, but she sure don't miss them.
Lisa c
Why's it different Austin? Just wondered why you thought it was. CT is CT isn't it?
Lisa x
Well CT of course is derived from the cold clammy skin feeling of quitting certain narcotics and can't ever be correctly applied to quitting smoking.
Smoking CT I would define as not using 'official' quit aids.
Some might say it's willpower alone but of course willpower is not needed to quit so what actually is CT?
Acupuncture, hypnotherapy, NLP, CBT, etc are 'unofficial' aids but can you use them and still be called a CT quitter?
To answer your question, a smoker who, for example, can't afford to smoke and decides to stop but really wants to smoke and has the quit from hell but stays smokefree for 12 months is a successful CT willpower quitter?
Someone who takes a fag out of the packet one morning, looks at it, and says, "no, you and me are over" and quits, doesn't miss them and then stays smokefree for 12 months is a successful CT quitter.
I'd say they're both CT quitters but they had very different quits and my appear as very different statistics?
Your MIL not wanting to smoke when fags reached £5 is very different to someone wanting to smoke but not being able to afford fags at £5.
Hell does it all matter? We quit. Some people need support. Other's don't. End result is the same - there's a % that will be successful if they quit CT and there will be a % if they quit any other method.
The reality is - we quit. Now the hard bit. Keeping off them - for ever! I quit for 9 years once and then again for 6 and still went back so I don't pretend that I will quit for ever. I just say I will. And try very hard not to concede. To me saying Never is like waving a red rag at a bull !
Hell does it all matter?
Course it matters!
The OP asked a question and we try our best to answer.
Chewy discussions make the world go round...
Strange, cos when I went to my local smoking cessation service, the counsellor was banging on about 'the product' and when I asked about Cold Turkey she looked at me as though I had beamed down from Mars :rolleyes: Luckily, I had already obtained Champix from my doc, phew, cos said 'counsellor' would have had me on full strength patches, AND an inhalator lol :eek: I had already overdosed myself on nicotine from fooling around with an e-cig and landed myself in hospital so I didn't need any more NRT malarky thank you very much. But Champix seems to work for me, although I forget to take it a lot of the time. Looking forward to when I can come off it and do it on my own steam, meaning cold turkey, cos I admire the ones that do 
Zoe xxxx
Course it matters!
The OP asked a question and we try our best to answer.
Chewy discussions make the world go round...
Thank you. I'm the OP, and I just wanted an answer if available. To me, anyone who quits CT for whatever reason they quit (too expensive, health, hate the smell, etc.) should be counted in the group that quit CT. If they stayed off cigarettes for at least a year, then they succeeded in that method.
I'm reaching the conclusion there's no widely accepted, reliable percentage to be quoted.
And again, for the record, I'm not knocking any other method whatsoever. May we all succeed!
My curiosity stems from my using CT as my method of quitting.
2 years and a few months ago, when I decided to quite, I read up a lot on quitting. All the independent studies showed that those who quite cold turkey, meaning they did not use nicotine replacement or drugs of any kind, had a much higher long term sucess rate. It was very clear.
The web site I used to keep on track with cold turkey method was the Freedom site. It has wonderful information on addiction, how nicotine affects you, how to get through all the problems you will face and much much more, I highly recommend it.
You can also join their chat group if you are cold turkey for a few days, however if you start to smoke again you cannot stay on or rejoin. The whole idea is to get you to make and keep your commitment to yourself.
I had smoked 2-3 packs a day for around 40 years. I quit the first time I tired, now over 2 years ago, will never smoke again. I believe I own much of that sucess to the the Freedom methods and their web site.
Here is a link to just one of several pages on NRT vs cold turkey
whyquit.com/whyquit/LinksCA...
Main page
You can do it!! You have made the choice to stop which is the hardest part, you have made it through the first weeks!!!, it will get easier and one day you will just not want to smoke again. Remember, just never take another puff!
Struggling Day2 Cold Turkey
Cold Turkey
