my age is 33, been smoking for 15 years now, started from the odd 1, graduated to 5, then to 10, then started as occational drinker, and on drinking weekends cig count went to 20, work for stocks and futures,options,
so been smoking steadily 20/day last 10 years for sure,
now i want to quit.
tried cold turkey method, worked for 2 days, then started feeling lightheaded, kinda got scared,magnified my fears,heart started racing,started sweating and what not, then went to er-- they checked bp,sugar,egc, things came out fine.
so again started smoking ,
have a friend whoz a shrink, he made me undertand, how is my brain playing tricks on me, so now, panic attacks not last that much, just lightheadness, i get busy doing something, and it goes away, kinda trying to cut on smoking, eating hard candies.
havent fixed a date yet to quit, but was thinking, like 4cig/day for a week,then 3, then 2,then 1, then quit.
all the help from you good ppl will be appreciated.
regards
guddu.
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Lots of people will have lots of advice for you Guddu.
I'm guessing most people will say - "YOU MUST QUIT COMPLETELY!"
Then you'll have lots of different advice on how to do that - Cold Turkey/Champix/Hypno/ Patches.....
All advice is good and given from a place of well meaning, BUT the only thing is, that is THEIR experiences not yours.
If you feel you will be most successful cutting down in the method you suggest, then do it that way.
In the end, it doesn't matter what method or mindset we use to quit. It matters that we have a will to do it and that we (eventually) succeed.
FYI: I have had a (previously) successful quit with the aid of Champix and this Forum but fell off the wagon. Today is day two of a Cold Turkey quit that (fingers crossed) is going ok so far.
Welcome to the forum, fantasic decision to quit smoking and we're all behind you, good luck.
Showme is right, in that you can get plenty of advice here. And mostly it's opinion, some advice will seem right and you'll take it, other advice will be wrong for you so leave it. And it's your journey, but we are companions who can motivate and support you when you need it. So ask.
But I also think you have to respect the experiences of those further on in a quit, they are absolutely real.
Cold turkey as Kat said can do all manner of things to you. I'm yet to share my experience of the first couple of weeks with this forum, and I'm not going to go into detail, but I'm relatively fit for a 40-something guy and what my body did in the first three/four weeks scared the cr@p out of me. Then it got soooo much better, and I'm fine. It's probably just your body getting used to massive changes, and don't be afraid to see a doctor if you're uncomfortable.
Anyhow, nice one fella and good luck, look forward to seeing how you get on!
what i don't understand is, getting panic attacks is normal, if you quit cold turkey and stuff, but after i got panic attack,and lightheadness, i began smoking after 5 days(visited a normal doc he did sugar,bp ecg,everything was normal,then spoke to a friend whoz a shrink,but he is also a chronic smoker), but i have cut down on smoke from 20 to like 3-4,i get the urge to smoke, but somehow i manage,by hard candies,getting my mind diverted and stuff, the thing is i work from home, and work is like stock markets,but used to smoke a lot,when i was losing money,never realized before i decided to quit,how much of that smoking was stress/loss related.
but now when i get that lightness in head, i divert my attention,and it does not turns into a panic attack,so thought,cutting down buy gradual method,won't know wheather it gonna work, or cold turkey is the way to go about it.
does cutting from 20 to 3-4,have nicotine withdrawal symtoms?
Yes, cutting down will give you withdrawal symptoms. I tried CT but gave up on the third day and put on a patch. There are many ways to quit and only you can decide which way is best for you. I went with the patches for 8 weeks. People worry about coming off NRT but in my opinion that is the least of the problems. 4000 chemicals in tobacco leave their mark and also your subconscious which is hardest to beat. I had panic attacks and found 3 very deep breaths worked well. Good luck
it feels so nice to talk to ppl like you, who have already quit smoking and still come here to help newbies, and it kinda restores my confidence that if you can do it so can i, all i have to do is, find a right way, make a plan, and see it through,very soon i will
Guddu, I take it from this that you'll be back then? Good.
As a parting word for now, you made a difference to me today. Just before Xmas in week 3 of my quit, I'd be sitting down quietly and as if from nowhere heartbeat a million a minute, skipping beats, chest hurts a bit....what the hell?
Shallow breathing cured it and it lasted maybe 5 minutes, had less than half a dozen over the course of maybe four or five days.
I've just done some research and picked my chin up off the floor. I think I've just described a panic attack, and had no idea! They may have been part of my smoking cessation, they may not. Doctor was puzzled, chest x-ray perfectly normal.
At the time I blamed too much mulled wine, now I think it may have been the stress of my mother-in-law joining us for Xmas And yes I experienced dizziness and light-headedness as well, all part of it for me. I'm fine now!
I hope you find your path and return to these boards - you made a difference to someone already and that's the power of the forum. See you soon.
I have just had a look back at my early posts from this quit,day 1, 2 & 3 I was literally tearing my hair out,taking it hour by hour relying on people in this forum to help me through. I was a pain in the arse big time lol...I am now on day 24 which I still find incredible, I do not crave much anymore and when I do i can just laugh at it now,my mood has improved, I can smell, I can taste. I went through some pretty weird withdrawals cold turkey I can tell you but do you know what its worth it.....stay strong we are all here for you....
right now i have brought down by cigarettes from 20+ to 4-5/day
the panic attacks are not that much worse,a lightheadness is there,but its upto me to turn that into panic attack, i just divert my mind and try not to.
its kinda working, keeping myself out of situation which can give me stess, took out all postions, not trading anymore.
weekend i gonna be out, so will stick to 4/day, and from monday will take the plunge and go with either of the 3 approaches.
m'i thinking too much about quiting and give my brain all the ammuniation it needs against me, man i thought my brain works for me.sigh.
even downloaded the book easy way, will read it soon.
a question--this lightheadness only started after eating nicogums with cigarettes,now i'm only smoking ,no gums, but that lightheading is there on and off.
if i go nicogum way, how much gum should i have, i guess 4-5 should be enough, any help is most welcome.
Great that you have made the decision and are exploring your options. I cant say what will work for you, but can share how I have gone about it.
When I had my first serious quit I went with Zyban. It worked great and I managed about 6 months before caving. I was experiencing quite a lot of side effects from the meds tho, so next time decided to try nrt. In terms of time for staying quit I was less successful with the nrt. Never really got rid of using nrt and it eventually led to smoking again. I also tried ecig which was great. I used the zero nicotine ones after initial couple weeks as I didnt want to get addicted to the ecig. Again ended up caving though. Cant remember what lame excuse I had that time. Then I tried cold turkey and that was pretty succesful, lasting 10 months. I caved again last summer during a holiday. I think I caved mainly because my head was not in the right place then. I had to stop because I was pregnant, so no choice there really or time to prepare.
This time I decided to go with a strategy 'whatever works today' and armed my self with nic gums, so whenever I go over the edge of 'give me a ciggy now or else...' I take a gum. I also read Allen Carr and have to agree his theory about keeping the nicotine monster alive with nrt, so I am making extra effort not to take any unless I am about to kill someone :eek:
So different methods work, but main thing is to get your head in the right place. I would say though that cutting down is the hardest way. As Allen will "tell" you, it will only make those cigs you are having more "enjoyable" and thus enforce the addiction. I suggest you read the book before Monday.
Looking fwd to hearing your progress! You can do it!
Girl you made me realize, that even if i quit smoking, there is always a chance that i can take that up again, never thought like that, i thought if i quit it, i'd stay quit, but i guess i'd know better, as this is the first time i'm planning to quit. lets see,
Girl you made me realize, that even if i quit smoking, there is always a chance that i can take that up again, never thought like that, i thought if i quit it, i'd stay quit, but i guess i'd know better, as this is the first time i'm planning to quit. lets see,
but luv your perseverance.
Yep, Im an expert now in quitting but need some lessons on how to stay quit :rolleyes:
Hi Guddu, I could not have cut down the way you have. I didn't think I could quit at all. I only did it for the money and so far have not spent £2484 on cigs. The day before I quit I put away all the ashtrays and lighters and smoked all the cigs. I didn't think I'd last 10 minutes in the morning but I surprised myself and didn't find it hard until day 3 when I had to resort to help from NRT.
I've had lots of ups and downs since then and last week was the hardest as it was 3 years since my mum died. I had the worst cravings ever and in desperation I put on a 7mg patch. I wasn't worried about getting addicted to the nicotine as I said before, it wasn't the hardest part of quitting. My subconscious thought it worked so it did and it got me through.
You will find the way that suits you best. In the end it is all about having your head in the right place.
One thing that helped me was a free stop smoking hypnotherapy app.
As for advise i cut down in a similar way to Guddu. I had my head in a great place (thank you forum and mr. Carr!). I then threw my ciggy's out; used an inhaler for 2 days, then got rid of that too because for me it felt like the nicotine was just prolonging the pain. i just wanted to get the withdrawal over with asap and get on with my life. As others have said you have to find what works for YOU but my quit has gone relatively smooth so far.
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And yes I experienced dizziness and light-headedness as well, all part of it for me. I'm fine now!
