Smoking

[Campbell]

First off, wasn't sure where to post this so thought this would be the best place.
I've been a smoker for over a year and recently have been trying my hardest to quit but it's really difficult - no matter what patches i've used I always end up scarping 'em and going back to normal fags.

Just wanna know if anyone has been in this situation and know any good ways to help quit or w/e - thanks in advance

- Campbell

[Antares]

Its great that you want to quit smoking. I know many many people that try to stop and they find it hard and some of them end up starting again. One of them stopped for a few months and said that she felt so much better physically after stopping.

Anyways, methods for stopping.
Some people stop cold turkey because they know it is something they can not have and their will power allows them to do that.
Maybe you should try that method.

Another option would be to decrease the amount weekly. So say you smoke a pack a day. You would continue doing that and then at the beginning of a week, you reduce that by one cigarette, then the next week reduce it by another and after a few weeks you will be not have any to smoke.
It kinda weens you off.

Either way, good luck and I hope you are successful!

VTGH :arrow: Drugs and Meds

[Nickk XD]

Many, many people are with you on this one.

I'm not a smoker, never was; however, I know many people who are and I've been formally trained on the topic of drugs through various health courses.

Nicotine is by far one of the most difficult drugs to break an addiction. It sucks you in and it seems impossible to quit...for many it is impossible.

There are several key steps to breaking an addiction. Not all of them require any type of drug/medication to help you quit.

Avoiding medications and avoiding cutting down is the best. QUIT COLD TURKEY. People who slowly reduce their intake easily find reasons to increase it.

Steps:

1. Why are you quitting?


Make a long, long list of every reason you have to quit. Hang this in an always visible place. This makes you mentally stable to actually quit.

2. Get a support group.


I'm sure you have friends or family members who smoke and wish they could quit. Form a support group. Quitting is always easier when you have other people to help and support you. Maybe make bets with people who don't smoke but want you to quit. Like with your parents. Say "Bet me $50 I can stop smoking for 21 days". If you fail, you owe them...if you win, they owe you. 21 days is the important number because that is the length of time it takes to fully break almost any addiction, especially nicotine.

3. Find something that is a HEALTHY substitute for smoking.


Healthy alternatives do not include nicotine gum or patches. Nicotine gum just curves the issue to your mouth. People then get addicted to it. They then can get cancer in the mouth, etc. after long term use. Patches make people sick and are usually ineffective. People say that citrus (particularly grapefruit) helps with the withdrawal symptoms and helps you get over the addiction much quicker. Something else that I personally have seen work is chewing BIG RED gum. Anytime you feel that you need a cigarette, pop in some big red.

4. Plot your progress.


As you begin to break your addiction, be sure your recording it in a diary or journal. Notate how you feel and your current status. Also refer back to your list of REASONS TO QUIT.

5. Visit your doctor.


They can be of assistance and refer you to other programs that may help you. The ONLY medical use for nicotine is to help people stop nicotine addiction. Maybe he may have something up his sleeve that might help.

6. Try hypnosis.


My Aunt is a clinical hypnotherapist. She helps people with addictions, much like these. 97% of her patients that are smoking and wish to stop actually do stop--that's good odds, but can be expensive. The good thing is: Most insurances cover it.

7. Keep the future always in mind.


Remember what you want to achieve. Also look at the benefits. Your health begins improving in as little as 24 hours from your last cigarette. After several years, your lungs will also completely recover.


You will experience withdrawal symptoms-they won't not happen. Things you may experience but shouldn't be concerned with (because they are withdrawals) are: cravings to smoke, irritability (cranky), Insomnia, fatigue (extreme tiredness), inability to concentrate, headache, cough (the one and only cough that is good--your lungs are cleaning), sore throat, constipation/gas/stomach pain, dry mouth, sore tongue and/or gums, postnasal drip, tightness in the chest.

To cope with withdrawal symptoms, I suggest the 5 D's of withdrawals:


Delay the urge until it passes in 3 to 5 minutes.
Distract your self. Go for a walk, go shopping, etc.
Drink water. Water helps relieve many symptoms and gets the nicotine out of your system faster.
Deep Breaths. Relax, close your eyes and take 10, slow deep breaths.
Discuss your feelings with someone close to you or even here on VT.

Other ways to relieve withdrawals include:


Exercise. This is a great distraction but also keeps your body moving. More movement=faster the withdrawal symptoms will pass.
Get more rest. Withdrawals from nicotine are sometimes referred to as "smoker's flu" as many of the withdrawal symptoms are similar to the flu. Rest with help with fatigue and a few other issues and it helps time pass quicker.
Take your vitamins! These will help your withdrawal symptoms if your as healthy as you can be. It will also help replenish depleted nutrients that nicotine was taking away from you.


I am proud to say that most, if not all, of the information above it FROM ME. I used the internet as my guide but none is copied nor pasted.

[Zazu]

Its great that you want to quit smoking. I know many many people that try to stop and they find it hard and some of them end up starting again. One of them stopped for a few months and said that she felt so much better physically after stopping.

Anyways, methods for stopping.
Some people stop cold turkey because they know it is something they can not have and their will power allows them to do that.
Maybe you should try that method.

Another option would be to decrease the amount weekly. So say you smoke a pack a day. You would continue doing that and then at the beginning of a week, you reduce that by one cigarette, then the next week reduce it by another and after a few weeks you will be not have any to smoke.
It kinda weens you off.

Either way, good luck and I hope you are successful!

VTGH :arrow: Drugs and Meds

+1 for this advice.

When I quit smoking tobacco, the method that worked best for me was realising how evil the stuff is and just quitting cold turkey. Obviously, though, this doesn't work for everyone so have a good look around for different ways in which you can quit.

The NHS is meant to give pretty good support for people who want to quit - go and see your GP and have a chat about how they could help.

[Campbell]

Thanks a lot guys, i'll use all your advice in the battle against this crappy addiction. If you wanna be kept posted friend me :)

[highontop]

Try using chewing tobacco. I started using it to quit smoking and I am currently chewing one tin a week. A lot better than a pack a day.

[Nickk XD]

Cheaper maybe...better? Definitely NOT. Please, please, please do not switch to chewing. It is just as addictive and has many, if not all, of the same negative effects cigarettes have. Yes, you will experience fewer lung issues but still will have an increased risk of heart attack, stroke, and stress. You will also be at a GREATER...MUCH GREATER risk of cancer in or around the mouth. This includes esophageal cancer...and sometimes even stomach cancer.

Nonetheless, by switching to chew...you are still ADDICTED.

Try using chewing tobacco. I started using it to quit smoking and I am currently chewing one tin a week. A lot better than a pack a day.

[CHenig]

I am very impressed with your great and resourceful post.

[robrobin10]

Smoking niccotine is very very difficult to quit.

Your probably going to find it almost impossible to do on your own if you have been smoking more than 10 a day for more than a couple of years.

Your best bet is to try the electronic ciggarette devices. They help wean you off niccotine and give you a fag based shape to play with whilst you get over the worst of your cravings.

Willpower though is going to be needed in order to beat this addiction, and lots of it.

By the way as you said normal fags I assume you still smoke weed, if thats the case make sure you smoke it pure from now on, use pipes or something, otherwise your just going ot keep craving for normal fags.

Goodluck.

[Nickk XD]

Smoking electronic cigarettes keep you addicted because they contain nicotine cartridges, which may or may not contain the same amount of nicotine as a regular cigarette.

Nicotine leads to constricted blood pressure which still drastically increases your heart attack risk and blood pressure. This can still lead to stroke, too. Nicotine alone is not linked to cancer, but it is linked to negative circulatory effects.


Your best bet is to try the electronic ciggarette devices. They help wean you off niccotine and give you a fag based shape to play with whilst you get over the worst of your cravings.

Goodluck.

[CantBeTamed]

I Tried Its Hard I Tried Using The Gum And Ended Up Addicted To The Gum Now Im Back On Cigs

[My_Toes_Are_Cold]

I smoked for about a year and I'm quitting now with some success so far; I'm a few days in without a cigarette. My secret is that I'm trying to avoid people who would have cigarettes that I smoke (since I resorted to only bumming to cut my intake). I also have Red Dead Redemption (shit is so cash) and other video games to keep my mind occupied off cigarettes. It's also getting to be summer - in Boston, that means heat and humidity up the wahzoo. Smoking cigarettes when it's hot out just feels yucky, whereas I prefer smoking when it's cold out; the heat of the cigarette coupled by the heat of the weather produces a negative reaction in me so strong that I usually toss a cigarette soon after lighting.

Never say you'll progressively stop smoking. I know a few lucky souls who have successfully quit smoking, and none of them did it by slowing their intake. I do not know anyone who has quit with nicotine supplements such as patches or gun (although my critical inquiry professor began chewing Nicorette after quitting on his own accord). You gotta go cold turkey, my man.

It takes a lot of willpower, but you have to watch yourself. And tell your friends to watch you, even when you're begging on your knees like a dog for a puff. Even ask your friends not to smoke around you, if it's that painful. Some will tell you to fuck off, but some will understand and accommodate to aide in your endeavor.

I wish you best of luck. I have no sense of days since it's summer vacation for me, but I think I'm about 3 days in and still strong.

Here's a piece of encouragement: every single person who stopped smoking told me that the first week is the hardest, and budging through it is a significant milestone. While I can't guarantee this statement, I was told that a person was in clear if they passed that 7-year mark.

[BlackBetty]

Smoking is very hard to stop.. It's not the tobbaco that you are addicted to, it's the nicotine. The nicotine isn't bad for you, like the filter, etc, that is in the cigerette. I know at a head shop, you can buy an E-Ciggerette...

Here is the link: http://www.ecigaretteschoice.com/

It's costly, but in the long run you will save money.

[Nickk XD]

Nicotine is one of the things that leads to heart disease and even strokes.

Nicotine constricts blood vessels, thus raising your blood pressure.

Smoking is very hard to stop.. It's not the tobbaco that you are addicted to, it's the nicotine. The nicotine isn't bad for you, like the filter, etc, that is in the cigerette. I know at a head shop, you can buy an E-Ciggerette...

Here is the link: http://www.ecigaretteschoice.com/

It's costly, but in the long run you will save money.

[ortmann123]

try stepping over to chewwing gum, it worked for me

[Eskimo]

I would pick up a healthier habit, like some sort of relaxing excersize. I know thats kind of an oxymoron but yoga is a prime example.

[Lyths]

Don't try cold turcky, thats to stressful on the body (due to the fact that your body is use to the nicotine ) try somking a little less a week.....My mom was addicted to cigarettes of 20 years and quit by decressing the amount she smoked per week....and afther 2 months of doing that, your teaching your body not to be addected to so much nicotine, Its like 2 in 1 you still smoke and your also quiting at the same time!

tip: don't smoke when your fell fine or anything like than and, smoke when your stressed ( just a little though )

[Nickk XD]

Cutting down is successful for some, but not for most.

When you quit cold turkey, you give your body the immediate "I am quitting" notice. This makes it much easier on your body as far as withdrawals.

You will experience withdrawals with both cutting down and cold turkey. Cold turkey has more noticeable and humiliating withdrawals; however, it is quickly over within a week or so. If you cut down, you lengthen the time of the withdrawals but decrease the severity. Also, people who cut down are more apt to say "Oh, one more cigarette won't hurt".

Science has proven time and time again that cold turkey with almost everything (except heroine and alcohol) is the most successful way.

Don't try cold turcky, thats to stressful on the body (due to the fact that your body is use to the nicotine ) try somking a little less a week.....My mom was addicted to cigarettes of 20 years and quit by decressing the amount she smoked per week....and afther 2 months of doing that, your teaching your body not to be addected to so much nicotine, Its like 2 in 1 you still smoke and your also quiting at the same time!

tip: don't smoke when your fell fine or anything like than and, smoke when your stressed ( just a little though )

[JunkBondTrader]

Nonetheless, by switching to chew...you are still ADDICTED.

Not to mention, it ruins your teeth. Plus you don't see too many spitoons around these days.

[Antares]

Ick, yea I saw that chewing tobacco bit, to anyone struggling with quitting smoking (which is technically an addiction to nicotine) do NOT start doing anything else in place of it that can further harm your body. That includes getting your nicotine fix from another source because that defeats the purpose of quitting.

Don't start chewing tobacco. It is just as disgusting as cigarettes, it still costs money, it still poses health risks, and its hard to quit still.

Its disgusting, just don't do it :P

[Jay98]

Actually chewing is worse for you, when you smoke you only recieve toxins when you take a drag. When you chew you are constantly absorbing the nicotine an other harmfull shit. Eaith way, there both disgusting...

[SammieRose]

I will have to confess that I was a smoker for two years, ages 14 to 16, even though it was illegal for me to buy them, I was able to get them. And it was really difficult for me to quit too, and i came to think it was something they put on Marlboros that make them uber addictive, even to the smell of them. I was almost a pack a day smoker.

I was able to quit cold turkey, no patches. Was a bitch for over five days while the nicotine addiction was wearing off, but thanks to Sam who stood besides me and help me cope with the urges to go and buy another pack, i was clean and resisting temptation. I still have to get away from people smoking Marlboro, but other smokes are ok. That is why I think they put something in them to make them more addictive.

You just have to set yourself small goals. Go for a day. You did it! Go for two more. then 4 more, then 8, by now half a month has pass, make it a month.

Also, be really careful about cigars, people will say is not the same, but it does get you hooked on nicotine too.

[xXl0sth0peXx]

Please do not post in threads older than 2 months! :locked: