I have smoked for 14 years and am trying again to quit cold turkey. This is the hardest thing in my life. Anyone ever quit smoking successfully? How is life now for you as a non smoker? Need advice! Thanks!
How many people here have successfully quit smoking after smoking a long time?
I quit a little under a year ago—unfortunately it was too late for me and I will suffer for it for the next year MAYBE with the 2 terminal illnesses I acquired… I smoked for 35 YEARS and quit cold turkey last November after being told of my illnesses… it was EXTREMELY difficult but I did it… what I did MAY help you… if so, feel free to use my idea… I love oranges so, I went out and got NAVAL ORANGES (the big seedless kind) and whenever I wanted a cigarette, I reached for an orange, peeled it, pulled the pieces apart and ate the orange… I realized it took as much time to peel and eat the orange as it took to smoke a cigarette and as long as my hands and MOUTH were functioning in about the same manner as they would while smoking, I must have tricked my brain into becoming smoke satisfied… I would eat 12 or more oranges a day for the first couple of days and then gradually dropped down to where I stopped HAVING to eat the oranges after a couple of weeks. I now RARELY crave a cigarette but when I DO, the craving never lasts too long…. when driving the car, I would take pre-peeled oranges in a ziploc baggie and reach for them when I felt like smoking—-I was able to quit and did NOT gain any weight as oranges are non-fattening.!!! I just wish I had come up with this idea on how to quit 25 YEARS ago rather then waiting until I was sentenced to death. I hope YOU are successful so that someday you don’t have to be telling THIS SAME STORY to someone else looking for quiting advice—I’m hoping that when YOU tell this story, you are smoke free and SICK FREE
Everyone that I know that has quit has used help. My best friend swears by the patch, her husband loves the gum in stressful situations. However you do it stay strong!!
Good luck… oh and my boss did hypnosis and hasn’t smoked in 15 years.
Well…me.
I quit somehow 5 years ago…
I have smoked till the school…
More or less 20.
My wife and I both smoked for 17 years and gave up cold turkey at the same time last year (jan 2nd 2006). We had both tried to stop before about 5 years ago and had stopped or reduced for up to 6 months but gone back to the bad habit. We had tried patches on and off since but really find they drag the process out and make it worse. This time for some reason we found it fairly easy. We had just made a big change in our life (Emigrated) and for years had said we would stop when ….. (fill in the blank) . Well this time was it, no more excuses , no more putting it off.
It helped a lot that we were both really commited this time. It seems bloddy awful at first and you cant imagine it will get better but I would sy by day 4 you are over the worst of it. If you can stop for 4 days , you can quit.
My wife is Asthmatic and would usually end up in hospital at least once a year. Its hardly bothered her since, we are both way healthier than we have been for the last 10 years (we also got a dog and are now dieting (shift the inevitable gain from ending smoking), and gave up caffiene about 3 months ago – its an even worse one to break as its hidden in so much , and you get blinding headaches)
Hardest thing is people who jokingly offer a ciggarette when they hear you are quiting – they suck, and its only because they cant pluck up the willpower themselves.
Good luck, if we can without killing each other, you can.
I started around l3 and smoked all my life until l2 years ago and that was over 25 years total. I quit when I got pregnant and made a decision that I would not take it up again after he was born and I didnt. I had to have a goal and be ready and busy after the baby was born to keep mind off smokes. It worked for me.