I'm gonna try to kick the 'butts again

So here I am, about to turn 34 and I've fallen off the wagon.

No, not THAT wagon, the tobacco one. I've decided that my vacation this year will be my attempt to quit as I'm a work smoker. I've tried just about everything with varying degrees of success. I'm not a heavy smoker, a pack of 25 will last me usually 3 days, unless there is alcohol involved then I tend to relapse into chain smoking.

I'm looking for tips from you guys are girls who have quit, and stuck with it. Some of the obvious would be to avoid drinking as much as possible and avoid situations where I'd normally smoke (work with my friendly coworker waving death sticks in my face every half hour..).

What has worked for you? I'd like to avoid the gum, never took to it and he patch just made me sick. When I quit for about a year and a half I was using a little nicotine inhaler, which I dubbed the plastic tampon. It was nothing at all like smoking, not really replacing the habit at all, but you certainly got your dose of nicotine.

Friends have suggested those e-cigarettes but here in Canada you can't get the ones with nicotine and inhaling flavored vapor might have been fun at raves, but I seriously doubt it will help me.

the countdown is on, July 27th will be my last day as a smoker, hopefully

While i have no tips for you, as im in the same boat.
I do wish you all the strength and luck in the world.

I've recently been quitting...(yes 'ing'). I've had the patch which seems to help with the mental part of the addiction; keep the raving lunatic bitch who wants to smoke at bay. The mind can be so damned childish sometimes. I feel, though, that using a replacement therapy is really just torturing myself- I'll still have to get off the nicotine.

I've had three packs of cigarettes in the last 2 months. Those packs lasted me 2-3 days. It's so hard. I really do want to not smoke tobacco anymore though. I have for 28 years. There is one other thing that helps immensely, but we're not allowed to speak of good and wonderful things that actually help people here.

I smoked for 25 or so years before I was finally able to quit. At least a pack a day. I had tried all the stuff you have tried - patches, gum, inhaler, e-cig, etc. I finally tried Chantix and it worked. Crazy dreams while I was on it, and I was a little moody but I'm fine now. It essentially rewires your brain to not want cigs.

I have to admit that I smoked more of a substance that is not to be mentioned on this site when I quit, but that's a discussion that we can't have here.

My health is better (no coughing every morning and I haven't been sick since I quit. It's been 3 years now.

Good luck!

I will tell you what I did. I smoked over a pack a day for 15 years. I was hypnotized and quit that day didn't smoke for 10 years. Then my vehicle got hit with an IED in Iraq and I went straight to the PX and forced myself to start smoking again.

So fast forward 10 years and I return home from overseas work and I smoke my last cigarette I have and don't leave the house for 7 days. Once I was past the chemical need for nicotine I went back to normal life. No patches, no gum, no pills, I just smoke my last cigarette went to bed and woke up and didn't have any and didn't leave the house to get more. I haven't smoked since.

I'm not saying this method will work for everyone but it is possible to quit without aids. Give it a try.

reply to post by phishyblankwaters
I quit for several years and then went back to it, not out of addiction weakness but out of my backside got as broad as a barn syndrome. Amazingly what helped me quit at that time wasn't any kind of gum, patch or drug. What I did was start carrying around a pencil or pen, holding it like a cigarette. You would be surprised to find that after many years of smoking your body becomes programmed to make specific movements- and holding and making an ash thumping motion with a cigarette is a bigger one than you think. Give it a try and see how it goes.

Oh!!!! One thing that is a great help- cinnamon sticks! They're about the size of a (filterless) smoke and much tastier than a toothpick. It satisfies the urge to have something in your hand/mouth.

^ gosh i've a dirty mind...shut UP, hush!

reply to post by Hushabye


We're in the same boat with that but I can't afford to replace the addiction completely so to speak.

Well I've opted to go aid-less so I'll probably smoke my brains out at my party then hopefully the hangover will keep me in bed the next day, then for the next two weeks I've instructed my wife to give me hell if I want to go buy smokes.

I have experienced the habit when holding anything remotely cigarette like and flicking it absentmindedly, so I'll probably keep a pen or pencil around, maybe even the stylus for my phone that's about the right size, and no ink when I inevitably stuff it in my mouth.

My boss used chantix and it kinda turned him into a raving angry person for the entire period he was on it, I figure using a chemical to kick an addiction to a chemical will be my last resort.

reply to post by shaneslaughta

I do wish you all the strength and luck in the world.

Good luck to you as well, feel free to use this thread to vent when you are really wanting one, I know i can go extended periods without a smoke when in a heated thread on here, ATS the anti-smoking aid lol

I've quit many times, but the longest was cold turkey. Back when you could smoke in bars was my downfall. But just today, my boss was talking to a co worker that quit with chantix (only on it for 2 weeks, then quit taking it), she has not smoked in a month and a half, and he just told her, if she makes it for 6 months, he will give her a bonus!!!!! Same for me and the other smoker here.

I'm going to have to try again!!!

Not to derail the OP.

Originally posted by Carreau
Then my vehicle got hit with an IED in Iraq and I went straight to the PX and forced myself to start smoking again.

Im sorry, and thanks for your service.

reply to post by phishyblankwaters


A commander of a US Army unit in Iraq in 2004 banned his soldiers from getting Chantix prescriptions because 3 soldiers committed suicide while taking it trying to quit. This is not a rumor I was there with them when it happened. Some of the other soldiers said they started having weird dreams and feeling strange after starting the meds. I would suggest trying other options before meds.

reply to post by Carreau


Yep, even the patches give me vivid dreams/nightmares.

reply to post by phishyblankwaters


discipline is what you wanna follow if you want to quit smoking. Just smoke like 1 puff or 2 the day you cant ressist. a little by little stop smoking. In less your discipline is strong you can stop smoking all together for example exercise. the more you exercise your not gonna wanna smoke because youll feel the effects the next day when trying to push yourself as hard as you can.

If you have alot a stress in your life and cant handle it then your probably gonna go back to smoking, so when you do just take a few puffs as you can and try not to inhale it in some much

I was a heavy smoker, oh going to the store? well i better smoke 3 cigarettes on the way!
One day i decided, to trade from packs to rolling my own and from that I started smoking way waaay less just because it is troublesome to keep rolling them up nonstop.

When I really wanted to stop smoking a deal was made with my body, I'd smoke 1 after morning coffe, because,it's just so good, after lunch and dinner and If needed 1 during the day for a few months, then i'd cut the middle ones out and just stick with the ones after meals.

Now I smoke 1 or 2 week and my wallet is oh so grateful for that and I'm actually happy with this, if I ever stop completely it's ok and if it continues like it is, well that's just dandy too Moderation.

Just try this, make deals with yourself and forget the aids/replacements if they don't work, your body doesn't need it.
Keep yourself occupied and smoke on don't smoke

reply to post by phishyblankwaters


Go to ECF the Electronic cigarette forum. www.e-cigarette-forum.com... I quit smoking after 22 years when nothing would help. I tried Everything. Only E-cigs got me off the tobacco. The ECF has a canadian sub forum where you can get in touch with other members who Can get you the nicotine for the e-cigs. These things simply work and i deem them as my life saver.

Do you enjoy smoking? Do you enjoy your nicotine? Want it without all the harm of the burning tobacco? You can get it with e-cigs. Not a novelty.. try a real one for a week or so.. you'll see.. they are not hype.. they really work.

What about nicotine therapies like nicotine gum? Is that legal in Canada?

reply to post by phishyblankwaters

Some of the obvious would be to avoid drinking as much as possible and avoid situations where I'd normally smoke (work with my friendly coworker waving death sticks in my face every half hour..).

I think I'm heading down that road because I've become obsessed with just how ridiculous it is to smoke. There's no benefit to it whatsoever. It's expensive. I'm having a lot of chest pains every day and smoking is making it impossible for me to walk.

Of course, thinking and doing are two different things. I dunno, it might be too late for me anyway. One minute I care, the next I don't.

A bit of advice. What's really important in quitting is having the right frame of mind. I don't have it yet, but I know this: Aside from smoking being bad for your health; smoking is just plain stupid.

reply to post by JohnPhoenix


I know a friend of mine was doing just that, ordering the nicotine inserts or whatnot but I do believe he didn't stop entirely.

What about nicotine therapies like nicotine gum? Is that legal in Canada?

The patch and gums and a ton of aids are legal, but whomever makes the call has not approved the nicotine e-ciggs, so all you can get are flavored inserts, but they are the same device. I do enjoy smoking, and I was doing quite good at maintaining myself at one or two a day but it's ballooned back to smoking a pack every 3 days. I need to really kick the habit smokes though. Waiting for the bus? Smoke time. Just got off the bus? Smoke time. Checking the garden? Smoke time. And of course the work smokes, which is where I think i might lean towards an e-cigg.

The first two weeks will be key, as I'm on vacation, and if I find myself slipping, it would be nice to have an e-cigg with actual nicotine for a few days then switch to no nicotine e-ciggs if I still feel the need to go stand in the parking lot at work every hour, at least the habit part will be easy to replace.

Nobody likes a quitter........

jk

It's all mind over matter. How strong are you? This is probably one of the only situations where it is a GREAT thing to let your pride and ego help you to overcome this addiction.

reply to post by jiggerj

I dunno, it might be too late for me anyway.

It's never too late. It sounds like you are almost ready, but of course text can read differently than face to face. Smoking is stupid, and while watching so many people around me suffering different types of cancer, watching myself getting older, I just don't think there is any point in shortening my life anymore than I already have. I'm sick of wasting money on them.

It's funny, one day, i can go the whole day and only have 3 smokes, while having a full pack. But a week or so ago I was out, and flat broke until that night at 12 when my pay goes through, and actually rolled a few butts out of the ashtray. I haven't done that since junior high school, and while sucking that horrible horrible smoke back, all I could think of is "What the hell am I doing. Really?"