Best way to give up smoking

pinkstars

Hi,

I'm thinking of giving up smoking well I am giving up smoking in the coming days, and am wondering what is the best way to give up, also the easiest! I can't take Champix I've already asked the doctor.

Any ideas greatly appreciated!!!
I can do this!!!!

Gaz

This is probably a little unorthodox but it worked for me (so far)

I set a date then ...
I went on the absolute rip, drank and smoked my brains out. The next day, with the hangover from hell and the thoughts of cigarettes making me retch, I quit there and then ... I just try to remember that feeling, found it easy enough to quit. Its been 6 months now.

Previously, I tried cutting back, e-cigs etc .. I always ended up back on them.

Best of luck

Kimbot

You have a variety of ways to quit and each one is different for everyone so it will be a case of trial and error until your off them.

Patches
Gum/Lozenges
Hypnotherapy
Champix etc
E-Cigs

Good luck

derfderf

pinkstars wrote: »

Hi,

I'm thinking of giving up smoking well I am giving up smoking in the coming days, and am wondering what is the best way to give up, also the easiest! I can't take Champix I've already asked the doctor.

Any ideas greatly appreciated!!!
I can do this!!!!

I'm two months off now. First time I've seriously attempted to do it in years. The kicker was getting my wisdom teeth out. I couldn't smoke for a few days anyway, so i stuck at it.

I've been using the lozenges, but have mostly swtiched over to normal mints now. It can't hurt trying a pack. They wouldn't be too expensive so you could try for a day or two.
Best of luck with it anyway, if you don't manage it now, make sure to take advantage next time you have a cold, or the flu.

Kepler 186f

I quit around 10 years ago, after having smoked for 8 years. I read a book by Allen Carr http://www.allencarr.com/category/Our-online-bookstore/
And have thankfully never looked back, good luck

gimli2112

Doctor told the OP not to take Champix Jonny.
They actually worked for me although I turned into a bit of a psycho for about 3 months, which may have been either the withdrawal symptoms or the tablets.


Most important thing I think is you really really have to want to quit.


Best of luck!

ceekay74

Vaping is the only thing that got me off them.

Get a decent e-cig and find a liquid that you really like.

Kimbot

gimli2112 wrote: »

Doctor told the OP not to take Champix Jonny.
They actually worked for me although I turned into a bit of a psycho for about 3 months, which may have been either the withdrawal symptoms or the tablets.


Most important thing I think is you really really have to want to quit.


Best of luck!

Yeah I know the doc said no to champix but if I remember rightly there were 2 other tablets out there that done the same thing.

OP if you get Gimli here to ring you once a day his rants about smoking are bound to keep you off them :P

tmabr

Im 4 months off them. went to the allan car seminar in red cow. cost 300 euro. 20 a day over 25 years and havnt touched one since. I got a few workmates to come also and 5 out of 6 are still off them.

I feel much better, 70 euro a week richer thats 1300 euro saved to date. The first few days are easy then it gets a bit harder then gradually easier. I get about 2 cravings per day now.

Its well worth a shot. I miss the smokes and get annoyed at myself sometimes for giving them up, which makes absolutely zero sense. I am a non smoker now.

previous attempts -
cold turkey - lasted 6 hours
champix - went loopy, very weird dreams, lasted a few weeks
vaping - lasted 1 day
nicorrette - 1 day
quit.ie - lasted 3 hours

gimli2112

tmabr wrote: »

previous attempts -
cold turkey - lasted 6 hours
champix - went loopy, very weird dreams, lasted a few weeks
vaping - lasted 1 day
nicorrette - 1 day
quit.ie - lasted 3 hours

Ah hear that's not quitting that's called falling asleep.

I'm off them 6-7 years now and still crave them now and again.

derfderf

Just to add my experience of Champix. I ordered them online rather than going to the doc. They do work, but ican only describe them as condensed depression.

Best 5

Try E Cigs. A lot of people have had success with them. Try and get down to a zero nicotine level & it should get easier, otherwise you will stay addicted to nicotine. Good luck in your endeavours :-)

beertons

I'm on the patches myself. 4th day now. The missus wanted to give up too, so we set a date, bought patches and smoked our last fags together. It's very encouraging having someone give up the same time as you.

pinkstars

I really have to do it now as I have been diagnosed with acute bronchitis and COPD

pinkstars

pinkstars wrote: »

I really have to do it now as I have been diagnosed with acute bronchitis and COPD

Not acute chronic Bronchitus

2forjoy

Actually wanting to quit is the best help you can get , and definately patches

pinkstars

Thanks so much for the replies

Fakediamond

Hiya, I'm 6 weeks on the stick now (e-cig) and doing well. Experiment with flavours, I like Apple best! I won't lie, I still think about cigarettes but I don't want to be a smoker. I'd also open a bank/post office account and set up a direct debit with the fag money, then you can set a goal to have a fab holiday/upgrade the car, whatever floats your boat.

I agree that Allen Carr seminars are also excellent.

As someone who has tried before, my strongest advice is never, ever put a cigarette in your mouth again, once you're off them, it's just like any addiction, one slip and you're hooked again.

I hope to move to phase 2 soon, which is give up the stick. Did someone else above say you can cut to zero nicotine on the e-cigs? I'm a bit clueless about them and just got the same strength nicotine as I was already smoking.

nobodys_hero

I haven't had a smoke at all in 7 weeks now. I've used vaping this time and it's been the easiest I've every tried - and I've tried everything bar hypnosis and needles in the past.

Here's what I did:-
1. First rule is I'm allowed smoke whenever I want but should try to choose not to as much as possible. This was really important for me because it got rid of the fear of being without cigarettes - because I wasn't.

2. Get a decent vaping kit, not the cigalikes. I did get a decent kit but what I should have done was go into a vaping shop to talk to them about it first. Worked out well, but only by chance. I had experimented with the cigalikes before so I knew that for me it was important to know how much battery power I had left before needing to charge and how much juice I had left. I saw a kit in a garage that had that and just bought it. Do go to a shop.

3. Try different flavours. I spent a fortune on different juices in my first few weeks. I was excited about it though and that made me want to vape more than smoke.

4. As I smoked less (2-5 a day compared to 20+) my taste and smell started to come back. Cigarettes started to taste nasty compared to my juices and for the same effect. I dropped to first thing in the morning and last thing at night only for smoking. Then I dropped the last one at night. This process happened over the course of about a month I reckon. I didn't have a quit day or take note of when I started vaping. It was a gradual process. Others I know have stopped completely as soon as they started vaping. For me that would have made it likely I'd fail.

5. One day I got half way through my morning one and wasn't enjoying it at all. I actually wanted to vape instead. So I did. That was my last smoke 7 weeks ago. I still carried tobacco around with me for at least another week. I still have it in my car and office desk. Any time I think of having one I think of that last one I had and have a vape.

6. First rule is pretty much abandoned now because I don't actually want to smoke any more. I'll probably chuck the tobacco away in a month or two (presumably it's a bit stale now anyway). No rush on that though because it's not a temptation at the moment which is amazing.

What's next? If I vape for the rest of my life I'm way better off than I was. However, I'll look at cutting down nicotine at the 4-6 month mark and if that goes well I'll look at stopping completely at about the year mark. I was smoking for 27 years, so a year to quit successfully is nothing. Even if it isn't successful, it won't be cigarettes I go back to, it will be vaping and that's still way way better than smoking. I recognise that it may not be 100% safe long term, but I'd take a maybe over a certain 50/50 chance of dying of smoking related issue any day of the week.

Fakediamond

I'm still vaping too, almost four months now! I feel quite addicted to it though, but agree that it's way better than cigarettes.

landmarkjohn

First of all fair play for wanting to stop, I would say that is half the battle. Then pick a time when everything else in your life is going fairly ok/well i.e. not a stressful time like exams etc.

I smoked from age 13-37.... with a couple of breaks in between. I used Allen Carrs book previously mentioned, I think there are a couple of versions, I used the thin one. Basically it tells you what you already know but it brings the bare facts to the front of your mind. Another tip is don't let yourself have just one, that is just another slippery slope.

A couple of things drove me to quit... health and money where the main ones. Also it is such a hassle being a smoker when travelling, airports, planes etc. Another thing was I was always jealous of a non smoker in our group who never suffered anywhere near the hangovers I did... about 70% of my hangover was from chain smoking for those couple of hours. I have been a happy non-smoker for over a decade.

Good luck, you will do it.... remember you are not actually "giving up" anything.

stillatit

Don't go from being a victim of the tobacco industry to a victim of the give up smoking industry. In the end the only that works is will power so just throw all in the bin NOW!!

I did it 30 years and so glad I did.

Leogirl

Has anyone tried hypnosis? Successfully? I'm going today. I tried everything, even cancer didn't stop me. I'm hoping this will be the best 250 I ever spend! I'm actually feeling quite emotional about it- hope that's a good sign!!

cloloco

Off them 3 years now, ecigs is the only thing that worked.

I tried patches, gum, cold turkey, Allen Carr, hypnosis. Didn't try any meds though because I've heard the side effects can be bad.

Ecigs was the only thing that worked for me.

Gmaximum

Gaz wrote: »

This is probably a little unorthodox but it worked for me (so far)

I set a date then ...
I went on the absolute rip, drank and smoked my brains out. The next day, with the hangover from hell and the thoughts of cigarettes making me retch, I quit there and then ... I just try to remember that feeling, found it easy enough to quit. Its been 6 months now.

Previously, I tried cutting back, e-cigs etc .. I always ended up back on them.

Best of luck

I did this one new years eve 8 years ago. I'm still off them have the odd cigar but only at something like a wedding

Leogirl

cloloco wrote: »

Off them 3 years now, ecigs is the only thing that worked.

I tried patches, gum, cold turkey, Allen Carr, hypnosis. Didn't try any meds though because I've heard the side effects can be bad.

Ecigs was the only thing that worked for me.

I did the e-cig but ended up smoking again. I've tried patches, inhaler, cold turkey- I end up smoking again weeks or months later. I can't take champix. I need to do this without any nicotine aids this time as due surgery+ need to be nicotine free for 6 weeks. There are so many reasons I need+ want to stop!!

cloloco

Hopefully the hypnosis will work for you, a friend of mine did that and it worked very well for him so it can work.
Accupuncture is another you could try although I don't know what the success rates are like.

As you said even cancer didn't stop you, that shows how powerful the addiction is. I really hope you can beat it, its hard (but only for a short time) but you need to believe in yourself - it will be the best thing to be finally free.

railer201

I gave up smoking about ten years ago using nicotine replacement therapy. Pick one that suits you, I used lozenges first full strength, then half and was on them for years. Finally then I used the half strength only when really required. E-Cigs have come about since so the modern day quitter has plenty of choice in choosing a nicotine replacement.

Really wanting to stop smoking or rid yourself of the nicotine addiction is crucial, then just do it and don't worry about setbacks - just start again. Just keep going milder and milder and you'll get there.

Here's a possible descending nicotine intake over time.

Full strength cigarettes
Milder cigarettes
E-Cigarette
Full strength patch/lozenge/gum
Half strength patch/lozenge/gum
Replacement only when really required
STOP all nicotine intake

Leogirl

Well I'm still off them. The hypnosis didn't work but it ended up more like a counselling session :-) I was using a patch+ e cig ( no nicotine juice)+ I am trying to go without patches the last 2 days. I will use the patch again if needed.

tmabr

Leogirl wrote: »

Well I'm still off them. The hypnosis didn't work but it ended up more like a counselling session :-) I was using a patch+ e cig ( no nicotine juice)+ I am trying to go without patches the last 2 days. I will use the patch again if needed.

Keep it going, im 9 months off them and its tough. I done the alan carr course over in the red cow and havnt touched one since. no vaping,pathces,drugs - cold turkey.
Its a tough battle but the 75euro extra a week helps.

Vapely

fakediamond wrote:

Did someone else above say you can cut to zero nicotine on the e-cigs? I'm a bit clueless about them and just got the same strength nicotine as I was already smoking.

Yes, you can cut to zero nicotine. Most flavours will come with a 0mg strength which is nicotine free. Say you started on 18mg, you could step down every 3 months or so from 18mg to 12mg to 6mg to 3mg and eventually 0mg.