I had a quick search but couldn’t find any of the relevant quitting smoking support group type threads..
so here’s a new one.. apologies for the title

I quit smoking cold turkey in january 2010 giving my lungs their first taste of fresh air in more than 25 years..

After a severe chest infection, I hadn’t smoked for a few days anyway so realising my bloodstream to be already free of nicotine I just didn’t bother having another cigarette.. easy enough.. but with my success came bravado and six months later I decided my willpower was strong enough to just have one or two roll-ups on a night out.. which soon led to being back on 20 a day..

So.. earlier this week my fitness levels were put to the test and found severely wanting after a punishing ride around the local trails with a couple of forum members..

The next morning I smoked my last ciggy and stuck on a nicotine patch.. so far so good.. no cravings..

Does anyone have any experience of nicotine replacement/reduction therapies..?
Do any other quitters want to give us a progress update or share their successes and/or failures..?

cheers
yunki

no, but i go through periods when i’ll smoke rollies and then just stop.

i’ve not smoked for over 10 weeks, but was smoking for 3 months prior to that. before that i hadn’t smoked since the summer.

i’ve got a pack of baccy in my rucksack that hasn’t been touched for ages.

sorry, not much help.

six months later I decided my willpower was strong enough to just have one or two roll-ups on a night out.

How does that work then?
Is that like having a pint to celebrate being off the booze for a week/month/ year?
Seriously get hold of the Alan Carr book, The Easy Way. You’ve already worked out that it’s easy and that there’s a point when the nicotine leaves the body. Read the book to get the other half of the story and really understand what you’re doing and why you’re doing it.
I have to wish you good luck, but it’s really mind over matter.
Go for it! 😀

Good for you, good luck too.

Quit my 40 a day habit with patches in 2004. Not touched one since

I quit a 15-a-day habit in 1997 cold turkey.

One day I got up and decided I didn’t want to do it any more. And that was that. Still haven’t had a single one since

I think what I’m trying to say is “you’ve got to WANT to give up; merely thinking you SHOULD give up is never going to work”

good luck

9 or 10 a day, quit about 5 years ago, cold turkey. I made a list of my “triggers” and avoided them.

The main triggers were:

Lager (I drank bitter or wine)
instant coffee, (I drank proper coffee or tea)
long motorway journeys, (hard to avoid with my job but avoided well for 3 weeks)
a set of traffic lights on the A580 ( I went a different way)

When you realise a set of traffic lights can make you want to spark up, it really makes you see that the addiction is all in the head.

I did try patches years before giving up, they made me want to smoke more.

Can I fart now

Can I fart now

I don’t know.. and if you don’t know and you have to ask, then I would recommend making some safety arrangements first..

5 years this month never looked back .

good luck.

my method was just give up and hold on tight. del off here recommends the alan carr book if you need help.

new trail to show you next week 8)

grantway – Member
Can I fart now

No! Please don’t.

Since giving up smoking 16 months ago my sense of smell and taste has come back loads 😉

I did it cold turkey, but had conditioned myself mentally for quite a while beforehand.

Good luck to anyone attempting to give up.

One thing I have noticed in the last couple of months is that the cravings/mental bit has come back a few times. Although it has been mostly when I am drunk and fancying another hit of some sort…

Gave up 4 years ago using nicorette gum. Tried giving up several times before but it was for other people, not for myself. For me that was the difference. I wanted to give up.

I gave up on the 16th August last year as it was the day my best friend was murdered in his home. I’ve heard that once you’ve smoked you’ll always have cravings at some point, and when I do it makes me remember my mate and the great times we had.
Previous to that I’d never managed in 20 years to give up for more than a few years, this time I haven’t faltered once.
Did use the inhalator to help me, and it stays in my pocket if I’m out drinking etc just in case I’m tempted.

I’ll never go back.

I gave up about 10 years ago, after smoking for a decade since I was about 15. I’d got back from India where I was up to about 40 a day and caught a bug on the plane. After a few days of feeling terrible I simply never lit another cigarette. I don’t get cravings at all, have no problem being around smokers or other triggers and my lungs feel pretty much back to normal (though I’m sure there’s damage there).

My belief is that there’s no better way than to just stop. No books, no hypnosis, no patches. It’s simply a matter of willpower. But then I would say that since it worked for me. As above, the key is to really want to stop. I was bloody-minded about it and saw every day, then every week, then every month as a victory.

Is that like having a pint to celebrate being off the booze for a week/month/ year?

Don has it, to a large extent.
once you’ve stopped, you’ve stopped, but you have to stay on the wagon. there is no ‘just one’ or whatever.
the allen carr book is good. it just gives you a few mental tricks to keep you on the straight and narrow really. IME all smokers see themselves stopping, they just need to stop. it’s a 5hit drug, if we’re honest.
anyway, make your choice, then stick to it.
all the best.
D.

new trail to show you next week

now that’s inspiration right there.. 8)

I think I’m pretty stone solid on the psychological aspect having conquered some immensely more dramatic addictions than nicotine in my chequered past.. and having also just had about a year of kicking myself in the arse for ballsing it up last time I’m pretty sure that I’m doing it for me.. and that I am already an ex-smoker..

I’m more interested in getting some stories regarding what to expect as I decrease the dosage of the patches.. how is it gonna feel when I’m down to a 2mg patch.. can I rush the process or should I take the prescribed nine months (and spend the 100’s of £’s..)? and when I tear off the last patch will I see god and at that point should I chew nicotine gum to make the voices stop..?

I want to see posts from people saying that they nearly cracked this morning and had to weigh up either smoking a fag or screaming and spitting at the next door neighbour for farting too loudly.. or is there a zen third option in that situation and how do I achieve it..?

thanks for all the support and advice and inspiration though folks.. with gods help I’ll conquer this terrible affliction.. 😉

Trailmonkey: I’m intrigued.. a new trail..? is it the one that you and sharki were scoping out on monday..?

Hey yunki…..
Good luck

Now you have stopped you can never let your guard down.

I gave up for four years, then was back on them smoking just as much as ever in the blink of an eye. Didn’t even see it coming. It was like I was never away. But, I stopped again. It’s been a long time… 1983… but every now and then, I’ll catch a second-hand drag fromm someone in the street and think it’s great. I’ve already decided that when I’m too decrepit to do anything else i’ll go back to smoking.

Again, Good Luck, it’s a filthy habit.

SB

well, i never used patches, so i dunno how much help i can be. if you’re asking if i feel like one now and again, then the answer is yes. the answer to that, is just to remember that i don’t do that any more, and that if i stray, i’m just straight back in.
beyond that i can’t comment on your particular situation, beyond ‘it’s a shit drug, why bother?’.

Just remember that each craving will pass.

Loads of people are still addicted but loads have managed to successfully quit and the % of successful quitters has increased steadily over time in response to the ever increasing ways in which you can try and help yourself quit.

If you are really determined to quit then you will find a way.

Good luck with it!

I’ve already decided that when I’m too decrepit to do anything else i’ll go back to smoking.

Again, Good Luck, it’s a filthy habit.
😯

Just remember that each craving will pass.

What craving?

don simon – Member
I’ve already decided that when I’m too decrepit to do anything else i’ll go back to smoking.
Again, Good Luck, it’s a filthy habit.

Just remember that each craving will pass.

What craving?

I was going to email you but I can’t see an email in your profile.

I am in two minds about whether or not to post what I am about to post.

As it is a public board I won’t, but if you are curious as to why I won’t chap then drop me an email and my email address is in my profile 🙂

Amasing how many controversial STW posters dont put there e-mail in profile.
makes chicken noises

info@simoncarter.es
What do you you want to email me that you can’t say in public?
You still calling my bluff, Junky?

don simon – Member
info@simoncarter.es

Thanks for that.

I am just emailing you.

It’s a long email. 😕

don simon – Member
It’s a long email.

😆

Yes, it is 😉

I’ll respond tomorrow if that’s ok? But trust me I’m not being flippant.

Addictions can be incredibly hard to break.

I have coping strategies to deal with mine, but I know that I will never be completely shot of them.

IMO once the genie is let out of the bottle you can never really go back…

don simon – Member
I’ll respond tomorrow if that’s ok? But trust me I’m not being flippant.

That’s fine by me.

At least I know you read it 😉

Yunki – sorry for going a bit OT in your thread 😳

As I have posted up above I have “recently” stopped smoking and if you ever need any support about stopping then please feel free to drop me an email as I would be more than happy to speak to you 🙂

Ho hum- YGM.

Quit a decade long 20+ a day habit about five years ago and I’m very glad I did. Bought myself a shiny new mountain bike as a reward. Have almost as strong withdrawal symptoms if I don’t get out for a ride now.

I had several failures (with hindsight not really proper attempts at giving up) before managed it. Quitting is pretty hellish when your routine and physiology are used a regular hit of nicotine but persevere with it.

The odd drunken smoke or toke has passed my lips/lungs of late but only after a few years of being off tobacco completely. I know that this kind of behaviour is a common route to recidivism but since I have no desire to go back to spending a fortune on a pointless and harmful activity I remain fairly relaxed about my, very occasional, boozed up misadvenures.

Good luck with quitting, it really is worth doing.

I finished a long time ago. I was fit before but afterwards… my god.

Absolutely, 100% the best thing I ever did, ever with my life was give up cigarettes. And not just the fitness thing, everything. Awesome. There was a while I dreaded not being able to have a fag, now when I smell them I wish I could be somewhere else. 2 or 3 years on, I detest the smell and while I understand it can briefeky create some feeling, I despise it now.

YAY!

only ever smoked joints but fairly regular for a good 15 years
had my first child 8 months ago. grew up in a smoking household no way I could put my kid through that
still hanker after a fat spliff now and again but thinking of my son is enough to set me straight

I gave up 10 years ago now and not been near one since. For the first year i didn’t say i had given up, just wasn’t smoking that day,m i found it easier. After a year i decided i’d given up and thats when i found it hard, which proves it is just in the mind!

It’s only been 3 weeks since I’ve given up; I’ve just gone cold turkey.

I was a smoker for nearly 20 years, smoking at least 20 a day before I quit. I’m feeling pretty positive about it and been pretty drunk a couple of times since stopping and not come close to smoking again.

Wish me luck! 🙂

Trailmonkey: I’m intrigued.. a new trail..? is it the one that you and sharki were scoping out on monday..?

no, but you’re in the right area. when sharki and i were staring at that trail the other day, we had our backs to the new trail which is hidden in the countours.it needs riding though to establish a more defined line in sections and a little ‘holistic management’ to get rid of some low lying branches but it’s basically there. i can’t believe how long it goes on for at such a gradual descent. it’s like the manmade stuff in wales where someone’s been in and calculated the fall 8)

I have just seen my mum die of lung cancer (and the aggressive spread into other parts of her body) and ultimate death due to blood and chest infections.

Of course not necessarily directly caused by smoking but it is the reason for lung cancer in the vast majority of cases.

If telling you all this makes one more person quit for good then I feel it is worth telling you.

I hope your journey to a smoke free lifestyle is an easy path to travel along.

I can’t offer any advise as i’ve never even tried smoking.
STW will have a fair amount of quitters so as you’ve seen already,there will be plenty of suggestions, which one work best for you though will need to be found out through persistence.

Every time you fancy sparking one up, remember vividly how much pleasure you got whilst sat on the bridge at Peck farm, rolling one up and then smoking it. Then how you felt climbing up from peck farm and almost passing out..I’m thinking you like riding more than smoking, so a worthy reason to pack it in and enjoy this life we all have.

TM, was that the trail into Plague?

Quit.Now. Every occasion (first thing in the morning,after food,booze) when you would have had a cigarette, get over it. Each one of those occasions will be a hurdle for you. Next time, those occasions will be easier to deal with. No patches, no crutches for me. 16 years ago now and the smell makes me heave (self conditioned i guess) Roll ups still don’t make me heave though! Good luck, stick with it, it’ll be the best thing you’ve ever done.