Smokers....I finally quit!

I just quit after 23 years by using Chantix. The instructions tell you to pick a quit date 7 days from your start date. I didn't do that. I just kept smoking until I felt ready to stop then weaned myself off of cigarettes. I went from a carton a week down to 10 cigarettes a day then down to 5 then to none. I'm in my 5th week on Chantix and if I miss a dose I do feel it. It's more breaking habits now rather than needing nicotine. I was use to setting up my truck to load with a smoke hanging out of my mouth, closing the truck after a delivery and lighting up, etc... I figure I will stay on the Chantix for the whole 12 weeks and maybe an additional 12 if I feel that I'm not ready to be without it. My insurance actually pays for it so the cost of the medication is way cheaper than cigarettes. Especially here in NJ where they cost over $6.00 a pack!!! Good luck to everyone trying to quit and ask your doctor and your insurance provider if Chantix is right for you.

 

Amen... I've been quit four days now. This will be the second time around for me--no patches, pills, etc.--just a realization that I'm 43 years old and I've smoked a grand total of 33 of those years.

If you're doing the math in your head, you're saying, "Wow, he started smoking when he was ten?" Nope... I started smoking when I was six--I quit for four years one other time. Just one cigarette was all it took to start that habit again.

The last time I quit was cold turkey also. I completely believe that when you are committed to quitting, you'll quit--no pills needed.

 

30 lb crap?

 

I stopped smoking last July 28 after smoking 1-2 packs of Winstons for 37 years. I use the word "stopped" instead of "quit" because honestly "quit" implies a sense of finality and I can't say for sure that I'll never smoke again; I can only say that I haven't smoked today and I don't anticipate smoking any cigarettes tomorrow. "Quit" is too huge of a commitment.

A woman I met last summer on St. Marten told me of a simple mindset to become a non smoker. I'll share it with you: YOU DON'T HAVE TO QUIT SMOKING! Simply postpone your next cigarette for ten minutes. After ten minutes chances are that your urge to smoke will have passed. Do this several times a day and viola!, you will have achieved your first smoke free day, then week, then month. What the hey- it worked for me.

Yes, I still crave a cigarette on a daily basis, but I've discovered that the urge to smoke only lasts for thirty seconds or so. I was chewing 4mg Nicorette for a couple of months. It works like a charm to deliver the nicotine necessary to feed the addiction, and interestingly I became hooked on the ###### gum. Eventually I was able to wean myself from that as well and after an eighteen pound weight gain I'm finally substance free, albeit with an ugly gut and tight Levis. So now I'm on the exercise program.

However most of our urge to smoke is psychological and the gum, patch, or whatever won't do a thing for the urge to smoke that goes beyond mere drug addiction. For this you must find an suitable substitute- a "mouth toy" if you will; toothpicks, bread ties, gum, hard candy, etc. You will also need to discover the "triggers" in your life which cause you to want to smoke- driving, talking on the phone, calculations, etc, etc; the triggers are different for everyone.

Quitting cigarettes may be the most difficult thing you'll ever do. Only another smoker can understand just how powerful this addiction really is.
Believe this though: YOU CAN STOP SMOKING CIGARETTES IF YOU WANT!!!
I know this to be a fact because I stopped smoking myself and I'm probably one of the most weak willed people you'd ever meet.
Last but definitely not least: I didn't stop smoking on my own; I prayed for God's help and received it.
rx

 

Rex, you hit it right on the head man. And I had to laugh when you talked about the gum. Yeah, I went from 2 packs or Malboros a day to two packs of nicorette a day. I couldn't quit the gum, so I started smoking cigarettes again. A friend got me to dipping skoal and copenhagen and I put down the cigarettes. After a couple of years of that, it was damaging my teeth and gums. You get more direct nicotine too. It was harder to quit than the cigarettes, so I just smoked. Man, there just ain't no way to quit a little bit or substitute. Like you said, you didn't quit, you stopped!!!

 

U can do it, u can do without the smokes!

 

So chew the gum forever. The nicotine isn't what is harmful, it's the tar and other things in cigarettes that is bad. I know someone who still chews Nicorettes - he's been doing so for almost 15 years. It's better than cigarettes. It doesn't cause cancer, you can do it anywhere, it freshens your breath, it's cheaper, etc. etc., etc.

Nicotine's not that big a deal unless you have heart problems. It's a stimulant. The tar and crap is what gives you cancer.

So chew the gum!!! Much better than smoking!!!!

 

I see you're from Canada, perhaps the Nicorette is cheaper up there than smokes. Here in the States, a "carton" of Nicorette costs about the same as a carton of cigarettes. In some places, Nicorette costs even more (cheap cigarette states like North Carolina, Alabama, etc).

When my wife was being "imprisoned" in Sarnia, Ontario, while waiting on immigration, I used to bring her smokes from Michigan. The cost of smokes over there in Ont. was just insane! About $10 a pack, and people over there still buy 'em. Just goes to show the addictive power of nicotine.

 

It is hard to quit and not expect to gain a lot of pounds. LOL I know for a fact Zyban works and I am about to try a program called "Final Smoke". Its supposed to be all natural stuff and i got a few friends that quit on it. So I will let you guys know how well it works.