So I'm Quitting ...

[Kazuki]

I doubt there are many smokers amongst us in these forums, but I feel an urge to create this thread for reasons I will explain shortly.

I'm in the process of quitting smoking. It's been about 75 hours since my last cigarette. About 68 hours ago, I made an appointment at the dentist's office; I'm getting my wisdom teeth pulled soon. All four of them. For reasons not fully explained to me, I was told that I should stop smoking as soon as possible and would not be able to smoke for at least a few days after the surgery. It was sudden, but I decided that if I'm going to not smoke for 2 weeks, I may as well quit altogether. "Quitting cold turkey," as they call it. From what I've read, the first two weeks are the hardest part, so I would be kicking myself in the ass if I continued to smoke after making it past the hardest part of quitting.

I wasn't exactly a heavy smoker to begin with. On average, I had about 3 to 4 cigarettes a day. I had been smoking since April of 2008, so it's been about a year and a half, which is nothing in comparison to most others who attempt quitting. "I have it easy," I thought. In comparison, yes, I most certainly do, but so far it has been in no way an easy task. I haven't experienced any of the more extreme physical symptoms, such as coughing, sore throat, or insomnia. I have experienced irritability, fatigue, and most notably, depression. That is mostly why I'm creating this thread. I'm determined to quit, but I would really like someone to share thoughts with.

I don't mean to sound like a pussy, but on the second day I was suddenly hurled into depression. It's much like dealing with the death of a relative or a close friend because cigarettes had become such a strong part of my routine. I would use them to reward myself for completing tasks and to comfort myself in times of stress. As ridiculous as it sounds, I now feel alone - without comfort -, and the bigger parts of my day seem to have lost some of their purpose and appeal. And the most frequent thought running through my mind is "I have to live without those feelings for the rest of my life?" The reality is that I obviously don't; I just have to find new sources for them. But my dominant thoughts are definitely not so positive.

I hope that these psychological effects will decline steeply after a week or two. Soon I'll have to learn how to ignore any cravings triggered by hanging out with my girlfriend and her dad, who are both smokers.

By god, if I don't quit, somebody permaban me until I do. >_>

[L[0ne]R]

Well, I can only wish you luck.
Be strong, just try to get through that hard part and it'll be easier later on. Talk to your friends so that there are people who will support you in real world too, rather than just internet.

[Hair|Trigger]

My dad quit smoking successfully and one day just decided to take it up again, for no apparent reason.  I was really happy for him quitting but then he just threw it all away and is back to square one.  He's an idiot, don't be like him.  good luck

[Kazuki]

That's the thing about smoking, Trigger. You haven't truly quit until you die before starting up again, haha. I imagine that heavy stress can drive a person to start smoking again, but I have friends that would kick my ass if I were to take it up again.

"Quitting is easy. I've done it thousands of times." - Mark Twain

[LtKillroy]

You had me scared for a second. Its only smoking.

Seens as you can't just lock yourself in a room for a month, replacements help some people. Start drinking heavily. Or something. WoW is pretty addictive.

[Blue-ninja]

Try finding other means of relieving stress. It wouldn't help if you saw cigarettes as the only source of relief from your everyday headaches and chores.

In other words, try finding something to do that's really addicting, or really takes up a lot of your time so you won't find yourself stopping and wanting a smoke.

I've pretty much omitted the previous posts before this one.

[xurich]

Thread title scared me.

You should be proud of how far you've come in these past three days. As you're experiencing, it's not an easy task, but willpower is your best friend. Don't give in to your temptations. Be a man and prove to your cigarettes that you don't need them!

[iDante]

If you go through with this then your life will be longer. That should be all the motivation you need.

From what I've seen, a major reason that people have a hard time quitting is because much of their day used to be spent sitting around smoking, and when they quit they can't fill that time up with anything. I'm going to make a suggestion to you that you should take seriously: when you feel depressed or like smoking, go to the gym and work out, or just go outside and start running.

Also, get your girlfriend to stop too.

[DarkCrusade]

My mother had to give both me and my brother 5€ for each cigarrete we found and when we smelled that she had smoked we got 10€. One day we found 14 cigarretes and smelled she did it again and she stopped. For real.

[Kazuki]

@iDante, not really. I don't want to live a particularly lengthy life. To be honest, I don't see much enjoyment in being 80 years old and putting enormous amount of effort into getting up in the morning. There are other reasons that I quit smoking. For one, if I'm going to die relatively early, I don't want to die painfully because of internal conflict. Secondly, being addicted to something is degrading; the object of your addiction starts to own you after a while. Thankfully I never got to the stage of being so dependent on nicotine that I had to smoke in order to feel normal.

Also, you can't just make someone quit smoking. You can influence them, sure, but it's absolutely NECESSARY for their willpower to have the same goal. Hopefully me quitting will motivate her to quit as well.

Also, I'm flattered that a couple of you were scared that I was gonna leave the community. XD

[jerich]

Very good so far. I was a marijuana/cigarette smoker for about 6 years. I been a cigarette smoker for about 4. I decided I wanted to stop smoking pot and it was easier than I thought, because I didn't have the mentality that I was dependent on it. Then I thought, maybe I should quit all together. For about 7 months now, I have not inhaled smoke(besides second-hand from parties/public areas etc.).

The idea is to not have the mentality that it is hard. That is the problem with most smokers I encounter. "Man, I wanna quit but I been smoking like 12 years. It's like a lost cause to try." You already are defeated before you even begin. You have to think you can do it to enable you to overcome. No need for those stupid patches or any of that.

Secondly, keep yourself active. You will soon realize that when you smoke, it's because its an excuse that you have nothing better to do so why not have a cig break. When you feel bored, find something to keep yourself occupied and rid yourself of thoughts of cigarettes. When you are occupied, you probably won't even think of it.

As for me, most of my friends doubted me for about the first couple weeks and saw my willpower. I see cigarettes and people buying packs everyday, and I think its filthy how much tar and chemicals I have smoked. You smoke about 3 to 4 cigs a day, I would tell you to lower your quantity before you quit all together, but you are already at that point. Let your goals be short and don't overwhelm yourself with long-term.

Tell yourself, I can make it through the day instead of I can make it a full year. Soon enough, you'll find that you don't need it at all.

[Eagles_Arrows]

My mom used to work in a restaurant where her two bosses would smoke inside the restaurant and in front of her.  The second-hand smoke got to her lungs and, well, let's just say that it's done a lot to her health.

It repulses me whenever I see a fellow student, especially a girl, smoke on campus.

[Demonic]

Nice. Stay strong, and whatever you do, don't think about how you can never, ever smoke a cig again. Don't talk to people who'd point that out either.

Oh, and since you miss the ritual part, find something else. Like fiddling with a small rubik's cube for a couple of minutes or drinking water or whatever you can come up with. There's a bunch of good replacements once you make it a habit.

*lights a cigarette.

[a-4-year-old]

It is certainly easier to quit now than to quit later.  I know someone who has 3 months to live because of lung cancer, 50 years of smoking did that to her. My cousin quit smoking after only a few years and said it was easier than he expected.


Also getting wisdom teeth out sucks balls. It doesn't hurt its just you can't eat anything that tastes good for like a week.

[F4||3N]

Aw c'mon... 3 - 4? That's not an addiction! But you are better off quitting now, once you get to a pack a day, it becomes 500% harder. I cut down to 1-2 a day for a fortnight...

But these things, I don't know there exact name but it's Nicabate mini mint lozenges. They've been the only thing that's helped me out so far. btw their effects are starting to weaken, and I'm half smoking again! Which is a pain in the ass. The main reason I wanted to quit, was to save $50 a fortnight... I don't really care about my health!

[VijchtiDoodah]

And the most frequent thought running through my mind is "I have to live without those feelings for the rest of my life?"

Those thoughts and the loss of satisfaction fade with time. Trick yourself into genuinely enjoying life again by faking smiles and laughter and internally rewarding yourself for having a good time. And don't spend your days wondering when life will get better; it improves when you're not paying attention.

[{LAW} Gamer_2k4]

I had a friend who quit smoking by chewing a piece of gum every time he wanted a cigarette (normal gum, not the nicotine stuff).  It worked for him.  Anyway, good luck!

[Kazuki]

@jerich: As an ex-smoker, even after 7 months, do you still sometimes get cigarette cravings? What about when you drink alcohol? I'm most afraid of slipping up while drunk because alcohol has always increased my cigarette cravings.

@Vijcht: I know that I'll become less worried about these things as time passes. As of right now, it's only been about 84 hours since my last smoke, which is why the mental withdrawals are as strong as they are. That, and I'm under extreme stress at the moment for several reasons which I'm not going to go into. Still, it's much easier to tell someone not to pay attention than it is to do so yourself; paradoxically, I'm paying attention to the issue at hand by reminding myself not to pay attention to it. ;P

@Demonic: Yeah, I've noticed that once I free up that "addictive behavior" slot, other things start to fill it. I've been drinking a lot of water these past couple of days, and I've been eating these German chips called Pombar which I used to survive on when I was a kid. It replaces the oral stimulation (hehe) that I used to get from cigarettes.

@a4yo: I know, I was told I can't eat anything for at least 6 hours beforehand, and the surgery itself will take quite a while, so I'm going to be STARVING when I leave that dentist's office trippin' my balls off, and I won't be able to eat anything but pudding or soup or some s**t like that. For what it's worth, though, my girlfriend is gonna be there to drive me home from the office and I told her to take me to a car wash in my car while I'm trippin' on whatever they give me to serve two purposes. First, my car desperately needs a wash, and second, it will enhance my trip.

I appreciate all of the replies. Thanks a lot.

Edit: Where the hell is echo? >_>

[ElGato]

Good luck, until I'm given a good reason it won't end. Also, the 'stay active' part of jerich's post is really important, I started smoking really because it simply gave a reason to socialize at work on breaks and whatnot. Just something to do, really.

[jerich]

Cravings, sure off course I do. Especially since its been a habit for those years, but it all comes down to willpower. I just look back at the sacrifices and be like, "yea, I did it for 7 months, why start again now?"

And as for parties, at first it was the first thing in my mind was, "oh man, am I gonna slip up."

Drinking alcohol is used mainly for social drinking. The hardest part at first is drinking outside a pub/house party with a group smoking. At first, you'll be like "damn, I sure could light one right now." Solution: just concentrate at the conversation. When I'm drunk, I'll just start talking in conversations that I don't even realize about the people smoking. Its part of the "keep yourself active" thing I said earlier so you don't even think of smoking.

You got to have faith you can do it and stop wondering if you will start again and over time it becomes easier.
Think about it.

It's all about quitting smoking F.T.W.
Faith
Time
Willpower