how did you quit smoking?

[takamore]

i have to get rid of this habit and soon.. i know i have to stop before transplant.. what i would like to hear is how did you stop smoking? with all the meds we take and the ups and downs of being on dialysis, im finding quitting harder than in the past.. nerves and stress-response seem to be a big part... i was told there are new and better meds on the market.. patches, gums, and zybans never worked for me.. last time i quit i did cold turkey... im seeing my psych in a few weeks to discuss some help... any stories/suggestions?

p.s yes i know me bad

[KICKSTART]

no suggestions  , im a smoker too !

[natnnnat]

Well, I'm skint with suggestions so that's alright. 
Stories?  Well, I used to smoke and smoke and smoke.  Forgive me for this unsavory opinion, but I found smoking to be sexy and fun.  That was back when I dated other smokers.  I smoked roll your owns and I loved the aroma  - well, rollies aren't as hideously stinky as tailor mades!    ... and I got into the activity of rolling a fag.  Slow, careful, perfect cigarettes.  I also enjoy origami and various handicrafts.
Then I started getting sick from smoking.  I would get the most shocking headaches, and feel nauseous.  I'd already been coughing my lungs up for a few years.  For awhile I worked around the headaches/nausea by changing brands.  I would get a packet out of each brand, then swap back to the original.
Eventually that didn't work and I discovered that I could get away with social situations without necessarily smoking.  The main problem was what to do instead of rolling a fag.  I discovered that I was smoking for the sake of something to do, because I wasn't actually that into hanging around at parties after all.  Strangely, now, years later, I can sit around at parties and not smoke and not fidget. 
Then I met my DH, and he has never smoked.  I wanted to kiss him, so that fixed the business of smoking being sexy. 
The end.   Haven't smoked in three years.  Probably have emphysema though, if the ads on telly are anything to go by.

[Poppylicious]

Hmmm, when I gave up I did it completely cold turkey (after thirteen years, and on twenty a day) in April 2004.  I'll never smoke again, but sometimes I really love the smell of cigarettes as it wafts over.  Other times I really hate it. Other times it just evokes the most ridiculously nostalgic memories of bittersweet times.

Yep, so I have no suggestions, except that maybe it would help to work out why you smoke, when you smoke, and then attempt to break those particular little habits.

Sorry.

But good luck!

 

[glitter]

I smoked three packs a day for 20 years. I quit cold-turkey at noon on April 11, 2006. My husband and I knew he was going on dialysis the 14th, and haveing a nephrectomy the 13th. We knew for his own comfortability of being in the hospital and sitting for four hours at D- he needed to quit. So we quit together cold turkey at noon, after smoking a whole pack that morning.

I guess I was just ready, I still have moments I miss them, but I am a non smoker who has not cheated. NO ONE thought I would be able to quit- I simply smoked too much, but I still did it. Part of my 'right thinking' was that when other people around me quit, they would use it as an excuse to be short tempered and nasty. I told myself from the beginning I was not going to do that, I was not going to be mean, and if I had to suffer, it would be in silence. I just told myself over and over- your a non smoker your a non smoker now. It has worked so far.

[Stoday]

I used to smoke 20 a day for over four decades. I'd tried and failed to give up several times. Then I did it cold turkey, on a whim. Just to see how long I could go without, instead of making an issue of it, so if I started again I hadn't failed. That was 5 years ago and I've been a non-smoker since.

Not without problems though. Just ONE WEEK later I got a heart attack. Then a couple of months later on I got ulcerative colitis. The specialist asked if I'd given up smoking. He attributed the colitis attack to that. Took nearly a year to get that fixed.

[Riki]

for me, it was pretty simple.  I was in the hospital and had a skin infection and I had to be isolated. It was a dialysis ward, infections spread like wild fire. *L*  Anyway, I was in there a week, and they wouldn't let me out, so I had no choice.  I did a lot of walking around in circles in the room, because I really wasn't sick otherwise.  I can't say I've stuck to it, though.  When my best friend was killed in 2002, the day of her funeral, I stole one from my brother, but that was the only time.

My mom went to a support group at the addictions centre here.  I think she was orignally using it to get sundays off work, but she went through with it.  They had to pick a day to quit, which was about 3 months later, and in the time between to cut down.  I think they had to cut down to 10 cigs a day, and then they could go on the patch, because the patches have the same amount of nicotine as 10 cigarettes.  Once she had cut down and was on the patch, it didn't take long for her to not even need the patch anymore.  She has done better than me.

[romanyscarlett]

I quit cold turkey after a few failed attempts in the past. I find that beginning a new regime (be it a diet or giving something up) on a Monday always end in failure. I don't know whether it was because I hate Mondays and the beginning of the working week - whatever the reason, quitting on a Monday never worked for me. So now I always start things on a Wednesday and whatever it is I'm doing seems to work out.

My uncle is trying to give up smoking now with medical help. He goes to a support group each week and has nicotine replacement patches. My uncle has an extremely addictive personality and has struggled with alcohol and drugs in the past. He has managed to put these demons behind him a couple of years now but the cigarettes are proving harder to kick. He has found going to the support group immensely helpful though so perhaps you could check to see whether there is anything like that in your area.

Also, try and do things day by day rather than looking too far ahead. Set yourself small achievable goals. If you have 3 cigarettes every hour, try having just 2. Once you realise that you can get by without as many as you usually smoke, you'll probably find it easier to quit altogether.

[Jean]

I too quit cold turkey whan I was in the hospital. Did not bother me a bit. However, 5 months later I decided to smoke again. ( Yes, I am an idiot ) But now I have a support thru my insurance and altho there is not dramatice change yet, there is some change. I now keep a journal of when I smoke and why. Can already see the hazardous times in my day.

[Hubbs]

Yep, cold turkey. the only way to go.  i smoke and the tech's were pissed.. i told them i smoked from the beginning. but they set the thing to a non smoker. that was strange.  believe it or not. i'm in better health smoking .. i quit for 3 yrs. then tord the end. i went from 175  to over 200lbs. and i'm 6'2" and that was the heaviest i ever weighed.  my BP was way up. i was stressed to the max. so i started again. i'm back to my normal wight. just feel better.  and i'm going to dye one way or the other. so i'm ganna die happy
one other thing, like cigs,  my coffee comes 2nd.  no way in hell am i ganna give up my coffee! 

[billybags]

Way to go. I also enjoy a ciggie.

[gothiclovemonkey]

Glad im not the only smoker lol
Ive paused my smoking habit cold turkey many times, but something always happens that draws me back. My addiction is the activity of it, not the nicotine so the patches and such dont work. Everyone in my family smokes, so it makes it very difficult to quit completely. I smoke about a 1/2 a pack a day, sometimes a whole pack, and have for 10 years. I didnt smoke when I found out I was pregnant, was smoke free for 3 mos after. It was easy then, but it seems lately to prove "Impossible" But i think if i stayed away from smokers and found a better hobby, i could do it again. It just depends on why u smoke, thats the key to quitting.
Good luck to us all

[Hubbs]

Right, you have to WANT to quit. not quit cuz everyone bugs u about it.  my Dr always tells me to quit. but thats his job.. (playing god)

[BASSMAN]

I quit cold turkey.  Try this site,  www.whyquit.com.  An excellent resource for quitting cold turkey. (the best way)  it actually produces less suffering.

[takamore]

thank you all for the great replies!! love to hear more stories!!
one week off the habit and counting... helped that i spent my first week at a dialysis camp up near Algonquin park .. fresh air and lake and great people and tons of Nature helped..