Any good tips to quit smoking?

[jillg]

I've been thinging of quitting smoking a lot lately. The past couple weeks my chest has felt heavier in the mornings and I cough up icky mucus. I KNOW I need to quit, but everytime I think I'm not going to have another cigarette, it makes me want one more. (the price of cigarettes now doesn't matter, I have a rolling machine and I can make filtered cigarettes for only $10 a carton, and that will last me a couple weeks, so thinking of the rising price isn't going to make me quit)

I can't afford the patch or gum or anything like that. Anybody have any good (and cheap) tips that could help? And how do I NOT gain weight?

I've been smoking on and off since I was 13 The last time I quit was when I was pregnant, but as soon as I got home from the birthing center, I went outside and lit up! Help!

[redhenfarm]

I quit about 30 years ago cold turkey. It was my second "quit". DH & I quit a couple of years before that when we were expecting our youngest child but I waffled.

It was the addiction and the habit that took adjusting to. If memory serves me the actual addiction is within a few days or couple of weeks. I'm sure someone here knows. But the habit - what do I do with my hands! I hung in there because of my kids and I wanted to be around, healthy, to see grandchildren some day (so where are they?!). Another reason I quit was I was going to the "Y" to swim several times a week. Getting out of the chlorine pool, going out to the car and lighting up made me feel queasy. I started to connect the dots between not feeling good and the smoking being bad for me (just as you are with the coughing guck). So I looked at the pack I had and made a decision to toss them.

One thing that helped me was I found these little plastic cigarettes with a hole in it that helped with the desire to puff. Later I realized I was not taking good, deep breaths since I wasn't smoking. I missed the deep breathing so I used the slow, deep, measured breathing in and breathing out such as Dr. Andrew Weil teaches and that helped with that part of the habit.

I still loved the smell of a cigarette and tried not to be around it. After about 2 years cigarette smoke started to "stink" to me. No longer smells good or tempting.

I also know even after all these years there is no "just one" - I'd be right back to the 3 packs a day.

I enjoy good lungs and health.

You can do it, girl!

 

[Guest Guest]

when you are ready to quit you will just quit! and for your own reasons.

 

mine were-

 

I just got tired of being a slave to a thing that really served no purpose except to keep me addicted, and not in control of my own behavior.

 

I did not 'quit' smoking, 'I (just) don't smoke'. I can smoke anytime I want to.. but 'I don't smoke' so there is no reason to start (again).

 

 

[HapyGirl]

1. Keep trying until it sticks. It took me a good 10 tries before I was able to stop for good.

2. Deep breathing - like slow first stage childbirth breathing instead of smoking helped me tons!

3. Think of the LONG term cost in quality of life- cancer, being sick allt he time

[redhenfarm]

Good tips, Becca. I can see Stargazer knitting a blanket to cover the USA .

Hoping the best for you, Stargazer.

 

[Freetobeme]

My mom smoked for most of her life. Then she came down with a severe case of pneumonia. She had just bought a carton of cigarettes, but she decided that enough was enough. She kept the carton of cigarettes, but never touched them. Eventually, she gave them away. She said she really wanted a cigarette on many occasions, but just told herself 'no' and found something else to do.

[Synn]

ugh........ I am in the same boat...

[logcabinmama]

I have never smoked, but, DH did for, wow, probably 40 years and had it almost licked one time, then started up again.

 

But, what made him stop was when he had his heart attack, the DR. said he had been a smoker, and he was not to do it again. It was hard for a short time, and the smoke almost made him want one. Now, he can't stand the smell of the smoke.

 

Oh, since I have allergies, he smoked outside for the last 10 or more years that he did smoke. Yes, even in the - 30 degrees he was outside.

 

All of you who have stopped are doing great. Like Wes said, when you are ready, you will stop, but you have to want to in order to do it. This is the same for any thing, habit or whatever.

 

 

[Synn]

That's just it... Right now I just don't want too.. I am weak.. And it's a crutch...

[sprotrak]

Here where I live they are using a laser treatment on certain spots on your body. It is kind of like accupuncture, but done with lasers. It cost about $250 to have several treatments. They said it is about the same cost as cigarretes. It is about 85% effective.

I lost my Mom and Grandmother both to lung cancer,4 years apart. They always said they just could not quit smoking, but they quit when they were diagnosed with cancer.

You don't want your family to watch you die like that. Besides your life, think of all the money you will save. If you just want to go cold turkey take an empty canning jar and put a lid on it. Each day place the money you would have spent on cigarettes and pace it in the jar. AT the end of a year take the money out and reward yourself with a nice vacation, or something you really want. You can do it!

[Synn]

Well I did it... Thursday the 30th of September the sign according to the Farmers Almanac was right... I quit that night I had one on Friday and one on Saturday.. Today is Wednesday and I haven't had one since.. Hubby is trying to quit too. Although he quit on the same day he does have a pack in the car.. But says in 3 days he has only had one out of it.. Told me if I didn't believe him I could go count. But I do know he sneaked off to the neighbors house down the road and bummed one off them last night..

But hey this is good for us..

Btw Lily.. I did watch my Mom die from lung cancer which spread to her brain.. I quit then and started back up later on.. Hubby had quit for 5 years and then had a stressful summer last year and started up again..

[moonstar]

Congradulations on quitting! I bought a book called "You CAN Stop Smoking" by Jacquelyn

Rogers. Went through the program, which I think was really

great. It eases you off cigarettes and I never thought I could quit but I wasn't "climbing the walls" the first day

without one. My nerves weren't a wreck. Even I couldn't

believe it. I didn't think it would work. Before I went on

the program I did stop drinking anything decaffinated (as you know, if you drink coffee, it's a trigger for a cigarette.) I also started drinking 7 to 8 glasses of water

a day to flush out the nicotine in my body. The program gradually gets you off cigarettes. It also gets you mentally prepared. Be sure you have the support of the

people around you. I didn't have. My husband was an absolute donkeys posterior. I called him on it and he said

if I quit then everybody would be on him to quit and he didn't want to hear it. I did quit. And I'm sorry to say

I have started up again. I got overconfident and thought well just one won't hurt and I would smoke one every so often. Then it was, one every day, and before you know it I was smoking again, every day, all day. Don't be tempted by

thinking just one won't hurt. You'll be smoking fulltime in

no time. Maybe one day I'll go through the program again. I

really don't want to hear my husbands outlandish meanness,

though.

[Synn]

It hasn't even been a cotton picking week yet.. But man I am feeling the need for one tonight... Good thing I don't have any. But just knowing his are out there in the car.. I just need to go to bed, then by the time I get up he and the car will be gone!

[ozzzyyy]

So proud of you, Buttercup!!! Someday, probably when it severely affects his health, he will give it up for good.

[logcabinmama]

You are doing very good Buttercup, I'm sure you will make it. Just take one day at a time. Keep yourself busy and that might help too.

 

 

[Texmex]

My grandfather smoked for years and when he quit, he started chewing on a coffee stirrer. He said that it isn't actually a need for tobacco, it's more of a need for oral stimulation (at least for him). I am sure that a package of coffee stirrers is a heck of alot cheaper than a pack of cigarettes.

 

Good luck to you!!!!