My Son is trying and not doing so well at it. I did it cold turkey after a Doctor's diagnosis that scared me to death.

Any suggestions ?

I didn't want to quit, just cut back. So I cut back from two packs a day to two and a half packs. Then with a real effort to cut back using all the tricks I cut back to three.

At four and a half packs a day I got good and mad and quit. That was thirty 32 years ago last September. I had to come to the point where I realized the cigarettes were getting stronger than me. That got my Scott temper up and I have not has a cigarette since. Gave away my engraved Zippo and eight packs of cigarettes that day. I believe we have the inner strength to beat bad habits but lack the desire. Once you make up your mind and mean it then we can quit.

After several years of not smoking I went back to a cigar a month and an occasional pipe. It helps I like cigars that are beyond my finances.

BTW, Did Heather call? She is out of town this weekend and I cannot ask her.

I had smoked about a pack a day for 25 years and kinda thought maybe I should quit but when my two daughters began to beg me to, I quit. Just quit buying anymore and that was it. Really wasn't all that hard to do.

I tried to get a very good friend to do same but he wouldn't and died of lung cancer.

I know lots of people are having great success with the new electronic cigarettes. Basically a water vapour with nicotine,so it`s like smoking without all the most harmful crap in it. They are not really meant as a stop smoking aid, but they do seem to have that effect on a lot of people. Supposed to be a lot cheaper than cigarettes too.
I think that nicotine is often the lesser part of the addiction, which is why regular nicotine replacements don`t seem to have a very high success rate. The electronic smokes are basically jsut like smoking a regular cigarette without most of the health risks. Might be worth a shot.

If anyone comes up with the real answer, let me know. Quit for 2 years using some drugs from the doc that turned me into a green eyed monster but couldn't stay away from them Russ

Not yet, though maybe today, I was away most of the day, looking to buy a RV so went the show in Birmingham. Will check my calls after, and will let you know.

As a general rule, and there are exceptions, the ones that I see do best are the ones that quit cold turkey and toughed it out.

If Mom can do it, so can he.

- Tom

Zyban.

Totally flipped that little nicotine switch in my head from "on" to "off".

I quit cold turkey and used certs as a placebo. For years I was always sucking on certs.. I have always believed that if want to do something bad enough you will find a way. I had friends who tried every aide in the book for years..It wasn't until they really made a comittment to themselves that they quit. I know.. It isn't that easy.

I never started..

I smoked cigarettes for 50 years. Then one day, Nov 15, 2005, I just quit. Quite easy once you make up your mind. It's all in your head.

I'm going to tell you something Miss Lynn. Hypnosis works.

I know of three guys who went to the same Dr, and none of them ever smoked again, or ever fell off the wagon. My neighbor was in such disbelief he actually went out and bought another pack just to light one up. He took one drag, didn't want another and threw the pack away. He says people at work smoke in front of him, and it doesn't bother him. I think it was 2K, but it was guaranteed for life. If they ever get to feeling weak again, they come in for a free session. So far all three have been over two years, none of them have smoked and they say they don't have the urge to smoke. They did get the weight gain attributed to most who give up ciggys, and I'm not sure I understand why. If they have no urge, why do they eat more?

2K is worth the investment, and like I said, it was a money back guarantee.

I quit because my wife was going to start smoking again because I smoked when we started dating so I quit.

Tossed the cig I was smoking, crumpled the pack and never smoked again. That was in fall of 1987...

Start hunting big mountains. When your heart feels like it's going to explode when you're hiking, cigs just aren't worth it anymore. At least that's what changed my mind.

CHANTIX,worked like a wonder drug for me.

Quitting smoking was the toughest change I've ever made. I've quit smoking (1985), drinking (hard liquor 2007 & beer 2009), lost the 50 lbs I gained after I quit smoking (2004), and a few other things along the way. For me it is only about the switch inside my head. With smoking, I decided when my then 3 year old daughter came home from preschool and asked if smoking really caused cancer and said she didn't want me to get cancer.

I wish your son luck.

started dippin.

I quit cold turkey Oct 15, 1985.

I was the poster child for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.

Two+ packs of Kool 100's per day, I smoked a pipe and inhaled, smoked cigars and inhaled, and chewed Red Man. All in the same day, every day. If you saw me, I had tobacco on board.

I threw a half pack of cigarettes, my pipe & tobacco, and a new box of cigars away that morning.

My (then) boss had quit about four years earlier and he told me to get a case of Sugar-Free Wintergreen Certs and a box of toothpicks.

I went through a ton of those Certs and still have toothpicks around.

There is something about the sugar-free Wintergreeen Certs that really calmed the craving and the toothpicks gave my hands something to do

I think that tobacco might be as hard to quit as heroin since they both affect the same brain chemistry.

Prayers sent.

Ed

Nicorette Gum. It has been 7 years now. I got the 2mg ones and cut them into halves and later quarters. Chewed then enough to soften them and then tucked the piece between the teeth and gum like they do with snuff. That way I did not trade the smokes for a chewing gum habit lol. tom

My Dr said I might have the beginning of COPD,he wasn't sure at that point. I left his office,had one more cigarette. That was the last I had just about 2 years ago. I craved them, I wanted the and I questioned my ability to stay off of them. I finally asked my self,who was in charge, me or the cigarettes. I won.
I know from the time I quit for almost 15 years, I cannot have even one,if I do,I will be buying packs again. I worked too hard to get here to lose it now. Yes, I still get the temptation,I will probably will forever. I will not start again,my decision period.

After a late night of poker, smokes and booze, I rolled out of bed one morning and grabbed the pack of cigarettes and lighter off the bedside table as my feet hit the floor. I had observed a couple of autopsies earlier in the week that were performed on life-long smokers, and had dreamed about how the lungs looked all night. Something clicked, and I took the cigarettes and flushed them down the toilet.

After I showered, shaved,and dressed, etc., I took the rest of the carton outside and threw it in the trash. Whenever I had the urge to buy a pack of cigarettes, I bought a package of chewing gum instead (Spearmint). It took about 8 weeks, but I finally became a nonsmoker. That was 42 years ago, and I have had maybe a half-dozen puffs since just to be sociable.

I did smoke a pipe off and on a few years later, but quit that too when I found out about the tongue cancer risk. Like one of the previous posters said, when it's time he can do it. In my case, the time came when I sat in on those autopsies.

Zyban for a week then began with a patch. Had to have a hit or two that first day but only when completely desperate. After two days no more "hits" and cut the patch in half. About day 5 cut the half patch in half so is 1/4 patch. Two or three days of that then quit completely. Quit the Zyban a week later.

I been a pack and a half a day smoker over twenty years the first time i quit. Above is how I quit the second time after smoking for 8 years after quiting the first time and being a non somker for 8 years. First time I did it cold turkey. Second was three times as easy but still hard.

Been 5 or 6 years this time, and the damn things still smell good sometimes

Same Here.

You're a riot ! ( with a handle on the science of Burritology)

Moons ago, my climbing wind started lookin' bad,....I just QUIT smokin'

No sweat,...Cope, and Skoal won't affect my wind. Gotta' admit, offshore where "Snoose" wasn't handy,...I'd go back to smokin'.

When the stuff hit about 3.50 a can, and I realized that I was really ADDICTED,.....I did a "Lone Ranger" bit,...and tossed alla' the snoose out the front (South) door.

Bigger then hell,....I was out there in the dark, with a flashlight,....LOOKIN',.....HOPIN',.....PRAYIN' ! Wind like last Saturday pretty much had me screwed, on finding enough for a dip......

Did that ALONE,....and was nobody to be around, during the next 3-4 days,.....

Still miss Snoose,.....and "Coffee and a Cigarette" still have occasional, and utterly stoopid and romantic conotations.

No Moral here,......we ARE better off without commercial tobacco.

GTC

Put out my last smoke before boarding the elevator of parking garage of hospital on my way in for bypass surgery. Surgery did not go without complications and I stayed in ICU/Cardiac Care Unit for close to a month.
Going on ten years now

geo

I have made it to the ripe old age of seventy-six and put in quite a few days last summer hauling my backpack around at elevations of 10,000 feet or so. Had I not quit cigs when I did, that hi altitude hiking probably wouldn't be possible.

As somebody else said, just quit. After I quit in 1978, I have never had any desire to start again. God has been and always will be my strength.

I never smoked but I did chew and quit last October cold turkey, I think the thing that helped me the most was studying what the symptoms of quitting were so that I knew what to expect and I could prepare for it.

Dipped Copenhagen (can per day) from age 14 until 41; smoked a good bit along the way, too. All the way through college, medical school and residency, where I removed many voice boxes that were cancerous, and took out a lot of tongues, while I was dipping under the surgical mask! At age 41, the year after my father died from heart disease related to smoking, I decided enough was enough. I went on Zyban, and started chewing the Nicorette Gum, and went on a Canadian Whitetail hunt in Sasketchewan, where I just knew Copenhagen wouldn't be available......wrong. It worked, and I've been free of the schitt for damn near 10 years. I know me though, one puff and I'd be back at it.
Don
Good luck

Christmas break, 1953

Gave my cigarettes away.

Threw my pipe and tobacco away.

i use to smoke 2-3 packs a day for 10 yrs. when i quit drinking i realized if i could do that i could quit smoking so i did. been 14 yrs.

I got into a fight with the wrong three guys. When I got out of the hospital I realized "I haven't had a smoke in 8 days". Why start back now. I had some pretty good meds too amd mixed them with wiskey for a while. Im not proud of this, but it worked and I haven't smoked in 15 years.

Damn bunch quitters here anyway! JK,I admire the people who can make a decision like that and stick to it.

I`ll admit it, I like smoking. Some people say they hate it and wish they could quit,which I never really understood. I do realize the health risks invovled,and therefore I limit my cigarette intake to 2 a day. I`ll have one after work and one right before bed. Go all day without even thinking about it. I just don`t take them to work,so I don`t even think about it usually.
Most I ever got up to was less than a half pack a day, and I noticed it affected my `climbing wind` as it was so aptly put. I cut it down to 2,and have been there for the last couple years.
I did order me one of those e-cigs, just to check em out. I figure if they work, I can still have my couple smokes a day without any real reprecussions. Win Win!

I felt better when I quit but did gain a little weight.

1987. Threw them away. Took em up again for a few months in 92... Stopped when I realized how stupid it was. Never regretted quitting.

Alan

YES!!!
Out of town job sharing a room with a guy that smoked was how I started the second time. He made the room smell awful but if I smoked "just one" it wasn't so bad. One turned into two, two into a pack and a half a day for eight years more.

I feel like the AA guys. "Hi I am 700LH I am a smoker".
An Tobacco Junkie

Shortly after I made my previous post I had to run to the corner store. There was a young lady in front of me and she asked for a pack of Marlboro Red, regular length. I heard the clerk tell her "That will be $9.42 Miss" I couldn't believe HOW MUCH a pack of cigarettes cost in NY any more. Mostly Federal and State taxes of course. It is no wonder so many people travel to one of the Indian Reservations around here. I shudder at the thought what my 2 packs a day cost a week.

I picked a day and stuck to that day, it was nearly a year away but it actually worked. All I thought about was that coming day and I quit after 13 years of smoking 2 packs a day and that was 15 years ago! Good luck to your son!

I smoked a pack and a half per day for about 35 years. Decided in December that I would quit on Jan. 1st. Asked the wife to get me some patches but she forgot........so I went and got them myself. Quit that night. The first "step 1" patch was too strong...couldn't sleep, so I cut them in half and used that for 3 weeks, then cut them down to 1/4 and quit the patches a couple of days later. Haven't wanted a smoke since, and yes the cig smoke smells good, but it stinks on people.

Biggest factor in quitting is WANTING to quit.

Check this website... Why Quit?

that was the first thing that came to mind for me as well....I avoid habit forming stuff like the plague....never developed a taste for coffee either

Cold turkey for me.

My last cigarette was smoked at about 9:30 p.m. on October 7, 2002, en route to a heart hospital with mild chest pains. Twenty minutes after arriving there, a massive heart attack struck. Quick response by everyone, especially the cardiologists who inserted a stent to open my 100%-blocked "widowmaker" artery just nine minutes later, saved my life.

I tried using nicotine patches the first week after returning home but they didn't curb my craving,, so there was nothing to do but tough it out. I had been smoking four packs a day before the heart attack, and I kept telling myself that one puff would get me started again. Each day, week, month, and finally a year without cigarettes was a milestone for me.

Fifty years of heavy smoking left me a bunch of heart-related diseases, and I am here to say that if you smoke, stop before it is too late.

Bill Quimby

WOW!! 9.42 for one pack of smokes! When I started, they were 17 to 20 cents per pack. Seems like 2.00 a carton (10 packs) for a long time. Man, I couldn't afford to smoke now days!

For some.

Decided that I wanted to see my kid grow up so upon returning from a 2 week hunting trip, threw my pipe,cigs and cigars out the window when I hit city limits. I planned this a month prior so wasn't so hard to do.

+1

Been "OFF" for 8 years now...

I quit Chewing 18 days ago. they gave me the patches witch made me sick so I gave them back, they had me on something like wellbutrand but I had a hard time sleeping with all the weared dreams so I've been cold turkey for the last 10 days. I have been spending about an hour in the gym every other days and that seems to help the most.

Cold turkey first sunday of June 1975 for me.

I know a guy that smoked a long time and could never quit. Hypnosis worked for him.
I did it cold turkey.

Cold turkey for me.

Quit my pack and a half a day habit the month before my first kid was born.
She's 12 now.

after smoking heavily for almost 30 years, I was able to quit 'cold turkey'. At the time, I was puffing three packs of unfiltered Camels a day.
I bought two new packs. I put one on the truck dashboard, the other on the night stand. From experience, I knew that wanting a cigarette, and not having any available, I would get up at 4 AM and drive to the hajji mart.
After a week, I tossed those unopened packs, and never looked back.
Not saying it was easy, but I am saying that it is doable.
I quit the first week of 1987, so I have been 'smoke free' for over 24 years now.
Smelling other folks cigarettes does not bother me at all.

I smoked 40 cigarettes a day every day unless I was drinking, and then it went to 60. I quit because my ex-wife (who wasn't ex at the time) told me that kissing me was like licking an ashtray. I went cold turkey, and it took me about three weeks to get past the craving for a smoke. She left me about six months later for a guy that was a smoker. Go figure! I was better off without both her and the cigarettes, though it took me some time to figure that out.

All I did was to quit buying, and then quit putting the "next" cigarette into my mouth. That was 29 years ago. Quitting coffee has not worked AT ALL!

I quit about a thousand times, sometimes cold turkey other times using the pill or patches.
Yes it sometimes worked, sometimes for a few days, sometimes a few weeks. When I would start back it would be due to a bad day, or maybe a good day that I thought would be better with smokes. The first half of the first cig. would taste soooo good by the time I put it out it tasted like chit. But then I had the rest of the pack to smoke up or throw away ( I did that a few times but usually smoked them). Still get the uerge to smoke but holding on to the memory of how bad that first cig. will taste after those first few puffs, and how guilty I will feel for failing again has done it for me so far.

I still havent quit. Ive tried everything from patches, gum, chantix...the chantix actually made me smoke MORE at first because my body wasnt getting the benefit of nicotine so I knew it was starting to work, then I got stomach problems from it. Had to quit. The thing that worked the best, even though I still havent quit, was a book someone sent me in pdf format called Easy Way to Quit Smoking by Allen Carr. They sell it on Amazon . I went from smoking 2 packs/day down to half a pack while reading. They say when you finish the book you are quit. I never had the balls to finish the book I guess I scared id ACTUALLY quit. Weird I know. Anyhow thats my suggestion, try the book.

Lynn ,sent you a PM.

The only person I know that has quit with success was my Grandma. She had a heart attack and the doc told her to quit, and she did that day. Cold turkey.

I wish him luck.

http://www.lesliecamstopsmoking.com/

Quit cold turkey once, lasted a year, then I started back. Finally quit for good 8 years ago using the patch.

Was going down the road to work one morning, took a smoke out, looked at it and said" These SOBs don't own me." I littered the road with a pack. 8 years ago and not a puff since. Can't stand the smell of smoke on someone else.

Praise the lord, my oldest son, his wife, and my daughter have gone cold turkey on smoking. Got one more son to work on and a bunch of my students.

Miss Lynn, just keep on encouraging him..

Chantix if he can deal with some of the side effects. It worked for me. 40 years a smoker.

30 years+ a smoker. I just put down my pipe in midbowl and decided never to light it up again. I have not in over 8 years.

From the Chantix website:



Sweet Jesus. If that won't make you light one up...

- Tom

you have got to want to. no excuses, no i deserve one, just quit.

Its some nasty stuff for sure. I started having stomach issues(nausea, hunger like pains, etc..) after week 3. I went on til week 4 and just couldnt stand it any longer. Even after quitting Chantix those issues hung around for another 2 months off and on. Two other people at work had the same issues. Though most people havent had any problems, and I had stomach issues to begin with, id not recommend it to anyone.

The same reactions have been reported by 30% of the people posting on this forum....

Just Sayin'...

print this thread and give it to your son ,
others can do it ...does he want to ?????????????????
prayer helps ,but there has to be a WILL

quit cold in 1966 thank the LORD

I went from smoking 2 packs of cigarettes a day to not smoking at all. I wouldn't recommend the way I stopped but it was the only thing that stopped me. I had a stroke and it took away my memory of smoking. I guess I was a real biotch the first few days in the hospital but I don't remember any of it and when I came home I no longer smoked not for not wanting to but because I didn't remember ever doing it. I have since had a couple of drags off of other people's smokes which really made Greenhornet seethe but I have never had the desire to go back to it.

I used champix, but truly I just really wanted to quit.

A lot of products come with warnings about possible side-effects. Take Savage rifles, for instance:



Seriously though, after using Zyban, the patch, and going cold-turkey, I finally used Chantix.
Been clean for over two years now...

Nicotine is a powerful drug
I used the step down patches ( 1990 ) to quit.
After 25 or so years of 2 packs a day

I followed the American Cancer Society's program in conjunction with a Smokeout Day. That was a Thursday, and I went deer hunting on the back side of Mt. Palomar (California), when I came off the mountain on Sunday I had quit.

That was '78 IIRC.

When I decided enough was enough and I really wanted to do it, I went cold turkey. Feb or March 2006, still haven't touched one.

One of the hardest things I have ever done.

I just stopped. Have not had one in 3yrs. It is not easy. Just have to do it

thats a good thing Sassy,,but we understant that LES DROVE YOU TO IT

The other thing I did was ONLY quit smoking at the time. I was quitting for health reasons and prepared ahead of time by losing a bit of weight in anticipation of the upcoming bulge.

Until I had been six months smoke free I didn't worry about any other health issue and got pleasantly fat, then dealt with that after I was convinced I was really a non-smoker.

My wife quit about 3 1/2 years ago using Chantix. She had no problems with the side effects.

Dale

Prayer. Seriously.