Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire CIGS AND " COLD-TUKEY" --ADVICE

Nutshell version of the facts--49 years old this September. Started smoking at 46 years;never ,not once before. 2 packs a day. Going to try the cold-turkey approach Monday and would like to know--from those in the know--what to actually expect and the best way to deal with it--I couldn't find an archives past for this so forgive what might be perceived as laziness---I'm all ears--Thanks much!!!

xpect cravin's...lotsa tooth-picks.

Why in the world would anyone ever start smoking after 46 years without it? Here is the solution, don't buy any cigarettes. If you don't buy them, you can't smoke them. It really is that simple.

Also expect to gain weight.

Your mind has to be right to get this done. I quit thirteen times over some 26 years of smoking, the thirteenth was the charm.

Like any bad habit, you'll want to say ,"ah, screw it, I'll just have this one; I'll taper off lightly." That doesn't work.

Get rid of all the cigarettes in the house. ALL of them - flush them or whatever it takes to make then unobtainable, otherwise you'll find yourself digging through garbage looking for one. BTDT.

Whenever the craving starts, you just have to think, "I can resist this ONE cigarette. That's all I have to do, resist this one." Do NOT think about the days ahead, just resist that ONE - resisting one at a time adds up to days worth of resistance.

The nicotine addiction will be broken in a few days - really, it only takes maybe 3-4 days. But the conditioned reflex will be with you for a long time. I quit in 1991 and even five years later, leaving a movie theater or some situation where you always lit up, suddenly you'll find yourself wanting one. That's not too bad though, and is easy to resist. It's not nicotine craving, it's just your mind falling back on conditioned reflex.

Oh, one last thing. NEVER NEVER NEVER light up again. NEVER think, well, it's been a year, and a cig and beer go so good together, I'll bum just one. NEVER do that - it's like an alcoholic falling off the wagon. I had quit for six months and did that in a moment of weakness, and bingo, back to smoking again for the next umpteen years.

I honestly wish you the very best of luck. It's hard, damned hard, but worth every minute of the hard times you'll experience the first week.

Jim in Idaho wrote:
Best advice I've heard. I quit 5 years ago and I still want one just as bad as the first day. I realize that it is the reflex not the addiction. Good luck and if you want to quit bad enough, it will work. It's worth thr pain.

Quit today or tomorrow for twenty four hours- anybody can do that. Next day take three cigarettes, go in a closet or small bathroom, and smoke them one at a time, taking a puff every five to seven seconds.- have a barf bag handy.
On the day you quit throw away all but three and save those for emergencys, if you just have to smoke, repeat the process above. Chances are you will be so afraid of those last three that you will never break down and smoke.
I found sunflower seeds helped a lot. Candy or sweets duplicate the blood sugar swings that smoking gives you and induce cravings when the blood sugar drops- that's bad.
I quit over thirty years ago

It replaced my quittin" drinkin"---Don't need to call me a dumbass for starting so late--I already know that's a fact!! I'll listen to your advice on the buying though--thanks

Well,.... there goes my idea.

I was gonna recommend taking up drinking.

I read so many of your replies Bristoe and you do F___in crack me up

Yeah, me too.

Don't think I wouldn't love to take your advice 280!!

Its given knowing its not good advice...just the only advice I had.

Your most difficult problem will be your habits.

when you normally light up and what you have around your house.

Get rid of all the ashtrays, lighters, matches and parafanalia that is associated with smoking.

WASH all your clothes and wipe down as much stuff as you can. It all contains "remnants" of your smoking and will "trigger" a need, real or percieved. Yes even wash your clean clothes.

Paint the walls! Smoke and nicotine are probably eminating from them.

De smokify your vehicles, the most common place your may smoke. Get rid of the lighters in the car and empty the ashtray.

The best way is to Sanitize your house, car, living spaces of your smoking habits. This will keep you busy and not smoking and probably test your will power.

Don't smoke while your cleaning up!

but the most problems will be your desire to do something with you hands. Since your not smoking you'll be nervous looking and probably need something to occupy your hands. Get a deck of cards, shuffle them, learn coin tricks, and to other idle things that will keep your hands busy and easily fit into your pocket instead of your smokes and lighter. So when you reach for a cig, you'll have your "toy" to occupy you with instead of smoking.

Go to the doc, and get welbutrin tablets. I hear there is even a better one now, that blocks the crave, from entering the receptors. Why punish yourself? Do it the easy way.

+1, wifey is a nurse and says same thing about welbutrin.

Aren't they some shrink meds for depression?/ You know--Side effects and schitt!!!!

There was some good advice here a while back and a link to some info about some smoking researchers data.

To get past the nicotine dependency with the least possible pain their advice was to first wean the amount of nicotine you were taking in.

Marlboro reds 1.1 mg of nicotine
Marlboro lights .8 mg of nicotine
Merit Ultra lite .5 mg
Carlton or Now 100's .2mg
Cartlon or Now Kings .1 mg

They suggested switching brands every 2 weeks to lower your nicotine intake.

They also advised that you will probably smoke more of the brands with lesser nicotine than your current brand but that it still made sense to do the step down routine.

i.e. you smoke 2 packs a day (you didn't say what brand)

but say you smoke M ligts at .8 mg, if you wean your way down to Carltons and smoke even 4 packs a day you won't be putting as much nicotine in your system in fact only about 1/2 of what you were before.

It's suppossed to help with that initial cold turkey stage, not eliminate it just help.

The other reflex addiction will probably last a looongg time as others have stated.

We all know lot's of folks that just quit cold turkey and for some it works well. But this made sense to me.

Also gotta agree with the NEVER light up again, once an addict always an addict. And I've heard that nicotine is more addictive than heroin.

Good luck to you, sincerely. I've been on the Carltons for awhile now, that's phase one for me, weaning myself from nicotine.

Phase two is a low carb diet to get as lean as possible before going down cold turkey road and minimize the weight gain. Have yet to start phase two, though have done it before, went from 215 to 185 and desired to hit 175 but never made it.

If I can get disciplined enough to see 185 again, I'm gonna do the cold turkey thing but maybe with the aid of smoking cessastion products.

Good luck to you from one fellow addict to another.

Let me email wife and see. Be right back.

BTW, PM sent to you.

The only side effect I had, was a bit of weight gain. Pills or no pills, you will have that.

That's the way I quit, but I had to quit every day for about six months or more....not meaning I smoked, but I had to resist smoking that ONE cigarette I wanted so much.

After six months, you probably have to quit about once a week, and after a year about once a month. Now, not only don't have the desire to smoke, the smell of it really sucks.

Just remember, you only have to resist one cigarette. The one you want, and that's it. Oh, you'll make up all kinds of reasons why you should smoke, but don't give in to them. That's the nicotine talking.

If you never smoke another one, then you've quit. If you ever smoke that first one, that one you really want, then you've started again and have undone all the good hard work you've accomplished. Just don't smoke that ONE cigarette, and you've got it whipped.