Nallabelle

I posted this on the quitting smoking board but it isnt really that active and thought maybe some of you can help me.
Well I have decided to quit smoking. I have already gone down from like 1.5 packs a day to about .75 pack a day. So Im doing ok there.
I quit a few years ago using chantix which worked great (started back when I started using pills 2 years ago). But I cant take the chantix now. Anyone quit c/t? How long was it "really bad" for? Any tips on anything that helped you quit smoking would be helpful.
Thanks

onlywhenilaugh

I am interested in the responses you receive, Nallabelle.

jets467

Its mostly mental , To be honest I quit for 15 years 1996- then Jan 08 started pills got hooked then for some reason July 08 started smoking again. It started that my friend was here from FL , he smoked and I just grubbed 1 from him and that's the end of story, I loved the head rush and started right up a pack a day. When I went C/T pills Jan 09 I also stopped smoking again - So I will give you the long term way I quit 1n 1996 , I started thinking about stuff I loved at 1 point got sick from it then hated it and it was easy to stop even though I didnt want to stop , It just happened (Example when I was a kid I loved sausage in sauce that my mom used to make , I one day a stomach virus -I didn't know I had and my mother kept saying eat its your favorite but for some reason I didn't want it (I guess the stomach virus was starting) anyway I ate it , Puked and couldnt eat it for about 20 years again, Same thing happened when I was 16 -Loved southern comfort got drunk puked and to this day I cant even smell southern comfort- So i figured why cant I just make myself hate cigarette so New Years eve 1997 I bought a carton and sat home and smoked the whole carton and even chewed a few cigarettes and Licked the ashtray just so I would get sick from it and that was it , I stopped and it was easy , I could even stand the smell of smoke after that- I don't know if anyone is willing to try this because everyone I tell thinks I am nuts when I tell them but it is really the way I stopped- and it made it easy because I wasn't fighting will power any more, I just didn't want them, looking at them would make me feel sick- It worked for 15 years , This last time I was just like what the hell am i doing and stopped but I only smoked for 6 months so it made it easier. Good Luck -

life

Hello

Hey sorry about your brother and his bitch ass wifey (lol...sorry just laughing at the verbage u used) findin out about everything. I havent told my parents either and they havent found out. Everyone I know had their parents find out somehow. A couple of months ago I seriously considered telling them cuz I didnt think I could get through the suboxone on my own. But I finally did so I think I will keep my secret until Im ready one day to spill the beans. I think I would feel better, but right now they just would not understand especially my dads side of the family ( workaholic republicans... no offense ). Thats kinda why I made a preliminary decision not to go to na or aa. I dont want anyone else to know about "my opiate coma".

Anyways about the smoking. I am on day 19 i believe off suboxone. Things are on the up and up. I feel a lot better and Im sleeping fine. Now I will quit smoking after my last few packs using nicoderm cq. I quit for a year on two occasions. Third time will be my last. The patch works really well. Last time I just used step 1 for only one week and stopped. The time before it was two weeks. I found that I didnt need to do the whole three stepsfor months. I think they just want you to buy more patches. On the first few days The only hard part was when waking up, after eating, drinking alchohol and being around smokers. The two times I quit were undermined on a night of drinking with smokers at a bar. I smoke about 10-15 cigs a day and Ive been smoking since I was 15 now 27 like yourself. It seems we have a lot in common. Anyways I found that after the habit of smoking was disturbed through using the patch and not smoking for a few days the addiction to nicotine was less of a problem. I just kept myself busy when I woke up and after I ate with gum, ice cream, a beer or whatever ( except opiate containing items). Though people in their 50's who have been smoking a lot longer have told me the patch has no effect on them whatsoever. Anyways I hope we are successful and in a month or so we will both be suboxone and nicotine free. Thanks

Shellslove

In the same boat as you know Belle Started smoking 'socially' at 14 or 15 and did this through high school, I was a 1/2 to 1 to 0 pack a day smoker throughout college... meaning I'd smoke alot somedays, and none for days/weeks at a time. It's weird, I never really felt physically 'addicted' and never had a problem stopping...at all. All my roomates in college smoked...I think I just joined in b/c the smell of second-hand smoke on me and my clothes was making me so ill, that i needed it to go away - when I was smoking, it wasn't as evident (don't you love the reasoning?) Also, late night cramming sessions were always smoke-filled.

Anywho, since college I wasn't smoking at all (well, cigs) - maybe 1 or 2 w/a drink. I'll be 28 in April and began smoking w/a vengance about 6 mos ago after coming off the opiates and going onto subutex. I tell you it's something about the subs! Plus my fiance smokes - never in the apt, but whatever. So I went right back up to 1 to 1 1/2 pks/day and am full fledged. I mean, cannot go w/o or I get shakey and anxious...never felt addicted to nicotine like this before - oh, fun new game!

He and I stopped 3 days ago...tried about 3 wks ago w/nicorette but didn't make it past a day...now using the patch. The first day was okay but the patch made me jumpy and over alert...now I feel like it does nothing and I'm jonesing so bad - he's doing great! He's like 'well I'm doing it for you babe' so of course if I take one puff I'm the anti-wife - oh no! now what? this stinks (though I don't anymore!)

So I remind myself 3 time every few mins *nothing will ever be as bad as opiate w/d, nothing will ever be as bad as opiate w/d, nothing will ever be as bad as opiate w/d* - wash, rinse, repeat!

alldun

Yea, I quit every year! Really. I spend 3 weeks a year in Indonesia and of course I smoke there (when In Rome).
Then I come back I quit. I use the patch. It works, for me at least, till the following year. What logic??
C'mon the packs are the 50 cents each, now does that give me a pass?

life

Its weird shellslove hearing that your smoking increased after going on subutex. When I went from methadone to suboxone I didnt really notice a difference but when I quit suboxone 19 days ago my smoking noticably increased. Im wondering if I should quit sooner or later after Ive fully recovered from suboxone. I still have some lingering symptoms, but since my sleeping is pretty normal I cannot complain at all. Are you still on subutex??? I think I heard once that one should deal with one addiction at a time. Thanks guys

sct

I quit when I quit everything else--
I used the same basic idea for everything. "Put it off for five minutes at a time, and don't pick up no matter what."

I was a pretty cranky s.o.b. for a few weeks, but I can breathe now.

Peter

Cigarettes were the hardest to quit.

between 1976 and 2004 i made 3 "serious" attempts to stop smoking. One was for a lung condition in 1986, the second time was when I found AA in 1996. My last and most successful attempt was in 2004 when I learned I was going to have a son.

Find a reason to quit.Find the WILLINGNESS to quit.

Stagebear

Mike, I swear, dude, you kill me...

alldun

I hope that's a compliment.

Timebuster

I quit in 2005. I C/T in four days. I use the same concept that I used when I quit abusing drugs. I admitted that I were powerless over my cigarette addiction, that my life had become unmanageable.

Today, when the urge to light up. I say the serenity prayer. My higher power grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference. So far so good.

Ivan

tbeit

chewed a few cigarettes and Licked the ashtray

You are hard core no matter what dont think I could do that

Nallabelle

See you are all helping. I honestly think the smokes are going to be harder than the pills. 5 ******* dollars a pack in Charlotte though. That is absurd.

tbeit

I can remember when I said if they hit a buck thats it for me.Then if they hit 2.50 and you get it.I couldnt get past 10am any morning.Then my addictionoligist asked me in Oct of 2006 "do you want to quit those things" and he gave me Chantix.I had no hope of it working but I figured I would try it as I had faith in him.I started late Oct. and made a date of Nov. 24 my birthday.Well low and behold it worked.They made me feel like crap for about 45 mins after I took them and didnt take them for the whole 12 weeks but I quit I had no faith but they did work.Now I have huge depression problems and I wasnt sober at the time.The reason I say this is Chantix messes with the pleasure center in your brain and when your prone to depression you have to be watched carefully.Oh by the way cigs are over 7 bucks in NYC even up to 9

Nallabelle

My dad said that the reason he quit smoking waaaay back in the day is because they RAISED the price of them when they found out they caused cancer. He said they did it to see who was really hooked. If you were REALLY hooked, you would pay the new, high price. He said it sickened him and he quit Lucky Strike Unfiltered, cold turkey.
Chantix worked for me too. I started smoking again when I got on the pills. The reason I cant do chantix now is because I am pregnant. I dont know FOR SURE if I cant take it but it seems like I shouldnt. Although, what is worse for the baby, the smoking or the chantix?
This just has to happen now, I just dont know how Im gonna do it. My reasons for quitting:
Cost
Pregnant
Dont want me or my clothes to smell like smoke
My oldest daughter saw me outside smoking and is starting to ask questions
I DO NOT WANT MY KIDS TO THINK SMOKING IS OK!

I wonder if the lozenges help...?

change4penny

Hey girl....I smoke also. My dad smoked until he turned 47. He smoked Kools and Camels. The doctor told him to quit for health reasons...He did it cold turkey! I was amazed, caused he smoked a lot. I've heard some negative stuff @ Chantix causiing some to have 'sucidal tendencies', have you heard this?
Before getting clean I didn't smoke near as much as I do now. The people I was in rehab with smoked like chimneys!
I know I need to quit, but I don't think I can right now!
Hope you're doing well!

Nallabelle

Yeah I always have a reason not to quit too but I have more and more reasons TO quit. Ive heard that about chantix also but I think its rare and it completely takes away the urge to smoke. Works really well!
Penny- going to the meeting? Im trying to go.

tennladybb

OH! the smoking.. Lord thats harder than anything. I have found that at this point, at just day 14, I cant do it. I am going to wait until I feel fully recovered to kick that one. Probably crappy of me. Just cant do it But by gummy I am going to!!

Missybuns

close to a year into my recovery I had learned enough about what addiction means for me and was able to stop smoking cigarettes.

I got clean from drugs and alcohol in November of 2005. I got busy following suggestions and attending NA meetings. I got a sponsor and started my step work. By the following September almost a year later I was ready to stop smoking.

I prayed for help and committed to not smoking. I got rid of my ashtrays, lighters and cigs and havent smoked since.

I believe I was able to this all due to knowing what to do with cravings. I learned how to use the tools I'd been given for arresting my addiction.

I have been completely smoke free for over two of the three+ years I've been in recovery.

My doctor told me when I quit that my lungs would be completely rejuvenated and all pink again in a little less than two years...this means my lungs must be all pink again!

I cut out my caffeine intake when I stopped smoking. Caffeine and nicotine counter act each other. By stopping the caffeine I didn't get the strong cravings for nicotine that follow caffeine intake. Don't get me wrong I had cravings...just gave myself a break and made it as easy as possible for myself.

So I drank de-caff coffee for about 3 months. The major cravings went away after two weeks. I didnt get directly get back on the caffeine for obvious reasons! I did, however, eventually go back to drinking caffeinated coffee a few months later.

For me, when I was done I knew it. Just like the dope/alcohol. I made the decision and the commitment and changed that behavior.

blessed to be a member of NA,
Missy