Anyone else in the process of giving up smoking?

Stopped in Jan last year. Just had enough. Tired of the money being spent and it was starting to have noticeable effects on health like breathlessness and throat problems.

Was bad for about a fortnight then got easier very quickly. I saw some benefits quite quickly but I have found that the main benefits came just over a year after quitting. My system must have repaired itself over the last year. My energy levels have soared and I am never breathless now. It's a no brainer to quit imo.
 
I managed a month a few years back.

I can cut down easy, but not quit. I enjoy it.

Tried a vape/e cig, not my cup of tea at all..

11 years smoking so far.

Rollies are my main go, few packets of tailor made 20's a month as a "treat".

If I'm staying in most of the day, 4-5 are smoked. If I'm going out then normally 10.

I can make a 12.5 gram pouch of GV last about 2 weeks, maybe more depending on activities.
 
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izzop said:
This is key!! For a long time I knew I should, as strange as it sounds I just wasn't in the right frame of mind to do it. Then the time came and it made it all the easier.

Yes, the savings are great!! :D



There certainly are times you notice it a lot more, especially when out at the pub and people come back inside and it's also been raining.
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What motivated you if you don't mind me asking?

I struggle to find the motivation to capitalise on my willpower, I know its bad for me and I know its costing me money that would be much better spent, but then as soon as I want one I just think its going to be too hard and give in.

Don't want to do patches as I'm sensitive to them, and the weak ones I don't react to aren't strong enough.

Tried vaping but I've found it the craving hit it gives lasts 25% of the time that having a smoke does so I end up smoking instead cos its less hassle.
 
Smoked for 15 years, with several attempts to quit throughout (longest break was 18 months I think.)

I switched to e-cigs (with the intention of quitting) and gradually reduced the amount of nicotine in the vapour to ween myself off it. Within 3 months I was forgetting to use the e-cig and eventually just never picked it up again.

5 and (almost) a half years later I still haven't had a craving. :) I feel so much better. Within a month I could notice big changes. I was able to do a lot more of things before getting out of breath, I didn't have a constant bad taste in my mouth (that I didn't really realise I had until it went!) and food - my god food tastes so much better. Only a month or two after stopping I could taste subtleties in food that I had no idea existed and it opened my eyes (and mouth, ha) to a world of food exploration and appreciation, and the extra money saved from the fags meant I could spend it on quality food! Nomnom. :)

Best of luck to anyone giving up, it really is the best decision of your life to do so - even if we ignore the very obvious health implications.
 
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My Dad's currently having 6 weeks of radiotherapy for throat cancer that has been brought on by 40+ years of smoking. He's been very lucky, it's been caught early, not spread and he's going to be cured according to the docs, but we have seen other people in the hospital in terrible trouble. Can't speak, can't breathe, being fed by tubes and all sorts. It's a massive wake up call to the damage it does. My Dad will never touch another cig again after this.
 
Quit about 10+ yuears ago and still, but rarely, i get the mad craving thinking a fag would be nice about now.

Just go 100% cold turkey, dont ponce, just stop and get over the worst bit for a bout a week. Chewing gum ? maybe? DONT put yourself in situations where you will tempt yourself, fag breaks with work mates etc.

Don't waste money on nicotine replacement, e-cigs or other dumb things.

Just quit. Think of the money. If i quit, anyone can. I have no willpower....
 
Efour said:
Just go 100% cold turkey, dont ponce, just stop and get over the worst bit for a bout a week.
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Why? If there's a path that someone could take that would be easier (or more accurately, less difficult), why do you recommend doing it the hardest way possible? It is absolutely fact that going cold turkey is harder than any other way. Not impossible, sure, but certainly harder than doing it unaided. To win man-points?
 
I dont get the craving during a normal day, but as soon as I have a beer, it still comes on me. I've spoken to a few ex-smoker friends who say the same.

I actually stayed out of the pub for months because I knew the temptation would be too much.
 
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Dj_Jestar said:
Why? If there's a path that someone could take that would be easier (or more accurately, less difficult), why do you recommend doing it the hardest way possible? It is absolutely fact that going cold turkey is harder than any other way. Not impossible, sure, but certainly harder than doing it unaided. To win man-points?
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I can only speak from my experience but it wasn't that hard.
If you dont have cigs. You cant smoke. I really found it as easy as that.
Ok the hardest bit was not poncing from a mate.

maybe i do have immense willpower then compared to the average person.

Might aws well go to see your GP then OP, they can give you all the options and snakeoil.

At the end of the day if you cant stop buying or poncing them then you are screwed. Its as easy as that dont buy or ponce.

TBH quitting smoking also made me cut down on drinking, same was as robfosters said. The temptation is massive when having a drink.

Also think of how much of a complete c word you look vaping. That should help you not taking up another addiction to replace your first.
 
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Efour said:
I can only speak from my experience but it wasn't that hard.
If you dont have cigs. You cant smoke. I really found it as easy as that.
Ok the hardest bit was not poncing from a mate.

maybe i do have immense willpower then compared to the average person.

Might aws well go to see your GP then OP, they can give you all the options and snakeoil.

At the end of the day if you cant stop buying or poncing them then you are screwed. Its as easy as that dont buy or ponce.

TBH quitting smoking also made me cut down on drinking, same was as robfosters said. The temptation is massive when having a drink.

Also think of how much of a complete c word you look vaping. That should help you not taking up another addiction to replace your first.
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Do you drink?
 
robfosters said:
Do you drink?
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Dunno if you are being funny cos its 2am and im very, very, very tired or serious, so No not really maybe a few Liters a year of wine and beer. Bottle of whiskey lasts 6 months.
Used to go out 4x a week and smoke 40 a day... Before converting to roll your own and 50g+ a week.

Price of fags in the UK alone is enough to quit its ludicrous.
 
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robfosters said:
Not being funny at all mate, I just wanted to know if you had the same intense craving when drinking that I did?
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Ok sorry.

I smoked, drank around the time that they banned smoking in pubs. Was that around 2003 ? sometime then, it was a long way back.. Anyway. ;)

I couldn't hold a pint without having a lit cigarette, the 2 were so intrinsically linked that cutting down on both at the same time came very naturally.

Over a period of a year, cutting down on going out drinking/smoking i finally decided to quit. Stopped buying tobacco, step 1. Obvious but important to not have any to tempt.

Pretty much everyone i knew and associated with smoked so as i said the worst temptaiton was not to ponce.

About 3 or 4 years after i had officially quit. i bought ten malboro reds to go to a beer festival in London... Smoked 2 or 3 of them and chucked thew rest in the bin. It was disgusting, i was happy with myself.

im waffling so much... Yes i totally get the drinking smoking thing.
 
Efour said:
I can only speak from my experience but it wasn't that hard.
If you dont have cigs. You cant smoke. I really found it as easy as that.
Ok the hardest bit was not poncing from a mate.

maybe i do have immense willpower then compared to the average person.

Might aws well go to see your GP then OP, they can give you all the options and snakeoil.

At the end of the day if you cant stop buying or poncing them then you are screwed. Its as easy as that dont buy or ponce.

TBH quitting smoking also made me cut down on drinking, same was as robfosters said. The temptation is massive when having a drink.

Also think of how much of a complete c word you look vaping. That should help you not taking up another addiction to replace your first.
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Salty.

15 years smoking to 3 months vaping before literally just neglecting to use it at all is not what one would call replacing an addiction with another.

Also think of how much of a complete c word you look stomping into an anti smoking thread demanding anyone quitting should be doing it cold turkey or not doing it at all. "See your GP for snakeoil." Really? You seriously think the NHS is throwing money away on schemes that are helping people quit?

Grow up.
 
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Wrote a reply but it got deleted.
No idea why you are getting so upset.
Good for you quitting too
Err goodnight?
Yes NHS schemes and doctor will support you so op go their if serious, might help.
 
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Dj_Jestar said:
Salty.

15 years smoking to 3 months vaping before literally just neglecting to use it at all is not what one would call replacing an addiction with another.

Also think of how much of a complete c word you look stomping into an anti smoking thread demanding anyone quitting should be doing it cold turkey or not doing it at all. "See your GP for snakeoil." Really? You seriously think the NHS is throwing money away on schemes that are helping people quit?

Grow up.
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I can't quite see what got you so worked up there?
 
Hope this helps you quit:

Many times when antisocial smokers would puff near me so I could smell it, I was thinking, if only I could get them somewhere near the end of the world where nobody would see us




I'd killem




Advice: don't go near the end of the world with a cigarette in your mouth :D
 
Efour said:
Wrote a reply but it got deleted.
No idea why you are getting so upset.
Good for you quitting too
Err goodnight?
Yes NHS schemes and doctor will support you so op go their if serious, might help.
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Some people, like yourself, have the natural ability to quit easily like that, sadly addictions arent the same for everyone so as i said in my first post in this thread its about finding a method and a rate of progress that works for you.

God knows i wish i could have just up and stopped the smokes like i did for the booze, but just as much as some ex alchoholics literally cant walk past a pub without going in (and they'll literally take a mile detour to avoid it) some smokers cant just stop.

So theres a variety of treatments developed to help everyone, vaping being just one of the current crop prominent as being successful. Break the addiction first then the habit rather than patches/gum that are break the habit then the addiction.

No need to get annoyed at folk for laying out the options on the table, for example if you have a pg allergy then vaping isnt for you, sensitive skin then patches arent for you etc. Dont know about anyone else but i always found the patches made you feel like you'd been given a dead arm and it had come out in a bruise.
 
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