So who wants to join me?

[TarekElsakka]

I'm proud to say that I've been smoke-free for almost two weeks now. I decided I should stop cold turkey as soon as I read articles about how nicotine raises your sugar level in the blood, and I'm diabetic, so that's probably why my A1C levels have been constantly high.

I read IllusionEntity's post, I'm willing to take you on that bet, my friend. I get the cravings and urges to smoke sometimes, but I defeat them by thinking of another thing or having a conversation with someone, be it in real life or even online. I can tell you, though, that having friends who don't smoke is a bless.

 

[Napoleon PhoneApart]

I like this thread. Carry on.

 

[CanadianNemo]

Oh my goodness, should I take the plunge?

 

[TarekElsakka]

I already started to breathe better, exercise longer, and I feel much better and more confident now. I really think you should take the plunge.

 

[CanadianNemo]

I never even considered it, but it would be a good time to do it. I smoked my last one tonight and I'm broke. I was trying to figure out how I was going to buy another pack... Hmm... Okay. I'll give it a go. Not happy though, haha.

 

[patrickj]

I quit around five years ago, and I am way beyond elated that I did. I found after numerous failed efforts the key to success for me was 'no crutches'. - meaning no 'just one' obviously, no smoking 'funny' cigarettes to fill the gap, no smoking an occasional cigar. All of those things had proved to be a slippery slope back in my previous efforts.

Oh, and no patches and no gum etc. - just gave up.

I think it helps (enormously) to go into it really, really wanting to quit for good - and having powerful motivation for doing so. In my case I had the ultimate incentive - an amazing and lovely very young daughter. I knew I wanted to be healthy and around for her.

The only - very dumb and funny looking - little mini-crutch I allowed myself was chewing on toothpicks - I guess to address that past 'oral fixation' aspect of smoking.

I think I also avoided bars / drinking for an initial period, as those were huge drivers for smoking for me. After a few weeks I was able to go back to those and not worry too much.

Best of luck to both of you - stay strong and succeed.

 

[iphonewarrior]

Tarek, I've very recently quit. It's not easy, but it's not hard as long as you set your mind to it. I went from smoking over 20 a day to nothing. Cold turkey for me is better, trying to cut down on how many you have is utterly pointless in my opinion as all you're doing is topping up your nicotine addiction.

Once you've beaten the addiction, which took me about 3 days, yup it's that quick... you need to fight the physical addiction. I found the physical addiction harder to break because it's a habit, I did every day, in the morning, at night, with friends.

Luckily for me, I'm saving around £6.50 (UK£ 6.50 = 10.6054 US$) a day, and I'm not even joking it's been an expensive habit. I'm pretty positive I've quit for like 6-7 weeks and I could easily pick up a cigarette now and happily smoke it, but I don't. One you're ruining your life, two you smell (don't kid yourself, you know you smell) and so does your breath lol. Three you're burning hard earned money.

If anyone of you wants a shoulder to shout at when/if you quit, PM me and I'll tell you how I got past it, it's not easy, but you don't have to do it on your own.

 

[acosmichippo]

Good luck to everyone. Smoke sucks.

 

[Caliphone]

I quit about 15 years ago, one of the best decisions I ever made. Hang in there, I remember how hard it was. Put your cigarette money (wait, we are talking tobacco, right?) in a jar and buy yourself something as a reward in a month or two. Just think, 2 packs a day for 2 months is an iPad!

 

[Sharunda]

Congrats to all the Quitters and the ones who will be quitting. Smoking is a horrible habit and I commend all of you for trying and for succeeding. It's a hard thing to do and I wish you all the best of luck.

My mother just quit in April. It was hard.

I work with a guy who quit 14 years ago, but started back smoking this January. It was a stupid decision and he's paying for it now.

All of you keep up the good work. I'm proud of you all.

 

[TarekElsakka]

Thank you everyone for sharing your experiences and wishing us luck. As I said, I really am proud I made that decision and have been holding to it since then. The problem I'll face will probably be in September when the fall semester of university starts; that's where I used to smoke the most because, as you may already know, I don't like going to university and attending classes, thereforee I try to blow my frustration out on cigarettes. But I've recently found that it is really the will power that can make you achieve the impossible, so I'm going to stay strong and get past this.

Hopefully a month or two from now everything will go back to how it was before I started that ridiculous habit. And I sure HOPE no one even thinks of starting to smoke because that was the worst decision I've made and I'm regretting it to this day. My Dad has heart problems because of it, and my A1C levels have been high as they can be because of it, and I wasn't able to exercise as much I'd like to or play sports that demand exerting a lot of energy with friends because of it; that is a horrible feeling, I tell you, and I'm glad I'm almost over it.

 

[iphonewarrior]

Tarek, man-up and kick the habit. Take your mind off it by drinking loads of lager.

 

[MrMike6by9]

I quit about 30+ years ago when I realized that I could no longer bear sitting next to that smelly ashtray after each cigarette. I have one friend who still smokes. I hate how my clothes smell after an evening in his apartment. Congrats to all who try and a hearty congrats to those who succeed!

 

[TarekElsakka]

Tarek, man-up and kick the habit. Take your mind off it by drinking loads of lager.

I wish I could, but beer, to me, is still linked to cigarettes. Whenever I drank one, I smoked simultaneously or at least afterwards. Hopefully in a month everything will go back to normal.

 

[iphonewarrior]

I wish I could, but beer, to me, is still linked to cigarettes. Whenever I drank one, I smoked simultaneously or at least afterwards. Hopefully in a month everything will go back to normal.

It will, it sounds ridiculous to you now, but in time you'll understand. Stopping smoking is all about will-power. If you haven't got any, you're not going to stop. You have to want to stop.

I've quit because I've got a baby on the way. It's a good incentive to stop

(I'm not telling you to go out and get a girl/lady/woman pregnant by the way... just so you can stop smoking)

 

[Michael Baturin]

My sister was a smoker for a few years from when she was young (around 16) until she was about 19 or so. She tried everything under the sun to kick the habit and was really unable. She decided to try hypnotism as a last ditch effort and whether you believe in it or not, it worked for her. She explained the feeling afterwards when she was around cigarettes as nauseating. Apparently the smell of them made her physically sick after. She is 28 now and has been a non-smoker for a long time. Good luck to everyone - you can do it.

 

[IllusionEntity]

I'm proud to say that I've been smoke-free for almost two weeks now. I decided I should stop cold turkey as soon as I read articles about how nicotine raises your sugar level in the blood, and I'm diabetic, so that's probably why my A1C levels have been constantly high.

I read IllusionEntity's post, I'm willing to take you on that bet, my friend. I get the cravings and urges to smoke sometimes, but I defeat them by thinking of another thing or having a conversation with someone, be it in real life or even online. I can tell you, though, that having friends who don't smoke is a bless.

Winner gets an iPad right?

 

[TarekElsakka]

Not from me. Maybe from Chris. Haha.

 

[computerfox]

ya know, it might be easier to move over to pouches or some other form of smokeless tobacco first before cutting cold turkey. i find it that if you don't gradually get off it, when some crappy things happen, you end up going back. or when you catch your kid smoking and you make them smoke a whole carton, but to find that he doesn't know how to hold it, so you take a puff and it starts all over again. gradually cutting down seems to work a lot better. just my 2 cents and good luck to all of you.

 

[Bennyboy]

wish I had the strength