Stopping smoking? -

Stopping smoking? -

im stopping smoking but its sooo hard. other than usung nicatine products, what else helps? is anyone else stopping or stopped? what helped you through it?First of all, I really want to commend you for trying to quit. I myself am not a smoker, but have been around smoker-s all my life. My mother quit smoking some years ago - my sister-s have quit - re-started, so I am going to give you some of the things that I have observed with them.
My mom used nicorette gum. As mentioned from a previous answerer...oral fixation. To this day she chews gum.
Another thing that my mom makes sure of is that she carries around hard candy. She likes to have something to suck on. It is kind of that same sucking action as with a cigarette. Best thing about this kind is that there are a variety of flavors to choose from. :)
Also, she stays very busy. Not only is it an oral fixation, but a hand fixation. She always had to have something going with her hands. Mom took up flower arranging - crafting. This helped keep her mind - hands occupied. She also started reading quite a bit - word - number puzzles. Another mind - hand thing.
My sister quit cold turkey. She did very well for 9 years. Then 9/11 happened. 45 min. away from her house is where the 2nd plane went down. The way that the whole town shut down - the kids were rushed home from school, sent her for a loop. She started smoking again. She is still smoking.
Another sister quit by reducing the number of cig-s a day that she would smoke. She would take out her certain number of cig-s - make it last. She would light up long enough that she quenched the urge....then she would put it out - save it for later. When she had a small urge, she would puff on her unlit cigarette. That seemed to help. Lots of hard candy for her.
Quitting smoking is not going to be an easy thing. A great support system is KEY!! Maybe a great friend to help encourage you. OR a family member. Someone you can go to - tell them of your quest to quit. Ask them to be your encourager. Also remind them, from the beginning, that you do not need to be scolded when you fall. You need to be gently picked up - set back on the right road. The road that you have chosen.
Now from me, a non-smoker. I am so proud of you for trying. And every time you may have a re-lapse, but start over again to be smoke-free......I am proud of YOU!!!!! :)
My grandmother died at the oh so young age of 67. She was taken way way way before her time. She had throat cancer.
The day that the doctor-s had to cut off half of my beautiful grandma-s face was one I will never forget. Not only did she loose her lower jaw bone, she had to have a permanent tracheotomy installed.
The radiation burned her throat so bad. So, not only did my beautiful grandma loose her face, I never got to hear my beautiful grandma-s voice again.
Being that her throat was so badly burned from the radiation, she was no longer able to eat - drink.
She was on restricted fluids. Just enough to keep her mouth wet. See, the esophogus was so badly burned, there was no way of stopping fluid from going directly into her lungs. She was slowly filling her lungs with fluid. She was very slowly drowning.
She had a permanent Kangaroo feeding tube surgically inserted into her stomach. My grandma was a professional chef. It gave her great pleasure to cook for - dine her family. She lost that desire - that pleasure. Dinner was a can of ensure put into the plastic bag at the top of the feeder.
Grandma was a tiny woman. About a size 2. When the feeding tube became permanent, her belly swelled up like a balloon. Size 13/14. Although she lost weight - was very thin in the face,arms - legs, her stomach was big.
Grandma lived like this for 2 years. I asked her if she knew what it would be like, would she have chosen the surgery, chemo - radiation. She said no. She said that she would have taken her chances with the cancer. I told her I was glad that she chose to live. Thing is......hindsight. Grandma suffered so much those last 2 years. Now I realize how selfish it was for me - the rest of the family to ask her to endure that pain - agony so that WE could have her for a little longer.
I don-t tell you this to gross you out. I tell you this because I loved my grandma sooooo soooooo much. My grandmother raised me for several years of my childhood. She truly was -mother- to me. Not....... just like a mother, but the real thing for me. It has been several years ago - I still cry to tell my grandmother-s story. The pain is so real. Just as it was yesterday.
I tell this story to hopefully, stop this pain from ever happening to anyone. I would hate to see anything like this happen to you or anyone, EVER!!!! If this helps one person, it is worth telling. Just one person. See, there is a trickle down effect. That one person has many many people that love him/her. So, one person really effects many.
Be blessed dear on you adventure to quit smoking. I give you highest praise for your effort. It is so worth quitting. The benefits outweigh the negative.
You find yourself a cheerleading squad - you go for it. It won-t be easy, but you can do it. You can do anything you put your mind to.
I want this so badly for you. But it has to be you, YOU who wants this so badly for you.... for you to achieve.
Go for the brass ring girl. Go for great smelling breath, whiter teeth, pretty nails, good smelling fingers, nice smelling clothes - hair. A house that is fresh - clean smelling. A car that is ash free - smells great. How about those lungs. Lungs that are free of nicotine - tar. Lungs that want to run up those stairs - run up a hill. Lungs that will take you where you want to go. And how about that voice. A voice so crisp - clear...not burned out, dry - raspy. Oh, and let-s not forget the money. How about the money you will save. Do something special for yourself with that savings. Set goals for yourself, but also set treats for yourself. Reach a goal, get a treat. Be good to you.
This is the only YOU that you get - it has to last you the rest of your life. :)
Best wishes to you - your cheerleader-s. I will keep all in my prayers.
Hope this helps in some way. :)I stopped about 3 years ago and it was very hard. I tries all kinds of stuff. The patch worked for me. Once you are off the patch you have a highly diminished oral fixation and you can then attack the nicotine addiction directly instead of failing due to the need to have something in your mouth. But it-s mostly agony and willpower. You will thank yourself every day for the rest of your life. Start working out too, that helps.Congratulations!!!!!
Yes, it-s VERY difficult to stop an addiction/compulsion.
I suggest getting mint-flavored toothpicks to keep your mouth busy. Some folks chew gum, but the sugar is bad for you.

Smoking helps folks avoid (but not face) their feelings, so it-s good to make sure that you talk about your life with a good friend every day so stuff doesn-t build up.

Hang out with other non-smokers. If you hang out with smokers, you-ll be smoking again.

If you hang out at a barber shop, soon enough, you-ll get a haircut.

Meditation - prayer helps to relax you and connect with your God.

Good Luck.I had to use mint snuff to quit chewing tobacco. I am sorry I don-t have an answer for smoking, but maybe there is some sort of fake cigarette like the mint snuff?The cravings will subside dramatically if you can just get through the first few days. They won-t go away completely though so you have to substitute a good behavior to replace your smoking bahavior, like taking a walk, drink a glass of water, or chew gum. Good luck!I-m going thru this with a friend and he says the best way is to just put it down and don-t let smoking be an option any longer.You have to be ready mentally. If not, it will be harder to succeed.

I quit smoking from March 2006 to December 2007 and started back up when I went home to visit my family. They are die hard smokers and I thought I-d be able to handle it. Well, living with 4 smokers for 10 days was not beneficial to me at all. I-ve been smoking since that trip unfortunately. Hopefully I-ll be stopping again soon, once I get into the right frame of mind.

What helped was...

1) Stop doing things I associated with smoking, i.e, taking unnecessary breaks at work. I tried to keep busy and not go on breaks.

2) Just tell yourself no. It-s hard but it can be done.

3) I needed something to replace the oral fixation yet I didn-t want to gain a lot of weight. Thankfully, I-m lucky in having a great metabolism ~ I only gained 5 lbs. I didn-t want to switch smoking with something else I did normally, like eat ice cream. So I started eating Hot Tamale candies. I never ate them before I quit smoking and whenever I needed a smoke, I-d chew on some of these. They really did help me.

Good luck to you. Hopefully I-ll be quitting right along with you soon.

Stopping smoking? -