How did you stop??

bud10 · 20-11-2010 1:50am #1

Just wondering, How did you guys stop smoking, did you go through hypnosis, was it just willpower, did you read a book like Allen Carr's stop smoking books or was there some other method? Were you compelled for some other reason money, health, partner/spouse pressure. I'm just curious as i want to give up smoking and interested to see what methods people have used and what was there motivation.

Sasquatch76 · 20-11-2010 10:38am

Allen Carr reader here (although truth be known, I had better success after listening to the audio version of it).

The reasons were many, but primarily it was health concerns that made me take the plunge. Essentially, I just knew that if I didn't stop, they'd kill me. Not there and then, or anything nearly as dramatic, but I did feel like time was running out for me somewhat... that I could only be so lucky for so long (19 years as it happens). The financial gains were a positive side effect that I was well aware of before quitting too.

Anyway, haven't smoked since June, and more importantly, I haven't wanted to smoke either.

The fact that you're here on this forum is a sure sign that you're nearly ready to take the plunge yourself. Have a read of the stickies at the top of the forum, and indeed as many other threads as you can - they are a huge source of knowledge, inspiration and moral support. All the best with it, and let us know how you get on

That_Guy · 21-11-2010 12:10pm

I'm going cold turkey. I'll be off them 2 weeks on Monday. The first 3 days are absolute hell but after those first 72 hours, all nicotine is gone from your body and it's a battle of wills.

Keep yourself busy.

For my first week I was constantly making work for myself to distract me and to quell the cravings and it worked.

After that first week the cravings subsided and everything seems to be fine.

Alcohol is a huge huge challenge but it's very doable to go without smoking for a night when you're drinking.

Personally, I'm not the most dedicated person but giving up smoking is probably the biggest thing I've ever decided to do.

With the money I've saved, I've stuck it in a jar and by the end of the month I'm gonna blow it all on a treat for myself for the hard work done.

I can feel my breathing slowly coming back to normal now. Food tastes better, I don't smell, my teeth haven't really got that yellow sh*t on them anymore, lack of phlegm in the morning and generally not tasting a like a fcuking ashtray.

Seriously, this can be done. If you want it bad enough, it can be done.

Ardennes1944 · 21-11-2010 12:17pm

i just never started

Orion · 22-11-2010 2:17am

Cold turkey myself. Nearly 11 months now. No books, gum, patches, hypnosis. I'm a believer that when you really want to quit you don't need a crutch. I went from 40/day to 0/day without anything. But it took me a long time to get to that point where I thought about quitting to actually truly wanting to quit.

That's not to negate the other options - they may help some people. But really wanting to quit deep down is a pre-requisite.

Queen-Mise · 22-11-2010 2:30am

20 days of them now. I have young looking skin, and cigarettes ages a person, so that was one of my primary reasons. I said that to my doctor that I wanted to give them up for vanity; she disagreed any reason is valid.

The last few evenings about 8/9 pm have been hard. Had a few nasty little cravings here and there... Got over them and still here. As the time off the cigarettes gets longer... I am more reluctant to even entertain the idea of having another ciggie.

Haven't noticed any extra money in my pocket, although I am NOT missing the smokers cough.

itac · 22-11-2010 3:16am

I had halfheartedly tried a few times, but managed to stop late 2008 with willpower/determination/whatever you want to call it. I haven't had a smoke since then. It's been tough, and I'll never say I'm free of them-still love the smell, and I miss the little rituals, the cuppa and a smoke
at a friends house, the taste of a drink with them,the new friends made in moments because of a lighter...and if I'm 100% honest, I'm not completely happy that I've quit.
However, my circulation in my hands & feet has been fecked for several years now (started smoking at 14, quit at 25) and heart disease is quite prevalent in my family, so I figured that for my own sake, I should probably try and get rid of them.

So I guess I quit for health reasons, can't say financially it's made a huge difference, because my financial circumstances have changed a lot over the last two years, and I appear to be catching more coughs and colds than I ever had before, but that aside, it's made people I love happy, and me too (most of the time!) so c'est la vie.

Tbh, I don't think you can quit until you actually *want* to quit. Quitting because other people say you should doesn't make it magically easier-at least if you're doing it for yourself, you've only yourself to blame if you have one. And if you do have one, don't think you've failed-just start again (or should that be stop again?!) and carry on.

Good luck with it either way..:)

Br4tPr1nc3 · 22-11-2010 5:37am

electronic cigarettes for 2 months.
and then just went with nothing after the batteries ran out

Rented Mule · 29-11-2010 4:24pm

I woke up one morning (after a very long weekend where a carton of 200 didn't seem to be enough) and swore that I had enough. I didn't have any fags left in the house. I wanted to quit....for the first time I wanted to quit not because I knew that I should, but because I had enough.

Test For Echo · 29-11-2010 4:30pm

Allen Carr's Easyway. Quit smoking 14 years ago. Best 6 quid (or whatever it cost back then) I ever spent.

About 3/4 through his 'Control Alcohol' book and I couldn't be arsed drinking since the last Bank Holiday :pac:. Hoping to stay off it once I finish the book.

The man deserved every penny of his millions IMO

dmaxontour · 29-11-2010 4:35pm

Allen Carr. I read it once and quit no bother.
I have had the occasional one when drinking but I've never been tempted to restart. Previously, when I'd quit, the "odd one" led on to me being a full time smoker within a month. I've been off nearly 3 years now :-)

JOSman · 29-11-2010 5:05pm

Well done to all the people who are presently off the cigs, keep off them.

I gave them up with a prescription (and only prescription) called Champex, some three years ago and never looked back. The medication is serious and caution is recommended. Whatever way it works you seem to forget about smoking. This finally worked for me as I had tried other ways over the years unsuccessfully.

That_Guy · 29-11-2010 5:19pm

Today is my third week off cigarettes. Delighted tbh. With the money I saved I went out and bought new clothes as a reward.

Still going strong. Night's out are a bit tough but with the sh*t weather could you really be that bothered to freeze your ass off?

devnty06 · 03-12-2010 9:28am

Delay - For a few minutes & the urge will pass
Drink Water: Sips ...slowly
Deep Breathe : Take 3 deep breathe slowly....
Do something else - Distract yourself.....

make sure that you follow these step to quit smoking.

Drug Rehab

Arthurdaly · 04-12-2010 8:46pm

Im off them 11 months and counting. Previosly I was smoking for approximately 20 years but the number of cigs I was smoking before I quit was ridiculous. At the weekend I was polishing off 60 cigs a day.
I looked terrible and felt drained!

Allen Carrs book all the way. Everthing in the book was obvious and nothing new but something just clicked and I believed every word of it!

I am still regularly in company of chronic smokers in the pub whilst drinking. I rarely bring it up as I consider myself a non smoker now but my friends always comment on how they cannot believe I am still off them and how strong I am. I snigger to myself and claim the glory, its actually easy and thats thanks to Allen Carr!

I could not recommend the book enough, it toally changed my life!

antiskeptic · 05-12-2010 7:26pm

bud10 wrote: »

Just wondering, How did you guys stop smoking, did you go through hypnosis, was it just willpower, did you read a book like Allen Carr's stop smoking books or was there some other method? Were you compelled for some other reason money, health, partner/spouse pressure. I'm just curious as i want to give up smoking and interested to see what methods people have used and what was there motivation.

Allen Carr. A copy of the book came into the family and we all (except my mother who wasn't a smoker) quit. Muggins here fell back into the pit and it took the seminar at the Red Cow to lever me clear again. But in all cases, exactly what it says on the tin. The easy way - no willpower required.

That_Guy · 14-12-2010 2:40pm

Haven't actually posted in here a while. I've been off 5 them 5 weeks since yesterday. No cravings anymore at all.

Food tastes better, breathing has become an awful lot better, sense of smell has come back (I now know how disgusting cigarettes actually smell) and the main thing... I've saved a ton of money which is always good especially leading up to Christmas.

Fairdues · 28-12-2010 10:29pm

I really didn't think I could do it but thought I'd test myself by seeing how many days i could last without smoking. I'm still counting, over 10 years later!!!

milosh · 30-12-2010 2:16am

I woke up on 21/6/2010 with no cigarettes and a bad hangover. Decided I could do without until my headache went. By lunch I decided I was off them long enough to try and quit. Deep down I knew I wouldn't do it.

That is until I found "Mac's quit log" on this. I read back over the entire thread and it gave me hope that anyone could do it. On the day I quit, he said he was going to do a marathon next year. So I started running that night. Ended up replacing the smoking addiction with a running addiction!

My advice is accept the physical cravings as a battle that needs to be fought for 72 hours. Your mind will try to convince you to smoke but don't give in. The cravings get worse as the last of the nicotine leaves your body but after the 3 days it all becomes mental. Once over this, you will be angry with yourself for going back smoking.

Write a log or follow someone elses, go for long walks, do anything but just stop smoking!!!

dolliemix · 05-01-2011 5:25pm

Fairdues wrote: »

I really didn't think I could do it but thought I'd test myself by seeing how many days i could last without smoking. I'm still counting, over 10 years later!!!

I did something similar. Couldn't cope with the thought that it was a longterm thing so I said I'll just see can I do another week etc......until all of a sudden the months were adding up and I wasn't even counting. I'm off them over a year 1/1/2010

happyfriday · 07-01-2011 1:02pm

I'm a non smoker for nearly 9 months now and Allen Carr is to thank for it. I had the book on my shelf for a long time before I decided to give it a go and my biggest regret in life so far is that I didn't do it sooner. I know it sounds silly but quitting has totally transformed my life. I have 3 pretty epic holiday's planned for this year with the money I have saved so far. The amount of things that have improved healthwise for me are to many to list and life is just that bit brighter (and warmer)

Allen Carr = legend!!!

Pyongyang · 07-01-2011 1:06pm

Allen Carr book worked for me too. I was incredibly wary of it at first like many others.

Everyone says "whats the book about?" like it's a fiction novel or something. It's about nothing but common sense. Hard to describe but it worked for me and I've done everything, Zyban, cold turkey, the lot.

The book just works. Best book I've ever read.

Subtle Troll · 07-01-2011 1:09pm

I cut down, its easier to wait an extra hour and have one less ciggarette a day and so on, the physical addiction goes down naturally like that, but its the mental habit that lasted longest and is only now gone.

alex andrews · 08-01-2011 2:23am

I smoked like a trooper for over 20 years, dreaded the day of having to quit
But was simple in the end after using a cd program my brother lend me
I Think it's cheap enough to buy online, give it a go, deffinetly works.
Www.Stopsmokingwithpsychology.com

antiskeptic · 27-01-2011 10:53am

Another for Allen Carr. The one copy came into our house and the three smokers there quit - then it went outside the house and a boyfriend of my sister as well as a mate of mine.

Dumbo here was the only one to fall back into the trap (smoking joints with tobacco in them) but thankfully Allan Carr worked again (although this time the rather more expensive seminar)

Pyongyang wrote: »

Everyone says "whats the book about?" like it's a fiction novel or something. It's about nothing but common sense. Hard to describe but it worked for me and I've done everything, Zyban, cold turkey, the lot. The book just works. Best book I've ever read.

The way the book works is remarkably simple. It merely tells you the unvarnished truth about smoking: what's involved, why folk get hooked, why they find it hard to quit and why willpower/chemical methods of quitting don't tackle the root of the problem. The key truth is the one pointing out that you don't actually get anything from smoking - that everything it gives is an illusion.

As the best book I've ever read says "And you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free". Which is how Allan Carr works: it's your coming to know the truth about smoking that frees you from smoking.

It must certainly be the only method which allows you to keep on smoking until such time as you've been freed from the trap

Simple.

Elegant.

Effective.

gigino · 30-01-2011 8:18pm

I just decided on Jan 1st 2009 to stop. I did for 5 months but went back on 20 a day until Jan 1st this year. Am off them nearly a month now...but its very hard.

nesf · 09-02-2011 3:21am

E cig. Going on eight months now.

Sp00ky · 15-02-2011 8:25pm

Alan Carr got me off for 3 years after which I started again and continued for about 5 or 6 years.

3.5 years ago my wife wanted us to give up together. I didn't want to but I did it for her. 3 days later she was back smoking and still is. I never looked back.

antiskeptic wrote: »

It must certainly be the only method which allows you to keep on smoking until such time as you've been freed from the trap

I remember when I was reading this book I wanted to stop smoking but he kept saying "I know you want to give up, but don't yet". At the end I was delighted to give up and I didn't miss smoking at all. But I must admit, I had bad mood swings for a while.

Br4tPr1nc3 · 24-02-2011 12:43am

electric smokes for about 2 or 3 months or so.
and then decided to give them up cos I wasnt bother buying another one.

Javonte · 18-05-2011 11:08am

I've stoped smoking because I had some serious health problems so I had to quit smokig or to die.

Valzer · 25-05-2011 7:24pm

One year off Smokes this week.
20 a day for 27 years. This was my first attempt to give up.
I went cold turkey.

One Thursday in May I got a letter from Social Welfare confirming that my Dole claim has been confirmed/approved. This stirred a lot of feelings/thoughts in me, mostly negative. One that came to the surface, and gave me something to concentrate on, was the thought of the Irish Tax payers paying for my nicotine habit. I gave up that night.

The first three weeks were tough, after that it got easier week by week. I still think of them a lot of the time, and get a strong longing every now and then, but I fully believe I'm off them for life now.

After giving them up my taste buds came to life. I ate my way through the next three months because everything just tasted so bloody good. I put on one and a half stone in that time so I decided to do something about it. I started walking a few evenings a week, then after a while started to jog. Being over 40 I was advised to walk for 2 mins and run for 1 min for the first week or so and bring it up slowly, but 27 years of smoking ( and years of inactivity ) meant that I couldn't even manage that one minute slow run. I kept trying and eventually built time and distance. Yesterday (six months after I started running) I ran for 1 hr and 12 minutes, covering a distance of 12K. There is simply no way I could ever have achieved that if I was still smoking. Next target The Dublin Marathon...

How did you stop??

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