So with my top surgery coming up this May, I have to finally quit smoking cigarettes. I wanted to make it my New Year's resolution and never touch them again, but I've already slipped up twice and smoked. Does anyone have tips for quitting?
I read somewhere that (if you have access to a sauna or steam room) that if you go in there for 3 or so days in a row, it will help flush the nicotine out of your system and it will make quitting easier. Not sure if it works as I've never smoked, but if it does, there ya go
Many people find natural black licorice sticks helpful. They replace the biorhythm of wanting to put a cigarette in your mouth, and the fennel (the herb that flavors licorice) can mimick nicotine and reduce cravings. Some people find that taking niacin helpful (a B-vitamin, also known as nicotinic acid, again, helpful in calming nicotine receptors). Also, Chantix and, I think, wellbutrin are both used to reduce cravings for tobacco. Both are prescription meds that seem to have good effectiveness. Your doctor should be able to prescribe. One other thing that might be helpful: The nicotine cravings themselves are generally very short... a minute or less. If you can just tell yourself that the craving will be over quickly, it will buy you time. And the cravings decrease significantly after a few days.
Okay, I have three. Incense. Go buy some of your favorites and lite them when you get the urge and continue on with your day. Cinnamon Sticks/fresh orange peels: My old case worker swears by them. For the cinnamon sticks you chew them when you need a smoke. The orange peels is literally, peeling them in your face to get the orange peel spray to where you can smell it as it is peeled. It is kind of weird but it works. Standby: this one I used myself and I have not smoked in a little more than a year now. You get your last pack and you smoke it like normal, but you save one cigarette in the pack. Call I your emergency cigarette. You can smoke it anytime you want, but you want to see how long you can go without smoking it. I had mine in plain sight, I just remembered how bad I felt after I lit up vs. how good I felt before i lit a cigarette.
Yo - I’ve not exactly quit i fluctuate in periods of smoking and then not. I try to think of it as a choice i’m In control of, not an addiction I’m fighting against. If I’m craving i tell myself i cant be bothered. I can if I want to though. But if i do there are conciquences like going through the intense cravings again, the guilty feeling plus just going outside and being cold etc I’ll acknowledge that I want one then just go ‘nah not this time’ and do something else to distract myself for a bit and it usually passes. I didnt smoke a week before and a few days after my op - tho i am a smoker still, because ive not chosen to quit yet. Plus ill smoke less at home then work out of habit. I guess ask ‘do i really want this one?’ I’m not sure if that helped, I cant really explain but it’s helped me not touch a drink in 18 months.
Too late to edit so pardon double post but also realised my personal terminology maybe a bit weird - i used a vape prior, I just ref smoking and vape as smoke because for me I use both indiscriminately, whether its a cigarette or a puff on a vape its having a smoke to me. I’ve also seen a few people use vapes to quit but personally I think its similar and normally see those guys smoking more often with them. A service that’s available in the uk that ive seen people use is something called ‘Smoking Cessation’ - I’m not sure if they have it where your from but ive watched two people quit through that service. - Also check your surgeons requirements because everywhere is different with strictness and medical aside I’d not risk jeopardising your ‘medical contract’ because they can deny your op. So thats a good motivation - when you want a smoke, ask yourself what you want more that cig then or that surgery soon.
My parents both smoked. My dad quit with nicotine patches and no longer smokes. My mother tried everything going that was suppose to help quit smoking. Apparently Allen Carr’s book The Easy Way To Stop Smoking is good. Champix made my mother feel sick so she didn’t use it and it’s expensive too. She’s been using a vape for a while now and it’s lasted longer than any other method she tried. It seems to work for lots of people. It’s not as bad as smoking but it’s not great for you either.
My dad did sort of a step down program. He went from smoking to chewing tobacco to sunflower seeds to gum over a period of years. The sunflower seeds and gum sort of gave him something to keep his hands busy and something to fidget with.
