Quit Smoking - Spencer,IA

I LOVED smoking!!! I was a pack a day smoker! I smoked for 19 years. I was 2 months pregnany and KNEW I had to quit! I had decreased to 6 per day and smoked only half of them. So really I was "smoking" 12 times per day. I went to a hypnotist. I had 3 right in a row just before the hypnosis. I cried a little (b/c I loved smoking so much.) He hypnotized me and I have never had one since! I also was given an audio tape to listen to for reinforcement...it really helped. It has been 6 years in July. The first week was definitely the hardest.

Good luck!

To really quit smoking you have be ready to quit.
I used a medication because I wanted to be done fast. But it had terrible side affects so I stopped taking it after 6 wks and they want you to take it for 3 months.
I had smoked for 25 yrs. I was to a point where I was tired of the smell and the expense. A pack would last me 3 days. But when I quit, by the end of the week, I was smoke free.
If you are cutting back the key to change the habit. Don't smoke after you eat, wait an hour. If yo smoke when you drive, stop that. Only smoke before you leave. If you smoke inside, stop and go outside to smoke. Make smoking uncomfortable.
It has been 4 yrs for me!!
Good luck!!!
Blessings!
D.

It's really really hard. SmokeAway is a product that helped us. You have to break the routine. Find us something else you can do when you get a craving and be prepared for a lot of emotions - depression and anger. promise yourselves that you'll avoid arguments and quit together. Having a partner is helpful. Exercising is a good idea. I would feel so angry I would just want to run (very abnormal for me). If you start again, don't give up. It usually takes a few tries. YOU CAN DO IT!!

I quit cold turkey on my daughters 5th birthday per her request. That was 4 years ago. She asked me to quit for her a month before the day. I started by smoking an awful brand with the opposite hand and I never smoked the ways I wanted to or at the times I wanted to. I took the fun and leisure out of it- and the smokes I picked we're brown and peach flavored. Yuck. On my quit day I crumpled up what I had left and instantly took vitamins and went for walks. It was hard but you have to make up your mind to do it and to never take a puff again.

I know people say the only way to change is to do it for yourself, but in my opinion doing it for someone you love more than yourself is easier.

April 19 will be 9 months I quit! I used the nicorete mini lozenges, my Dad was put on Hospice, and he begged me quit all the time, he had my daughter begging, so I decided I was going to quit while my Dad could see me, and die happy I finally quit! My husband thought I was crazy for quitting at such a difficult time, I promise you if I didn't quit than, I think I would still be smoking, I think you need find a reason you really want to quit, and stick with that! Best of luck!!!

It was a really long road for me. When I was 28 I stopped smoking by using Zyban -EXCEPT for when I drank. That was my caveat and still allowed me to smoke 1-3 times per week. Granted, it was much better than how much I had been smoking, but still not good. I thought pregnancy would be the cure, but as excited as I was to have a drink with friends after both of my pregnancies -I was just as excited to have cigarettes with them!

Finally in the last year I have completely stopped. For me it's been a combination of really starting to hate the way it made me feel and hating myself the next day for doing it because I really was feeling like -even though I wasn't smoking more than once or twice a week -it was going to wind up killing me. I've really gotten back into running. I could run easily as a smoker in my 20s and in my 30s -although I started feeling it more in my 30s. I'm 42 now, and if I smoke on Saturday night, I can still tell if I'm running on Wednesday. Quite honestly I just had to really be ready to completely stop. Now that I have -it's great!

I suggest you speak with your doctor about some of the products out there that could help you. Zyban helped me get rid of all of my smoking habits except for the drinking one. People sometimes didn't believe me, but I HATED the thought of a cigarette or smelling them if I wasn't in a bar or drinking. I never wanted one in the morning or in the car or during any of those old "habit" times. They've come out with a lot more things to help you in the past 10 years. I would check some of them out!

Smoke what? Cigs or something else? Seriously, I need to know what you're talking about smoking.

Being completely ready to quit is probably the most important step. I quit smoking 8 months ago. Pack a day smoker off & on for 20 years. I made a list of every reason I could think of to quit. I wrote them down. Posted them, kept them with me. Found a great website that tracks how many cigs I've not had, how much longer I've extended my life, how much I've saved, etc. along with daily email tips. My children are getting older and had been urging me to do so for some time. My lungs did not feel well, I had no energy, I stunk, wasn't setting a good moral example, it was expensive, I felt ashamed I smoked, and felt like my quality of life would be better without it. Those were just some of my reasons. You have to have your own. I also chewed Nicotene gum first couple of weeks. I have days I think about it, but overall no desire to smoke again.

Someone told me that the HABITs connected are as bad as the addiction, and it helps to "fake yourself out" when trying to quit. For example - if you smoke BEFORE breakfast, change it to AFTER breakfast - the goal is to break the connection to the "I have to have a cigarette when I..."

Good luck!!!

I quit my habit of diet soda cold turkey early January this year. I was drinking probably 6 cans of diet coke per day! GROSS!!

Now I can't take a sip because it's so gross to me.

You have to change your habits. Breaking any habit is hard. So you need to be ready and then find something else to do when you would be smoking. Good luck!