Cigarettes

[Chava]

omg, I hate them!! WHEN WILL I FINALLY QUIT!!!??? (trying for about 20 years, wtf).

I feel like a slug without cigs. I do so much more when I smoke, I'm happier...but then the bad times (pain, panic, arrhythmias, sleep) are worse. Nicorette just isn't the same, but the best substitute. What has helped others quit and not cave deep into some sort of depressing adrenaline crash??

Plus cigarettes are like my best friend, especially when I'm sad ir anxious. I need more tools obviously.

 

[Fadeaway]

I understand. I relied heavily on cigarettes as a coping method before I quit. I quite nearly 2 years ago using the e-cig. I still use it as a comfort item for the motions, despite using the zero mg nicotine vials. I also bought a sublingual spray that I got at the health food store to help detox the nicotine out of my system faster.

IMO you really have to want the benefits of quitting smoking more than you want to smoke to be successful. I gave up the nicotine, but I still can't give up the hand to mouth habit. I get the best of both worlds, the health benefits while still getting the soothing motion.

 

[Chava]

thanks fadeaway, a friend of mine swears by his e-cig but it seems so clunky to me...I should see what all is out there though. Part of it is the inhaling/exhaling thing. So are you inhaling just water vapor at this point, right?

 

[digger]

A collapsed lung, lozenges and reading Allen Carr's Easyway to Stop Smoking is what worked for me.

I wouldn't recommend the collapsed lung, but the other two were both helpful ;)

I quit about 9 years ago.

 

[Chava]

Yikes! I collapsed my lungs as a kid and it's idiotic I smoke at all (and don't have pulmonary fibrosis). Thanks for the book tip. Like Fadeaway said, I know I have to want it...and I do, I just cave in too easily right now. I had made it a couple months before I screwed up again. Congrats on 9 yrs smoke free, digger...your lungs are probably gorgeous!

 

[KwanYingirl]

I hated being a smoker. It never matched my personality-free spirit living off the land and woods. There's a man in Brookline Ma called the Mad Russian. I went to him and never smoked again since 1991. BTW he really was a MAD Russian! He says that he heals the bio energy field of our body. Google Mad Russian you may find someone who he taught

 

[Lucycat]

I gave up 6 months ago. I got an e-cig but didn't like the taste. I tried it for just one day and then just put it out of sight in a drawer where it still sits - just in case. So basically I have gone cold turkey.

 

[Friday]

I chewed gum at work, so gum would never work for me. Because it's linked to needing/getting a cigarette in a few hours.

Inhalers tick me off / I end up making myself sick.

Mints worked. The mini lozenges are my favorites, but the big ones are okay.

I also used some of my emergency 'sit down & shut up' meds for the first three days.

 

[Chava]

They don't sell lozenges anymore, at least where I'm at. Seems high maintenance to order, but I should if they weren't discontinued....I started screwing up when I had to switch from lozenges to gum. I had been doing well on the lozenges!! It bugs me...I think it's a way for Target and Walgreens to push their brands, but Walgreens patches sent me into panic attacks (Nicorette brand was okay), so I'm a bit of a Nicorette snob. I did not make the switch well...started doing gum in the morning, cigs at night. Stupid.

 

[Friday]

There was a quality control issue at the manufacturing plant... So a huge recall. I order mine, but am told that they should be back in stores fairly soon.

 

[Chava]

OOOH!! This would be very helpful! Those were working for me. Will look for them and not give up....I had even gotten ti cutting then in halves...so only 2 total lozenges per day. Now I'm a big dumb junkie again.Thanks for the news Fridayjones...makes me hopeful!!