Cold turkey quitter here10.5 years ago (after trying nicotine patches, nicotine gum, and wellbutirn to no avail). The first two months were pure hell, but it smoothed out much better that I expected.
Tools that greatly helped me:
- a speed bag both at work and at home (punching bag)
- primal screaming into my pillow, in my car, or out in the forest is a great release of energy on any occasion
- carried one of those stress ball squishy thingies with me
- giant bottles of water went with me every where I roamed (p.s. - never pass up the chance to pee...lol!!!), with lemon/lime/orange wedges/cucumber slices/berries/herbs like mint/etc. in it to jazz it up some
- lots of variety of gums, mints, lifesavers, carrots, celery, bell peppers, cucumbers, etc. cut into sticks about the same size of cigs taken with me every where (I had a small cooler I'd tote with me)
- "comfort" junk foods of whatever random craving hit in the moment
- kept looking at actual photos of internal damage of long term smokers
- kept a chart handy of benefits after certain lengths of time quitting
- lots of loud music with my headphones on got me through
I only physically snatched one person up by their shirt collar, and that was after they blew smoke in my direction as a "joke", but felt like snatching many more. lol
Hardest damn thing I had ever tried to stop....and I was moody, hateful, pissed off, was gaining weight, and miserable for quite some time...but managed to never light another one up and eventually lost that weight and a lot more. That's one of the few things I managed to quit before it became urgent and/or medically necessary.
When I most recently flipped the script on my overall consumption habits by giving up meat, dairy, eggs, gluten, caffeine, and alcohol, it sort of seemed like the cigs were a breeze. lol But I very much remember the struggle.
Wishing you well in your attempts. Sending vibes of much strength to kick their little asses. They certainly do put up one hell of a fight.
