[evollove]

Gonna try.

No, damn it. Gonna do it.

Tips, techniques, and words of encouragement are welcome.

This thread was useful, but six years old.

http://www.sonicyouth.com/gossip/sho...hlight=smoking

[EVOLghost]

Yeah...I'm in the same boat too. I just started this week. On my previous attempts I found symbols' suggestion of taking a DEEP breath every time you get a craving very very helpful.

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

I quit twice.. first time lasted 14 months and it was hell and i mean that with no exaggeration. EVERY single day of those 14 months i fiended for cigarettes. It never declined. I started up again.

The second time i decided to gradually step down, i acclimated to becoming a non smoker. I gradually cut back a few cigarettes a day until i felt more comfortable smoking less. Then after few months i stopped buying packs and only smoked when i had access by bumming smokes from friends or buying a few singles. This got me used to smoking only when i could and not whenever i felt like it. Finally after almost a year of this i went from pack and half a day to 2 or 3 a day. So i just quit. That was August 2007...

To be sure the cravings NEVER go away, i can feel them right now even! You just learn to ignore them

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Also straight up, weed helps. You get to get stoned and reduce the power of the cravings while having the added bonus of still getting to inhale smoke and so reduce the psychological cravings. When i started to cut back i matched it by smoking more joints.

[evollove]

Originally Posted by EVOLghost

Yeah...I'm in the same boat too. I just started this week. On my previous attempts I found symbols' suggestion of taking a DEEP breath every time you get a craving very very helpful.

Good to know. Breathing exercises and keeping pictures of fucked up lungs and mouths around are the only techniques I could think of.

Actually, there's a subtle, existential thing I was thinking of. Just tell myself, "I am not a smoker." When I get a craving, I will say, "But I do not smoke for I am not a smoker, so why do I want a cig? It is an irrational thought and can be dispensed with." Might help. I sort of doubt it.

Care to make it interesting? First one who smokes has to pay the other $25,000.

Originally Posted by SuchFriendsAreDangerous

Also straight up, weed helps.

Funny, I was going to ask if it helped or hindered. It helps? Oh sweet mercy. I might have to pray to something.

I've tried the "cut down" method. Doesn't work with me. I learned I have an all-or-nothing personality. Moderation ain't my scene. So, starting tomorrow when I wake up, gonna rip that monkey off my back entirely.

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

My experience with all or nothing was horrific. Normally i go this way but smoking is such a different experience..

For me cutting back was a way to gradually acclimate and get increasingly used to smoking less.. otherwise the cravings become unbearable. Again when i quit the 1st time cold turkey i succeeded in not smoking, but the entire time psychologically i was still a smoker.

Like i said, the cravings will NEVER go away. Just know that. Its been almost 9 years since i smoked a cigarette and not a day goes by that i don't have a craving exactly the same as when i was a smoker. Its jusy psychologically i can adjust better to simply ignore them.

[evollove]

Originally Posted by SuchFriendsAreDangerous

Like i said, the cravings will NEVER go away. Its just psychologically i can adjust better to simply ignore them.

In a weird way, I'm looking forward to the mental challenge. Not sure I can keep it up for years, but I do like the idea that after a few days it's all in the head. I'm sure I'll be humbled, but I'd like to think I can outwit a fucking plant.

[LifeDistortion]

I'll wish you best. I read an article last week that showed how long the human body takes to fully remove all risks from regular smoking, and it basically says it takes 15 years for your body to fully return to the health of that of a non-smoker.

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Originally Posted by evollove

In a weird way, I'm looking forward to the mental challenge. Not sure I can keep it up for years, but I do like the idea that after a few days it's all in the head. I'm sure I'll be humbled, but I'd like to think I can outwit a fucking plant.

Hold on you missed my point entirely. ITS NOT JUST IN YOUR HEAD. For me and many people i asked about this the PHYSIOLOGICAL cravings last for ever. I'm having them right now. The psychological part is tuning them out hence why i recommended gradually cutting back so you develop the mind set tp be able to better cope with the cravings

And by the way if you could outwit the plant by force of will you wouldn't have become a regular smoker to begin with

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Originally Posted by LifeDistortion

I'll wish you best. I read an article last week that showed how long the human body takes to fully remove all risks from regular smoking, and it basically says it takes 15 years for your body to fully return to the health of that of a non-smoker.

Even worse the cancer causing genetic mutations are permanent. That damage is done and can never heal. Its why smoking is craps, you will either get cancer or not but nothing can minimize or reduce the risk

[Toilet & Bowels]

Cold turkey, go away somewhere where access to cigs is limited (like the country) and you don't have your regular daily routine.
Be mindful that your brain will try and trick you and tell you it's been x amount of time and so it must be OK to at least try just one cigarette, just a puff or two. Don't fall for this, or you'll be back to square one before you know it.
These are the mile stones that seemed significant to me when I quit.
1 day
3 days
2 weeks
1 month
<1 year (this was when I stopped carrying a lighter around, I forget exactly when)
1 year
2.5 years (this is how long it took me to shake off the desire to smoke when drinking)

It's really tough, but if you can quit smoking you're hardcore.
Also sometime after you quit and the battle is no longer present in your mind and is largely forgotten, you'll find yourself in some situation or other and remember that this was the sort of time that you would normally have lit a cig and what a distant feeling that now is. And when that happens you'll feel great.

Having said all this it took me 10 years of repeated attempts to finally quit, but now it been 5 years since I did.

[EVOLghost]

Honestly...weed doesn't help me here. It does the exact opposite. I NEED a cigarette after I get high. It's just a routine(been on the routine for over 10 years!). I've been able to really cut back a lot here n now but like evllove....I too sometimes have an all or nothing attitude. Anyways....the one thing that always draws me back in was weed...and mainly at the bar too. Playing Street Fighter, drinking, and smoking up....sometimes you need a 'break'....and cigarettes provide exactly that. Anyways....this Friday I'm really sticking to it and not touching a tobacco product. I'll still smoke my weed n stuff...but this time I'll just have to go straight back to playing once I'm done.

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Notice myself included all the cold turkey folks didn't succeed long term. Try cutting back first it worked for me. Will be nine years without a single cigarette this August.

[evollove]

Originally Posted by EVOLghost

Anyways....this Friday I'm really sticking to it and not touching a tobacco product.

Me too! Just a few hours away. I just threw out all the ashtrays and empty packs, etc.

Originally Posted by Toilet & Bowels

<1 year (this was when I stopped carrying a lighter around, I forget exactly when)

Why did you still carry around a lighter? Security of some sort?

Originally Posted by SuchFriendsAreDangerous

Notice myself included all the cold turkey folks didn't succeed long term.

I appreciate that, and the cut-down method makes perfect rational sense, but I've tried that route recently and it didn't take. I get down to ten or so a day, then that number simply crawls back up. Down, up, down, up. That was my entire March. Fuck it.

I didn't mention that I want to quit mostly because I'm developing serious periodontal issues. Yeah, fucking gross. Pathetic. I can either keep smoking or I can keep my teeth. Not as strong a motivator as a newborn child or something, but it's pretty good.

And I cannot wait til I can say "I haven't had a cigarette in X years." Must be a great feeling.

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

The whole point of cutting down you will fail a few times, it is a pressure valve release. For me it was probably almost a year before i finally was comfortable quitting entirely. So if recently it didn't "work" that is kind of the point. It takes time and "cutting back" allows you to gradually take time. I mean hey, its your life but i personally am worried that if cold turkey doesn't work for you either you're just gonna keep smoking. So I'd like you and everyone to quit successfully. Do what works for you but trust me, it isn't and it won't ever be easy

[Toilet & Bowels]

Originally Posted by evollove

Why did you still carry around a lighter? Security of some sort?

Yeah, some sort of something.

[Toilet & Bowels]

Originally Posted by SuchFriendsAreDangerous

Notice myself included all the cold turkey folks didn't succeed long term

I have (5 years so far) but then by the time I quit I only smoked about 5 cigs/day

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Originally Posted by Toilet & Bowels

but then by the time I quit I only smoked about 5 cigs/day

....

[evollove]

Two and a half hours smoke free. This is easy. Tobacco's a pussy.

[Severian]

I actually think quitting cold turkey is goddamn insane. And quitting with the help of a patch, gum, inhaler, etc. often ends up being like the methadone maintenance program for nicotine addicts.

I quit smoking a pack a day a couple years ago, but damned if I don't still put on a 21mg patch every single day, and smoke at least one cigarette in the morning and one before bed. At least.

I've tried cold turkey. I think the longest I ever made it was one day, and that was mostly because I was extremely sick, and thinking about putting anything in my mouth made me vomit.

I hope to quit entirely by the end of 2016. As of now, I have it down so that nobody in my life except for my girlfriend and family knows that I smoke. I'm terribly ashamed of it. Things are not like they used to be. Taking a smoke break at work is just a terrible idea all around unless you're indispensable. I only smoke outside, at home, in my back yard, in my "smoking clothes" (which are disgusting). Because of this, I haven't had a cig for hours by the time I get to work, and my nose has already gone back to "normal," so I can smell the smokers across the goddamn room just like everyone else who doesn't smoke.

I'm not sure if I've achieved a kind of happy medium (I don't drink, and many non smokers do smoke when they drink, and most drinkers drink rather often), or if I'm just in denial. But whatever. 2/day is better than 20.

Advice? Don't ask me. I suck at this. My girlfriend was able to quit using an e-cig, "vaping," while if I suck on one of those things all I want to do is suck down a massive unfiltered rollie. But I will say this, the patch has been the only thing that's successfully decreased my smoking. Nothing else comes close. I love the patch. Prefer it to smoking actually.

I think I'm just a weakling. My father quit with cinnamon sticks, for Christ's sake. But my mother is like me. She used the patch for 10 years after her last cigarette, and only recently started cutting it into halves and then quarters.

Shrug.