any piece of advice is welcome, thank you :-3
There is a med called Welbutrin which can be prescribed for quitting smoking and it works really well. It’s also prescribed as an antidepressant so one of my smoker friends was on it for that reason and they almost completely quit smoking without even trying to. Of course, it is not without It’s sideeffects but among antidepressants it is one of the usually best tolerated ones. I’m on it for my depression now and the only issue I have is that it can make me really anxious, but I’m also on nearly the maximum dose where for smoking cessation you wouldn’t be taking anything close to that amount.
I switched to a vape and progressively got lower nicotine amounts until I was at 0 and then stopping was easy.
I’m going to tell you what worked for me. There’s a very good chance you’ll hate it and I will get flak.
Cold Turkey.
You physically stop yourself from purchasing cigarettes and not ask for them in social situations. You make a line in the sand and never cross that point again.
Honestly, this is it. You have to want it, and you just have to do it. You’ll feel “sick” for a while but you just have to muscle that out.
I know it’s easier said than done, but it really is that simple. Just stop.
Cold turkey worked for me. Took me 4 attempts. I wasn’t hard on myself for failure, I noted what happened (emotional trauma, stress, alcohol) and prepared myself for the next attempt.
I wanted to quit, so when I relapsed it’s not because I wanted to smoke but because those little cancer stick bastards were trying hardest to kill me. But if they were going to be tough, I could be tougher. I found it easier when I could see the cigs as my enemy.
I did the same and can confirm it worked. First two weeks will be the worst, then it’ll be easier. Just be stuborn and aware that your will is stronger then a habit and that it doesn’t have power over you. The urge to smoke will remain but at that point you need to be aware that even if you’re convinced you want a smoke, it will taste really terrible when you actually do it and you will regret you broke your streak of non-smoking days.
I do confirm that cigarettes taste awful now.
This is also the only thing that worked for me
I’ve been trying to quit for 18 years now. I’ve tried gum, patches, toothpicks, welbutron (or something like that), but this time it’s going a bit better. We switched to cheap disposable vapes (Kadobar was what was near the house) which is totally not ‘quitting’ but when picking a flavor, Pick a bad one. I’ve found I don’t like it, it’s way too sweet and that keeps me from wanting to smoke it too much at a time, but when that need arises (bad meeting, car trouble, bad anxiety) it does deliver nicotine which keeps me from buying a pack.
As a side effect, I went from spending around $400-450/month on cigarettes, to around $
16080/month (my wife went with one she likes, but she’s quit before and I think she could do it anytime).Edit: I’m bad a math
I quit by switching to vaping and then working the nicotine level down to nothing and then quitting that. Whatever you decide to do I wish you the best of luck (and stick with it!)
Same here. Fuck the naysayers who say cold turkey or nothing. Do what works for you.
For OP: One caveat to the vape plan is you’ll likely need to get a vape that’s refillable so you can customize the nicotine level. Juul/vuse/disposables typically only come in one, or at best, 2 nicotine levels, which prevents effective tapering.
Also, don’t fall into the trap of vaping places you wouldn’t have smoked (e.g. in your house/car). That can increase your nicotine dependency.
Good luck!
If you don’t have the willpower or don’t really want to, you will fail. It’s nearly all willpower.
*Crys in depression which fuels smoking more
While I have no personal experience with tobacco addictions, there is an interesting literature review of CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy) and MBI (Mindfulness Based Interventions).
I used chantix back in the day, but it also required me basically not leaving the house for a month to really get there. When and where I quit for the first time (I would later start dating a smoker and relapse, then quit again), smoking was still allowed indoors and I had a huge association with drinking and smoking. Same for certain other places and situations. I basically had to do everything I could to avoid those. It got easier with time.
Nicotine pouches
You have to want to stop. I smoked 13 years, stopped several times, but the final real stopping was not that hard.
What also worked quite well for me as a crutch were nicotine free cigarettes. I decided I’d smoke as many of those as I wanted. Started with 20 at the first day and it slowly reduced by itself over time, till at one point o completly stopped without even realizing it.
Say what. I feel like I’m addicted to the feeling of smoke being inhaled. Vapes reck me and I can’t stop coughing.
What are these things you speak of
Oh, apparently they are called herbal cigarettes. Consist off some non tobacco leafs. Here in Germany they are sold in pharmacies.
IRL social network is a major factor.
I overpressure myself, as if I was constipated, each time I get cravings. I basically make my body as uncomfortable as I can so it learns that cravings=pain.
In the past, I’ve used hand rolled tobacco to ween myself off. It’s a lot harder to just grab a smoke when driving for instance. But cold turkey is best. I usually wait until I get sick before starting stopping since it tends to skip the nasty craving in the first few days. After a week or two, it gets much easier.
Remember, having a smoke every now and then will work until it doesn’t.
Get a quality vape device. Start with 18mg tobacco flavored vape. Try to always vape instead of smoke, but don’t beat yourself up if you smoke. Just keep doing it. Eventually you’ll notice that you’re vaping more than smoking, and some time after that you’ll realize that you haven’t smoked in days. At that point you’re basically free. Throw your smokes away and keep vaping for a month or two or three. Then reduce your nicotine concentration to 12mg and keep vaping. Then reduce it to 6, then 3, then 0 mixed with 3, then just 0. You’ll naturally quit within a couple weeks after switching to 0. You might want to switch off a tobacco flavor at some point during the process.
I didn’t think I’d ever be able to quit smoking. I wanted to, and needed to, but I couldn’t. I tried all of the other cessation methods and none of them worked long term. I tried the above and it fucking worked! The best part is that it wasn’t hard. It all happened pretty naturally.
It’s important that you get a good vape device that gives good throat hit and feels like a cigarette. Don’t get a massive cloud machine, and don’t get a rinky dink disposable device. Try to get one with a round mouthpiece that is the same size as a cigarette.
You can totally do this! If I can do it, then anyone can do it!
this also worked for me. all of this. i smoked for 35 years and the vape was my way out. when i finally quit, i didn’t miss it at all.
Not a smoker myself, but I can tell you what worked for my brother when he quit in college.
AC went out in his dorm during an August heat wave, and it took forever for them to fix it. He decided that it would be a perfect time to go cold turkey, since he’d be so miserable from the heat that the few days of nicotine withdraw wouldn’t really be comparably bad. And he said it was right, he didn’t think about it during the worst part, and by the time they fixed the AC, he was 90% of the way through the process.
So if you live in one of the parts of the world moving to summer right now, it might be worth a shot.
