trying to quit...

[s3rotonin]

Smoking but need something a bit moar motivating then the gum and well moar helpful, any ideas?

[Shirow]

Whiskey?

[s3rotonin]

i so wish i could but we cant drink while in Iraq. Which is probably making it really hard to quit right now.

[creepster]

nicotine gum or patches?

[s3rotonin]

nicotine gum or patches?

I am using the gum and it taste like hell

[creepster]

nicotine gum or patches?

I am using the gum and it taste like hell

i guess it depends which flavored gum you're getting *shrugs*

most likely you will have to one addiction to the next
and do something which will keep your hands busy and got something in ... never mind

try knitting, hand held gaming device of any sort, origami or any other thing

i hope somebody who already quit smoking has a better advice

[thinkingthing]

http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/quit_smoking/how_to_quit/index.htm

Good luck!

[Jib]

I make it into a game.  Instead of quitting cold turkey, start cutting back how much you smoke each day.  Each night decide how many cigarettes you get for the next day and at what time you get them.  Make the time you get them be after a work shift of after you finish cleaning, so you're getting work done faster looking forward to the reward.  This will help break the habit of smoking because you're bored.  It is up to you to decide how many you need each day.

[s3rotonin]

I make it into a game.  Instead of quitting cold turkey, start cutting back how much you smoke each day.  Each night decide how many cigarettes you get for the next day and at what time you get them.  Make the time you get them be after a work shift of after you finish cleaning, so you're getting work done faster looking forward to the reward.  This will help break the habit of smoking because you're bored.  It is up to you to decide how many you need each day.

thank you all for the advice, but I will defiantly try this and see how it works out for me.

[NOLAdenizen556]

Find the determination to do it, convince yourself that smoking is for suckers and retards (heh, sorry you all), throw away half a pack of perfectly good smokes, and grit your teeth for a few days.

Now that you don't feel like you're breathing through an oily rag, go out and run/lift/swim like a maniac.  You'll feel so much better within a week or so that you'll wonder how you ever functioned sucking on fumes 20 times a day, and you look better too. 

After you manage to go out to the bar and get good and drunk with your friends cigging away in front of you but you still resist all night, you know you've got it beat.

Quitting smoking is one of the smartest things I ever did.

[Drewthetexan]

First, you gotta *really* want to quit.  No trying.  If you "try" you are resigning yourself to failure right off the bat.  Cutting back a bit at first may be a good idea because you want to psych yourself up for this, but cold turkey is the only way to go, if you are serious about quitting.

The first 72 hours are the worst because the physical withdrawal from nicotine is a brutal ass-beating, plain and simple.  After 72 hours, your system is clear of the nicotine and then your brain begins to rewire itself over the next three weeks to operate without nicotine.  If you don't quit cold turkey, and instead drag this out, you prolong the physical withdrawal period and if you eventually stop, the 3 day shock period is worse because your system is already stressed from the lower nicotine intake than it is used to.

Gum and patches and all that crap doesn't work because the problem isn't the habit, its the physical addiction to nicotine.  I don't know why the brain does this, but it associates the drug delivery to the behavior and so the desire to smoke is not habitual, its the brain signaling that it wants nicotine the way that it was conditioned to get it. 

The only way to get off nicotine (this is a drug addiction, not a bad habit) is to force your brain to adapt to life without it.  The two major milestones is 3 days, then 3 weeks, and after that it will seem like cake. 

[hacraxy]

My boyfriend just quit smoking cold turkey in the end of August. He said the thing that helped him was snacking (or eating a full meal when really hungry) whenever he felt like he really needed a cigarette badly. So he had snacks nearby all the time and managed to beat the urge (of course the snacks were not junkfood and not unhealthy so he didn't gain any weight). Now he says he gets urge to grab a cigarette very seldom, like few times a week and that is usually some moments when he is feeling VERY bored.

As for the smoking friends issue, it's better to stay away from smoking friends during the first week or so. Or if you do see them then you can ask them to not smoke near you.

[s3rotonin]

thank everyone that has been giving me advice, its day 3 sans nicotine, and I am feeling a bit better just passed my PT (physical training) test with a 265 (35 pts from being perfect) and I am seeing a difference already. my run time was 1615 for 2 miles with it usually being 12-20 seconds higher. TY all, now all I have to do is fight off the hand/mouth cravings and I will be good for good.

[Shirow]

Congratulations!

[Leviathan]

And this was going to be my advice.  Just make it through the 7 day hurdle.  Your cravings calm at 3 days, toy start hacking shit up resembling hell spawn at about 4 days and that lasts maybe 3 or 4 more days.  By the time you get half way through the yacking and hacking, you won't be able to stand the smell of smoke.  Try smoking again after 2 weeks and you will pray for death as you choke and gag.  It will never totally go away.  I have been free from cigarettes for about 7 years but I still sometimes dream of smoking and wake up in a cold sweat with the taste in my mouth and I want one bad, dude.  I miss the taste of cigarettes and coffee so much that I quit drinking coffee because it was just bland.  But when I get around smoke, it fucking kills me now.  So even if I tried it would make me sick and I know it.  Keep at it, man.  And be safe over there.