Quitting cold turkey was the only thing that worked for me.
After six months, one day I took a breath and realized that I just felt better. This seemed to seal it for me.

Be careful with a drink in your hand. For me it was coffee, and after meals.
Will be praying for you.

Good luck, sir. Here's how I quit, cold turkey: I married a non-smoker and quitting was my wedding gift to her.

I started smoking at 18 and quit at 42. I was a 1-1/2 pack a day smoker.

I quit cold turkey. One of my rules quitting was that I would never smoke anything again, cig, pipe, cigar. I have held to that rule for 30 years.

For me the first two weeks were the worst. It did not get easy after two weeks but it did start easing up then.

I like to kid current smokers that when I was stationed in Berlin the cigarettes were
$1.23 a carton at the commissary.

Hey man, good luck. It’s very doable. This thanksgiving will be nine years for me, and I went cold turkey for all the obvious reasons, but also local taxes nearly doubling the cost about a month after I moved here, which is the third time that had happened to me. I got so pissed off about the whole thing that it was enough to stop and stay stopped.

One thing that helped immensely was moving to a new area and not knowing or hanging around anyone who was a smoker. The timing just worked out for me. The dreams about smoking were the worst part after about maybe several months. Then, eventually those subsided as well.

I wasn’t tempted again or even thought about it until I worked at a gas station, opening cartons of my old brands and constantly handling packs of the stuff all day long. Most of my customers smoked and smelled like it, almost every coworker smoked and would leave the damn door open for it to waft in. Seems there was always an open pack on the counter somewhere. Having customers take their last drag and put down the butt in the canister right outside the door and then walk in blowing smoke everywhere was almost a daily occurance that completely blew my mind the first time I saw it. I would come home reeking of tobacco and started having nightly dreams about smoking again. Then there was one night that was so bad between shitty customers and I forget what else that I actually opened up one of those half packs of Marlboros sitting around behind the lotto display and thought about having one cigarette. I immediately closed the pack, played stupid YouTube videos on my phone instead and gave my notice the following morning. It wasn’t just the right thing to do, it was the absolute necessary thing to do. I can’t be around smokers, the same way recovering alcoholics can’t hang out in bars.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: P220 Smudge,

Warhouse,
It CAN be done so good luck to you.
I did it but admit to having some powerful motivation. Had a heart attack back in '06 and quit smoking cold turkey as a result.
Haven't touched the weed since. :thumbs up:

You can do it. 6-24-2019 was six years tobacco free for me.

I quit cold Turkey as well, been 10 years now.

I do have the urge to have one every once in a while, but it's not strong enough to make me want to start again. Looking at the price of cigarettes these days is another deterrent.

quote:

Originally posted by Vanwall:
I started smoking at 18 and quit at 42. I was a 1-1/2 pack a day smoker.

I quit cold turkey. One of my rules quitting was that I would never smoke anything again, cig, pipe, cigar. I have held to that rule for 30 years.

For me the first two weeks were the worst. It did not get easy after two weeks but it did start easing up then.

I like to kid current smokers that when I was stationed in Berlin the cigarettes were
$1.23 a carton at the commissary.

When I was a youth in the 1950s a carton was $1.83 in the drugstore. (I was buying them for my parents--I've never smoked, not even one.)

I wish the quitters here the very best of luck. I've been told it's tough, but it can be done.

flashguy

Pretty sure I may still have a few tucked in the closet, in case the world ends or something.
I quit 19 years ago. Wellbutrin did not work. A hypnotist, weirdly, is what did it. And I didn’t feel as though the impressions or images they wanted me to think of helped. You just have to battle through the urges. It’ll be gone in a minute. Just power through. Problem is when your brain tricks your body.. I still have an occasional dream where I was smoking and I wake up feeling guilty, and then my mind says, well, what the heck, might as well have another.
Then I really wake up. The brain plays dirty pool.

I started smoking in 1974 at the age of 14. I turned 59 in March. Can’t tell you what day it was in February but I got tired of the coughing and put the smokes down. Cold turkey. Man growing up in the 70’s I did all kinds of shit. From alcohol to most every drug there was. Nothing I did was as hard to quit as cigarettes. Good luck, you can do it. Just don’t expect after a month or two you won’t want one. Hell I still do after 4 months.

Thanks for all the words of support guys, it is encouraging hearing how all of you quit. I will continue to check on this thread from time to time, and tell my tale of this battle. Today is my fifth day of not smoking, it seems to be a little easier every day (physically), just as tough mentally though.

I quit cold turkey after working for 4 hours wearing a full face respirator at Perry Nuclear Power Plant. I was sucking hard for air while dressed out working next to the reactor. Once I pulled off the respirator I swore I would never smoke again. That was in 1992. It took my wife a while to quit. We worked 12 hour nights and there was way too much down time.

I stopped smoking, 2 packs of Camels a day, in the early 70's and never looked back. I can still detect the oder of someone that smokes. That oder is 'okay' and may not offend me but I would just as soon not be around someone that smokes heavily.

I was a serious smoker for over 30 years. 2 Packs a day on weekdays, 3 packs on weekends. I quit using Hypnosis. 2 hours and I walked out, threw out my smokes and never looked back. That was over 10 years ago.

Good luck. I quit cold turkey in '89, so I know it can be hard, just stay with it.

2 packs a day for 26 years. Tried to quit with patches many times. I got the flu and spent 4 days in bed, so sick that I didn’t think about smoking at all. Got up on the 5th day, threw away my smokes and the patches. It’ll be 3 years on Sep 1st.

i took wellbutrin an anti depressant also marketed as chantax i believe the contraindications are seizure history, i am smoke free for 18 years now. Wild dreams and kind of spacey for 2 weeks while i was getting used to it then no issues alot of people quit taking it because of side effects.I also had one of the best visuals ever to quit smoking At a VA Ed waiting area i was loading the Eq back in the squad i walked over to the smoking area and saw a guy sitting in a wheel chair no legs rail thin smoking a non filtered cigarette thru the stoma in his neck that was what it took for me good luck Sir

quote:

Originally posted by Warhorse:

Thanks for all the words of support guys, it is encouraging hearing how all of you quit. I will continue to check on this thread from time to time, and tell my tale of this battle. Today is my fifth day of not smoking, it seems to be a little easier every day (physically), just as tough mentally though.

Stay with it! You're just about over the hump. De-tox for your body, from the physical addiction, takes maybe a week to ten days. The habit, the mental dependency, took me the better part of a year, then I got to the point where I found the whole notion of tobacco just disgusting. Hated the smell of smoke, hated the smell on the clothing of smokers, could not stand to be near an ashtray that had remnants. Just foul stuff!

Cold turkey for me, November 1984, when the cost hit an outrageous $1.75 / pack. I just refused to spend another dime on cigarettes and after a week or so had passed I realized that I really could beat it.

In April of 2001 I had my last cigarette,crumbled up the pack and threw it away. I also quit smoking cigars the same time.
I never had any cravings. The main reason I quit was the cost.
When I started smoking cigarettes were around .50 cents a pack.
I do not remember the cost when I quit but at that point I was not willing to pay the price any more.
I am glad I did it.
Good luck and stay with it. It gets easier as time goes on.

Today is my seventh day of not smoking. I have to admit that the urge to smoke one is very strong right now. I am trying to hang tough, and not give in to these damn urges.