today defines the beggining aka no more smoking

[VryNeat]

today begins the rest of my life im 17 been smoking for 2 years now and its become a 2 pack a day addiction, not long ago i decided enoughs enough and cut down drastically to a pack a day and this week i started my apprenticeship and ive come to the realisation money will no longer be flowing as it was so now is the perfect time to quit smoking so ive been limiting myself this week and have had 1 packet lasting me 2 days the withdrawles have begun with huge headaches and a bad cough i have a feeling my throat is inflammed due to the large amount of pain coming from it.

But yeh just letting every1 know on this lovely forum that i have made the big step before i let it affect me to much with my daily activities!

[WhiteVS]

good luck mate. hope it works out for you

[SAV_117]

hang in there mate and good luck try and not drink as well cause it makes it harder

[ephect]

lol it must be goin round, i picked up a pack of patches today, and have only had a couple of smokes, which is a major cut down for me. been smoking for 6years. for the first time i havent needed to have a smoke, these patches are amazing. yes they are expensive, but not as much as a weeks supply of darts. cravings are almost nothing now.

congrats on the decision and all the best mate, i know what your going through, seriously do yourself a favour, grab the patches.

[VryNeat]

lol it must be goin round, i picked up a pack of patches today, and have only had a couple of smokes, which is a major cut down for me. been smoking for 6years. for the first time i havent needed to have a smoke, these patches are amazing. yes they are expensive, but not as much as a weeks supply of darts. cravings are almost nothing now.

congrats on the decision and all the best mate, i know what your going through, seriously do yourself a favour, grab the patches.

ill try cold turkey till next week when i get paid if it doesnt work patches all round!

[SAV_117]

tooth picks became my friend

[ephect]

ill try cold turkey till next week when i get paid if it doesnt work patches all round!

lol ur a brave man!! this week will be tough, like above, drinking is not your friend for the next couple of drinks. What i've found in the past, still go outside for the real fresh air every now n again so u still get that break, it does make a difference.

tooth picks became my friend

at least toothpicks dont rot ur teeth, i've got a couple of packets of kapiko's thats been copping a hiding

[VryNeat]

lucky i dont drink much im the dd and happy to do so as long as i get money but yeh the main reason for quitting is im an apprentice now ill be lucky to make 300 a week and 87 is a HUGE chunk of that so i already planned to save 100 a week so now i can save 190 almost double the original amount just my quitting a stupid habit vs ss here we come! 87 a week is 348 a month that over a year is 4176 **** im an idiot!

[davway]

well done.
most of it is in your mind though, the headaches etc.
i smoked for 15 years and was buying a pack of 50's every single day (add that up!!) till one morning i woke up and came to the realisation that for the last 10 hours i had been asleep, id already quit and the hardest part is already over.
i emptied the ashtrays, put my half pack of smokes on the fridge and decided to see how long i could go before i gave in.
the trick is to have that half pack of smokes sitting there.
if you give in, its no big deal.
if you give in and have to go and buy a new pack of smokes, its IS a big deal and thats the sort of thing that makes you feel like a failure.
you should also not be told that quitting is hard either - it isnt, its a mind set.
if you believe it is hard and that you cant do it, you will never be able to do it.
i started with the mindset that i had already quit for the last 10 hours i was asleep and realistically, what withdrawls do you have when your asleep - none at all, so why should it be any different when im awake?
it shouldnt.
it was kinda like a game for me, i went the first day, knowing full well i could go grab a smoke any old time i wanted but i wanted to see how long it would take before i got these "mad cravings" and "wanted to kill" feelings that you so often hear about.
it never happened.
the first day came, the first day went.
woke up the second day, and it was the same thing.
didnt feel like a smoke, didnt have kill feelings either.
i figured id give myself 3 days and then i may as well call it done, id have quit smoking.
day 3 came and gone, no cravings, nothing.
smokers started to smell, the dryness in the mouth was going, i slept a bit better too.

so anyway, a week later, when you get this far, you will have the most stinking-ist crap youve ever had in your life - dead serious!
you will gag on your own smell, i kid you not, it is horrid.
all the toxins and chemicals have worked their way out of your system.
this is the point where food starts to taste different, you can pick a smoker as soon as they come near you - they actually do stink.
after a couple of weeks, you can breath a lot better, food tastes completely different (especially if you havent had something for ages) and if it hasnt already happened, you can be around smokers without being tempted.
your first real test - give yourself at least 2 weeks - is your first drink after quitting.
if you can have a couple of drinks and not have a smoke - your done, youve quit.

i quit over 2 years ago, i personally found it to be stupidly easy, no agro, no cravings, no eating the fridge, nothing at all.
if i had have been told how easy it really was, i would have quit years ago but like everyone else, i believed i couldnt do it - thats what we've all been told.

you dont need to cut down, you dont need patches or this other B>S stuff they have.
just get up and give up.
it really is that simple.

dont go telling everyone either till at least a week.
the less people know about it, the less pressure there is on you to not fail.

[VryNeat]

good effort mate and im not being rude in what i say here but unfortunetly what works for one person doesnt always work for others i know your way worked perfectly for u coz like u sed u thought patches were bs so u dismissed it but i have faith that they could work so they may just work as u sed its a lot like mind over matter if u believe it, it will happen i know someone that quit from hypnosis coz he was open to the idea but im not so i doubt it would work but yeh unfortunetly every1 is different in the way they do things still none the less good advice and i appreciate the support

[ephect]

agreed, awesome effort on cold turkey, my college has done that. its a good approach to quitting too.
i've tried it and have flown off the handle at dumb ppl that annoy me, when normally it wouldnt bother me. for me i get the cravings, and the patches work for me. an excuse, maybe, but i deal with social workers, they are brilliant at their job, but useless when it comes to PC's.

[davway]

good effort mate and im not being rude in what i say here but unfortunetly what works for one person doesnt always work for others i know your way worked perfectly for u coz like u sed u thought patches were bs so u dismissed it but i have faith that they could work so they may just work as u sed its a lot like mind over matter if u believe it, it will happen i know someone that quit from hypnosis coz he was open to the idea but im not so i doubt it would work but yeh unfortunetly every1 is different in the way they do things still none the less good advice and i appreciate the support

thats cool.
each person will be different.
in saying that though, i believe that anyone can quit cold turkey.
id rather people at least give it a shot so they arent wasting anymore money needlessly if nothing else.
you just have to let go of the negative preconceptions like 'its hard', 'you cant do it', 'you must do this....or that or you'll fail' etc.
if you talk yourself into it being easy, it will be a lot easier than you think.
if you have any doubt at all that you will fail, guess what, you WILL fail.
thats the first thing you need to quit before you actually try and quit.

[VryNeat]

thats cool.
each person will be different.
in saying that though, i believe that anyone can quit cold turkey.
id rather people at least give it a shot so they arent wasting anymore money needlessly if nothing else.
you just have to let go of the negative preconceptions like 'its hard', 'you cant do it', 'you must do this....or that or you'll fail' etc.
if you talk yourself into it being easy, it will be a lot easier than you think.
if you have any doubt at all that you will fail, guess what, you WILL fail.
thats the first thing you need to quit before you actually try and quit.

thats it u gotta get urself in the frame of mind my ex missus tried making me do it and every time i failed due to the fact it wasnt for me now the fact is i WANT to do it for ME so im positive ill succeed because i want to succeed

[STEALTHY™]

I don't smoke, but wondering how much these patches cost?

I know a guy who quit, and ended up spending MORE money on the gum. (sure, its healthier, but part of the reason people quit, like this thread, is to save money)

[danja]

The patches aren't cheap, something like $30 for a weeks worth if I remember right (been years since I looked) so if you're a light smoker it may cost more to quit, if you're pack-a-day'ing then you'll probably save. You only use them for a short period anyway though, not the rest of your life, so either way you'll save in the long run.

Personally when I quit I just went cold turkey. For me it was 95% mental, I'd gotten to the point where I was just over smoking, wasn't enjoying it anymore, and every time I inhaled I was thinking about how bad this habit was.

It started with me throwing half-smoked cigarettes away, then one day I just said to myself "what's the point of this if you don't get anything out of it anymore?" and threw my last one away.

The "everyday" cravings went away in about 2 weeks, but it's true what people say about drinking - for the first 3 months or so I'd crave them if I went out for a drink, but since then has been smooth sailing (this was about 2 years ago).

Easy really, you just need to get yourself into the right state of mind - you have to WANT to do it.

FYI I smoked for 8 years.

[VPplayer]

I been smoking for about 2 years now
I used to smoke a pack a day, i have cut down alot now and saving alot of money

[ClairBear]

I don't smoke, but wondering how much these patches cost?

I know a guy who quit, and ended up spending MORE money on the gum. (sure, its healthier, but part of the reason people quit, like this thread, is to save money)

My figures will probably be wrong as I haven't smoked for almost 18 months, but when I did smoke I used to buy styvies at around $80 a carton per week. The patches were about $32 for a weeks supply, so less that half of what I would have spent on smokes. I am sure it would be around the same ratio today.

I ended up going cold turkey and haven't smoked since.

[ScoHar]

The doctors over here have a plan of patches I think its 12 weeks worth, you have to go see a nurse once a week (free) and the patches cost $2.50 a week.
In saying that Im still a full time smoker and tried patches, down fall to patches are they crazy scary dreams and the fact that if you smoke while on patches your getting worse off, when I came off patches and didn't quit I found myself smoking more than I did before the patches.

Patches are a good idea, but I seemed to rely on them more than the smokes, yes nicotine replacement is a good idea, but its still alot in your head that you need to sort out.

EDIT: I've been smoking for 6 years now. (23yo)

[garywg]

Good on you , I smoked for 36yrs and gave up 4 months ago by using the lozenges. Still feel like a smoke at times but just say no, the feeling only lasts for a few seconds. Stick it out you'll be better off in the long run.

[VryNeat]

i can say day 1 of cold turkey failed drastically because i was around it to much my weekend im gonna be at home coz im ill and dont have money so these next 2 days should be a good thing for me

[Chirpstr]

The doctors over here have a plan of patches I think its 12 weeks worth, you have to go see a nurse once a week (free) and the patches cost $2.50 a week.
In saying that Im still a full time smoker and tried patches, down fall to patches are they crazy scary dreams and the fact that if you smoke while on patches your getting worse off, when I came off patches and didn't quit I found myself smoking more than I did before the patches.

Patches are a good idea, but I seemed to rely on them more than the smokes, yes nicotine replacement is a good idea, but its still alot in your head that you need to sort out.

EDIT: I've been smoking for 6 years now. (23yo)

^^ Yeah man, when I tried them and left them on at night I had crazy scary dreams too! hahaa Freaky hey. They felt just so real! Always would wake up in a sweat after too.

i can say day 1 of cold turkey failed drastically because i was around it to much my weekend im gonna be at home coz im ill and dont have money so these next 2 days should be a good thing for me

Best time to stop mate is when your crook! I found it easy, I tried having one and would just cough my ring up. You still want them but you can't physically smoke them so I reckon this is the best time to try and stop.

[gopher]

ill try cold turkey till next week when i get paid if it doesnt work patches all round!

try the patches

i tried and failed several times going cold turkey
usually only lasted a couple of days.

in the end i used the patches and realised after about 2 weeks i could then get by without them.

it's now more than 4 years since i last smoked

[msina1]

goodluck man,
i tried quitting, i lasted a day, Patches just made me itchy and feel sick
but hang in there dude.

[SwordFish]

Remember that once you quit smoking, you cant just start hitting up the mull!

[Chirpstr]

goodluck man,
i tried quitting, i lasted a day, Patches just made me itchy and feel sick
but hang in there dude.

Yeah true, I would get a rash and feel sick funny or not. The first time I tried them my arm broke out in hives! haha

Remember that once you quit smoking, you cant just start hitting up the mull!

Ha! I know a mate that thinks that's ok since he has quit the smokes.