this post was submitted on 05 Nov 2024
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any piece of advice is welcome

P.S. Thanks to all the people that have taken their time to help me (and not just me, but others as well). It is much appreciated, and, from what Iโ€˜ve read, the โ€žcold turkeyโ€œ method seems the most appealing to me. Iโ€˜ll quit smoking today, on the 7th of November 2024.

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[โ€“] [email protected] 8 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

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!

[โ€“] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago

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.

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

Talk about placement

[โ€“] [email protected] 7 points 2 days ago

Well, there are several methods:

*Cold turkey: just stop and ride it out. You can do things like chew gum to help deal with the cravings. *Medication: Talk to your doctor *The Patch: follow instructions on box. *Nicotine Gum: use as directed *Vape: not the best method, but works for people.

Not an exhaustive list

[โ€“] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago

If you haven't already tried it, "The easy way to quit smoking" by Allen Carr has helped many people. I haven't tried his other subjects, but I recall his take on smoking in the book to seem relatively revolutionary to me at the time.

[โ€“] [email protected] 5 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

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 $~~160~~80/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

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Just stop!

But what helped me: often smoking is part of a daily routine or ritual, so mix up your routine. Take up a new hobby or take the bus instead of the car. Go for a walk after lunch. Giving up smoking is a big change, so don't be afraid to make big changes. Get new clothes. Make new friends. You have discarded your old identity as a smoker. Still smoking? Doesn't matter! You already want to stop - you're becoming that person already.

And don't be so hard on yourself if you have a smoke now and then. Be conscious of what situation or routine triggered the reflex, and change it in future. If you have a smoke every few days or weeks, don't sweat it, you've broken addiction as far as I'm concerned!

[โ€“] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

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.

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

+1 Zyban (just a different name) helped me quit smoking years ago and then helped me quit vaping.

[โ€“] [email protected] 5 points 2 days ago

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.

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

I hear sucking on a lollipop can help.

[โ€“] [email protected] 5 points 2 days ago

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.

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

Just quit, there is no easy way than this. You just have to quit. ฤฐt will be tough but not from the nicotine itself, from the actions you had to take daily. That is the most hard to pass, but then youโ€™ll learn to live in a new way without any addiction.

[โ€“] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

If I can offer you one piece of advice on quitting tobacco it's this: Understand that it may be possible that you don't succeed at quitting on your first attempt. That is okay. Most people don't succeed quitting on their first attempt. What is important is that you keep trying to quit.

There are many different strategies for quitting. Mine involved switching to vaping and mixing my vape juice so that I gradually weened myself off of the Nicotine two years later. Prior to that I tried using Rx Chantix which worked until my prescription ran its course. I also tried the gum with very little success, but that's not to say it won't work for you, it might. Explore your options.

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

Yo that is what I'm doing. I appreciate hearing that, it's heartening, I used to smoke a pack a day.

I've been cutting my juice with plain VG/PG so I'm at half of the nicotine of the average juice.

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

running is what did it for me

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[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 10 hours ago)

I tried quitting a number of times. Not easy, and demoralizing when you fail. You may have to try several times too.

When I finally did quit I had decided to put off my first cigarette in the morning as long as possible, reasoning that sleep was the longest I'd go without nicotine. One day I went the whole day.

A friend quit at the same time as me, using the gum. Six months later she was still using it, and gave up and started smoking again.

Probably helps that I had quit drinking by then as well. Pretty hard to drink and not smoke, for me.

[โ€“] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

If you have children, remind yourself that you want to be around for as many of their achievements as possible.

[โ€“] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Alan Carr's stop smoking book is highly regarded, and encourages you to smoke as you read along, until by the end you won't want to.

Combine that with a NAC supplement (which doesn't do anything for withdrawals, but studies show it makes trying smoking again far more unpleasant for your brain which helps you stay off them.

[โ€“] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago

Yes, I recommend the book as well. Don't ask me why though. I tried quitting smoking many times using many different methods but always failed. On a whim I got the Alan Carr book and read it. I read it in bursts over a month or two. There was nothing interesting in there. Nothing I didn't already know. I finished it and quit smoking. The next day I relapsed and smoked again. I reread the last few chapters and quit again, this time using nicotine patches. I quit the patches within a day because they made me feel sick. I never smoked again. It's been 7-ish years and I haven't had any inclination to smoke again. It went from one of the hardest things to one of the easiest things to do. I don't care if people smoke around me, it doesn't bother me anymore. I still don't know why the book works, but it did for me.

[โ€“] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago

Pretty old video now but it explains why you smoke and helps to stop.

Probably safer to use qbittorrent's built in search to find it.

[โ€“] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Here's my advice.

Rule #1: Avoid evironments that make you want to smoke (e.g. the bar, hanging out with smoker friends)

Rule #2: Get some drugs. Not the fun kind. Talk to your doctor and they'll likely prescribe you a low dose of Welbutrin or an alternative that you'll take for the first few months.

Rule #3: Don't be too hard on yourself. You're going to slip up. That's okay. You don't have to give up and start over.

Rule #4: Make it hurt (your wallet). If you buy a pack, have one cigarette, then snap the pack in half and throw it in the trash.

Rule #5: Replace your smoke breaks with another habit (e.g. going for a walk)

Rule #6: Learn to hate the smell. Wash your clothes, clean your car. Then, when you slip up after getting unused to the scent, you'll be fully aware of just how pungent that cigarette smell is.

God speed, comrade. It's a journey.

[โ€“] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I stopped a pack and a half a day habit of ~10 years cold turkey. It was either food or smokes.

As others have said, there is no effective short cut. Ultimately, it is all will power. At least it is easier now. When I quit, EVERYONE smoked.

[โ€“] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago

there is no effective short cut

As someone who quit by switching to vape pens, I strongly disagree. There are multiple studies that show a success rate of greater than 60% when using vaping as a smoking cessation device. The next closest method is 3%. 3 fucking percent! Guess who owns those methods? It's the tobacco companies.

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

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.

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

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).

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

Both my parents were longtime smokers, my dad quit cold Turkey after 25 years. My mum quit cold turkey after about 45. They both seemed fine with it, maybe some nicorette gum at first but they dropped that quickly. With my dad having 20 years smoke free ahead of my mom, his health is way better. He is active. My mom needed some heartwork done.

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

You already have! Congratulations! That last one, was the last one. Throw away the rest, you're done.

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

Get yourself a good nicotine vape rig. The kind that has a big tank so it'll last all day and you can use whichever flavoured vape liquid you like best. Switch to that 100% of the time, right away, no exceptions. Don't worry about how to quit vaping until you've gone without smoking for at least a few months.

It'll be hard, but not nearly as bad as it is if you try to quit both smoking and nicotine at the same time.

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

I quit smoking successfully a few years ago, after at least a dozen unsuccessful attempts.
Here's what was different the time I succeeded:

I changed my mindset. Basically, I told myself that I won't ever smoke a single cigarette again in my life, no matter how shitty that makes me feel.
The trigger for that mindset was a common cold that left me breathless for 4 weeks.
And the key to success was the realization that:

1.) I'm not addicted to cigarettes, I'm addicted to nicotine
2.) Nicotine by itself isn't all that harmful
3.) Whenever I have a craving, I can just chew a nicotine chewing gum
4.) Nicotine by itself isn't even that addictive

So I bought a whole lot of nicotine gum, and whenever I felt the slightest craving I popped one in.
After about 2 weeks the cravings subsided (cause nicotine isn't actually what makes you addicted).

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

I used nicotine pouches for a year then cold turkeyed at day 365

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

I quitted few years ago already. I bought a pack of those peppermint like pills that contain nicotine to help stopping. They tasted so horribly bad I just had like 2 of them and quit smoking cold. So maybe go get some of those disgusting pills.

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago
[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Nicotine patches. It gives your brain what it wants with little to no adverse effects

[โ€“] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago

The problem with patches is you don't satisfy the oral aspect of the habit so you may need to chew gum or sunflower seeds to replace the act of smoking.

Nicotine gum or pouches may seem like a simpler option, but you can up your dose frequency too much to be able to ween off effectively if you do not have the willpower to keep to a plan.

Gum and patch also means you can not use a patch after a while and mindfuck your reptile brain into thinking the gum is what it wanted and not the nicotine patch.

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