I quit 15 months ago and I would never go back.It does get better.I suck on mints whenever i will the stress.It helps get me through it.Good luck

THis is a good idea...am going to wean my self down at first by suggestion of the doc.

It took me two years to lose the urge to smoke. I read this morning that a vaccine has been developed that will be available in a couple of years which will block the drug's interaction on the brain.

that's what i did too...i would smoke only half at a time, then every time i would get the urge i would wait like 5 minutes before going..and then longer and longer then i decided that it was it...


it almost panicky at first...but i worked through it, i did anything and everything...but what i did NOT do is substitute the cigarettes for another addiction, like food, coffee etc

How did you avoid the substitution?

i would watch myself carefully, if i found that i was reaching for something more than what my norm was then i would just stop myself from that...for me it was like a constant mind game...

I quit for eight years...and started back with a vengence...I have quit again...it's harder this time around...everyday, several times a day..I want one! I know all about the smell being awful and how bad they are for you....but I still want one!! I won't have one because that is what I've decided to do...but don't kid yourself...be truthful...there are times when you reach for one, even if it's in your mind and no one else knows you did.

i am sorry that you've started again! and am glad that you have quit again.

i just couldn't do it...there is NOTHING in this world that would make me start up again.

i know that for some people it takes a few times...as long as you keep trying...by not smoking for 8 years you have given your body many great gifts, don't take them away.

good luck!

come here for a sec, i wanna give you something...

*flicks patsfan's right ear* stop it!

am such a procrastinator....I keep putting it off. The smell is disgusting to me now...am burning incense.

ALL of these threads have good info in them for motivation. Having so much stuff go on in my life...i don't want to be uncomfortable again but this is the greatest goal.

i promise you, you can do it! it sounds harder than it is...
just do it...
you have nothing to lose but so much to gain...don't look at quiting as another issue to deal with, look at it as something *positive that YOU bring in to your life by choice. embrace it. be proud of it.

wow look what i found.
i posted this in oct. 2002

Hmmmm.I see we are thinking along same lines. This is what I have posted on
alt.support.stop-smoking. I hope you will enjoy my story :-)

Hi everyone!
I just found your NG and I thought I would take part in it and share my
story with you (if you don't mind ;-) )

I am 27 years old, mother to 3-year-old twin girls, wife to my 3rd child (or
you can call him husband). I have been smoking since I was 12? I can't
really remember, but I know I have tried cigarettes even before that. It had nothing to do with peer pressure or my parents being smokers, but for
some reason I just liked cigarettes. The very 1st time I have inhaled it didn't bother my throat one bit, and I loved it. Go figure.

I went through a lot of ups and even more downs through out my entire life and smokes seem to be my only true, loyal friend. Every time I was sad they
were there, every time I was happy they were there. Not many none smokers can say that they had a true friend that never judged or even said anything to them, but was ALWAYS there.

In the last 3 years I have noticed that my best friend wasn't really my friend. The endless pictures of what my friend did and was capable of doing were hard to believe. After all these things don't happen to people like me...or do they?
Pictures of what my friend did were thrown at me left and right, the media didn't hold back either, lawsuits flying like mad. "There has to be at least*some* truth to it" I thought to myself.

The very 1st time I got angry with my friend was when I found out I was pregnant. I wanted my friend to leave me alone. I didn't want anything to happen to my babies. My friend was no longer that, he was just an *** hole that wouldn't go away, that refused to leave my family and me alone. He dared me so many times and I just couldn't stand up to him. Somewhere deep down I still liked him.

My girls were born healthy despite of the intrusion of that so-called friend, and I thank God for that every day!

But the stalker just wouldn't leave me alone. Everywhere I went he went with me, after I woke up, with my coffee, after meals, before meals, with Pepsi, with water, at the computer that *** HOLE was EVERYWHERE!

But he knew my thoughts of wanting to leave him, he knew that my life, my girls meant more to me then anything else, especially him!
He started to get angry with me, started to get even more demanding of my attention. He now wanted to be with me all the time.
I could feel his anger in my chest; it was getting difficult to breath, all I thought about was HIM.

When he found out about the patches he backed off for few days, he kept telling me that I don't need them, he said that he will be there for me like he has always been.

All of a sudden I didn't hear him they way I used to; I felt like I was hearing impaired but only when HE spoke to me. I then realized that the breathing difficulty wasn't coming from his anger, I found out he was hurting me all along. All this time behind my back HE was doing this to me...he was plotting my death!

Monday will be 3 weeks since our last visit and I can't say that I miss him.
I do think about him, but not the way you might think. I wonder what kind of damage he did to my body. I am not ready yet to have any tests done, but I can really say that I feel great.
It's been a little over 1 week since I decided I didn't want to use the patches.
I guess I just couldn't stand the thought that of even small amounts of nicotine lingered through my body.

I went to see my doc last week and she seems to think that it would be best if I got on Wellbutrin. IMHO I don't need it because I know I will never smoke again. I know I want to be here for as long as I can, because I love my girls so much!
But the doc says I should so I'm taking the pills, I don't think they make much of a difference as far as the cravings (yes I still have some, but they don't bother me too much bit) but on the other hand I know there is a possibility that
I will become depressed. So I don't mind preventing that.

All in all things are going great.
To all that took the time to read my story I thank you!
Try to remember all the reasons why you quit in the 1st place, I know I look at mine every day.

This is what my meter looks like now...and it will go on for ever!
One month, three days, 21 hours, 54 minutes and 11 seconds. 542 cigarettes
not smoked, saving $157.35. Life saved: 1 day, 21 hours, 10 minutes.

i am trying to quit as i type this it is hard but its set in my mind that i am done with it. when i get a craving i chew on a pen cap for 5 mins and by that time the craving is gone and the cap is so badly chewed that u cant even tell what it was

you can do it!

In due time it will, what can help is if you hold a straw in your hand, keeps your hands busy.

Thank you for the well wishes...I won't be starting up again..or at least I'm not planning on it...but I wasn't planning on it when I started again after 8 years of being smole free..
Let me say this..I also said that there was nothing in this world that would make me start smoking again...I learned to never say never! Sometimes things can go so horribly wrong you have to do something...I'm not a drinker nor do I do drugs..but sometimes you have to have a crutch when things spin out of control and and you're plunged into a dark hole that has no light...
I didn't start smoking again because I felt the need to smoke....I had to do something to save my sanity, to keep me from going over the edge to a place I wouldn't have came back from..and sometimes a simple thing such as smoking can save you from something far worse...