posted
Ok, so it's been 8 hours since my last cigarette, and today I think I only had 2. The day before that I had a couple, but after 24 hours with none. Now all of a sudden I have an extreme craving- the kind that makes you get dressed and leave the apartment in the middle of the night and go to a 24 hour store. This is why I keep cigarettes in the house, but that doesn't work because I will just smoke them. So I'm busting out the backup nicorette that I hate to use because it makes me queezy and makes my mouth feel like I've sprayed it with Raid or something.
Woe is me. I am woe.
Edit: And the kicker is that the nicorette gives you a way bigger rush of nicotine than smoking if you're like me, and smoke super ultra light cigarettes and barely inhale.
Posts: 9912 | Registered: Nov 2005
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(Sad stories of dead smoker friends and family available on request. But sounds like you've got the motivation already.)
Posts: 2911 | Registered: Aug 2001
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posted
The craving you have can't possibly be for a cigarette, because you're not a smoker. You need to find out what your craving is really for.
Posts: 1080 | Registered: Apr 2006
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(for whatever reason that always seems to me a much more enthusiastic than an english "you can do it!")
Posts: 655 | Registered: May 2005
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posted
My sister told me once that a friend quit smoking by locking herself in a room for a week with food, a bathroom, and a stack of computer games...
Good luck to you. I know nicotine can be a she-dog.
Posts: 3826 | Registered: May 2005
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posted
I have no idea whether or not the draw-down method is more effective than the cold-turkey method, or vice versa.
either way, here's hoping you get a higher batting average than my friends get when they try to quit.
Posts: 15421 | Registered: Aug 2005
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Blayne Bradley
unregistered
posted
I have the urge to pick up smoking to kill my aptitight.
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posted
Don't give up man, you'll beat it! I have no personal experiences, but I do know something that worked for a friend. He chose something positive that he knew would help him, like jogging for a half hour while listening to music. Every time he felt that craving come back, he went for a jog, and eventually he associated his "need" for a cigarette with a need for exercise. Knocked two birds with one stone, 'cause it was good for him and I think he felt really good after the jogging.
Maybe you get enough exercise as it is; just throwing the idea out there to find something else to fill the gap until you no longer care for smoking You'll get there.
Posts: 349 | Registered: Jul 2006
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posted
My dad did cold turkey. Whenever he wanted a cigarette, he drank unsweetened grapefruit juice. He swore it helped.
Posts: 2223 | Registered: Mar 2008
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posted
My grandfather went cold turkey, but I like the story of what inspired him to quit. He would often times feel sick due to smoking, and during one bought with illness he was stuck in his bed. To pass the time he would read about things he'd always wondered about, different places, new airplanes, etc.
Either way, one time he was feeling really sick, so he decided to find out just how much he was spending on smoking per year. When he added it up, he was astonished by the cost of the habit. He figured out that for the cost of smoking, he could take his entire family on a vacation to Disney Land.
So after that he quit and put all the money he was saving aside. The next year, he took the family out to Disney Land.
But the story probably doesn't help as much as suggestions for you. My grandfather's approach was to trick himself. Instead of keeping a pack of cigarettes in his breast-pocket, he kept a box of tooth picks. Every time he felt the urge to smoke, by habit, he'd reach into his pocket and pull out a tooth-pick. He then just keep a tooth pick in his mouth so that he got the vague feeling of a cigarette until the urge went away.
I don't know if it will work for you, and for some I'd imagine the urge would get worse, but it worked for him.
Posts: 1831 | Registered: Jan 2003
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posted
I've always felt that part of the draw of cigarettes was something to do when there is really nothing to do.
For example, sitting around a bar; really what is there to do? The musics loud, so hard to have a decent conversation. Mostly your just drinking and people watching, in other words doing nothing, and the urge to do 'something' is overpowering, so you have a cigarette.
Chewing on a toothpick is something to do when there is nothing to do. But there are other somethings to do when we have nothing to do that are just as destructive as tobacco. Eating, drinking alcohol, eating, drinking coffee, eating, and did I mention eating?
Not sure what all that leads up to, I guess it's just an observation.