Quiting nicotine, any tips?

[themagicmushroom]

So I've decided to cold turkey off weed, alcohol and cigarettes. I've removed myself from my old environment (visiting my parents in tas) and AFAIK, was sucessful on the weed and alcohol fronts (dunno yet... the real test comes next time someone offers me a cone...), however, i relapsed on the cigarettes today (smoked a whole pack ). Gonna start clean again tommorow. Tried NRT before, really didn't seem like the way.... Any tips from sucessful quitters?

Thanks in advance

[faustus]

wouldn't say i'm a successful quitter, but these days i only smoke when i go out. one cigarette in me, and i can't stop chain smoking until all cigarettes are finished.

re removing yourself from the environment in which you typically smoke by going to your parents... this has its limitations. extinction doesn't really work outside of the context within which a behaviour is formed e.g. extinguishing a snake phobia by being exposed to a snake in a clinician's office will be ineffective if the phobia has been established in a completely different environment like the bush. likewise, drug craving will only be extinguished when you're exposed to cues typically associated with your habit and you no longer take drugs with those cues being present. then again, "if you sin with the right eye, cast it out"...

try zyban (buproprion) it's a dopamine reuptake inhibitor that's commonly used for smoking cessation. it's pretty expensive but it's covered by the PBS for a 90 day supply i think. another one you might wanna look at is selegiline which is an irreversible MAO-B inhibitor.

best of luck, smoking is stinky.

[X. Torris]

If you practice meditation, use that as your weapon against cravings. It may sound lame, but when a craving hit, several controlled deep breaths helped to me to bear it until the craving passed. If you don't meditate, mebbe now is a good time to start.

One simple exercise that motivated me was sitting down and calculating how much money I'd blown on smokes since I started smoking. Cost of a pack * number of packs in a day * number of days in a year * number of years I had smoked regularly = holy shit, I coulda bought a boat.

I've heard anecdotal evidence that lowish doses of GHB do wonders in killing monster cravings and curbing irritability. Of course, you don't probably don't want to break the law, or become dependent on one drug in order to quit another.

It's rough-- it really is one of the hardest things you'll ever have to do--- but it's also one of the smartest. Good luck!

[domide]

I'm not really a sucessful quitter either - its only been a month now. I've tried to quit a few times before and the main difference between now and the other times is that I think of myself as a non-smoker now. The other times I thought that as soon as i got over my addiction I could maybe still have a cigarette every so often. Then i would start regularly smoking again and be back 30 a day within a couple of weeks. Another important thing is that you don't feel like shit if you light one up. Make sure you enjoy it and get back into the mindset of trying to get out of the habit. Having one cigarette (or a pack) doesnt mean that you have screwed all your hard work up. Just try not and do it again next time. I must admit that i am using patches, which i think have helped a great deal.. fortunatly i haven't noticed any of bad side effects that come with it.

So yeah, remember that the craving only lasts for three minutes.. be strong and focus on why you want to quit. It is one of the most addictive substances around but if you put your mind to it, it should be easy to rid yourself of the habit. Keep your mouth and hands busy - take up gum chewing and juggling random things, and tapping. Does wonders for the irratability.

You can do it, magicmushroom

Edited October 9, 2006 by domide

[sobriquet]

I quit cigarettes in April 2002 cold turkey and haven't had another since and don't want another ever again.

Tips....

1. You can't flirt with cigarettes after you;ve stopped.

2. Forget aids like gums, patches, drugs etc. Every time I tried a crutch etc I was back on them, the longest being 1 year off using Zyban. These crutches show that you are still not ready to quit fully in my opinion. Once you know you want to be off, you'll foff them readily.

Somehow my love for cigarettes turned into disgust for them suddenly one night. These days even the lightest smoke odour when I go out etc turns me off. The side smoke of cigarettes is probably my number one turnoff. When the neighbours smoke in their yard and even a slight waft comes in I feel like telling them to shove their cigarettes up their backsides.

Final tip...

3. Jusssdoooat.

[mescalito]

I still smoke and agree with sobriquet, you gotta be ready but I'd be careful cold-turkeying off the alchohol as it can be dangerous depending on your daily intake,concomittent GABA type drug use and how long you've been drinking.It may take a few days and bammo you're seizing.The GABA system needs time to repair and re-adjust...just take it slow mate.

Maybe talk to your GP about Valium substitution and tapering off that?

Anyhow good luck mate

[gomaos]

FOAF got off nicotine 2 years ago, but kept smoking greens until Jan this year.

Since then: Not one puff of anything, no willpower involved, just magic.

I don't know if one can plainly "order" one's physical system to do this or that, but it can be tricked...!

"Smoking" becomes another form of "eating and drinking".

If you plainly force your body, you can expect backlashes!

[nabraxas]

i personally found the nicorette micro tabs very helpful.

i'd been smoking for 25 years & i found that they really reduced the cravings & stopped me getting narky. i used them for a few months & then without even really planning to just reduced & eventually stopped using them.

for me it would have been really hard without them.

[themagicmushroom]

If you practice meditation, use that as your weapon against cravings. It may sound lame, but when a craving hit, several controlled deep breaths helped to me to bear it until the craving passed. If you don't meditate, mebbe now is a good time to start.

I've played with various meditations, but mostly of the trancendental and kundalini-gathering types, and generally augumented with ~400mics and/or binaural beats... Can you suggest any that are good for general day-to-day nervous energy and racing thoughts? anything to keep me generally "joyous"? I often find that I get distracted before I even start, unless I mark and put aside a large chunk of time, or in the case of tripping, find myself needing to work with a difficult mind-set...

 

i personally found the nicorette micro tabs very helpful.

i'd been smoking for 25 years & i found that they really reduced the cravings & stopped me getting narky. i used them for a few months & then without even really planning to just reduced & eventually stopped using them.

for me it would have been really hard without them.

I tried that a couple of years back, didn't help for me, ended up smoking anyway, and twice as addicted:(

Gotta be careful with things like NRT and methadone, can be like swapping the witch for the bitch. I'm looking to become addiction free more for mental/spiritual reasons than for direct physical health reasons.

Mikee.

[ballzac]

I agree with everything Sobriquet said (except that cigarettes don't turn me off, I just don't want one myself).

The only way to quit cigarettes is to stop smoking them. It sounds obvious, but the nicotine plays games with your mind, so it can confuse you into thinking you want to smoke. Nicotine has no physical withdrawel symptoms, even if the emotional symptoms are triggered by physical withdrawel. There are no tremors like with alcohol, or cold-sweats like with marijuana. One thing that may help, is before you have your last cigarette, write down why you don't want to smoke anymore, or simply that you don't want to smoke anymore. When you get a craving sit down and try to figure out what is bothering you about not smoking. You're not in any pain from it. The only stress you are feeling is because you think you want a cigarette and can't have one. Try to pinpoint the 'discomfort'. You'll realise there isn't any. If all else fails, and you begin to think you want to smoke, pull out that piece of paper and remind yourself that you don't want to smoke. Why would you have written that down if you did want to smoke?

Nicotine plays mind games with you to try to suck you back in, and you have to beat it at its own game. The point is, if you smoke, you cannot quit. As Sobriquet said, no flirting. Once you have figured out how to beat the addiction, quitting smoking is extremely easy. Like I said, no physical symptoms to contend with. It's like solving a puzzle, and if you ever relapse (in the long term. After couple of weeks break is not a relapse, it means you never properly quit), like I did a couple of years ago after not smoking for a couple of years, you know how to tackle the problem. Don't let it trick you.

Edited October 12, 2006 by ballzac

[themagicmushroom]

panic attacks

the shakes

"flashbacks"

This isn't just nicotine withdrawal, I'm over the weed and my alcohol use wasn't physically addicting yet... WTF is happening?

*edit: that was fucking strange. I can't remember that ever happening before... I've been using alot of cammomile tea recently as a sedative (5-10 bags daily) and the occasional smoke of brug to get to sleep, is this likely to be related?*

Edited October 13, 2006 by themagicmushroom

[indigo264nm]

Hahaha well my advice works but it's not the healthiest way to do it... hit up amphetamines for a week straight, smoke like a chimney and run yourself into the ground so you'll have to spend a few days crashing to recover afterwards. In the crash period I guarantee you won't feel like a cigarette - infact all you will feel like is eating, sleeping and watching TV. This is of course not the best way to go about it .

A similar option for giving up booze and cigarettes is to plan a night where you get absoloutely blind on something like beer or wine (bigger hangovers) and smoke an excessive ammount of strong cigarettes whilst you are at it. You will wake up in the morning and think "I never want to drink again" and you never feel like a cigarette when you're that hungover hehe.

After the first few days of not smoking it's easier I find to keep it that way (same with cannabis after heavy smoking for a long period of time). The biggest problem with cold turkey methods I find is that you are constantly thinking about not smoking, and because you are thinking about it all the time you are more prone to relapsing - whereas you may have found before that you haven't had a cigarette all day without even realising because you have been distracted by something... which then leads to the thought of 'I haven't had a smoke all day!!! I need a cigarette" and often when you have that cigarette (despite how much you think you need it) it isn't even satisfying.

Remember that smoking is more addictive because it is written on packets that SMOKING IS ADDICTIVE. Ever had a 13 year old try and scab a smoke off you at the station because he thinks he needs a cigarette??? I wasn't even properly addicted until I'd been smoking on average 15-20 cigs a day for about a year, as before that I was able to take a week off cigarettes.

Quitting all three at once like you're suggesting is a hard one. When I've wanted to quit bongs heavily (like for example I just spent 3 months of rolling out of the bed to the billie) I cut down to spliffs or pipes in the evening just for a week or two, and keeping myself occupied during the day. Eventually I stop thinking about it so much because the routine is broken. Alcohol I always take breaks from after I've been drinking too much because my body can't handle a hard lifestyle anymore. Addiction is far more psychological than physical on many levels.

Don't get me wrong, I understand withdrawals are a reality so consider getting yourself a script of valium for the panic attacks as a once off, and despite the temptations stick to the dosage and don't abuse it.

You say you're over the weed but I have come to realise that weed withdrawals, though subtle, can last for months even if you don't crave it.

[themagicmushroom]

hmm, think I might have figured out the panic attacks, Cammomile works on the GABA system yeah? well, I've been using stupid amounts ~10 bags per day + chewed fresh stuff recently to keep myself calm... a friend mentioned my symptoms sounded like G/1,4 withdrawal and it does seem to happen on evenings where I haven't had a cup... Is this a possibility??

lol, addicted to cammomile, I amaze even myself... ;)

[Μορφέας]

chewwing gum helps with the whole 'i feel naked standing here talking to you without a ciggerette or something to fiddle with' . Its nasty socialising without a ciggerette when its what yourv always done.

Bri

[Prophet]

My dad just gave up smoking after 50 years of it. He was what i would call a heavy smoker and would go through at least 2 packs a day. He started smoking around the age of 12. He went cold turkey and had limitted success with patches, in the end it just came down to will power. In the earlier stages of him giving up it was almost like witnessing a demon coming out of him. He also slept alot and ate alot in the early stages of giving up. I think the first one or two weeks were the hardest, after that things get alot easier. I think valium might be helpful if the anxiety gets too much.

You just have to be willing and determined to give them up. That will make it much easier.

[apothecary]

Substitute each of your cigarette packs for 5kg of cheedar cheese blocks. The price is roughly equivalent.

Leave this cheese out in the open for several days. You can speed up this process by say, kicking dirt onto the cheese, or rubbing foreign objects of questionable hygiene on it. Be creative. Perhaps the cheese would decompose quicker if you threw it at the cat?

Whenever you want a cigarette, eat that much of the cheese. Soon you will become extremely sick and unable to move further than few inches to continually retch up more cheese from 3 days ago, far too sick to smoke a cigarette.

By the time the cheese poisoning wears off, you will be well past the withdrawal point for nicotine and happy to be alive.

[Hagakure]

ah the old cheese method eh

back in my day smokes were cheap and the quantity of cheese was much less.

of course we were much tougher back then and snorted the said cheese.