Quitting smoking
 

Hello,

I need to quit smoking as they are too expensive. Gst on cigarettes is 70% of retail price in NZ.

The main problem with this is that I'm quite stressed atm and going through a difficult period in my life so not quite sure how I'm going to cope.

I can get nicotine replacement tablets but it's still very hard. Any suggestions from anyone or any former smokers on how to kick this habit?

Oh goodness Sara , and I found this thread like a homing pigeon .....
Where to start ?
Firstly I would say "well done" on even thinking about quitting.
It's really really really really difficult. So good for you. However, because I know how hard it is ( in my opinion gum, patches etc dont work) have you tried vaping pens??
You get the nicotine without all the tar and other rubbish and you can choose your own strength. Over time you can go from 18 nicotine to 12 , to 6 , to 3 , then to just fruit flavours with no nicotine . That is just so you're not missing the habit of holding it in your hand and "puffing" .
Did you know that nicotine only stays in your system 3 days ???
After that it's "habit" and a very strong will power .
Anyone would think I'm a medical expert but I'm not , just someone that smoked like a chimney and probably was solely responsible for the decline of the ozone layer with everything puffed out of my very being .
I too was aware of the sheer cost of a 20 pack of cigs. So eventually I started rolling my own . I got used to them and so much cheaper , but the only drawback was the brown nicotine stains on my fingers like those down and out old men you see I'm park benches with no teeth and blackened fingernails and brown fingers ( not that I'm judging ... )
I started smoking when I was 13.
And decades later I finally stopped .

Please know, before I say what I am about to say that I NEVER preach , judge , or try to force anyone to stop smoking....
The reason being that I never listened to anyone that tried to get me to stop LOL... In fact the more they kept "on at me" made me smoke even more !!!!

But the truth is that I am now dying because of smoking.
I don't have just one lung disease , but 2.
I have bi- lateral apical lung fibrosis and severe Emphysema.
Both will kill me.
No cure and no treatment.
I know we all think " yeah whatever, it won't happen to me " ...
They used to show us diseased lungs in biology but it made no difference, neither did having elderly relatives that died from lung cancer....
Nothing can make you stop until YOU want to stop.
It is after all an addiction.
I wish you well Sara. But above all I would never wish you to go through what I'm going through .

Ooohhh but forgot to say, keep a glass or bottle of water near you and when you get a craving just take little short constant sips for about 20 seconds . It's impossible for the brain to crave nicotine whilst this is happening...

My father used to smoke all the time. I rarely saw him without a cigarette in his hand. He quit 2 weeks before he was diagnosed with lung cancer because he could barely breath.

I am sorry to hear that.

Sara, there are helplines too and they are brilliant.
I stopped smoking 3 times and the first time I used the helpline .They were amazing and really did help me through that particular moment of weakness until a bad craving passed.

I like smoking but I don't consider myself a smoker, I don't "need" it.

So the best strategy I found is to smoke as late as possible during the day, ideally only at night.

I've tried vaping for some time, to me it's worse than smoking because it seems to be harmless, but after some time I found myself vaping earlier and earlier in the day. Once you've started vaping your first puffs, you constantly get the craving for more.
You can see that in many public people, they get completely hooked on it.

It's harder to quit vaping than smoking, imo. They say vaping is harmless, but actually it messes up tastes and smells, sleep as well.
It's also a booster, I can't deny it.

I've now been smoke-free for 8 days!
Have been a smoker for 37-38 yrs, bar for 3 years when I was around 31.
I am using nicotine patches which are covered by health insurance.
I was a very heavy smoker.
The reason I quit was 1) my health. My lungs were very unhappy and even painful at times. 2) I have a grandchild on the way, to be born any minute, and I don't want to be that 'smelling granny'.
3) I don't want to stink of smoke anymore, always having to wear specific clothes at home and keeping the good stuff upstairs for when I go somewhere. Meaning I also have to change clothes when I leave the house lest I smell.
4) I don't want a house that stinks anymore.
5) I don't want my beautiful crystals, paintings (made by me) etc. to get covered by nicotine yuk any longer.

Once I quit I used a pencil during the moments I really felt that oral need to suck on a cig. I did the same thing with the pencil, sucking, inhaling, blowing out. Really helped!
I haven't had to use it for some 3-4 days now.

I read every day, or several times a day, what is healing at that mo in my body. 3 days the cilia in your lungs begin to heal.
I was thrilled when I'd made 3 days! I made that milestone!!
I keep reading what is healing, it helps to not fall back into the smoking trap.

I set myself a goal, something I can buy with the money I'm no longer smoking, literally almost.
It was a dress. I bought it a bit early, but it was meant for an event. Unfortunately the dress didn't fit properly so I had to send it back.
Now I'm without goal, which doesn't help, so I have to find a new one.

I quit 2 yrs back and then each week I went to the ATM to take out the money I had saved by not smoking and put it in a pot.
Seeing the amount increase, fast!, was a huge help to keep going! I was saving up to go to Scotland. Unfortunately the pandemic ruined that plan :/
But it is a good thing to do: withdraw the money to save for some dream.

Stress... smoking actually triggers a stress response in the body. It literally gives you stress! As soon as you light a cig your heartrate goes up, blood pressure etc. If you haven't smoked for 1-2 days you can feel that really well as soon as you take a few puffs from a cig.
So it doesn't help relieve stress, that's what you make yourself think. It causes stress.

It helps if you can work out WHY you began smoking, and why you smoke when you light a cig.
You say stress, why? Can't you handle some turbulence? What other way could you cope with it? What else is behind it?
For me for instance it often was to have an excuse to withdraw from a group because I like some alone time.
So if I now have a group thing it's something I have to be mindful of.

Not saying it's easy, you really got to want to quit.
Like today was harder for me for some reason. But what helps to not smoke is to remind myself that a) the cilia in my lungs have begun to grow back!!! b) my lungs feel much better c) I already breathe a lot easier d) I know it will taste god awful if I now smoke e) I know I will be very very very very disappointed and sad if I light one. I will SO regret it!
Because I really want to quit! So I'm not going to disappoint myself.

You really got to find the reason within. Money isn't enough. I couldn't afford to smoke at all as I'm on wellfare and to be honest not within my limited budget. But you do it anyway when addicted.
Money isn't a good motivator as it isn't internal, it's an external thing.
You gotta find an internal drive to quit that can keep you going.

That's brilliant Fairy crystal. Well done.
You raise a lot of good points. Saving the money up to treat yourself to something nice is what I did the first time.Amazing how it soon mounts up, also having something in your hands to put in your mouth is something many do and helps. With me it was a wooden toothpick that would keep in my hand and munch on in my mouth.
We don't realise how much our lives are "ruled" by smoking until after we stop. It's quite liberating, like being freed from prison .

You will likely have a lot of "smoking dreams" too which are alarming but when you wake up it's such a relief to realise it's only a dream.
You have done the hardest bit . Keep up the good work.

..Also. it's natural to put a bit of weight on after stopping smoking . Please don't let that put you off or give reason to start again. Usually it will eventually even put again . And they not to "diet" at the same time as quitting . You can only focus on one thing at a time .
( The weight has not left me after 2 and half years but that is because I am not so in-active because I cannot breathe !!! )

It's also important to remember something I was told by an expert in the field which was this..
"" We think we can't stop smoking, and yet we do in fact "stop" smoking every single day . When we go to bed we have an average of 8 hours that we don't smoke, and we don't get up every few minutes to have a cig, so for a third of our day we have stopped ""