Yes, June 21st, I'm quitting smoking. I'm 17 and have been smoking since I was 14. I've been smoking a pack a day for the past year or so. I will not lie, I'm petrified. Hopefully this will go better than the last 6 times I've tried to quit. I'm quitting because I'm serious about getting better. I realized that I fight so hard to fix my stomach problems, yet I'm really just backtracking my smoking. If anyone else has successfully quit, please give me some words of advice and encouragement. The next 3 weeks are going to be hell, and I apologize in advance if I say something questionable or mean. I truly do not mean it. I'm just going through a really hard time. I feel like my best friend is dying tomorrow. Smoking has been such a huge part of my life for the past few years. Hopefully by quitting, my general health will improve too. I'm just so sick of being exhausted, out of breath, coughing, feeling helpless to this addiction. Not to mention everywhere I go, people give me horrible looks. I look like I'm 12, and then I've got a cigarette in my hand and people just shake their heads in disgust. I really am embarrassed to be a smoker. But I know that I can do it. I used to be a heavy drinker, but I've stopped drinking. I also got over a vicodin addiction. I just want to be healthy. Now I'm just rambling. But anyways, thank you all for listening and helping me through this. It's a huge change in my life.

The first three days are the hardest. Drink alot of water to help detox your body. Once the nicotene is out of your system then its fighting all the things that trigger the urge..like if you always had one after dinner, do something else immediatly after dinner, ie dishes, walk, do a puzzle , whatever it takes to refocus your head. I found chewing on a straw helpful for that oral habbit thing. I don't know how well those "quit smoking aids " help. Patches , lozenges, they even have some homeopathic stuff I saw at wal-mart to help detox and reduce cravings. I wish you the best of luck,and will be thinking of you.
LoriP

Chelsea

First I applaud your decision to quit smoking. It is a difficult thing to do and one that you must be mentally ready for. I quit smoking about 6 years ago. I went cold turkey after smoking for 5 years. I was up to 1+ packs a day. I too was tired of coughing and always being out of breath.

My first advise is to stay away from anyone else who smokes. If your friends smoke tell them that it is nothing personal but that you need to be away from smokers for now. You can also ask them not to smoke in your presence. Second don't drink and party. For me drinking and going out to bars went hand in hand with smoking. I could down 1 whole pack in 4 hours at a bar.

If you can chew gum go out and buy lots. Suzan's mom bought me a huge tub from Sam's club of the pieces of gum you get at Halloween. I kept a jar at work, in my car and at home. I chewed gum whenever I got the urge to smoke. I also grabbed some coffee stirs and kept them at my desk to chew on.

Good luck and stay strong!

Chelsea,
Maybe you can check in with us and we can help keep you accountable. If you can handle carrots, my friend said that munching on the little baby carrots helped him a lot.
Good luck and we'll be here to push and encourage you along the way.

Chelsea, that's great! You sound like a strong person - you can do this too! My husband quit in 2000 after smoking for 30 years!! He'd tried before and failed, but this time he just stumped his last one and has never touched them since. He found the physical withdrawal much easier to handle this time. He wasn't even that ratty. He did lots of housework! (Yippee!) Every time he felt the urge to light up, he grabbed the hoover or a cloth and started cleaning. (Unfortunately this very welcome side-effect wore off after a while...) He also put aside money each week equalling what he would have spent on cigs, and used it on holiday that summer. Cigs are horribly expensive here so it added up to a tidy sum. That really helped motivate him. We also hung up a list we'd found in a magazine that stated all the health benefits as time progressed after his last cig. Check out this link: http://quitsmoking.about.com/cs/afterquitting/a/after_quitting.htm
You'll find a similar list here. My husband found it very motivating. He felt like he was actively healing. You know, after only two days your sense of smell and taste improves! Good luck - you can do this

My husband and I both quit about 4 years ago cold turkey. We had both smoked for about 10 years. The first few days are the hardest and getting over the emotional need for it is ten times harder than the physical need. As Tricia said, stay away from smokers and definitely don't drink. A drink and a smoke went hand in hand for me too. Instead of a cigarette after a meal, get some good dessert and treat yourself with a bit.

Luckily for me I found out I was pregnant two weeks after I stopped smoking and that was the only motivation needed to keep it up. I thought for sure my husband would start up again because he was a bartender and around it ALL of the time. I asked him how he did it and his motivation was the money. He started putting the amount of money in a jar that he would have spent on cigarettes. He put in about $5 per day and seeing that money grow and thinking about what he wanted to do with it was what kept hiim going.

Good luck and let us know how you do!

Erin

Good for you Chelsea! After reading several of your posts I have always wanted to tell you how impressed I am by you. You seem to be wise beyond your years. It is a wonderful decision to quit smoking! I have never smoked but my good friends husband just quit about 3 weeks ago after 20+ years of smoking. He did acupuncture to help with it, but the first couple days he was such an emotional wreck he was in tears constantly. His doc put him on Ativan (1 mg) 3 x a day and that seemed to help, but they also put him on some drug called Chantex (sp?) to help with the cravings. I guess it's a relatively new drug. He is the manager of a restaurant where obviously there is alot of smoking going on, but he hasn't smoked for 3 weeks and he's feeling much better! Good luck, Chelsea! It is soooo important for you to stop so hang in there!!!

Jen M.

Great decision, Chelsea, but you already know that. As a former almost 3-pack-a-day addict, people are still amazed I beat the addiction about 20 years ago. Should have stopped sooner. I substituted those little plastic coffee stirers for cigarettes. I kept them everywhere and would pick one up and use it as a cigarette. Dragging on it and exhaling. Lots of pretending. It took awhile but really worked for me. I had certain triggers for smoking.....many, many triggers! The phone ringing. Starting the car. First thing in the a.m. Right after eating....not just right after a meal. With coffee. With a ****tail. Once I identified the trigger situations, I just prepared myself for dragging on a psedo-cigarette....the coffee stirer! I also used Nicorette gum. Yucky tasting but it helped. I had no problem stopping the gum. Best wishes!

quote:

Chantex

I know a lot of people that quit smoking using Chantex. All the above posts have great advice.

Now I feel evil for saying this... be careful and watch your digestive health. There are studies that have been done that smoking actually helps people in our situation. Just food for thought. However, your health will improve by quitting overall - exhaustion etc. which as long as it doesn't trigger bowel problems is great - so it's definately worth quitting.

The people I found to be most successful in stopping started behavioral modification. Basically it was a system where a little alarm went off and that meant they were to smoke. (Instead of after a meal, the alarm would go off before, etc.) It wasn't a sudden/ cold turkey method. It more or less broke their pattern and eventually became less "dependent".

Create a board so you can visualize, mark each day off the calendar. You are strong and you can do it. Then reward yourself!!! (Even though better health will be a reward!)

Best of luck!

Do it for me!!! God knows I've tried, time and time again, but everyone tells me to start again because I get a little edgy (understatement of the century!). I've smoked since I was 14 as well, but I'm 38 and trust me, the longer you wait, the harder it is, how ever you do it, good luck, and let us know how you're doing...

Cheers!!!
Eric

Chelsea, just wondering how you are doing and want you to know I'm thinking about you.
LoriP

Good Luck Chelsea....you can do it!!

Becky

Thank you everyone, really. Everyone's been such a great help. Day one has gone pretty well- I've been eating nonstop, but I'm not going to worry about that right now. I'm just exhausted. Being so emotionally unstable really is just wiping me out.

Good luch Chelsea - we're all rooting for you.