Stopping Smoking

Okay, until midnight last night I was a smoker  .  (yes, I know, I'm a disgusting person)  And when I say I was a smoker, I mean, I was a SMOKER...minimum 20 a day since I was 15 years old. 

The patch went on this morning and so far so good (although my arm is having a weird reaction to the patch?)

Anyone else been there, done that?

I am still a smoker.  I have quit about 9 times over the last several years, but have always gone back.  Most of those times I used the patch.  It does itch and burn a bit at the place where you attach it, but that usually subsides in the first hour or so.  It works really well, especially if you are really tired of smoking and have the willpower to quit, but would like to avoid the nasty headaches, moodiness, etc. of doing it cold turkey.  It doesn't work if you aren't ready to quit psychologically speaking.  You can easily take it off and have a fag, but you shouldn't.  For one thing, the nicotine stays in your system long after you remove the patch.  And for another thing, what would be the point of doing that?  Just find a way to keep your hands busy (I had Rubix cubes, stress balls, etc. to keep my hands busy, some people just like chewing gum or hard candy to keep their mouth busy).  You will find you have much more free time on your hands when you quit, it's shocking to think how much time you spend smoking until you actually stop doing it.  And loads of money you will have!!   
Cheers on your effort to make the change.  I hope to do it soon, but hoping DH will do it with me to make it easier on us both.  Just be aware that if you sleep with the patch on, you will have the craziest, most vivid dreams of your life.  You will be very restless.  I took mine off about an hour before bed so I could wind down.  But if you don't sleep with it on, you will find the first thing you will want to do when you get up is have a smoke.  It's tough.  Just put your patch on ASAP in the mornings and your headache and bad mood will drift away a bit.  And do the whole course, week by week.  Or at least, do each strength of patch for one week.  The strong ones for a week, the middle ones for a week, then the low dosage ones for a week.  Some people prefer to just wind it down and get it over with.  Others prefer to do 2-4 weeks of each one.  I tried it both ways, mainly due to the cost of the patch in the states, I did one week of each and was smoke-free for several months.  The hardest thing to do is to keep the quit.  I think it takes more than a year to get over the cravings, no matter what you do!  Good luck, and let us know how it goes!

I just quit cold turkey last year.  It was hellish at first but I wouldn't go back now.

That said, standing at bus stops is torture since quitting.

I smoked back in Uni and then on and off till 2000. One of the things that helped was an advert on TV.  I won't go into it, but suffice to say it grossed me out so much it did the trick

I quit cold turkey Jan 1, 2000,  But it was really hard.  The only time I've smoked since then was walking through Central Park on 9-11.  (But I was stressed and scared!)

I'm really proud of you!  Any support you need, just holla.  I'll send you my mobile # so you can ring.  I can talk you "off the ledge" if need be

DH quit with the patch back in 2001ish and stayed off the cigs for several years. The stress of finishing his PhD, 2 stressful births, and an international move took it's toll, though. He's been smoking off and on for the last 2 years now. But he would never quit without the patches and he's quitting next month as he doesn't want to start his life in the US as a smoker. He's about a 20 a day smoker, too.

Jewlz is right, he also can't sleep with them and MUST get that patch on first thing in the morning. It doesn't take all his symptoms away, but it does take the edge off.

Best of luck to you!

Well i'm on day 5 and so far so good. I tried the patches before but they just gave me wierd dreams (actually some of them were quite good in hindsight.. ) and so i could not sleep - and these were not the 24hr patches.

This time i am using 4mg lozenges and an inhaler, i use the inhaler when im outside - walking or perhaps in a pub. The other thing i did was to write a list of little jobs that needed doing round the house, when i get the urge to smoke i go and do one of them to take my mind off it.

Time will tell but ive already noticed several imrpovements, so has my girlfriend 

Dh tried a the patch a couple of times.  Went back to smoking, though.  GP will prescribe him Zyban next time whenever he's ready. 

I quit cold turkey in 1997 after, like, 25 years of 2-3 packs a day. It was my first try (I never *wanted* to quit; I loved the damn things). I didn't find the patches or gum did me any good at all. I wanted to smoke a cigarette, not receive a dose of nicotine.

It wasn't as miserable as I expected, but it was miserable for far longer. I still miss it.

I quit cold turkey in 1997 after, like, 25 years of 2-3 packs a day. It was my first try (I never *wanted* to quit; I loved the damn things). I didn't find the patches or gum did me any good at all. I wanted to smoke a cigarette, not receive a dose of nicotine.

It wasn't as miserable as I expected, but it was miserable for far longer. I still miss it.

Congrats to you for "keeping the quit"!  I have quit so many times that I never find quitting very difficult.  It's not picking it up again that is hardest for me.  The longest I ever made it was 9 months.  A binge-drinking session somehow collapsed my motivation after that. 

I quit cold turkey in Aug 2008 - for the nth time. 

So far I've been able to resist the urge to light up again, because I remember how many times I went back and how long it was before I was able to quit again.   My first serious attempt to stop was at age 28 and I didn't get there until age 38. 

I understand what you are saying Jewlz - for me it's pretty easy to stop but much harder to stay stopped.

I miss smoking so much - but for me it's the thought of getting diagnosed someday with lung (or smoking + drink = throat) cancer, or heart disease etc (already deal with high blood pressure and high cholesterol).

The older I get, the more clear it is to me that I will someday meet my ultimate demise - and how lame it would be if it were caused by something I can control.

Congrats to you for "keeping the quit"!  I have quit so many times that I never find quitting very difficult.  It's not picking it up again that is hardest for me.  The longest I ever made it was 9 months.  A binge-drinking session somehow collapsed my motivation after that. 

Heh. I did it for lurv -- a year before I met my (now) DF in the flesh, he quit smoking. I knew if I smoked around him, his nerve would break. So, six months before I was due to fly over the first time, I quit. Without an external motivation like that, I never would have made a go of it.

And you know the other thing? I was *so* hooked I wasn't sure I could handle a six-hour flight without a cigarette. No kidding -- I thought it would hurt less to quit totally than to try to go six hours without as a smoker.

Ex-smoker here.  I've done the patch before, but that wasn't what worked in the end.  Until I really, I mean really, wanted to quit, nothing worked.  It's still tough at times, and I wish I never started, but I'm so glad I stopped.  And there are little reminders of that all the time, like today...I have a bit of a sore throat today, and I think I've got a cold coming on.  When I was a smoker, I would smoke even when I was sick, even though it felt awful - no matter what, I had to smoke.  I even smoked through a case of strep throat!!  It's nice now to just be miserable because I'm getting sick and not have the misery of making it worse by smoking thrown into the mix!

I smoked for about six years before I quit in 2005 but I couldn't do it until I did it with Zyban. I feel bad even saying this, considering how hard it is to do cold-turkey, but with the med it was not very hard.

I wish all the people trying to quit and thinking about trying to quit the best of luck!

I'm really proud of you!  Any support you need, just holla.  I'll send you my mobile # so you can ring.  I can talk you "off the ledge" if need be

Oh boy, could I have done with you around 7pm last night...but I got there.  The good thing is that we're (me and DH) doing it together, the bad thing is that we're doing it together! 

It's for good reasons - financial along with finding out I have a hereditary condition which makes me (in my brothers words) a walking heart attack (it's really not that dramatic, but he's a bit of a drama queen).

And there are little reminders of that all the time, like today...I have a bit of a sore throat today, and I think I've got a cold coming on.  When I was a smoker, I would smoke even when I was sick, even though it felt awful

Funny thing is that I NEVER get the cold or any of the bugs that are going around and I put that down to the fact that (until now) I smoked.

Just find a way to keep your hands busy (I had Rubix cubes, stress balls, etc. to keep my hands busy, some people just like chewing gum or hard candy to keep their mouth busy).  You will find you have much more free time on your hands when you quit, it's shocking to think how much time you spend smoking until you actually stop doing it.  And loads of money you will have!!  

Great advice...thanks! And yes, the money should be a good side effect 

Thanks for all the advice and letting me know about Zyban, at least I have a fall back, but I'm pretty determined to do it this time around and hope the patches will be enough.  (I actually enjoyed having vivid and weird dreams last night, although you were right about the bad nights sleep  )

Thanks again.

I'm not sure about Scotland, but I know in England there are dedicated stop smoking support teams in most (if not all) Primary Care Trusts who can help.  Pharmacies here also run stop smoking clinics and can offer support and NRT (nicotine replacement therapy; ie patches/gum/inhalators) 

Okay...I've just looked it up- Scotland does have a similar program! Here's the website:
http://www.canstopsmoking.com

The smokefree website for England is here: http://smokefree.nhs.uk/

I would really encourage those who are trying to quit to take advantage of these services- there are people whose full time job is to help support  people to stop smoking, and since it's an NHS service you don't pay extra for it.  Good luck to everyone trying to quit!