How to quit smoking?

I've never smoked but my DH started at 15. For many years he was quite a heavy smoker. His breakfast was a fag! When he was in his 40s and money was very tight, the price of cigs went up in the budget again. He just said 'right, that's it'. He never smoked again. He says he'll never know how he did it and craved them for years after.

Easiest way to stop smoking is not to buy cigarettes
Worked for me

I gave up after 30 years. Life is so much better now. The cough has gone, the horrible smell has gone, I feel proud of myself and I'm not forking out all that money any more.

A lot of Health Authorities have smoking cessation clinics. Check out your NHS website. Never been a smoker but was raised in a smoking environment. Just couldn't and still can't stand the smell off smokers, makes me nauseous. Relative who smoked for years recently developed COPD and boy did she stop smoking - basically overnight but a bit too late damage is done. I do admire anyone who does stop as not easy to give up a drug habit, which nicotine is! Good Luck.

I decided 44 years ago that I would stop smoking so that I could afford a piano for DD. I decided on the day and threw away the cigarettes I had left. The money I was saving was a great incentive to keep going, I never once lapsed I am a determined person when I set my heart on something.

I gave up when I started to cycle to work. I couldn’t go up the (small) hills and so I decided I had to stop. It was in and off and I still get cravings after 15 years, but I’m really glad I did quit. Good luck - think “I only have to get over THIS craving”- and don’t despair if you fail 2, 3 or 4 or more times - it’s hard but you’ll get there.

Forgot to say, but this possibly doesn’t apply these days. I avoided people who smoke and practiced saying ‘ I don’t smoke ‘ when offered a cigarette.

I stopped many years ago by going cold turkey and it wasn’t easy. Things I did that definitely helped me was to not think long term just minutes ahead. So when I craved one I’d say to myself, not for 5 minutes. I drank fresh orange juice by the gallon. Not sure if that was just a gimmick at the time but it did help and finally, every day I put my cigarette money into a jar and at the end of each week I bought something for myself. I did that for many months and it was a time in my life when I was very hard up but my logic was that I could always find cigarette money. My father died very suddenly in the midst of all this and that stress made me desperate however, he had been so pleased that I’d stopped I didn’t want to use his death as an excuse to resume. That was when I started to replace the cigarette with food. That’s another story! Whatever you choose, in around a years time, you’ll look back, congratulate yourself and most definitely have improved your health. Good luck, you can do it.

I stopped smoking 13 months ago, after 40 years! in the past I'd tried patches, cold turkey etc but for me it was vaping that did it.
I've never even had a craving for a cigarette and am now slowly reducing my "vape habit".

I think Ellan , that long after you give up, the habit is still there, it was years before I had a cup of tea without feeling something was missing

Yes, absolutely, it is always worth giving up smoking. I understand it to be one of the most important things you can do, for your health. I've never been a smoker but I do appreciate that giving up is hard. My advice is to take all the help you can get - most GP's surgeries offer a lot of advice and support these days. Start today! Good luck! (And please let us know how it goes....)

I cannot remember the title of the book I used.
Briefly it was aversion therapy involving a new packet of my least favourite cigs which I smoked one at a time regular sessions for two days. But not proper smoking! After each drag on the cig I deliberately coughed hard until I was really uncomfortable. When the cig only partly smoked the horrible dub went into a clear glass container with a little water in it so I could view the repulsive brown accumulations. At the end of the five days of aversion I 'smoked' my last ever cig and threw away the remainder of the unsmoked pack .

It worked and I have not smoked for thirty five years.

Good for you Alima, it takes some doing. With me it's more a habit than a true addiction.
I've been told many times that " I don't smell ", probably because I'm not a heavy smoker. I could do with one of those joke cigarettes that you used to get from the joke-shop
I can go to " do's or gatherings " and not even bother.

I feel the same about drinkers as those who drink feel about smokers !! And some drinkers stink too.

Willpower is the only thing that works. How about everyone doing without their slug of wine,etc ? Can you ?

I have a friend whose daughter went to the GP and they gave her patches etc to use and she had been off the cigarettes for 6 weeks. My friend was so impressed that she had now been to the GP and started with the patches yesterday. She said that they advised her to out a patch in before she went to bed then she wouldn’t have cravings when she woke up and it worked. I would go to your GP if I were you

I'd like to be smoke free. But I really enjoy smoking. I know, its terrible. I am fully aware of the health risks and money wasted. It's sad isn't it?
Good luck OP

Ask your doctors for Champix tsblets. They really work. You can vape as well which satisfies the cravings.

I smoked for many years, and every time I caught a cold it turned into a bad chest infection.

One of these occasions, I realised that smoking had to go. I tried vaping e-cigarettes, and they helped enormously.

There is a packet of cigarettes in a kitchen drawer, which I've never been tempted to open.

Hope you make the decision to stop smoking, and give vaping a try. The cost of cigarettes these days is enormous, along with cost to your health.

I gave up in September 2000, cold turkey, only to find in April of 2001 I was diagnosed with lung cancer. I had smoked for 35 years. Fortunately the cancer was caught early and part of my lung was removed. Although this causes me a bit of loss of breath, it is far better than the alternative. Give up cold turkey before it is too late is my recommendation.

Hypnotherapy is meant to work. Good luck and we'll done for trying.

Had my last ciggy on June 19th last year. Been smoking for at least 44 years, didn’t think I would ever give up. Managed it with patches and nicotine chewing gum. Had tried vaping in the past, didn’t seem to do much for me and felt ridiculous, even more so than puffing away on a fire stick! Don’t even crave a cigarette now, even after a very stressful year. Good luck, it can be done!

Oh dear it's so hard.
I don't smoke many, they don't dull my appetite and I've had only one chest cold in my life.
We all know what smoking does and causes but personally the vapes are an unknown quantity.

I told myself a few years ago that after a " clear " PET scan that I'd start then, but it didn't last long. Yet I could give up alcohol no problem as I used to really enjoy a drink, whatever it was, because I firmly think that it causes a lot of cancers when it enters the blood-stream. I've substituted it with water !

I have reduced them greatly these past few years and am limiting myself to 5 a day, a 20 pack lasts me 4 days, so this way it will fizzle out at some point. I can't take patches/pills on account of the warfarin and strangely enough my warfarin levels have remained steady, but they wouldn't be if I drank alcohol.

I think the point is you’ve got to really, really want to. Like with M0nicas father in law, something usually triggers it

I might add, my mother's closest friend died from lung cancer. She didn't smoke and never had. but her husband did.

He lived to a grand old age, whether he ever came to terms with the fact that he had killed the one he loved by his smoking I never knew.

Lisa445 should contemplate what her habit might be doing to those she loves.

My FiL stopped in a day when it was suggested he might have cancer. It wasn't, he had something else, but he never smoked again.

I gave up 30 years ago, cold turkey, when they went up to £1.50 a pack. I just thought that was such a ridiculous amount to pay, literally going up in smoke!! I really wonder how people afford to smoke these days.

Try to make sure you have something to occupy yourself, sewing/knitting or even jigsaw puzzles. You need to break habits based around having a smoke - after meals etc.
Think to yourself how you will be healthier, saving money, how much nice your home and yourself will smell (I hate standing by someone who smells of stale smoke) and how proud your grandchildren will be.
Maybe try limiting yourself to certain number of cigs and gradually reducing each week, if you don't think you can give up in one hit that might help you.

Good luck, if you really want to do it and have the determination you will succeed.