Quitting smoking is HARD

So a couple of months ago I had old myself I would quit on October 4. It's my half birthday, and it was far enough into the new school year to justify it. Plus I hate cold and I don't want to have to be going outside during the winter. But DAMN it's hard. I quit last year for about three months by replacing it with vaping. Well Tuesday I did well but I bought a pack Wednesday. I finished that pack yesterday so I'm attempting again today. I just bummed one off my mom because I felt like I was going to snap and hit my son because I'm so irritable. But I just had the one and didn't buy a pack. If that's the way it has to be for awhile so be it.

I'm vaping again so I'm getting some nicotine but not a lot. I have liquid with the lowest amount of nicotine in it because the higher nicotine ones burn my throat. It just wasn't cutting it.

I can't focus on dieting and quitting smoking at the same time so I'm afraid I'm going to gain even more weight. I'm trying to keep my calories down but it's hard to do when I'm trying to distract myself from smoking. But at this point I think the smoking is more detrimental to my health than the weight. The weight could be problematic too but the smoking definitely is.

If you have successfully quit smoking please encourage me! This is the best time for me to do it as I've been stable for eight months and my normal winter depression doesn't usually hit until January. If I can get some non smoking time under my belt before then I might be able to avoid picking up again in the winter.

I can do this, I know I can. I don't want to be a slave to cigarettes anymore!

Have you thought about using the patch or lozenges?

I tried quitting cold turkey once and it was horrible. I felt bad for my husband. I hardly talked to him and didn't sleep by him for three days.

I succeeded using the lozenge though.

Unfortunately I started smoking again.

Good luck!

It is so hard! I've quit a few times but still bummed smokes off people. I'd go to my dads just to smoke his lol. I like ecigs and the gum.

I got off smokes by using an e cig. I used that for two years and once i decided to quit vaping, I started wanting cigarettes again. I've been smoking one here and there, but I'm trying to put them behind me by using the gum.

There was interim in my smoking periods where I quit cold turkey once and stayed off cigs for a year. However when my symptoms started returning I went out and bought a pack and haven't stopped since. It is very difficult to quit, but it is possible. I have been smoking since 13 years old so I have been doing it so long it is ingrained in me. Don't feel you have failed if you pick up one though, even if you are able to lower the amount you smoke a day by a bit, you have done something to help the process. Fortunately for me I managed to cut down from 2 packs a day to 1. I won't lie though I have had some difficulties going lower. It is very hard to quit, believe me I know. Tried nicorette gum, it worked well, but I was chewing so much it gave me TMJ my jaw was completely inflamed. The Nicoderm patches only made me worse, so when I try to quit again I will be using a different brand. Never tried lozenges though so I have no experience with them. Wishing you the best in your journey to quit.

I DO NOT SUGGEST THIS: I quit smoking using the patch AND an ecig with 12 mg nicotine. I did smoke close to 2 packs a day though. I wore the patch for 2 weeks and vaped, then got rid of the patch and just stuck with the vape. I've went down to 6 mg nicotine because i got a kanger nano mod, which i have to say is AMAZING. Was very expensive but totally worth it. If you want to get cheap liquid go to bluedot you can get 100 ml for 17.99. mt baker vapors is also good too, but not as cheap. my favorite liquid is SXR code red, but it's expensive. I had been going to a shop to get everything, but idk if I can go there anymore. my fav employee there got killed in a car wreck, and I just feel so sad about it. I had just seen him the week before when I went to get coils.

Anyways. I think vaping is the way to go. Just make sure you don't get liquids with didactyl in them. It can cause popcorn lung which isn't fun.

Quitting is so very hard. I want to quit so badly but mentally I'm just not in the place for it. Smoking is a huge coping mechanism for me.

Keep doing your best, you will feel amazing about yourself if you succeed. I'm routing for you.

I think the best thing about quitting smoking was that my cough went away that i had had from when i had bronchitis in december to when i quit the first time in May. I have to say my husband went away for a week at the end of May and i didn't handle it well, so I smoked the whole week he was gone, but when he came home I went and bought an ecig kit.

I'd like to say with ecigs, don't get egoT batteries. it's complete ********. they fall apart so easy. Get a kanger evov or vision spinner 2 if you're starting out. and get a kanger mini protank 2 or 3 for the tank. start out small. don't automatically go to a mod. I've got to say though with a mod, coils last 2-3 months, where as the stick models the coils last 3-7 days depending on how much you vape.

Anyways, i'll stop talking about vaping. I can talk about it for hours. If y'all have any questions about it, just PM me and I'll try to answer them best I can.

Yeah, quitting smoking for me was hard too. I used to smoke almost two packs a day at one point. Started getting the nasty cough, then I knew it was time to give it up.

It will be two years for me this Feb. 4th. I am presently starting to train for a half-marathon. I can hardly run right now but know if I stick with it I can do it. It might help to set goals like if you stay with it 6 months you will do such-and-such...a trip...or other treat. I found it terribly hard to quit. I did the nicotine patch and gum and when I gave them up after two months I had panic attacks, which I cured with guided meditation. The only encouragement I can give is....if you want to quit you will...even if you have to try many times...so keep trying. The two years before I quit for good I tried about a dozen times and I could not get past day four. Also, I joined a couple of quit smoking forums online and that helped. I made friends who were going through what I was going through. We encouraged one another. Mostly everyone ended up going back to smoking except for one guy who was a two year quitter. I tried to imagine what that would feel like. And now it is around the corner for me. I did not vape and don't know anything about vaping, ecigs etc. It helped me to quit drinking alcohol. I also don't really hang out with smokers anymore and moved to a non-smoking apartment complex.
All I know is I was addicted not so much to smoking but to nicotine. I would never ever ever go back. I would never even smoke one puff. It is a foul, nasty, dirty, filthy, dangerous habit and in the end it kills pretty much everyone who has continued to smoke either by COPD, cancer, diabetes (yes, it can cause diabetes), heart attack etc. etc. NEVER GIVE UP. EVER. Once you quit for good you will be so happy.

I'm trying to quit but finding it hard, I sometimes smoke my ecig then always go back to smoking, Maybe I should try the gum and patch too.

No matter what the important thing is to get nicotine out of the system entirely. Some people say that takes 3 to 5 days, while others say it takes a few weeks. I don't think there is any way it can be easy. Nicotine is a very versatile drug...it can energize you...and it can also relax you...depending on how deeply you inhale. I thought maybe I would just stay on the patch forever because nicotine was a great drug and smoking is what gives you cancer. This is not true. Nicotine is very dangerous and destructive. It is highly addictive...and as everyone who is addicted knows...it is almost impossible to cut down and maintain. I am pretty certain that if I continued ingesting nicotine in any form it would have led me back to smoking. I had to kiss nicotine goodbye forever.

Okay. I think the very best thing is don't fool yourself. It is going to be hard to quit, and to stay quit the first year. It is hard, hard, hard, hard, hard. But not impossible. For me the second year has been great...I never think about smoking except when it comes up, like on this thread.

I personally think benzodiazepines would be helpful when quitting. I did not have them available. Instead I ate a lot of pasta. I became almost a carb junkie. My favorite meal when quitting was angel hair pasta and iced hibiscus tea. When I felt cravings I would eat pasta. I didn't gain any weight.

Good Luck. Think of how great it is to not have to stand outside in the freezing cold smoking. Now that seems like insanity! Much better to make some hot chocolate, take a hot bath, snuggle in bed. Also, when you quit...after about a year (sorry) you start sleeping like a baby. By the time I quit my own coughing would wake me up. Then I would go outside to smoke. INSANITY.

Thanks for the encouragement everyone!!! I definitely feel more optimistic now. My main motivation for quitting is my son. We lost his father when he was four. I can't bear to think about dying and leaving him alone. when I started smoking I was in a really bad place mentally and was actually hoping it would kill me sooner. Now I no longer want to die. So I have to get serious about my health. If I don't want to leave my son behind prematurely I have to quit no matter how much I enjoy it.

thanks everyone once again!

I need to quit smoking myself. I've quit a couple times but picked it back up. I need to stop because it worries my son, and also I need the money. I only smoke 1/3 to 1/2 a pack per day but I NEED it lol.

Good luck. I know you can do it.

isn't being a quitter supposed to be a bad thing...? I just don't have it in me, I'm not a quitter.

I took up vaping over a year ago to stop smoking cigarettes, I got a pretty expensive vape to start with, but now I'm not even taking any nicotine. My husband mixes the juice himself so it makes it easier and cheaper. I still crave cigarettes every once in a while but the cravings pass after a few seconds.