After 43 years and after about six times of trying to quit, I am now proud to announce that I am 30 days smoke free. I have tried the e-cigarette. that only made me smoke more. I have tried Wellbutrin, which made me feel like a zombie. I tried the wonderful, oh, I'll just cut down; only to be back to up where I was smoking and then some. then we went the route of I'll just ration my cigs, like that was going to work, because I kept sneaking them. Then I did the cold turkey. Lasted a whole 4 days for the 3 weeks that I tried it, but kept at only a half a pack a day and then down to 4 to 5 a day. Finally just fet up with lighting up and feeling cruddy, broke down and bought Nicoderm CQ, generic brand, and it helped tremendously. The first 3 weeks were a struggle, but I kept telling myself that if I go buy a pack, I'll just go right back to one leads to two, leads to five, leads to 10. I did stay on the 21 mg patch for 3 1/2 weeks and went down to the 14 mg and it's going extremely well. I find myself only really, really wanting to smoke maybe once or twice a day. Then I deep breathe until it passes and we're good. You'll find that gum is your best friend along with candy. I had such cravings for sugar for the first two weeks. Recognize your triggers and try to stay away from them for the first month. Mine was drinking. and let me tell you, it tastes awful now that I have my taste buds back. You'll be amazed how many smells you were missing, some good, some bad. You'll always know when a smoker is walking past you. I think my finally deciding factor was when I went to the store to buy something and the girl behind the counter asked if I just had a cigarette and I hadn't had one for a few hours. I thought to myself, boy, I must smell like a walking ashtray. Wash your windows if you smoke in your car or your house... that wonderful yellow gunk is going into your lungs. I breathe a lot better, sleep a lot better, never have leg cramps anymore or wheeze when I lay down. You'll always WANT to smoke, it's just that you choose not to. Good luck !!!!
