Hello, my name is Samantha and I’m 31 years old. I have been smoking for 14 years now and really want/need to quit. I have tried multiple times with no success. The only time I was able to quit was when I was pregnant with my youngest (13 years ago) and I remember being miserable. I had a premature birth (due to other complications). My cravings never went away, so when she was delivered at 25 weeks, I, without any hesitation, started smoking again. I regret it everyday. I want to stay healthy for my family and I’m starting to worry about my health, to the point I can’t sleep at night. I was told to set my quit date for 2-4 weeks out. I set mine for August 1st. My plan is to cut down every few days and then just stop on the 1st. I’m really wondering if this even helps and if it would be better to just stop cold turkey. I do want to note that I suffer from PTSD, Panic attacks, social anxiety, general anxiety and can fall into depression easily. This has made it very hard for me to quit. I work as a photographer but am home more than not and am by myself during the day. I often get bored and smoking is the first thing I want to do. Any tips would be much appreciated as I feel like this is a life changing decision and will not only help my physical health, but my mental health as well. Though it feels like it’s relieving me when I smoke, I know in reality it is making everything so much worse. I’m ready to be done.
