Hi there. I lost my own father to COPD. Unfortunately, even that didn't stop my own addiction. I quit smoking by vaping. First, I treated vaping as if it were a cigarette. I made myself go outside and vape. I allowed myself to only vape for as long and as often as what I would normally smoke. Then back to whatever I was doing before my smoking break. Next, I titrated the nicotine level down over a period of 2 weeks until I felt that I was at a level that vaping didn't ease - as in I just wanted to constantly vape. Then I filled it up with no nicotine. It was the hardest thing I have ever done. I stopped the vaping with no nicotine after about 2 weeks. It was still horrible. Frankly, it was a fight all day every day for about 3 months-no 3 minute cravings for me! Yes it got slowly better, but even that far out, I would have intense horrible cravings - 10 or 20 a day. I was grateful for that, as at least it wasn't constant like before.
I will tell you this. I did not quit smoking 6 years ago. I conquered smoking 6 years ago.
While I used all the normal tricks to alleviate my misery, what I mostly used was anger. While my addicted brain was screaming for nicotine, I cursed the cigarette manufacturers. I started smoking when I was 11 years old, and they wanted that to happen in order to make me a life-long smoker. Next, they increased the addictive components to cigarettes. They did that on purpose too, just in case anybody managed to quit. I cursed our government too. How could they possibly allow the manufacture of cigarettes to even continue? Can you even imagine allowing the production of a product that addicts its users and slowly kills them? It is insane! So I used that anger. Every day and every night, I used that anger. I was angry that they were so greedy for the almighty dollar that they allowed this in our society.
Many people have found success in many ways to fight this horrible addiction. Find what works for you and cling to it. Good Luck. Dixie
