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Give and get support around quitting

mmossien3
Member

Cold Turkey Help

Quit date is Sept. 22.  I am doing it cold turkey. Is it possible? Has anyone done it? I have tried so many times. I have been smoking for 20 years. The last time I tried to quit I tried Wellbutrin and I became manic. Chantix made me suicidal. I can't afford Patches or nicotine gum.  So I am scared that I am not going to be able to handle the withdrawal.  Please help.  Thanks.

30 Replies
Mandolinrain
Member

I am a cold turkey quitter and theres many of us here. You can do this ! Welcome to EX!

If you go up to the magnifying glass on your screen upper right side, you can type in cold turkey quitters and theres a ton of blogs written by many of us. If you go to the groups...theres also a cold turkey group although I don't know how active it is.

My advice is for you to read as many blogs as you can, get Allen Carrs book, The Easy way to stop smoking ( short fast read) this will give you and understanding of hows and whys of quitting. Once you are prepared it will make your transition to be smoke free MUCH more doable

Stay near this site and blog often, we are here to help.

mmossien3
Member

Thank you very much for the advice I will

SimplySheri
Member

I did it and I'm a big old baby   It's possible to quit no matter what 'method' you choose!  Believe in yourself, have confidence in your quit, and have a plan in place for those times when you waver.  You can do it!!

MarilynH
Member

I'm also am cold turkey quitter after 40 yrs of smoking of at least 30 smokes a day and at least a half dozen failed attempts at quitting smoking I decided to bite the bullet and take back my life life after finding out that I have mild copd and maybe I quit the smart turkey way as many say because there's a wealth of information right here on this site to strengthen your resolve to quit and stay quit and I read everything I could find here which really helped me through the rough patches and it will help you too, quitting smoking is definitely difficult but Doable and so very worth it to be Free I chomped on carrots and celery sticks and kept a bag of sugar free mints around plus drank a lot of water which I still do and I've been quit for well over four years now stay close because we're all here to help you in any way we can .....

elvan
Member

I am a cold turkey quitter after smoking for 47 years and I have now not smoked for over 4 1/2.  I read and read and read here and I commented and asked for advice like you are doing and then I paid attention.  I had many failed quits in the past, the only difference with this one was really this site and a stronger commitment.  Education about the addiction, support, and commitment all make the difference.  I will let YoungAtHeart‌ give you the "official" welcome because she does it so much better than I can.

I DID think that patches were available in most states for free...but I am not sure what the website is.

Welcome to EX...yes, it CAN be done, no it won't be easy, but it IS POSSIBLE.

Ellen

mmossien3
Member

Thank you for your support.

0 Kudos
AnnetteMM
Member

Yep, cold turkey here. Hey, fear is just fear. You're stronger than your fear, and it won't last past a week. I'm sure you've done other things that are scary and survived to tell the tale!

YoungAtHeart
Member

Welcome to our community!

The most important thing you can do right now is to educate yourself on what nicotine does to your body and mind. To that end, I highly recommend Allen Carr's “The Easy Way to Stop Smoking.” This is an easy and entertaining read. You can search for it  or at your local library. Here's a link to a video here on the site which describes nicotine addiction: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpWMgPHn0Lo&feature=youtu.be.
 
 You should also read the posts here and perhaps go to the pages of folks who you think might be helpful. You might visit whyquit.com, quitsmoking.com and livewell.com for the good information contained there. @https://excommunity.becomeanex.org/groups/best-of-ex has lots of blogs written by members of this site with their experiences and guidance. You should also do the tracking and separation exercises suggested in My Quit Plan http://www.becomeanex.org/my-quit-plan.php
 
The nicotine withdrawal takes about three days plus or minus and then it's the psychological part of the addiction you have to beat - all the associations and triggers in your life.  I think this is actually the most difficult part of the process, and it takes time to relearn your life without smoking.   You just need to give it the time it takes.  As you start to change things up, this gets easier and easier to do.
 
The idea is to change up your routines so the smoking associations are reduced.  Drink your coffee with your OTHER hand in a place different from when you smoked. Maybe switch to tea for a bit.  If you always had that first smoke with your coffee, try putting your tennies on right out of bed, going for a quick walk, then taking your shower and THEN your coffee! Rearrange the furniture in the areas you used to smoke so the view is different. Buy your gas at a different station. Take a different route to work. Take a quick walk at break time where the smokers AREN'T.
 
You need to distract yourself through any craves.  You can take a bite out of a lemon (yup - rind and all), put your head in the freezer and take a deep breath of cold air, do a few jumping jacks, go for a brisk walk or march in place, play a computer game.  Keep a cold bottle of water with you from which to sip. Don't let that smoking thought rattle around in your brain unchallenged. Sometimes you need to quit a minute or an hour at a time.  You will need to be disciplined in the early days to distract yourself when a crave hits.    Get busy!  Here is a link to a list of things to do instead of smoke if you need some fresh ideas:
 
https://excommunity.becomeanex.org/blogs/Youngatheart.7.4.12-blog/2013/02/25/100-things-to-do-instea...
 
The conversation in your head in response to the "I want a cigarette" thought needs to be, "Well, since I have decided not to do that anymore, what shall I do instead for the three minutes this crave will last?"  Then DO it.  You will need to put some effort into this in the early days, but it gets easier and easier to do.
 
Stay close to us here and ask questions when you have them and for support when you need it. We will be with you every step of the way!


 Nancy

mmossien3
Member

Thanks for the support and information.

Margaret