[bblost]

@AbhishekB86:

All the best with your decision to stop smoking.
If a situation feels really bad then remember that the dirty nicotine is making you feel its much worse just so you will start smoking again. Don't let her do this to you.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Unfortunately due to stress in my personal life

an addicted brain finding an excuse

you are right, and if you have failed, then perhaps it was in not taking account of this danger.

After my many failures, when I succeeded, I actually said, "Even if I loose my job, my house, my girl-friend, my family, even if the worst that I can think of happens, I will not smoke." That might seem rather extreme, rather far fetched, but I don't think it is. I've heard so many people say, "I want to give up, but this is a bad time..."

I also would like to thank a lot of active members on this thread for the motivation you guys provide and the example you've set.

Here's the next dose --- ok, so you failed this time. Try again as soon as you can! In fact, start now, then you can call it a "relapse" instead of a failure!

[manolin]

1 week done. No smoking.

E-cigs only. Its been fairly easy too - which shows that when the nicotene content is maintained in body, cigarettes no longer feel like your only release valve.

My plan is as follows:
(i) continue using the e-cigarettes. No more regular cigarette smoking ever. I am fine with e cigs. No tar, no carcinogens. Start exercising. I expect to be able to run far more now.
(ii) every month, change the e-cig's liquid to one with lower nicotene content, finishing off around a year's/2 year's time with zero nicotene content liquid. No rush. None but the slightest minimal change changes in routine.

I will wean myself away.

PS: This is my plan. Because I know my frailities to some extent. To others - clean cold turkey should be the best. Its immediate, and generally said to be the most effective.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Cold turkey is one thing, but two years?

Sorry, manolin, you need to rethink this. You are not giving up anything, just going for a different form of nicotine.

I did something like that, but with nicotine patches. One April, I decided to be free of all this stuff by my birthday, July. Whilst I "relapsed" a few times in the first two or three weeks, with single cigarettes, I actually stopped using the patches before the end of the three-month course when, one day, I realised I had forgotten it, and decided to call it a day.

You have a lot of habit changing to do, and holding something between your fingers and sucking on it is something you want to get away from. Give it a couple of weeks, then, if you must, move on to gum or patches. You might actually find that a lot of your anxiety disappears when taking something out of a packet and sucking it is no longer an option. I did: smoking was partly a nervous habit, and some of my nervousness disappeared when I quit smoking!

Don't be discouraged. Be encouraged... Do it for real! If you can't do it today, this week, or this month, then give yourself three to throw Nicotine out of your life, and use whatever help you need. But no longer than that.

[manolin]

Haha Thad, I was laughing while I was reading your post. Yes, the earlier the better. 2 years is unlikely, 1 year most probably. I am a lawyer, so the training of never saying or committing to anything in concrete black or white comes through when i read my earlier post.

I don't mind the habit, of holding and sucking something, if its not harming me (though the habit is for sure an invitation to a relapse). And even e-cigs harm you at some level (nicotene is a poison, even if it can occur naturally due to different foods, artificially introducing it into the body cannot do any good). So I will keep your advice in mind, and try to push for zero nicotene e-cigs as soon as possible. Will take it from there.
--
On a separate note - when you moved to gums, and patches - were you able to adjust to the lesser nicotene levels easily. Or did it take an effort.

---

Also, over the years on India mike, among a lot of funny people, you have been the funniest. Thanks:-)

[Thad E Ginathom]

Each reduction in dosage caused a day or so of symptoms, trailing away to nothing at the end, with the smallest patches.

You need to bring more of the contractual side of things into your lawyering with nicotine. Time is of the essence, and commitment is vital. I can tell you, from my experience and knowing others, that phrases like "as soon as possible" is just ensuring it never happens. You can't take it from there: you have to take it from here. That's how grim this nicotine addiction thing is.

[carboy]

Are there shops in Mumbai where these electronic cigs/kits are sold? Or are they only available online?

[suhaas307]

I've been meaning to post this for some time but something or the other came up.

On the 30th of May, I fell quite ill. It was a combination of a lot of things. My final semester exams were almost done and I was pretty sick while writing the last paper. Things weren't exactly peachy at home either. It started out as a bad cold and cough, a throat infection that eventually spiraled into something serious enough to land me in Manipal Hospital for the afternoon (31th). It was a pretty bad asthma attack.

The previous day, while with a friend, I'd jokingly said that I would quit cigarettes for good and that I wouldn't run down to the shop to pick up a pack for the night and the next day. After I was discharged from hospital the next day, I decided to keep that promise.

It's been well over a month and I haven't smoked a single cigarette since.

I do feel the urge, but I fight it. The urge comes once in a while and only for a few seconds. Once the moment passes, I don't feel the urge any more. For the first few weeks, I found it increasingly hard to answer nature's longer calls in the morning without a smoke. After meals, I was twitching for a cigarette. But every time I got the urge, I fought it. I kept saying to myself, "NO" and I'd pinch myself.

I do feel the urge nowadays too, but it isn't as bad as it used to be.

By the way, I was a heavy smoker for 5 solid years. It was an addiction.

I'd briefly entertained the thought of buying one of those e-cigarettes, but I'd decided not to substitute one addiction with another.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Fear is the best stimulant to giving up: it worked for me. You're right not to just swap being a smoker for being an e-smoker: nicotine has to be given the boot.

Hope your health is better now --- and stays good

[coolboy007]

I had posted in this thread around 6 months back that i wanted to quit smoking but i couldnt, always found reasons to start again and i failed last time.

Had my medical a few weeks back ( am into aviation) and i had a significantly high pulse rate so i almost failed my medicals. The doc advised me to quit before its too late and this time he was pretty serious that i need to choose between my career or smoking.

Its been 3 days since i smoked, having 3-4 tabs of nicorette a day when the urge is bad but i will eventually leave it as well, this time am pretty serious and i wont give in.

Seems i needed a real kick behind and a reason to quit which i got now, i will not touch this cancer stick again.

[manolin]

One month done :-) quite happy!! been through weddings, drunken parties, baraats, and managed, and can't even remember the taste of a GoldFlake Kings any more. Infact, when I entered the hotel room of where friends' were partying, the smell, which was once a warm signal, was a major turn off.

Though am fairly hooked to the e cigs. Have to start cutting them down now. Plan is to move from using them all the time, to only when there is a nicotene craving.

I had a long trip back home, and for once was comfortable with family, at not having the guilt of smoking on the sly (though the minor guilt of e cig was still there).

[Mr_Bean]

Originally Posted by manolin

Though am fairly hooked to the e cigs. Have to start cutting them down now. Plan is to move from using them all the time, to only when there is a nicotene craving.

The key to successful quit smoking is flushing the nicotine completely from your body, both physically and psychologically.

You have been supplementing the habit indirectly with the e-cig, IMO there are more chances of you going back to your old habit (actual cig).

I know you will dread the thought of this happening after all the hard work, hence keep this worst fear in your mind and focus on kicking the e-cig also.

Rgds,
Vinod

[noopster]

Mr Bean, using nicotine substitutes like Nicorette gum, e cigarette etc. ifs an accepted method of quitting smoking. Though I wouldn't advocate it myself, it is still better than pumping yourself full of tar and the thousands of other carcinogens that smoking puts in your body.

This is a forum where a quitting smoker looks for encouragement, advice and inspiration. Don't get me wrong but your tone seems derisive. Not every smoker is at the same stage of his quit, and it would be constructive were we to appreciate this.

[Thad E Ginathom]

It may be hard, but it is true. Just changing one nicotine source for another is dealing with a simple physical habit, it is not dealing with the addiction.

Until a person quits nicotine, they haven't really given up.

We have to face fact on this. Replacements should never be more than a phased and planned, dated exit from nicotine addiction. They really help. But, "OK, I given up smoking, some time soon I'll give up nicotine," is still giving in to nicotine.

Now, if manolin was to say, this month no cigarettes; next month no nicotine, then he'd be on to a real winner. And of course, we are all supportive. We've all been there.

[Vishbull_6157]

Hi friends, I am 30 years old and have been smoking for more than half my age now. This is one thing that is troubling me the most in my life that I am just unable to kick the butt. I try really hard but somehow manage to smoke at least a couple of cigarettes a day. I really don't know how to get out of this mess. And I feel terrible about it. How do I quit completely, I have tried almost all alternatives but in vain. I am addicted :(