Advice / support

hey there, I have been a smoker for about 20 plus years now. I was averaging about a pack a day. Well with all this new added stress working from home with covid going on and staying away from things since I'm higher risk type one diabetic and recently being diagnosed with PTSD/anxiety/depression Im up to almost 2 an half packs a day. Would love to kick these menthols. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Firstly, congratulations on making the decision to stop smoking. If I could stop at age 60 and pass my 11 year mark without buying a pack or putting a cancer stick YOU CAN DO IT TOO!

Search for my threads / replies in this topic and you will find that Kattelyn and I stopped at about the same time.

I made the decision to stop smoking on New Year's eve 2008. My plan was to stop gradually some time in 2009.
> I made a decision to stop smoking in the house.
> then I weaned myself off smoking while driving.
> the above two things brought me under 2packs a day.
> sugar free cough drops, pen caps, toothpicks can help you with the oral cravings. After 11+ years I am still never without sugar free menthol cough drops.
> If something triggers an "urge" excuse yourself from the situation, grab a cough drop and go do something else until the craving passes. Then go back to work. I like to walk until the cough drop is gone.

There is no "one stop fits all" solution, educate yourself, talk to your doctor, make the decision and work on the solution.

YOU CAN DO IT!!!

Thank you so much for the response. I will for sure try these things. Appreciate it 🙏

Buy a copy of the Easy Way by Allen Carr. It helped me both times I quit, most recently for over 1-1/2 years. Chantix helped too.

Awesome. Will look into that also. Thank you for the advice

Once you get over the hump you’re going to feel so much better. Anxiety disorders and stimulants (nicotine) don’t go well together. As a type one diabetic you can expect a rapid decline in your health earlier in life with smoking like you are. Your vision will suffer greatly as well as kidney function. If you can adhere to the great advice you’ve gotten above, do it. If you can’t, consider switching over to the nicotine pouches which are free of tobacco.

Do this for your family, your health, your future...... The last ten years of life for a smoker can be really ugly. Find whatever motivation you can and thanks for posting.

Thank you for the kind words. I will give it my all for sure.

I could tell what it's like going through cancer surgery, treatments and recovery but I find that most people don't think it will ever happen to them. Seek professional help and may God bless you in this hard endevor.

In a decades-long spasm of weakness and insanity, I smoked from age 14 until 46, 6 years ago. Here's how I easily quit.

First, I switched to much cleaner cigs, Natural American Spirit in my case. It's my opinion that people also get addicted to the non-nicotine additives in Marlboros and other big names, making quitting even more challenging. Observations of others since then support my opinion.

Then, one day my girlfriend brought me home a vape pen kit. Immediately my consumption of cigs went way down. In fact, the pack I'd just bought turned out to be my last, but I had no idea at the time.

Next, I switched from the cheesy vape pen to more advanced units and started mixing my own juice. My last compulsively smoked cig was far in the rear view by then.

Next, I tapered down the amount of nicotine over about 3 weeks until it hit zero.

Next, I looked at the drug-free vape device in my hand, wondered why on Earth I was sucking on the stupid thing, exited the RV, and heaved it far into Lake Holbrook, where we were camping and fishing at the time. It remains the lone time I've ever littered in a lake - not even one cigarette butt has ever been littered by me. I leave places cleaner than I found 'em, but I guess that was a special occasion. I still regret the littering, though - shoulda just broken the thing and thrown it in the trash. Now it stands as the sole dark spot in what was a wonderful experience.

My lady fishin' buddy had quit a couple years before that on advice of her doctor - she got CRPS after a car wreck and tobacco abuse is real bad for neuropathy.

All the money we would have spent on cigs was invested boldly and turned into much, much, much more money.

Now I have a cig on the anniversary of my Mom's death - she was destroyed by tobacco-caused COPD - and whenever one of my smoker friends dies, and this year we have 7 stiffs so far, all aged 50-62. That's a dang shame.

Vaping made quitting amazingly easy. I'm still astonished. Looking back, the mere time I spend in line at Walgreen's buying cigs was a disgrace, not to mention the actual smoking and the waste of a ton of money.

Good luck. It's not as difficult as many think it is. All that is needed is 1) a sound approach and 2) sufficiently caring about yourself and those around you.

Thank you very much for this , this is very encouraging !

That booked helped me put down cigs years ago. I was smoke free for a couple years and then started back with cigars. I've not had a cigar in a lil over a month. Chantix, patches, etc...didn't work for me. But we are all different. Bottom line is you have to want to quit.

I quit October 5th so I could get hip replacement, he would do surgery unles I had no nicotine in my system. So I quit.
Only thing I used was a straw and chewed on all the time. Last spring almost every fish I took a picture with I had a straw in my mouth. Another tip breath thru a straw in and out with only a straw. It's like having copd and the straw gets thinner.

PM Nick Byrd, he is the TFF anti smoking leader.