any piece of advice is welcome

P.S. Thanks to all the people that have taken their time to help me (and not just me, but others as well). It is much appreciated, and, from what I‘ve read, the „cold turkey“ method seems the most appealing to me. I‘ll quit smoking today, on the 7th of November 2024.

  • Mister Neon@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    I’m going to tell you what worked for me. There’s a very good chance you’ll hate it and I will get flak.

    Cold Turkey.

    You physically stop yourself from purchasing cigarettes and not ask for them in social situations. You make a line in the sand and never cross that point again.

      • Octothorpidiot@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        This and a case of pneumonia for me. Grabbed my remaining cigs and vape accessories and threw them all away. Not one puff since.

    • Dashi@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Cold turkey worked for me. But it wasn’t this big thing. One day I didn’t want to go to the gas station to get more and that turned into, how long could I go? And now I smoke once a year on my friends birthday and HATE the taste.

  • Diddlydee@feddit.uk
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    2 months ago

    If you don’t have the willpower or don’t really want to, you will fail. It’s nearly all willpower.

  • BassTurd@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    I switched to a vape and progressively got lower nicotine amounts until I was at 0 and then stopping was easy.

    • MattMatt@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Same. I just kept diluting the liquid with 0% nicotine until, months later, I realized I didn’t even want to vape any more.

  • menemen@lemmy.ml
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    2 months ago

    You have to want to stop. I smoked 13 years, stopped several times, but the final real stopping was not that hard.

    What also worked quite well for me as a crutch were nicotine free cigarettes. I decided I’d smoke as many of those as I wanted. Started with 20 at the first day and it slowly reduced by itself over time, till at one point o completly stopped without even realizing it.

    • FiveMacs@lemmy.ca
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      2 months ago

      Say what. I feel like I’m addicted to the feeling of smoke being inhaled. Vapes reck me and I can’t stop coughing.

      What are these things you speak of

      • menemen@lemmy.ml
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        2 months ago

        Oh, apparently they are called herbal cigarettes. Consist off some non tobacco leafs. Here in Germany they are sold in pharmacies.

  • SeanBrently@lemm.ee
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    2 months ago

    Here’s my advice on how to really and actually quit: make the decision to quit, and keep making that decision. Every time you feel yourself thinking “just one more…” remake that decision to quit. This was the only way I was successful. Keep making that decision and keep reminding yourself about your decision. You can do it.

  • Evotech@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    You just don’t smoke another one

    That’s how I quit anyway, no last smoke, no just this pack i already bought, just quit right now.

    First time it lasted 6 months, the second time it’s listed about 15 years

  • CarterH739@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    I was a heavy smoker for thirty years. I quit…16 days ago. So I might not be the best to advise you on this as I’m still just getting started myself. I have quit a few times in the past though, and I can tell you what is making this time easier. First, realize that nicotine is not the problem. That’s out of your system in a few days, from what I understand. It’s the habit that screws it up for you. And I am definitely feeling that. I no longer have that treat to look forward to when I get home. I don’t have anything to do when I’m frustrated trying to figure something out at work. I can’t go outside and have one to relax and think about things. Some of my best work was accomplished while taking a smoke break. Anyway, the way I dealt with that was to start breaking the habits first. Start small. Here’s what I did. First, no smoking in the house. Took some time to get used to that. Next, no smoking in the car. That took a while, because I drive a lot, but eventually I got used to it. Then, no smoking at work. Didn’t even bring them with me. The reason for all this was to get myself used to the idea of not smoking during these times, so that when I stopped it wouldn’t bother me as much. While I’m at work, I’m used to not smoking at work so it doesn’t bother me. Same thing with the driving. So, once I got all that down, I set things up so that I would finish my last pack right before I went to bed on Sunday night. That way I wake up and go right to work. A good head start. So, that’s where I am now. And it definitely helped. Nothing will ever kill cravings completely, but for me this made things easier. It still sucks though. A lot. So willpower is still going to be a big factor. I wish you luck. It won’t be easy. However, if it helps, I can tell you that even after only two weeks it has made a huge difference in my mood, and drastically reduced my stress levels. Aside from being a constant stimulant, I’m also not in a hurry all the time, just trying to get to that next smoke break. I don’t worry about how many I have. Things like that. So, just do it. And stick with it. It’s worth it.

    • mistahbenny@lemmy.mlOP
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      2 months ago

      It‘s a great story you‘ve shared and an even greater piece of advice you‘ve given. Thank you. And good luck on your non-smoking journey. =)

  • Grimy@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    I overpressure myself, as if I was constipated, each time I get cravings. I basically make my body as uncomfortable as I can so it learns that cravings=pain.

    In the past, I’ve used hand rolled tobacco to ween myself off. It’s a lot harder to just grab a smoke when driving for instance. But cold turkey is best. I usually wait until I get sick before starting stopping since it tends to skip the nasty craving in the first few days. After a week or two, it gets much easier.

    Remember, having a smoke every now and then will work until it doesn’t.

  • marx2k@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Not the answer you want, but for me, I quit cold turkey after smoking a pack a day for 15 years.

    The thing that helped is that I wasn’t being forced to quit for health or social reasons. I simply realized that all smoking a cigarette was doing was making me not want to smoke another cigarette for 30 minutes. I felt I had no more desire to continue the trend.

    The first week sucked. I ended up rolling loose-leaf paper into the cylindrical shape of a cigarette, putting Scotch tape on one end, and poking holes into it so that dragging on it felt like dragging on a cigarette. That actually got me through week 2.

    After that, the pull to smoke was far, far weaker. It’s weird. It ends up coming in waves. You’re fine, you’re fine, then you get an overwhelming urge to light up. The need lasts for about 30 seconds and goes away quickly. Over time, the frequency between those cravings gets longer, and the cravings get smaller. At some point, I just didn’t feel like smoking at all anymore.

    But yeah, the first few weeks are not great.

    Best of luck!

    Edit: my main advice here is that if you don’t feel like you really want to quit, you’re going to have a much harder time. If your plan is to taper down, it may be torture. If you’re plan is “I’ll only show myself this one” every so often, it’s going to be a long, drawn out losing process.

  • morgan423@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Not a smoker myself, but I can tell you what worked for my brother when he quit in college.

    AC went out in his dorm during an August heat wave, and it took forever for them to fix it. He decided that it would be a perfect time to go cold turkey, since he’d be so miserable from the heat that the few days of nicotine withdraw wouldn’t really be comparably bad. And he said it was right, he didn’t think about it during the worst part, and by the time they fixed the AC, he was 90% of the way through the process.

    So if you live in one of the parts of the world moving to summer right now, it might be worth a shot.

  • brad_troika@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Cold turkey is what works for most people but if you tried it and failed many times don’t be afraid to use nicotine replacement in some form, medication ( I used Champix and I’ve quit successfully 3 years ago) or even therapy. You’ll find online a lot of people who say that you only need willpower which is true if you have it but just depressing if you don’t making your situation after numerous quit attempts worse and worse.

    There are plenty of websites with concrete plans and tips on how to do it, all of them with good advice but you have find out what works for you and what doesn’t. There are also some apps that can help you track your quit process, the health benefits of quitting and reward you.

    Since you told nothing about your previous attempts if you had any or how long youve been smoking and why you want to quit I can only give some general advice:

    Every day you don’t smoke is a win. You need to find out why smoking hurts you, why stopping smoking would help you. Choose a plan, stuck to it and if you fail learn from it.