Democratic Underground Latest Greatest Lobby Journals Search Options Help Login
Google

Any advice on quitting tobacco?

Printer-friendly format Printer-friendly format
Printer-friendly format Email this thread to a friend
Printer-friendly format Bookmark this thread
This topic is archived.
Home » Discuss » The DU Lounge Donate to DU
 
Recursion Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-17-09 12:41 PM
Original message
Any advice on quitting tobacco?
I've been using smokeless tobacco for 10 years. Something clicked today; I threw away a half-full tin and I don't want to use it anymore.

Anybody have any advice on how to stick with this?
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
gratuitous Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-17-09 12:51 PM
Response to Original message
1. Try everything you can think of
You're battling one of the major leagues of addiction. Don't get down on yourself if you backslide or use again. Try gum, patches, carrot sticks, rubber bands on your wrist. Change your personal habits to avoid the occasions when you would use. Enlist the help of friends, loved ones, relatives, the bum on the street corner. Try hypnosis. Pray. Whatever it takes. Repeat daily affirmations to the mirror. Write yourself little post-it notes that you are now an ex-tobacco user. If you feel like you have to use, give yourself 60 seconds to consider the decision. Keep a calendar. Keep a journal. Total up what you used to spend on tobacco, and keep a running score. Treat yourself to a gift when you reach a certain level. Try everything. This is a tough one.

Good luck, and good for you. Cheat those tobacco industry bastards.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
rurallib Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-17-09 12:54 PM
Response to Original message
2. I stopped smoking by taking @10 deep breaths when I had an urge
but I have no idea if that would work with the smokeless stuff.
Best of luck. Don't give in!
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
begin_within Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-17-09 12:56 PM
Response to Original message
3. My sister used the "patch" method and it worked for her
I think it's a series of 3 patches, with each one having a lower level of nicotine, then finally after you're done with the 3rd one your body doesn't crave nicotine nearly as much, then it's easier to get off it all together. I can only say second-hand that my sister used that method and it worked for her.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Bennyboy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-17-09 12:59 PM
Response to Original message
4. Learn to JUGGLE!
every time you think of having a ciggy, play with your balls.....
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
KG Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-17-09 01:05 PM
Response to Original message
5. you've thrown away a half a tin, now don't buy anymore.
i know it's atypical, but i've been a smoker in the past, and when i've wanted to quit i've just stopped.

wish it was that easy for everybody.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Tikki Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-17-09 01:16 PM
Response to Reply #5
6. Yes...that is an excellent way to quit....and it...
isn't like you can just bum a pinch off just anybody.

Time to accept the fact...you have outgrown and are no longer just
wanting that tobacco...Happens all the time..

I quit 6 years ago...

Tikki
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Tobin S. Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-17-09 01:17 PM
Response to Original message
7. The best advice I got regarding quitting tobacco is
If you fall off the wagon, hop right back. I quit smoking in April of '08, fell of the wagon 2 months later, but hopped right back on and I've been free of tobacco ever since. I feel so much better and I'm no longer controlled by an addiction.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
dembotoz Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-17-09 01:21 PM
Response to Original message
8. cold turkey worked for me
and the threat from the woman who became the love of my life that she could never become serious
with a man who smoked.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
wysimdnwyg Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-17-09 01:27 PM
Response to Original message
9. What worked for me...
I used candy, but anything that is easy to eat will work - including foods that are largely not bad for you. I found the best thing was suckers, because you not only get the oral fixation part, the stick is a reasonable facsimile of holding the cigarette. Of course, since you used smokeless tobacco, something like gum might work better. (Not nicotine gum, just regular gum.)
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
VaYallaDawg Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-17-09 01:28 PM
Response to Original message
10. Cold turkey worked for me too, after smoking 38 years.
Best friend was quitting at the same time, he got hypnotized. We found it helped a lot to have somebody else in the same boat with each of us.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
ipfilter Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-17-09 02:05 PM
Response to Original message
11. Hang in there.
The first few weeks are tough. I used the patch for a few days to wean myself off the psychological addiction and then dealt with the physical addiction cold turkey. I have not used any tobacco for 15 years now and have no desire to ever do so again.

Nicotine is a two part addiction and must be dealt with on both fronts. I found that changing my daily routine helped. My thought processes changed as I no longer used nicotine as a stress crutch. These are subtle things but if you pay close attention to yourself you will pick up on them.

Honestly, I started smoking to get off the Copenhagen. Then it took me a couple of years to get fed up with the cigarettes. The smokeless stuff is very potent. Best of luck to you. I'm living proof it can be done.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
mattvermont Donating Member (428 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-17-09 03:01 PM
Response to Reply #11
14. same story here
Cope for 20+ years, then smoked straights for 10. Was having back surgery and decided it was a good time used the chantix for a few months and my dad died of lung cancer while I was quitting. It all came together as a perfect storm for quitting...been free for 1 year and 2 weeks.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
AngryAmish Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-17-09 02:08 PM
Response to Original message
12. Every time you have the urge to dip just have a smoke instead
It helps to cut down on the urge to dip.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
old mark Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-17-09 02:11 PM
Response to Original message
13. Use any means that you even THINK might work for you - my wife has had
success with the nicotine gum. Best thing is talk with your doctor.

You will be uncomfortable for a few weeks, but yu will be free for the rest of your life.

Good luck - I quit it over 20 years ago.

mark
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Sweet Freedom Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-17-09 03:52 PM
Response to Original message
15. Whenever you get the urge...
look up some pictures of mouth cancer. Blech.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
david13 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Dec-18-09 03:08 PM
Response to Original message
16. I went to one smokers anonymous meeting. That was 24 years ago.
Both the guys I went with are long since dead.
dc
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
astral Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Dec-20-09 02:23 AM
Response to Original message
17. it's hard. For some of us.
Just don't give up if you keep relapsing thinking you can't make it. It took me a looooong time, and it's probably 8 yrs ago now. There are still moments, though not too often anymore, when the thought of having a cigarette crosses my mind but I know now staying quit for me is the only answer.

Don't give up, change your routine, drink lots of pure water, start taking bunches of vitamin C. Extra b complex isn't bad for the nerves, either.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
kimi Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Dec-20-09 02:30 AM
Response to Original message
18. I don't know if it would work with smokeless tobacco
but a good friend had qualifiable success with Chantix. She'd been a smoker forever, and backslid once, but has stuck with it. Problem is, it's a prescription med, don't know personally if it would work with other than cigarette smoking, and it has some side effects. Whatever you do, good luck! And know that life is so much more enjoyable with your health, your stamina, and your outlook when you are tobacco-free.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
DU AdBot (1000+ posts) Click to send private message to this author Click to view 
this author's profile Click to add 
this author to your buddy list Click to add 
this author to your Ignore list Fri May 03rd 2024, 10:58 AM
Response to Original message
Advertisements [?]
 Top

Home » Discuss » The DU Lounge Donate to DU

Powered by DCForum+ Version 1.1 Copyright 1997-2002 DCScripts.com
Software has been extensively modified by the DU administrators


Important Notices: By participating on this discussion board, visitors agree to abide by the rules outlined on our Rules page. Messages posted on the Democratic Underground Discussion Forums are the opinions of the individuals who post them, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Democratic Underground, LLC.

Home  |  Discussion Forums  |  Journals |  Store  |  Donate

About DU  |  Contact Us  |  Privacy Policy

Got a message for Democratic Underground? Click here to send us a message.

© 2001 - 2011 Democratic Underground, LLC