How I quit
I chain smoked Pall Mall, Lucky Strike and Camel filterless cigarettes for about 10 years. There was nothing on this Earth I enjoyed more than smoking. Each time I took a drag, I did it twice as long and hard as the average person, and I inhaled every last bit of that smoke. Several times per day I'd get one too hot, and it wouldn't taste right, so I'd have to discard it and light another. People detested me because I smelled so bad. With just one drag, I could make more smoke than other people did with an entire cigarette. Toward the end, I couldn't climb one flight of stairs without being winded for 10 minutes. If someone made me laugh, it precipitated a coughing fit for 5 minutes or so. I had extreme difficulty falling asleep at night because, even at rest, I was short of breath and laboring to breathe, so my body never switched into automatic/unconscious breathing mode. I was mega hooked. And if I could quit, anybody can.
Several times I failed at quitting before I finally succeeded. I succeeded by learning lessons from my failures. Maybe at least some of these will help you. Here they are:
1. After a couple days or a week, somewhere along the line the cravings intensified, leading to bargaining about having "just one last cigarette, this one last time to calm this craving, and then I'll return right back to quitting mode." Wrong. After that one cigarette, I wanted a second one even more than I wanted the one before. And a third... The point: once I realized that giving in to the cravings would only make them worse, it became much easier to resist.
2. Did you notice the drama in the quote above? Just one last cigarette...the very last one for the rest of my life... If you let your mind shift into drama mode, it's all but certain you'll give in. When I saw your subject line with HELP! in big letters with exclamation points, I knew before the thread was out that you'd have given in. Asking people for help is another form of your mind playing drama games on you. So....instead, control your mind. Don't let it drift into drama mode. How? See #3.
3. Focus on attaining small goals. When the cravings begin, calm down. Remind yourself you're only going to worry about just getting through this hour, and later on, just another hour, and eventually, just this day. That's much easier than never smoking again.
4. Distract yourself with something else to get your mind off a craving fit. Change the radio station. Get engrossed in a movie or a novel. Drive somewhere. Take a walk. Work even harder at work. Call someone. But DO NOT talk, or even think, about the fact that you're quitting. Talk about anything but. After awhile, you'll realize an hour or two passed in the wink of an eye. Distraction, not drama, is the key.
5. Eat or drink things that are not compatible with the taste of cigarettes. For example, eat peppermints, drink a glass of milk. Or brush your teeth or gargle with mouthwash. I'm sure your cigarettes were never particularly satisfying after any of the above.
6. Avoid or cut back on things that go well with cigarettes. Like coffee. Just drink your morning cup or two of coffee early in the day while you're strong, and then immediately switch to something else.
Most importantly, though, I succeeded at resisting the cravings once I figured out that giving in to them actually intensified them instead of quieting them down. That's why quitting cold turkey is the only way to do it. When you want to quiet down loud cravings, just distract yourself.
By the way, after you quit for a few days, your lungs will start secreting copious amounts of phlem, so much that it will make you cough excessively and feel short of breath. It's as if they have an uncanny way of knowing that it might just be worth the effort to try cleaning themselves out. Be patient. That phase will pass. For 6 months, I was sleepy and lethargic, and I felt like I was drunk. That too, passed.
And most importantly, the cravings passed too. Over time they became less and less frequent. After the first week, each succeeding week passes by faster. The first month is a good milestone after which the cravings significantly diminish. Eventually I only craved when I was standing in the check-out line at the grocery. Back then, they had cigarettes displayed in reach just like candy bars are today. I resisted by remembering how hard it was to quit and focusing my thoughts on how I'd never want to go through all that all over again. After about five years the check-out lane cravings stopped too.
Good luck! You'll be so glad you did it.
