Someone recently told me how their father’s father taught him to never smoke.  I thought this was a pretty disgusting quit smoking aid, but apparently this guy’s dad never touched another cigarette after his old man caught him sneaking a Marlborough behind their house:  he brought him inside and made him lick a dirty ashtray.  He then told him that was what kissing a smoker was like.  Ack!  Sounds like child abuse to me.

Someone sent this to me the other day.  They’re trying to quit without the use of quit smoking aids:

Hi there,
I have been trying to quit for a while but have had some success with a ‘cut down and quit’ approach. Every time I feel like having a cigarette I get up and do something else as soon as the craving starts. I will have a glass of water, put a load of washing on, wash my face or ANYTHING in general to keep my hands busy. Doing it this way I am able to abstain from having one for up to three hours at a time. It is really hard to go cold turkey as there are certain receptors in your brain that go crazy when you don’t deliver their precious nicotine. If you slowly cut out half your cigs a day over one week then the next week you do the same again and so on and so on. I myself am now down to about 6 – 8 a day and that is coming down from a pack of 50’s a day!!! I tell myself to even just chew normal gum to get the saliva going in my mouth. I even just take deep breaths, saying “I can do this, you are my enemy (to the cigs), I don’t need you controlling my life…..” I’m getting there!

There is no medical “cure” for smoking, even when using quit smoking aids. Smoking consists of two components: 1) a physical addiction to nicotine 2) a psychological addiction to the habit of smoking

There are treatments to help with the physical addiction, but take it from someone who has quit – 98% of the battle is psychological.

Here are some tips I can offer to stop smoking:

1) Don’t buy cigarettes. Sure you can still bum them from friends and such, but this should help cut back a lot.

2) To fight the urges for the first couple weeks, when you want a cigarette take a few very deep breaths. A lot of the crud you get from smoking gets caught in your lungs and you can actually kick it back into your bloodstream by taking deep breaths (until your body eventually cleans it out, but that’ll take a couple weeks).

3) Take it one day at a time. Every day you need to recommit to your goal of “not smoking today”. Get through one day at a time and before you know it your urges will diminish.

4) Avoid drinking. As we all understand without the science, drinking alcohol lowers your inhibitions (the science supports this too, which is pretty interesting.) So, when you drink it will be much more difficult to resist the urge to smoke.

5) Find someone that will support you in your effort. If you get the urge to smoke and are fighting it, call your friend and let them remind you why you’re quitting.

If you’re wanting to quit and are wanting to employ the use of a quit smoking aid, checking with your doctor might be the best way to start, especially if you have health insurance.  They might direct you to try something over the counter first, such as the gum or the patch, but depending on your lifestyle, they might recommend something in pill form.  Regardless of what they suggest, your doctor has insight into what will work best for you, as they will take into account your overall health and lifestyle.

If you can’t use a quit smoking aid for some reason, can you still quit?

Of course!

Make sure you surround yourself with support from before your quit date arrives.  Online forums are very helpful for most people, took, although getting your loves ones on board with your new lifestyle is one of the best ways to ensure success!

I heard about some kind of shot given as a quit smoking aid, but when I did some digging it looks like whatever product this is, it’s still in the research phase.  Does anyone know anything more?

There are products out now that work really well as quit smoking aids.  I myself used the patch to successfully quit.  The key thing is you have to want to quit and then stick to it. Do not rush yourself, it takes time , to be successful. I would talk to your doctor.  If you have insurance that covers your medicine, you can get the patch, or gum, or any variety of medications.  Wellbutrin is used for stop smoking, or there’s also Chantix. If one thing is not cutting your cravings, try something else untill you completely quit.  That first week is not easy! It’s not so much the actual nicotine cravings, it’s breaking the habits of having a smoke while doing certain things, like talking on the phone, or drinking a morning coffee.

This was a letter sent to me:

I just started using Chantix yesterday. I’ll tell ya, I’m still smoking as usual today. I smoke about a pack a day.  I’m mostly worried about the first week.  I’ve tried patches and gum. I’m giving this a try, but if the side effects prove to be too much, I will try something else.

I’ve read reports that say the use of Chantix might reveal some other form of psychological illness, including depression or even suicidal tendencies.  This worries me.  The first day my friend took it she slept 15 hours. Whew.  She said the next day everything went back to normal, though.  After a couple of days she didn’t have any cravings for a cigg, but just lit up due to habit.  She’s on day 10 and said she’s doing good now, really not wanting to smoke at all.

I’d like to get to this point, but I’m really nervous about the early side effects!!

Hopefully it all works out and and she can stick with it.

There’s more out there than just the gum for quit smoking aids!  What brand of the patch works best?  Does the gum work?  Can your doctor help you out?

Check out the comments for suggestions from other people who’ve tried to quit!

Nicotine supplements like gum and patches are not helpful when taking Chantix as a quit smoking aid, which attaches to the nicotine receptors in the brain. The medication essentially tricks the brain into thinking you already have the nicotine in your system, which decreases the craving for smoking. So nicotine supplements generally won’t make a difference in how you feel and could cause some nausea. Most of my patients that have taken Chantix are able to quit after about 1 week and most are successful in quitting completely if they take it for the recommended 6 months.