Hi there. I would love some advice or suggestions on different approaches to quitting cigarettes. It is a weird situation. I smoked for about 10 years and quite - cold turkey - about 5 1/2 years ago. On vacation a couple weeks ago, I bummed a few of my mom's cigarettes. Then when we got back there were some minor life stresses and I actually bought a pack. For the past 7 days, I have bought a couple packs and am smoking even more than I did when I quit 5 years ago. I feel VERY addicted. I do not drink alcohol or intake any caffeine. I quit those when I quit cigarettes. I know I need to stop now before this gets worse, but I am already stressed (and already take meds, so I cannot take one for this besides) and trying VERY hard to lose weight. So because of that, I just feel cold turkey would be VERYYYY rough on me right now.
Anyway, I would really appreciate some suggestions on the best ways to quit.
Honestly, I think cold turkey is the easiest way to quit. I quit cold turkey when I realized my level of addiction and intake was steadily rising more so than before as well. I had no control over it and started to lose cigarette count. However, it should be easier to quit the second time seeing that you were somewhat successful the first time around. What I did was for the time being, replace the addiction with a healthier addiction. I resorted to cardio yoga and strenth training whenever the slightest craving hit and started cutting down meal portions along with healthier meals.
I know it's hard but instead of picking up a cigarette the next time you feel stressed how about picking up a squash racket instead. It's hard to do something that's healthy and then smoke a cigarette afterwards. It's like eating mcdonalds after a nice workout.
I'm sorry you picked up the addiction again. I smoked for 23 years about 2 packs a day and finally quit almost 19 months ago now. It took me 8 months of preparations to set the date and go for it. I have panic and anxiety disorders so I was even more afraid of how the quit would be for me. What I did before I quit was change the places, situations and times I smoked to sort of mix it up and not have the cigarette for everything. I quit smoking in the house which helped because sometimes it's more pain to go to a specific spot and you will just pass on a cigarette. I quit smoking in the car thankfully because I was worried aobut breaking the smoking and driving link. The smoking while on the computer was a big one for me and now I dont miss it a bit.
Anyway I did quit cold turkey. I had a couple rough days. 2 days exactly. They were within the first two weeks. One I had to go to bed and get away from any stimulation or people and one I felt super angry and broke a plate on the floor and then cleaned everything I could to keep busy. I did find things to keep busy a lot because anger and stress were two big triggers for me.
I also am a member of an online support group q net you can search it, I don't know if I can post the site or not. The moral support and reading about others is a HUGE help! There are also a lot of suggestions there for methods of quitting. It might be that you have a particular mental issue going on right now making you feel so attached to them and if you see them in the light that they really are, you might have an easier time. I try to think of the cigarettes as stinking, burning, smoking, drug delivery methods. It's sort of feeling like a heroine addict or something, it is so encompassing and it's scary to me.
Think too about when you quit and how you could smell people who smoked and if you walked by a store front you could smell it still after the person had left, the lingering stale odor. I never noticed this before my quit and I am so embarassed I used to walk into rooms and smell like that!
