Hints and tips

Thanks team for messages I've received. I'm battling OMG finding it so hard. Throat sore and stressed out of my head. Maybe Dr intervention needed. I've done it before and I can't understand why it's so tough this time 😢

Hi guys. I've tried NRT and spray. Just cannot get past those patterns. My throat and ears now sore, have self diagnosed on google " throat cancer!" worst thing to do. Please I'd love some team support and help. I'm fit strong and love my children and have let them DOWN with promising to stop only to say "Mom is really very stressed" at the moment. I promise I'll stop - lying to myself and then. ...

Hi Guys I'm 33days smoke free, im still dealing with the anxiety which is leaving my stomache in knots. Any idea how long this lasts and where i can find a break down on whats happening to my body ? Thanks in advance

Please everyone in the community help me to get out of this enemy. iam fearing my life is going to end day by day and msmoke more cigarettes fearing on this. i want to live long. please help me. how i can stop

Just remember, if you're used to having a cigarette first thing in the morning, you may find yourself feeling a little lost, anxious and irritable in times you would most likely smoke! I find if I can distract myself during the morning, I can certainly get over that anxious feeling.

Omg it’s been aweful... headaches etc nausea stomach pain it’s been worse than quitting crystal meth after 8 yrs of using but I’m doing it. I gave champix the flick after 4 weeks because it was unbearable but I’m still not smoking either. Mind over matter

A fellow quitter reminded me about a book “Never Take Another Puff” by Joel Spitzer that is very helpful and useful in my smoke free journey: http://whyquit.com/joel/ntap.pdf I finished reading it a couple of weeks ago. Joel’s one point about starting up smoking again, during stressful times, really stuck with me. Fast forward to today and something really stressful happened this morning that ma...

I was smoker for more than 7 years and then i was smoke free for two years. but then i thought i can manage it to smoke sometimes, after a while i was again smoker. the most important thing: not even one puff, in party or in any other situation, you can drink as much as you want but not nicotine again, no cigarette but if you smoked it, it is not the end of the world, you can stop it the day afte...

after a meal i am struggling with the most i am 2 days with no smokes and almost gave in and went and brought some smokes but my will power and self talk talked me out of it i was just wondering if anyone has any ideas on after meals what they do to stop the craving

Well, I guess that is not entirely true.. I had my last smoke Feb, 16th, but I can really say, knowing I was free for 8 months :) I had not given any real thought to quitting.. At times over the years, I would cut back down, always trying not to go over a pack a day. But, one day, I saw a young couple lighting up, just outside a restaurant, and thought,, How stupid do you have to be to pick up o...

Day 11 and find this battle so hard,using gum and not smoked but can't get rid of these cravings . Any tips on how to dig deep and not give in 😫

I was adviced to snack on carrots and celery. However i am not a fan of these raw. I have discovered raw capsicum. The most delicious quitting snack ever! Nom nom nom. Just thought i would share :D

Hi I quit also, using champix. Works great. Few headaches to start with but no problems now as long as I eat before I take the pill. I was not a long long term smoker, I smoked for nearly 2 years. Still been hard. Apart from using champix I just cut down from 8 to 3 then to 2 then none. Also I gym everyday which helps with stress and I also ride my bike. On top of this I had my partne...

According to research smokers going cold turkey are more likely to cheat or relapse on their quit smoking plan than those who use nicotine replacement therapy. The urge to have a puff or two, or even to smoke an entire cigarette is easy to give into. Addiction is addiction, however. Introducing any amount of nicotine back into the system immediately ramps up the addiction. Relapsing immediately p...

I was out of town this week, for work, and ran into an old friend. Turns out that he had quit smoking a couple months ago.. But, like Des M. , it was not his choice. Less than an hour after his last smoke, he was in the hospital gasping for life.. A severe, and sudden, onset of C.O.P.D. ! I, like him, had no idea it could come on like that.. One day, you are active, working, happy smoker, and the...

I quit on Oct 11 2013, cold turkey (almost).... I tried many times and finally had enough and was in the right mental place. I bought this product and it helped take the edge off during difficult situations. The small spray bottle helped to my surprise........ http://amzn.to/2r7JJzE .. No crutch ever helped me, but on 10-11-13 i was ready mentally, you can do it, stay the course. Before you...

As of today, I am 2 months, without a smoke, and feeling surprisingly good. Almost like I had never smoked ! A big part of my success, I owe to the people here :) Thanks a bunch :) ! ! ! ! ! --- Here, being a quitter, is a good thing. Only 7 out of 100 do ! --- As a curiosity, research type thing, I decided to really look at the Ecig, as a quitting aid.. Now, to be clear, I am not talk...

I am at the end of week 6, and as one of the lucky ones, I guess, I want to share some observations, that may help others. What ever method you choose, when you start this fight, the most important thing is the mindset that you WANT this. As you can read, in my other post, I cut down over a short time, and then just quit. I had smoked an average of a pack a day for 45 years, and by day 30, h...

Hello all, We've just posted some new audios to help strengthen your willpower on your quit journey. Check out these short visualisations in: Quitting Methods > Willpower > Use Willpower to Beat Cravings We hope they help. If you have any feedback please contact us prevention@cancerinstitute.org.au The iCanQuit Team

I found a program called You Can Do It 123 Easy on ITunes and it is fabulously helpful and is making it so much easier check it out everyone. Cheers!

As we enter the New Year (Happy New Year! ) I want to talk to the newbies out there. Do not, do not, do not give up on you! As we ring in this new year, I am about to enter my 19th week without a cigarette. As a matter of fact, I did this cold turkey without the aid of any nicotine replacement - so when I tell you that quitting can be done, it can be done. If I were sitting in a room with each...

I was a long term (40 yrs), heavy smoker (50 plus daily), attempting Champix for the 4th time. This time, instead of giving up after a week I persevered to let my body get used to & settle with some side effects which encouraged me to continue. I still had side effects, other than laxatives, I struggled & coped with the rest because I was determined. After a couple of weeks I only smoked 1 a day ...

I am really struggling to staying quit. I keep trying after a relapse of not smoking for 10 weeks, but I just can't seem to shake it. I'm not giving up on giving up though. Any words of advise or encouragement for a determined struggler.

Art deep breathing getting out in the garden

Especially in the beginning it helps me a lot NOT to say to others i stopped smoking (ONLY close family members). When a smoking friend asks me : Did you stop smoking ? I now answer .. No i had a smoke a couple of hours ago and am fine now. The reason i say this it helps to escape the social pressure from smoking friends. In the past i saw that when i stopped all of them are always very i...

I am proud I can now finally say I am 9 days without smoking. I smoked around 20 cigarettes a day for more than 10 years and after a couple of attempts I now finally decided to quit forever. The reason I wanted to post is to share my point of view regarding the emotional reactions witch all of us have to endure during our first months without smoking. In my case I could describe it as an emotio...

hi all I'm 67 days smoke free and yes I still have cravings but I am finding loads of ways to bet them puzzles reading jigsaw puzzles you don't have to spend more than 2min of doing something as the cravings pass facebook offer all the games I need as I can choose when I stop playing the jigsaw game I can pause and go back to it when I need to I hope this helps others as it has me

Today is my first day of being smoke free. I am going well, been to see my doctor and got and filled a script for patches. I have been tempted to smoke, but when I feel the urge to I use NRT and deal with it in my thoughts, and re assess my goals and reasons for quitting. I know I can do this!!!!

This morning i wake up the wrong side of the bed i felt like a slip up but i didn't. But i seen to manage okay. The best way i did is to go out for the day to find a way to help me feel more relaxing and try not to stress too much about it. And now i had been off the bad habit for almost 2 months this always be the hardest for me. but it worth it's. Even more harder for me when i got my sister wh...

Whenever I am in a stressful situation - the kind a lot of people use for having a cigarette - I ask myself "What will be different about this stressful situation if I have a cigarette? The answer is always "nothing" will be different except I will feel horrible and guilty for smoking. It gets me through the moment. Smoking does not help a stressful situation - it just adds to it!

I have noticed that taking a nice warm bath and listening to calming music/trying to watch a movie on my laptop while in the bath it helps with my anxiety and body aches and calms me down while I'm trying to quit.

been easy nope, been doable though. I do not have physical cravings only thoughts and that's where the addict lives in my head, so the more time that passes the weaker he gets as no is easier than yes. I can not today think of one good reason to light up other than if I want to commit slow and painful suicide. it hasn't been easy and I am happy for that as doing the hard yards really sti...

I have made a You Tube video so people can see the pros and cons for them selves:- -------------------------------------------------- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijgX6Ho91i8 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Lock your tobacco up in an automatic pill dispenser to limit the number of cigarettes you have access to, and put the key in a time lock box. This w...

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Just my experience and now over two weeks free of smoking, green tea has helped me, in the following way: Relax, replace the habit of smoking or holding a cigarette and subdue in part the cravings of tobacco. just my experience so far, Enjoy. :)

I've tried many times to quit with varying degrees of success. This time I played the long game and started meditating some months ago. Now it's the central plank of my strategy. Cravings like any thoughts will pass Cravings like any thoughts are not who we are Sit back, observe your craving, take a deep breath and move on. Be kind, generous and forgiving of yourself.

After more than 2 months smoke free I made it through one more day again. I'm alone right now. Its later evening and this is one of the most difficult times for me. I've written here quite often but I won't apologise for it because thats what we are here for. We are different from others by the fact we are addicts. We are here to share our quit experiences. I want to increase my weaponry so comin...

I need to stop for health and well-being

When I feel like I want to smoke I remember I actually want to do this. How many times I´ve said that I want to quit? It´s hard, but only because it´s an addiction. So it´s not me who wants to smoke, it´s the addiction monster inside me. The me I know wants me to quit, even if now it´s hard. It gets better. Don´t fall back. If you slip, you´ll only feel guilty and will have to start all over agai...

I forgot. bought a boxing bag. That should help me cope a lot better with the stress, and frustration, and get fitter too. might sound a bit out there, but anything to distract the thoughts. Will see???

Herbs and flowers such as mint, basil, lavender, etc. can be dried and rolled in to cigarettes making a great chemical and nicotine free alternative to quiting aids. I smoke them after meals which is when I've struggled the most with cravings. Shops such as the happy herb company sell a number of herbs that can be smoked or drunk as tea which aim to promote respiratory health by soothing and clea...

I recently quit smoking and just the smell inside a bar is so irresistable ive noticed some say on here they dont like the smell but it's one of those things that gets us every now and then. Keep trying don't believe sometimes in new years resoultions its all up to us on buying that next pack but i'm still smoke free which is great

ALL MY FRIENDS Talk to all your family and friends about your problems and ask them to help if they love you. Believe me 'THA LOVE U'

I am a few hours smoke-free. I want to have a quit attempt in the morning. I believe I can do it with posative self-talk. The quitline say I'm very posative. I ask my husband to buy cigarettes for me when things get rough. I find not saying anything works best. Then the patch passes no drama. If I concentrate on things like my garden or the weather, I get over the thoughts of smoking. It's only t...

I am a perfectionist at heart, a clean freak and part time stress head. It is times like these when the dark side smoking war is strong with this Padawan. Since quitting 26 days ago the lure of smoking has caught me out a couple of times when at work. stress and environmental factors the number one enemy to my lack of will power force. It is a small hiccup in a determined fight to use the force o...

I have noticed that there are plenty of stories about smoking and tobacco in the papers and on TV. Recently this smoking ban was announced for our prison population. I don't necessarily agree that they should be forced to stop smoking, but I thought I would be in an absolute panic if I would be forced to stop. I would riot too. Also, the price of ciggies and tobacco will be going up again. There ...

It is probably usual for a person who is just starting to stop smoking to cry out, 'Woe is me! Poor me! I am such a poor thing, because I cannot smoke.' I think it might be a good idea to reverse this idea. Just think....you are doing something so fantastic; you are beating an addiction. You are becoming healthier, stronger, richer. You can go to the cinema without craving a cigarette for two or...

I've recently heard the hype on the mindfulness colouring books and when in Big W yesterday I found one. I also purchased some wind up crayons. Now I am not in any way an artist nor am I 6 years old but OMG I love this! They say working with your hands is a great way to soothe anxiety and reduce stress and I have to agree. It's been fun and relaxing to colour these amazing patterns whilst watch...

So my day started terrible and I was anxious and feeling really uncomfortable in my own skin. I tried to read, go shopping ( that really didn't work) and then had a cry. Knowing I needed to get out of the funk, I turned to iTunes and downloaded a 101 90's tunes.. Oh Lordy- it was hilarious. I put my headphones in, sneakers and walking gear on and off I went. What was meant to be walking Turned mo...

Day 20 is nearly over and I have Wriggley's Extra chewing gum to thank. I'm rather fond of the strawberry flavor. When ever I feel overwhelmed through the day I pop one in my mouth( sugar free) and the chewing and concentrating on it helps divert my thinking. In saying that I am a little vague and forgetful since I stopped smoking and find myself in situations where I have forgotten something. Fl...