I am approaching 4 wonderful years of being completely quit from the disgusting nicotine habit. My story began 4 years ago this coming June. June 22nd 2018 to be exact. I had a simple foot injury which was later diagnosed as CRPS and has turned out to be a life long permanent very painful disability. previously doctors thought it was related to smoking i.e Vascular disease in my foot but it wasn’t (although smoking does cause serious illnesses, disabilities) and of course..DEATH) I thought I was going to lose my foot at the time. I knew I needed to stop smoking…how was I going to quit my security blanket, my crutch, my best friend for nearly 40 years? I tried patches, chewing gum, even some attempts at cold turkey, and anything else I could think of. Sadly these remedies were short lived and gave me only a few days at most of non smoking. I got to the point of total annoyance and the day came where I had only 5 cigs left and I made the decision then that I was never going to buy a packet of smokes again. I knew it was a battle of the wills, I changed my mind set to hate these things and at that point really saw them as my enemy. I chain smoked three with deep inhales while holding each puff deeply for as long as I could, they started to taste terrible and the smell was nauseating. With the last two smoke very shortly after the 3, I made a very conscious effort to see them for what they really were. I smelt them intensely, both lit and unlit, when I took a puff, I took very big puffs and held the smoke in my mouth for a very long period to really soak up the disgusting taste on my tongue, in my cheeks and on the roof of my mouth..then inhaled ever so deeply and holding onto each inhaled smoke, closed my eyes and took mental notes of just how disgusting this really was. I repeated this until the cigarettes were all finished. This method worked for me, it changed my mindset. Every time I thought of a cigarette, I would instantly smell and taste the obnoxious nauseating chemicals, I would feel the burning smoke penetrate my cheeks, yet there was no smoke in my hand. If I even think of a cigarette today, or see someone smoking or smell it, those negative things come back into my head again. Mind power is a wonderful thing and we are all capable of making these changes.
Even my withdrawals were very short lived and thankfully quit mild..two weeks of random crying, dreams of smoking and some minor irritably. I would highly recommend anyone trying to give up to try this. It is amazing how our brains and thoughts can change just by being conscious and aware. Good luck to all in this wonderful community. I haven’t been posted a while, but will always stay connected.