Recovery Quitting Cigarettes

[jasperkent]

I'm starting to quit by tapering from tomorrow.
Been having 20-30 a day, so gonna start on an even 20 tomorrow and then decrease by 1 every 3 days.

tapering cigarettes is notoriously difficult and seems to be torturous, was for me anyway, but ymmv as always

when you get down to, say, four a day...then all you can think of is making the hours pass....

Yeah, I agree with ageingpartyfiend on this.

Nicotine, especially via cigarette, is fast-acting and then wears off pretty quickly. As you light up fewer & fewer cigs, each cig you do smoke becomes more & more rewarding, so your craving intensifies.

Some people say that quitting cold turkey is the easiest method-- it's maddening for a couple of weeks but then it's over. There are drugs that reduce one's desire to smoke-- buproprion is one. When I was on it I smoked less, but I didn't quit. The only thing that has worked for me is switching to other sources of nicotine, but of course I'd been a daily smoker for 50 years. YMMV.

(edit) Frankly, if I could give up the vaping I'd be OK with chewing nic gum for the rest of my life. It's not the nicotine that scares me. It's the lung damage: cancer, emphysema, COPD, etc

 

[AngelsandFairiesarereal]

I quit smoking cigarettes years ago … probably like 15 years ago. However … the way I did it was having a big bag (well lots of big bags *I was selling at the time*) of weed & every time I wanted to smoke a cigarette I’d roll a mini joint or blunt. Which just turned into me smoking weed all day & night for 15plus years. Also many times went through phases where I felt like I ‘had to’ smoke blunts (I think I was addicted to the tobacco in the leaf or something). I mean there were times where I had really good weed that you probably just needed a couple of hits out of a pipe or something, but still feel like I had to have a blunt. So I ended up always having blunts rolled & would just light them up, take a couple hits & put them out all throughout the day.
Anyways, I finally quit last year because I started having panic attacks every time I smoked all of a sudden. But I’ve noticed since I quit smoking that I feel like I have to drink more coffee for some reason.

Lol my bad, I’m sure I rambled a bunch & not even sure what my point is or what I’m really sayin here …. I guess just that addiction can be weird & mysterious sometimes.

Anyways … you’re doing awesome @jasperkent … I see you … quitting after that many years is definitely an accomplishment.
Big hug

 

[ChemicallyEnhanced]

tapering cigarettes is notoriously difficult and seems to be torturous, was for me anyway, but ymmv as always

when you get down to, say, four a day...then all you can think of is making the hours pass until the (increasing rized) ciggy

good luck though of course, such a dumbass shit drug I find it hard to believe now that I barely had a cig outta my mouth in waking hours for 25 years, ugh

I've done it before and found it quite easy. The issue always comes from I'm upset or stressed (from something unrelated) and lose motivation.
I'd definitely never CT cigarettes, especially after I just suffered a 9-day forced opioid CT. I can't do any more suffering any time soon.

 

[ChemicallyEnhanced]

Yeah, I agree with ageingpartyfiend on this.

Nicotine, especially via cigarette, is fast-acting and then wears off pretty quickly. As you light up fewer & fewer cigs, each cig you do smoke becomes more & more rewarding, so your craving intensifies.

Some people say that quitting cold turkey is the easiest method-- it's maddening for a couple of weeks but then it's over. There are drugs that reduce one's desire to smoke-- buproprion is one. When I was on it I smoked less, but I didn't quit. The only thing that has worked for me is switching to other sources of nicotine, but of course I'd been a daily smoker for 50 years. YMMV.

(edit) Frankly, if I could give up the vaping I'd be OK with chewing nic gum for the rest of my life. It's not the nicotine that scares me. It's the lung damage: cancer, emphysema, COPD, etc

Agree with your edit but for sure...the idea of not being able to breathe or constantly gasping for air sounds horrific.

Mostly, my reason for wanting to...well, I said QUIT, I meant "significantly cut down" as a combination of cigarettes being ridiculously expensive and because the less often I have them, the more I enjoy them.

 

[jasperkent]

I quit smoking cigarettes years ago … every time I wanted to smoke a cigarette I’d roll a mini joint...

Yeah, I tried that. More than once. I got very very very very very fucking high, but I still ended up smoking cigs again.

Thanks for your support!