I quit smoking sometime in 1979. I started trying to quit some time in 1977. My efforts resulted in not smoking for from a few hours, for a few days, a few weeks to even six months before starting back. Yes six months without and thinking I could have just one.
I finally quit while having the flu. I was too sick and miserable to want to smoke with the flu and managed to not have any more after I got well. So, off them since 1979. It was especially hard as my first wife continued to smoke, as did many of my friends.
I tried the cutting down route to no avail. The nicotine gum and patches were not known to me. I have observed others trying these crutches and do not know of anyone being successful. My take is that as long as you are getting the nicotine, then you have not quit. The addiction still has a grip on you.
I went thru several years of smelling the smoke of others and finding it wonderful. I also loved the smell of a freshly opened pack of unlit ***s. To my good fortune that phase passed. After some years the smell is now awful to me.
In my experience cold turkey is what will work eventually. You may have to do it many times before it takes. Keep trying and learn from each effort. What ever get you to backslide during an attempt is something you can be prepared for the next time you try to quit. For me two to three weeks was about when the withdrawl from the nicotine was over. The other aspects of the habit did not have a time scale and the craving for a smoke would just show up. Like I said, once after six months.
Good luck
I finally quit while having the flu. I was too sick and miserable to want to smoke with the flu and managed to not have any more after I got well. So, off them since 1979. It was especially hard as my first wife continued to smoke, as did many of my friends.
I tried the cutting down route to no avail. The nicotine gum and patches were not known to me. I have observed others trying these crutches and do not know of anyone being successful. My take is that as long as you are getting the nicotine, then you have not quit. The addiction still has a grip on you.
I went thru several years of smelling the smoke of others and finding it wonderful. I also loved the smell of a freshly opened pack of unlit ***s. To my good fortune that phase passed. After some years the smell is now awful to me.
In my experience cold turkey is what will work eventually. You may have to do it many times before it takes. Keep trying and learn from each effort. What ever get you to backslide during an attempt is something you can be prepared for the next time you try to quit. For me two to three weeks was about when the withdrawl from the nicotine was over. The other aspects of the habit did not have a time scale and the craving for a smoke would just show up. Like I said, once after six months.
Good luck
