Having a hard time quitting

I'm struggling trying to quit smoking. I've tried everything almost. I've been smoking for 34 years and it is like losing a best friend. One that has been there for me through EVERYTHING! I'm trying really hard to remember that it's not something I can get a "magic pill" for to stop. It's going to be hard. Point blank. And I need to just take it for what it's worth and do it. I've decided to smoke until Monday and use this time to disgust myself with it and have my final "funeral" for them. I'm trying to get one of my doctors to prescribe me with Wellbutrin. That is the only 100% nicotine free way that I haven't tried. I think that if I can get past the first 3 days (even though it will still be hard) I will be okay and will be able to do it. I'm a fighter and this is not what is going to take me down! I won't let it any longer!

Anyone else having a hard time?

Ugh, I do understand. I was lucky and had quit smoking before WLS, but I had started back and turned to the vape. So when I was vaping, and surgery started to creep up, I was able to go down to the zero nicotine, and still have my binky (which is what I called it)...

There's no easy way to quit, and I know there are others on here that have had to, or are trying to, kick the habit.

Good luck to you! It might be that cold turkey is your only option. You CAN do this!!! It's worth every bit of agony of not smoking to earn the title of Weight Loss Patient!

Yeah I'm starting to thing that cold turkey is the only way too. I have decided to lean on vaping 0mg in dire situations, though. I just don't want to do it all the time. Just when I REALLY REALLY need it.

I used electronic cigarettes with a little nicotine and then eventually none. Within a month I stopped smoking all together. It's been 2 years now since I quit.  I am also on welbutrin for depression. So that might have helped. I am not sure.

I don't smoke and never have.  However, I have had family and friends that do and have quit.   I think each person experience is different.  But, with as with any addiction, you have to find what works best for you.     Some people find hobbies to help them combat the desire to smoke, others use straws to hold so they think they are holding a cigarette.   And, then there are people who chew gum or have a mint to suck on to give them the mouth feel.   In a sense, it is about trans addicting from one thing to another, but you need to make sure that your choice is a healthy one.  

You can try some of the following tips when the urge hits to smoke, so you can occupy your mind and keep it off of that.     

• Go for a walk or exercise. 
• Chew gum, eat some carrots, etc.  
• Drink some water
• Read

if you are someone who has a trigger, such as friends that smoke or going some place like a party/bar, etc that everyone smokes at, avoid it until you know you can handle the situation.   Those that go back to smoking generally do so soon after quitting.   Also, yoga and meditation are known to help with cravings, so you might want to try that.   It all comes down to keeping your mind and fingers occupied.  

Best of luck to you!

I quit many years ago - but I do remember how tough it was.  Horribly tough.  The only thing that kept me going was that I'd had two prior "long term" (like...a few months) quits, and I went back to smoking and could have kicked myself for it.  I was determined never to do that again - and I haven't.  But it took a lot of white knuckling to get through it.  Good luck with it.  Keep in mind that there are a lot of us out there who've managed to quit, so it's not impossible - but yes, it's extremely hard.

I relied a lot on an online support forum the first 3 or 4 months which I found helpful.  Even if it was just to commiserate with people.  I'd login every night after work and sometimes stay on for 2 or 3 hours (or more...).  I'm sure it's not around anymore because it was like a usenet group or something, but I'm sure they have similar forums now.  Might be worth checking out if you think it might help.

P.S.  I "smoked" a lot of plastic straws while I was quitting.  I just needed to hold something in my hand and go through the motions of smoking for awhile.  My heart goes out to you.

Monday is my Chantix Start Day!  I'm going to be working my way through it with you. Hit me up anytime.

~E

Quitting smoking was so hard!  I did it 6 months before my RNY, to make sure I was as healthy as a Super Morbidly Obese person can be, going into surgery ;)

I did two things. I read Alan Carr's book about quitting smoking.  All of us smokers know that smoking is harmful and expensive, but this was the first time I learned about WHY we are addicted to smoking, and I started to believe I could live as a non-smoker.  I also took Chantix which helped a ton.  But mostly, I had to say to myself in my mind (after smoking age 16-36!) that I was going to quit, and that's just how it was going to be.

Good luck!

 With smoking association is everything. I had the hardest time quitting at work, and fact I had pretty much quit at home and still smoked at work for probably a year before I finally quit altogether. Find your associations, those times when you always smoke and that are the hardest for you not to grab a cigarette and make some kind of new habit. For example,  I worked as a nurse at a hospital and we all went outside to smoke on our breaks. It was fun socially as well as getting me my cigarette time in. It was really hard to give up. So I found another nurse that wanted to quit also and another nurse on another floor that wanted to encourage us, and so for our "smoke breaks" we would walk down to the first floor and sneak into the doctors lounge where they kept cookies and The Good Coffee, hahaha! This was night shift, so we could get away with such things...anyway, find your trigger tines and plug in something else to do instead.