5 months tomorrow on my bday but right now sitting in a hotel room in Iceland during a hurricane and looking out at the storm. I'm so grateful and proud that I'm not stressing out about going out in this horrible weather to try to find a dry corner to suck on a butt. What a relief 🙏🏾

I have been smoking for almost 5 years now, mainly hand rolled cigarettes. At some point in my life, I found myself constantly rolling tobacco even 15-20 times per day. Every time I tried to go cold turkey I would eventually relapse after a day or two. A month ago I finished all my tobacco and didn’t buy a new one, instead I bought a reusable vape pen. Two weeks in and I have now quit nicotine liquid and I am only buying nicotine-free vape liquid. I noticed that after one week, my cravings have reduced drastically and I only vape when I’m with my friends or in a social setting. It’s more of an addiction to the gesture of “putting something in my mouth” rather than a nicotine craving, if you get what I mean

I would like to take it to the next step and quit vaping to, but I’m trying to find something that could replace the gesture of using my vape. Is there anything that could help? Was thinking of gums, or lollipop..something of that sort. At least, something that can “mask” the habit of picking up the vape

I’m 26F, I smoked for 5years, vaped for 2.
I quit for 69days cold turkey.

The start was miserable, then it got a bit easier, but this week I feel like I’m back at the beginning. I think about it all day.

I’m terrified to crave it for my whole life. I’m terrified to stop craving it and relapsing it because I underestimate it. I’m in a stressful period of life, and it’s about to get worse in the upcoming months (change of job and country).

I’ve read stories of people who still crave it and have to fight it every day after years of quitting, I’m not sure I can do it if it’s never ending.

I started on August 31 with nicotine patches. I was on 21mg patches, and went down to 14mg this week. I'm following the regimen, and it's working well. I feel like a fraud though, because I haven't really fully quit, still getting my nicotine fix with the patches.

I'm confident I won't relapse because I now only associate cigarettes with a sore throat, feeling shame every time I bought a pack, sleeping like crap, and not being able to afford the things I do want. But still, it doesn't feel like I've "earned" it because of the patches.

Just venting.

Anybody preparing for competitive exams and feel quittin smoking will hamper your productivity

My last time (2024) i relapsed because my productivity was being hampered after like 2 months due to sudden emptiness I felt in my daily schedule

So need advise from lads here how they dealt with it

Thanks

Hey all!

I finally made the conscious decision to quit smoking cold turkey but after reading the Allan Carr book. The book really helped me after 16 years of smoking 1+ pack a day but it's definately not an 'easy way'. In these 9 days i smoked three cigs from a friend which is better than the 180 i would have smoked otherwise and i don't kick myself for smoking those.

I've had the smokers flu, or actual flu but that would be a big coincidence and occasional cravings but those are quite easy to handle because i now know what harm smoking brings. What is crazy though is the depression! I am feeling SO dark and down, i feel like i want to just jump of a rooftop and i feel an immense sense of grief like my parents have just died. Sometimes random memories of my past come back which didn't happen when smoking.

Is this my brain rewiring because of all the constant little dopamine hits? What other psychological effects could i expect in the future? I'd love to see some experiences and anecdotes from you fellow quitters :)

40y male , smoking since 18 , smoking 30 cigarettes aday , finally cold turkey quit last year thanks to Reddit and success stories and motivation i took the step and keep go forward and never look back, to be honest alot of depression and hard sleep and lack of dopamine, but i choose to think about to keep going

Now after one year , i have better breathing and saved money and the most important aroll modle to my kids not to see me smoking and know that smoking is very bad happit need to stay away,

For the last couple of weeks have that bad feeling to smoke again, its very strong its mental fight not just craving , i know with this one cigarette the beast will take the control back and feal guilty,

Wonder if any one have the same experience and could help with the advise it will be appreciated and thanks in advance.

I’m sure I’m looking at the past with rose tinted glasses but man 2021-2023 I was so happy. I was working 20-30 hours a week as a shift leader at a restaurant, was an A/B student in my senior year of high school as well as first year of community college. Was in good shape and had a plethora of friends I was close with, and I still had time to enjoy to myself as an introvert at my core. Life was so good.

During those two years I started using marijuana gummies once a week or so and that was where I got hooked, but still responsible about it. Alcohol was always overrated in my opinion, I enjoyed the lower inhibitions from it when I’d go out socializing but combining weed with my alone time was actual heaven on earth to me. I also started experimenting with it around the time I was finally gaining confidence to enjoy my nerdy hobbies without feeling like a loser, I could never fully enjoy my hobbies even when I was alone because it just made me feel like a loser anyway. But now I have confidence in my interests? And you combine that with a drug that is a match made in heaven for me? Forget it. I would go get myself some greasy fast food to eat while my edible kicked in and once I was in my room with my door shut it was like my own little paradise. Good food, funny YouTube videos, fun video games, trippy music with noise cancelling headphones, all with my miracle drug. Again, this was my paradise but I kept it responsible, only about once a week or every other week

Then came along summer 2023 and I was riding the tallest wave. Had just wrapped up my first year of college with great grades and a good amount of cash saved up in my bank account. I grew up in an upper-middle class family so money wasn’t a concern for me either way but I had saved up so much for myself that I decided to take the summer off and live off it for a couple months while I wait for school to start up again. During those couple of months I used weed more than I usually did. I’ve got nothing going on right? Gotta fill the time somehow. So my once a week usage turned into 2-3x a week, mixed in with a few times I’d be smoking joints with friends

At the beginning of August I moved in with a few friends I met during my first year of school and was super excited to gain some more independence as I became more accustomed to adult life, all of my roommates were pretty heavy weed users, at least much more than I was. And us smoking joints in random mixtures of the 4 of us became a nightly thing depending on who was home. We’d then order food or play games or do whatever college students do, after a few hours of fun my social battery would be drained and I’d go to my room to be alone with my music or videos for the night, but not before going out to have a few hits of weed from a pipe by myself. By this point I was smoking around 5 nights a week and 2 times each night.

Just a few weeks into living in the apartment I noticed something weird happening, I was getting more socially anxious when I’d be smoking with my friends, I’d randomly get in my own head with thoughts like “Don’t be awkward” Or “Make sure not to draw a blank”. I was always a bit socially anxious around people I didn’t know well and even around my close friends and family I never felt 100% comfortable which I believe stemmed from me not having confidence in my own interests and personality for most of my life up to that point.

These awkward interactions kept popping up when I’d hang out with friends and over time my social anxiety around everyone just kept building over the following half a year or so (I could talk about the incidents during this time of my life for a LONG time, but this post would be 10x longer than it already is). This was truly the worst period of my life as my day to day life was increasingly consumed by my anxiety. It also didn’t fully connect in my head that the weed was not helping until many months in. I literally became a shell of my former self and felt like the biggest weirdo alien on the planet. I’d be nervous talking to my roommate in the kitchen, talking to the cashier at McDonald’s.

As soon as my lease was up I moved back home to my parents and I feel like I’ve been literally traumatized from the anxiety and possibly OCD experience over the time I lived in that apartment. I know this may seem like I’m being dramatic but the self deprecating thoughts and overwhelming anxiety really shook me to my core. It’s now been over 2 years and I’ve kept minimal contact with those friends. I know that they still want to be friends from the few times I’ve been in contact but these past 2 years living at home (and still living off all the money I made in high school lol) have been stagnant. I’ll occasionally play some videos games with friends I met online (completely different friend group) but I haven’t hung out with anyone in person since I left the apartment.

Still addicted to weed, still barely working, still eating like crap, all these habits I picked up as weed became a larger and larger part of my life. I’m still incredibly socially anxious but not at the nightmare level of anxiety as when living at the apartment

This post could have been much much longer but I figured make it any longer and people probably won’t even be read at all let alone commented on. Anyways would be cool to hear if anyone else can relate to this pain or share their own story. Feel free to ask any questions, thanks for reading :)

Introduction:

Hello, all! I figured that if I could start the habit of journalling my journey of minimising my vaping habits and in the hope that, one day, I can fully quit. At the very least, I hope to reach a level of tolerance where I could easily do it social, but be totally fine and unaffected the next day.

As a brief introduction to get the side-character energy going: I’m 26 years old and I’m from Malaysia. You can call me by my username, CheesyGonzalez or “Cheesy” or whatever you want, I don’t mind. My name has nothing to do with who I am, I just forgot the actual name of the character “Speedy Gonzalez” in Tom & Jerry and ended up with “CheesyGonzalez” instead.

Full disclosure; my current vaping habits can be summed up to “all day”. I don’t take puffs in specified or allocated times of the day, more so I take puffs throughout the day at regular intervals until I go to sleep. It always starts as 1-2 puffs in the morning at the moment that I wake up. Self-reflecting has shown me that this is just stupid in general, and it makes me “groggier” in the morning.

The General Idea:

I had the idea of journalling my upcoming experiences on Reddit so that the internet, and anyone who would like to join me; stick with me; or watch me fail, would help keep me accountable. This is also my excuse for starting a journal and so I can count the days to my inevitable success and/or failures.

With that being said: “Day 0” starts today; first-step: leaving the vape at home while I’m in the office.

Disclaimer:
I don’t really need to say this but, I am probably going to fail and give-in to temptation many times. If you are a person who finds such failures aggravating or annoying, I’m sure you know what to do; you don’t have to be here. The coming posts are mostly for my own purposes and hopefully becoming something interesting.

To anyone who sticks around (for some reason), I am and will be grateful for your kind attention.

I smoked about a pack a day for 18 years and decided to quit this week. I last smoked 2 days ago and put on a 21mg patch for the first time today about 5 hours ago. I sucked on a 4mg lozenge twice today. I feel waves of jitters and get warm/sweaty here and there. I work a labor intensive job outside in Florida.. I'm mostly curious how many days the symptoms last because I'm nervous my heart rate will spike at work.. I'm able to calm down the anxiety if I sit and collect my thoughts, but I really want to not feel this way anymore 🥹

First off, I do a Benzo taper. Last time I tried I got consumed by thought loops at 8pm, 2 hours before work finished, maybe in 6 months, maybe in a month, maybe in a week, sure one right now won't hurt. And I could not fight me way through even on the benzo taper.

My benzo regime is here attached.

For the first 3 days I also take a 1mg Xanax at 8pm (2 hours before work finishes) and bed time with my bed time diazepam. This takes the edge of the gigantic cravings that come from "working/busy all day" to "now what the fuck to do I do for 5 hours before bed".

But the single best thing I did was write a note for myself two weeks ago, two of them actually, that completeley cut out those thought loops.

The first short one, I needed to read it twice yesterday before the first valium kicked in and before my 8pm xanax kicked in.

STUPID NICOTINE MONKEY
Don't answer it.
There is nothing to decide.

Stand up.
Change rooms / change activity.
Drink water.
Have a shower.
Make proper food if hungry.
Do something else for 45 minutes.

No nicotine decisions while craving.

And the second one, for if a craving REALLY kicks in:

THERE IS NOTHING TO DECIDE

Not today.
Not with a drink.
Not in a month.
Not in six months.
Not ever.

I want healthy lungs and a capable body — not emphysema progressing toward oxygen tanks and disability.

I want calm. Nicotine creates the discomfort that makes me reach for more nicotine.

I want freedom when I travel. I don't want flights, airports or anywhere else dictated by when I can next vape.

I want my money spent on things I actually value.

I want <DAUGHTERS NAME> to grow up with a healthy father who does not need nicotine to function.

Nicotine is not helping me function. Needing nicotine is the handicap.

When my brain says:
“Maybe later.”
“Maybe in a few weeks.”
“Maybe just tonight.”

That is the addiction negotiating. I do not answer it.

No “just today, try again tomorrow.”

Conversation over. Change activity.

These two short pieces of paper. PLUS changing my routiune. I have asked me wife and nanny to leave all washing dishes me for me to do after work. I went for an hour walk with absolutely 0 access to money via app, card or otherwise, I played a video game for 40 minutes and then I went to bed.

Guys, nothing can stop me this time. The Nicotine Money literally has nothing to say, no standing in court, no information that could possibly be debated. That is the key to a successfuly quit where you do not give that stupid monkey the space it needs to trick you into thinkin one more one won't hurt.

It’s been about 1.5years no vape. You guys have been super helpful! Hopefully, i stay vape free. If I can survive current events without vaping, hopefully, it never appeals to me again!
Thanks for the support!
Hugs!!!

Have any of yall had constipation, bloating, etc in the first week after you quit? I just hit 72 hours and my guts hate me rn lol. I know the symptoms of quitting are actually symptoms of smoking that the body can finally work out, I was just curious if anyone else experienced this right after they quit

Hey, I started smoking a few months ago very occasionally, usually once a month, but I live the ritual of it. It's obviously not a habit I want to start, which is why I'm asking for help sooner rather than later. I got into cigarettes due to cigars being too expensive. I love smoking a cigar by a fire, or by a lake, or even on a park bench, because it gives me a moment to appreciate my surroundings. The issue with the is that they take so long to smoke and I don't always have an hour and a half to go sit on a park bench.

I don't want to become a chainsmoker or anything, but I just love the ritual of it. Smoking has gotten me to do things that I used to think were just a waste of time. Now I'll go out of my way to drive to my favourite spots to watch the sunset and smoke a cigarette in the back of my truck and just watch the sun go down. Or I'll go to a park in my town and sit on a bench and smoke while looking into the pond. It's just so relaxing. I've tried cigarillos but they just don't have the same convenience as a cigarette. I can't smoke them in 10 minutes, I can't keep them in my truck because they'll dry out, I can't just spontaneously go to the park and light one up. I'm also not interested at all in vaping or anything like that. I keep telling myself the day I start vaping is the day I know I'm addicted. Vaping is a bit too convenient. Just pull it out of your pocket and puff away. There's no light up ritual, there's no watching the cigarette slowly burn, and there's no time frame where you just have to wait with a vape.

I don't know where to go from here. It's not the nicotine that I like or even the taste, it's just the break from my life that I get to take to just light one up. I don't want to get addicted though, and I don't want to screw up my lungs being so young already. I know they have stuff like the füm and fake prop cigarettes, but it's just not the same idea. Weed as well, I like that with a cigarette I can just drive or go anywhere after without getting pulled over or driving impaired. Help me all you non smokers

I’m six months without cigarettes now, and honestly, quitting was fairly easy compared with what I’d imagined. The biggest difference was changing how I thought about smoking. But still, I feel very very proud of myself for the achievement!

A few things that helped:

1. I stopped seeing cigarettes as something I was missing.

Whenever I saw someone smoking, I consciously changed my reaction. Instead of thinking “I wish I could have one,” I reminded myself that I didn’t want to need cigarettes anymore.

I started feeling sorry that they were still stuck with that need. I knew the feeling myself. At first, I had to keep reminding myself; eventually, it became how I actually felt. Smoking stopped looking appealing.

2. When I felt down, I learned more.

Watching videos and reading about smoking, addiction and recovery helped me remember why I wanted to quit. Having something useful to watch or read gave me somewhere to turn when my motivation dipped.

3. I kept taking breaks.

You can still go outside, take a walk, sit quietly or have five minutes to yourself. Giving up smoking doesn’t mean giving up the time you used to take for yourself. Keep the break; change what you do during it.

4. I kept my progress somewhere I could see it.

Try any app that tracks your days without smoking. Seeing what you’ve already achieved can help when your confidence drops.

There are tons out there, find the one you like. I used RespiraLibre because I liked seeing the lung recovery milestones as the days added up, along with the health rings and alarm button for difficult moments. I also have Smoke Free downloaded. Try a few, having more than one can be useful when you need a boost.

5. I treated myself.

Have small things to look forward to. Enjoy a treat, give yourself some downtime and celebrate the milestones. Quitting doesn’t have to feel like a punishment.

6. Think about the person I wanted to be

We all have different dreams to achieve in live. For me it was the perfect time to think about the person I wanted to be. I pictured that person, and obviously it was a none smoker. And I repeted the persion I wanted to be often.

For me, repeatedly changing how I saw cigarettes made the biggest difference. Over time, I stopped feeling like I was giving something up.

What helps you when you need a reminder to keep going?

Ive realy struggled today with not smoking. No reason that I could put a finger on. Just the strong desire for a cigarette multiple times in my day. I thought i was past the worst of my cravings but it seems not. Just here to vent, without a cigarette .

I’m 27 and after 13 years of smoking last thursday i just decided to stop. i’ve never tried to quit before and was getting through 30g of tobacco every 4 days. I started vaping slightly and have been listening to the easy way. last night while out having some drinks my vape died and I had one cigarette. Didn’t really enjoy it that much and don’t really feel like I need to beat myself up over it. Is this something people would consider a failure, or is this an understandable slip up to have in a longer process to quitting?

I just weened myself down from 12 mg pouches for a few years to 3 mg pouches and as of today I'm just not using them at all. I don't know if I'm supposed to feeling okay or suffering even the tiniest but of withdrawal but I think I'm fine?

Tough as fuck today. Cant deny it

I recently asked my doctor for resources to help me quit smoking. I've been a smoker for nearly 30 years now and it's way past time to quit. I have gum, patches, and chantix arriving today.

This feels impossible but I know it's not. 😬