Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Support Group

after i got a blood clot i HAD to quit...so the fear of dying has kept me to stop though it is hard especially when i am stressed...
I did it cold turkey
but i had only smoked for like a year too so i dunno...

If you can get a prescription for Wellbutrin, that can sometime help people quit. You have to take it for a week and a half or two and then start weaning yourself off the cigarettes. Most doctors don't find that the gum or patches are real effective and that Wellbutrin works best as an aid to stop smoking.

I had this on another post, so sorry if it's repeating myself!

Well, I quit smoking a little over a year ago, but at that time I didn't know I had MS. I guess it's a good thing that I did, huh? That was the HARDEST thing I ever did! (worse than childbirth) If anyone REALLY wants to quit, I can only suggest what worked for me. First you have to make up your mind to quit. Then I found this website www.quitsmokingonline.com. It is a WONDERFUL site (free too). It talks to you like you are a normal person. They have you set a "quit date" 3 weeks after you start, and then they prep you 3 weeks prior, during, and after! I did this without any NRT (nicotine replacement therapy. I smoked for 20 years, and have been sucessful since 2/18/07! I'm not here to preach, just hopefully to help someone who wants to quit!

If I can do it, ANYONE can!

Best of luck to you!
Deb

Plan on having lots of good water in the frig to wash the nicocteine out of your system that triggers the need for more. Keep drinkign the water, one sip at a time, you will succeed.

I smoked for over 30 years. After 3 times trying, I finally did it. Quit cold turkey, laid in the recliner for 3 days, like I had the flu, just went with the withdrawal like I was sick. Was never successful tapering off or doing the patch. It was easier to get it over with quickly, not drag it out. No easy answer for you, hon, but if you want to do it, you'll find the right way. You'll be really, REALLY glad.

Man, you sound like me. About the same age and been smoking just as long. And no, I haven't quit.

I like the cold turkey idea but may I suggest to use a combination of that and Chantix? I tried Chantix and it was great. After one week, I could go for seven hours without a cigarette and I didn't bat an eye. If you knew how much I smoke, you'd understand why that is miraculous. However, you have to set a quit date and that was my downfall. You have to WANT to quit. Set that date, just like Deb and LilMargie mentioned and start your Chantix a week before. You get two weeks of Chantix so you'll still be on it one week after you quit. They have a high success rate and it raises your seratonin levels while you're going through this. One thing...if you take it...don't by any means take it on an empty stomach. Ooo boy...it will make you sicker than any antibiotic. Nasty stuff without food.

Good luck.

I'm not sure how you feel about lasers but ive heard laser therapy is effective. I even heard it works as well as laser eye surgery. Check it out here lemme see if i can find a site



http://laserconcepts.ca/index2.html

I had been smoking since I was 19 and I am 49 now. I have been a non smoker for 50 days as of today. I used chantix and it has work great. Go to Smoking Addiction and Recovery Support group here on DS. Good people and great advice. You can quit, believe me

JC

I quit on March 15, 2004, after smoking since around 1968. But I only smoked when I was awake, and never in the shower :) Kind of crazy, but I got my dx within 2 weeks. I couldn't convince anyone that there was correlation or causation.
I used patches. My insurance company paid for them and put me in touch with counselors.
So, at first, I noted the time of each smoke. I learned that any time I had a feeling, I smoked. After a week or so, I dropped down from 2-3 packs/day to 1.
Then I hit the patches just as I was told. I chose a quit date, and the night before I found every last bit of tobacco and flushed it. And I smoked my last cigarette.
I got up the next day, slapped on a patch, and suffered for a while. Patches and cigarettes deliver nicotine very differently. It takes a few hours for the patch to kick in, and then it's slow and steady, not a big hit like a smoke.
Then I tapered over 8 weeks. And it's crazy, but my body knew each time the patch-strength went down. So I'd struggle a day, and then be okay.
Now, stretched out my time on one the strongest patches by two weeks, which is cool. But I never touched a cigarette. And here I am,. I've not smoked 60,869 cigarettes as of the 15th.
And I'm good. I can be around smokers. I don't get angry at them, and I don't judge them. A was a stone nicotine fiend for more than half of my life. I was raised in smoke.

Check out www.quitnet.com They have helped a lot. I just received another email from them, and I get them every 3-months or so now.
I wish you all the best. For what it's worth, my best friend thought I'd never stop. I was a major smoker. I still dream about it. I dream about the taste of lighting up an old but and smoking down until the filter's burning. But not every night anymore. And I didn't think about smoking until just now as I've been writing. But it will pass in a matter of minutes.
Wow. That was intense. Good luck!

Look, they have have plenty of #'s on stopping the tobacco. Cold turkey is the worst way to go. a VERY SMALL % OF ct GET IT DONE. That is why you know people that stopped for 6-7 years 2-3 then start up again,It is a first class addiction 10 times more addicting than heroin. It is deep rooted. I don't like their stinking drugs, I know a guy who I worked with that went that root and started up again after a little over a year. I took a cessation class for 4 day free of charge at my health dept. and she gave us all the info we needed and the tools to use to stay smoke free if we chose to do that. I used NRT successfully after 40 years of the smoke and am SF for over a year, I carry pieces of Lozenges with me at all times cause I know the addict is waiting to kick my ass. So there you have it. The latest research favors what I told you except for the drug part.