I quit cold turkey due to medical reasons. I had a cancer scare. Tumors that were not cancerous and blood clots. My oncologist gave me an ultimatum. Either quit smoking or spend the rest of my life on Coumadin, Louvinox shots in my stomach, weekly blood tests, monthly chest xrays, and other medical tests. She was concerned that the next time it wouldn't be a scare. I smoked 2 packs a day for 20 years. She told me on August 18, 2008 that I needed to quit. My last cigarette was on August 19, and on August 20 was the first day of my smoke free life.
I thought about using stop smoking aids, but I heeded her advice and just quit nicotine. Cold Turkey. It was tough. I lived on this site. I avoided friends who smoked. I did everything I could to protect my quit. I knew that I could never smoke again. 2+ years later, the rest is history! If you choose to quit Cold Turkey, we're all here for you!
But, at the end of the day it doesn't matter how you quit. Cold Turkey, Chantix, Patches, or other quit aids. Your desire to quit has to be stronger than your desire to smoke. Do whatever it takes. Just do it!
I also quit cold turkey. In retrospect, it was really the only way for me. I had tried every available NRT available and all I wanted was to continue. I also tried hypnosis, Chantix and Wellbutrin. I enrolled and attended more than one support group. The longest quit I had until this one was in college for 3 months and that was also cold turkey. I wasn't planning on cold turkey, but my patch fell off one day and I found it stuck to my shirt, so I thought, I'll just see how long I can go without anything.
I also went to every WEBsite I could find and downloaded an ebook and ordered the Alan Carr book. The first two weeks I read every piece of anti-smoking literature I could find. I started going for a walk with my daughter every morning and the days I wanted to give up, she encouraged me to stick with it. I must have read about the benefits of quitting more than one hundred times. It was hard, but I am so thankful now. I gained some weight, but have taken it off. I can breathe, I can walk without getting short of breath. I can smell everything ( sometimes a mixed blessing.).
I would encourage anyone going this route to be on this or some site as much as possible the first few days and weeks. Even if you don't post, reading others experiences is so helpful. Good luck to all the new quitters and welcome. Oh and something else I read here. N. ot O. ne P. uff E.ver.
New Cold Turkey Quitters, Contrary to what you may think you can stop smoking for good via Cold Turkey, i along with many others are a testament to that.
On a tight budget, scared & confused ?.....don't be.
A few things you need to know :
1) You are addicted to the nicotine in the cigarettes that you smoke (it's a drug that's put into tobacco to get us all addicted to ths stuff). 2) You don't actually enjoy smoking (your body craves nicotine when you are not smoking, you are always in a constant state of withdrawal.. youwould smoke every minute of the day if you could afford it right ?) 3) You don't have a 'dirty habit' (as above)
3) Knowledge about your addiction will be the difference between quitting & staying quit
4) Quit aids are just that ... quit 'aids'
It will also help to understand that by cutting back you only reinforce your addiction by extending your state of withdrawal.
I quit Cold Turkey + i read the Allen carr book, that was a few years ago now.
