Never Smoke Again: The Top 10 Ways to Stop Smoking Now & Forever

And it wouldn't be long before we found our brain wanting, plotting to obtain, or even begging for more. The natural insecticide nicotine has de-sensitized and rewired your brain, causing it to grow millions of nicotinic receptors in at least eleven different regions.

Although nicotine's arrival is accompanied by alertness, not intoxication, numbness, euphoria or a racing sensation, the wanting you'll feel for that next fix flows from the same dopamine pathways as the wanting felt by the alcoholic, heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine addict. Treating true addiction as though some nasty little habit capable of manipulation, modification or control is a recipe for relapse and an early grave.

Fully accept who we are , real drug addicts. It can be our most liberating moment ever. Accept that there is no such thing as just one , that one will always be too many, while thousands never enough.

Remember, half of adult smokers continue to smoke themselves to death. They lose an average of years of life U. Your smoking deathline -- the point beyond which the damage done makes quitting and regaining full life expectancy impossible -- is approaching. It's time for quitting games to end. Nicotine dependency recovery truly is all or nothing.

And there's one rule which if followed makes failure impossible: Measuring Victory - Forget about quitting "forever. Why not instead eat one nice juicy steak at a time. Adopt a realistic and do-able victory yardstick that celebrates freedom an hour , challenge and day at a time. If you insist on seeing success only in terms of quitting forever, then on which day will you celebrate? Who is coming to that party? Emotional Recovery - Chemical dependency upon smoking nicotine is one of the most intense, repetitive and dependable relationships you've likely ever known.

It has infected almost every aspect of your life and thinking. Be prepared to experience a normal sense of emotional loss when quitting which transports you through six very different phases: This emotional journey is normal and a necessary part of recovery. Do Not Skip Meals - Each puff of the stimulant nicotine was your spoon releasing stored fats and sugars into your bloodstream via your body's fight or flight pathways. It allowed you to skip meals without experiencing wild blood-sugar swing symptoms, such as an inability to concentrate or hunger related anxieties.

How to Quit Smoking

Why add needless symptoms to withdrawal? Instead, learn to spread your normal daily calorie intake out more evenly over the entire day. Try hard not to skip breakfast or lunch. It's not about eating more food but less food more frequently.

Table of Contents

Drink plenty of acidic fruit juice the first three days. Cranberry is excellent and a bottle will cost less that a pack of cigarettes. It will help to both accelerate the up to 72 hours needed to remove the alkaloid nicotine from your bloodstream, and help stabilize blood sugars. Take care beyond three days as juices can be rather fattening.

Avoid All Crutches - A crutch is any form of quitting reliance that you lean upon so heavily in supporting recovery that if quickly removed would elevate risk of relapse a person, product, service or activity.

If you feel the need to lean upon a quitting buddy be sure that your buddy is either a sturdy long-time ex-smoker or a never-smoker. Keep busy with fun, low stress activities and avoid high stress ones. Quit smoking one day at a time. Don't think about quitting forever. That can be overwhelming. Deal with right now, and the days will start to add up. Be good to yourself. This is probably the most important and undervalued coping strategy in quitting smoking.

It is one of the most difficult things for anyone to do, especially someone with an addiction. You will think that you only deserve a reward once you have had a long stretch of not smoking. This is your opportunity to learn better coping strategies. How you can be good to yourself is different for everyone. Pursue new ways of rewarding yourself the same way you pursued your addiction. You are learning new thinking patterns that will be helpful in the rest of your life.

Don't try to diet while quitting smoking. Too much deprivation is bound to backfire. Instead, try eating more fruits and vegetables. You probably tend to disqualify the positives and focus on the negatives. Nicotine replacement therapy NRT helps reduce nicotine withdrawal symptoms that many smokers say is their main reason for not quitting. Nicotine replacement therapy increases the rate of quitting by 50 to 70 percent 4. Nicotine replacement therapy is not a substitute for coping strategies.

It deals with the physical addiction to nicotine, but does not deal with the behavioral or psychological addiction to smoking. So some sort of smoking cessation program and strategy is still important. What follows is general medical information, and is not tailored to the needs of a specific individual. Some people may not be able to use nicotine replacement therapy because of allergies or other conditions. You should always consult your physician when making decisions about your health. There are three broad categories of nicotine replacement therapy: Here are some important points to help you decide:.

The nicotine patch is convenient because it provides long term relief from nicotine withdrawal, and you only have to think about it once a day. The nicotine patch is the most studied type of nicotine replacement therapy, and significantly increases your chances of success by 50 to 70 percent. Nicotine lozenges and nicotine gum provide short term relief from nicotine withdrawal symptoms. They also help deal with oral cravings that a nicotine patch cannot.

The most effective smoking cessation combination is a nicotine patch for long term relief, and nicotine lozenges for breakthrough carvings. The nicotine in lozenges and gum is absorbed through the inner surface of your mouth rather than through your stomach. Food and drinks can affect how the nicotine is absorbed. Most people find nicotine lozenges easier to use than nicotine gum. Nicotine gum can stick to dental work. How do you use nicotine lozenges?

Suck on a lozenge until it is fully dissolved, about 20 to 30 minutes. Do not bite or chew it like hard candy, and do not swallow it. How do you use nicotine gum? Chew the gum slowly until you get a peppery taste or tingle in your mouth. Then hold it inside your cheek park it until the taste fades. Then chew it again to get the tingle back, and park it again.

Nicotine inhalers and nasal sprays are the most fast acting of all nicotine replacement methods.

But because they work so quickly they have a higher risk of becoming addictive. However, if they feel they need to continue using the product for longer in order to quit, it is safe to do so in most cases. In other words, follow the instructions, but it is reasonable to use the patch for up to 5 months, if you have the approval of your health care professional.

In my experience, most people relapse when they taper down too quickly from the full strength 21 mg patch to the 14 mg patch. Yes, if you use nicotine replacement therapy incorrectly. Speak to your health professional about the correct way to use it. If you experience any of these symptoms call your doctor. More serious symptoms of nicotine overdose or nicotine poisoning include:. Call Poison Control and get emergency help if you suspect nicotine overdose or nicotine poisoning.

Nicotine replacement therapy is considered safe for smokers with a history of cardiovascular disease. It does not increase the risk of heart attacks and strokes in smokers with a history of cardiovascular disease.

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There is not enough evidence to be absolutely sure that nicotine replacement therapy is safe for pregnant women. There are prescription drugs that can help you quit. Some can be used along with nicotine replacement therapy. Most have to be started before your planned quit day, and all need a prescription. This is general medical information, and is not tailored to the needs of a specific individual. Zyban Wellbutrin, bupropion is a prescription antidepressant that was later discovered to reduce nicotine cravings and help people quit smoking.

It does not contain nicotine. It acts on chemicals in the brain that cause nicotine cravings. Large scale studies have shown that Zyban is at least as effective as nicotine replacement therapy in smoking cessation. Zyban works best if you start it 1 to 2 weeks before you quit smoking. The usual dosage is mg tablets once or twice per day. Your doctor may want to continue it for 8 to 12 weeks after you quit smoking to help reduce the chance of relapse. The most common side effects include: Antidepressants may increase the risk of suicide in persons younger than When prescribed for smoking cessation, there have been four suicides per one million prescriptions and one case of suicidal ideation per ten thousand prescriptions.

Combining Zyban and nicotine replacement therapy, is usually more effective than either treatment alone. Zyban reduces cravings by working on brain chemistry, and nicotine replacement therapy works by gradually weaning your body off nicotine. Zyban combined with nicotine replacement therapy can slightly increase your blood pressure.

Therefore monitoring of blood pressure is recommended in these cases. Varenicline is a prescription medication that can reduce cravings and increase your chances of success. Chantix is a partial nicotine agonist. It partially stimulates the nicotine receptors in the brain so you get a mild effect as if you were smoking, but at the same time it blocks the receptors from giving the full effect of smoking. This lessens the pleasure you get from smoking, and reduces nicotine withdrawal.

Chantix Champix, varenicline should be started a week before your quit day. Chantix Champix, varenicline significantly increases the risk of depressed mood, thoughts of suicide, and attempted suicide. The findings for varenicline, render it unsuitable for first-line use in smoking cessation. One of the main concerns with electronic cigarettes is that they mimic the use of regular cigarettes. Studies have also shown that the vapor from electronic cigarettes has potentially harmful toxins. Here are just a few smoking facts.

Not a long list, but some key facts about the dangers of smoking. Smoking causes more deaths each year than all of the following causes combined: Both the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous, Dr. Bob and Bill W.