Hello Nexians!

This thread refers to smoking tobacco and to be a little more precise, curing oneself from nicotine addiction.

It involves using nicotine patches but more than this, a sincere and earnest desire to quit nicotine.Nicotine patches are very effective if your mental preparation has been adequately made.There is also a lot of disinformation about these patches, namely that its hazardous to cut them up for fear of getting too much nicotine in too quickly.This is complete gibberish when we consider that the patches around today do not have a 'reservoir' of nicotine within them; instead the trivial amount of nicotine (upto 21mg/patch) is incorporated into a matrix which also includes the adhesive.

Its also instructive to note that the amount of nicotine in mgs delivered per 24 hours is a function of the active surface area of the patch, and the 7mg patches have simple one third active surface area compared to the 21mg version.

The last load of crap peddled by the makers of these items is that its mandatory to be taking the course of patches for around 12 weeks, and the last step to a nicotine-free existence involves stepping down from 7mg/24hrs one day to zero mg the next.


I have recently used NRT patches to get free from nicotine and thus far have been successful.My approach was as follows.

1.As a smoker of 10/day maximum, I opted to go for the 21mg patches to start with.This strength is supposed to be for imbibers of 20 or more per day, but I figured that this amount of nicotine delivered over 24 hours would not be too toxic and pleasingly it was just right ,with the physical craving for a smoke abolished by over 90% and none of the 'toxic' nicotine effects.

2.I wore the 21mg patches for 10 days then stepped it down to a 3/4 sized patch cut from a full one with scissors for 2 days.

3.After this I used a progressively smaller piece of patch till I was down to zero after a total 'treatment period' of 22 days and have had no physical pangs for nicotine at all since then.The beauty of making a daily dose reduction of less than 2mg makes the process really not that taxing at all.

I have no qualms suggesting this approach is incredibly effective and benign in its misery-provoking effects.Plus I avoided lining the pockets of the patch makers, who incidentally charge the same price for 7x21mg patches and 7x7mg patches.Fuck em-use scissors!!!

Congrats on kicking the habit man!

I am horribly addicted to cigarettes. I thought it was the nicotine only, and tried an e-cig which tbh tastes like meth, and is not awesome even though the manufacturers will have you believe this.
Anyway after a week of successfully using the e-cig as a tobacco replacement tool. I plunged back into smoking while I was at a pub. I instantly realised its the act of smoking a cigarette that I am more addicted to, and the e-cig was not satisfying this. I'm at my wits end as I have now been smoking properly for a week again. I cant seem to not buy a pack of smokes. I dunno maybe I need to rethink my mental approach, but I really want to quit.
And before someone says "So just quit" it really is not that easy. This is my 4th time trying, but I do think I had not fully committed myself in the past.

Just gave away the rest of my smokes and am going to try quit again though.

Kudos to you for making the change corpus collosum! This is one of the best moves you'll ever make.

Sorry to hear your struggling with it PrimalWisdom.

I've mentioned it before and take it for what it's worth. The the book "The Easy Way to Quit Smoking" by Allen Carr is what did the trick for me, helped my change my mental attitude about smoking and it really worked in my case. If you can get down to your local library and really want to quit it might be worth the read.

Best of luck to both of you

-Namaste

Good road to take, I quit recently, a problem which seemed to just grow the more I did it. Went cold Turkey style.

Thanks for posting this Corpus.

I tried quitting weed and ciggs cold turkey earlier this week. Unfortunately I've been addicted to both for quite some time and it was too much to try to quit them both at the same time.

It seems the first day or so without weed, I go into a deep depression but luckily that has passed now. I feel a lot clearer headed and an interesting side note is that I remember way more of my dreams.

Now that I've gotten past the worst of the weed hurdles, I intend on quitting smoking cigarettes again. I'll try your patch method and report back.

Thank you again for posting this and congrats on your success! I hope to be smoke free here soon as well.

Corpus - Good work, and useful post... Isn't it such a great feeling to be free of it!

I love the moment when you realise you've just gone a whole day without even once thinking about smoking.

I do exactly what you do with the cutting up patches (but with 25 mg patches). I also think, on the night you decide to give up, you should wear a 1/3 of a patch while you sleep. It slightly affects your sleep, but you wake up not gasping to smoke...which gives you time for the full-patch's effects to kick in while you still have the will-power (otherwise it's easy to 'decide' that actually you are going to give up the following day after all! )

Now the only problem is that it's so easy to give up that I don't feel so guilty about starting up again...arghh!.
.

Thanks for the congrats people!!

For any nicotine addicts who are minded to try giving it up, do give this method a try.It really makes it so straightforward.And I like Limenis idea of 'patching-up' the night before the quit starts.

I spent a time thinking about why I smoked tobacco and ,when the self-bullshit was peeled back, it was only because of my enjoyment of spliffs.I have a GVG and a classic VG too, and as Im a registered 'owner' of the GVG with vaporgenie.com, I got myself a spare glass top piece sans carbide diffuser, used this and the diffuser from the Classic VG and have made myself a nifty little vaporiser with a glass bongstem and a 100ml Buchner flask as an alternative ROA for herbaceous materials.And it works a treat!

The GVG remains solely for spice and the Classic can be recobbled-together for other items which need vaporising should the need arise, but the Buchner/VG hybrid vaporiser I think will meet any requirements I may have.

Would you mind posting a pic? It sounds like a pretty interesting contraption but I can't seem to visualize it properly.

.
Blimey - I wish you were my doctor!.

Me too!

You guys are too kind!

Having said that it would be nice to have some patients I can REALLY relate too!!

And once I suss out how to get a pic up, I will....leave it in my incapable (when it comes to computers ) hands....

Congrats Corpus. Stopping smoking is a very positive thing for one's life.

I think that a sincere desire to stop is needed whatever the means used. I must say that nicotine is remarkably addictive. I have not smoked in 18+ years having smoked on and off for many years with the last part of my habit being 30 non filter cigarettes per day. I personally went cold turkey, but I think that even if you need to stick hat pins in a voodoo doll, if it works then do it to quit.

The good doctor's approach is rational and well thought out and may very well ease peoples cravings. I being a human chemical waste dump in my long ago past would never have stopped using any technique unless I had maintained total abstinence from the gate... no cheating... no bumming cigarettes from friends, no taking a drag...

Let me illustrate why: I quit when I was 23 (30 years ago) the first time having smoked pretty regularly from the time I was 18. I went for 7 years without a smoke not even a puff. I lit a cigarette for my wife (yes I was married young) at a restaurant. That turned into 5 years of smoking between 1 and 1.5 packs a day of non filters within two weeks of lighting that cigarette.

Even after 18 years I dare not even take one puff. Most of the tie it is repulsive smelling to me, but once in a while the smell of a freshly lit cigarette smells ever so good. More addictive than opiates for me, yes you bet!!!

Congradgerlayshuns! I wish my Dad had the will power to quit, but I fear he will smoke for the rest of his life 20-30 a day. I hate to think how many years he has take off his life over the 40 or so years he has been puffing away. If you have kids, I'm sure they will be proud / happy that you stopped, I know I would

I quit years ago. just stopped one day, and never looked back i still occasionally have a joint, which will have a little tobacco in as it smooths the smoke somewhat, but I am now looking for alternatives, although I am contemplating knocking weed on the head for a while since this trial week has been so successful.

I smoked two years. And just stopped because of the blocked feeling it gave to my lungs. As long as one likes it and it's effects, it's obviously hard to stop.

A fresh lungful is better than all the nicotine "highs" in the world(without the death)

Anyone smoking the common cigarette brands, be aware that what you got there is far from real tobacco with several hundreds of additives, some of which are most likely highly addictive:

http://en.wikipedia.org/..._additives_in_cigarettes

http://www.telegraph.co....hat-keep-you-hooked.html

Instead if one wants nicotine, get some proper additive free tobacco, such as manitou or american spirit.

I was a very heavy smoker (30-40 hand-rolled cigs. a day) but I quit 4 months ago thanks to MXE and I'm probably not
the only one! I have to admit it was still hard but I had tried a few times before that (without any chemical help) and never was able to quit for more
than 6 weeks.

I wish you the best of luck Corpus. I've smoked for about 10 years and feel like I've run my course with it. Unfortunately, cold turkey hasn't worked in past attempts and neither did the patches. I just enjoy smoking too much. I hope you do it though, just imagine the lung improvement and not having to take a break from EVERYTHING to go smoke a cigarette. Its the only thing where you can be doing nothing but you still need a break to smoke.

@Justine - That's interesting, I'd like to hear more how it helped and method. I'm thinking the only way to stop with these things for me are with chemical help.

Well, low dose MXE done daily basically eliminated the craving for cigarettes during the first two months, after
that MXE stopped working for me so I had to endure a bit of craving/anxiety but it was MUCH easier than without any
chemical help.

I just thought of something that might help ease the transition from smoker to non-smoker.

Identify the situations where you crave a cigarette the most, like after you eat or while you're driving.

Instead of giving in to it, put it off and try to re-train that part of yourself. I'm thinking that if you can overcome these problem points first, dealing with the rest should be a lot easier.

any method, it's the desire that counts. try again, and again, and again in your endeavors. I've quit for 5 months now, cold turkey all forms of nicotine. You have to admit to yourself your an addict, and put it down again and again with determination, and get over the 3 day hump. Now I'm running about 1 mile every nite, I want to build up to 4 miles. Haven't done that for 15 years! That's right around when I started with the tobacco things...

I haven't quit by a long way as I'm still smoking 2-3 a day, but I've started telling myself if I want one. Just have one.

My logic in this is the longer I go without one the more it's on my mind, then when I have one, I generally put it out halfway as I realise I don't enjoy it all that much. So I'm not trying to force myself to stop, but I am allowing myself. As I was smoking so much, as a psychological crutch I don't want to drop it completely until I can replace it with something else more effective and beneficial to my health.

Not much of a success story but I was practically chain smoking 2 months ago. I've eliminated the parts of my habit I disliked the most and that was the smoke first thing in the morning and the last one before bed. I'm not even having my morning coffee anymore either

I wake up and I eat something, have a glass of water and my multivitamin. If I have time, I run 2 miles at around 7.5 mph, no rests. Then I shower and go to work. I'd often have a cigarette on the way to work out of habit rather than a desire for nicotine, so I've stopped having that one. When I'm at work if I feel like having a smoke, I'll eat a healthy snack instead to keep my energy boosted throughout the day for what's to come after work at least 3 days a week...

Dr Tabata interval training. 4 minutes of 20 seconds maximum intensity exercise and 10 second rest cycles. It can be any activity you want as long as you can do it intensley and practically within those time frames. It's pretty mean But anyways, I find this makes my body crave oxygen far more than nicotine... and it really burns!!!

I'd recommend doing this in the morning if you can, but I just exercise more effectively in the afternoon.