Struggling To Quit Smoking

Hey there, so I am trying to quit smoking, I have been trying the last few weeks but holy crap I underestimated this. Each time my dispatcher give me a bad run I want a smoke, exhausted from hand loading freight I need a smoke, hours tick by on night shift I want a smoke. I get irritable, can’t think straight, and get really tired. Doesn’t help I’m on night shift (LTL Linehaul/shuttle). Anyone have any advise? Any food or drinks that help with the craving and brain fog?

Go on the internet and check out lots of pictures of cancer victims. Those should do the trick, but if not, do the math on all the money you've wasted on Big Tobacco. Price per pack X packs per day X 365 days X years you've smoked. That should scare you straight.

Harsh? I'm a two time cancer survivor and a heart transplant recipient. I quit smoking more than 15 years ago. It's a tough habit to shake but YOU TOO CAN QUIT.

Consider prescription Nicotrol. I used it to quit smoking 20 years ago.

Prescripted medication like Chantix etc.. Nicotine gum or even regular gum - just to get another habit using that if you nervous. Coffee. Try drink a bottle of water instead. Try to eat some protein (jerks for example), it may help.

I'd check out Atomic Habits by James Clear. He lays out a clear and easy to understand breakdown of what makes a habit and how to both build and break them. In short though you need to (like PackRat said) make the habit unappealing and find a replacement that's positive. If you can remove it from your environment (simple and hard at the same time as a truck driver). An early component Clear talks about is the connection of habit and identity -- you'll also need to stop thinking of yourself as a smoker. Think of the cigarettes and the action involved as a thing you do, not as a thing you are.

As well, definitely use any online resources you can find. Most (if not all) states have a helpline for this.

Most importantly I think you need to want it, badly, but also acknowledge you can't just willpower your way out.

DON'T use Chantix without reading about the side effects first! My baby brother's doctor put him on that and he's come close to committing suicide several times. It really screwed with his brain, to the point that he has had electro shock therapy to help him get thru the bad times :-(

Laura

If most people who smoke knew how addictive and health threatning this habit is when they started they might have thought twice about it. The cost, stained teeth and fingers, the smell of smoke in your hair, clothes and breath, the taste that lingers in your mouth and the health disaster for you and your family in the years ahead.

I smoked for 25 years, Pall Mall non-filters to boot and always used the excuse that it wasn't much just a pack a day. It was easy to start as my father smoked, my cousin too and we used to sneak them together. My family were the ones who finally convinced me to try and quit. The kids pressured me and the wife said I could not smoke inside our brand new built home. I gave them up cold turkey just like that. HARD AS HELL but with a strong will power it can be done.

You'll be surprised as to how much better you feel. Breathe better, taste you food, don't smell and save a small fortune. Then you can't stand to be near the smoke. Try and try again to quit. You won't regret it.

Nicotrol is far different than Chantix. Nicotrol is pure nicotine and allows one to ween off of it in 30 days.

DON'T use Chantix without reading about the side effects first! My baby brother's doctor put him on that and he's come close to committing suicide several times. It really screwed with his brain, to the point that he has had electro shock therapy to help him get thru the bad times :-(

Laura

Chantis is actually another name for WELLBUTRIN. While it's not on the FMCSA "no-fly list" - it does have "sedation" as a side effect - and you might NOT want to use it (and your company will likely NOT want you using it either). The anecdotal reports of side effects are wide-ranging. Most of my friends that tried it - stopped using it almost immediately because of the side effects. Bad enough you just want to DIE while quitting smoking - adding a drug with "suicidal thoughts" as a side effect, doesn't make much sense.

While I can't preach (because I've quit for extended lengths of time, and went back) - it is one of THE HARDEST ADDICTIONS TO BREAK.

I've done it:

1 - Cold Turkey & Prayer 2 - Nicorette Gum (which can get as expensive as smoking - I have friends that have been doing the gum FOR DECADES). 3 - There are a number of "taper off" apps that time you between smokes, increasing the time gradually.

There is a HUGE PSYCHOLOGICAL COMPONENT to smoking - lifestyle, constant "sticking something in your mouth", telling yourself "I NEED IT", etc.

I'm down to one every 45 minutes to an hour (from a virtual chain smoker). I have two huge boxes of nicorette but I just haven't talked myself to the "jumping off point".

I'm not driving - but I have a new truck that I committed to not smoking in - one year now, haven't smoked in the thing - my friends are amazed.

I walked away from a heroin & crack habit over 30 years ago - quit and never looked back (aside from being dope-sick for a week). Cigs are WAY HARDER TO QUIT. Vapes aren't much better (though weaning down to zero nicotine can help with the physical component of the addiction), and they still satisfy some of the psychological aspects - but you're still forcing "foreign substances" into your lungs - so there's that.

Best of luck in your quest to become smoke free - for many, getting and remaining smoke free turns into one of the most difficult things they've ever had to overcome in life.

Rick

I managed to quit like my ex-wifes thanksgiving dinner....cold turkey. I quit in 1996 weeks after my divorce, I like to say I didn't need them anymore as all of the stress left my life. I got to the point where I'd light on and 1/4 of the way down I'd put it out wondering why I even lit it. The taste was no longer enjoyable and like I said, I was no longer stressed for the first time in years. Now I pass someone or talk to them after they were smoking and think, dayumm, my breath used to smell like that too!! But basically the undeniable desire to quit and quit for yourself not because someone else wants you to is the biggest hurdle for most. Any chemical be it tobacco or vape that you put into your body is not good so theres the health benifit as well as financial benefits. When I was 16-17 my friends and I were griping about the high price of cigarettes (they had just gone up to a buck a pack for Marlboro and Camels after all) complaining how we couldn't afford to smoke if the prices keep going up...lmao. Now I see $5-$15 packs and wonder how anyone can afford them. I'm with the others on wellbutrin/chantix, many many side effects and not all good. I knew a guy in his 40s taking wellbutrin and he said it gave him crazy scary dreams as well as some really good dreams (umm, nocturnal emissions we'll call it) in his 40s!! Good luck with the quitting. If you TRULY want to quit for yourself I recommend COLD TURKEY. It's hard as hell but the best way in my opinion. Don't beat yourself bbn up if you do this a d have an occasional lapse just go right back to the mindset, I'M NOT A SMOKER, I DO NOT SMOKE.