Easy Way to Quit?

https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/copd-and-cant-commit-to-quitting/?pg=1#comment-896706

Hello there, @psychoticnonconformist! Welcome to Mayo Connect! Hmmm...that's quite a name you have there! So, @scolio very kindly pasted a link to follow that mentions the Allen Carr Easy Way to Quit Smoking book. Allen Carr was a dedicated smoker of five packs of cigarettes a day for decades. I can't even imagine he lived a moment without one in his hand, another in the ashtray and ready to light up another. He has a fascinating testimony that I personally took to in a huge way. It made so much sense. In the end, after it all sunk in, I was ashamed at how weak I was giving all the power to this small, stupid object and how many hours of life I missed while smoking, and how many hours I took off my life because of smoking. He has some great YouTubes as well. The book, for me, was so good in that it went behind the normal addiction stuff, because cigarettes are a different addiction, and spelled out the logic and science and psychology behind why we think we NEED a cigarette. The truth is we no not need them. The cigarette companies however, do need us. It's mind boggling what lengths they will go to get younger people smoking, because the older ones are all dying off. They need a newer crop all the time.
Just curious...are you trying to quit smoking yourself, or are you asking "for a friend?"

Hello. Funny story about that name. The term arose after one of my consults during a Mayo Appt. I've been a patient there since 2020 for what ended up being a rare lung infection. Obviously in treating that they were rightfully on me about my 40+ years of smoking, many years like you described in your example in the Allan Carr instance, and that became the catylist to taking quitting more seriously. They prescibed all the usual aids and none of them were very effective. I tried Chantix years ago during a period in my life that was pretty chaotic and that had terrible results. I woke up one night on top of my late wife with my hands around her neck choking her thinking she was the thug mayor of Detroit I was then in litigation with. Don't worry, thats not why she is my late wife, cancer took her years later, but its scared the hell out of her and she was on the phone with my PC the very next morning and they took me off Chantix. Needless to say, I've tried all the usual methods without much success so now find myself looking for other options. Being a fan of James Spaders acting, I seen him do an interview with Kimbill one night and he mentioned this as a method that helped him quit. I've looked into it and they have the text & audio program, the later I resently subcribed to but they also offer other methods of Mr. Carr's thinking that I am also considering to participate in. Quiting all those other drugs I played with when I was younger was far easier than getting this demon out of my life.
I went back to school and have some assignments due tonight so better get back to that. That sort of ties into the name of interest. When I read the report that contained that phrase I was at first sort of offended but after thinking about it thought, hum, it does seem to fit my past and the current situation so like I mentioned to one of the other Doctors I see there, if that's
what you have to be to get meaningful healthcare than I will gladly wear that label. Do not take this out of context, I get great care at Mayo and consider them to be the best place on the planet. It was merely a part of my treatment plan that some wanted to handle one way and I wanted to handle another. That's since been resolved and I am on the treatment plan that I feel works best for me in my situation. After discussing that label with some of the other great Doctors I have there and they not being familier with the phrase, I ended up forming a nonprofit, having a logo & website created, had them trademarked,and am now just getting ready to launch its podcast at nonconformistpodcast.org. So in closing, like I now say often, have a Blessed evening and remember to always be the best nonconformist you can be.
Douglas

I want help. I need help. I pray Every Night for the Good Lord to take t this addiction away from me ,and to give me the strength!

Hi @tam66, I'm glad you are here. It looks like this is your first post, so welcome to Connect and congratulations on making your first post!
Oh, @tam66, I feel your despair!! I really do!
Even now, after six full years of not smoking, I still have the cravings. They just got better, and I got better about dealing with them.
I'm not sure you read my post? I smoked for over 42 years. Everyday. I was dedicated to my cigarettes. I knew I did not like what they were doing to me, but I felt powerless to overcome their control over me.
Then I read the Allen Carr book, Allen Carr's Easy Way to Quit Smoking. There is only one way to quit smoking, and quit for good...the way that works for you!!
Here's what I liked about his book: He got into the psychology behind the addiction and boiled it down to the little monster that lives in your head. That little monster is the thing that is making you think you need a cigarette. We need air, water, food, shelter, love, but we DO NOT NEED CIGARETTES! Not to live. The withdrawal is so mild compared to like heroin or alcohol, that physically it's a little annoying. That's all.
Think about smoking.
We smoke when we are happy.
Smoke when we are sad.
Smoke when we are excited, mad, anxious, want to calm down, want to think better, want to enjoy the moment we are in. But the cigarettes do not add a single thing to our enjoying the moment or getting us through. We only think they do. Cigarettes lie.
They are liars!!
The truth is they take time away from enjoying those moments. I remember thinking "How am I ever going to enjoy going to a party, a wedding reception, a game, any function at all...without being able to smoke?" I truly thought and believed with all my heart I would never enjoy life again without my little friend. But my little 'friend' was trying to kill me. And I was letting it. I took control on Jan 8, 2018, and never smoked again.
Now don't get me wrong...the first two weeks were terrible. But I was committed to quitting as much as I had been committed to smoking.
I was in control. Not the stupid little object.
I don't know if this will help you or not...I KNOW it's not easy. But if you WANT to do it, you CAN do it!!! I went to the Dollar Store and got a couple bags of hot cinnamon hard candies and every time I wanted a smoke, I had one of those. The truth is, the craving last about five minutes. If you can distract yourself for that long...you can go a day. Then another, and another, and pretty soon, a week, a month and a year!!! I would straighten my sock drawer, the pantry, the linen closet, my shoes...anything to distract for about five minutes. I walked everyday. I asked God to help me find discipline. I didn't need Willpower, I needed Won't power!
I finally knew I made it when I thought to myself "hey...I haven't even thought of a smoke and it's been two days" Now weeks go by and I don't think of them. It's still a process, but one I am not going to lose. Check out the Allen Carr book. I got mine on Amazon.
How long have you smoked? What is the scariest thing about quitting you can think of?

i have been trying to quit for a couple years now, everything i have tried does not work. i would love to no how others are doing with quiting, and how if they did quite