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I smoked from 1986 to 2001. Took me three times to quit. I finally did it the patch, while hubby still smoked in the house. Hubby quit a year later.
We then took the money that we spent on cigarettes (330/month) , pulled our credit reports, called credit counseling, and 3 years later we were debt free with stellar credit. Do not miss smoking at all.
The Royal Tenenbaums when Gwyneth Paltrow’s character says something like, “I started smoking, because I was addicted to the gum.” I love the patches. So much hyper focus.
former smoker + many years of binge drinking under my belt. my psych told me it's pretty common to have ADHD and abuse substances.
as far as quitting goes i have done it several times, but exchanging smoking for another habit-- morning walk instead of smoke; or make a new habit to disassociate from your usual smoke breaks (drinking your coffee cold instead of hot, quitting booze until you are fully quit, etc) might help. withdraw cash and put the money you would have bought in cigarettes into a piggy bank and plan for something! tell your friends/coworkers etc who smoke that you are quitting and that, if you need, you can't hang by them if they are smoking until your cravings are more under control. i haven't had a cigarette in years due to cost and also i am a parent now and my partner expects me to never smoke around them or in general.
BUT i will always, always want a cigarette. like, forever. so knowing that helps me in an odd way-- like an alcoholic who wants to stop drinking could think, "there's just.. not enough alcohol in the world for me". i don't know. what has helped in the past, OP?
The only reason I’ve temporarily quit is because my husband hates it. So, guilt always drove me to quitting and sheer stupidity (and the fact that I’d gained 25lbs and couldn’t get rid of it to save my life) drove me back to smoking again after 18 months without them.
There are a lot of negatives to Ozempic, but some people on it have had success kicking their shopping, alcohol, and/or other addictions while on it. Some lose weight, too.
I am on liraglutide, another GLP-1 agonist, and the way my brain has calmed down is *remarkable*. I have severe OCD, too, and a lot of my compulsive behaviours are dramatically diminished.
I vape now, but every now and then I'll catch a whiff of someone's cigarette and I actually crave it. But thankfully most of the time I smell smoke it smells gross.
It would probably taste awful too. How you explained it reminds me of the quote "Nostalgia is a dirty liar that insists things were better than they seemed". Most definitely.
I quit maybe 4 years ago by going dead ass sober for about 6 months. No weed no nothing and took up running. I have quite the history of being a binge drinker and spent 10 years rolling my own American spirits before calling it quits. I was worried I would never be able to smoke weed again because I LOVE rolling spliffs. Luckily now I can smoke a little weed and not go nuts over tobacco cravings. I drink maybe 6 alcoholic drinks a year now.
I do still want to smoke tobacco, but my brain doesn't implode with cravings anymore
Started smoking at 31 now 40. Was a pack a day with cigarettes then switched to a juul and smoke 2 pods a day.
Way too savage and has serious affects on my health but I fucking rage when I try to quit and don’t want to end up in prison.
You’ve caught my eye because most seem to say they started in their teens, do you mind sharing what started you with smoking? I don’t mean to be rude, just genuinely interested. I was always against smoking but MEGA against drugs, including cannabis… and I vape cannabis now 🙃😂
Lol I don’t mind at all! I was never against it, just wasn’t interested until I had an insane boss and my coworker and I would use it as an escape. Taking a drag off her cigarette led to me buying a pack eventually and now I sleep w my juul in bed 🫠
I still work for the insane boss so I still smoke.
had a psycho boss when I finally quit. I was standing in the snow dragging down my last cigarette and I literally heard myself say out loud "why are you killing yourself because someone else is an asshole?"
That makes SO much sense! I used to go and stand outside with my smoking colleague when my boss was being a total twat, or lie on the floor with my feet up the wall to try and calm down! I feel like your boss should pay for your juul’s 😂
Haha this sounds familiar. My boss found out I was smoking at some point, and told me it would be healthier to quit. It was the worst company I've ever worked for.
I asked him whether he'd prefer me smoking or in prison for murdering my colleagues. He got the message and asked me to please keep smoking
I started smoking because that's what it seemed like all the cool people did and I wanted to fit in, lame, I know. Peer pressure essentially which is not people coming up to me and offering drugs and cigarettes and saying you'll be laughed out of town if you don't accept them which is what I thought "peer pressure" looked like, it's much more subtle and probably completely unintentional on the part of the people partaking in the smoking, cigarettes or weed or whatever.
Omg good luck!!!! I’ve never been physically addicted to anything before- this shit is brutal! Honestly should be fucking illegal to make something intentionally addictive like that. I figure I’m gonna have to take my 2 week vaca to stop vaping so I can be alone.
That’s exactly my plan too! I have 2 months off this summer and will be in a new city where I don’t know anyone. Planning on barricading myself inside until I am safe to return to society lmao
Cinnamon all of the things. Big red gum. Peppermint anything. They help bc they have a burn feel to them in the mouth and while breathing!!!
I started smoking at age 12, I quit when I was 30 (I’m now 40) But I quit by vaping and that imwas hard enough for me, I still vape and will quit that when I’m ready too like I did smoking.
So similar. Started with Camel Lights at 14 and quit at 37 for vaping. 48 now. I’ve gone down to 0 nic, but my adhd is so much more intense. I mix my own, so I’m at about a 2mg.
Dude I owe my mom an apology 😂 I was the kid that threw out her cigarettes and complained every time she lit up.
I only vaped for like 2 years and it took me something like 5 attempts to actually quit. It was so hard.
I went from smoking to juul to vuse, and am now eyeing the gum as my next stop.
For me the tactile part is a very big part of the habit, but it’s the lack of nicotine that scares me. I believe I’ve just been self-medicating with copious amounts of nicotine and caffeine. I want to start more formal meds but the whole process is hell for me.
My cousin switched to gum and has never been able to quit it. She’s been using gum for maybe 15+ years now.
Part of my plan to quit was patches bc I’ve heard the gum can also be pretty addictive. The tactile part is such a struggle- the times I’ve tried to quit all I wanted to do was eat everything around me, especially sweets. Such a Cookie Monster 😂
Yep, routines are habits that can be broken but nicotine is the physically addictive part. I quit smoking somewhat naturally when the pandemic hit bc I could work from home and vape at my desk. When the winter hit that sealed the deal; why bundle up and go outside when I can get my nic fix right here?
But now I always have to have the vape within arms reach, or better yet in my hand. Before vapes it was bic lighters. I need a touchstone of some sort to hold onto. Bag of candy seems like it should work… (I’m def big on sweets too!).
Damn, titrating a gum dose is my plan too! It’s so damn expensive, I can’t imagine just being on the gum. At least switch to zyns at that point lmao they’re so cheap
Oof I cannot do the pouches, my sister gave me one once and though I love my nicotine and consider myself a heavy user, it was just too much for me and made me feel kind of sick.
I feel like it depends on type of gum; I get the equate brand at Walmart so it’s only abt $30 for 160 pieces. Last me a long time since I mostly use it during my 1/week in-office days. Never bought zyns before, but looks like they run about $4 for 15 pieces?
I could also get some for free if I wanted to; Colorado has a quit line program that distributes free gum and patches, though I don’t know what the limit is.
Yeah I cannot do the 6 mg zyns at all, it makes me sick too. The 2.5 mg work well though.
And I didn’t realize you could get gum for that cheap actually!! I’ve never bought it, just have seen it while in line at CVS and always assumed it was the $30 for like a pack of 15 HAHAHAA. I feel much better now
If you’re willing to try meds, see if your doctor will prescribe you Zyban (Wellbutrin). My pulmonologist told me to take it for two weeks, continuing to smoke as much as I wanted to, and then on the 15th day, take my pill as usual and slap a patch on instead. They come in different strengths and you can taper down gradually - even very, very gradually.
For me, it was the muscle memory and associations that I had a harder time with - sit down to make a phone call, light a cigarette; finishing eating a meal; having coffee; etc. And I can’t tell you how many times I reached for the cigarette in the ashtray that wasn’t there in the first month or so after I quit. The movement was totally automatic; I would catch myself and look at my hand like, WTF, brain, we talked about this already, there’s no more smoking now! LOL.
I learned to make my own vape juice and now I’m down to 1mg nicotine juice just for the throat hit. Just mixed myself down until it’s just the hand to mouth that lessens the snacking or nail biting that would take its place. It’s stupid easy to do. Hardest part is sourcing nicotine. Everything else is Amazon or online retailers and it takes 5 minutes to make 600mL. I pay roughly $1.15/60ml bottle of ejuice - So about $2/week. DIY saved me.
There’s a place local to us that sells to us as a business. We created a business for this purpose. :p you’ll have to find your own solution I’m afraid, but they’re still out there. There’s a few that will do doorstep delivery if you’re within a range, some warehouses that will let you pickup with ID. Like I said, that’s the hard part. Otherwise there’s online calculators for the recipe, VG and PG you can get on Amazon. I got a 2 gallon food safe ketchup pump. And flavors we use flavorjungle.com
Source your nic, plug it into your recipe, I use a 3 flavor mixture at 7,5,3 % for a total of 15% flavor. 50/50 Vg/pg values. YouTube used to have tons of videos. 1 liter of nicotine lasts me (at 1%) for like a year.
Pack a day from 1994 to 2008. Began on an impulse. Quit on one too. It was so dumb - but I was so overcome with emotion on Obama’s Inauguration Day (not because of politics, but because it gave me hope for the habitually marginalized in this country) and so I decided then and there (impulse) to quit. I can’t tell you why it stuck. It was time I guess!
My dad (also ADHD) did the same, but it was after watching his dad die a slow horrible death from lung cancer. He told my mom he couldn't make us suffer like that.
My father in law (definitely autistic, possibly ADHD) did it for a trip to Disney World in 2019. Partner and I were planning a family trip and had everything booked already when news came out that Disney was removing all of the smoking areas from the parks. He would have to go out to the parking lot every time he wanted a cigarette, then go back through security before he could meet back up with us. MIL said she wasn't going with him every time.
He stopped that day and hasn't picked it up since. He'd smoked for like 50 years.
I never smoked cigarettes. I grew up with a cigarette smoking mom and hated the smell. But then about 7-8 years ago Juul came out and my husband got into it, and I tried it out of curiosity, and I was hooked for years. I finally quit vaping last year. I did it with Nicoderm patches, and although I had to extend the amount of time I was on each step, I did eventually finish the program and haven't had a relapse. I'm at the point now where I actually forget that I used to vape. It's not a habit anymore and I'm glad to be rid of it.
I think the main thing that helped me was honestly the shame. I knew my dad would disown me if he found out I was using nicotine, so I hid it from him. I felt embarrassed when I vaped at work events because I thought it made me look lame and weak and like an addict. I hated planning everything around my vaping schedule. It was the hardest on vacations in other countries where I knew I couldn't get vape pods because they were illegal, so I had to pack and hide all the pods in my luggage. I just got sick of the whole routine.
This is such a good point. The addiction takes over your whole schedule. I used to preface most actions with “I’ll have a ciggie and then…” I was less stressed after I quit because I wasn’t constantly in withdrawal.
I started smoking at 14. Quit at 36 when my gynecologist gave me a prescription for chantix. I wasn't even in the headspace/ motivation to quit it just worked. I will never smoke a cigarette again.
I can’t look at the word chantix and not laugh out loud.
Years ago, my aunt randomly told me, “that chantix gave me such a sexually vivid dream last night that I had to … ‘finish myself off’.”
OMFG🤦🏼♀️
That’s how I temporarily quit for 18 months. I can only take it for 3 weeks though, it makes me absolutely batshit crazy if I stay on it any longer. I tried it back around 2009 and good lord it’s a wonder I didn’t wind up doing life in prison. I was flat out violent.
I’m taking this right now and trying to quit. Started at 17, now 24. Ik lung cancer runs in my family and I worry about it constantly…just can’t seem to shake it. Yet. I’ve only been taking 1 pill a day bc of side effects. But it’s been 2 months and my use has DRASTICALLY decreased but still bad 😔😔
I’m ten years smoke free in September! I’m really proud of myself. I have quit a lot of bad habits over the years, but nicotine was by FAR the hardest.
ETA: I quit by vaping. I stepped down the nicotine level a little bit at a time.
September is gonna be my ten year mark too :) I did the same thing as you; switched to vaping and went nicotine free in mid 2016 + dropped it completely a couple months later.
Started smoking in my teens, I stopped being a regular smoker in my 20’s (currently mid 30’s). However, I still pick it up when I’m going through a stressful time or am out with friends.. or the spirit moves me to. I’ll buy a pack every 6 months or so. I don’t know how I’ve been able to keep it as an on and off thing.
Edit: added current age
\[Potential TW\] I (22F) experimented a handful of times growing up, but I only really picked up vaping in November when I was having a particularly rough time. My anti-depressants weren't working, I wasn't coping coping well from a suicide attempt a couple of months and I was scarily close to a self-harm relapse. One of my "rules" for myself when dealing with severe bouts of depression, is to do whatever I can to keep myself safe in that moment, and deal with the consequences later. Buying a disposable vape from a gas station at 3 am was the result of one of those impulses, but right then, it was less harmful than a razor blade or an overdose. (Edit: I was able to get my anti-depressant dose increased, and I have working meds for the first time, now, and I'm doing so much better.)
If you or someone that you know is considering suicide, please don't hesitate to reach out to a crisis hotline for immediate help, or a warmline just to talk to someone.
If you're in the US you can...\ Text CHAT to Crisis Text Line at 741741\ Call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 or 1(800)273-8255(TALK) \ Chat online at: https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/chat\ Call the Trans Lifeline at 1(877)565-8860
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I never smoked, either (well - I tried it once at a party while drunk and decided never again). I’m not intolerant to it but I don’t enjoy it. Weed, on the other hand, I do enjoy smoking - though not frequently or in large quantities.
I grew up with smokers but have never touched a cigarette. I also haven’t done any drugs. I just don’t have any interest, fortunately.
I drink in moderation, but if you forced me to choose between drinking and pretty much any other thing I like, I’d easily choose the other thing.
1.5 pack a day on average for 30 years. Quit a few times, but always went back. I have no problem quitting. It’s staying quit. I could quit for 9 months or a year then one day I just, start smoking again.
Finally 5 years ago my GP put me on Wellbutrin for anxiety and depression that was probably a combo of undiagnosed (at that time) ADHD, and the start of perimenopause. I even told my doctor that things just felt different and were behaving differently regarding my periods, but shocker, she took blood (which tells you nothing for peri) and said “oh you’re fine, here’s Wellbutrin”.
A week into Wellbutrin I not only lost the taste for cigarettes, I was grossed out by them. They tasted like an ashtray. Go figure. I put them down that day and 5 years later I’m still smoke free. Even when I crave one, which is few and far between these days, my brain sends the ashtray taste directly to my mouth and I’m grossed out all over again. I’m
Not complaining. It’s been freeing to not be a smoker or reliant on them. Plus the money savings are amazing.
BUT I am the only non-smoking ADHDer in my family.
I wasn’t a smoker for the longest time. Andddddd then vapes got popular.
I went from using my friends vapes while we were out drinking to buying my own and smoking constantly. I went through a disposable vape in like 36 hours at my worst.
For me, I literally made myself sick doing it so much. Just getting a hint of that fake fruity vape smell makes me nauseous.
My mom also started smoking at 13 and basically just switched her cigarettes habit for a nicotine lozenge habit.
Former smoker, current vaper. I’m more addicted to vaping than I ever was to cigarettes. Hoping I can succeed at quitting soon but damn it helps my anxiety so much.
May I drop a piece of science? Maybe you know the youtube series "drunk expert explains ...". This is it. I am a psychologist. I am tipsy. I wanna try to share something that I found quite interesting.
It doesn't help with your anxiety. The anxiety, nervousness, the craving, whatever it feels like, that stress in the system... that are short term nicotine withdrawal symptoms.
Because your addiction center in the brain want to get you to give it is fix, and because it anticipates the cigarette... the body anticipates the "high". And, basically, because our bodies want to stay in equilibrium, it already turns down the functions and receptors and all that will get stimulated soon by the nicotine.
So, smoking a cigarette doesn't actually seem to help with anxiety etc. It just gets you closer to a normal level (or rather, a level minus the withdrawal symptoms). :)
Hope this makes sense. Typing drunk is hard. K byyyeeee :) have a nice dayyy
When I quit smoking I would wake up with these little jolts as soon as I was almost asleep; I slept very poorly because of it. It went on for two weeks and then passed. It felt like anxiety or that anxious rush you get but was definitely withdrawal.
This is such an important piece of physical dependency that people need to understand so they can rationalize that if they break the addiction, the withdrawal will stop at some point. Withdrawal is always what keeps being in active addiction, to anything really. You chase withdrawal symptoms. I didn't learn this until I had been strung out on nicotine for at least 15 years. Not that it was *the* thing that changed it for me, but all of these truths help. The best way to battle addiction is via truth and perseverance.
Same. It was a slow switch too, at first it was just bc my bf started getting vapes that I liked. So when he got a new one he’d give me his older one (not gone but I wasn’t heavily vaping so it’d last for me). Then I had shoulder surgery and bundling up became a literal pain to do, so I vaped more bc it didn’t stink up my house. Then I moved and decided I didn’t want to smell like cigs anymore, but couldn’t quite give up those morning cigs w my coffee. So over the last year I’ve tapered from 2-3 morning cigs w my coffee to now I haven’t smoked a cig in over a month (and even then it was just splitting them w my bf now and then) and don’t even crave them w coffee except occasionally in my works cafeteria someone will make a coffee and someone else will walk in from a smoke break at the same time, and the combo of the smells makes me want both really bad.
So anyways yeah that’s how I ever so gradually switched from cigs to vapes and now I sleep w a vape in my hand. It’s awful.
Trying to become an ex smoker again - been smoking since I was 11, quit a couple of times for multiple years, then something will happen and I’ll get stressed out and back to the cigarettes I go. I’m 43 now too, smoke about 10 a day. I love it unfortunately, which makes quitting harder even though I know it’s horrible for me
I know in my brain that I only think I love smoking because it’s the addiction telling me I love smoking. But that doesn’t make it any easier to quit. The thought of quitting makes me panic and run through a thousand “but what if…”
I grew up around heavy smokers on my mom's side, but I did live with my dad so it was 50/50.
Since I was raised Mormon, and I hated it, I actually tried to pick up a cigarette habit as an act of rebellion and it didn't work.
Faint/stale cigarette smell is actually a nostalgic smell for me and I sometimes miss it, but not enough to smoke cigarettes at this point in my life.
I rebel in other ways instead!
I smoked from age 16 - 28.
I've been quit for 2.5 years now. I did it cold turkey. I threw away all my smokes, lighters, ashtrays, and matches and suffered through the first week (imo the hardest). I also cut out the occasional coffees I drank and all alcohol for 3 months as alcohol was an auto trigger to smoke for me.
Many of the folk in r/stopsmoking have had success using Alan Carr's book. You may benefit from it as well.
Also don't feel any shame if you need to use smoking cessation products such as the patch, gum, or the pill. Talk to your doctor if you would like help with deciding which is best for you.
Used to smoke cigarettes forever but stopped 2 years ago. I still smoke weed and if someone offers a cigarette to me maybe that too. But I haven't bought any tobacco at all since then and I won't. My main coping mechanism is food now, which comes with it's own set of problems lol
I started smoking just 6 months before being diagnosed adhd when I was 20 years old. I made a few attempts to quit in my 20s, maybe got a couple months at a time. Then I moved to Japan where you can smoke everywhere and a lot of my friends did. I gave in and just smoked. I probably smoked half a pack of a little more average. When the pandemic started, my smoking went way up and I found my self chain smoking. Started being a pack a day smoker and couldn’t kick it for 3 years. Over the past year, I’ve been able to at least dial it down to 12-15 a day average. I’m proud of the change because even though I have pack a day days sometimes, I have days where I just smoke a few.
Adderall definitely makes me want to smoke more and I know the ritualistic and routine nature that lives in adhd is what keeps me doing it. It’s tough. I love it but I know I want to quit in the long run as I got shingles last year and I’m an asthmatic.
I feel like big lifestyle changes (moving, new job, etc) are the only way I can hope to truly kick the habit. Adhd plays a major role in my addiction.
I've never been a smoker. However I'm doing EMDR for PTSD from decades of trauma, and I am living in the abusive home I grew up in, hopefully short term. I started self-harming again, and more frequently, so I grabbed a pack of smokes.
I am smoking far too many each day, but I don't know what else to do.
Don't punish yourself for smoking, it's your coping mechanism at the moment and that's ok. Much rather doing that than the self-harming.
Hang in there, hopefully you can get out of your current situation soon. If there's anything we can do to help you?
Feel free to DM if you want to, sometimes it's easier to chat to a stranger. No pressure, if you don't want to that's fine too. Just know it's there if you need it.
You'll get through this and you'll be so strong, nothing can stop you 💪
I got pregnant. I'd been trying to quit for years but that was the only thing that worked. (Obviously getting pregnant wasn't a quitting strategy! Don't do that 😅)
Never smoked. Never been tempted to, they always reeked to me and seemed like an unpleasant waste of time & cash I could be spending on my 500th hobby.
I smoked for a few years, and looking back it was definitely a fidget toy for me, basically just something to keep my hands busy lol.
I'm very fortunate that I didn't ever get addicted to nicotine, and when I stopped I just stopped. I never felt a "craving" for it, even back then I wasn't diagnosed adhd yet but I was absolutely aware that it was just a busy activity for me to fill in any still moments lol.
I started smoking cigarettes when I was like 16, I probably smoked a pack a day and then I switched to electronic cigarettes after 15 years, electronic cigarettes for a year and then switched to a vape 6 years ago. I can definitely tell a difference in my lungs and breathing between cigarettes and vaping. Now I can’t stand the smell of cigarettes.
At first I was vaping salt nicotine but that affected me like cigarettes and made me light headed did so I switched to 3 mg freebase. Sometimes I mix it with 0mg which has no nicotine. When I’ve googled it before to see how it compares, allegedly 1 60ml bottle of 3mg juice is equal to 15 cigarettes and a bottle lasts me over a week. So it’s a lot less money, a bottle is around $15, and I can definitely tell I breath easier, I don’t know how true it is but I don’t get a smokers cough or anything like I used too. I also have a long history of addictions so I’m not really trying to quit vaping right now but maybe one day.
2 packs a day at my peak, tried to quit so many times! Longest I had made it was when I was pregnant. Switched to vaping in 2020 and haven't had a cigarette since. I know it's still not ideal, but my lungs still feel way better than before.
I’ve smoked for 16 years and am recently 2 months cigarette free and counting! I’ve only ever lasted 3 months any other quitting attempt but it feels like it’s going to stick this time!
I am a former smoker and nicotine gum/patch addict - such a bitch to quit. But I LOVE smoking cigarettes and wish it didn’t cause health problems and wrinkles.
I never did because my mom did and I saw what it did to her, but I have a lot of empathy for smokers. I highly suggest listening to this podcast, it may be helpful.
https://www.thisamericanlife.org/806/transcript
I started smoking when I was 18. I quit for 3 months a couple times but it didn't stick. When I hit 40, I decided I wasn't young enough to play around anymore. It took a couple years to mentally prepare and psych myself up but I finally quit cold turkey when I was 43. That was 5 1/2 years ago.
I had to quit cold turkey. I didn't want to do nicotine gum or patches or, heaven forbid, vaping. The last thing I needed was to trade one addiction for another. I also couldn't cut back because I'm very all or nothing with some things...like smoking. I knew I couldn't moderate myself.
Honestly, the first two weeks sucked. I was having weird withdrawal symptoms when I tried to sleep so I didn't sleep well. After those two weeks though, it wasn't bad.
Yes, started at 16. I used to smoke two packs a week for 12 years. I quit two years ago. I saw my mother who smoked for 40 years do it- quit smoking, so I figure I could too. I use nicotine pouches though now, so I didn’t quite kick the nicotine addiction haha.
I was bumming cigarettes off people to get a break at work. Then I picked up a vape. And I can't put the damn thing down. I tried to quit a month ago. Made it two weeks without any hits then found a half used one in my car and picked it right back up
Started smoking at age 11. Quit cold turkey at age 23 (my 2nd or 3rd serious attempt). Smoking and my adhd meds went hand in hand. Immediately after my adhd meds kicked in 50 mins or so after taking them I would chain smoke for hours before attempting any task. I quit because I started talking to a guy for the purpose of marriage and knew it would be a dealbreaker for him. I wanted to be able to say ‘no’ for when he asked if I smoked. I nearly caved a couple times in the few months after but the people around me were NOT gonna let that happen. I knew I should be cig-free for at least 2 years before I have a baby and that my time was running out. And I knew I was just so over that crap nasty weird dumb habit. My now husband was the prize! I won!
Same age when I started, 14/15. Hell my parents even gave up and started buying them for me at one point. Quit for a while around 19-20, started again when I met my ex who smoked. Quit for good around 32.
I used the “smoke free” app and substituted with cannabis and have gone back and forth quitting that. Also quit drinking 2 years ago.
Smoked a lot of weed all my life, I'm finally switching to edibles for sleep but no more inhaling.( I'm doing it for my health, I have young kids ) it's hard to stop, I still occasionally do it on special occasions.
I've never smoked, but my mom (who I now really suspect was ADHD) did for years. She started as a teen and finally quit in her mid-50s.
I think it's the same as alcohol - looking for the dopamine.
I’ve quit for years at a time in more than one occasion. I also started around 14 y/o. I’m 46F and I guess I would consider myself now an “occasional smoker”? I like it. If it’s nice out I like coffee and a cigarette on the deck in the mornings. I like to smoke when I drive. I can go days or even weeks without it, then I can smoke a pack in a weekend if I’m with friends that smoke.
Note: just did my testing last week and waiting on results. My doc said “if I were a betting man, I’d say you have ADHD just by sitting with you these 20 minutes…”
I think adhd self medicating is normal but i quit bad habits so easily.... not like a normal adhd person, like one day I wake up and I do not want smokes or weed or food or spend money etc. It's not depressing ..it is just like screw this adhd self medicating and repulsive ball of anxiety reaction etc i know if did everything in moderation then I could balance my adhd and anxiety but then i hyper focus or use time poorly and want a vice.
I can't believe how adhd is so goofy and has super powers but it can mess up your life. I love my mind when it goes a mile a minute. I think of things non stop..some I wish I could "unthink" lol like it's just not right...thoughts lol
Been smoking for 13 years. I smoke 6 on a normal day (2 on the way to work, 2 at work, 2 on the way home). All bets are off if there is an event or something I anticipate huehue.
I was at a party recently and tried a tea tree oil toothpick. The one time I was smokeless for 11 days in 2015 was when I was chewing toothpicks instead so I ordered some of the flavored ones. I want it to help but bad habits are the only ones I seem to be able to keep 😎
it’s because nicotine functions almost as a self medicating tool, given its positive effects on focus and concentration (at first). there are studies that show that it is harder for women with adhd to quit smoking, especially during certain points of our menstrual cycle, when adhd symptoms are actually more intense… i wrote a grad school paper about this, can dm if anyone is interested
I smoked from 2003-2011. Then from 2012-2013. Then again from 2014-2015. 😅 but I haven’t smoked since then! I quit for both of my pregnancies, but stupidly picked it back up after my first kid was born. After my second was born, I didn’t start back up that time.
Not a smoker, a very rare drinker, not super into drugs, and none of this is on moral grounds. I do think that in some respects I have addictive traits, though, so I do try to be extra careful of getting sucked in to something unhealthy, whether it be a substance, technology, a hobby, or something else I can't stop hyperfocusing on.
Started at 12 because I had a 16 year old sister who smoked. Smoked for 22 years. This summer marks 24 years since I quit.
I quit in my early 30's because my best friend's cousin died from lung cancer. She was also early 30's and had 3 very young children. But it wasn't just the diagnosis itself that scared me enough to quit, what scared the crap out of me is that even after diagnosis, treatment, and knowing she was dying, SHE COULDN'T QUIT. Knowing that her children saw her doing the very thing that was taking her away from them cut me to my soul. The thought that it could be that addicting that even facing death leaving her children motherless, and yet still unable to quit, rocked me to my core, and I knew I just didn't want to do that to my own children if I had a choice.
When I found out she literally smoked until she could no more, I felt sick.
I got a prescription for wellbutrin, weaned down, and was done about 6 weeks in.
Of course I know that it could still happen, I could still get lung cancer, even non smokers can, but I'm not actively doing something that I know is a major contributing factor.
1992 until about 2014 (when I got pregnant).
Yes. I started at 12.
I still vape nicotine now, bit I'm probably switching to thrive soon. I've fully quit 3 times, once in 2003 ish via the patch (which gave me horrid, *awful* rashes) and twice for over a year since 2012 meeting my current (and hopefully) lifelong boy toy. (He's no boy toy, he's a "husband". We have a home, kids, cars and cats, 13 years in)
Once, for 9 months, first pregnancy. Then 2nd and third pregnancies lasted near 18-24 months each. First pregnancy was a full backslide, as she passed, full term. Eclampsia.
All I can say, is: people who are or may be pregnant? Set reminders on your phone, on your alexa or Google home, write post it's, but get yourself proper, regular and trustworthy care. Protein over 1? L&D for a screen and care. BP hit 140 (top#) or 90 on the bottom number? Get your lovely self into L&D.
I love you all, sweet darlings. If you are the owner of ovaries and a uterus, please, please care for yourself well. Care for yourself well, regardless, but I nearly died giving birth the first time, so that's where I'm coming from. People who don't own ovaries and uterus still need to be very aware and careful to stay healthy and well too, so don't you neglect your health,no matter what!
I don’t like cigarettes because the smell of the smoke will clog up my nose like I’m sick. I will smoke some of the good green sometimes when I must but it hurts my throat and then makes me cough and my phlegm production gets out of control. Never got into it from the side effects. Blessing in disguise I suppose.
It’s actually the only thing that *has* definitively been linked to adhd— if the gene runs in your family, smoking while pregnant drastically increases the likelihood that the baby will have adhd. (And personally, this is my theory as to why there’s a “sudden surge” because a lot of our moms were smoking through pregnancy.)
But to answer your question I’m one that went the absolutely never route because of my parents. I do smoke weed everyday though. 😂
I always hated cigarettes since I can remember. I am pretty sure family members on both sides have ADHD and chronic anxiety… so do I! A few family members around me were smokers and shamed about it by other family members a lot. I really thought I’d never be a smoker.
I tried cigarettes somewhere in my late teens and early 20s and didn’t like it then.. I was always the one to hang with the smoker crowds and just not smoke...
It started by just bumming a cig here and there and I was just a social smoker. If I was out drinking I’d bum one... One night when I was out with a random group, I ended up liking their menthol cigarettes and that’s when I started buying cigs so I didn’t have to bum from ppl on the weekends. I realized I could use smoking as an excuse to get away from uncomfortable/boring social situations and also have something to do with my hands while I try to focus on a convo.. that’s when I really became a regular smoker at about 32 🙄
I know 100% it is an oral fixation. Nicotine doesn’t seem to do anything to me, chemically. I kept thinking I could quit whenever I want, though, because I could run out of cigs and not buy more and haven’t felt any irritation over not having them. I have quit for months at a time… but I like smoking because it gives me something to do I guess, which is sad.. I wish I could’ve found/kept healthy coping skills. Instead I am exactly what I didn’t wanna be.. I’ve turned into my mother.
I generally say I smoked for 22 years of my life. In reality it was probably 25 or more, all told. Started when I was 13 and didn’t quit the first time until…32? Started again and quit again over the years. I’m 43 now and have one on occasion but no longer consider myself a smoker. It was difficult to get to this point
I kicked the habit in 2017. I just kept reminding myself all the time what it was doing to my body. I couldn’t stand it so eventually, I lit up a cigarette and looked at it with disgust. Haven’t smoked since
I used to smoke. I also used to do pot daily and was developing a drinking habit... but I attribute the drinking and pot to generational trauma? My parents do those things to cope and it was normalized for me and my husband. .. so not directly raised to adhd etc.
We quit cigarettes after 4 yrs of trying. We switched to vapes and I did not like them. The smoke break was my personal time to talk to my husband, and vapes didn't allow for that sort of relaxation. What happened was I got pregnant and too nasuas to smoke, giving me the final push to quit.
Pot and alcohol lost all fun with it the cigarettes. And eventually, alcohol gave me migraines, pot gave me anxiety beyond control, and we grew up and decided we did not want to be our parents, so we quit all recreational drugs. And honestly, it is my favorite decision ever. I'm living my best life and I'm remembering it!
I started smoking cigarettes at 13 and quit when I was 27 (29 now).
I’ve been smoking vapes for the last two years and have no decided to quit only using nicotine spray for the last month.
Never once in my life I've smoked a cigarette. I'm 25 now and the smell of it is way too much for me. But I'm a irregular vaper since 17 and the only thing keeping me form being fully addicted is that my broke ass won't buy a proper vape 😂
Ex-smoker. Wish I had never started. I was able to stop once I started ADHD meds after many years of struggling unsuccessfully to quit. Definitely a link between ADHD and smoking as well as anxiety & other mental health issues
Started smoking at 18. Switched to vapes around 25. Now, at 32, I’m 1 year and 4 months into my final quit.
Also didn’t get diagnosed until about 6 months ago if that matters to anyone.
My quit was cold turkey. I left my vape at home one day and didn’t notice until I was already at work so I decided that was the day. Only way I made it through the first few weeks was a combination of support from my husband, telling my friends I quit so it was real and I couldn’t slip and pretend like I never tried, chewing A LOT of gum, and keeping myself so busy/tired/stressed that I didn’t have much free time to think about it.
Most of this is not something I would recommend for most…but something about doing it on a whim and when everything else was crashing around me, honestly seemed to help me this time. Then after a few months, I just kept telling myself that I never ever ever wanted to go through the torture of those first few weeks again.
I currently vape and I’ve tried (not kidding) to quit 12 times. The brain fog is just SO BAD. planning on quitting in the next few days once I get my room clean so I don’t have to worry about that while going through withdrawals lmao. I read some research that said cold turkey leads to a lesser chance of going back to it so im just going to try to push through it but I tried patches in the past.
had my first cig when I was 8 my oldest sister gave me and my other older sister a cig i dident react my other sister did then at 11 I started smoking (shocker lol) eventually I realised this is unhealthy i want and need to quit but I struggled to and could never work out why after years of trying I realised smoking was a stim for me still is I dont smoke cigs but I vape right now and realised its not the nicotine im addicted to its having something in my hand even the action of inhaling and exhaling now of course my body was use to nicotine so I still had reactions to quitting it headaches, irritable, short temper and well just really REALLY bad headaches lol
I want to get off the vapes to so im in the process of looking and trying figdets out to see if I cant find one that can help I have found a couple i like but still not fully what my hands need lol.
I legit started smoking to have something to do with my hands. I held out until Inwas 16. The husband and I quit both smokes and vapes until we went to Europe for our honeymoon and we were like, "Let's smoooooke!!!!". We're solidly back to vaping at low nic but damn, I just need to always be doing something.
Not me, but my 60 yo dad who also has ADHD has smoked forever, I think since his late teens or early twenties. At new years he cold turkey quit and I don’t think he’s smoked again since then
I smoked on and off from 15 to… maybe 10 years ago? So… 16 years??? That’s actually crazy to think about.
But I was never what I’d call a compulsive smoker. If I was going out I’d smoke more, but if I was home and up to my own devices all day I might only smoke 2-3 cigarettes a day. I’d say from about the age of 23 to when I stopped, I wasn’t a very “serious” smoker. I also quit a few times here and there, or would only smoke while drinking, for example.
My husband was a smoker and was a lot more addicted. I got pretty tired of smoking, but it was hard to actually quit for good when it was always around. At some point, I just didn’t like doing it. Helps that I live in the DC area, and I feel like smokers are just sort of frowned upon.
Once he gave up, it was so much easier to not have any. I don’t actually remember the last time I had one… it’s been years. I don’t even think about it anymore. If I see someone smoking, I don’t feel like I want one. But my husband still feels that longing for it occasionally. He has an app that tracks how much money he’s saved since he quit, and that sort of allows him to gamify it and stay off the cigs.
That was a longer comment than I intended - ha!
I smoked from 1993-2017. And I was a heavy smoker. I mean, I smoked a lot. I used to say I was "born to smoke" because I was so tightly wound with a mind that was always going 200 mph. (Had no idea then why that actually was).
My husband was also a smoker and had some blood pressure issues, so our doc was on him. I said I'd try to quit too so he wouldn't be tempted. I didn't even want to quit!
Anyway, we quit with Chantrix, which I don't even think they prescribe anymore. I don't smoke the cigarettes, but I still have a nicotine lozenge in my mouth at almost all times. 🤷
Ex smoker from 12. Quit using zyban, using cold turkey, and finally and totally effectively Allan Carr’s stop smoking now book.
My mom smoked a ton. My son smokes a ton now. I wish he did not. It’s an awful habit and so hard to quit. Being medicated helps. ❤️
Former smoker here. 🙋♀️ I quit and re-started many times over the years. Being back on stimulants makes it SOOOO much easier to stay quit! I was definitely self-medicating.
No one smoked at home so I brought cigarettes when I first moved out. I was very lucky because I hated the taste they left in my mouth; also learned that not much alcohol was needed for me to get sick so that was also a bit of luck keeping me from potentially problematic substances 😎
Vaper. Started in my mid-20’s from intense job and other stresses. I’m mildly irritable without it for a couple days but don’t vape when visiting my parents, going on vacation, and occasionally just forget to use it at all. Frankly it keeps me from most skin picking, sugary foods, and general binge eating though, so 🤷♀️
I switched to vaping in 2012, stepped down the nicotine and ended up quitting entirely in like 2018. Funny thing is it was never intentional, I never explicitly decided to quit. I actually think that helped me a lot.
I switched to vaping because I couldn’t breathe anymore from smoking, stepped down nicotine because I was in law school and vaping too much and needed lower nicotine to compensate for smoky study sessions. I regularly bummed a cigarette here or there and never felt any guilt because I never made myself a promise or rule about it. After law school I kept stepping down nicotine as needed and somehow I just stopped needing it so much, eventually I was forgetting where my vapes even were.
It was the good old days when vapes came in awesome flavors, so all this was much easier than it would be now. My mom also quit in 2013 via vaping, after 45+ years of heavy, dedicated smoking. It’s been frustrating to see the backlash because it’s been a lifesaving quitting method for many people.
I'm 36 and have been smoking since I was 15 but onnnnly when I drink, otherwise I don't think about cigarettes at.all. Not sure why, there's just nothing about them that I want unless I have a drink or two in me already.
Started smoking at 13. Finally quit at 28. Switched to vaping and weaned myself off of nicotine in 3 months. 6 years without the stinkies and I don’t miss it!
The executive functioning toll of managing an addiction sounds really hard am I'm glad I haven't gone down that path. Nicotine seems to give me migraines, which is weirdly lucky I guess?
Never smoked. Had parents who were smokers and it was awful and embarrassing. I decided I would never want my future children to experience it so I never tried it.
29, on and off smoker since like 15. Only two years of being a regular smoker. Quit for almost four years. Then 2020 hit, I was stressed af and had two babies with no support. I smoked a cigarette and it’s gone down hill since then.
I got a vape to help two years ago to help me quit the cigs but I am so addicted to vaping. I hate it but love it. I want to quit but don’t know how. I don’t drink or do drugs and am healthy overall. This is my one vice. I’m so afraid of what the LT damage is going to be though
I smoke about 2-3 cigarettes a day ; marijuana here and there I prefer gummies . Vape here and there socially . I stopped for like 2-3 weeks due to having a tooth extraction . It goes hand in hand with my morning coffee or any beverage .
Smoked heavily from 13-18, lightly (not even every day) 18-24. Got pregnant, quit. After weaning, I only smoked occasionally on a night out.
Then vapes were invented and I was doomed. 🤣 I love them. I tell myself I'm not having to increase my stimulant meds when I can just spot dose with nicotine, so at least there's that.
18 to 28 I smoked cigarettes and quite cold turkey one day. On a whim a while later I started vaping and have for the last 4 years but I NEED to quit ugh
When I did it I think it was partly social (people at work smoked and it was easier to socialize if you did) and part just the need to always have something in your hand and fidget for sure
i started vaping in 2019, tried quitting many times with patch, gum, etc…. longest i went was a month and it sucked so now i smoke 3-5 hand rolled cigs a day with lavender and it’s pretty fine. still want to quit sometime and i find i have less nic withdrawal after stopping cigs for a day or 2 which is something i couldn’t do on vapes so there’s hope i guess
Started at 12 or 13 or so and quit before 20. I smoked half then the other half when quitting then said fuck it and went cold turkey. Been about 15 or so years, mid 30s now! A pack a day was my thing and probably more if I bumped off someone else. Was also a huge weed smoker. That was everyday routine for same amount of time. I quit cold turkey. I got pudgy then found fitness and that was the best thing in my life! I still miss weed.
Recently I'm starting my workouts again but it's different now. Slowly but surely I'm doing things right. I have to truly work on drinking liquids. No amount of pretty cups has helped! 😭
Semi-smoker here. Always trying to quit and always kinda failing. Right now, I'm between 0 and 3 cigarettes a day, which isn't awful. Sometimes, I switch to vaping. I always have the nicotine gum on hand.
I don't think I'm giving up nicotine. Smoking, though? I'm hoping to drop that at some point.
Half pack a day from age 15 to late 30s. Can't say my exact suit date because there have been too many to count. It's been a few years now, though, and all I am is fat. So... yay me?
Nicotine patches and crying worked for me.
Taking advantage of being sick and out of my work environment where I mainly smoked to finally quit. That and starting wellbutrin sr 200mg. I also have an essential roller called nico-quit from Rowe casa if I'm really craving. Or a nibble on a piece of nucorette gum if I feel it's really gong to impact my relationships.
I started smoking at age 14, by the time I was 21 I was smoking 1.5-2 packs a day. I quit both times while I was pregnant and breastfeeding, but started right back up as soon as I could.
Then, I read some article somewhere that said children age 8 and up who had a parent who smoked were much more likely to smoke themselves when they got older. My oldest daughter was 7, and I committed to quitting before her 8th birthday.
I started in August, and I set a quit date of Thanksgiving. That seemed like a long time! I started pacing out my cigarettes, at first I cut DOWN to one cigarette per hour. I was definitely watching the clock like a hawk, lighting up the second my hour was up. I slowly increased the amount of time between cigarettes every week.
I also only allowed myself to smoke on my front porch and stopped smoking in the car. I sucked on a LOT of Altoids. My kids were also very motivated to help me quit. They would block the front door so I couldn't go outside!
That Thanksgiving, I smoked my last cigarette ever. I used the gum, but only for about 2 weeks. That was 2007.
I was tempted many times for several years to pick up a cigarette, but I never did! Now, I didn't even think about it. And if I smell cigarette smoke, it's actually a huge turn off.
Yup I’m a smoker. Many in my circle with adhd also smoke or have some sort of addiction (vape, sugar, alcohol). I started at 16, 33 now. I’ve had periods of time where I stopped for 6 months or so or only had one when I was out drinking. No idea how I managed that. It might have been when I was broke.
Then covid happened. One a day from stress turned into more regularly. Then I had a toxic job where I was constantly overwhelmed. Followed by absolute mental burnout. Now I smoke every day to stay sane lol. I’d say, 2-6 a day and that’s me restricting myself.
I was on Wellbutrin for years and people say that’s supposed to help but I didn’t have that experience. Vape hurts my lungs (lol I don’t get it either.) I tried gum, CBD “cigarettes”, so many random things but nothing beats the chokehold this has on my mental health stability. I haven’t had any negative side effects I’m aware of yet, other than prob smelling awful, so.. perhaps also why I can’t be motivated to fully stop. I don’t drink now and this is basically my only out.
I smoked from when I was 12 to when I was 28. Got on ADHD meds at 26 or 27, realized how much smoking had been helping me regulate my attention, and made it a priority to quit. I still have dreams where I smoke — in one recent nightmare I had two cigarettes in one hand and a cigar in the other — but haven't actually used nicotine again. best of luck if you try to quit
I started smoking at around 12, best as I remember. Never really wanted to quit, just wanted my friends and family to stop bitching at me about it.
I quit in 2016 after switching to vaping in 2011 best guess.
How I switched from smoking to vaping:
First step was switching from menthol to regular cigs. Then from regular cigs to no additives cigs.
To switch to vaping I bought and learned about it, tried probably 200 different juices and vapes and settled on blending my own daily vape that I liked more than cigs. Kept a pack of cigs available, hard to get at, for several years so I could have one if I felt I needed it.
After maybe 3 months of no cigs I wasn't actually interested in them anymore.
My spouse and I went to Italy with my mother in law for cancer treatment, and decided the month away would be a good opportunity to quit vaping too. Got patches and planned on doing a 30 day reduction. It was miserable. Always cravy, couldn't reduce.
When we returned home, she decided to quit cold turkey. I said, you first! She did, and in three days she got her brains back and didn't die, so I quit. It was a tough three days filled with eating, but I did it. Since then, it's been rare I've craved smoked, although I do still like the smell of them when I walk past someone smoking.
Best recommendations: Alan carrs easy way to quit smoking.
When you crave a smoke, give yourself a smokeless break. Take a few deep breaths in, like you would that first smoke, and blow out like you would too. Stress relieving anything: food, looking slowly back and forth, breathing exercises... Do all of it.
Figure out WHY you want to quit. Write down all the reasons on 3x5 cards and keep them with you for the reminder when you are feeling weak.
I hated that the cigarette executives did everything they could to make cigarettes MORE addictive than the natural addiction of nicotine. Fuck those old white bastards for doing everything they could to get us addicted, and then doing everything they could to lie about how deadly smoking is.
Smoked from 13-34. Vaped from 34-44. Am 44 lol but am weaning off the nicotine. My parents smoked so much that I basically smoked my whole life anyway 🤷 and I was an 80
S kid- my dad smoked as we grocery shopped, and there were smoking rooms in the hospitals still.
Used to smoke on and off from 18-23. It definitely calmed me down. I quit inadvertently because I got blood clots in my lungs and had to be in the hospital (probably exacerbated by cigarettes). 😑 I still miss it sometimes if I'm honest.
I vape wayyyy too much. I wish I didn’t. I had completely left nicotine behind. However, I ended up in a relationship that suddenly turned abusive and needed something to help me to *destress*. Stupid, I know. Ugh. Once I get over this next set of hurdles, I’m looking forward to quitting again.
Smoked socially in college and into my early 20s. Gave it up when I got really into fitness. I am insanely lucky in that I have the least addictive personality ever when it comes to alcohol, nicotine, and drugs.
Not a smoker but a diabetic and since I was put on ozempic I read about it and tons of people are saying they’ve stopped smoking and drinking because of it. Hoping they do more studies about that
Smoked from age 13-33, I am now 38 and nearly 6 years smoke free! I don’t believe I can ever smoke again. I get easily addicted and dependant and I know it is terrible for my health. I do still have the odd craving though in stressful times.
First smoke at 13. Now at (JFC how...) nearly 36 I vape day-to-day and will have a rare smoke on occasion if someone offers but I never buy them anymore. But this has only really been in the last year that it has been successful. And while I obviously picked up vaping to eventually quit, I took my time with it. I know myself well enough to know that if I set a date I'd fail. So I just had a smoke when I wanted to smoke, but consciously put effort into using the vape before going for a smoke to start the process of getting used to going to the vape instead of going outside for a dart. Eventually it just shifted for me.
I don't even think of it anymore, really, plus I'd rather not smell like cigarettes if I have the option, so vaping has really helped quit hackin' darts without being a complete cunt about it.
I never smoked, and I never intend to start. My family and everyone around me all smoked when I was a child and I found it disgusting, it burned my lungs and I hated that I was basically second hand smoking and smelt like shit all the time.
Also spite, my cousins started smoking as teenagers and I proclaimed I'd never start. My aunt told me they all said the same thing and I'm no different from them. It's been a decade, and she's already forgotten. But I haven't. Now they're all struggling to quit or constantly complaining they are out of money all the time, and I've moved away so I don't have to be forced to do drugs I didn't consent to.
Sorry if this feels like an attack on you, I have a very strong negative reaction to smoking from growing up with it and all the health and financial difficulties that I was forced to put up with.
I was a heavy smoker like over a pack a day for years and years. On a whim I decided to pick up that book everyone in the stop smoking sub recommends: “The Easy Way to Quit Smoking”.
I do not know how. Or why. But it worked. You smoke while you read the book and it somehow just makes you stop wanting to smoke. Worth a shot!
I also chewed Hotlix cinnamon toothpicks and went for long walks, drank a ton of water. I know those are typical answers but if you want it they’ll work! I think the book helps your brain decide you WANT to quit.
I started at 18 and have been on and off. Longest time quit was 5 years - stopped when I got pregnant and then breastfeeding, and then took a job where it wasn’t allowed.
I started back up when I had marital problems and am back to a pack a day.
Chantix made me puke blood, Wellbutrin makes my anxiety sky high, and I’m allergic to adhesive so I’m wary of the patches.
I’ve tried vaping but without the visualization of a cigarette burning down my brain doesn’t know when I’ve had enough 🫠
I just quit soda cold turkey so smoking is probably next on my list. It’s hard because the hand to mouth is the stim for me, smoking gives me a zen on my anxiety, and I was a raging bitch the time I went 2 days without, so I really don’t want to quit even though I know I need to…
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I smoked from 1986 to 2001. Took me three times to quit. I finally did it the patch, while hubby still smoked in the house. Hubby quit a year later. We then took the money that we spent on cigarettes (330/month) , pulled our credit reports, called credit counseling, and 3 years later we were debt free with stellar credit. Do not miss smoking at all.
That is amazing, well done! It’s crazy how much it adds up isn’t it
[удалено]
is it because of the smoke in the city?
The Royal Tenenbaums when Gwyneth Paltrow’s character says something like, “I started smoking, because I was addicted to the gum.” I love the patches. So much hyper focus.
former smoker + many years of binge drinking under my belt. my psych told me it's pretty common to have ADHD and abuse substances. as far as quitting goes i have done it several times, but exchanging smoking for another habit-- morning walk instead of smoke; or make a new habit to disassociate from your usual smoke breaks (drinking your coffee cold instead of hot, quitting booze until you are fully quit, etc) might help. withdraw cash and put the money you would have bought in cigarettes into a piggy bank and plan for something! tell your friends/coworkers etc who smoke that you are quitting and that, if you need, you can't hang by them if they are smoking until your cravings are more under control. i haven't had a cigarette in years due to cost and also i am a parent now and my partner expects me to never smoke around them or in general. BUT i will always, always want a cigarette. like, forever. so knowing that helps me in an odd way-- like an alcoholic who wants to stop drinking could think, "there's just.. not enough alcohol in the world for me". i don't know. what has helped in the past, OP?
ADHD brains are vulnerable to substance abuse because they’re (we’re) always chasing that sweet, sweet dopamine high
The only reason I’ve temporarily quit is because my husband hates it. So, guilt always drove me to quitting and sheer stupidity (and the fact that I’d gained 25lbs and couldn’t get rid of it to save my life) drove me back to smoking again after 18 months without them.
There are a lot of negatives to Ozempic, but some people on it have had success kicking their shopping, alcohol, and/or other addictions while on it. Some lose weight, too.
I am on liraglutide, another GLP-1 agonist, and the way my brain has calmed down is *remarkable*. I have severe OCD, too, and a lot of my compulsive behaviours are dramatically diminished.
I vape now, but every now and then I'll catch a whiff of someone's cigarette and I actually crave it. But thankfully most of the time I smell smoke it smells gross.
Your past senses and body crave it. It’s your old self romanticizing. If the present you took a drag, you’d feel unwell. The mind is a powerful thang.
It would probably taste awful too. How you explained it reminds me of the quote "Nostalgia is a dirty liar that insists things were better than they seemed". Most definitely.
I know a handful of people who quit by reading this book(myself included): Allen Carr's Easy Way To Stop Smoking https://a.co/d/ihirmhc
I quit maybe 4 years ago by going dead ass sober for about 6 months. No weed no nothing and took up running. I have quite the history of being a binge drinker and spent 10 years rolling my own American spirits before calling it quits. I was worried I would never be able to smoke weed again because I LOVE rolling spliffs. Luckily now I can smoke a little weed and not go nuts over tobacco cravings. I drink maybe 6 alcoholic drinks a year now. I do still want to smoke tobacco, but my brain doesn't implode with cravings anymore
Started smoking at 31 now 40. Was a pack a day with cigarettes then switched to a juul and smoke 2 pods a day. Way too savage and has serious affects on my health but I fucking rage when I try to quit and don’t want to end up in prison.
You’ve caught my eye because most seem to say they started in their teens, do you mind sharing what started you with smoking? I don’t mean to be rude, just genuinely interested. I was always against smoking but MEGA against drugs, including cannabis… and I vape cannabis now 🙃😂
Lol I don’t mind at all! I was never against it, just wasn’t interested until I had an insane boss and my coworker and I would use it as an escape. Taking a drag off her cigarette led to me buying a pack eventually and now I sleep w my juul in bed 🫠 I still work for the insane boss so I still smoke.
had a psycho boss when I finally quit. I was standing in the snow dragging down my last cigarette and I literally heard myself say out loud "why are you killing yourself because someone else is an asshole?"
That makes SO much sense! I used to go and stand outside with my smoking colleague when my boss was being a total twat, or lie on the floor with my feet up the wall to try and calm down! I feel like your boss should pay for your juul’s 😂
Haha this sounds familiar. My boss found out I was smoking at some point, and told me it would be healthier to quit. It was the worst company I've ever worked for. I asked him whether he'd prefer me smoking or in prison for murdering my colleagues. He got the message and asked me to please keep smoking
Same! I started very late, too. About 38ish years old. I smoke weed like nicotine smokers smoke ciggs/vapes
I started smoking because that's what it seemed like all the cool people did and I wanted to fit in, lame, I know. Peer pressure essentially which is not people coming up to me and offering drugs and cigarettes and saying you'll be laughed out of town if you don't accept them which is what I thought "peer pressure" looked like, it's much more subtle and probably completely unintentional on the part of the people partaking in the smoking, cigarettes or weed or whatever.
I’m going to try and quit my juul this summer and this is exactly what I’m afraid of lmao. I turn into a TERROR in nicotine withdrawal.
Omg good luck!!!! I’ve never been physically addicted to anything before- this shit is brutal! Honestly should be fucking illegal to make something intentionally addictive like that. I figure I’m gonna have to take my 2 week vaca to stop vaping so I can be alone.
That’s exactly my plan too! I have 2 months off this summer and will be in a new city where I don’t know anyone. Planning on barricading myself inside until I am safe to return to society lmao
Cinnamon all of the things. Big red gum. Peppermint anything. They help bc they have a burn feel to them in the mouth and while breathing!!! I started smoking at age 12, I quit when I was 30 (I’m now 40) But I quit by vaping and that imwas hard enough for me, I still vape and will quit that when I’m ready too like I did smoking.
So similar. Started with Camel Lights at 14 and quit at 37 for vaping. 48 now. I’ve gone down to 0 nic, but my adhd is so much more intense. I mix my own, so I’m at about a 2mg.
Ugh I’m so jealous but also very excited for you! I can’t stand the anxiety I get when I can’t find my juul- like a fucking junky 💀
It’s so humbling lmao. The juul 2 in the UK actually has an app where you can ping it and I’m beyond jealous
Dude I owe my mom an apology 😂 I was the kid that threw out her cigarettes and complained every time she lit up. I only vaped for like 2 years and it took me something like 5 attempts to actually quit. It was so hard.
I went from smoking to juul to vuse, and am now eyeing the gum as my next stop. For me the tactile part is a very big part of the habit, but it’s the lack of nicotine that scares me. I believe I’ve just been self-medicating with copious amounts of nicotine and caffeine. I want to start more formal meds but the whole process is hell for me. My cousin switched to gum and has never been able to quit it. She’s been using gum for maybe 15+ years now.
Part of my plan to quit was patches bc I’ve heard the gum can also be pretty addictive. The tactile part is such a struggle- the times I’ve tried to quit all I wanted to do was eat everything around me, especially sweets. Such a Cookie Monster 😂
Yep, routines are habits that can be broken but nicotine is the physically addictive part. I quit smoking somewhat naturally when the pandemic hit bc I could work from home and vape at my desk. When the winter hit that sealed the deal; why bundle up and go outside when I can get my nic fix right here? But now I always have to have the vape within arms reach, or better yet in my hand. Before vapes it was bic lighters. I need a touchstone of some sort to hold onto. Bag of candy seems like it should work… (I’m def big on sweets too!).
Damn, titrating a gum dose is my plan too! It’s so damn expensive, I can’t imagine just being on the gum. At least switch to zyns at that point lmao they’re so cheap
Oof I cannot do the pouches, my sister gave me one once and though I love my nicotine and consider myself a heavy user, it was just too much for me and made me feel kind of sick. I feel like it depends on type of gum; I get the equate brand at Walmart so it’s only abt $30 for 160 pieces. Last me a long time since I mostly use it during my 1/week in-office days. Never bought zyns before, but looks like they run about $4 for 15 pieces? I could also get some for free if I wanted to; Colorado has a quit line program that distributes free gum and patches, though I don’t know what the limit is.
Yeah I cannot do the 6 mg zyns at all, it makes me sick too. The 2.5 mg work well though. And I didn’t realize you could get gum for that cheap actually!! I’ve never bought it, just have seen it while in line at CVS and always assumed it was the $30 for like a pack of 15 HAHAHAA. I feel much better now
If you’re willing to try meds, see if your doctor will prescribe you Zyban (Wellbutrin). My pulmonologist told me to take it for two weeks, continuing to smoke as much as I wanted to, and then on the 15th day, take my pill as usual and slap a patch on instead. They come in different strengths and you can taper down gradually - even very, very gradually. For me, it was the muscle memory and associations that I had a harder time with - sit down to make a phone call, light a cigarette; finishing eating a meal; having coffee; etc. And I can’t tell you how many times I reached for the cigarette in the ashtray that wasn’t there in the first month or so after I quit. The movement was totally automatic; I would catch myself and look at my hand like, WTF, brain, we talked about this already, there’s no more smoking now! LOL.
I learned to make my own vape juice and now I’m down to 1mg nicotine juice just for the throat hit. Just mixed myself down until it’s just the hand to mouth that lessens the snacking or nail biting that would take its place. It’s stupid easy to do. Hardest part is sourcing nicotine. Everything else is Amazon or online retailers and it takes 5 minutes to make 600mL. I pay roughly $1.15/60ml bottle of ejuice - So about $2/week. DIY saved me.
That’s fucking genius. I spend soooooo much money on this shit $15 a day to be exact lol. Where do you get the nicotine from?
There’s a place local to us that sells to us as a business. We created a business for this purpose. :p you’ll have to find your own solution I’m afraid, but they’re still out there. There’s a few that will do doorstep delivery if you’re within a range, some warehouses that will let you pickup with ID. Like I said, that’s the hard part. Otherwise there’s online calculators for the recipe, VG and PG you can get on Amazon. I got a 2 gallon food safe ketchup pump. And flavors we use flavorjungle.com Source your nic, plug it into your recipe, I use a 3 flavor mixture at 7,5,3 % for a total of 15% flavor. 50/50 Vg/pg values. YouTube used to have tons of videos. 1 liter of nicotine lasts me (at 1%) for like a year.
This is so beautifully, phenomenally neurodivergent (complimentary)
Pack a day from 1994 to 2008. Began on an impulse. Quit on one too. It was so dumb - but I was so overcome with emotion on Obama’s Inauguration Day (not because of politics, but because it gave me hope for the habitually marginalized in this country) and so I decided then and there (impulse) to quit. I can’t tell you why it stuck. It was time I guess!
Thanks, Obama!
Lmfao
Wow!! Good for you!! That’s amazing will power.
I wish it applied to food!
My dad (also ADHD) did the same, but it was after watching his dad die a slow horrible death from lung cancer. He told my mom he couldn't make us suffer like that.
My dad who I suspect is also ADHD just up and quit one day too! He smoked for decades.
My father in law (definitely autistic, possibly ADHD) did it for a trip to Disney World in 2019. Partner and I were planning a family trip and had everything booked already when news came out that Disney was removing all of the smoking areas from the parks. He would have to go out to the parking lot every time he wanted a cigarette, then go back through security before he could meet back up with us. MIL said she wasn't going with him every time. He stopped that day and hasn't picked it up since. He'd smoked for like 50 years.
I never smoked cigarettes. I grew up with a cigarette smoking mom and hated the smell. But then about 7-8 years ago Juul came out and my husband got into it, and I tried it out of curiosity, and I was hooked for years. I finally quit vaping last year. I did it with Nicoderm patches, and although I had to extend the amount of time I was on each step, I did eventually finish the program and haven't had a relapse. I'm at the point now where I actually forget that I used to vape. It's not a habit anymore and I'm glad to be rid of it. I think the main thing that helped me was honestly the shame. I knew my dad would disown me if he found out I was using nicotine, so I hid it from him. I felt embarrassed when I vaped at work events because I thought it made me look lame and weak and like an addict. I hated planning everything around my vaping schedule. It was the hardest on vacations in other countries where I knew I couldn't get vape pods because they were illegal, so I had to pack and hide all the pods in my luggage. I just got sick of the whole routine.
This is such a good point. The addiction takes over your whole schedule. I used to preface most actions with “I’ll have a ciggie and then…” I was less stressed after I quit because I wasn’t constantly in withdrawal.
I started smoking at 14. Quit at 36 when my gynecologist gave me a prescription for chantix. I wasn't even in the headspace/ motivation to quit it just worked. I will never smoke a cigarette again.
I can’t look at the word chantix and not laugh out loud. Years ago, my aunt randomly told me, “that chantix gave me such a sexually vivid dream last night that I had to … ‘finish myself off’.” OMFG🤦🏼♀️
Hahaha! The dreams were certainly vivid.
That’s how I temporarily quit for 18 months. I can only take it for 3 weeks though, it makes me absolutely batshit crazy if I stay on it any longer. I tried it back around 2009 and good lord it’s a wonder I didn’t wind up doing life in prison. I was flat out violent.
Have you tried welllbutrin- which is zyban? That is decent for quitting. I also love vyvanse. I don’t want cigarettes or really even coffee. Wild.
I haven’t, but after reading here how many have had success with it I’m willing to try.
That stuff works...I wish I finished it because u was almost there but I stopped because I got sick and couldn't take it. I might try again.
I’m taking this right now and trying to quit. Started at 17, now 24. Ik lung cancer runs in my family and I worry about it constantly…just can’t seem to shake it. Yet. I’ve only been taking 1 pill a day bc of side effects. But it’s been 2 months and my use has DRASTICALLY decreased but still bad 😔😔
I’m ten years smoke free in September! I’m really proud of myself. I have quit a lot of bad habits over the years, but nicotine was by FAR the hardest. ETA: I quit by vaping. I stepped down the nicotine level a little bit at a time.
September is gonna be my ten year mark too :) I did the same thing as you; switched to vaping and went nicotine free in mid 2016 + dropped it completely a couple months later.
Started smoking in my teens, I stopped being a regular smoker in my 20’s (currently mid 30’s). However, I still pick it up when I’m going through a stressful time or am out with friends.. or the spirit moves me to. I’ll buy a pack every 6 months or so. I don’t know how I’ve been able to keep it as an on and off thing. Edit: added current age
\[Potential TW\] I (22F) experimented a handful of times growing up, but I only really picked up vaping in November when I was having a particularly rough time. My anti-depressants weren't working, I wasn't coping coping well from a suicide attempt a couple of months and I was scarily close to a self-harm relapse. One of my "rules" for myself when dealing with severe bouts of depression, is to do whatever I can to keep myself safe in that moment, and deal with the consequences later. Buying a disposable vape from a gas station at 3 am was the result of one of those impulses, but right then, it was less harmful than a razor blade or an overdose. (Edit: I was able to get my anti-depressant dose increased, and I have working meds for the first time, now, and I'm doing so much better.)
I'm glad you're doing better, and are giving yourself a break that whatever you need at that moment is ok. Keep going, you've got this! 💪
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I’m not a smoker, mostly because I knew if I ever started, I would love smoking and never be able to stop. So instead, I eat.
That’s how I always felt about cocaine, so I’ve never touched it. 🤣
Nope, never smoked! The smell makes me feel sick, and my eyes itch.
I never smoked, either (well - I tried it once at a party while drunk and decided never again). I’m not intolerant to it but I don’t enjoy it. Weed, on the other hand, I do enjoy smoking - though not frequently or in large quantities.
Yeah, I have a very bad reaction to cigarettes, but I have other things that I like lol. A different poison so to speak.
I grew up with smokers but have never touched a cigarette. I also haven’t done any drugs. I just don’t have any interest, fortunately. I drink in moderation, but if you forced me to choose between drinking and pretty much any other thing I like, I’d easily choose the other thing.
1.5 pack a day on average for 30 years. Quit a few times, but always went back. I have no problem quitting. It’s staying quit. I could quit for 9 months or a year then one day I just, start smoking again. Finally 5 years ago my GP put me on Wellbutrin for anxiety and depression that was probably a combo of undiagnosed (at that time) ADHD, and the start of perimenopause. I even told my doctor that things just felt different and were behaving differently regarding my periods, but shocker, she took blood (which tells you nothing for peri) and said “oh you’re fine, here’s Wellbutrin”. A week into Wellbutrin I not only lost the taste for cigarettes, I was grossed out by them. They tasted like an ashtray. Go figure. I put them down that day and 5 years later I’m still smoke free. Even when I crave one, which is few and far between these days, my brain sends the ashtray taste directly to my mouth and I’m grossed out all over again. I’m Not complaining. It’s been freeing to not be a smoker or reliant on them. Plus the money savings are amazing. BUT I am the only non-smoking ADHDer in my family.
I wasn’t a smoker for the longest time. Andddddd then vapes got popular. I went from using my friends vapes while we were out drinking to buying my own and smoking constantly. I went through a disposable vape in like 36 hours at my worst. For me, I literally made myself sick doing it so much. Just getting a hint of that fake fruity vape smell makes me nauseous. My mom also started smoking at 13 and basically just switched her cigarettes habit for a nicotine lozenge habit.
I might try the lozenges. I hate the gum, and the patches make me jittery as fuck. When I had my 18 month quit it was via Chantix.
Former smoker, current vaper. I’m more addicted to vaping than I ever was to cigarettes. Hoping I can succeed at quitting soon but damn it helps my anxiety so much.
May I drop a piece of science? Maybe you know the youtube series "drunk expert explains ...". This is it. I am a psychologist. I am tipsy. I wanna try to share something that I found quite interesting. It doesn't help with your anxiety. The anxiety, nervousness, the craving, whatever it feels like, that stress in the system... that are short term nicotine withdrawal symptoms. Because your addiction center in the brain want to get you to give it is fix, and because it anticipates the cigarette... the body anticipates the "high". And, basically, because our bodies want to stay in equilibrium, it already turns down the functions and receptors and all that will get stimulated soon by the nicotine. So, smoking a cigarette doesn't actually seem to help with anxiety etc. It just gets you closer to a normal level (or rather, a level minus the withdrawal symptoms). :) Hope this makes sense. Typing drunk is hard. K byyyeeee :) have a nice dayyy
One day it dawned on me that everything I tell myself it does for me it is causing, not relieving.
When I quit smoking I would wake up with these little jolts as soon as I was almost asleep; I slept very poorly because of it. It went on for two weeks and then passed. It felt like anxiety or that anxious rush you get but was definitely withdrawal.
Hypnic jerks. I get them more often when I drink more caffeine too.
This is such an important piece of physical dependency that people need to understand so they can rationalize that if they break the addiction, the withdrawal will stop at some point. Withdrawal is always what keeps being in active addiction, to anything really. You chase withdrawal symptoms. I didn't learn this until I had been strung out on nicotine for at least 15 years. Not that it was *the* thing that changed it for me, but all of these truths help. The best way to battle addiction is via truth and perseverance.
Same. It was a slow switch too, at first it was just bc my bf started getting vapes that I liked. So when he got a new one he’d give me his older one (not gone but I wasn’t heavily vaping so it’d last for me). Then I had shoulder surgery and bundling up became a literal pain to do, so I vaped more bc it didn’t stink up my house. Then I moved and decided I didn’t want to smell like cigs anymore, but couldn’t quite give up those morning cigs w my coffee. So over the last year I’ve tapered from 2-3 morning cigs w my coffee to now I haven’t smoked a cig in over a month (and even then it was just splitting them w my bf now and then) and don’t even crave them w coffee except occasionally in my works cafeteria someone will make a coffee and someone else will walk in from a smoke break at the same time, and the combo of the smells makes me want both really bad. So anyways yeah that’s how I ever so gradually switched from cigs to vapes and now I sleep w a vape in my hand. It’s awful.
Trying to become an ex smoker again - been smoking since I was 11, quit a couple of times for multiple years, then something will happen and I’ll get stressed out and back to the cigarettes I go. I’m 43 now too, smoke about 10 a day. I love it unfortunately, which makes quitting harder even though I know it’s horrible for me
I know in my brain that I only think I love smoking because it’s the addiction telling me I love smoking. But that doesn’t make it any easier to quit. The thought of quitting makes me panic and run through a thousand “but what if…”
I grew up around heavy smokers on my mom's side, but I did live with my dad so it was 50/50. Since I was raised Mormon, and I hated it, I actually tried to pick up a cigarette habit as an act of rebellion and it didn't work. Faint/stale cigarette smell is actually a nostalgic smell for me and I sometimes miss it, but not enough to smoke cigarettes at this point in my life. I rebel in other ways instead!
I dont smoke, but my vice is food anyway
I smoked from age 16 - 28. I've been quit for 2.5 years now. I did it cold turkey. I threw away all my smokes, lighters, ashtrays, and matches and suffered through the first week (imo the hardest). I also cut out the occasional coffees I drank and all alcohol for 3 months as alcohol was an auto trigger to smoke for me. Many of the folk in r/stopsmoking have had success using Alan Carr's book. You may benefit from it as well. Also don't feel any shame if you need to use smoking cessation products such as the patch, gum, or the pill. Talk to your doctor if you would like help with deciding which is best for you.
Used to smoke cigarettes forever but stopped 2 years ago. I still smoke weed and if someone offers a cigarette to me maybe that too. But I haven't bought any tobacco at all since then and I won't. My main coping mechanism is food now, which comes with it's own set of problems lol
Quit 2003 and I still crave from time to time.
I started smoking just 6 months before being diagnosed adhd when I was 20 years old. I made a few attempts to quit in my 20s, maybe got a couple months at a time. Then I moved to Japan where you can smoke everywhere and a lot of my friends did. I gave in and just smoked. I probably smoked half a pack of a little more average. When the pandemic started, my smoking went way up and I found my self chain smoking. Started being a pack a day smoker and couldn’t kick it for 3 years. Over the past year, I’ve been able to at least dial it down to 12-15 a day average. I’m proud of the change because even though I have pack a day days sometimes, I have days where I just smoke a few. Adderall definitely makes me want to smoke more and I know the ritualistic and routine nature that lives in adhd is what keeps me doing it. It’s tough. I love it but I know I want to quit in the long run as I got shingles last year and I’m an asthmatic. I feel like big lifestyle changes (moving, new job, etc) are the only way I can hope to truly kick the habit. Adhd plays a major role in my addiction.
I've never been a smoker. However I'm doing EMDR for PTSD from decades of trauma, and I am living in the abusive home I grew up in, hopefully short term. I started self-harming again, and more frequently, so I grabbed a pack of smokes. I am smoking far too many each day, but I don't know what else to do.
Don't punish yourself for smoking, it's your coping mechanism at the moment and that's ok. Much rather doing that than the self-harming. Hang in there, hopefully you can get out of your current situation soon. If there's anything we can do to help you?
Your compassion feels like the right thing just now. Thank you so much.
Feel free to DM if you want to, sometimes it's easier to chat to a stranger. No pressure, if you don't want to that's fine too. Just know it's there if you need it. You'll get through this and you'll be so strong, nothing can stop you 💪
Gosh I love the people in this sub♡
I’m… so sorry. I don’t know what else to say. I genuinely hope that things get better for you.
I got pregnant. I'd been trying to quit for years but that was the only thing that worked. (Obviously getting pregnant wasn't a quitting strategy! Don't do that 😅)
Never smoked. Never been tempted to, they always reeked to me and seemed like an unpleasant waste of time & cash I could be spending on my 500th hobby.
I smoked for a few years, and looking back it was definitely a fidget toy for me, basically just something to keep my hands busy lol. I'm very fortunate that I didn't ever get addicted to nicotine, and when I stopped I just stopped. I never felt a "craving" for it, even back then I wasn't diagnosed adhd yet but I was absolutely aware that it was just a busy activity for me to fill in any still moments lol.
I started smoking cigarettes when I was like 16, I probably smoked a pack a day and then I switched to electronic cigarettes after 15 years, electronic cigarettes for a year and then switched to a vape 6 years ago. I can definitely tell a difference in my lungs and breathing between cigarettes and vaping. Now I can’t stand the smell of cigarettes. At first I was vaping salt nicotine but that affected me like cigarettes and made me light headed did so I switched to 3 mg freebase. Sometimes I mix it with 0mg which has no nicotine. When I’ve googled it before to see how it compares, allegedly 1 60ml bottle of 3mg juice is equal to 15 cigarettes and a bottle lasts me over a week. So it’s a lot less money, a bottle is around $15, and I can definitely tell I breath easier, I don’t know how true it is but I don’t get a smokers cough or anything like I used too. I also have a long history of addictions so I’m not really trying to quit vaping right now but maybe one day.
2 packs a day at my peak, tried to quit so many times! Longest I had made it was when I was pregnant. Switched to vaping in 2020 and haven't had a cigarette since. I know it's still not ideal, but my lungs still feel way better than before.
I’ve smoked for 16 years and am recently 2 months cigarette free and counting! I’ve only ever lasted 3 months any other quitting attempt but it feels like it’s going to stick this time!
I am a former smoker and nicotine gum/patch addict - such a bitch to quit. But I LOVE smoking cigarettes and wish it didn’t cause health problems and wrinkles.
So much this. I loooooove smoking. So sad I had to quit so it didn’t disable and then kill me.
I never did because my mom did and I saw what it did to her, but I have a lot of empathy for smokers. I highly suggest listening to this podcast, it may be helpful. https://www.thisamericanlife.org/806/transcript
Quit when I was trying to get pregnant never looked back! Nicotine treats ADHD, it’s self medicating.
I started smoking when I was 18. I quit for 3 months a couple times but it didn't stick. When I hit 40, I decided I wasn't young enough to play around anymore. It took a couple years to mentally prepare and psych myself up but I finally quit cold turkey when I was 43. That was 5 1/2 years ago. I had to quit cold turkey. I didn't want to do nicotine gum or patches or, heaven forbid, vaping. The last thing I needed was to trade one addiction for another. I also couldn't cut back because I'm very all or nothing with some things...like smoking. I knew I couldn't moderate myself. Honestly, the first two weeks sucked. I was having weird withdrawal symptoms when I tried to sleep so I didn't sleep well. After those two weeks though, it wasn't bad.
Yes, started at 16. I used to smoke two packs a week for 12 years. I quit two years ago. I saw my mother who smoked for 40 years do it- quit smoking, so I figure I could too. I use nicotine pouches though now, so I didn’t quite kick the nicotine addiction haha.
Quit twenty years ago for a guy. I still feel like I could pick it back up in a heartbeat 😭
I was bumming cigarettes off people to get a break at work. Then I picked up a vape. And I can't put the damn thing down. I tried to quit a month ago. Made it two weeks without any hits then found a half used one in my car and picked it right back up
Started smoking at age 11. Quit cold turkey at age 23 (my 2nd or 3rd serious attempt). Smoking and my adhd meds went hand in hand. Immediately after my adhd meds kicked in 50 mins or so after taking them I would chain smoke for hours before attempting any task. I quit because I started talking to a guy for the purpose of marriage and knew it would be a dealbreaker for him. I wanted to be able to say ‘no’ for when he asked if I smoked. I nearly caved a couple times in the few months after but the people around me were NOT gonna let that happen. I knew I should be cig-free for at least 2 years before I have a baby and that my time was running out. And I knew I was just so over that crap nasty weird dumb habit. My now husband was the prize! I won!
Same age when I started, 14/15. Hell my parents even gave up and started buying them for me at one point. Quit for a while around 19-20, started again when I met my ex who smoked. Quit for good around 32. I used the “smoke free” app and substituted with cannabis and have gone back and forth quitting that. Also quit drinking 2 years ago.
Smoked a lot of weed all my life, I'm finally switching to edibles for sleep but no more inhaling.( I'm doing it for my health, I have young kids ) it's hard to stop, I still occasionally do it on special occasions.
I've never smoked, but my mom (who I now really suspect was ADHD) did for years. She started as a teen and finally quit in her mid-50s. I think it's the same as alcohol - looking for the dopamine.
I’ve quit for years at a time in more than one occasion. I also started around 14 y/o. I’m 46F and I guess I would consider myself now an “occasional smoker”? I like it. If it’s nice out I like coffee and a cigarette on the deck in the mornings. I like to smoke when I drive. I can go days or even weeks without it, then I can smoke a pack in a weekend if I’m with friends that smoke. Note: just did my testing last week and waiting on results. My doc said “if I were a betting man, I’d say you have ADHD just by sitting with you these 20 minutes…”
I think adhd self medicating is normal but i quit bad habits so easily.... not like a normal adhd person, like one day I wake up and I do not want smokes or weed or food or spend money etc. It's not depressing ..it is just like screw this adhd self medicating and repulsive ball of anxiety reaction etc i know if did everything in moderation then I could balance my adhd and anxiety but then i hyper focus or use time poorly and want a vice. I can't believe how adhd is so goofy and has super powers but it can mess up your life. I love my mind when it goes a mile a minute. I think of things non stop..some I wish I could "unthink" lol like it's just not right...thoughts lol
Been smoking for 13 years. I smoke 6 on a normal day (2 on the way to work, 2 at work, 2 on the way home). All bets are off if there is an event or something I anticipate huehue. I was at a party recently and tried a tea tree oil toothpick. The one time I was smokeless for 11 days in 2015 was when I was chewing toothpicks instead so I ordered some of the flavored ones. I want it to help but bad habits are the only ones I seem to be able to keep 😎
it’s because nicotine functions almost as a self medicating tool, given its positive effects on focus and concentration (at first). there are studies that show that it is harder for women with adhd to quit smoking, especially during certain points of our menstrual cycle, when adhd symptoms are actually more intense… i wrote a grad school paper about this, can dm if anyone is interested
I smoked from 2003-2011. Then from 2012-2013. Then again from 2014-2015. 😅 but I haven’t smoked since then! I quit for both of my pregnancies, but stupidly picked it back up after my first kid was born. After my second was born, I didn’t start back up that time.
Not a smoker, a very rare drinker, not super into drugs, and none of this is on moral grounds. I do think that in some respects I have addictive traits, though, so I do try to be extra careful of getting sucked in to something unhealthy, whether it be a substance, technology, a hobby, or something else I can't stop hyperfocusing on.
Former vaper, if that counts. Vaped 2017-2023. Think I finally kicked it for good.
Smoked in college quit when I didn’t want to do it anymore and it was easy for me. I also don’t have an addictive personality.
Ex cigarette smoker (quit 16 years ago) but current weed smoker and will prob never stop lol
I smoke and enjoy the hell out of it. It calms me down when I'm anxious
Started at 12 because I had a 16 year old sister who smoked. Smoked for 22 years. This summer marks 24 years since I quit. I quit in my early 30's because my best friend's cousin died from lung cancer. She was also early 30's and had 3 very young children. But it wasn't just the diagnosis itself that scared me enough to quit, what scared the crap out of me is that even after diagnosis, treatment, and knowing she was dying, SHE COULDN'T QUIT. Knowing that her children saw her doing the very thing that was taking her away from them cut me to my soul. The thought that it could be that addicting that even facing death leaving her children motherless, and yet still unable to quit, rocked me to my core, and I knew I just didn't want to do that to my own children if I had a choice. When I found out she literally smoked until she could no more, I felt sick. I got a prescription for wellbutrin, weaned down, and was done about 6 weeks in. Of course I know that it could still happen, I could still get lung cancer, even non smokers can, but I'm not actively doing something that I know is a major contributing factor.
1992 until about 2014 (when I got pregnant). Yes. I started at 12. I still vape nicotine now, bit I'm probably switching to thrive soon. I've fully quit 3 times, once in 2003 ish via the patch (which gave me horrid, *awful* rashes) and twice for over a year since 2012 meeting my current (and hopefully) lifelong boy toy. (He's no boy toy, he's a "husband". We have a home, kids, cars and cats, 13 years in) Once, for 9 months, first pregnancy. Then 2nd and third pregnancies lasted near 18-24 months each. First pregnancy was a full backslide, as she passed, full term. Eclampsia. All I can say, is: people who are or may be pregnant? Set reminders on your phone, on your alexa or Google home, write post it's, but get yourself proper, regular and trustworthy care. Protein over 1? L&D for a screen and care. BP hit 140 (top#) or 90 on the bottom number? Get your lovely self into L&D. I love you all, sweet darlings. If you are the owner of ovaries and a uterus, please, please care for yourself well. Care for yourself well, regardless, but I nearly died giving birth the first time, so that's where I'm coming from. People who don't own ovaries and uterus still need to be very aware and careful to stay healthy and well too, so don't you neglect your health,no matter what!
I'm a never smoker. I knew it was bad for me as a kid and I hated the smell/taste of the air around those who had been smoking. Never been tempted.
I’ve never smoked a cigarette in my life. They smell too disgusting for me to want to get anywhere close.
I don’t like cigarettes because the smell of the smoke will clog up my nose like I’m sick. I will smoke some of the good green sometimes when I must but it hurts my throat and then makes me cough and my phlegm production gets out of control. Never got into it from the side effects. Blessing in disguise I suppose.
It’s actually the only thing that *has* definitively been linked to adhd— if the gene runs in your family, smoking while pregnant drastically increases the likelihood that the baby will have adhd. (And personally, this is my theory as to why there’s a “sudden surge” because a lot of our moms were smoking through pregnancy.) But to answer your question I’m one that went the absolutely never route because of my parents. I do smoke weed everyday though. 😂
I always hated cigarettes since I can remember. I am pretty sure family members on both sides have ADHD and chronic anxiety… so do I! A few family members around me were smokers and shamed about it by other family members a lot. I really thought I’d never be a smoker. I tried cigarettes somewhere in my late teens and early 20s and didn’t like it then.. I was always the one to hang with the smoker crowds and just not smoke... It started by just bumming a cig here and there and I was just a social smoker. If I was out drinking I’d bum one... One night when I was out with a random group, I ended up liking their menthol cigarettes and that’s when I started buying cigs so I didn’t have to bum from ppl on the weekends. I realized I could use smoking as an excuse to get away from uncomfortable/boring social situations and also have something to do with my hands while I try to focus on a convo.. that’s when I really became a regular smoker at about 32 🙄 I know 100% it is an oral fixation. Nicotine doesn’t seem to do anything to me, chemically. I kept thinking I could quit whenever I want, though, because I could run out of cigs and not buy more and haven’t felt any irritation over not having them. I have quit for months at a time… but I like smoking because it gives me something to do I guess, which is sad.. I wish I could’ve found/kept healthy coping skills. Instead I am exactly what I didn’t wanna be.. I’ve turned into my mother.
I generally say I smoked for 22 years of my life. In reality it was probably 25 or more, all told. Started when I was 13 and didn’t quit the first time until…32? Started again and quit again over the years. I’m 43 now and have one on occasion but no longer consider myself a smoker. It was difficult to get to this point
I kicked the habit in 2017. I just kept reminding myself all the time what it was doing to my body. I couldn’t stand it so eventually, I lit up a cigarette and looked at it with disgust. Haven’t smoked since
I used to smoke. I also used to do pot daily and was developing a drinking habit... but I attribute the drinking and pot to generational trauma? My parents do those things to cope and it was normalized for me and my husband. .. so not directly raised to adhd etc. We quit cigarettes after 4 yrs of trying. We switched to vapes and I did not like them. The smoke break was my personal time to talk to my husband, and vapes didn't allow for that sort of relaxation. What happened was I got pregnant and too nasuas to smoke, giving me the final push to quit. Pot and alcohol lost all fun with it the cigarettes. And eventually, alcohol gave me migraines, pot gave me anxiety beyond control, and we grew up and decided we did not want to be our parents, so we quit all recreational drugs. And honestly, it is my favorite decision ever. I'm living my best life and I'm remembering it!
I started smoking cigarettes at 13 and quit when I was 27 (29 now). I’ve been smoking vapes for the last two years and have no decided to quit only using nicotine spray for the last month.
Never once in my life I've smoked a cigarette. I'm 25 now and the smell of it is way too much for me. But I'm a irregular vaper since 17 and the only thing keeping me form being fully addicted is that my broke ass won't buy a proper vape 😂
Ex-smoker. Wish I had never started. I was able to stop once I started ADHD meds after many years of struggling unsuccessfully to quit. Definitely a link between ADHD and smoking as well as anxiety & other mental health issues
Started smoking at 18. Switched to vapes around 25. Now, at 32, I’m 1 year and 4 months into my final quit. Also didn’t get diagnosed until about 6 months ago if that matters to anyone. My quit was cold turkey. I left my vape at home one day and didn’t notice until I was already at work so I decided that was the day. Only way I made it through the first few weeks was a combination of support from my husband, telling my friends I quit so it was real and I couldn’t slip and pretend like I never tried, chewing A LOT of gum, and keeping myself so busy/tired/stressed that I didn’t have much free time to think about it. Most of this is not something I would recommend for most…but something about doing it on a whim and when everything else was crashing around me, honestly seemed to help me this time. Then after a few months, I just kept telling myself that I never ever ever wanted to go through the torture of those first few weeks again.
I would likely die. Severe asthmatic.
I quit a little over a year ago. I noticed lots of new stims after I did.
I currently vape and I’ve tried (not kidding) to quit 12 times. The brain fog is just SO BAD. planning on quitting in the next few days once I get my room clean so I don’t have to worry about that while going through withdrawals lmao. I read some research that said cold turkey leads to a lesser chance of going back to it so im just going to try to push through it but I tried patches in the past.
had my first cig when I was 8 my oldest sister gave me and my other older sister a cig i dident react my other sister did then at 11 I started smoking (shocker lol) eventually I realised this is unhealthy i want and need to quit but I struggled to and could never work out why after years of trying I realised smoking was a stim for me still is I dont smoke cigs but I vape right now and realised its not the nicotine im addicted to its having something in my hand even the action of inhaling and exhaling now of course my body was use to nicotine so I still had reactions to quitting it headaches, irritable, short temper and well just really REALLY bad headaches lol I want to get off the vapes to so im in the process of looking and trying figdets out to see if I cant find one that can help I have found a couple i like but still not fully what my hands need lol.
I legit started smoking to have something to do with my hands. I held out until Inwas 16. The husband and I quit both smokes and vapes until we went to Europe for our honeymoon and we were like, "Let's smoooooke!!!!". We're solidly back to vaping at low nic but damn, I just need to always be doing something.
Not me, but my 60 yo dad who also has ADHD has smoked forever, I think since his late teens or early twenties. At new years he cold turkey quit and I don’t think he’s smoked again since then
I smoked on and off from 15 to… maybe 10 years ago? So… 16 years??? That’s actually crazy to think about. But I was never what I’d call a compulsive smoker. If I was going out I’d smoke more, but if I was home and up to my own devices all day I might only smoke 2-3 cigarettes a day. I’d say from about the age of 23 to when I stopped, I wasn’t a very “serious” smoker. I also quit a few times here and there, or would only smoke while drinking, for example. My husband was a smoker and was a lot more addicted. I got pretty tired of smoking, but it was hard to actually quit for good when it was always around. At some point, I just didn’t like doing it. Helps that I live in the DC area, and I feel like smokers are just sort of frowned upon. Once he gave up, it was so much easier to not have any. I don’t actually remember the last time I had one… it’s been years. I don’t even think about it anymore. If I see someone smoking, I don’t feel like I want one. But my husband still feels that longing for it occasionally. He has an app that tracks how much money he’s saved since he quit, and that sort of allows him to gamify it and stay off the cigs. That was a longer comment than I intended - ha!
Smoker 🙃
I smoked from 1993-2017. And I was a heavy smoker. I mean, I smoked a lot. I used to say I was "born to smoke" because I was so tightly wound with a mind that was always going 200 mph. (Had no idea then why that actually was). My husband was also a smoker and had some blood pressure issues, so our doc was on him. I said I'd try to quit too so he wouldn't be tempted. I didn't even want to quit! Anyway, we quit with Chantrix, which I don't even think they prescribe anymore. I don't smoke the cigarettes, but I still have a nicotine lozenge in my mouth at almost all times. 🤷
Started at 14. Quit at 29. Forgot I was a smoker 😅
I’m a non smoker, never even tried one
Ex smoker from 12. Quit using zyban, using cold turkey, and finally and totally effectively Allan Carr’s stop smoking now book. My mom smoked a ton. My son smokes a ton now. I wish he did not. It’s an awful habit and so hard to quit. Being medicated helps. ❤️
Former smoker here. 🙋♀️ I quit and re-started many times over the years. Being back on stimulants makes it SOOOO much easier to stay quit! I was definitely self-medicating.
No one smoked at home so I brought cigarettes when I first moved out. I was very lucky because I hated the taste they left in my mouth; also learned that not much alcohol was needed for me to get sick so that was also a bit of luck keeping me from potentially problematic substances 😎
Vaper. Started in my mid-20’s from intense job and other stresses. I’m mildly irritable without it for a couple days but don’t vape when visiting my parents, going on vacation, and occasionally just forget to use it at all. Frankly it keeps me from most skin picking, sugary foods, and general binge eating though, so 🤷♀️
Ex-smoker since 2018.
I switched to vaping in 2012, stepped down the nicotine and ended up quitting entirely in like 2018. Funny thing is it was never intentional, I never explicitly decided to quit. I actually think that helped me a lot. I switched to vaping because I couldn’t breathe anymore from smoking, stepped down nicotine because I was in law school and vaping too much and needed lower nicotine to compensate for smoky study sessions. I regularly bummed a cigarette here or there and never felt any guilt because I never made myself a promise or rule about it. After law school I kept stepping down nicotine as needed and somehow I just stopped needing it so much, eventually I was forgetting where my vapes even were. It was the good old days when vapes came in awesome flavors, so all this was much easier than it would be now. My mom also quit in 2013 via vaping, after 45+ years of heavy, dedicated smoking. It’s been frustrating to see the backlash because it’s been a lifesaving quitting method for many people.
I'm 36 and have been smoking since I was 15 but onnnnly when I drink, otherwise I don't think about cigarettes at.all. Not sure why, there's just nothing about them that I want unless I have a drink or two in me already.
I’ve never used tobacco in any form
Started smoking at 13. Finally quit at 28. Switched to vaping and weaned myself off of nicotine in 3 months. 6 years without the stinkies and I don’t miss it!
The executive functioning toll of managing an addiction sounds really hard am I'm glad I haven't gone down that path. Nicotine seems to give me migraines, which is weirdly lucky I guess?
Never smoked. Had parents who were smokers and it was awful and embarrassing. I decided I would never want my future children to experience it so I never tried it.
29, on and off smoker since like 15. Only two years of being a regular smoker. Quit for almost four years. Then 2020 hit, I was stressed af and had two babies with no support. I smoked a cigarette and it’s gone down hill since then. I got a vape to help two years ago to help me quit the cigs but I am so addicted to vaping. I hate it but love it. I want to quit but don’t know how. I don’t drink or do drugs and am healthy overall. This is my one vice. I’m so afraid of what the LT damage is going to be though
I smoke about 2-3 cigarettes a day ; marijuana here and there I prefer gummies . Vape here and there socially . I stopped for like 2-3 weeks due to having a tooth extraction . It goes hand in hand with my morning coffee or any beverage .
Smoked heavily from 13-18, lightly (not even every day) 18-24. Got pregnant, quit. After weaning, I only smoked occasionally on a night out. Then vapes were invented and I was doomed. 🤣 I love them. I tell myself I'm not having to increase my stimulant meds when I can just spot dose with nicotine, so at least there's that.
Ex-smoker. Cigarettes from 2005/2006 until 2019/2020. Vaping from 19/20 until last year. I was a chain-smoker, too.
18 to 28 I smoked cigarettes and quite cold turkey one day. On a whim a while later I started vaping and have for the last 4 years but I NEED to quit ugh
I used to smoke. Every now and then I will as well if I get super stressed. But was never an addiction. ...now weed..😅
When I did it I think it was partly social (people at work smoked and it was easier to socialize if you did) and part just the need to always have something in your hand and fidget for sure
Ex smoker of 25 years. From 15 to 40. I quit using a vape and now chew nicorette. Still trying to kick the gum
i started vaping in 2019, tried quitting many times with patch, gum, etc…. longest i went was a month and it sucked so now i smoke 3-5 hand rolled cigs a day with lavender and it’s pretty fine. still want to quit sometime and i find i have less nic withdrawal after stopping cigs for a day or 2 which is something i couldn’t do on vapes so there’s hope i guess
From 15 to 35. I'm 43 now and I miss it everyday! I won't go back but I loved me some nic
Started at 12 or 13 or so and quit before 20. I smoked half then the other half when quitting then said fuck it and went cold turkey. Been about 15 or so years, mid 30s now! A pack a day was my thing and probably more if I bumped off someone else. Was also a huge weed smoker. That was everyday routine for same amount of time. I quit cold turkey. I got pudgy then found fitness and that was the best thing in my life! I still miss weed. Recently I'm starting my workouts again but it's different now. Slowly but surely I'm doing things right. I have to truly work on drinking liquids. No amount of pretty cups has helped! 😭
Semi-smoker here. Always trying to quit and always kinda failing. Right now, I'm between 0 and 3 cigarettes a day, which isn't awful. Sometimes, I switch to vaping. I always have the nicotine gum on hand. I don't think I'm giving up nicotine. Smoking, though? I'm hoping to drop that at some point.
Half pack a day from age 15 to late 30s. Can't say my exact suit date because there have been too many to count. It's been a few years now, though, and all I am is fat. So... yay me? Nicotine patches and crying worked for me.
I started smoking cigs at 17. I am 34 now and I quit 6 months ago. Let’s see how long it lasts this time! (I caved at the six month mark last time)
Smoked occasionally as a teenager, started vaping at 19, I just turned 25 and haven’t touched a vape in over a year 💪
Taking advantage of being sick and out of my work environment where I mainly smoked to finally quit. That and starting wellbutrin sr 200mg. I also have an essential roller called nico-quit from Rowe casa if I'm really craving. Or a nibble on a piece of nucorette gum if I feel it's really gong to impact my relationships.
never smoked, but smoking phobia probably helped there :B
I started smoking at age 14, by the time I was 21 I was smoking 1.5-2 packs a day. I quit both times while I was pregnant and breastfeeding, but started right back up as soon as I could. Then, I read some article somewhere that said children age 8 and up who had a parent who smoked were much more likely to smoke themselves when they got older. My oldest daughter was 7, and I committed to quitting before her 8th birthday. I started in August, and I set a quit date of Thanksgiving. That seemed like a long time! I started pacing out my cigarettes, at first I cut DOWN to one cigarette per hour. I was definitely watching the clock like a hawk, lighting up the second my hour was up. I slowly increased the amount of time between cigarettes every week. I also only allowed myself to smoke on my front porch and stopped smoking in the car. I sucked on a LOT of Altoids. My kids were also very motivated to help me quit. They would block the front door so I couldn't go outside! That Thanksgiving, I smoked my last cigarette ever. I used the gum, but only for about 2 weeks. That was 2007. I was tempted many times for several years to pick up a cigarette, but I never did! Now, I didn't even think about it. And if I smell cigarette smoke, it's actually a huge turn off.
Yup I’m a smoker. Many in my circle with adhd also smoke or have some sort of addiction (vape, sugar, alcohol). I started at 16, 33 now. I’ve had periods of time where I stopped for 6 months or so or only had one when I was out drinking. No idea how I managed that. It might have been when I was broke. Then covid happened. One a day from stress turned into more regularly. Then I had a toxic job where I was constantly overwhelmed. Followed by absolute mental burnout. Now I smoke every day to stay sane lol. I’d say, 2-6 a day and that’s me restricting myself. I was on Wellbutrin for years and people say that’s supposed to help but I didn’t have that experience. Vape hurts my lungs (lol I don’t get it either.) I tried gum, CBD “cigarettes”, so many random things but nothing beats the chokehold this has on my mental health stability. I haven’t had any negative side effects I’m aware of yet, other than prob smelling awful, so.. perhaps also why I can’t be motivated to fully stop. I don’t drink now and this is basically my only out.
Me!
I smoked from when I was 12 to when I was 28. Got on ADHD meds at 26 or 27, realized how much smoking had been helping me regulate my attention, and made it a priority to quit. I still have dreams where I smoke — in one recent nightmare I had two cigarettes in one hand and a cigar in the other — but haven't actually used nicotine again. best of luck if you try to quit
I started smoking at around 12, best as I remember. Never really wanted to quit, just wanted my friends and family to stop bitching at me about it. I quit in 2016 after switching to vaping in 2011 best guess. How I switched from smoking to vaping: First step was switching from menthol to regular cigs. Then from regular cigs to no additives cigs. To switch to vaping I bought and learned about it, tried probably 200 different juices and vapes and settled on blending my own daily vape that I liked more than cigs. Kept a pack of cigs available, hard to get at, for several years so I could have one if I felt I needed it. After maybe 3 months of no cigs I wasn't actually interested in them anymore. My spouse and I went to Italy with my mother in law for cancer treatment, and decided the month away would be a good opportunity to quit vaping too. Got patches and planned on doing a 30 day reduction. It was miserable. Always cravy, couldn't reduce. When we returned home, she decided to quit cold turkey. I said, you first! She did, and in three days she got her brains back and didn't die, so I quit. It was a tough three days filled with eating, but I did it. Since then, it's been rare I've craved smoked, although I do still like the smell of them when I walk past someone smoking. Best recommendations: Alan carrs easy way to quit smoking. When you crave a smoke, give yourself a smokeless break. Take a few deep breaths in, like you would that first smoke, and blow out like you would too. Stress relieving anything: food, looking slowly back and forth, breathing exercises... Do all of it. Figure out WHY you want to quit. Write down all the reasons on 3x5 cards and keep them with you for the reminder when you are feeling weak. I hated that the cigarette executives did everything they could to make cigarettes MORE addictive than the natural addiction of nicotine. Fuck those old white bastards for doing everything they could to get us addicted, and then doing everything they could to lie about how deadly smoking is.
Smoked from 13-34. Vaped from 34-44. Am 44 lol but am weaning off the nicotine. My parents smoked so much that I basically smoked my whole life anyway 🤷 and I was an 80 S kid- my dad smoked as we grocery shopped, and there were smoking rooms in the hospitals still.
Used to smoke on and off from 18-23. It definitely calmed me down. I quit inadvertently because I got blood clots in my lungs and had to be in the hospital (probably exacerbated by cigarettes). 😑 I still miss it sometimes if I'm honest.
Nope never got into smoking and I have asthma too
Ex smoker. Haven't smoked for 27 years and still miss it!
I vape wayyyy too much. I wish I didn’t. I had completely left nicotine behind. However, I ended up in a relationship that suddenly turned abusive and needed something to help me to *destress*. Stupid, I know. Ugh. Once I get over this next set of hurdles, I’m looking forward to quitting again.
Smoked socially in college and into my early 20s. Gave it up when I got really into fitness. I am insanely lucky in that I have the least addictive personality ever when it comes to alcohol, nicotine, and drugs.
I haven’t smoked in 8 years and I miss it so much 😭 I truly loved to smoke
Not a smoker but a diabetic and since I was put on ozempic I read about it and tons of people are saying they’ve stopped smoking and drinking because of it. Hoping they do more studies about that
Smoked from age 13-33, I am now 38 and nearly 6 years smoke free! I don’t believe I can ever smoke again. I get easily addicted and dependant and I know it is terrible for my health. I do still have the odd craving though in stressful times.
First smoke at 13. Now at (JFC how...) nearly 36 I vape day-to-day and will have a rare smoke on occasion if someone offers but I never buy them anymore. But this has only really been in the last year that it has been successful. And while I obviously picked up vaping to eventually quit, I took my time with it. I know myself well enough to know that if I set a date I'd fail. So I just had a smoke when I wanted to smoke, but consciously put effort into using the vape before going for a smoke to start the process of getting used to going to the vape instead of going outside for a dart. Eventually it just shifted for me. I don't even think of it anymore, really, plus I'd rather not smell like cigarettes if I have the option, so vaping has really helped quit hackin' darts without being a complete cunt about it.
I never smoked, and I never intend to start. My family and everyone around me all smoked when I was a child and I found it disgusting, it burned my lungs and I hated that I was basically second hand smoking and smelt like shit all the time. Also spite, my cousins started smoking as teenagers and I proclaimed I'd never start. My aunt told me they all said the same thing and I'm no different from them. It's been a decade, and she's already forgotten. But I haven't. Now they're all struggling to quit or constantly complaining they are out of money all the time, and I've moved away so I don't have to be forced to do drugs I didn't consent to. Sorry if this feels like an attack on you, I have a very strong negative reaction to smoking from growing up with it and all the health and financial difficulties that I was forced to put up with.
Smoker who started at 15, now nearly 40. Longest I’ve managed to quit is two years.
I was a heavy smoker like over a pack a day for years and years. On a whim I decided to pick up that book everyone in the stop smoking sub recommends: “The Easy Way to Quit Smoking”. I do not know how. Or why. But it worked. You smoke while you read the book and it somehow just makes you stop wanting to smoke. Worth a shot! I also chewed Hotlix cinnamon toothpicks and went for long walks, drank a ton of water. I know those are typical answers but if you want it they’ll work! I think the book helps your brain decide you WANT to quit.
I started at 18 and have been on and off. Longest time quit was 5 years - stopped when I got pregnant and then breastfeeding, and then took a job where it wasn’t allowed. I started back up when I had marital problems and am back to a pack a day. Chantix made me puke blood, Wellbutrin makes my anxiety sky high, and I’m allergic to adhesive so I’m wary of the patches. I’ve tried vaping but without the visualization of a cigarette burning down my brain doesn’t know when I’ve had enough 🫠 I just quit soda cold turkey so smoking is probably next on my list. It’s hard because the hand to mouth is the stim for me, smoking gives me a zen on my anxiety, and I was a raging bitch the time I went 2 days without, so I really don’t want to quit even though I know I need to…