Wanting to quit (again)

[daerandil]

I've been smoking for about a year now. I'm 28. I smoke maybe 5-10 cigarettes a day, not that much, I guess. I still want to quit, though.

I was able to go about a week multiple times. I know the physical addiction was gone.. but for some reason at about day 9 or 10 I break and end up lighting up again.

Thinking about trying the nicotine gum. Anyone have any 'yea' or 'nay' about that? Curious about success or disaster stories about it.

[kathyjo]

For me, I never could understand the "boredom" aspect, except for when I first began smoking and that was at 12, but there are some who say that they do indeed smoke due to boredom.
You mentioned stress and that seems to me to be a more likely trigger. What we all fail to see is that stress is there, regardless if we smoke or not, it really doesn't make it any better...in fact it can only be a negative. I don't know about anyone else, but when I smoked I had to find a place to do it....here in NYC you can't do it anywhere indoors and there are even some outdoor places you can't. The new building codes for apartments are "smoke-free" dwellings making it even more difficult to be a smoker in NYC.

Good luck and remember, we will be here for you if you should need support : )

[daerandil]

Thanks for the response. I've been really stressed lately, that's for sure. I guess for me it's more of a boredom, something-to-do sort of a thing.

I'm going to mention all this to my therapist when I see her next week and see what we can come up with!

Again, I appreciate the response. I'm glad I joined up on this site and the forum here. I believe that this place will help me a lot. Visuals usually do. ;)

[kathyjo]

yours sounds like an emotional addiction....most addictions are. I'm not a fan of NRT's unless it's the patch, but your addiction is not to nicotine so I wouldn't go that way.

What I would suggest is trying to figure out what it is that makes you reach for it...stress, anxiety, boredom, whatever your trigger, log onto whyquit.com and read through that site. Try to discover techniques that will keep you from going back.

You may be smoking 5 to 10 now, but it will increase in time, it always does. It's a nasty habit but once you break the emotional tie, you can quit for good.

Good luck and if you need support, we are here for you : )

FYI
I can't even count how many people have addictions to the gum now, some for years, one I know of personally who has been chewing it for 13 years! Use the search engine for the smoking forum...put in "gum" and watch what pops up!