You have done it! You’ve quit smoking and stayed that way for two whole weeks! That’s really great. You probably weren’t sure that you could do it, but you were able to. It is a great boost to your health!
Now, the best way to enjoy life without cigarettes is by not smoking for 6 months straight. Although, you have already come a long way, you still need a little help, and this is what this Chapter will give. In fact, the first things you’ve got to do is not to relax too much because you feel so successful.
At this point you may feel that quitting has been easier than you expected. Not that it’s been easy altogether, but it still has not been as hard as you feared. You may now go for several hours, maybe most of the day or evening, without even thinking about a cigarette. But don’t get over-confident. Stay alert – because you may find yourself suddenly tempted to smoke, and if your guard is down, you could end up puffing away without even realizing what hit you.
The important thing for the next few months is “vigilance.” This doesn’t mean that you become obsessed with managing your quitting, but you do have to stay on your toes, so that you’re always alert to the temptations or situations that can mess up your plan.
If you do slip-up, just keep going. Don’t get depressed and get discouraged. Remember, the average successful quitter relapsed several times before getting it right. Relapsing does not mean you are a failure. Relapsing and relearning from your mistakes and trying again are all part of successful quitting.
More About Temptations
In order to stay a nonsmoker, you will have to keep vigilant and guard against the temptations that could cause you to slip up.
Unfortunately temptations will not just disappear. Not for a while. In the first few months, when you see or taste a cup of coffee or make a telephone call, you may just as likely get an urge to have a cigarette, as you did when you were a smoker.
By the time you’ve been off cigarettes for over two weeks, the frequency of your urges is going way down. But some urges can still be real killers.
Here’s one consolation: The worst is over! The nicotine is gone from your system, most physical withdrawal symptoms are sharply reduced, and the frequency of those urges and cravings is going down.
That means that the cravings you’re experiencing are coming from your mind, not from your body. Try not to be discouraged or frustrated by this. Habits you’ve had for years are not something that will disappear. The important thing is to recognize where the urges are coming from and to use that knowledge to fight the cravings.
As the months go by, you will notice that even your mental cravings are becoming more like thoughts than strong drives.
Ex-smokers who have been off cigarettes for a long time say that they still have thoughts about cigarettes, but not pressing urges.
So how should you deal with these temptations now that the smoking is out of the question? Practice your creative alternatives and work on your will power.
Now is a good time to reevaluate your temptations and your plans for coping with them. As your physical cravings have decreased, you’ve probably noticed that the temptations that used to affect you may no longer be the ones that bother you now.
Cigarettes and cigarette packages are still likely to your strongest temptations. You got rid of all your cigarettes when you quit smoking. But now is the time to do a double check of all the places where you used to keep them. The obvious places and the not-so obvious places. It’s important to make sure that you really get rid of every last one, because one of the easiest ways to fall off the wagon (especially when you feel confident that you have mastered your desire for cigarettes) is to come across a couple of leftover cigarettes.
Below is a list of common temptations and what you can do to fight back:
Temptations:
• Having an alcoholic drink
• Watching TV
• Getting ready for a meeting
• Talking on the telephone
• Drinking coffee
• Finishing a meal
• Taking a work break
• The end of the workday
Fighting Back:
• Stretch and touch your toes
• Do deep breathing exercises
• Do a crossword puzzle
• Knit, sew
• Build a model plane, boat, train
• Go for a walk
• Exercise
• Take a shower
• Suck on a stirring stick
• Chew sugarless gum
• Doodle
Also, learn to avoid smoking places and people. This includes smoking sections, bars, restaurants, canteens, bowling alleys and golf courses. It’s not only places that present a problem, it is people who smoke. Most relapses begin with a cigarette offered by another smoker.
You are vulnerable to the temptation to join in when someone else lights up. This is especially true when ex-smokers are feeling confident they have their smoking under control. A friend offers them a cigarette, and they figure they can have just one. That’s why it will really help during the next few weeks if you avoid people who smoke, even if they’re your best friends. Also, try to pass on social situations that involve people who are smokers. It’s bad enough when you watch one person light up, but watching five, ten, or more people can be too strong a temptation.
It might help if you made a list of your friends and acquaintances who smoke. Put your closest smoking friends at the top of the list and your casual smoking friends and acquaintances at the bottom of the list. Then draw a line at that place on the list where your close smoking friends end and your casual smoking friends and acquaintances begin.
The object is not to destroy your friendships. Rather your goal is to spend less time with your smoking friends, and a lot less time with casual friends and acquaintances who smoke.
A little will power can help. Anticipating that you will miss being with your friends who smoke, you might plan to talk to them on the phone, or meet them in a nonsmoking setting, like a movie or a stroll through a park.
A lot of relapses occur in social situations. Drinking, talking with friends, feeling relaxed and maybe a little too confident about your smoking, or perhaps feeling a little shy and anxious, and being offered a cigarette – these can cause the strongest person to slip up.
Of course, you cannot avoid all social situations where people may be smoking. But you can get through them without smoking. Here are strategies to keep those temptations from taking over.
1) Shortly before you get to the party, review in your mind your firm decision that you will not smoke, no matter what.
2) Take some time shortly before the party to visualize yourself not smoking in key situations that are likely to occur. Think of what the place will look like. If it includes a meal, try to imagine what will be served. Practice saying, “No, thanks, I quit.” This will help to internalize your resolve.
3) To make sure you don’t feel anxious or like a wall flower, plan some things you’ll talk about, perhaps a funny story you heard or an article you read in the newspaper.
4) Drink something nonalcoholic during the party or limit yourself to one drink.
5) Talk ahead of time to friends who will be there. Tell them you are concerned although determined, and ask them to give you encouragement during the party.
6) Ahead of time, use positive self-talk to affirm your decision not to smoke.
But what if, despite all your precautions and all your assertiveness, you still have trouble with your urges to smoke? What if they get stronger and stronger and you don’t think you can hang on much longer? Just leave! Go home. Or go for a walk until your smoking urges have calmed down. Here are some strategies:
• Waiting it out. When your craving is a mild one, it’s often possible to wait it out. After 5 or 6 minutes, the urge often fades and disappears.
• Reviewing your most important reasons for quitting smoking. Sine you have been a nonsmoker for a while, you probably will have new reasons for being a nonsmoker. Make sure you write all these down.
• Talking yourself out of an urge. Say to yourself, “This will not last. This will go away. I’m doing really well. This urge won’t throw me if I don’t let it.”
• Thinking away the urge. Recall some of the diseases related to smoking that meant the most to you. Then think how you have lowered your odds of getting them. Then say to yourself, “I will not smoke.”
• Do stress release exercises and deep breathing exercises.
Meditation
Now that you no longer have cigarettes to take the edge off of stress, you may want to try meditation. Although meditation is associated with several spiritual traditions, this version is a simple, non-religious one. Here, meditation is simply training you to focus your attention in a way that releases tension. It feels somewhat like dozing, because it causes a drop in your breathing rate and your blood pressure. Here’s how you do it:
1) Sit quietly in a comfortable position in a chair. Or you can sit cross-legged on a bed or on the floor if you like, but it’s not necessary.
2) Close your eyes.
3) Consciously try to relax all your muscles as much as you can.
4) Breathe through your nose, and each time you breathe out, say the word “one” (or choose another simple word).
Focus your mind on the word “one” as you’re saying it. If ideas come into your head that distract you, just notice them a little, and then bring your mind slowly and easily back to the word “One.” Don’t try too hard to focus your attention in any one direction. You want to go with what comes to mind, while you gently work your way back to “one.”
Do this meditation exercise once or twice a day for 15 to 20 minutes in a place where you can be alone. Using meditation and the other breathing techniques will help you cope not only with tension related to quitting smoking, but with tension in general. In fact, you may find these techniques helpful even when your smoking days are long gone.
Discontinuing Nicotine Replacement
As your sense of control increases, you may want to think about discontinuing the use of any nicotine replacement products you’ve been using. As times goes on since your last cigarette, you will no longer need to rely on nicotine gum, patches, sprays or inhalers.
When you start thinking about getting off sprays or medication it may be a good time to check in with your doctor, who will be happy to hear about your progress and might be able to help you in planning to discontinue the nicotine replacement products.
If you have been using nicotine gum or patches (which are sold without a prescription) you can begin the weaning process yourself. You can take the following approach:
Nicotine Gum: Use nicotine gum every day for at least two to three months after quitting. If you have successfully stayed off smoking for that time, you will be able to gradually reduce the number of pieces of the gum you use each day. When you get down to just one or two pieces a day, you can stop using it. But continue to carry some with you for a few more weeks, in case of an emergency situation which might tempt you to smoke. Here is a good plan to follow:
• Reduce one piece a day for five days. If you feel any withdrawal symptoms during the week, don’t decrease the next day. Instead, stay at one level for one week. Then begin to decrease again. After five days of decreasing, stay at the level for one week.
• Repeat the above procedure until you get to one or two pieces a day. Stay at one or two a day for one week, and then quit.
• As you cut down, cut the pieces in half or replace one or more pieces with regular, sugar-free gum.
• Start chewing the pieces for only half the time. This will help you break the chewing habit, if you need to.
Design your plan so that you will be completely free and confident of your freedom from nicotine in six months. For most smokers, that means starting to cut down on nicotine gum after three months of use.
Nicotine Patches: Many people prefer the simplicity of a single strength patch. But some patches come in different sizes and shapes. The larger the patch, the more nicotine it delivers through the skin. Many smokers start with the strongest patch. Then after several weeks, they can switch to a medium strength patch for a few weeks, and possibly a lower strength patch for the last few weeks.
Patches are available for either six-week or ten-week treatment periods. They are usually not meant to be used for more than three months. Although some people are able to stop using nicotine patches at this point without tapering-off period, a gradual dose reduction is often recommended. If you are using a brand of patches that come in several dosage levels, taper off by switching to the next lower dose for two weeks. If an even lower dose is available, switch to that for your last two weeks. If you are using a single-strength patch, you can try wearing the patch for only half a day, or skipping every other day, then skipping two days, and so on.
Whichever tapering approach you decide on, be sure to err on the side of using the patch for a longer rather than a shorter period of time. Generally, the entire course of the nicotine patch use and gradual tapering-off should take no more than 14 to 20 weeks.
You might wonder if it is hard to give up the nicotine patch after so much time. Studies have shown that it is much easier to give up the patch than it is to give up cigarettes, for two reasons:
• One of the reasons smoking is so attractive is that the nicotine reaches the brain in about 7 seconds. With the patch, the nicotine level in your body stays relatively constant day after day. There is no immediate “hit,” so little craving develops.
• In smoking, all the things that you are doing while you smoke become linked to the nicotine “hit.” Talking on the phone, drinking coffee – these all develop strong links to nicotine. Since you put on the patch only one a day, and receive a steady stream of nicotine, no links are developed.
Nicotine Nasal Spray and Nicotine Inhalers. You may have been getting nicotine administered via a nasal spray or by the newest method, an inhaler. Both of these are prescription products. Your doctor will give you instructions on weaning yourself from these. Recommended strategies include:
• Use half a dose at a time.
• Use the spray or inhaler less frequently.
• Skip every other dose for several days. Continue to skip doses on succeeding days.
Prescription Medication: If you have been taking the “non-nicotine pill” Zyban, which is available only by prescription, your doctor may have provided only a seven or eight week supply. Some studies have found that extending treatment beyond eight weeks does not increase the pill’s effectiveness. So, your doctor may want to wean you off the non-nicotine pill at this point, if you have successfully stopped smoking. However, longer treatment may be advised if your cravings are not yet controlled well enough to guard against a possible relapse.
Am I Done Yet?
By this time, you’re probably wondering, “When will all this stop smoking routine end?!” Well, the answer is, “Not just yet!”
There’s still more to do, but you do deserve tremendous praise for your successful progress so far. Now is the time to look at how far you have come:
• You gained an understanding of your habit and your addiction to nicotine, and you learned to identify your smoking temptations.
• You gained the resolve to decide to quit.
• You developed your personalized quitting plan.
• You learned how to break your habits, deal with temptations, and get the cooperation you needed in preparation for your Quit Day.
• You took the big step – your Quit Day – and you successfully managed the first 24 hours.
• You worked on managing symptoms of physical and psychological recovery from nicotine during your first two weeks as a nonsmoker, and you learned how to treat slip-ups as an emergency.
• And finally you learned long-term strategies for staying vigilant against smoking temptations.
Congratulations! You have accomplished a lot!
When you get to six months after your Quit Day, you obviously have a lot to be proud of. And you probably won’t have any problems recognizing your own accomplishments, and feeling great in another six months when you make one year. So enjoy it. You really deserve it. You’ve done a wonderful job. You’ve accomplished something that was very hard, but very, very worthwhile.
Now is the time for making one more list. On a piece of paper, or on your computer, put down what you think are the most important things you want to keep in your mind to make sure you don’t get into trouble with smoking in the future.
Maybe it’s all your reasons for quitting smoking in the first place. Also, keep in mind the method’s you used to maintain your vigilance. Maybe it’s one particular creative alternative that you used, or a will power strategy. Maybe you’ve begun walking every day, and have come to love it, and want to make sure you never give it up. Maybe you’ve learned new ways to cope with anxiety or sadness, or maybe you’ve learned some skills for being less shy or more assertive. Whatever it is, write it down, so you can have a list of your wonderful accomplishments.
