Nicotine Tapering Method to Quit Smoking

[grace gumpy]

Smoking being a tough habit to get rid of, the smoker must take the abundant Help to quit smoking. He must choose the right method for quitting smoking suitable to him. There are a number of methods to quit smoking. One among them is the nicotine tapering method.



Nicotine tapering is also known as nicotine fading method. In this method the smoker reduces smoking gradually and finally gives up smoking completely on a particular quit date. The principle behind this method is that the lesser the amount of nicotine in the body, the lesser is the smoker addicted to cigarettes. As he gradually reduces the number of cigarettes, his addiction to nicotine also reduces and it becomes easier to quit smoking.



Gradual reduction is possible by switching over to a different brand of cigarette which has less nicotine. Then the number of cigarettes can be reduced. Another method of nicotine tapering is by sticking to the same brand and reducing the number of cigarettes smoked per day.



Nicotine tapering method is fairly effective and has a success rate of about 35% after a year. This method is generally safe but research has proved that during this process the smokers have higher levels of carbon monoxide in their body. This is because they tend to take longer and deeper puffs of cigarette smoke than they usually do. This introduces more carbon monoxide into the bloodstream. But if the smoker is successful, the carbon monoxide level gradually decreases in the body.



This method is easy and inexpensive. Also the withdrawal symptoms are less severe. This method is found to be easy by people who generally cannot quit using Cold Turkey method

[Spyman]

This method is easy and inexpensive.

LOL - IMHO there is NO easy way to quit smoking and only a brief look at your link tells me that your method is going to be expensive.

[TonyMcC]

First of all the joke. Giving up smoking is easy, I've done it dozens of times. Happily the last time was 51 years ago so it can be done.

It helps if you have a purpose that requires you to save hard. In my case I was saving money to get married. Think of something expensive that you want more than cigarettes. After getting married keeping off cigarettes was easy - I just couldn't afford them!( and thats not a joke lol)

[tar]

I would like to add my last couple of weeks experience to the discussion of Nicotine tapering, from a slightly different angle, with a slightly different method, and a combination of cold turkey and tapering, whose efficacy is yet to be determined, but might be put into the war chest of anyone that would like to quit, but have not been able to.

 

I am 60, have been smoking since I was 13, and have rather strongly worked nicotine into my "way of life", how I think, how I feel, how I handle stress, how I reward myself, and what I consider "feeling right". There is nothing like an after lunch cigarette. Nothing else accomplishes the same things. But I have been noticing shortness of breath, and funny sounds coming from my lungs, that indicate to me, that continuing to smoke is not a very smart plan, if staying alive and able to breath on my own, is my plan.

 

Starting with the simple thought that one will not die if they refrain from smoking a cigarette, while one may very well die if they refuse to refrain from smoking a cigarette, I tried the following experiment. I taught myself to exist without nicotine. I am still learning this new skill, and have not found the replacement for the after lunch cigarette, nor how to handle the ungoverned thoughts and smells and memories and such that I have previously handled with nicotine, nor exactly how to proceed in situations that always before involved reaching for a cigarette, but these things are between me and me, and I should be able to figure new strategies for each requirement.

 

What I did two weeks ago, was woke up with the thought that I had already been quit for 6 hours and my nicotine levels, were low, and THIS is what not smoking would be like. I wanted a cigarette and reached for one. I told myself, don't reach for one. I found one in my hand, and told myself to put it down. I found one in my mouth, and told myself not to light it, and to put it down., I found one lit in my mouth, and told myself not to inhale, and to put it in the ashtray and let it burn. I would reach for the cigarette in the ashtray, and tell myself not to reach for it, and to let it burn. I played this game with myself through several cigarettes, and had a goal of continuing to play the game for an entire hour. I lasted 56 minutes and finally just smoked one, but I learned I could exist without the nicotine, for an hour, without any ill effects.

 

The next day, I drove to visit my dad and did not smoke a cigarette when I woke up, or my usual one on the toilet on in the car, nor did I go out on the deck and smoke at my Dad's house, as I usually would. I did not smoke until I was on my way home...about 7 waking hours without nicotine, plus the 6 prior sleeping hours, that is over 12 hours. I continued the week, smoking but trying to extend the lengths of time it would be until I smoked, following waking up, and I called it "pratice" living without nicotine. I did not smoke driving into work Monday, nor during breaks or lunch, but finally borrowed a cigarette from a co-worker around 4 and smoked on the way home. The next day I put my cigarettes in the trunk and did not retreive them until the ride home. The next day I did not use them on the ride home. I bought a pack of cigarettes on the way home Friday, but did not smoke them till the early morning hours of Saturday. Thought that would be my last pack until a found another pack in a jacket, which I smoked on Sunday. I finished that pack around 7pm on Sunday, and have not purchased any more, nor smoked any since. I am currently experiencing life on a low level of nicotine, having not smoked for 5 going on 6 days, and am working through developing strategies to deal with all the habitual situations that would normally involve lighting up.

 

Its just between me and me. I am not saying I am stopped, nor that I do not like to smoke. But people at work, and family members are proud of me, for not smoking, because they know its "hard".

 

It is really not hard, to not smoke. What is hard is to not want the nicotine, because its nice to be high on nicotine. So my suggestion to people who would like to not smoke is to practice living without nicotine and you might just find that it is no so very terrible a condition. And where you do find it is a terrible condition, figure out some other strategy, other than nicotine, that will fill the void.

 

Don't reach for it.

Don't light it.

Put it down.

Don't inhale, put it in the ashtray and let it burn.

Play the game for the first hour when you wake up, and practice living without nicotine.

 

No promises, no denial, no defeat, no victory. Just no need to reach for one if you are trying to experience life without being high on nicotine. Which might just work out OK for me, yet. My car still stinks, but I air it out every day, and its getting better, and I can already feel my breathing getting clearer and deeper.

 

Regards, TAR

No one has died yet, because I have refrained from getting high on nicotine...well there is this one guy at work that I locked horns with... but I am a big boy, I can learn how to work things out without going out and getting high on nicotine...hopefully.

[Spyman]

While you can learn to live without nicotine, a long time user will never stop missing it, you have to learn to live with that too.

 

I smoked for many many years and now it's several years since I smoked the last time, but I still longs for a cigarette from time to time.

 

When that feeling gets over me it can be very strong and emotional, I am strong now and can resist the urge and no longer falls for the lost feeling, but when it happens it still makes me sad, like when a close friend has passed away and you stumble on a nice memory.

 

My best advice is to have very strong motives for quitting and always have a very very good substitute for the occasions when it gets hard.

[tar]

spyman,

 

Good advice. That is to expect to have a yearn to visit the old friend from time to time.

 

I think that has been my downfall in the past, other occasions where I had stopped for a month or two. Every time, the starting smoking again, happened the same way. I rewarded myself with a smoke, telling myself I was over it, and could just enjoy the "one".

Then a week later, I would rationalize that I had not been quit for two months, but only for a week, and there would be no harm in having a weekly cigarette...the next day I had not been quit for a week, but for a day, and there would be little harm in a daily reward...smoking again.

 

This time, I have the worry about damaging my ability to breath on my own, and having the feeling that if I continued to smoke, there would come a time when I would have to pay for it, in a way where I would question myself as to why I continued to smoke, when I could have easily NOT smoked. So I agree, that "wanting" to not smoke is important in not inviting the old, but undesireable friend back into your life. It is important not to let yourself think that you can be so "strong" and in command, that you could smoke just here and there and it would be alright.

 

Its best to just not indulge yourself, because if you do, it will be easier to indulge yourself again and again. After all, nicotine is an addictive substance, and by definition, you are going to want to feel its effects again.

 

I think my downfall before, was in thinking I was "over" nicotine, and no longer under its power. Well I probably am, at the moment, not under nicotine's draw, having not smoked for a week. Smoking a cigarette now though, would put me back under its draw, so the mistake would be thinking I would be immune from its draw, "this time" for some odd reason. Fact is, nicotine is a rather attractive and clingy "old friend", and the best strategy, if you want to quit, and stay quit is to ween yourself off nicotine in what-ever manner suits you, and not let the substance back in your life in any "partial" way.

 

Regards, TAR

[tar]

Over two weeks now, without nicotine...learning how to think and feel and live, without dependence on the stuff. It is possible. And I am breathing a bit easier. Actually breathing a lot easier, noticablely easier. Only problem is, after a week I woke up with a pain in my left chest, it hurt when I coughed. I am hoping it is muscle and not lung that hurts when I sneeze. Otherwise, I chose to divorce nicotine a bit too late. We will see. Anyway, to anyone interested in stopping, try my hour game on Saturday when you wake up. You can smoke the rest of the day if you want, but see if you can life without nicotine for that first hour of the day. You will be amazed to find the cigarette lit in your mouth anyway, but for the sake of the game, and the trial, remember the rules of the game. Don't reach for it, if its in your mouth, don't light it, put it down, next to the pack, if its in your mouth, lit, do not inhale, take it out and put it in the ashtray, and let it burn, don't reach for it, if you find it in your mouth, do not inhale, put it back in the ashtray and let it burn.

 

No promises, no defeat, no victory. Just play the game, one time, one Saturday morning. The rest is between you and you. After that first hour (or 56 minutes in my case) you will understand exactly where you stand with nicotine. Exactly. And the rest is between you and you.

 

Regards, TAR

[Spyman]

I hope it's nothing serious and wish you good luck with the next two months, maybe you can break your past record and continue to live free.

Edited April 22, 2014 by Spyman

[Phi for All]

My best advice is to have very strong motives for quitting and always have a very very good substitute for the occasions when it gets hard.

 

This is very important. This is like the motivation you need to lose a bunch of weight. But you also need something else to keep it off, or to keep from smoking in the future.

 

It's been twenty years for me. I imagined a door I opened when I wanted a cigarette. To quit, I didn't just close and lock the door, I removed it completely from the wall, mentally bricked up the hole, told myself that smoking just wasn't an option any more.

 

Then I reinforced that with every good thing that happened after that. No more ashtray mouth. No more burns on furniture. I didn't stink anymore, and I knew that because all the other smokers REEKED. Whiter teeth, more money to spend, longer life, breathing well, tasting food again, every day it seemed like there were new reasons why I was never going to smoke another cigarette.

 

I'm not even tempted anymore, don't miss it at all, not even a little. To me, it's become silly. Can't imagine what I was thinking to let myself do something so dumb.

[tar]

Three weeks now. No nicotine required. Breathing really nicely. Still worried about my left lung, but it does not hurt like it did last week. Will see the doctor tomorrow for my yearly.

 

I really do recommend that anyone that wants to quit, try the trial the next time they wake up, on a Saturday morning. Just to clarify your relationship with nicotine, in your own mind. I smoked off and on for a week after the trial, but I knew I didn't have to smoke. Thanks to the trial. Then when I decided I had smoked my last cigarette, it was the last cigarette I smoked.

 

Regards, TAR

 

I gave my wife 140 in cash in a Birthday card a week after I stopped. Told her it was money for her to burn, because I had not.

Feeling flush at the moment, and figure I just gave myself a raise of 5 to 7 thousand dollars a year. Plus a possible few more years of unaided breathing and living.

[Phi for All]

Three weeks now. No nicotine required. Breathing really nicely. Still worried about my left lung, but it does not hurt like it did last week. Will see the doctor tomorrow for my yearly.

 

Since I know you're seeing the doctor, I'll go ahead and say this. I'll bet the pain in your chest is just part of the adjustment. The body has funny ways of letting us know it's not pleased, and it even punishes us when we stop doing something bad. The body seems to like consistency, even if you're poisoning yourself consistently.

 

A new consistent behavior is being formed and you may need to give it time. But I'm glad you're seeing your doctor about this.

[tar]

Phi for All,

 

He listened to my lungs, and actually seemed pleased with what he heard as I took long deep breaths (without coughing). He thought I had probably just pulled a muscle somehow in my sleep. But he didn't send me to get an xray or anything. He knew from a previous x-ray that I had some scaring on my lungs from long time heavy smoking, and thought it was an excellent move to stop smoking. He said I was realitively young, and I was good that I stopped, because I was on my way to emphysima (sorry about the spelling) without too much doubt, should I have continued to smoke. Anyway, my blood pressure was excellent, my EKG was good and barring any unforseen news from blood tests, it looks like I will be around for a while. Thanks to both you and Spyman for your words of encouragement. I do believe I am actually done with the little devils this time. Welded the ole door shut, plasterd it over, and painted a nice mural on the wall where that particular door once stood. Won't be using that way out, any more. Thanks.

 

 

Regards, TAR

 

I'll check back in with weekly reports. That one month mark has been my downfall several times, and the two month mark once or twice. I am not even a little worried that I will make the mistake of "rewarding" myself with a smoke. Not this time. Its too important for me to NOT do something I would have regretted...that is, continue to smoke, knowing it was affected my breathing in a noticable and disturbing manner.

[tar]

Spyman,

 

I experienced your grief thing yesterday. Was driving by a gas station where I used to buy cigarettes regularly several years ago, and I actually had the emotional reaction you were talking about, thinking about the color and look of the pack, that I had "lost". Like heartbreak or grief. Easy to see how running into that emotion, could cause one to remove the heartbreak and feeling of loss, by just purchasing a pack and reuniting with the ole friend. Really important I think for people like myself, who have succeeded in getting out from under the immediate draw of nicotine, to not underestimate its alure, and to expect this emotional "sadness" from time to time, and just power through it, find stategies to handle it, and expect that there will come other times, when smoking would "feel" like the easy way out of the bad mood. But like Phi says, you just have to not give yourself that option. Ever again. That is the only way to be truely "stopped".

 

Regards, TAR

[Spyman]

Well, you can always comfort yourself with one of those peanut butter cups you seem to be so found of in other threads, but watch out so you don't end up with another unhealthy habit, there can be too much of good things too.

 

Lots of people who stop smoking gains weight, both from changes in the body due to the loss of nicotine and from eating to much to compensate the loss. I myself gained around 20 kg which I can't seem to get rid of even now after several years.

[tar]

Spyman,

 

2 hours ago I hit the 4 week mark since my last smoke.

 

Believe me, I have used the peanut butter cup technique. Actually psuedo cup technique. I pour some chocolate morsels in a small bowl, put a superduper heaping teaspoon of peanutbutter in and mix it up and work on that for a while.

 

Not crazy about replacing nicotine with chocolate though. Seems like that would be a rotund solution.

 

So far, my self defense mechanism has mostly been sleep. When I get too "lonely" for nicotine, I just curl up on my barcolounger and grab a little shut-eye. Been rather well rested as a result, and the ole mind has been very active. Am slowly learning to apply myself to the honey do list as well, and spending a few more moments with the wife, than I use to.

 

Breathing real nicely today, and the "pulled muscle" on my left chest seems to be healing, as sneezes hurt less and less. So I am really happy, to breath that deep fullfilling breath, that I was beginning to lose a month ago.

 

Still like Phi's "not an option" mentality. I think that works the best. Then you don't have to feel sorry for yourself, or feel like you are doing anything wonderful or difficult, or anything, by not smoking. Just not an option. Like having a date with somebody other than your wife, is just not an option. Or paying 250 thousand dollars for 30 seconds of wheightlessness on a commercial "spacejet". Might be nice, might be neat, might be pleasurable, but for me, such a ticket is not an option.

 

Smokes are in the same compartment for me now. Just not an option.

 

Regards, TAR

[Spyman]

Good to hear that you are getting better and continue to be successful in your task.

 

Another helpful advice is to have multiple goal points, while your ultimate goal is to never smoke again, that can seem to be unendurable from time to time, so it's good to have several intermediate goals to fall back on when the main goal feels overwhelming.

 

For example the next larger goal could be to not smoke in another four weeks, a lesser goal to not smoke during this day.

 

In an emergency the immediate goal is to not smoke for the next two minutes, because even when this need is very high it only lasts for a couple of minutes, so if you only can hold on that long then you probably have made it through this event and remain victorious.

 

Also regarding social life as your spouse, children and friends, be aware that you can get hit by severe mood swings, where you can easily be annoyed by tiny things, to sometimes be very unpleasant to be with and possibly even explode in furious rage.

 

Quit smoking is not a free ticket to be a prick, you may need to take extra care to be nice to others in your surroundings.

 

Being well rested likely helps with good temper but it doesn't harm to be alert of changes in your emotions during this period.

[Phi for All]

Still like Phi's "not an option" mentality. I think that works the best. Then you don't have to feel sorry for yourself, or feel like you are doing anything wonderful or difficult, or anything, by not smoking. Just not an option. Like having a date with somebody other than your wife, is just not an option.

 

I'm so glad it's working for you. It's not for everyone, but I find it works so much better for me than the pledge/vow/resolution approach. It's not promising not to do something, it's removing it completely from the list of possible actions.

[tar]

Spyman,

 

Yeah, the mood swings are rather severe. But I am trying to not take it out on anybody.

 

Don't expect anyone to give me a free pass, but since I was already capable of being stupid and annoying, I don't think too many people will notice a difference. Still, you are right, I should be extra aware of other people, and how I am coming across, as I do seem to be more "emotional" than the normal TAR. I suppose there is also a danger of "rationalizing" your way back to smoking, saying you were a better person, or got along better, or wasn't so mood swingy as a smoker. I am giving myself the advkce to be on the lookout for such rationalizations, and I have already put myself on notice, to not entertain such nonsense, as sensible as it might "feel". That is probably the c&$p that I talked myself into thinking the other handful of times I quit.

 

Really do think I have smoking behind me now. I will come up with a way to deal with whatever hurdles I have yet to face. Good to have the warnings from you though. Makes it easier to ward the darn things off.

 

Regards, TAR

[tar]

5 weeks, thumbs up.

[Spyman]

"All things are difficult before they are easy." - Thomas Fuller

 

One more week and then it starts to get down hill:

 

Studies have shown that it takes between 6 to 12 weeks post quitting before the amount of nicotinic receptors in the brain return to the level of a non smoker.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoking_cessation

[tar]

Spyman,

 

Most interesting thing I learned in the link was that the nicotine receptors act to release dopamine into the brain.

 

A number of years ago, I remember reading something that the chemicals released in the brain when a gambler wins are similar to those released in the brain by certain addictive drugs.

 

Led me to consider that we like our dopamine, we like the reward, good feeling of "winning".

 

In a certain way, it really doesn't matter what you win at, you will still get some dopamine, and "feel" good. There are other things that I think give the brain a chemical reward, I was talking to a workmate who is considering stopping smoking soon, about how certain things, other than smoking make a person feel good. I was, at the time, looking up at a nearby freshly "leaved" Maple against a blue sky, and it actually "felt" good. Bottom line, if its dopamine one is after, nicotine is not the only way to get it released. Probably winning a game of solitaire or making supper for the family, or watching your team hit a grand slam, provides some of the "good" stuff.

 

I mention it, because after making this connection between "winning" and drug use, I was considering the drug user. feeling invincable and victorious, lying penniless in the gutter in his own filth.

 

To this, I would suggest that the nicotine replacement therapies talked about in the link, are probably not the wisest. The point, for me at least, is to learn to live without the false and easy automatic release of dopamine that nicotine provides. Probably could also be extended to most every addictive drug. If the drug makes you feel good, you are liable to take it. Even if it makes you poor, makes you loose your job, your friends, your spouse, your kids, your freedom and whatever else. Thing is, turns out, dopamine is free and not only not harmful, but helpful, in that you reward yourself when you win, or someone on your team wins.

 

So "learning to live without nicotine" as I am doing at the moment, is something anybody addicted to pain killers, or tobacco, or crack, or meth, or heroine, or cocaine, or alchohol or whatever, has at their disposal, as an option, any time they wake up on a Saturday morning, and spend that first hour, purposefully NOT reaching for the easy high, the automatic release of the dopamine. I am rather sure, they will find that the stuff gets released into your brain anyway, as long as you are winning, or finding something amusing, or completing something, or reaching a goal, or looking at something beautiful.

 

And once you see you can swim just fine without the waterwings, you realize you can swim just fine without the waterwings, and you know exactly where you stand in reference to the waterwings. Once you know this, not wearing the waterwings becomes an option. And then, at any time you can, on your own, without any help, or replacement methadone, choose Phi for All's route, and decide that wearing waterwings is just not an option. Swimming without them feels just fine, anyway.

 

Regards, TAR

And as Spyman has pointed out, the withdrawal symptoms are to be expected, but can be handled, if you really want to do without the addictive substance for good reason. Edited May 13, 2014 by tar

[Spyman]

Yes, I agree, nicotine substitutes should be avoided, I tried several different nicotine replacement therapies and they all made me more addicted to nicotine instead of helping me, they may help you get free from smoking but not from the nicotine itself.

 

As a general rule they are also very expensive, there are a lot of better things one can use that money on to ease the abstinence.

 

No:1 is "learning to live without nicotine", learning to live without smoking is a lesser task that is needed to accomplish the main goal.

 

Unfortunately for me the act of smoking and the ritual around it was also very hard to quit, but you can't win without defeating both.

 

It takes a strong mind, a final decision and a lot of stubbornness to endure without nicotine, (and smoking), but if you can manage long enough it starts to get easier and the emotional feeling of loss and sadness dissipates to a level where it only rarely reoccurs.

 

Six to twelve weeks is the scientific measured time when "the top of the hill" has been reached and the journey gets easier, that doesn't mean that you can relax - you have to remain vigilant and on your guard against yourself and sudden temptations - but life and happiness will slowly return to more normal conditions.

 

I would say it's an important milestone on the road to freedom and you are almost there - Keep on going strong!

[tar]

Spyman,

 

Thanks again for your support in this. It is hard, but it is easy, too. As easy as not reaching for one.

 

Pleasure can be had, in other, less detremental ways, than being hooked on an addictive substance.

 

Regards, TAR

[tar]

Another week. Still considering nicotine as "not an option."

 

Having plently of battles, but winning them one by one.

[cubbby01]

hiii friends

i glad to see this thread any one who want to quit amoking .here we talk about the nicotine tapering method to quit smoking .This method is generally safe but research has proved that during this process the smokers have higher levels of carbon monoxide in their body. other than this you have to stay strong to quit smoking. there is no of websites which can provide you many useful tips for this so my suggestion would be the visit a website the moderators removed because it's against the rules to advertise here.

............................................................................

thanks

Edited May 21, 2014 by Phi for All
spam url removed