Any/every addiction is hell to quit. I have read (and confirmed personally) that cigarettes are the toughest habit to quit, at least for some people. The addiction operates on multiple levels: chemical, behavioral, oral, hands, taste, appetite. Plus it can serve to rev you up or calm you down. It is something also very social. What I'm saying is this is a bugger. You need to do it, but do not be deterred by brief failure. Most people who quit successfully do it after many attempts. Do not become discouraged. "Success consists in getting up one more time than you fall." Also, every cig you do not smoke is a cig that will not kill you. Good luck and I admire your courage.
I picked up a bad habit while in France, don't ask me why I started smoking cigarettes 1.5 year ago. I was smoking about 15 cigarettes a day. Wasn't too happy about it so I promised myself I would quit and made my exit plan. So today is my first non-smoking day (cold turkey) although very short tempered and edgy this is very doable. I know, one day at a time, I'll remain smoke free...
Mind over matter!
I wish you well on this one, despite our disagreement on the other thread 
Are you sure???? I do wish you the best!!!!!
Cold turkey is the only way to go and it is best confronted head on. Glad you are finding a way out. The alternative is death or worse such as emphysema or other lung anomalies. Better yet, know that your breath, hands, teeth smell and that can be a real turn off to many of your non-smoking clients.
I smoke basically a carton a week. The math amounts to 10 packs, 20 cigarettes per, 7 days in a week.
But then again, I do have other vices...
Care to know how many alcoholic drinks I consume in a 24 hour setting?
You won't make me hate you even if you try hard 
I hope your fight with cigarettes goes better than my fight with food. If you stick to it I am sure you will succeed.
It's always a battle. When it's not one thing it's another. I won't list my dirty laundry here but I can let myself be hooked on pretty much anything. This time around I'm pretty scared that I could start eating more or just simply gain weight because of stopping cigarettes.
Little things are more aggravating then usual because I don't have that darn cigarette to look forward to. A simple phone call with an idiot this morning turned into world war 3, I'm not the most patient person to start with but until I'm done jonsing I can easily fly off the handle, hint hint.
Aha ! So that would explain some of last evening's flamethrower incidents, lol? Or are you packin' that thing all the time? Hope so!
I will always react to people using degrading words towards themselves or ladies whether I'm jonsing or not. The other funny guy trying to use series of words that do not go together in hope I'd be confused enough to doubt myself... well he walked into that one head on. It almost worked, he had me googling POV thinking it was a financial term I wasn't aware of trying to guess something like: "profit over... V hmmm..." so it must work at times.
Any/every addiction is hell to quit. I have read (and confirmed personally) that cigarettes are the toughest habit to quit, at least for some people. The addiction operates on multiple levels: chemical, behavioral, oral, hands, taste, appetite. Plus it can serve to rev you up or calm you down. It is something also very social. What I'm saying is this is a bugger. You need to do it, but do not be deterred by brief failure. Most people who quit successfully do it after many attempts. Do not become discouraged. "Success consists in getting up one more time than you fall." Also, every cig you do not smoke is a cig that will not kill you. Good luck and I admire your courage.
So right! I think everyone's an addict of some kind. Just had my first cig in months the other night and probably won't have another for months. That's fine, but what do I do about my addiction to sex with lovely, hot women? I really do not want a cure for that, because I think the only cure is abject poverty.
I'm with you on that. I tried to quit and abstained for several years. Now I just try to control it. The ladies are what keeps me going.
The reason withdrawal from nicotine is so hard, is that the nicotine positions itself as a gateway to your nervous system and without nicotine in your body, you suffer sensory deprivation, which is one of the cruelest tortures there is.
So, by stimulating a very powerful stimulus in your body, you help to counter that.
It also keeps your hands busy and distracts you from the pain of withdrawal.
Try rubbing one out (or find a friend to help 8o) each time you feel the need to.
My prayers that you get through it.
"sensory deprivation" can you explain?
If you are deprived of even one of these for a significant period of time (Imagine being blindfolded for days on end, or having no hearing, etc.), your brain is going to go through gyrations as these sensory feeds are basic to our mental health.
So, if nicotine molecules insert themselves at the entrance of the central nervous system, and block some sensory input unless they are activated by having more nicotine, you experience the mental and physical anguish of withdrawal because your brain is getting less sensory input than it normally does.
Finding ways around this dilemma is a good way to eventually overcome the condition. In time, the body will reform pathways around the blocked sensory entrances and the addiction will be broken. Please note that it can sometimes take months for this to full realize itself.
Best wishes to you for the struggle ahead.
It was a long ride from downtown; I was focusing on every person out there smoking a cigarette. I had never seen so many people smoking before in my life. Then the annoying tv in the cab was so aggravating I wanted to cry of rage before it fully started and I could push the off button. All at the same time the cab driver's phone kept ringing with this really irritating tune... I just wanted to crawl back in my hotel room and pop Valium not to feel anything. Then when I arrived at my doctor's I asked him how long this could last? Days right? He said weeks... Man, I had no clue what I had signed up for but I'm stubborn enough to succeed.
I consider myself somewhat of a pro at this I've quit at least 5 times, You may want to warn your friends and family to duck and cover for a couple weeks. I'd further suggest avoiding more difficult or annoying clients during this time. I'm a doc and a couple of patients were on pretty thin ice that week. IMHO
Doc
I'm curious what's your specialty? It's ok to pm me or to keep it for yourself as I get freaky myself on some private details. I did warn everyone around me and I'm taking a month break from the game on Wednesday due to beauty tune up so it's all calculated. I used that reason to stop at this precise time because it's better pre op and post op as you know. I stopped many years ago as well and back then the jonsing was more difficult. My only problem this time around is being irritable. I want to throw a fit at a simple contradiction, like my brain is incapable of simple problem solving. Can you explain what happens in my brain at that moment and how long does it last (I cannot use nicotine replacement due to surgery)?
It’s important for you to understand that your are essentially detoxing, not unlike an alcoholic coming off alcohol or addict off drugs. I found it was much easier for me to control my mood swings once I accepted the fact that it was a chemical change in my body making me feel the way I did and I truly had nothing to be angry about most of the time. It seems like a simple premise but it helped me to deal with things. Good luck,
Doc
p.s. consider a trip to your local health food store immediately and pickup some Kava kava root or valarian root, both are natural Central nervous system inhibitors and should help take the edge off.
you have a pm as well, as I am moderated I thought you might want this info ASAP. Things are much easier after the first week.
Another thought. Late in life I finally tried meditation and found it really works. There's also a program called The Sedona Method that helps overcome negative emotions. It has helped me change from being a miserable bastard and total shit-head into the calm, loving and gracious gentleman I am today.
I thought about mentioning meditation because it does work. I did it for years, fell out of the habit and now I'm back into it.
It transfers great abilities to achieve clarity which is important when facing any major life change.
I was a bit skittish about revealing this here because it sounds a bit frou frou, but since you brought it up, I'd like to give me my hearty stamp of approval, for what it's worth.
I always rejected the idea of meditation because it sounded too new-agy and hippy-dippy. But when I got miserable enough I gave it a try. I don't think it's the single answer, but I think it gets your mind relaxed and receptive to other methods like Sedona. Sedona is simple but powerful and involves a process called releasing. To over-simplify it, you identify the bad feeling and immerse yourself in it instead of fleeing from it. Then you see if you can let some or all of it go. You keep doing this until it's gone, which can take a while. If you do this often enough with a particular feeling it may not even come back. My brother-in-law is a skilled practitioner of it and swears you can actually reprogram your neural pathways to disconnect a lot of old, bad feelings. Sounds like crap, I'll admit and I can't swear it's why I'm feeling better. Maybe it's just 'cause I'm out in the game again.
you can do this. i promise. good for you, young lady!
In French we use "madame" or "mademoiselle". When someone addresses me as "mademoiselle" I always ask them: "Can you please say it again?" but when someone addresses me as "madame" I say: "it's mademoiselle" with a smirk and especially if it's a waiter I say: "try using only mademoiselle even if the lady is a million years old and see the difference in your income". Perception is everything in this case. It's like saying to a guy while having sex: "Sweety your penis is soooooo big" you don't have to mean it right?
My mom stopped cold turkey and has been smoke free 13 yrs . I have HIGH HOPES
to take some positive steps to strengthen your body. Endurance can be improved by working out both with weights (free or machines) and cardio (treadmill, bike, or elyptical). One of the by-products will be a better sex life.
One secret of success seems to be finding other things which make the brain feel good and avoid situations where the nervous energy takes the path of least resistance and you're smoking before you know it.
My brain tells me to eat but I'm not going there either. For now I'm pretty limited in what I can focus on but it will change in the next few weeks. I don't even have a proper pair of glasses to read a good book for heaven sakes. Life will be easier in the next couple weeks. Thanks so much for the support yall!
Do what I do before a colonoscopy; eat lots of jello and chicken broth. I will be celebrating my 65th b-day with another one. Can't wait for January.