Original post by SirKyrgystanYeah withdrawals are a *****. There's a few ways that are typically successful, though I've only done one, but it worked for me, in a way. Firstly you can get prescribed champix. You take them, smoke as you normally would, and eventually you just don't even feel like a cigarette. My uncle has smoked for decades and quit this way, he swears by it.
Second, you can try cutting down. Like 10 cigs one day, 9 the next etc. increment as you feel comfortable with. Couldn't personally stick with this one.
Thirdly there is nicotine replacement therapy. Like patches and gum. I'd stay clear of these, you're not quitting so much as getting nicotine in a different way.
The way I have quit though, is cold turkey. More specifically, keep trying to quit until you do. I went cold turkey, lasted a few days, and started smoking again. I gave it a couple more days then went cold turkey again. But the more you try (and I mean really use your willpower, think your way out of wanting a smoke) quitting cold turkey, the more you learn about your triggers, justifications for a weak moment of sheer bliss etc etc. and because of that you learn how to reason with yourself. i.e. 'no, you've said just one cigarette before, and then you said because you've just "reset" the time since your last cigarette, you may as well have another'.
Oh! and whichever method you choose, DO NOT think too far in the future. I've nearly screwed myself over many a time by thinking "how am I going to stay quit for a whole year, at some point I'm bound to start up again... oh well, may as well cut to the chase" haha.. For real, take it one day at a time. Eventually you'll reach a week, then a month.. you get the idea huh?
Anyways g'luck with quitting, it'll be hard for sure. Harder still to resist having the occasional cig when you feel like you're no longer addicted. But even half a year after quitting, one smoke can, from experience, get you in a downspiral hooked again. But it is so worth it, you gain your health and longevity back, you could get really fit and run a marathon, you'll look and feel better and not smell like an old bonfire. Quitting has been, in quite a few senses of the word, the best choice of my life.