I will not argue that the best way to quit smoking is cold turkey. It is the least expensive method and because you will quit on your own willpower and self-control, the probability of having a smoking relapse is greatly minimized. Although it is the best method in quitting smoking, unfortunately, quitting cold turkey is not for everyone. But don’t despair or lose hope because there are other alternatives and you will find different ways to quit smoking to help you stop your addiction for good.
I myself failed using cold turkey method when I first tried to quit smoking. After smoking for more than 20 years, nicotine has controlled over my mind, body and life that I could not quit on my own even for a day. I could stop smoking when circumstances prohibit me like when I am travelling, attending a ceremony or when I am sleeping, but I could not control myself from smoking consciously. And once an opportunity presents itself to me so I can smoke, I will make it damn sure that that opportunity will not go to waste.
So life went on until I was experiencing some breathing problems. I was having the worst nightmare in my life each time before I go to sleep. I always imagine myself acquiring a major disease like lung cancer and the fear about dying young never left me. Since then I committed myself to quit smoking for good. I was not able to quit in a day or 2 and because I could not hold myself from smoking even for a day, I told myself I will not succeed using the cold turkey method so I went to look for other ways to quit smoking and found the nicotine patches.
Nicotine patches by the way are products to help smokers quit. They are also called Nicotine Replacement Therapy or NRT. These products will help smokers deal with their habit of smoking and help them break the associations they made with their daily activities like drinking coffee or reading the papers. While they are dealing with their habit, the nicotine patches on the other hand will deliver the needed nicotine by their body so that they will not suffer too much from nicotine withdrawal symptoms.
Nicotine patches will require you to use it for 3 -4 weeks. Actually it is a program requiring you to finish it in steps, each step usually is good for one week. Each week, the dose of nicotine gets lower and lower until such time that the smoker can handle everything on its own without nicotine. The gradual decrease of nicotine will help the smoker cope up with the smoking urges and withdrawal symptoms. Control and proper mental approach is still needed here because nicotine patches will not quit your addiction for you, it is only a tool to help you stop. And at the end of the day it is still you who will make quitting smoking a failure or a success.
Going back, after sorting out the different ways to quit smoking, I settled for the nicotine patches. So I went to my doctor because buying those patches here in my place needs prescription from a doctor. She prescribed the steps I needed and went out to buy them. I only bought the first weeks supply, because deep in me I know, if I could just quit for a day or 2, that will be an enough boost to help me continue on and quit cold turkey.
So to make the story short, I used the nicotine patches for a few days, I think 5 days and then continued quitting cold turkey. Because my determination to quit was strong, the withdrawal stages were not that difficult. After holding on for 3 days the urges and withdrawal symptoms got weaker and weaker. Until after 3 weeks, everything became quite normal for me. I could still feel certain temptations but they could hardly scratch your back to bother you.
In my experience, NRT products are not bad. If you have failed quitting for many times on your own using cold turkey which is known to be the best way to quit smoking, why not consider using NRT? But before using them, talk first to your doctor. And to increase the chances of quitting successfully, remove first the brainwashing that is in your head. Accept that smoking is bad for you, accept the truth that smoking is NOT relieving your stress or curing your boredom because actually it just the opposite. Smoking is making your life miserable and the only way to be free is to stop your nicotine addiction.
Remember that the best method in quitting smoking is the one that helped you stopped your nicotine addiction for good.
