Hello AliRiza! Let me share how I quit smoking... 1. Cut the number of cigarettes you plan to smoke by one-half per day (or every two days if you're having a hard time). For example, if you smoked 60 cigarettes today, make the commitment to smoke only 30 sticks tomorrow. This helped me wean off the nicotine from my system slowly without causing too much agitation. 2. During this time, floss and brush your teeth more often because it distracts you from lighting up another cigarette. 3. Know yourself better and what makes you smoke. For me, I know that coffee/soda, stress, boredom and being full (after meals) make me smoke so I try to avoid these. 4. Avoid friends that smoke at least for the first two weeks. This helped me a lot. 5. Offer your desire to quit to someone. As for me I offered it to myself since I want to become healthier. 6. Exercise if you want to smoke. I know yoga worked wonders for me. Good luck and know that YOU CAN MAKE THIS WORK. Good job on realizing and admitting you had this addiction. I think that is the most important step.

Hi AliRiza. What a great bunch of people on this site, right? Many of us were/are in similar positions regarding depression and anxieties. I will echo what many have said today...you have to want to quit more than you want to smoke. I didn't know that that would ever be true for me but-it was.I smoked for over 35 years. I was both scared and excited when I put out that last cigarette just a few weeks ago. My resolve to stay quit has been so strong, I owe alot of gratitude to all these wonderful friends here.I love to read the posts. There is also so much information on this site, remember to work the program on the left and read and re-read everything on this site. Like Healer said, when you're ready to stop, we'll be here to support you. Trudy :) [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 3/21/2006 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 23 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 545 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $68.77 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 2 [B]Hrs:[/B] 14 [B]Mins:[/B] 6 [B]Seconds:[/B] 50

Dear Katy, oinkoink2u, Josie, cybrduke, dswill, Luna, HealerWithin, Shevie, Martha, Better and all friends, First of all, THANK YOU!!!!! I have never thought I would receive such great support. I've read all your post, and decided to engage in yet another stop-smoking program (I have used this site's program several times). I will try all your recommendations to quit. First of all, as Josie said, I decided to cut down two cigarettes each day. If I've smoked 50 today, tomorrow I will smoke 48 junkies. After reaching 20, I will completely stop smoking and start using nicotine patch. The patch currently does not work at all because, as cybrduke said, the daily nicotine intake of mine is much more than the most powerful nicotine patch. As oinkoink2u said, I will research about bad effects of smoking and try to make a commitment to stop. I will also read the posts here, as I find them very useful. Dswill said he suffers from anxiety and depression like me, and smoking makes it worse. I have heard the same thing from my friend, so that's another reason to stop smoking. I'm going to try to find the book dswill recommended. As Luna (Carole) said, stopping smoking will not kill me. If I make it for one month only... I'm free! But as HealerWithin emphasised, I still don't feel ready to stop smoking. In addition to major depression and anxiety, I have a stressful job, a house in which someone fights with another one... Shevie wrote about antidepressants. Yes, I use antidepressants at quite high doses. They help me to cope with my depression and anxiety, but they don't have any effect regarding stopping smoking. There is only one antidepressant that may help me quit smoking, and it is the one you know (zyban, wellbutrin, and has many other names for different countries), but not only it's too expensive, but also my doctor tells that, my currect antidepressant is much more useful for me. I will also follow Shevie's kind recommendations. Thanks to Martha, for giving reference to BUBBA. I will try to contact him and read his posts. Better, I will try your recommendations too, they certainly will be useful, I believe. I will post my condition time to time to let you know. I hope I can succeed, but I need more time. Thank you everyone, and thank you for developing such a im

Thank you Katy, for your reply. I believe, stopping smoking requires a true desire to NOT to smoke, which I don't have yet. I know the benefits of stopping smoking are more important than smoking, but I just can't. When I'm out of cigarettes, I ravage the house to find just one more. Just one more, and just one more!.. This vicious cycle never ends. I will try to make a certain and permanent choice to stop, as you said. I hope I can succeed.

Hello Friends, I'm AliRiza from Turkey. I have been smoking for 5 years, and I have tried to stop smoking for more than ten times, but I've never succeeded. I smoke 3 packs a day, that's 60 cigarettes! I have tried nicotine patch for one week, but it wouldn't work! My cravings were extremely intense. I'm even smoking right now. Other NRT products, like nicotine inhalants are not available in my country and the pills are way too expensive. Please give me some advice that I couldn't think before to stop smoking. I also suffer from major depression and smoking somehow helps me to control my anxiety and depression. I'm so sad about it. What can I do? I'm 26 years old and I don't want to die at an early age because of smoking. But I can't control my brain for stopping it. I'm a heavy smoker. Please give me your opinions. I'm really in need of help. :(

[quote] I believe, stopping smoking requires a true desire to NOT to smoke, which I don't have yet. [/quote] Dear One, You said it all... Until you want to stop smoking more than you want to smoke, you won't stop smoking. When you're ready to stop, we'll be here to support you... Blessings, Love and Light- Healer [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 3/5/2006 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 38 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 1,350 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $176.7 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 5 [B]Hrs:[/B] 0 [B]Mins:[/B] 8 [B]Seconds:[/B] 16

Welcome AliRiza, There is a lot of great information on the SSC site. Read all you can. I also suffer from depression and anxiety and I though smoking helped to control it but it does not, it makes it so much worse. What I have found out with me is smoking was a way to hide, not to face the real issues. In my first 7 days of my quit I did hit bottom a couple time. The depression hit hard. I had real low self-esteem and though I was as wimpy as they come. Do a search on SSC posting for �depression� there is some amazing posting. They hit me like a brick wall. I AM STRONG! I CAN DO THIS! I AM NOT ALONE! The people on the SSC are gifts from God. They will be there to pick you up when you think you can�t make it another minute. A book I read that helped me a lot was Allen Carr�s Easy Way to Stop Smoking. You can get it in Turkey. You smoke while you read it. You might have to read it a few times. And when you are ready, your friends on the SSC site will be here to help you every step of the way. Like Katy said you have to want to quit more than you want to smoke. You are much STRONGER then you think. ~Shelly~ [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 3/30/2006 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 13 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 269 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $42.25 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 1 [B]Hrs:[/B] 7 [B]Mins:[/B] 29 [B]Seconds:[/B] 36

Hi AliRiza, to succeed you have to be 100% committed with or without any aids. Try and read up on the effects of smoking because the more you understand about what you are doing to yourself the more you are likely to want to quit. The quit program tools on here is a good start and once you have decided that you really want to quit, and fight through the first couple of weeks, come here often to get the support that really makes all the difference. Also it helps to read all the various posts here because you can then understand all the methods folk use to cope with cravings etc. [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 2/6/2006 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 65 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 784 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] �162.5 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 11 [B]Hrs:[/B] 22 [B]Mins:[/B] 15 [B]Seconds:[/B] 56

AliRiza, when you are ready, we'll be here. Please continue to post, read, ask questions. The most successful quits begin long before the last cigarette is smoked. Shevie [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 5/23/2005 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 325 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 6,513 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $1235 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 60 [B]Hrs:[/B] 17 [B]Mins:[/B] 12 [B]Seconds:[/B] 39

Hi, Ali. Welcome to the SSC. You've gotten a lot of really good advice here. Here's mine. Nicotine is an addictive drug and you are an addict. When you understand and accept that you will approach quitting smoking as overcoming and controlling an addiction instead of just trying to break a bad habit. It isn't easy. It will probably be the hardest thing you've ever done. But it can be done and you can do it. I smoked a pack a day for 39 years. I don't smoke any more. If I can do it, so can you. A lot of people who are depressed self-medicate with nicotine. That is a known fact. I don't know anything about the medical system in your country, but if you can't get pills for quitting smoking, perhaps you could have your depression treated? Usually, the medicines used to help quit smoking are anti-depressants. I suggest you try something that I think really helped me quit. Every time you smoke, pay close attention to the physical and mental aspects of the act of smoking: Why did you light up? Were you sad, bored, lonely, angry, annoyed, happy, etc.? Did smoking the cigarette help anything? Did it make things better? While you smoke, pay close attention to what is happening. Feel the heat on your fingers and lips. Feel the burn of smoke in your eyes. Feel the heat and sting of the smoke as it goes into your mouth and down into your lungs. When you exhale it, notice the difference in the color. Think of why it changed, of all the stuff that stuck inside you that made the color change. Imagine it coating the walls of your lungs, plugging things up, reducing their elasticity causing emphysima. Imagine it altering lung cell DNA to allow cancer to form. Just do this with every cigerette you smoke. Eventually, there will be no other option but quit. :) Shevie [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 5/23/2005 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 324 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 6,493 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $1231.2 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 60 [B]Hrs:[/B] 12 [B]Mins:[/B] 28 [B]Seconds:[/B] 13