[japanesejay]

I've been a smoker for 10+ years and quit cold turkey.

I actually tried chantix first and took it for a week and started getting depressed which lead to suicidal thoughts. I should have looked up the side effects first (duh! i know). Anyway after that crazy little mind f*, i just told myself that im going to quit cold turkey. Quitting cold turkey is rough, it sucks, its not easy but you gotta go through it. There are no shortcuts, no easy way out and no excuses. Just realize that once you truly commit, it gets easier as time passes. Its hard to believe that it gets easier when you're going through it but its true. For me (as well as other HNers), being stubborn I think was a key factor in getting over it.

Things that helped me cope: - Drink juice, real 100% not from concentrate pineapple juice helped me "cleanse my palette". - Stop over eating / eating greasy foods. It was a HUGE trigger for my smoking craving. Find your triggers and try to avoid them. One thing that really sucked was I had to stop attending my daily starbux sessions. Change is sometimes good. =) - Be in the right mind set. It helps if there is someone to support you. There are support groups and sites out there. Let your pride/ego go and ask for help. At least you can be somewhat anonymous online. - I hear running/ working out helps but I'm not much of a workout guy. Yoga and breathing exercises do help. Look up "breathing Yoga" to learn some techniques.

Again, there are a lot of resources out there to help. I hope that you got some good insight in this thread. Good luck!