Ask HN: Strategies for Quitting Nicotine?

[empleh]

Seeing as this community is made up majorly of hackers, one’s with very ingenious methods of dealing with issues, I’d like to know if anyone has any creative strategies for quitting nicotine? I’ve stopped smoking and have vaped for nearly a year now, but I still find myself struggling to put it down. I’m aware of the health implications, which any (former) addict will knows can sow a seed of self pity, yet every waking moment I am still as reliant on this chemical.

This is likely an unpopular question, as tobacco and nicotine use has dropped drastically (as I’ve learned) over the last several years, so this may be downvoted into oblivion.

However based on threads about quitting or limiting (social) media addictions, I know this community can produce some creative strategies to change one’s behavior, dare I say “life hacks”.

[root899]

As a sober alcoholic, trained by 2 long term therapies and aftercare, i can say nicotine has the highest addiction potential. After it the list continues with alcohol and cocaine. To stop an addiction, its important that you stop consuming. In the human brain, the nucleus accumbens is located that responsible for the neurotransmitter rush we have when having sex,eating, getting promoted etc. Drugs influence the way and how often such transmitters were produced and emitted. Drugs put the whole brain upside down by this and the addiction stars by repeating the consumption and increasing the amount consumed. If the substance is not consumed, withdrawal sets in and with every consumption a new, the brain thinks its ok to drink a bottle of booze because my human feels better after it. When i dont get booze i dont know how to produce neurotransmitters on my own. Thats your hangover. Back to stop smoking, quit and dont try to only smoke 3 cigs a day...wont work because of the brain that must learn to balance the chemistry on its own. You cant be half-addicted like you cant be half-pregnant. There are strategies when craving sets in, i got ammonia sticks, little ampulse that contain the strong smelling stuff that distracts me from getting another bottle again. To be honest, relapses occur, thats addiction. But its worth trying. My english is not the best, hope you guys get it.

[empleh]

That made perfect sense. Thank you for sharing.

[zer8k]

Cold turkey is all that worked for me. Gum did nothing. Never tried the patches. No secrets, no magic. What worked for Grandpa works for us too.

Got hooked on vape too for a while. While there's very little risk to it the risk that is there is relatively unknown at this point. I chain vaped for several years. My lungs pre and post vape seem the same (medically) though I'm sure there was inflammatory process occurring. Nothing like smoking though.

Eventually you're going to have to cut the habit entirely and walk away. Honestly, if your dosage is low enough that you're not craving it you're at the perfect place to throw it all away on garbage day. At that point you should be able to differentiate between physical addiction (nicotine) and psychological (having something to puff on). I found, honestly, the psychological aspect was hardest to quit. Nicotine was relatively easy to get off of. The worst part was the first week. It was being reminded constantly of my favorite smoke spots, smoke breaks, bars, etc that was hard. The psychological addiction lasted at least a month before it let up and honestly I failed several (probably a dozen) times due to this. Increasing my exercise helped somewhat but demons come out when your mind is at rest.

If I had one piece of advice before you toss everything spend 1-2 weeks reprogramming your mind. Change where you vape even if it's inconvenient. As I mentioned the worst aspect of quitting was the constant reminder of what I used to do. If you can reprogram yourself in this way you'll save a lot of trouble.

[version_five]

Start a regular exercise habit and don't worry about quitting until the exercise is well established.

I quit smoking, almost inadvertently this way. I started running not really planning to quit smoking and eventually the physical drain of smoking weighed on me enough that I decided to give it up. It was still horrible to quit but I had exercise to fall back on as a "healthy" habit that kept me distracted enough to deal with quitting. That plus a lot of walks whenever I had a craving.

Ymmv of course. Personally I think cold turkey is the only way once you decide, anything else is lying to yourself.

Expect it to take years to get over it, but it does get better.

[empleh]

Interesting. This is certainly a possibility, however I need to drive about 15 minutes to be somewhere that I feel comfortable waking. I could purchase a treadmill or exceeding bike.

When I stopped smoking cannabis in my early 20’s I would do push-ups every time I had a craving. So this is definitely feasible. Although I didn’t learn until later in that physical exercise will release THC built up in fat cells into the blood stream.

The last bit of your comment gives me hope and solace though, thank you for sharing.

[lignux]

Read "The Easy Way" by Alen Carr[0]. Read it with an open mind and I'm sure it will help you

[0] - https://www.amazon.com/Allen-Carrs-Easy-Stop-Smoking/dp/0615...

[David2076]

It might be hard to believe but this short book really works.It worked for me and about a dozen friends and family including my dad in his 60s. Read the reviews section for it on Amazon, review after review stating that the book changed their lives.

Edit: There are now almost 7000 reviews with the vast majority saying the book worked. The last time I checked about 10 years ago there was only 400 or so and that was very impressive then.

[empleh]

One strategy I considered is setting 60 minute timers throughout the day, and practicing refraining until that timer is up. I’m not a physician so this might not actually help the physical side of the addiction, but possibly help me build up a tolerance of self control, in theory leading me towards setting more “refrain timers” in a day over time.

[surprisetalk]

I quit smoking this year... by bicycling from SF to LA.

My body was so sore from biking that I didn't even feel the withdrawals!

But I think I was only able to quit smoking because I quit drinking months prior.

Quitting booze and nicotine was probably the best thing I've done for myself as an adult! Highly recommended.

Feel free to email me at [e-mail] if you need support :)

[LinuxBender]

any creative strategies

Vape shops should be able to get you vape juice that is your current mg of nicotine, then help you move down in 3mg decrements until you reach 0mg. Or if you can't get to or stay at 0mg try out patches or gum which is at least easier on the lungs.

[empleh]

I’m already down to 3mg. I suppose I could buy a bottle of 0mg and a bottle of 3mg, but I would have to approximate to lower my dosage, which considering the addiction is partially physical behavior, feels like this strategy is prone to error (or relapse?).

Edit: when my “normal” dosage becomes _lower_, and I’m trying to approximate an even lower dose.

[LinuxBender]

prone to error (or relapse?)

I could not answer that. Addiction behavior varies by person. What works for some may not for others. Some people try to find other habits to replace it but I have no idea what that might be for your case. I've seen people chew on various things but I don't want to suggest other bad habits. I like version_five's suggestion of exercise. If that works for you that would be a healthy replacement.

[pkoird]

Have you tried nicotine patches? It's popular for a reason.

[clouddrover]

Go to a hospital and talk to people dying of smoking related diseases. See it firsthand. See it up close.

That will scare you straight.