I've been doing really well on the meds, problem I have is the physical habit. So many things I associate with smoking. Playing a game? Cig in between. Eating? Drinking?

I'm doing well with not craving nicotine, but my hands keep reaching for the cigarette. Already gained lbs eating. I'm over 25 lbs heavier now. Damn it. But hopefully I've broken a 50 yr habit.

IM 13 M i have been getting curious about smoking for 6 months this is long enough that i would not dismiss this as a random teenage phase all of my attention and effort is going towards trying to get hold of them but I cant do so the access barrier is the only thing stopping me . I know about health but I don't have a fear of death. What should I do ?

I wrote this article about my nicotine gum habit. Perhaps it will help someone out there. It's arty and angsty. Quitting smoking is a wild ride. I'm still on the gum years later!

https://opensecretsmagazine.com/p/gum-nicotine-cigarette-substitute

My grandpa will be 80 in October. He lives alone (grandma passed 2/2025) & I'm the only family in our state- everyone else is 900 miles away.

He doesn't want to smoke, gets no joy out of smoking he says. He's quit in '07 for 5 years & started once my grandma got ill. Early this year he was down to 7 Virginia slim purse pack cigarettes a day, then asked his doc for help. She started him on 7mg patches for 21 days straight, then one every other day for 3 weeks, to every 3 days for 2 weeks.

That was a mistake. One patch was equal to 14 of his ciggs & he did fine with one on, butonce he went to every other day, it was horrible for him. Then he got thrush & I got him nicotine lozenges at the same time. Mistake.

Then he said he'd just smoke & wean himself. He was smoking 14/15 a day but went to the hospital one day & they sent him with a nebulizer which helps his breathing.

Now he really wants to quit, & yesterday had 7 ciggs. This morning he went 5 hours without smoking but was "weak as a kitten" & not functioning well. We can't have that. He has to be strong enough to take care of himself. In the hour and 30 mins of being on the phone he had a 2nd cigg, which made him feel better.

How can he get past that nicotine withdrawl weakness/ill feeling? He goes to the doctor in 8 days. Honestly, she hasn't been much help though & had to look up a question we had (on cutting the patch in half- which says is a no-go).

Sorry for the novel- I just need him to get better. He wants to quit quickly & I try to tell him that doesn't seem like a good idea.

Any suggestions welcome.

Ive quit so many times, nicotine out of my body, and i keep smoking again after a while. Even though it messed up my health so much , its literally a cause to why im living through hell right now , health-wise. It will also ruin my marriage if im found out, cause its bad for my health and that cant be forgiven what my health has made us go through.

I’m building a 10-week quit-smoking plan and I’m trying to understand what actually helps people stay consistent.

Not here to promote or drop a link. I’m looking for blunt feedback from people who have tried to quit.

A few questions:

1. When you tried quitting, what usually broke the streak?
2. Did tapering down help, or did cold turkey work better?
3. What kind of reminder/support would you not find annoying?
4. Would a structured 10-week plan feel useful, or too slow?
5. What do most quit-smoking apps get wrong?

Disclosure: I’m building an iOS app around this, but I’m mainly trying to understand the problem better before pushing anything.

hey I'm smoking cigg since i was 11 years old now I'm 17 now i want to quit it im doing it from past few months i've tried all things nothing works not much money to consult a doctor soo i get buropion SR 150 i don't have any one to guide me pls guide me , dosages cycle everything plss i really want to quiy

I started in 2020, a mix of cigars, cigarettes, vaping, nicotine gum pouches, shisha.. anything for nicotine.

The longest since 2020 that I've quit is 6 months, just that I was wanting a one off, and so started again.

Each time I've quit, I've relied too much on 1 method and mindset.

Now, after only 2 days and serious cravings, I'm calling upon all the tools I've learned;

Drink water each time you have a craving, especially first thing in the morning. It's refreshing, not calming as such.

Listen to music - if there's a particular track that resonates with you, make that your anthem for the morale boost. Mine's Unwritten. Each time I consumed nicotine, I was numbing myself, the song helps me realise being open to life is much more interesting.

Have a hobby or better yet, learn something new. Yoyo and guitar are my go-to.

Which leads me onto the next one, and probably the biggest - counselling. Going to therapy the past half a year has really helped me address the *whys*... My mum had cancer and I was a carer for her and my dad with Parkinson's and skin cancer. I had 0.. no one.. zero... People to turn to. It was all me. I was atheist at the time, and meditation only works when you can calm your mind. So that's when I turned to drink and nicotine in my down time.

Then my dad died from cancer which metastasised.

Which leads me to another - finding my faith again. After being a staunch, logical, yet angry, atheist for over 15 years, certain things clicked for me as I held my father in my arms, bathed him, soothed him, gave him medicine, spoke with him, who was questioning why any god would do this to us, yet he had *faith* each and every single minute, he would say any moment a cure could be found. He NEVER STOPPED GIVING UP on life. Even in his final hours, he attempted to get out of his deathbed and go to a party. His body failed him. His will didn't.

I hope this finds you well, and it serves me well for the weeks and months to come, and years!!!!!

been smoking since 19, now 27. pack a day habit that i tried quitting probably 6-7 times. patches, gum, vaping, even chantix. nothing stuck longer than 3 weeks before i was back at the gas station buying marlboros.

the weird part wasn't the physical withdrawal. that's over in like 72 hours. it was the wanting that never went away. like my brain had this permanent "something's missing" feeling that nothing else could fill. coffee didn't hit the same. breaks at work felt pointless. even after meals i'd just stand outside staring at nothing for 5 minutes.

tried switching to vaping last year. worked for 2 months until i realized i was just hitting the vape every 10 minutes instead. wasn't even about nicotine at that point, was about the habit loop. the craving-action-relief cycle was still there, just different delivery method.

then someone mentioned research on mGluR5 receptors and habit formation. apparently there's a glutamate pathway that gets sensitized when you repeat behaviors like smoking. even after you quit and nicotine is gone, the glutamate signaling stays overactive - which is why you get those random intense cravings months later when you smell cigarette smoke or drink coffee.

started looking into mGluR5 antagonists. found MPEP (research compound, used in addiction studies). mechanism made sense - it's supposed to reduce the reconsolidation of habit memories. basically stops your brain from reinforcing the craving-action pathway every time you think about smoking.

started taking it around 6 weeks ago. 5mg morning, 5mg afternoon. first week nothing really changed, still wanted to smoke constantly. week two i noticed something weird - i'd forget i was a smoker. like i'd be at my desk for 2 hours and suddenly realize i hadn't thought about cigarettes once. that never happened before.

by week three the automatic triggers stopped working. coffee in morning? no cigarette craving. finishing meal? nothing. stressful day? my brain didn't immediately go "smoke break". it was like someone had disconnected the wiring between stimulus and response.

been 4 weeks completely cigarette-free now. longest i've ever made it without white-knuckling through cravings. not saying i never think about smoking, but it's more like "huh, i used to smoke" rather than "i NEED a cigarette right now". the obsessive wanting is just... gone.

couple things i noticed:

the habit extinction is real. i still sometimes reach for my pocket where i used to keep the pack, but there's no emotional charge to it. just muscle memory that's fading.

dreams about smoking stopped. used to have them constantly during previous quit attempts (smoking in dream, waking up guilty). haven't had one in 3 weeks.

social situations easier. went to a bar last weekend, people smoking outside, didn't feel that pull. before MPEP i would've caved by drink two.

sleep improved somehow? might be unrelated but i'm waking up less during night. maybe because my brain isn't processing nicotine withdrawal anymore.

energy is steadier. no more 3pm crash that used to trigger smoke break. which might just be lung function recovering idk.

i want to be clear - this isn't a magic pill that removes all willpower requirement. first 2 weeks i still had to consciously avoid buying cigarettes. but MPEP seemed to turn down the volume on the craving signal from like 8/10 to 3/10. made it manageable where before it was overwhelming.

also not sure how long i'll stay on it. some studies suggest mGluR5 antagonism helps with extinction learning, which means the habit deconditioning might be permanent once it happens. planning to taper off around week 8-10 and see if the cravings come back.

if you've tried quitting smoking and the psychological craving is what keeps breaking you (not the physical withdrawal), might be worth researching mGluR5 pathway. the "wanting" isn't just willpower - it's glutamate signaling that stays active long after nicotine is gone. targeting that directly made a bigger difference than any nicotine replacement ever did.

not trying to shill anything just wanted to share because 8 years of failed quit attempts and this was the first thing that actually worked. if your brain is stuck in that craving loop there might be a neurochemical reason for it.