Reciprocity

I didn't use patches so can't give you direct experience with using them but what I can tell you is that breaking the mental associations your have made during a lifetime of smoking takes the longest time to break down and rebuild new thought processes. Freeing your body of Nicotine only takes around 3 days, or so I have heard. To me, using any form of NRT allows you to work on developing new associations in your day to day life that don't involve smoking - retraining your thought process. Then, once you have at least started that, you are perhaps better equipped to deal with the physical addiction issue and the withdrawal you will go through once you stop introducing nicotine into your body. As others have said, whatever way works best for you is the right way. You will know when you are ready to stop the NRT whether that be patches, or whatever. It will come to you naturally as you progress through the quitting process.

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^^^ Nice one TobacNo!! See, you are giving back already to others looking for inspiration to quit and you know what? That will actually help solidify your own quit too - you'll see

Welcome Sean and we all understand your passion for wanting to quit smoking. Not only is it a big negative for your health and pocket book but, smoking actually makes you a slave to nicotine! That's right .... nicotine is running your life right now. Tells you when it needs to be fed and you have to figure out when and how to do that many times a day. Wouldn't you just love to be able to go to a family function and not have to sneak away every hour or so to feed your addiction? It's all possible if you really want it! You will have to do the heavy lifting but that applies to all of us and everyone here has had to do the same so make that unwavering commitment to yourself and let's get this done This place has a wealth of information and support for you once you commit to the quit!

Congrats MwB for getting past that 1st month! You seen the worst of it now and have collected all the tools you'll need to craft yourself a lifelong quit. Great Job!!

I would say around 6 weeks for me to understand that I would actually be able to return to normal one day. The brain fog was the thing that bothered me most and that was getting better by then. I will say though that I was probably not absolutely confident that I would make it all the way to a life long quit until somewhere between month 6 and month 7 of my quit. Even at 1 year, I have still been making some progress. I rarely even think about smoking these days unless I'm on this forum taking about it.

Congratulation Tammy for reaching the 1/4 year quit mark You now have a lot of tools to help you along in this journey and you know when and how to use them! Celebrate your achievement!

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Stay strong and just focus hour by hour for now because you are in the early days and right in the thick of it now. That's OK because you can handle it all by just remaining true to your NOPE pledge! Do that and you'll be just fine! keep close to this board for support in your early days TobacNo! It will help you overcome the hurtles

Keep at it Kdad! 1 Day at a time Days turn into weeks and weeks to months. Before you know it, you are free from this horrible addiction and wondering why you didn't quit sooner

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Nope! Not this again ...... ever!

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Personal commitment Sierra! Make an absolute pact with yourself that smoking is no longer an option. It's completely off the table and the only path forward is one of abstinence from cigarettes and vape! We have all had to do the heavy lifting in breaking free and you will need to do the same. We are here to lend support and advice to help you along though and we are happy to do that!

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Yes! Pledging your NOPE to not only yourself but to others as well helps keep you focused each day and ..... that's all you need to worry about - today! Tomorrow and the day after will come regardless. Don't worry about them until they are here

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Getting extremely agitated on long flights and needing to run to the nearest exit as soon as I landed. You'd better not be in my way as I bolted for the exit

Welcome and good for you! Knowing what was your undoing last time is key to making this one life long. If you quit before you know the drill so let's get this done! Joining a group like this is surprisingly helpful, as I found out a little over a year ago. Participate often and educate yourself about this addiction. Quitting with patches is fine if it works for you. The only rule in this quitting process is to never take another puff; which you have already identified. Welcome aboard. Be sure to post up your NOPE every day on the NOPE page!

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