Reply #15: I quit using an aid. [View All]

[flamin lib]

Back in the 80's there was a tool over the counter that looked like a cigarette. It had a filter that was saturated in nicotine. "Smokeing" it like a cigarette gave me the nicotine to kill the craving.

Taking nicotine via lung gives an immediate spike in blood level, patches and gum build slowly and don't give the immediate high.

The key for me was that I could take only one hit to ease the craving instead of smoking a whole cigarette. Besides, I felt really stupid sucking on a little plastic tube--it illustrated the power of the adiction over me which helped keep me motivated. I also put it in inconvienient places, not the places I used to carry my smokes.

Gradually I was able to break both the chemical addiction and the mechanical habits that make up the behavior of smoking. It took a month or so to stop using the tool and a very long time to get past the mechanical aspects. For the next year every time I came to a stop sign I would reach up to my shirt pocket where I carried my smokes for 20 years.

There is an identical aid available now by prescription.