Quit smoking
I'm newly diagnosed with COPD. I had Covid in January of this year, and Covid turned into COPD. I'm a smoker of 30+ years, and I'm finding it hard to quit. My COPD is stage 1. I'd like to quite smoking before my COPD gets worse.
I smoked for nearly 50 years. I used the Habitrol patches (much less expensive than Nicoderm and you can get on Amazon). I started at stage 2 and slowly moved to stage 3. I stayed on the patch for about a year and a half (my doctor said to stay on as long as I needed). I have been off the patches for about 6 months now. I do have a Nicotrol inhaler that I carry with me. I take a puff every couple days - its mostly for anxiety. I refer to it as my pacifier! Good luck!
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Hi Christine,
I am a COPD sufferer and quit smoking 12 years ago. It was the hardest thing I have ever done. My best advice is to seek nicotine replacement therapy. I used non-tobacco nicotine pouches and weaned myself of nicotine by getting lower and lower doses of nicotine. You can use nicotine gum, lozenges, patches, etc. I would advise you to talk to your doctor about a smoking cessation program. It would also help to have someone to talk to when the urge to smoke gets too much for you to handle. Sort of like a sponsor I suppose. Be prepared also for some tough days of nicotine cravings. It takes an enormous amount of willpower to successfully quit. After 12 years, I still get cravings for a cigarette. Good luck to you!I know what your going through. I'm in stage 4. I have smoked for 50 years. I'm still trying to stop. I have enjoyed smoking and know I have to quit. Maybe together with all our friends on this wonderful place COPD.net we can do it. Stay strong I think that would be great! I have the gum, but it doesn't seem to help, I still have the longing to smoke. I did quite back in 1995. I was so sick that I couldn't smoke, I was sick for two weeks. I was able to remain smoke free for ten year. Then like a moron I started smoking once again. Now I'm stage one COPD. I need to quite smoking, if for noone else, I need to do it for myself! With the help of wonderful people like yourself, I'm sure we can do it together!!
Hi, Christine! Welcome to the community. It sounds like you've been through a lot these last few years, but I am glad you're here and trying to make positive changes for the future. It takes guts to do that. We have a ton of content here on the site that is focused on quitting smoking. Here's a link to check out some of what we have. https://copd.net/search?s=quitting
You have already gotten some great tips -- it can take some trial and error to find the combination of tools that work for you. I also like to remind people that it is perfectly normal for quitting to take several tries, or even many tries. I say this not to discourage you, but to give you realistic expectations so that you don't lose hope! You are not a failure if it takes time. Every quitting experience has something new to teach you. The key is to keep persevering, trying to learn and grow more with each day. Even quitting for a few hours has beneficial effects on your blood pressure! So stick with it and know that we are all here to support you on the good days and bad days. One step at a time! Hugs to you. -Melissa, copd.net team
