Hello everyone. I started smoking when I was 12, which might seem young, but if you start at that age, it's just to fit in with the group, to seem cool and not get rejected. But at that age, you also have no idea how much smoking can damage your health. I got caught up in the whirlwind. At 16 I managed to stop smoking for a year, but a short period of depression followed and I fell back into it, dragged down by a friend who was doing just as badly as I was. I should never have restarted! A few years later, I started realizing how much cigarettes were damaging my healthwhen I ran I tasted blood, I threw up more often, I was nervous, on edge, often tired, my breath was like a camel's and I started really worrying about how stained my teeth were getting. Then I met a 45 year old woman with a hole in her throat. She'd had a tracheotomy (already, at her age) because of smoking, so I couldn't understand a word she was saying. And that was the trigger for me. As soon as I got home, I threw away all my cigarettes and now I haven't smoked for a year. I still think about it, because you need a lot of willpower to quit, but it's changed my life. My skin is brighter, I no longer have stained teeth and I have reduced my risk of getting cancer. And I hope that everyone who wants to quit smoking does it, because now I miss certain nights out to avoid suffocating on other people's cigarette smoke, and I'm sick and tired of washing clothes that stink after less than an hour!! Now I know how left out non-smokers can feel and I really regret having put a cigarette in my mouth for the first time. Honestly, you're better off without them!

Share on:     

Twelve years. Twelve years my cigarette and I have been living together. I started smoking at the age of 14. I felt bad about myself as a young teenager, looking for reference points, wanting to defy the law.... in short, all sorts of more or less valid excuses to make me feel less guilty. The result is there. Twelve years of smoking. One cigarette a month.... "I stop when I want", one cigarette a week... "I stop when I want", one cigarette a day... "I stop when I want...but it will be harder...", then two, three, four, "I need more and more", one pack? Why not two? Then come the explosive associations: Coffee-bottle-bottle Alcohol-bottle Night club-bottle End of meal-bottle- bottle ....... And all these little habits that gradually become part of well- defined, well-oiled rituals. Why stop? You feel so good with your cigarette. You even have a favourite brand! your favourite brand without which nothing can happen. The ideal companion for all good evenings, for all hard times, for moments of stress and pleasure. In order not to miss it, it becomes imperative to buy the cartridge, ten packs at a time! Then (because it never ends) small problems insidiously arise. A little cough here, an allergy there, suddenly you stop doing sport, no breath, no legs, headaches, fatigue, a whole bunch of little things that are not important, often blamed on a little temporary fatigue, hay fever (a great classic in spring). In passing, we note one or two comments from family and friends: "go brush your teeth, your breath is foul", "you should stop before it's too late", "if you smoked less you would....". But why do we have to be bothered with our beloved cigarette? We're not hurting anyone? And we are perfectly aware of the risks! Yes....., perfectly......, except that the day it falls on you, you measure the true extent of the damage. The little coughs gradually turn into big coughs, then into bloody sputum, then comes the X-ray of the lungs and the prognosis, much more reliable than the lottery: "Sir, you have lung cancer, we have to operate urgently on a lobe" ....operation.... chemo....operation...chemo... "sir, we're sorry you're at the terminal stage, everyone goes down.... to the morgue"..... cries, tears, then nothing more This is my dramatic story. I am 26 years old, my best friend was 27. We started smoking our first cigarettes together. He died four days ago in front of me. It doesn't just happen to old people, it doesn't just happen to others. Think of Frank when you light up that next cigarette, especially you young people.

Share on:     

My story with tobacco finally looks like a success story and the app 'Stop-Tobacco' was really decisive in that success. I started smoking around the age of 15 years old. At first, I never thought I could be addicted to it. I would only smoked sporadically without ever buying my own cigarettes. But by the age of 20 I was smoking every day around 10 cigarettes a day and any attempt to quit was quickly followed by a relapse. I did manage to reduce the number of cigarettes I was smoking at times (especially between 24 and 26 years old) but I never completely gave up smoking altogether. In the last two years, I had become really upset about my smoking habits, for various reasons: my teeth were becoming BROWN, the number of cigarettes I was smoking was increasing (I started chain smoking), but the idea to quit seemed more and more difficult. And all of a sudden things worked out! Here is what I have done. 1. First, I told a few relatives I was quitting NOW, so that it pressured me to keep up with my commitment 2. Second, I downloaded the stop tobacco app and read it every day, several times a day. 3. Third, I used tobacco replacement therapy after a month (the first month I did it without but I gained weight; as soon as I introduced the replacement therapy, I stopped eating compulsively) 4. Fourth, I didn't chose a holiday period to quit, as I would usually do, but a normal work time. I think it's best to stop when it seems most difficult. 5. Fifth, I was not drinking alcohol during this time. Drinking would have favoured a relapse. And to my surprise, it worked out! I can proudly say that it has been 297 days. I have gained 34 days of life and 1888 euros. Now every time I see someone smoking my brain produces some kind of red signal: "Danger! Danger!" What used to be my best friend has become my ultimate enemy. I want to warmly thank the designers of the app. I couldn't be more grateful.

Share on:     

I started smoking in my teens. I have consistently smoked 3/4 of a pack a day for at least 20 years. The last 10 years I have had a chronic cough and some wheezing. I seriously tried to quit about 3 times. I never made it past a month without falling for the old "I can have just ONE, I've been so GOOD" bullshit. This time I am using patches and gum. I've been "ex-smoker" for 5 weeks now. The patches have made a big difference. Other than missing my smokes a couple times a day, I am doing just fine. I think about it less every day. I know this time that I cannot ever have even ONE cigarette. The thought depresses me but I am committed. I do not want to die young from a smoking related illness. I do not want my (nonsmoking) husband to have to watch me die, or help me lug around an oxygen tank. I started a fitness regime about a year ago, and I think that being physically fit has also helped me this time around. Its nice to breathe easier during workouts. I also enjoy laying next to my husband without worrying about wheezing or coughing. I think the time was finally right for me to quit. Still, it is the hardest thing I have ever done.

Share on:     

Hi there, I consider myself to be an ex-smoker now. I quit on 14 mars2016, thanks to your site which I came across by chance. I read the testimonies by other people, then I started a blog myself and received testimonies from other people who wanted to quit like me I read the site often, and encouraged other people myself. In fact it's a sort of bet with myself if other people can do it then why not me. That's the challenge I set myself and so far, I'm holding out. The day I came across Stop Tabac was for me the turning point. Articles, personal stories and lots of other things beside have been created to help you and I think that's great. I was an alcoholic but have been sober for 19 years and now I'm in charge of a help association for alcoholics. You see, anything is possible. Although I have problems just like everyone else, I no longer need a glass or a cig to solve them. Whether you're happy or sad, neither alcohol nor tobacco help us it's just an illusion, a feeling of wellbeing that's very fleeting, but also sneaky because you have to regularly increase your dosage and by the time you've realised you've got a problem, it's generally too late, you're addicted, and at that point you start saying, I'll stop! But tomorrow! I could write pages here, but I just want to tell those who want to quit: YES, IT'S POSSIBLE. Best wishes, and thanks again.

Share on:     

Hi, everyone. Cigarettes and I, we had a great love affair. I smoked for 22 years and I tried to quit lots of times (at least 6), and failed every time. I stopped smoking for two years but still thought that one or two cigarettes a day couldn't do me any harm. That's how I started again every time I didn't want to give up the enjoyment of smoking a cig with my friends on a night out or at work. Unfortunately, that just meant that I lapsed back into being a smoker. You smoke one, and then two and before you know it, you're smoking 10 a day. Now I no longer smoke at all and I've learnt the hard way that the most important thing if you want to quit for good is never to touch another cigarette, even months or years after quitting. Thanks.

Share on:     

I wrote a testimony for this site in 2003, when I was 42 years old and struggling to quit smoking. I quit on and off in the years following, and when I was 50, learned that I had cancer which had started in my airway and grown into my left lung. Although not technically a "lung cancer", I'm sure all those years of smoking didn't help. Also breathing in hair dye, because I was a hairstylist. I had to have my left lung removed, which is major surgery. Luckily I survived. I have never smoked again. I sometimes wistfully think about the (psychological) relaxing effect of smoking a cigarette, but I know it's not real, and all the pain and suffering it causes is not worth it. I'm 60 now and living my best life. But having one lung is a constant reminder of my poor choices in regards to smoking.

Share on:     

It started as a "cool" thing with one fag here n there. break in the cool group at work. Kept extending to build relations. Slowly, it creeped into a tool to relax your head when you work hard or you have a bad day. it seemed like a problem solver when you have no way to go. BUT, it slowly eroded the stamina, strength and mood disorders, depressions. Quiting wasnt easy. Would suggest the COACH's way of doing minus moving to another narcotic option.

Share on:     

After smoking for 33 years knew I wanted to give up 10 years ago and have several attempts. About 2 months ago I decided I had to try again. I brought a box of Nicotine patches which I have found kills the craving and my usual amount of tobacco. I started with the patches and a promise to myself not to buy any more tobacco and for the next couple of weeks only smoked a couple a day, almost always at night. Knowing the tobacco was running out I approached the day of reckoning without knowing if I could hold out and resist the temptation to buy more. I was still using patches but something would trigger it and the thought of having a smoke would invade my brain. I did the distraction thing a few times, got drunk more often than I should and ate snack food. I thought about reneging on my promise or recycling tobacco scraps (butts). Today is 6 weeks since I "gave up", 4 weeks since I smoked a cigarette and 2 weeks since I used a patch. I tell myself I've taken up "not smoking" . I know I'll feel bad for couple of month as my body starts to repair, I never want to smoke again so I'll just have the cope. Thanks for all the great stories everyone, it helps.

Share on:     

Dear Readers, I have been smoking for 37 years and this is my third serious attempt and it will be the final one. I will never smoke again, ever. I know this because I will not fall into the traps which caused me to start again. Always an excuse, the fact that I felt amazing, what could one cigarette do, I would just have one, etc... Once you quit, its forever, you can never have one again. I suffer from asthma and recently had trouble breathing, especially at night, coughing and wheezing was keeping me awake. A month ago, I woke up and thought to myself, if I don't stop and listen to my body, this smoking will kill me. I ordered a high-end running machine, and started a beginners training. Its been over three weeks now. At first I could hardly breathe and now I run every day, fragmented walk and run, building it up. I am so proud that I can actually run for 2 x 15 minutes with a 2 minute walk in between and am progressing daily. It has kept my weight off, and I am feeling fitter than ever before. I sleep really well, my skin looks great. I still think of smoking often, but still have acid-reflux sometimes, which will go, but is there to keep me in check... our bodies are amazing and forgiving, I have learnt to listen and trust it. Learn to live and quit

Share on: