Cold Turkey
Like taking off a bandaid, quitting smoking can either be a long slow painful affair or it can be short and dramatic. Much is made of the withdrawel syndrome you face when you attempt to quit. You will be tired or you will be unable to sleep, you will be anxious and irritable. In general smokers feel that when they quit cold turkey they face an unending misery.
From experience and research, the most severe withdrawel symptoms are over with within five days if you can make it. That's not to say you won't feel out of sorts for awhile afterword or miss your old friend, but the real tough part is actually over with fairly quickly. It is just getting through those first five days that is difficult.
This is where self-knowledge and a plan are so important. If you are going to quit cold turkey then consulting with an addictions counsellor, attending group education sessions, or following the plan of a sound self help product is essential. Unless you possess unusual willpower or your desire to quit is so great that you are guaranteed success, you will need a plan to cope with the withdrawel syndrome and to not fall into a trap once you are through it. Once you get through the withdrawels it is very easy to say to oneself..."There I did it. That wasn't so bad."...and take up smoking again thinking it is easy to quit. I've fallen into that trap a few times myself. You must remain vigilant in the period following the initial withdrawel and stick to your plan.
Cutting Back to Quit
The polar opposite of cold turkey, cutting back to quit can be a lengthy process of self denial. It probably requires as much willpower as Cold Turkey and for an extended period of time. Many experts will tell you that cutting back to quit smoking is not a great method in and of itself, but perhaps a better preparatory method for another choice of attack. For example, before quitting cold turkey you might try to smoke a bit less in the weeks leading up to your quit attempt. Or during the first couple of weeks of taking prescription medications you may try to cut back your usual nicotine dosage. If you do decide to use cutting back as your sole method to quit, then you must be very diligent and keep careful track of the number of cigarettes you smoke each day. The length of time can be as short as a few weeks or as long as several months, whatever you feel comfortable with. Perhaps you can only reduce your daily intake by 1 cigarette per week. In theory it should be pretty easy to do without 1 of your cigarettes each day and not have to suffer any major withdrawels, but in practice it is all to easy to slip back upwards in your intake. You must literally count each and every cigarette you smoke to make sure you are still on track towards your goal. It is probably best to begin by first eliminating the cigarettes that you can most easily do without. Some cigarettes will feel more important to you in any given day then others so tackle the easy ones first to get your intake down quickly and achieve an early sense of accomplishment. You will need this sense of accomplishment for later when you begin to tackle your must have cigarettes, such as after a meal. That is when cutting back to quit becomes more difficult - when you get down to those last few essential cigarettes.
Nicotine Replacement Therapy
Available as gum, patches or lozenges, Nicotine Replacement Therapy or NRT continues to supply your body with a supply of nicotine, usually over a period of 12 weeks. The idea is that there are two components to your addictions - physical and psychological/habitual. Rather than having to tackle both problems at once, you eliminate the physical withdrawel by taking the NRT. During this time you work on establishing new healthy habits and substitutes for the psychological and habitual component. Studies have shown that you stand a better chance of quitting smoking using NRT then you do by going cold turkey but the success rate still doesn't compare to available prescription medications. Once you have established a new non-smoking lifestyle, then you gradually wean yourself off the NRT and may experience a mild withdrawel syndrome. The hope is that your new lifestyle and habits are ingrained enough at this point that you will not return to smoking cigarettes once the NRT is discontinued.
Remember with the gum that you must not chew it like regular chewing gum. The general rule of thumb is to bite it twice, which releases a small amount of nicotine that is absorbed through the lining of your gums, then let the gum sit in some corner of your mouth for 30 seconds to a minute, then repeat. If you chew it too fast you may experience symptoms of nicotine overdose and have gastrointestinal problems.
The patch must be changed daily and applied to different locations around the body to avoid skin irritations.
Prescription Medications
There are two major medications that are used to help people to quit smoking: Wellbutrin(Zyban) and Varenicline Tartrate (Champix). Wellbutrin is actually an anti-depressant and part of it's helpfulness in quitting smoking may have to do with its anti-depressant effects making your withdrawel symptoms more manageable. Most studies show success rates between 15 and 25 percent. It has side effects however and special care must be taken with mental health consumers or those with a history of seizures. You will most likely take 300 mg per day in a once daily dose, usually in the morning to prevent it from interferring with your sleep, though you can split the dose up into 2 x 150m per day.
Champix is a brand new drug that specifically targets nicotine receptors to eliminate cravings and reduce withdrawel symptoms. It is also thought to reduce the pleasure associated with cigarettes. It should not be taken in conjunction with nicotine replacement therapy and there are warnings that it may have a negative effect on mental health though reported incidents are only a small fraction of 1 percent. Over the period of a week you will gradually ramp up your dosage until you are taking 1mg twice daily.
With both medications there are risks involved and you need to decide for yourself if the risk is worth it. Keep in mind that the percentages of serious negative reactions to both medications are very low really. The more common side effects can be lived with.
Alternative
For quitting methods that have not satisfied scientific rigor, we classify them as alternative. But many so called "alternative methods" have helped many people to quit and have anecdotal evidence to back them up. One example would be using hypnosis to target the sub concious mind to assist you in quitting. Certainly it is well established that hypnosis is able to target the sub concious mind and that part of the mind can be a very powerful ally in any endeavour.
Another would be accupuncture, a relatively painless procedure of sticking very fine needles at certain points of the body. It is a part of ancient Chinese medicine and is based on centuries old practice. Although the Chinese theory behind it is centred around controversial energy systems with the body, western science is starting to give serious thought to accupuncture and ways it may operate within the framework of western science. More study is needed.
Or perhaps certain combination of vitamins or herbs may help. Some may turn to an alternative medicine specialist or doctor to aid them in quitting.
Self Help Products
Self help products kind of goes hand in hand with alternative, as few products have undergone scientific rigor. But they all have their proponents who swear the product worked for them. You must analyse the proposed product and see if it makes good common sense to you and decide if you think their approach might be helpful to you. Quitting smoking is about trial and error sometimes, and what works for one person may not work for another. So there may be a self help option out there that is meant for you, or you may find it to be a waste of money. That is the risk you take when not following the established medical/psychological approach to quitting.