I quit cold turkey, and replaced with dum-dum suckers. I found that the hand-to-mouth motion was very similar so it made for a good replacement, plus they taste nice. I just put piles of dum-dum suckers wherever I normally would have had a pack laying around (the dum-dum sucker habit tailed itself off after a few months…)

I also figured out how much money I was spending on cigs per month and bought something else with that money. That way I could honestly tell myself that smokes were not in my budget and I couldn’t afford them.

I spent a lot of time in online quit-support groups, specifically AS3.

And when I’m having a hard time, I tell myself, “One pack away from a pack a day” and “Not one puff, not ever”.

Good luck! When I smoked I got bronchitis every single year like clockwork. Since I quit 5 years ago I’ve never had it since.

YOU CAN DO IT! People quit every day. Come on, be a quitter too! ;-)

Until my Mom got sick, I had no problem with smokers — it was their choice. But my Mom is 57 years old and will most likely die in the next year. She’s too young for us to lose her. Had she quit smoking even 10 years ago she’d have been better off. So I tell people my Mom’s story as encouragement to quit. Women between the ages of 55 and 65 have the highest risk of lung cancer. With people living well into their 80s and even their 90s, do you want to cut your life that short?

And for what it’s worth, my Mom is still smoking. As she says, she’d quit immediately if it would add years to her life. But it’s too late for that.

She was age 71 at the time. She had smoked for almost 60 years.

I think you’re on to something.

(May the bronchitis leave you soon!)

A hint — however wacky you may think this may be — I’m ready for the slings and arrows from those who think this is “woo-woo” crap — but hey — try it before you stick me, OK?

At the first notion of “feeling off” (especially if it’s a “coldish” feeling) take some Ferrum Phos right away ( it’s a common homeopathic remedy — maybe $7 for a tube that will last you half-a year?).

Sending (only if you want it) big love and great energy for your lungs to be liberated.

Plus, it’s still summer, and nice out, and I don’t get frostbite if I step outside to smoke. Winters are a good inspiration to quit.

On the positive side, I haven’t had a bout of bronchitis since I did quit. It’s horrible stuff and you have my sympathies.

So I made a deal with myself to stop for nine months – six months prior to surgery and three months after. However, by then the next surgery, a total hysterectomy, had been scheduled, so I felt it made no sense to break the smoking moratorium at that point, and said to myself I would wait until after the hysto. And guess what? By the time the hysto was over, the addiction had been broken. Although I still have moments of intense cigarette cravings, which tell me all I need to know about how addictive nicotine is.

One good tip I picked up for free from Irish public health information, and which is directly linked to body awareness, is to pay attention to how your body clears itself from the tar and nicotine in the first 14 days of quitting – the way your skin and hair don’t stink any longer, and how you can draw ever deeper breaths and feel the freshness of the air, and celebrate that in your mind. I found that a very powerful re-direction of purpose which helped me over the immediate withdrawal period. And it works particularly well with yoga and yoga breathing, which like Kate I have been practicing for more than twenty years.

Best of luck with whatever you decide!