Random Thoughts Thread

[Beskar]

That really sucks man, my heart goes out to you. Ive had close friends deal with a nicotine addiction and they say its one of the hardest things to get rid of.

Lots of myths surrounding it too. Such as "Smoking helps calm me", when in reality, nicotine withdrawal makes you stressed thus smoking relieves the withdrawal effects which are making you stressed. It is that psychological situation.

As A Nerd touches on, psychology is a big component of addiction and with the more legal drugs (nicotine, alcohol, caffeine) people don't see it with the same negativity and the fact people around them are freely able to use them without the physical consequences a harder addiction causes does cause some resentment and difficulty.

Only way to succeed is willpower, with social support and reduction of the drug. A good method is patches, as these can cause a more stable intake of nicotine within the blood stream, especially crucial as you commented you are chain smoking. You might need to experiment to find the right strength to make you stable.
Next is that you will need a placabo for having a cig between your fingers. Think of this in this way, you are an expert smoker, and have wired your brain to be good at it. You will need to retrain it, so using something like lolipops, cocktail sticks, anything which is similar enough for the oral fixation.
Next part is simple to initially do, that is throw away those cigs or give them away, just get rid of them. Their mere presence is just temptation and plays on your mind. Now, you will have to make sure you don't buy any and refuse any offered to you. You cannot smoke without a cig.
Now the next one is time. You are in the process of retraining yourself. Ween yourself slowly from your crutch, and do staged downgrades of the patches. This will take weeks, it is not a quick fix. If you end up noticing you got a cig in your hand, cast it aside and stick to the plan. Don't go "oh well, that is me screwed up, i quit". Keep to it.
The above advice will help you deal with the physiological aspects of the addiction. Now the harder work comes with dealing with psychological aspects of the addiction.
From your comments, you find yourself at home and a little bored. Lets deal with this first. Get a hobby and by a hobby I mean any activity you find enjoyable. Make yourself busy and you won't be sat around going "gosh, I need that fag!". There are usually social support groups out there, sometimes they target harder substances, but most are usually open to the public. This could be boxercise, soccer, walking and various group activities to keep people active, distracted, and build up social support.

Obviously, I would recommend getting in touch with your local quit smoking service and using their support to follow out the above. They might be able to sign post or deal with specific issues you may have.