On any habit I mean
Tobacco. Started by delaying the first smoke of the day as long ad I could. Eventually I got through a whole day.
Yep. Alcohol. It was the only way for me to quit. I had the shakes for a day, but that was about it.
I have the temptation from time to time, but I am stronger than it.
Quit meth that way, fucking brutal. Worst experience of my life, and there’s a fair few shitty times to compare it to.
What was it like
Physically painful, mentally crushing. I didn’t speak to anyone for a week and a half, just couldn’t bring myself to do it. Everything ached, my skin felt like it was on fire in random patches that kept moving around, and I was more depressed than I had ever been in my life to that point.
How did you get through all that?
Didn’t really have a choice. I had started to attract the attention of the law, and I could see myself spiraling out. Didn’t want that, I’m too soft for a life of crime. So… shear force of will? Stubbornness?
That’s some crazy high level of willpower
Ehhhh…I guess? I’m still a smoker, so maybe that says something about the addictiveness of nicotine…
Thanks for sharing. What was your daily usage, while you were consuming? How long have you been off off meth?
Daily usage was fairly high, I was snorting or smoking 4-6 grams a day depending on purity. Which…like… looking back? I’ve got no idea why I’m not dead. Between sleep deprivation, chemical intake, and not eating… definitely should have kicked off.
I’ve been clean off meth for 20 years in May or June this year, and clean off everything else except weed and alcohol for 16 sometime closer to September.
I actually don’t regret a single thing, I would highly advise against doing meth or any other chemical stimulant, but I learned a lot about myself and my breaking point. I regret being a smoker more than anything from that period of my life. I also regret that most of my friends from around then are dead or in jail. Two of us managed to move on and have a normal life, and the rest were either dead before 30, in the clink for another 5-10 or are living off the dole with no further aspirations in life than getting stoned and playing video games.good on you, wow. It must have been very difficult
Yes.
Went cold turkey for smoking about 15 years ago. I still get a crazy urge to smoke if i walk past a smoking pad or a designated smoking area. It only lasts for about 10 seconds but its not enough for me to take it back up.
From alcohol but with medication to reduce withdrawal symptoms. Three times.
From soda. I drank a ton of water.
From cigarettes after I’d worked my way down from a pack a day to three per day. I’d gone back up to four and then five and stopped completely before it got back on top of me. Starting again (after seven years) was the worst decision of my life. I moved to vaping six years ago.
Vaping. Drank energy drinks for a week and then coffee for a few more weeks before the cravings got manageable.
How does that work?
Stopped smoking 7 years ago. I tried it two times before without success. This time was easy. Mindset is everything.
What made it work the third time?
By that time I really wanted to stop because I realized how every inhale put another layer of tar on my lungs and that thought alone made me feel bad about it. I believe the disgusting images they had to put on cigarette packs at some point in Germany made an impact on me.
It also helped a lot that less and less friends were smoking and that I had a significant change in my life due to me getting a dog at the same time, so I kinda went with the flow.
Snoozing my alarm clock. Went cold turkey about 10 years ago, 0 tolerance. Now my alarm goes off, I turn my lamp on immediately at full brightness, and get up and out of bed within seconds. Used to be really challenging, but now I do it without thinking.
I should try this. Cuz, I love that snooze button!
Did you know that there’s smart alarms, like apps, that track your sleep and will wake you at the right time? There’s also alarm lamps that slowly go on so you’ll wake up naturally.
I’m aware of them. I’ve never been comfortable with sleep tracking apps or wearables. I refuse to rely on technology for something that my body is perfectly capable of doing on its own. After decades of life, I’ve figured out what works best for me. I don’t oversleep, because I get up the moment my alarm goes off.
Ah if you’re into that you can also divide your sleep time by 90 minutes and be good at falling asleep
Ever since I was a kid, my family had this electric bathroom warmer which has been my best friend for a lot of time. For 15 years, it has been the main reason for me to quickly wake up during school and work days. I needed the warmth and the white noise, even during summer. A few years ago I decided to “quit”, because it started too feel a little like an addiction, and not being able to spend at least 10 minutes in front of this thing would mean ruin the entire morning. Quitting wasn’t that hard, of course, but ever since I quit I have a severe problem with snoozing alarms. I need at least 30 minutes to wake up, rested or not rested it doesn’t matter, I just cannot help myself to step off off the bed as soon as the alarm rings. Tbh I do not see this as a serious problem, cause lukily it doesn’t fuck with my usual daily scehdule, but I will soon try to roll up my sleeves and see if I can improve my alarm2bathroom time
Quit cigarettes cold turkey.
Wellll, almost dying from a bleeding ulcer (partly caused by cigarettes), 2 week stay in a hospital, and 4 more weeks of recovery kinda helped.
I once quit one of my antidepressants (venlafaxine) cold turkey and got to feel my brain throb nonstop for a month straight.
I know this is pretty light weight but soda is my back monkey. Cold turkey has worked but the headaches. Granted it was really a caffeine drop because I don’t like coffee and am not super wild about tea. I have done better with gradual, however its easier to relapse I think and I have never kicked it permanently.
What about mate or kumbucha? Have you ever tried good quality tea?
yeah I have used mate and another thing like it which I can’t recall its name but its sorta nicer. Pricier though and honestly not as much nicer as it is priceier since mate is so cheap. so mate won on that front but I still pick up the other stuff or have a mind to as its nice. I mean I say more expensive but again mate is cheap so its no more expensive than standard tea. kumbucha I can’t really handle doing and the store bought stuff is waaaayyyy to expesive.
I always go cold turkey cuz my stash runs out.
caffeine. I was so wired from drinking like 5 redbulls every day that I wasn’t sleeping anymore, maybe a few hours here and there. I was starting to go insane. so I remember at one point on my work lunch break, February 27th 2024, I told myself I won’t ever drink these again unless it’s a situation where I need to be awake (like if I’m on an overnight layover with an early flight for example, which is rare enough). I sleep until about noon now on my days off, it’s fucking awesome.
I’m impressed that you wrote such a long response without any caffeine.
How was your experience? When I quit caffeine cold turkey, I was miserable. Crazy ass dreams. Headache that wouldn’t go away. Two weeks of just total shitty symptoms. Month before I felt totally ok.
Now I’m caffeine free, but holy fuck, that was tough.
at first for about a week I had a horrible headache. it didn’t feel like a normal headache either, it felt like a mix between the sinus pressure type of headache and a fever headache. I also was sleeping 3 times as much during this phase, like I’m talking sleep before work, get home the next day and sleep 5 more hours. wake up eat dinner sleep again. but eventually I got passed it after that week or so. felt better ever since. saves a lot of money too.
Yep, that headache type is the exact kind I had too.
I gave up Diet Coke once upon a time. But to supplement my caffeine dependency, I started drinking the “energy” Crystal Light and Mio drink mixes. I enjoyed those but I noticed I had more heartburn with them. So I went back to Diet Coke. I guess this anecdote isn’t a true cold turkey example. I only switched to the nicotine patch of soft drinks.
Did you try the powder or the liquid?
I have much better results with the liquid additives, and have managed to stay off sugary drinks outside of the occasional treat. Also have gotten a better value out of store brand than Mio. Normally a bit cheaper for a bigger bottle.
Both. And yeah, I like the store brand liquid flavors better too. Like the pomegranate or dragonfruit.
