It's true about the withdrawal

You may feel pretty bad for a while when you first give up smoking because your body is 'with drawing' from it's addiction to nicotine. When the body is used to having high levels of chemicals in the blood and these are suddenly removed, the body sets up a whole load of physical symptoms, demanding that the chemicals be replaced.

The few times I tried to quit smoking, I had major hot flashed when I went to bed.

I am looking into the patch or some other form of quiting.

Okay.. I am not a doctor and I can only speak from personal experience...

I quit cold turkey January 11, 2004.

Part of the reason I wanted to quit was to save money.. so I tried the cheapest option first.. if it had not worked I would have opted to try any number of aid on the market..

Withdrawal was hell.. I hear it is worse for some than others.. but for me it was HELL. I actually thought it would be a good idea to video tape the first week and turn it into an after school special for high school kids. Show the cold sweats, the shakes, the random outbursts, fits of anger so on and so on...

Now comes the hard part.. mind over matter. This is truly a battle with yourself. Your body wants one thing and your head and ideally heart want another. You know you want the cigarette but you also want to be a non-smoker. The physical urge for a cigarette is very intense and it will be at its worst by day 3 and 4. If you can get through those it is up hill from there.. not easy but up hill.

You must have the will and want to be a non-smoker. If you don't have this nothing will work for you. The patch, Zyban, gum and any other aid may help you.. but in the end it is your will power that will make you successful.

It took me almost a year to feel better.. your body is fighting an addiction and trying to correct itself, give it time.. It took me 10 years to build up that addiction and I am thankful it only took a year to get over it.

This is something they fail to tell you in all the "quit smoking" literature. I thought I was suffering from serious problems and went to a specialist who advised me - it takes your body a good 12-18 months to truly get over the physical addiction.

The mind games are crazy at times.. but they do go away. I found doing things for the first time "smoke free" were hard... There are certain things I associated with smoking. However, once you do it for the first time, you know it can be done and it makes the second and third time that much easier..

After almost 2 and a half years.. I rarely think about lighting up and when I do.. I remember how awful quitting was and remember that I never want to go through it again..

quote:

Originally posted by She_Fitz There are certain things I associated with smoking.

Being alive. Chain smoking was my specialty.

I <3 smoking for 10 years also.


Gotta want it bro. I tried quitting so many times I cant even count how many times it was. I couldnt do it until I truly didnt want to smoke another cigarette ever again.

Nov 10, 2004 - right now. I HATE CIGARETTES

Awesome to hear Andrew. I wish you luck in your endeavor.

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