Angeleek

Not one puff CBdave!!! Thanks!

Hi all! Anybody else hang onto their smokes when quitting? I kept mine because they are ultra expensive and I figured no sense wasting $11 if I was just gonna run back to the store a day or two later and buy some more. Fast forward 48 days and I still have them and am planning to give them to my brother the next time I see him as he is often hard up for cigarettes. On the other hand, I'm starting to feel like they're like a security stash in the cupboard...like as long as they are there, I'll not get that "I'm running out of cigarettes" anxiety and be tempted to go buy some, which in turn would lead to the age-old ritual of packing it, tearing off the cellophane, taking one out and lighting it up NOOOOO!!! Any thoughts on keeping a cigarette stash during the beginning of your quit? Should I soak them in milk and let them dry in hopes they will be super gross should I decide to light one? Or just chuck em and be done for good?

I have a case of the post-nicotine blues! I think it's my nicoti e receptors leveling off and my natural dopamine production regulating itself. I knew this would happen from a prior quit. The cool thing is it won't last much longer with spring arriving now and summer around the corner. I have accepted just feeling a little ho-hum for a while. Peppered with moments of Karate-squeal-pose, "I am OFF the cigarettes!!"

I think the delivery methods of smoke and vapor make nicotine a huge issue as it travels through the air and sets on everything...plus all the added chemicals! Can't be good...

Thanks Sazerac! From what I've read, the issue is real. I personally almost relapsed on day 6 after touching a bunch of old papers and fotos from my late mom's smoker household. I swear they are nicotine laden.

This is the best. Thank you for posting this!

Thanks all for the warm welcome. So neat to be on this quit train. Everyone's so nice and helpful! Joel Spitzer's videos rock!

You can quit again, Warrior! Set your next quit date, make a quit plan and get ready! Read up as much as you can, watch Joel Spitzer's videos and keep hating those cigarettes to psyche yourself out until you quit for good. Just keep quitting...no reason not to. Good luck!

Wow @ the burning tongue OMG! It's so amazing to note the different ways our bodies rebel and recover when coming off of nicotine.

What did your physical withdrawals feel like, how long did they last, and how did you get relief? My main physical withdrawal symptom was feeling like I had an electrical current running through my entire body. It's like my skin was electric. I was really tense, taut like a drum, as if one prick with a needle would pop me. I felt like I wanted to slap myself or something. Really and truly. This started around day 2 cold turkey, intensified days 3 through 6 with day 6 being the peak and the hardest. What helped? Carbs, mainly sweets, binge-watching TV, anything physical to take off the edge, and sleeping when I could. Carbs also helped with insomnia which was present on days 2-4. I thought I'd never sleep again, but it went away after 3 days. The feeling tautly wired and electrified was almost constant during days 2 through 6 and increased with intensity during those days. After that I started to record actual half-hours and hours between electric withdrawal waves...and the intervals between kept increasing after that. After around 10 days, I felt considerably better because the intensity and duration of my withdrawal waves started tapering off. I'm at day 44 now...no more shock waves TG and I'm sick to death of binge eating anything. Now it's totally a mental game. What were your physical withdrawals, how long did they last, and how did you cope?

Hi Everyone! Thought I'd introduce myself after a couple months of lurking and finally joining today. I've been nicotine-free now for 44 days...my longest quit since 1999. I am truly thankful for the internet, this forum and Joel Spitzer's videos which gave me a lot of mental ammunition to get going on stopping smoking! Looking forward to communicating with the group here...your posts have been most helpful and inspiring to me the past couple of months. Thank you all so much!

Hello Warrior! Congratulations on having quit for 30 days! That is gigantic!!! Even if you started up again...again...30 days proves you can quit! The fact that smoking makes you miserable, that you mostly hate it and that you have reduced your smokes AND quit several times shows that you are destined to become an ex-smoker, eventually. You WILL stop smoking for good one of these days. Exactly when is entirely up to you. Each time I quit and failed, I analyzed what went wrong and took steps to prevent that from happening on my next quit. The most recent thing was the nicotine gum. I couldn't quit both the gum and the smokes all at once cold turkey, so I started smoking again after 28 hours cold turkey and decided to quit the gum first. Six months after kicking my 15- year nicotine gum habit, I went cold turkey again and am happy to report that today is day 44 of being totally nicotine-free! My issue now is post-nicotine depression, which I anticipated, so I read up on addiction and brain/dopamine recovery often to keep me occupied and hopeful while I work through however many weeks (12? 24?) it's going to take for my brain's nicotine receptors and dopamine response to normalize. Working and socializing with smokers must be a mind-boggling challenge. I have no advice for that, but there should be some solutions for that somewhere in the addiction recovery toolbox...keep looking! We can overcome nicotine addiction! My motivation to quit after 34 years is wanting to retain my ability to breathe after watching my mom die of COPD a year ago at the age of 71. I wanted to quit before it's too late. Refocus your motivation, do your next quit and use all the tools you can find to stay tobacco and nicotine-free! You got this, Warrior! Look forward to reclaiming your wonderful, self-empowered life!