JohnRPolito

So long as they remain nightmares, Kate, smoking dreams are protective, especially once complacency arrives. While I don't claim to be "average," during my first year I think I had 2 or 3. And for the first few years I probably averaged one a year. Now, 22 years since my last nicotine-fix, it's been 4 or 5 years since my last nightmare. But considering I was a 30-year heavy smoker (3 packs-a-day during the final 5 years) I find it amazing that while my brain is filled with hundreds of thousands of smoking memories, when constructing dreams my subconscious has only made me a smoker roughly a dozen times over 22 years. And let me tell you, my smoking dreams truly are nightmares. To set the stage, in 1999 I quit and started WhyQuit (then purely a motivational site) and in the fall started an online support site. Since then, I've presented nearly a hundred live quitting programs, have had a number of journal articles published and wrote a quitting book. So, imagine what it was like relapsing during my last dream and thereafter worrying that I had to start all over again, and that at any second I could be caught smoking and exposed. My emotional response was so disturbing that it forced me to awaken. Even then, it took a few seconds to realize that it'd all been a nightmare. That being said, my next smoking dream, if any, will again remind me just how much I relish being free. For it will be a vivid reminder of the amazing journey I once made. Breathe deep, hug hard, live long, John (Gold x22)

It's entirely normal to want quitting over and done by day 28. But it took years to walk this deeply into dependency's forest and it takes patience to walk out. It's also entirely normal to believe that gradually weaning ourselves off of nicotine via ecigs or NRT makes perfect sense when, as smokers we always had the ability to smoke one less cigarette per day. And how did that turn out? The good news is that you've navigated 28 days of use cues without once inhaling nicotine. The good news is that you've likely extinguished all but remote, seasonal, holiday, infrequent and possibly hand to mouth smoking cues. The good news is that your body's 37 trillion cells have basked for 28 days in far more oxygen and far fewer toxins than normal. The good news is that with each passing day you move closer to easy street. While nicotine withdrawal is normally the shortest recovery layer (peaking within 72 hours and neuronal resensitization complete within 2-3 weeks), there's still a bit of work to do. You've come far and invested much. Your determination is admirable. Don't get discouraged.