Quitting Smoking

[Niklaus]

Hi! I am 22 years old and have been smoking for 2.5 years on and off. Now I'm down to 10 lights per day and am planning to quit. How can I manage the psychological cravings and the weird feeling I get after eating if I don't smoke? Also, how can I manage irritability and concentration problems during this period? 

Thanks in advance. 

[Sunshine59]

Drinking fruit juice whenever you can is a nice activity if you do not have diabetes .

 

Many people have successfully quit here by continuously talking about their  everyday problems related to withdrawal

 

All the problems will go away if you keep fighting the issues for at least a week .

 

Also do not use NRT gums as it has big withdrawal issues too , i learned that a bit later in the quitting process .

 

Please be a bit  strict , you can quit

[Doreensfree]

Hello and welcome Nik ....

You are much clever than me ....quitting so young and only smoking two years ....

On our Main Smoking Board....you will find tons of useful information ....

Start with the been pinned posts ....

Knowledge....once you learn all about this killer addiction ...it becomes easier....

Chew regular gum ,to keep your mouth busy ....

Stay close ...we will support you 100%.....

[Sazerac]

Hello @Niklaus, welcome to our merry band of quitters !

Some people experience some discomfort quitting but, nothing they can't power through.  Others have very little discomfort.

 

Please avail yourself of our resources 

10 Ways To Effectively Use This Forum To Stop Using Nicotine

 

Cutting down on cigarettes is a torturous way to attempt a quit.  Understand you are dealing with nicotine addiction.

Just quit and be done with it !  It isn't that hard.

Quitting By Gradual Withdrawal

 

 

Quitting smoking and dealing with nicotine addiction  is the best decision you can make.

 

[darcy]

7 hours ago, Niklaus said:

 How can I manage the psychological cravings and the weird feeling I get after eating if I don't smoke? Also, how can I manage irritability and concentration problems during this period? 

Thanks in advance. 

 

 

Hello Niklaus,

Welcome to the Quit Train.  So glad you are here at a young age. QUIT NOW!  you will never regret it. 

Being recently quit myself, I find that if I brush, floss or rinse after eating (or all three) once the taste of food is out of my mouth the weird feeling/craving goes away quickly.

Irritability and concentration problem management....post on these boards lots, be kind and firm with yourself - you will be withdrawing from an addiction , so breath and let the grumpy and  short attention span just be....come here and complain or rant.   These things will pass, then sporadically appear again, as they do in life.

 

Sazerac is a wealth of solid information, as are many of the other  people, I suggest checking out their links and reading suggestions.

 

Can't say enough how smart you are to be quitting NOW.  You got this.  Welcome aboard...fun group of people here. 

 

Edited April 2, 2020 by darcy

[jillar]

Welcome aboard Niklaus and congratulations on deciding to take back your life. I dealt with those issues by using my JAC (jillars air cigarette) after a meal or with my morning coffee. I just pretended I was holding an actual cigarette in my fingers and then went through the motions of 'smoking" it. It worked great at tricking my mind into thinking it was getting the real thing. Some people use cut straws, pens, even licorice. I also found that keeping myself busy and surrounded by fellow quitters helped immensely so look around at our various forums, it'll keep you busy for weeks

[Sazerac]

11 hours ago, Niklaus said:

Hi! I am 22 years old and have been smoking for 2.5 years on and off. Now I'm down to 10 lights per day and am planning to quit. How can I manage the psychological cravings and the weird feeling I get after eating if I don't smoke? Also, how can I manage irritability and concentration problems during this period? 

Thanks in advance. 

 

Here are some resources for you Niklaus,

 

Minimizing The Most Common Side Effects To Quitting Smoking  

This is a great video.  It made a huge impact on my early quit. 

As Sunshine mentions, keeping an eye on your blood sugar and sipping cranberry juice will help you. 

Breathing deep beautiful clean clear breaths is also effective and always available !

 

New Reactions To Anger After Quitting Smoking

 

Smoking Triggers  You know, most everything we did as smokers , every activity lasting longer that 20 minutes, had a cigarette involved.

                                  Facing down and breaking these patterns is how we build a sturdy quit.  Everything we did as smokers is done better with out smoking. 

                                  We have a clearer focus with no distraction of crashing from the nicotine high.

 

and from Joel Spitzer,

"The kind of trigger talked about here is not just when going out to different places though, home based activities will have the same reaction.

Any activity that takes over 20 minutes would eventually get tied into smoking.

Mowing the lawn, laundry, using the bathroom, paying bills, talking on the phone,

basically, anything that took time very likely became a smoking based activity or had built in smoking breaks associated with them.

 

The first time encountering any of these activities after cessation would be a powerful trigger.

But again, the only way to break these associations is by encountering them the first times, and overcoming them.

After a few repeated episodes, not smoking will become the habit for the event.

Again, not by time passing but rather by repeated experience. But my closing statement above still applies to them.

No matter what triggers occur, all that you need to do to overcome it and learn a new experience as an ex-smoker is to Never Take Another Puff!"