Quitting Smoking Sucks

[aftermid 0]

I'm on day 21 cigarette free. When do the cravings go away? Suggestions?

[KevinMcGuire 0]

Don't quite know. I quit 4 days ago and I've been a irritable prick ever since

[sid 1]

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I'm on day 21 cigarette free. When do the cravings go away? Suggestions?

This might sound a little simplistic (and it's not meant to be) but they will diminish as you stop giving importance to them. Almost certainly your cravings are mostly psychological (as oppossed to the physical withdrawal symptoms indicative of heroin use etc.) and are exacerbated by your concentration on "quitting". As soon as you deem yourself a non-smoker, believe yourself to be a non-smoker, and realize that these "cravings" are merely thought patterns of an old lifestyle that you no longer adopt, they will diminish exponentially.

Concentrate on the positive aspects of being a non-smoker - all that you can achieve now, the places you can go, the way your health will rapidly increase, the better senses of smell and taste, the greater stamina etc. They'll go away.

Pete Draper,

Just because my life plan is written on the back of a Hooter's Napkin, it's still a life plan.... right?

[MichaelC 0]

I quit two and a half years ago and I still crave one once in a while.

SELECT * FROM USERS WHERE CLUE > 0
(0 row(s)affected)
Failure is not an option...it is integrated with every Microsoft product.

[IanHarrop 37]

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I'm on day 21 cigarette free. When do the cravings go away? Suggestions?

I quit on December 27th, 1996. There will be days that you smell a cigarette and think oh what a horrible smell, and there will be others where you go .....hmmmmmm.... woudn't a smoke be great!

In my experience, this is just the way it is - forever - after you quit smoking.

For the fellow that's only been off 4 days... stay away from the booze this weekend. It's when your defenses are low that you think, "I could have just one."

Nope, you can't put a cigarette between your lips again.

It not that last cigarette that's going to kill you... it's the next one!

"Where troubles melt like lemon drops, away above the chimney tops, that's where you'll find me" Dorothy

[beezyshaw 0]

Maybe think like this...you titled the thread "quitting smoking sucks", but really SMOKING IS WHAT SUCKS! Keep focused on what made you want to put them down, pretty soon you'll be repulsed by their nasty smell. Go to your closet and smell some of your wool sweaters you've worn to a bar, or smell someone's hands who just smoked a cig, NASTY.

[Bouda 0]

this thread makes me wana go to the store and buy another pack

DAMN YOU!

Look what i made at work today mom!! Put it on the fridge
http://www.bouda.moonfruit.com

[tcnelson 1]

sid is absolutely correct...as soon as you ultimately decide to be a non-smoker, you will be.

hang in there, i quit over 2 years ago after smoking for a decade and, as we all know, it's worth it.

"Don't talk to me like that assface...I don't work for you yet." - Fletch
NBFT, Deseoso Rodriguez RB#1329

[Bouda 0]

does that smoke away stuff work

Look what i made at work today mom!! Put it on the fridge
http://www.bouda.moonfruit.com

[tcnelson 1]

i know some friends that have used it successfully and some that haven't. i think the biggest piece of the puzzle is ones mind set toward quitting. i quit cold turkey after i thought i was gonna hack up a lung one night...this was after several attempts with the patch, none of which worked because i really didn't want to quit.

"Don't talk to me like that assface...I don't work for you yet." - Fletch
NBFT, Deseoso Rodriguez RB#1329

[Ripple 0]

Quote

This might sound a little simplistic (and it's not meant to be) but they will diminish as you stop giving importance to them. Almost certainly your cravings are mostly psychological (as oppossed to the physical withdrawal symptoms indicative of heroin use etc.) and are exacerbated by your concentration on "quitting". As soon as you deem yourself a non-smoker, believe yourself to be a non-smoker, and realize that these "cravings" are merely thought patterns of an old lifestyle that you no longer adopt, they will diminish exponentially.

Concentrate on the positive aspects of being a non-smoker - all that you can achieve now, the places you can go, the way your health will rapidly increase, the better senses of smell and taste, the greater stamina etc. They'll go away.

Sounds a lot like something Allen Carr would say?

I agree, by the way. I gave up September last year and have tried to concentrate on the fact that I'm a non-smoker rather than an ex-smoker. That's helped, along with all the other suggestions of remembering the reasons for giving up in the first place. I probably only want a cigarette once a month now.

Aftermid, its brilliant what you're doing, for yourself, for your loved ones, for everyone. Keep it up, there really is light at the end of the tunnel, and its not from a match!

Next Mood Swing: 6 minutes

[masterrig 1]

Like going to an AA meeting and all they do is drink coffee, chain-smoke and talk about booze! I quit smoking and drinking 8-yrs. ago. Quitting the booze, was not hard at all. Quitting cigarettes was tough. I just had to divert my thoughts away from cigarettes. It's hard to do after so many years of smoking. I tried the patch and found myself smoking while wearing the patch. I finally, had to just 'put them off'. I'd tell myself... 'I'll have one here in a minute' and just keep telling myself that. I found that, the cravings do pass.


Chuck

[cvfd1399 0]

Dont you go do it. Just think about all the good weather and fun that is to be had this sunday at the dz

[nacmacfeegle 0]

"When do the cravings go away? Suggestions?"

Two weeks in over here....I'm on the nicotine gum and it helps a bit.

The other thing thats helping me is to avoid situations where I'm around other people who are smoking.

Lets face it, its nasty, and we all wish we'd never started, but its got to be worth a little anxiety....right?

--------------------

He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

[masterrig 1]

You bet, it's worth the anxiety. Especially when you get a physical at your doc's and he tells you how you 'dodged the bullet'... it's a good feeling! Hang in there.


Chuck

[peregrinerose 0]

My husband quit 2 years ago (because I asked him to) and when he's stressed out, or surrounded by his coworkers that are all smoking, or out at a bar, he still craves it. I'm proud of him for never giving in to that craving. He's my hero for it.

Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

[skyjules 0]

I hope I don't become a total bitch to everyone, i've been smoke free for a couple days.

***Free bird Forever

[banjobill 0]

Lets face it, your first cigarette didn't taste so great that you just couldn't stop. The reason you (or any of us) started in the first place was to look cool or be cool. The first smokes make us woozy or downright ill, but we keep it up until we can smoke with the other cool fools who smoke.
Bottom line, the physical cravings will go away in about two months, but you will be forever susceptable to starting back again until you replace all those James Dean/Bogart images deep down in your brain with positive, non-smoking images. Even then, you might have something happen in your life that will cause you to say, "what the hell - I'm a risk taker anyway" and you're back to 2 packs a day.
I quit this go around about 9 years ago and know that I'm one stupid ego-episode away from starting back again. Good luck. It will be worth it, I promise.

....with a capital P and that rhymes with T and that spells TROUBLE!!!

[sid 1]

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Sounds a lot like something Allen Carr would say?

I agree, by the way.

actually - it's something I used to say A LOT as a Hypnotherapist/Psychologist for many years (in a different lifetime????). Helping people become non-smokers was a specialty at our clinic and ultimately contributed to me burning out as a therapist - sometimes I would beg "Just send me a sheep molester or something, no more damned smokers" - but we did have a very good success rate. 99% of the withdrawals are psychological, and most people give up too easy. They call "a thought process" a craving. Well, I have thought processes about Vanna White (did you see her in that leather outfit earlier this week?) and you might call them cravings, but I keep them in check...

Pete Draper,

Just because my life plan is written on the back of a Hooter's Napkin, it's still a life plan.... right?

[KevinMcGuire 0]

For the fellow that's only been off 4 days... stay away from the booze this weekend. It's when your defenses are low that you think, "I could have just one."

Well the hell of it is that I have given up the booze as well. I made my wife a promise that if she got pregnant then I would give up the last of my vices. (really I was making that promise to my unborn child)

You see, more than anything elese in the world, I want to be a daddy. 4 days ago, my wife informed me that she had fullfiled her end of the bargin and now it's my turn.
Yea not smoking sucks at the moment, but in the end (I hope) I will have been able to enjoy my children longer.