I stopped 3 weeks and 5 days ago, 1st week with full strength patches, last 2-3 weeks 4mg Gum , around eight to twelve pieces of gum a day.
Anyway after chatting to a friend at work who stopped 5 years ago he explained to me about the addiction to Nicotene.
My friend at work has been helping me (listening to me) at work through this stopping smoking period in my life, I am so gratefull for his advice as he has been through what I / we are going through right now but he did this 5 years ago and has never smoked since.
On Thursday things had been going through my head ie: ok just about four weeks with no ciggies but am still addicted to gum, or I have developed a gum addiction. (well it was going half price at the local supermarket)
Every time I spoke to my friend at work, he always said "stop the NRT , its the only way to get rid of the addiction, no matter if its next week or five years time , you still need to go through the withdraw period"
Am not for one minute advising the following however I thought I would share my time:
OK :rolleyes: Thursday morning, had two pieces of gum, another after lunch. I returned to the office at 2.30pm and said to my friend that I now understand what this addiction thing (no habit) is going on and am going to try and stop the gum.
OK Thursday night no gum, felt liked I needed something but def not a ciggie.
Friday: ok felt strange, like the time I tried to stop smoking before, but this time I did not crave a smoke, I knew in my heart it was Nicotene I was craving, not SMOKES.
Friday night I was so restless, though around 11.30pm watching tv having a beer, it was like a switch in my head, no more feeling like crap etc ... the drug had now left my body And to be HONEST its no harder than that just craving feeling for a smoke .. though you gotta ride the timeout with it ... they say 48-72 hours .. it was less for me ....
OK no more gum and no more smokes, no more intense physical craves YEEHA :if I had only know the past twenty years that those PHYSICAL cravings go away at the most 72 hours (3 days) thats like 3 days of craving for a smoke, the cravings dont actually get any worse than like when your in a situation and want/need a smoke and cant have one, you just need to put up with a fag crave for 72 hours at the most.
And of course "Want to stop smoking" :cool:
Sorry for my rammble but if that helps anyone stop smoking or encourage them, I feel that I would be giving back something to the forum.
Love & Peace ..
xSteph
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Wow great post Steph. I quit cold turkey so I never had nicotine entering my body after that last ciggie I smoked and I always wondered about people who use the patch or chew the gum. The nicotine is still entering their bodies so they must still be craving nicotine much longer than someone who quits cold turkey. You helped me believe my thoughts that quitting cold turkey is better than quitting with an aid for the craving part of the quit. Anyway - I have had quite a bit of wine tonight to celebrate my 2 months smoke free with my friend who lives down the street, so I may not make any sense right now. Good post though!
I really wish that i could go cold turkey but i cant.
My patch fell off today while i was gardening and after about an hour i started getting really angry. I shouted at my husband. He said i was being horrible to the kids. Thats when i realised the patch had fell off.
Anger is a normal response to the withdraw period, when your patch fell off, you were not ready to be angry, you did not understand why you were angry until you noticed you were "patchless" I believe the more prepaired you are the better.
So you now undersand you get angry when your starving for Nicotine, try leaving the patch off for a bit, say in a few days, keep alert for your "Anger" coming, you might even laugh at yourself whilst you wait to be angry.
Now you can put that patch back on anytime you wish, however you will need to start that withdraw peroid again again and again.
It does not last long (TRUST ME) those intense feelings subside very quickly, at the most 3 stupid days, in which you could treat yourself to naps during that time to ride it out. Napping always helps ...
If you really want to stop smoking, the more you practise the more chance you will have of doing the job once and for all.
I am only trying to help here, in no way trying to preach the way I think is right, everyone has there own methods, NRT did help me the first few weeks, but I was still on nicotine.
I really wish that i could go cold turkey but i cant.
My patch fell off today while i was gardening and after about an hour i started getting really angry. I shouted at my husband. He said i was being horrible to the kids. Thats when i realised the patch had fell off.
I just turn into a evil women.:mad:
I want to do it but feel so nasty.
Flippy, I am sure you have read my "Day 3 of no nicotine" thread where I destroyed my phone into little bitty pieces because it rang!
It is just the withdrawal symptom of nicotine that is triggering that anxiety, which in turn triggered your anger.
You eventually have to get yourself off of the nicotine. It is the root cause of all of this evil smoking. You are/were not addicted to cigarettes, you are addicted to nicotine. Smoking was just a transport to get the nicotine into your system is why we all believe we were addicted to smoking.
Smoking became your "preferred" method of nicotine delivery out of years of experience feeding your nicotine addiction. However, if you were to not smoke a cigarette at all and just chew nicotine gum, or use a nicotine inhaler for say a "year" eventually you would no longer primarily think about smoking a cigarette, instead your brain would tell you "WOW I WANT A PIECE OF NICOTINE GUM" or "SUCK ON THE INHALER" to feed your addiction.
To prove a point I will tell you about a former co-worker who used to "chew tobacco" several years ago. To quit chewing he starting using nicorette gum. Well he did quit chewing tobacco. However he has had an addiction to nicorette gum for the last couple of years now. Even though you are supposed to only chew the nicorette gum for like 30 minutes I believe. He will chew on it all day long.
When he would run out of the nicorette gum he actually came outside to SMOKE a cigarette with us about once every 2-3 weeks when he didn't have any gum. Remember, this guy was NOT a smoker. He was a chewer. This is how addictive nicotine is. Fortunately, he has never taken up smoking as a serious habit. His brain's "preferred" method is to continue to chew his nicorette gum, but nevertheless, he remains an "active" nicotine addict.
My point is this, even though he is not a smoker, not a chewer, he is still an addict. He is still a slave who has to buy some very expensive gum and is "abusing it" by not following the recommended directions for it all as a method for feeding his nicotine monster.
Ok Finally my explanation for writing all of that
I understand the NRT method works for some people and assists them in quitting smoking so by no means am I telling you how to do your "quit" I just want to make sure that they don't get addicted to them instead.
I did start to think that i was maybe cheating using the patches. But if i stick to the course then i will be weaned off them.
I took my patch off today at 11am and had to go to the dr at 2pm to get this weeks supply of patches. I lasted the 2 hours but as soon as i had them i put one on, i feel better for that.
I know my kids want a smoke free mum but they want a nice mum too and not one that is screaming like a nutcase most of the time.
I will do my 12 weeks of patches and then will be nicotine free.
I did start to think that i was maybe cheating using the patches. But if i stick to the course then i will be weaned off them.
I took my patch off today at 11am and had to go to the dr at 2pm to get this weeks supply of patches. I lasted the 2 hours but as soon as i had them i put one on, i feel better for that.
I know my kids want a smoke free mum but they want a nice mum too and not one that is screaming like a nutcase most of the time.
I will do my 12 weeks of patches and then will be nicotine free.
You are doing great, there is no wrong way of stopping, go with the twelve week plan and the patches.
That link to the (book) download works, and its a good read. I know his ideas are againts NRT's, though his words speak the truth and his success rate is pretty darn high. I dont know if I could have came this far without NRT's though, 4 Weeks 1 day no ciggies, 5 days no NRT. I think using the NRT made me UNDERSTAND that when I came off NRT I did not crave a smoke rather I craved NICOTINE :rolleyes:
That made it easier for me to understand I need to stop Nicotine. After I understood this properly, through smoking for 20 years then switching without a blink of a eyelid to 4 weeks of gum addiction it was easier for me to stop all together.
I know my kids want a smoke free mum but they want a nice mum too and not one that is screaming like a nutcase most of the time.
Flippy I and probably everyone else in the world that has stopped smoking will always reasure you that "screaming or anger" will surely pass in a couple of days
I am confident stating the above, and I am sure many on this forum will agree with me. That stage of moodyness and also anger etc passes very very quickly ...
48-72 hours of feeling like that surley is worth a LIFE time of freedom from worries and woes regarding smoking related illness and premature death, not being able to spent those special moments with your children (grumpy or not)
I dont mean to be harsh in the above paragragh but honestly that grumpiness/nutcase stuff does not last longer than 72 hours ... probably more like 48 hours.
Go away for that weekend (Treat yourself to a health farm for that weekend with the money you have saved by not smoking)
But i have very little willpower and give in so easily where this time i am feeling more positive and dont want to ruin that.
I know that this forum has helped me loads. Reading everyones stories and knowing that we are all going through the same thing.
Being positive is the only way to success Flippy, willpower has nothing to do with stopping the nicotine addiction, we need to accept our addiction then be free of it, willpower would suggest we would have to fight this Nicotine addiction.
Its about accepting it, then being free from it ..
YOUR POSITIVE OUTLOOK is worth 10000000 x willpower :
"The notion of "willpower" has caused a lot of anguish in modern times"
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And to be HONEST its no harder than that just craving feeling for a smoke .. though you gotta ride the timeout with it ... they say 48-72 hours .. it was less for me ....
Good post though!
day 16 - going cold turkey now
Cold Turkey Tips
