Is this normal?

[nsd_user663_3190]

Hi guys,

I've just hit month 4, and I'm going up the walls. (I actually came off the patches 4 weeks ago, but haven't smoked in 3 months).

I still feel like I'm going mental... every day. It still feels like day one a lot of the time. My concentration just hasn't recovered, I get headaches every day, I'm SUPER irritable and the post quit depression that has always stopped me quitting beforehand is still in full force.

I'm just at the end of my tether and found myself thinking this morning that if I smoke, then at least I can enjoy the rest of my life with a clear and sane mind even if it is likely to kill me early!! I know that's a crazy thought.

The actual habit has gone - that was the easy bit. Since quitting I've taken up running and am fitter then ever before, and the thought of smoking a cigarette is horrible. I just feel like I'm never going to get over the nicotine dependency. I've turned into this horrible, negative, irritable person where a few months ago there was a happy go-getter. My relationship is suffering because I'm so emotionally flat and edgy. I know the one thing that'll sort it is a cigarette, or a patch or getting the drug inside me.

Is this STILL part of the withdrawal, after three months? Is this normal?

Chris

[nsd_user663_4990]

I hit a major bout of depression at the 4 month mark, not quite sure really what brought it on, all I know is that I felt uncomfortable with it terribly, and yet the more i worried about it, the worse i felt.

While i'd been on patches i felt totally in control, but later on this 'depressed' feeling was really grinding me down. I'd mentioned this on another forum and it was suggested that i perhaps try St. Johns Wort which is available in most chemists and health food stores. (a natural remedy type thing), and I followed up on that advice and sought some.

I wasn't using it for that long either, took 1 a day as it said on the pack and a few or so weeks later, it was like the shroud that was bothering me just lifted.

Naturally during this time I made some other changes too.. went for walks to new places i'd not been.. called on some friends whom i'd not seen in a while.. and rather than bottle up how i was feeling, discussed it... openly. and with family n friends.. anything but go through it alone.

Now this may not be the same as your daily headaches, but i was irritable for quite a while after i came off them patches.. it's not permanent though.. this is not the new you shining through.

Don't rule out a visit to your doctors if you are worried, tell your doc that you've quit the smoking.. how long for etc.. and how you are feeling, you never know you may end up finding discussing the issue to have a positive impact on your quit.

Just don't feel you are alone.

Your'e not.

Many go through this, i sure did, and i totally sympathise.. but i can definitely tell you that its fairly shortlived, and once your passed it, you find alot of the 'old you returns'... trust me it does.

Oh and one more thing? next time you look in the mirror? think of the funniest thing that ever happened in your life.. focus on it.. remember every detail of it.. and smile.. really smile. The person looking back at you is the real you.. you will be that person again soon.

Jase.

[nsd_user663_5401]

I had started to write a long reply but than I read Jases and totally agree!

I had a fantastic patch about 3-4 weeks ago, happy as Larry I was and then I am once again climbing the walls.

I just wanted to say you are not alone and this quit is bloody damn hard

[nsd_user663_5649]

Hi ...

Like Christine, 5 and half months quit and still pretty much up and down, although it is rarer, I still find myself craving for a fag in moments of boredom or high stress.. I am certainly grumpy and short fused ... but couldn't say whether it's me or the quit!! :eek:

[nsd_user663_3190]

Thanks guys, nice to know I'm not alone. Gonna make an appointment at the docs and see what he says. It feels a lot like clinical depression, and I guess it must've been triggered by the ups and downs of the quit.

Grrrrr, it's a pain in the backside!!!!

:mad:

[nsd_user663_4026]

I had depression too at 4 months. Quitting had taken away my 'me' time. I was told by a counsellor to do one nice thing a day for myself, and it worked. I am still a mardy cow but I was always was! Now i'm a non smoking happier mardy cow!

[nsd_user663_6596]

Hi Chris,

I'm feeling it too and am reaching once more for the SJW.... It will pass!!!

This sometimes gets harder than i think it should do... owing to the amount of time that has passed. Or at least it feels that way.

Try and get a break away from the norm if you can, go and do something new... i'm off camping tomorrow away from the city... at least in the hills only the sheep can hear me screeeeaaaam!!!!!!

Good Luck... we can all survive this patch!

Hugggssss x

[nsd_user663_1966]

Hi Chris,

My experience was very similar to yours. I had a really tough time in months three and four with depressions, feelings of anxiety, foggy headedness. At times I felt emotionally unstable, like I was going a bit stir crazy. In the end I went to my doc fearful that this may be the new normality for me as a non smoker. Thankfully he convinced me that I would get over it and that prescribing something was not the answer.

Thankfully he was right and within another month or so I was over the worst and it's now three years this June since I quit. I've not experienced anything like that since and it shows just how much of an adjustment your system has to go through to operate without nicotine.

If my experience is anything to go by your in the home straight so don't falter now.

[nsd_user663_7503]

Hi Chris,

Well done on your quit. We are around the same stage and although I don't feel as bad, I definitely feel a change in how I am coping with, well everything. I hope you got on OK at the docs.

Dickyboy, what a wonderful post. Means an awful lot when you are in month four to read so thank you. Sorry for the hijack Chris.

Keep up the good work Chris, hope you are OK.

Debsx