Heya, well done on all your quits...i was just wondering whether you could share your findings with me...
Obviously i no its totally different for everyone but i was wondering
1) how long did it take until you noticed the cravings decreasing/fizzling out or even just until they became more bearable?
2) How long did it take until you noticed the different health benefits from quitting...I have asthma and have been noticing just how bad my breathing is when walking uphill or doing hard exercise, its actually quite scary, one of the main reasons for my quitting
Thanks in advance
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I noticed the health benefits from day 1 as far as my chest & cough where concerned.
Craves? Well day 1 & 2 where a bit iffy but can honeslty say I have had no full on arghhhhhhh moments. Don't even think about them. I am using lozenges & not going CT though.
Initially I'm OK but usually find months 3 - 4 tough, I seem to hit a brick wall. I'm asking other forum members to kidnapp me around month 3 this time so I don't make the same mistake again :D.
Breathing, I would say almost immediately my breathing was better, I didn't wake up with a tight chest but it took a few weeks for things to work there way out - catarrh, chesty/wheezy cough, etc. I suppose it's down to the individual but it's all a sign of how smoking affected us and it's just a way of the body healing by getting rid of the crap.
I was fine for the first few days but that was because I had horrendous flu and didn't want to smoke - every cloud has a silver lining! Was then OK for the next few days too but hit a wall at around days 12-15. Since then it has got much better. I still do have cravings, some of them quite powerful. I just think of them differently, and they're not so hard to cope with. I think a lot of that has to do with the reading I've been doing.
Health benefits - am noticing a massive difference, which kicked in pretty quickly. Was waking up coughing in the night, and always coughed like nobody's business in the morning. All gone. Asthma has been much much better. Sense of smell incredibly improved (although not noticing so much change in sense of taste). Energy levels higher.
still craving and sometimes very strongly - overpowering really at times, more psychological than physical though, and longer between craves, most of the time i feel pretty neutral about smoking which is fine by me. part of my problem is i never saw smoking as the enemy, smoking is my friend i just can't be with any more :eek:
the health benefits was after the first or second week, mainly being able to breath more easily, especially at night. i've put on a lot of weight now which is great as i was far too skinny as a smoker just now the thing i am noticeing the most is my skin improving, i love it when people say i'm looking good!
good luck with your quit, it is so worth it even if it is hard work, 5mol<er
I have not had any cravings since week 3-4 infact i cant call them cravings i would have said more like a thought that i wanted one. Now however i cant honestly remember the last time i had a thought about one, i dont even remember anything about them. I was a first thing in the morning girl and its so weird how i truely dont think about them, the thoughts dont even come into my mind at all now. But everyone is different. Its almost like it never happened to me, that i have never been a smoker and that i have always been a Non-smoker.
As for the general well being, i started to feel better straight away, no wheezing etc etc but i do still have the stuff clearing from my chest, its been nearly 12 weeks and its still clearing out, but as time goes on it gets more bareable so im not worried.
I have had spells of being really unhappy, and sad, and feelings of 'is it worth this' but they have come and gone.
I dont have any real cravings, more like I fancy a fag now and then, but that aint going to happen.
I have lung problems too, and my cough was at the stage I was embarrased, I had been coughing my guts up for months/years.
The cough ended when the fags did, within a couple of days it was almost gone.
I am still having problems with my breathing, the asthma sprays are just not working, my doc says its still my body adjusting to not having a lining of tar:eek:
Real hard cravings, the sort that made my fist clench, just 5 or so days.
It felt longer at the time but looking back I can see how it took a while to learn the difference between craves and the habit associations and just passing wants.
The 'wantings' and the 'liking for' took up 6 months but noticeably decreased in strength and frequency from day 1 and it didn't seem long before those were easily brushed away
Noticing better health .... a month or so I think. To lazy initially at start of quit to have done anything different to feel any marked improvement. Four months from quitting I began cycling and really noticed the benefits then but only due to not died from having cycled for the first time in quite a while.
I couldn't say for sure when my cravings got easier, but definitely after the first week they wasn't so bad and just tried to catch me out every so often.
Now i just have the "i fancy one feeling" rather than "grrrrrrrr i need a smoke now" feeling
Health wise...... i do feel now like i can take in two breaths at once rather then struggle to take one, but i do still get out of breath walking up hills, but thats because i am so unfit in myself.
I don't think the cravings ever go away 100% - I once gave up for over 3 years and when I started again it was (unfortunately) as though i'd met an old best friend again...
This time i've not smoked for almost 5 months, and whilst the cravings are few and far apart, they still happen just when I least expect - yesterday was particularly bad and I was craving a smoke all day.
Also I don't particularly feel any healthier and I still enjoy the smell of ciggies. I'm not going to start again (the cost is way too high - nearly 7 quid a packet?) but I do think we have to be prepared for a long hard battle.
On a positive note, I have saved a fortune so I've bought myself a new car
the first day was a breeze for me , then for the rest of the week was horrible.
in the first month of my quit i must of eaten my whole body weight in polo mints .
after the intial 1st month my cravings slowly went away to hardly ever coming on now .
i am nearly 5 months quit now and going very strong, when i go out on a night out i dont have the urge wat so ever to pinch a cigarette. i stand outside with people who smoke and does not bother me .
if i am honest when you think your cravings are going i would recommend standing with people who smoke just so you know how awful you use to smell like .
if i am busy i can go whole days without even thinking of the expensive pointless paper smoking devices.
obviouisly some days you will have hard days but you just have to keep busy
if i am honest when you think your cravings are going i would recommend standing with people who smoke just so you know how awful you use to smell like .
After 3 days, they die right down til about a month in when they're just fleeting thoughts.
What you do get every now & again is a nostalgic pang. It's similar to how you can suddenly crave a certain food completely out of the blue. It's not a full-on, demonic day 3 style lunatic craving, just an annoying urge. Dangerous!
Health benefits are, just like the destructive effects of smoking, gradual. It's quite easy to not really notice how much better you're feeling as it happens over time.
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