Day 8 - First post and a couple of questions please

[nsd_user663_26017]

Hello to all.

I found this site a couple of days ago and decided to join today. Have not smoked for more than a week (well a week and 6 hours to be exact).

After dental treatment I was strongly advised not to smoke for at least 3 days. I thought well why not see how long you can go, let this be a kick start. More than 7 days later (using the medium strength patches)I have not touched one. To be honest I did not plan this but for sometime have wanted to be a non smoker, mainly for health reasons. I am sure I am not alone in saying that I enjoy(ed) smoking but not what smoking did to me.

I am finding it a bit of a struggle to be honest but enjoying some of the benefits, particularly being able to breathe a little more easily. My questions are;

1. do things get easier after 7 days?

2. do you feel better and better, when does it level out, what improvements might I look forward to?

I really dont want to smoke anymore, I am surprised how much I have come to realise this over the last week.

[nsd_user663_26017]

perhaps I should have also added I have smoked 20 per day for 25 years

[nsd_user663_7235]

Hi James and welcome to the forum. 8 days is a massive start absolutely brilliant you are doing really well. To stop the way you are stopping "not planned" is probably the best. Like you I did not plan to stop I just started going without and hey presto here I am over 16 months smoke free.

We tell ourselves it can't be done, it can but it is not easy as I've said be before anything that is worthwhile is never easy.

To try and answer your questions;

do things get easier after 7 days? this depends on individuals if you want it to get easier it will. If you believe it's going to get harder it will.

Take a look at this thread as it may give you a good idea as to what's to come good and bad. As I said before it's not easy and when you read this do not let it put you off. This was my experience of stopping and probably the experience of others. What's to come at the end of the road is worth every single second of struggle I promise you.

forum.nosmokingday.org.uk/s...

Jack

Ps; I hope this will help you and your first answer on this forum does not frighten the living daylights out of you.

[nsd_user663_20558]

Hello and a big welcome.

It's very hard to say when it's going to 'get better' as it's such a different experience for every quitter. However I would say that there are very few people who've made it past six months, and almost nobody who's made the one year milestone, who are still suffering more than a very rare passing thought. Positive attitude and a really clear understanding of what you're experiencing and why do help so much, so read read read!

Speaking as someone coming up to four months quit, I found the first week or so pretty easy, then I had a nightmare for a couple of weeks, and then it started to get better in an on-again-off-again kind of way. Bit of a rollercoaster really, with good days and bad days.

But all through it I was noticing how much healthier I was getting (particularly with breathing, coughing etc). And I felt cleaner, more content, less irritable, and generally happier and more free. And with every crave I beat, I became stronger in my belief that I could get through them and be fine, so it got easier and easier. By three months I was feeling fine for days at a stretch, and it has only been the more unusual triggers (like the sunny weather starting) which have knocked me off balance a bit.

I may never be 100% 'over it' but I know that one cigarette will send me straight back to square one and I can't think of anything that would induce me to go back to that stinky, deathly prison.

You have to grit your teeth through the tough times but it is absolutely worth it. Stay strong!

Helen

[nsd_user663_20547]

Hi James,

Just thought I would come on and say "Hi". Hells has given you an amazing answer and would have been the same as what I would say.

My inputs are, the cravings do get easier to deal with, I promise, I think I started to feel a big difference around the 4 weeks mark, but I felt, for me it was a gradual process.

My quit has been going for 104 days and I do get the odd notion, but that is all it is, a notion or a want, a similar feeling to wanting a chocolate muffin with a cuppa. At the start of the week i has a bit of a down day or so, but noone said it would be easy. The benefits are amazing and you get this awesome feeling of satisfaction in yourself, that if you can stop smoking then you can do anything.

The only thing I am really struggling with is weight, I put on a lot of weight over my quit and it is getting me down, i reckon if I had have substituted my smoking with somthing other than food I would have been ok.

You are doing so so well, keep it up.

Jill xxx