I quit just over a month ago. I feel a lot better. First 3 days were a little rough, much better since. Stay strong!
I quit on February 25, 2012 after smoking for 10 years (started early at 15). I had a string of colds and a gout attack back in February. Being so young, I was concerned for my health and had a epiphany to quit smoking. It was easier than I thought, especially when you've made up your mind and became mentally ready to quit. The cravings were pretty bad at first, especially when I was drinking. Fight the urges and they will go away. One of the things I love the most is my increased endurance. I used to not be able to run a mile without feeling like dying. Now, I can run 1.5 - 2 miles without stopping. And I did not miss the $20 I was wasting away every week buying that crap. Keep it up... your body and wallet will thank you!
It doesn't relieve stress, it relieves your craving. Just remember you will feel many side effects possibly including sweats, constipation...pretty much your body will be out of whack these next few days. It takes 3 days of feeling like ****, followed by 4 days that are easier...but still bad. After day 8 just remember NOT ONE PUFF EVER AGAIN. I stopped smoking recently and it's the best decision I have and ever will make in my life.
(paraphrased, but) - Mark Twain^ I smoked three packs a day for 25 years and two packs for about 4 years before. I never thought I'd quit. Then I decided I wanted to and I tried Chantix, to which I had a horrible reaction but which really helped me quit. But then I had to quit Chantix and I took up smoking again. I used a patch to quit for a month when it was advised by my doctor to regrow bone from an injury, but then I started again. I just didn't care and I didn't want to quit. But then my girlfriend quit and I felt like an ******* for smoking inside and I smoked to often it was a drag to have to go outside and I finally said I was done with it and went through the whole patch regimen. And I finished the whole thing and didn't smoke. But one day after the nicotine was totally out of my system, I was veritably tripping I had so little concentration or focus. So I went to Walgreens and got a disposable nicotine delivery thing, just a thing shaped like a cigarette or a pen to delivers nicotine through a water vapor. And that's all the solution I need. I don't stink, I'm saving a ton of money, I don't have unsatisfiable nic-fits (even on a plane - I just go to the bathroom - it's water vapor), and I don't care that I'm addicted to nicotine, it has some good properties and it's not by itself terribly bad for you. I'm addicted to caffeine (coffee) too. I wish I weren't addicted to either but there are worse things. Anyway, congratultions OP. I admire your willpower.
Is it possible you overdid the nicotine patch causing your body to go haywire? I would smoke over ever considering the patch. The same companies that make cigarettes make the patch. They want your money for life. My advice, go back to smoking one pack a day for 1 month then stop. If you can't get down to one pack a day then make it 2 every 3 and gradually take it down. It sounds like your body went in shock after the sudden inflow of nicotine stopped. I would hate to multiply what I went through when I stopped smoking by 2 or 3 (packs) of nicotine. I was a 1-2 pack a day smoker for 8 years.
great job W22. it takes an epiphany and the realization like the one you had. you can't go into something like that without will power to stay with it. it sounds like you are doing it the right way. I'm working on 13 tobacco free years this Fall.
I haven't had a cigarette in nearly a year. I'm not going back to a pack a day in order to quit again. It was the nicotine withdrawal that made my brain go haywire. It happened each time I stepped down as instructed but after finishing the 3mg patches, and hence the program, I was nicotine free. (By the way, for people who tried quitting with the patch alone there was a 97% recidivism rate according to one stud.) And that when my most serious withdrawal kicked in. And I couldn't do my job and my job had to be done on a schedule. So I smoke these not-cigarettes. They don't bother anyone, it doesn't bother me to do it, I think of it like coffee. And, since switching I use waaay less nicotine. Used to smoke 3 packs a day; now I do a two pack cartridge over three days. I'm not changing a thing.
