So it’s been 8 days since my last cigarette. I stopped smoking because I was having difficulty swallowing (probably related to the acid reflux I was diagnosed with a couple years back) and I noticed that cigarettes were aggravating that problem.
The first six days were cake, and I’m not really dealing with much in the way of cravings, unless I smell someone else smoking. Yesterday, however, I started feeling really odd. Constant tingly feeling, slightly dizzy, a little bit of a “pins and needles” sensation - almost like I’ve had way too much caffeine. And I feel constantly hungry.
Anyone else run into this sensation? I would have thought that physical withdrawal symptoms would be worst for the second through fourth day… but the eighth?
I smoked my last cigarette in 1989. I felt jittery and hungry for several weeks after I quit. I don’t recall any tingling or dizziness, but I sure did have an agitated, caffeine-ish feeling. These things gradually faded.
Two months, cold turkey and almost totally easy. I smoked when I went through my separation, and got into it a lot, but I’ve always thought of myself as a non-smoker. I smoked as a teenager, then stopped for over a decade, only to start again when I was buying tobacco to mix with my pot. Then I stopped again for a few years.
This time, I’ve hopefully stopped permanently, though by that I mean “stopped being a daily smoker”. I subscribe to Mark Twain’s theory that “whenever I want to give up one of my nineteen injurious vices, I tell myself I am free to start again any time I please” - this makes it much easier. I enjoy the ritual, taste, and buzz of smoking, and I hope I can always inhale some nicotine if I really want to. In the nearly two months since I’ve quit (pack a day), I have had two small cigars. I looked forward to both as a treat, but actually enjoyed neither.
Tobacco smoke will pass my lips again. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe next year. But as a relatively rare treat. I don’t have a problem with that.
Three months and five days cold turkey and it took a month or so to get rid of the jitters and hunger. The discomfort was actually more annoying than the cravings. So hang in there because it will get better.
I haven’t had a smoke in about 6 days now, and I’m getting light-headed/dizzy feelings every now and then. A little bit nervous too. Glad to know I’m not the only one, I thought maybe it was a brain tumor or something.
I’m at 4 weeks today (using Chantix to help me - and it really, really has in my case), and I occasionally get that, even with the drugs - not as bad as I did during previous attempts at quitting, though.
I’m at a day shy of two weeks. I’m using Chantix as well. It has helped but it still hasn’t been easy. This is about my 7th serious try at quitting so I’m somewhat an expert at it by now.
The pins and needles feeling is due to capillaries expanding and getting more blood flow to your skin - its a good thing. One of the effects of smoking is that your blood vessels tend to constrict. What you are feeling is the reversal of this side effect.
Nicotine is also an appetite suppresant. Your hunger is normal as well. I’ve been reccomended healthy snacks like those mini carrot sticks or WheatThin type crackers to help me get through the hunger thing.
I’m on Day Nine without a cigarette. I’ve heard that nicotine clears yours system in three days and that any physical effects you have after that are “all in your head” - I’m very glad to see that’s not actually the case in other peoples’ experience, because yesterday I was ready to cry. I’m better (so far) today.
I’m taking Zyban, and if it’s helping, I can’t even imagine how much worse off I’d be without it. I’m telling myself if I REALLY want a cigarette, I CAN go get some - but also that it’s been more than a week now, and it would be a shame to waste all that resolve now.
I had eye twitches like a sonovabitch. Also, about 6pm I would just crash, and at least need a nap. Sometimes I just slept through the night. About a week into it, I started hacking up a ton of phlegm.
It’s funny really, with various factions in industry and government claiming that nicotine is not addictive. Ask a smoker that has tried to quit. They know better.
I quit 5 years ago. Fell off the wagon at the end of February on a sailing trip. Quit again at the end of March. It was really really easy to quit this time. Why? I think just because I knew I could.
I found that the first week after quiting wasn’t too bad. It was the second and third week that gave me problems. After that it was clear sailing and I have been tobacco free for about 2 1/2 years now.
That’s what I tell myself. I actually did light one up after a couple weeks… and put it out because it tasted so nasty. I just have to stay away from the good tasting ones that started me smoking again in the first place (Djarums, then I switched because it was cheaper to smoke regular and I didn’t notice the taste as much). Would be easy for me to get some smokes too, since I still have half a pack, plus left.
I got sick, with a really bad cold and didn’t want to smoke during it, then after I didn’t feel like starting again. That’s why I have a (swiftly getting stale) pack kicking around. I should throw it out, but in a weird way it eases the wanting because I can just go home and get one if I really wanted to…
I thought I was pretty much alone in this stance. Ever since I quit smoking daily, every time I have one single smoke, someone pipes up “Thought you quit smoking!!” Well, I did, jackass, but by MY standards. I quit the habit, not the thing itself, permanently. If I have two or three margaritas once a month, I think I can have one or two cigarettes without doing much damage. If I’m not thinking about them or craving them regularly, I’ve broken the addiction, and to me, that’s what’s important.
