I am 26 years old. I have smoked for 14 years. I decided that I should quit. I have not had a smoke in 48 hours. I really need to know how long it will be before I start feeling normal again. How long will the cravings last?
For as long as you keep thinking about it.
Drink water, go for a run, shovel your driveway, paint, ski, dance, work out. You need a positive activity. Something to better yourself and keep your brain occupied.
Good for you Greathouse!
I quit Januray 2, and I’m much better now.
However, the first 10 days are the worst. I too was cranky and I too wanted to assassinate everyone around me.
It will pass. Believe me.
Oh, and you will also experience a great increase in lung capacity in a week or so. Also, you will crave food and start drinking more.
But hey, at least you won’t get lung cancer 
Coldfire
“You know how complex women are”
- Neil Peart, Rush (1993)
It is 31 days today since I quit. I smoked for 27 years minus three years that I quit. I could eat one right now…not even bother to light it up just eat it right out of the cigarette pack. I eat everything in sight. But still it’s worth it. I can’t believe that I actually quit after all these years. I don’t know how much is from craving and how much is from habit.
“Do or do not, there is no try” - Yoda
You guys should consider asking your family docs for Nicoderm prescriptions. You’ll be amazed how much more even-tempered you are with a steady stream of nicotine comin’ down the pike.
Try going someplace where you can’t smoke, like a movie. It helps distract you for a little while.
Try not to engage in philosophical discussions with your boss wherein you suggest that they should read the Wall Street Journal now and then instead of the National Enquirer.
I didn’t like that job anyway.
I quit 12/7/96 and still have cravings. My advice is to hang out with someone who you like, but who is also a rabid smoker-hating maniac. If you start justifying to yourself that only one won’t hurt, they’ll grab it out of your hand and stomp it out! Great deterent!
(this was my primary method of quitting!)
Patch Patch Patch!!!
Makes all the difference in the world.
I quit a year ago, and in my experiance the cravings did not get less intense over time, just less frequent. So be prepared for strong cravings to come out of nowhere long after you think you are “cured”–this is normal and not fun, but you can live with it.
I would say that for me the worst was over after the first six months. But it was not an easy process, nor a quick one. The biggest mistake I see people make when they try and quit smoking is that they assume it will be just a brief painful period and then it is over, and they are not psyched up for the reality–a long, painful path.
I found hard candy–life savers, those hard hersy butterscotch things–to help alot.
Another thing that helped me–I had a friend who lost her only two living relatives (mother and uncle) to lung cancer this last year, and they were 47 and 49. I was comfortable with the idea of dying of lung cancer in my seventies, but I really do want to live to see fifty. I could still have minor children then, and likely would not have seen any grandbabies!
i was just stopping by to congratulate all of you who quit and are quitting, and then i noticed that you were talking about me.
if there’s a true rabid smoker-hating maniac, she’s right here.
smoking took the life of my aunt and is trying it’s hardest with my grandma. and i don’t care what any smokers reason is for doing it, it’s not worth a life.
i never used to have any compassion for those that have trouble quitting, because it was something that they got into themselves. but now, with all the smokers out there that don’t give a damn, i respect every second that you try.
so again, congratulations and good luck.
“human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust; we all dance to a mysterious tune, intoned in the distance by an invisible piper.” - albert einstein
I’m trying to quit, am down to about three a day. I take a drag and immediately put it out, and re-light the butt when I need another hit. Here’s a good deterrent: have a 12 year old child who has graduated the D.A.R.E. program, who has a nose like a coyote and the moral righteousness ol a Jerry Falwell. By God, you WILL quit, at least evenings and weekends!
The patch has been OTC for a couple years now; you don’t need a prescription. They even have a generic version for us strapped-for-cash smokers (and what smoker ISN’T strapped for cash paying $3.00/pack for those cancer sticks?)
I read in the paper today that somewhere in Canada (Ontario, maybe?), cig manufacturers will be required by law to have at least 50% of the surface of their packs covered by pictures of diseased organs. Really! They will also have pictures of a curved cigarette to symbolize impotence! I GOTTA have one of these packs! If any of you friendly Canadians would be kind enough to send me one, I’ll pay double the price of the cigs plus shipping charges.
I have found the following procedure to be effective for deconstructing a nicotine habit.
Each time you choose to smoke a cigarette, give the smoking of that cigarette your complete and undivided attention. Enjoy what is to be enjoyed, for its own sake; remain at peace with your habit.
When you have finished the cigarette, grasp the butt between the thumb and first two fingers of either hand, and recite gently:
Nicotine, nicotine, nicotine,
How I love thee:
But I shall love thee and leave thee,
For I need thee not.
Then crush it without compunction.
The habit will eventually disappear of its own accord.
I quit for 4 years, relapsed for 4 months, and now I’ve quit for 5 more years. There is not a day that goes by that I don’t crave a cig. It just becomes more manageable with time.
Nicotine addiction is just like any other drug addiction. Just because it’s legal and available doesn’t mean shit. It’s as hard to beat as cocaine (I know).
If you wait for the cravings to pass, they will; whether you smoke or not. Try timing the cravings, it may lessen them. Change some habits, rearrange your TV and chair, talk less on the phone. Identify your triggers and change the situation. Morning coffee and cig? Switch to tea for a few weeks. Newspaper and cig? Watch TV news instead for awhile.
Sometimes we identify the end of a meal with a cig. When we quit we don’t know when to stop eating, weight gain. Don’t let a few pounds distract you, it’s easier to lose a few pounds than to try to quit smoking again.
Try a support group, it really helped me. Nicotine Anonymous is on the web and in the big cities. Anything is worth a try. What really got to me at a meeting was a father of a young child crying. He found his son pretend smoking. Also met a guy who smoked thru his tracheotomy hole. He said if smoked thru his mouth, the hole admitted too much air and he couldn’t taste the cig.
When it gets really tough, just quit for the next minute. The craving may pass. Don’t keep cigs around, make it a hassle to get some. No ashtrays, lighters, matches etc. Detail the inside of your car, clean your carpets,etc. Get rid of the smell.
I could go on and on.
Best of luck,
John
I don’t know how many times you’ve tried to quit, but if you’ve relapsed in the past, talk to your MD about a prescription for Zyban. My alma mater is doing a research project on smoking cessation, and they prescribe Zyban. After the first year, thier success rate was something like 73%.
Best of luck to you.