How long to get over the physical addiction of nicotine? (kind of long)

In My Humble Opinion
1

I’ve been a smoker for quite some time. About a year ago I decided quiting was someting I should do.

I started the mental process of quiting. I started reading about the effects of it, how bad it is for you, doing the math on how much money I spend on cigarettes, etc, etc. I also started cutting down. I used to smoke more then two packs a day but this last year I’ve been keeping under a pack a day.

I put off on a quit date because, well, I really enjoy smoking. I also figured a time would come which would make quiting easier then just picking a date out of the blue and trying to stop on that day.

So two weeks ago I learned I needed surgery on my nose, sinus and various other parts in that area of my head. I’m told recovery from the surgery is going to be 8 to 10 fun filled days of pain and discomfort. The good news, the doctor is more then happy to provide plenty of behind the counter releif.

This is it. This is just what I’ve been looking for to quit smoking. A major distraction.

I had my surgery last tuesday at 11:30 am.

I smoked my last cigarette last tuesday at 8:50am. In the waiting room of the hospital at 9:00am I handed an almost full pack of cigarettes to my wife and said “do me a favour, throw these away for me”. She was thrilled.

Not smoking tuesday was easy. I was so messed up from surgery, even if I didn’t quit I don’t think I would have smoked any cigarettes.

Wed and Thurs were not too bad. There were a few times I had the urge to smoke but being really messed up on pain killers made for a great distraction. I’ve also been sucking on nicotine gum and have the patch to take the needed edge off.

So today I wake up. Oddly my face doesn’t hurt at first. In fact, it felt pretty good as long as I didn’t touch it. I hold off on my pain meds for a bit because it’s nice to have a few minutes of clear thinking. I also hold off on the gum or putting on a patch just to see how it goes.

The first two hours are ok. I’m sort of craving a cigarette but I’m not really bouncing off the walls. After being up and semi-mobile the pain in my face kicks in doubletime and I have to take some pain killers. Within an hour I’m sucking on a piece of gum as well.

Now, I figure I’m already over the big hump of quitting. I’m at the end of my 4th day and I’m doing pretty good.
Mentally, the thought of lighting up a cigarette doesn’t really appeal to me. I’m happy I haven’t smoked in 4 days and it feels good to be away from all that.

But I know I’m not out of the woods yet.

For those that have quit smoking, how long did it take for you to loose the physical craving? I’m not taking about the mental “habit”, but the physical addiction itself.

2

When I quite, I used nicotine patches. The idea behind them is supposed to be that you use them while you get over the psychological addiction to the act of smoking, then when that’s done you stop using them and get over the physical addiction. Anyway, you use the patches for 10 weeks.

3

From what my friends tell me, the answer to your question is; Forever.

4

The physical cravings for nicotine will end 3-5 days after you stop putting nicotine into your system. The psychological habit will remain to some degree forever, but will be strongest for the first 21 after the last cigarette you had.

The addiction is probably largely phased out of your system depending on how much nic gum your using, but remember that the psychological addiction is the one most likely to screw you.

And, BTW, GOOD LUCK and CONGRATULATIONS!! :smiley:

5

Ignore Zenster. The physical addiction, if you quit cold turkey, is usually largely over in approximately two weeks, although I’ve been known to still get the odd physical craving as long as a month or so after I’ve stopped smoking.

There are no guarantees and YMMV, of course.

6

For me it was 12 months after I had my last cigarette. I was on the nicotine gum and patches, gradually reducing them. That was ten years ago and I haven’t craved for one since. I never even think about them.

7

It has been 8 days since I have smoked and I have been a heavy smoker for the last 11 years. So far I have been a bitch, acting very awful, irritable. On Wednesday night I had a headache and I never get headaches, and have had headaches off and on for the past week, I was nauseous at work. It wasn’t a conscious quit date for me, I just never bought another pack after I finished my last and figured maybe I’d continue with it so it didn’t occur to me that these symptoms were from nicotine withdrawal. Hang in there. I want to put something in my mouth. I am avoiding some places where I end up chain smoking. But it’s hard. Seven you have my sympathies and congrats.

8

From everything I’ve read and heard, it takes about three days to get all the nicotine out of your system, but I have no cites.

I believed it and believed that that was all that was necessary to quit and so that may have made it easier for me, but I believe it to be close to the truth.

The physical cravings will take a while longer. A year plus later I still find myself reaching for a non-existent pack when I get stressed or bored. It’s extremely easy to relapse so if you do manage to stop, don’t reward yourself with just a quick one or convince yourself that one won’t hurt.

Good luck with it.

9

I smoked my last in late November of '02. I didn’t use any replacement stuff, but I did use the anti-depressent Zyban? for a while. I do have a few cravings during the day, but not too strong. when I get a craving, and really think about a smoke, I realize that a cig isn’t really what I want. In fact, the thought of actually smoking is pretty unpleasant.
I smoked for over 40 years.
The biggest reward for me has been proving I have the strength to do it. It has not been easy. Preaching at those who still smoke helps. :stuck_out_tongue:
Congrats and good luck.

10

The first 30 days was the hardest for me. The psychological craving lasted about a year. Whenever I thought I wanted one, deep breathing seemed to help. I made a point of going to bars and doing all the things where I used to have a cigarette. Every time I was able to have a beer or a cup of coffee and not smoke, it was a major psychological victory. That eventually translated into defeating the habit for good.

You don’t enjoy smoking. And if you stick with quitting, you will come to that realization in time. Trust me on this. I’ve been off the evil goddamn things for over 20 years now and don’t regret a day of it.

11

Here’s a good site that has a lot of info about physical and psychological withdrawal. It is a site that supports quitting cold-turkey, but even if you want to use an aid it still has good info about what to expect when you quit. It does take 3-5 days for the body to be rid of nicotene and the physical withdrawal generally ends in about 2 weeks. Keep in mind that smoking cessation aids that contain nicotene will prolong the withdrawal (for some people it works, for me it just prolonged the symptoms). Remember that you are addicted to nicotene, not cigarettes.

Psychological triggers and craves continue after that, depending on how long and how much you smoked it could take a while to get past these. I noticed a big difference in quantity after about a month, then after about 6 months I rarely had craves at all, and by then I knew how to deal with them and they went away quite quickly. Good luck with your quit - I quit after having sinus surgery and a tonsillectomy (it made a huge difference on my health and allergies to not smoke anymore, too.)

12

I quit smoking 16 months ago after about 7 half hearted attempts to stop. I still get a rare urge to smoke, but it’s not often…maybe once every two weeks. My dad quit smoking 25 years ago and he said that he still gets a craving every few years or so. Mostly when he is around a smoker.

The biggest obstacle for me was boredom. I discovered that I smoked a lot out of sheer boredom. That was a major obstacle.

13

Some good answers. It looks like 3-5 days for the body to be rid of nicotene, 2 weeks to be done with it all together, and then X amount of time to quit craving.

I’m on my 6th day now. It really hasn’t been that bad. I used one piece of gum yesterday and nothing so far today.

14

I was a heavy tobacco user for YEARS. I have done it all…cigs, cigars, chew/snuff and pipe.

Recently I decided to stop chewing so I started weaning myself with a pipe, which did not work. GOOD NEWS.

I changed to a zero nicotine “vape” and that really did it for me. I have been off nicotine since the last day of November. I have no nicotine cravings because I’m able to hit the vape, which is like a comfort thing. I no longer have the need for tobacco after eating, or waking up.

Look into vaping. I suggest you try ZERO nicotine first. Also, there is a flavor for EVERYONE.

/just my $0.02

(I started tobacco use in 5th grade…I’m just now 47, so yeah…a long time user)

15

I didn’t know zombies smoked…

16

Magic word: Ativan (Lorazepam) - it is a benzodiazepine and must be respected - they can be almost as bad as opiates for addiction.
Ativan is a very mild one (Ive been through the catalog of benzo’s) and is wonderful for anxiety - it was what I was given for withdrawal - see your doc.

17

Vaporizers were not even commercially available when this thread was active! They weren’t sold until almost a decade later :stuck_out_tongue:

18

When you’re a zombie, you can smoke as much as you want!

#joyofbeingundead

#zombiesdontgetcancer

19

In my experiences (plural, unfortunately) :

-the first three days are the worst, with the craving becoming more intense

-the first three weeks are bad but the craving progressively diminishes

-the first three months I still had occasional cravings, but most of the time, I didn’t think about it at all.

That said, it seems that it varies a lot from one person to another. Some say they crave cigarettes as much after several years as they did after one month.

20

I have quit more than 10 times now and keep going back. I can’t say the physical withdrawal has ever been even noticeable. Nicotine seems to be the only thing that allows me to focus. I never smoke when relaxing but as soon as I start on a project, which is all the time I start reaching for cigs. If there was some kind of drug that encouraged focus I would like to find out what it is.