I have quit smoking 36 hours ago and am feeling just awful. “Buck up,” a lot of folks say, “you’re half way through the hard part.”
So, is there anything at all that’s been measured to go away after three days? I can think of skads and wads of things:
Like certain physiological measurements associated with withdrawal (change in pulse, skin condudctivity, etc)?
Or down-regulation of neurotransmitters?
Or does some kind of physiological response to nicotine return to a “nicotine naive” level?
Or (as I suspect) this is some bad or over-simplified or plain old made-up science that has no clear basis whatsoever in anything.
It’s just a statistical thing. Research has shown that after 72 hours your chances of running amok at the office with a machete and leaving behind a gruesome trail of bloody body parts while making terrifying high-pitched shrieking noises has dropped to less than five percent.
I didn’t know it was an established fact, but from my own experience (I quit smoking 4 or 5 times, and always resumed later), I also thinks the three first days are the worst. It seems like the craving for cigarettes seems to become stronger (because there’s less and less nicotine left in the body??? No clue). So, I’ve no actual actual answer to your question, but it seems to correlate what I noticed.
I don’t know what changes after the third day, but it seems to me there’s indeed a difference. Perhaps you become mentally accustomed to the fact you’re not going to smoke?
Anyway, still IME, the withdrawal doesn’t stop after the third day. It just became less and less present. Beside my “first three days are the worst” concept, I also has the idea that withdrawal last for roughly three weeks. After the third week, I would very seldom want to smoke…and it would be more because it would keep my fingers busy than because I crave for tobacco…
Yes, I was kidding, and I sincerely apologize. I really should have known better than to tease someone who’s going through nicotine withdrawal. It’s not at all funny at the time, is it?
Well, my understanding is that after about a week, all of the nicotine is out of your system (apparently it hangs around for a while, even after your last smoke).
Hang in there - you’re doing great! Have a big glass of water and take a bunch of deep breaths - you’ll feel better. (No, really.)
Just remember, your quitting because the smoke that is entering your lungs, will eventually kill you. It’s not a nice death either.
Yes its hard, but people quit everyday. Become one of those people and pat yourself on the back as being someone who quit and followed through with their word. Because, with out your word as being so, who are you really?
I quit 7 years ago when I was 25. I hated every minute of it. Now maybe once or twice a year I’ll have one with a buddy, but thats it. I have no desire to kill myself slowly. Stick with it…The horror will end soon.
I have been a heavy smoker for a while now, and I have quit twice, but started again, once after 6 months and the other time after three weeks. For me, the withdrawal symptoms were mainly and incontrollable nastiness to everyone around me, to the point that my friends (at that time I was in university), begged me to start smoking again. Anyway, the point is that the absolute nastiness feeling stopped after three days (day two was the worst) and the rest of the symptoms (cravings, headaches, coughing) stopped after roughly two weeks or so. I should also say that these things weren’t bad at all, just mildly annoying to me, but had no impact on others.
Point is, hang in there, since the worst is almost over, and congratulations on your decision.
Actually, reading this got me to thinking about quitting again, so thanks a lot.
