Been away from here for a while, unfortunately, but I’m back, and I have a bit of an odd question perhaps.
Quitting smoking is tough. The withdrawal symptoms are hard to get through, but from what I’m told, the first 24 hours are the worst, but after that point the nicotine has completely left your system, so from that point on it’s just a matter of resisting temptation – fighting the psychological cravings, since the physical ones would be largely gone by this point.
Well, I have a cold, and it’s turned into a doozie. It’s settled into my chest, where it has taken residence for the last four days. Of those four days, the last two days have been smoke-free because taking even the tiniest drag results in a nasty coughing fit. I’ve periodically tried to smoke, but the result has been the same.
So, technically, I’ve been smoke-free for two days now, or close enough to it. I don’t know if having this cold significantly changes anything other than the physical inability to have a smoke, but shouldn’t this mean I could technically be in a good spot to give up smoking altogether? Because of the cold I haven’t really felt any cravings at all. I’ve lit up out of sheer habit but, as mentioned, this hasn’t turned out well. So are my odds at kicking the butt better now? Or, when the cold finally goes away, will the cravings come back, simply having been put “on hold” by the sickness?
Very difficult to answer your questions, as indiviudals differ so much in their abilituy to overcome any addition.
I would think this is a splendid opportunity to quit. First, toss out all the cigarettes in the house, and then the matches too. Grit your teeth and don’t light up even once.
In addition of the nicotine addiction that causes the craving, as you found out, there is a sort of physical need to pull out the pack, find the matches, stuff one in your mouth and light it. Somehow that procedure seems to be comforting in times of stress or boredom. So constantly remind yourself that you have quit for good.
It (almost) worked for me, at least. (not cigarettes tough, but Snus). After a fairly intensive case of fevers and coughs, I hadnt had any for three days or so. Didnt really feel like it for a couple of more days after that. But seeing that I see no incentive in quitting, I started up again, but the physical need seemed gone… (Altough, as noted above, the phycological factors are much more difficult to ignore )
About 15 years ago I had bronchitis that that turned into pneumonia and it put me in the hospital for a week. When I got out I stopped smoking for a whole 2 weeks. I figure I started again because I wasn’t mentally prepared to quit for good at that point. I said to myself, lets see how long I can go without a cigarette. My husband was still smoking in the house, in front of me. Then I was out at a bar and thought, I’ll just have one and stop again. That didn’t work. Over the years I had quit for a couple days here and a week or so there. I look back at them now as practice.
About 4 years ago after coughing and hacking for ages my doctor told me I had asthma and that I must quit smoking. I joined Quitnet and they gave me a date to count down to. I told everyone my quit date. I wrote down on a piece of paper every reason I could think of to quit and I’d take it out and read it whenever I could. I pretty much in effect brainwashed myself into it. When I did quit for good I knew that it would be for good, there were no maybes about it, no mental reservations, like “I hope I don’t screw up”, I just knew I wouldn’t.
Okay, I know you’re mentally stronger than I am and you’re not going to use “not mentally prepared” as an excuse to start again. While you’re recuperating, write a list of reasons you really want to quit, maybe check out quitnet.com.
I lost a couple of friends to lung cancer, it was devastating. Think how you, your friends and your family would feel if you had that diagnosis. There are plenty of threads on this board you can search about it too.
Please do yourself a big favor and quit. I wish you the best and I hope you feel better soon.
Sick or not, your body is adjusting to the absence of nicotine, carbon monoxide, and other cigarette borne goodnesses.
Levels of Cytochrome P4502B in your brain have likely decreased, and bunches of other metabolic stuff that no one knows anything about yet have probably changed too.
You’ve got two days smoke free, use em if you’re up to it.
FWIW: a situation like this was the only thing that worked for me. After countless attempts to quit smoking, one day I found myself with a nasty cold that lasted for about a week. Since I couldn’t smoke and I got - as it were - a “free headstart” because of the illness I thought “let’s see how long I can last without a smoke after I get well”. 19 months and counting.
While it’s true that the first days/weeks are the worst, (and this is where the ilness can actually help) watch out for cravings - I still get them, at random times, even now. Some of them dangerously intense.
Good luck.
So, effectively, it could be said that the physical addiction has more or less left my body. But I am aware of how strong the psychological addiction is, both the habitual acts of smoking (grabbing a smoke, the lighter, lighting up, puffing away idly while you do something else) and the psychological effects of smoking, and that I think is the tougher thing to kick because it’s something you have to fight over a much longer period of time. The physical addiction is only a couple of days at most, after which the chemicals you are addicted to have pretty much been flushed from your system.
I’m not the sort of person who can be motivated very much by writing down reasons to quit or such things. I know all the reasons I should quit and I know the sort of things I can look forward to if I do, not the least of which is the money saved. Those don’t motivate me because they’ve never been enough to quit before. The only reason I’m considering it now is because I’ve got this involuntary head start of getting past what is perhaps the hardest initial stage of quitting, and I’ve done it without any ill effects (other than the illness that brought it on) so it would be a shame to waste it.
Oddly enough, what kind of motivates me more is cold hard facts and schedules. I remember seeing this timeline once some time ago that outlined the psychological and physiological changes your body goes through at each point in time after you have that last smoke. (Stuff like when the nicotine has left your system, when the worst of the cravings end, when your sense of taste and smell start to improve, etc.) I can’t seem to find it right now, but it was something that was oddly comforting, kind of like having a map of what I can can expect when I quit. It was both like taking the mystery (and thus the fear) out of quitting, and also like having abstract goals to work towards. I don’t know why but that one chart seemed like the sort of thing that would help most in quitting. I guess I’m more motivated by simple facts that aren’t about fear-mongering (OMG CANCER!) or judgment/guilt-tripping (OMG STINKY SECOND HAND SMOKE!) but give you a kind of simple road map of facts you can latch on to and focus on.
Consider this to be a gift to you - the first few toughest days of quitting have already been done for you. Now just tell yourself that you won’t go back; you don’t want to be one of those people who always backfalls. Just don’t pick up another one. It worked for me. I had two close friends who had quit cold turkey and never looked back, so I knew it was not only do-able, but certainly preferable to being one of the poor losers who didn’t stick with it. You might always have a desire to smoke again, but you won’t have a need to.
That’s how I did it. I had the flu back in May and was too sick to smoke. (23+ yrs!). So when I felt well enough to smoke, I was thinking why should I start back?! Besides, the cigs are so damned expensive now and with the FDA to be involved, the cigs I was addicted to will no longer exist. Mr. HP also quit after I did, but with patches. He’s been off the patches now for about 4 months–I’ve not smoked in 5 months. Go for it!
Well, it’s day 4 and I physically still can’t smoke (cold is still there, lungs are still very sensitive) but the psychological impulses to grab a smoke and light up are still there, and I keep reaching for them periodically without even really thinking about it. But going without doesn’t induce any physical discomfort apart from wanting to do it. I just don’t need to. That’s gonna be tough to beat I think, especially when the cold goes away.
I forgot to add two things: first, throw away any cigarettes, pipes, paper, tobacco, ashtrays and other paraphernalia you may have. I did not allow myself to keep anything that had to do with smoking - not even lighters.
Second, you must learn to control yourself permanently. Day in, day out, zero tolerance. The slightest (like the proverbial “oh, what the heck, I’ll have just one puff to prove myself I can resist it”) - the slightest weakness is likely to cause a relapse.
A very important detail for me was to treat this addiction the way alcoholics do. In other words, I never considered myself “an ex-smoker”. I still think of myself as a “smoker taking a hiatus, now tobacco-free for ___ months”. It’s a matter of attitude, I guess - once you think of yourself as “cured” you are liable to make a mistake. If you think of it as a perpetual, “ongoing project” it will be easier to control (it is for me, at least) .
Again, good luck. Don’t give up. (Or should I say, give in).
I’m been smoke free for just over 90 days because of bronchitis. The first 5 days I couldn’t smoke, it would give me a coughing fit if I even tried. I took it from there. I’ve tried quitting before and the farthest I got was six days.
Like you I recently caught a bad cold, and haven’t had a smoke in 8 days now. I did the same thing last year, and went almost 2 months. No cravings were there at all. Then ran into an all-of-a-sudden really stressful situation where cigarettes were available. And that was it. The smoking part of your brain is very sneaky and opportunistic. The dangerous part is that it is as clever as you are, but more devious, so it always has the edge. It intentionally lies dormant so you let your guard down, and then strikes overwhelmingly fast and efficient at just the right moment when you are forced to use your mental resources to deal with a crisis. You must not let this happen
Maye that’s kind of the problem with quitting this way. It feels easy – maybe too easy, like there’s no effort involved, so you get fooled subconsciously into thinking it’s no big deal, even if consciously you know this is a huge opportunity. “Meh,” you might think as justification to smoke again, “I’ll just quit the next time I get a bad cold like this.”
I can imagine it sneaking up on you when you’re not paying attention. If it’s as clever as I think I am then I’m in for a fun trip…
Thanks for the words of encouragement though. I will see how this thing pans out.
There have been some good threads on giving up smoking over the years. Worth searching for inspiration. My 2c worth is to convince yourself that when you feel better and get the urge for “just one” be well aware that “just one” is not possible and when you light up you’ll be committing yourself to another five years of a pack a day, with all the inconvenience, expense, etc that comes with it. I used to think I could have just one, and it never panned out that way.
Point two for me is just how easy nicotine patches made my final quitting. I got a great sense of achievement as I moved down from 21s to 14s to 7s - 6 weeks (for me) on patches really made a difference. Good luck!
I quit smoking when I found out that I had an anurysm in my brain. Before I found out that it wasn’t likely to kill me, I thought that quitting smoking might help. (One of those bargaining chips, I guess.) That was two and a half years ago.
A while back I had a chance to renew my love affair with MJ after 23 years and I didn’t see the harm in it since it wasn’t accessible to me on a regular basis. But, dang. I’m having to push regular cigarettes from my mind again just from having that smoke-lung contact. Here I sit chewing on my plastic, fake methol cigarette.
Mindfield, it will never get any easier than it is right now.
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While you’re recuperating, write a list of reasons you really want to quit, maybe check out 
