I don’t smoke, but I have relatives that do. While on a fishing trip, my cousin was getting all fidgety because he wanted a cigarette, but couldn’t have one at the moment for some reason. The guy could not sit still. Now I’ll admit I’m kind of addicted to caffeine, but the only thing that happens if I don’t get my one cup of coffee a day in the morning is I get a mild headache, I’m sluggish and a bit ornery. But the ‘nic fit’ seems much worse! :eek:
Well, you sort of described it already. You feel very fidgety, you simply can’t get comforatable, you get edgy and short tempered and just feel like you’re going to jump out of your skin. And you worry about getting your next smoke, and find you can’t concentrate or think of anything else. If it goes on long enough (like when you’re quitting) it seems to differ between people. Some people get really, really irritable, others really, really weepy. (I was the weepy, depressed type.)
The closest not-drug withdrawal thing I can compare it to is waiting for a loved one to come out of surgery and not getting any information from the doctors or nurses as to how it’s going or how much longer it may be.
Nicotine withdrawal is *way * worse than caffeine withdrawal.
The closest I can come is if you have about four cups of morning coffee instead of one, and you know there’s a way to make that feeling go away, but it’s not around. So you’re all hopped up (if anybody remembers that phrase) and anxious at the same time.
I quit smoking for a year or so, unfortunately I started back up again. When I was quitting, I would get real nervous, it seemed like I always had to chew on something, preferably something like hard plastic (the end of a pen for example). I craved that terrible cigarette taste too, so I tried other nasty tasting things like black licorice.
You know we all have that “little voice” in our heads that talks to us, well after about 2 months of not smoking that little voice was threatening, demanding “give me a cigarette, goddamn it”. I found myself getting up in the middle of the night, searching around in the kitchen. I would stop and think, what in the hell am I looking for, and then I knew, I was looking for a cigarette.
I ate a lot, food tasted much better than before. The nicotine cravings for me were very similar to the feeling of starvation, there must be some link in the brain there. So, if you know how you feel when you are starving, that’s how I felt 24/7 for about 6 months. Then the cravings got less intense and less frequent, but they were still there, especially when triggered (everyone seems to have their “need a smoke” triggers). I hear that the cravings never really go away, for the rest of your life there will always be a little voice back there saying, come on, just have one, just one.
To me it feels itch/tingly, like when a cut is starting to heal. But more like a cut that’s all over your body. It’s unnerving and distracting and taking a drag immediately quells that feeling.
I also don’t smoke, but I had to work with someone today who is a chain smoker, and who had to go for 3 hours without a cigarette. She went from being the sweet tempered, easy going person I knew casually to someone I wanted to smack upside the head – in her own case, she becomes very agitated, easily freaked out, and extremely abusive verbally.
We were doing an inventory of artifacts, and I was unwrapping each one from its sleeve, writing down its ID number, checking for damage, noting condition, and writing this all down so that the other people could write condition reports, and also double check ID numbers against existing files to make sure everything had its file.
She told me constantly I was not working fast enough (50 pieces in 2 hours, producing 6 pages of notes), that we would never get the project done, and that I was holding up the entire group (in fact, because I was getting ahead of the other 2 people, I had time to help consult with a textile problem one of the other curators found). Every sentence she said to me had some comment in it like, ‘Could you come over here and help me since you haven’t done any work today.’ Or, grabbing my notes, ‘I’ll type these up and it will take me only 10 minutes since you clearly don’t feel like it.’ That last comment really upset me, as it truly did come out of left field, and several people who witnessed it were in full Scooby Doo ‘Hrhuh?!’ mode in response.
(Mind you, all this time, other people working there were commenting on how much work and how efficiently we were getting this project done.)
The piece de resistence was when she asked for my email, since she was infuriated when I suggested we two go over my notes before she left – um, I don’t take notes in English when I’m writing fast, and when I’m figuring I’m the one who will be writing them all up anyway – so she copied down my email. She really misspelt my name, and I said, in all honesty goodnatured humour, My name is spelt this way, actually, she exclaimed, ‘Oh what difference does it make how your name is spelt? This way is fine!’
I saw her later in the afternoon, and she’d managed to have a smoke break, and she was as calm and friendly as ever. Crikey!
And, no, I didn’t get angry at her, but after over two hours of someone harping on you like this, you do get a tiny bit exasperated.
Good description.
Further to that, depending on the severity of the “fit”, I will often approach a state of emotional overload. I manage my emotions pretty well at any given time, but when deprived of a cigarette, I get pretty scattered. If I get upset during such times, I’m likely to cry, and it’s a very specific kind of crying. Probably not at all discernible from the outside, but I can feel the difference. The main symptom is that my lips and eyes start to ache, and my shoulders begin to tingle, and the crying itself seems to emanate from the “front” of my chest. It’s a very odd feeling, and not at all pleasant.
But oh the feeling I get from having a cigarette after these crying jags. It’s pretty darn close to a high.
Goodness, I’ve been like that lately, but I don’t think I’m addicted to anything.
Maybe it’s time to start back up on the coffee.
Geez, I’m having a hard time remembering. I know I used to experience them, and I do still smoke. But about a year and a half ago I quit taking cigarettes to work.
So, I no longer take smoke breaks. If I go home at lunchtime, I’ll probably smoke one, but if lunch doesn’t allow it, I’ll just go 9-10 hours without, and I’m now quite accustomed to that. No bother.
If evening plans crop up that demand further hours of going without, so be it. It’s still not a bother.
One thing I have noticed. When I lived with my GF in college, who didn’t want me to smoke, I got used to having a last cig ~5:00 PM, and then not having one again until I dropped her off for class around 9:00 AM. I dropped her off at the Student Union (UT Austin), lit up and by the time I got to the gas station at 29th and the Drag (5 blocks) I usually had to pull over to let the nicotine buzz lift.
Now, when I smoke that first cigarette after a 9-13 hour abstinence, I no longer get the big buzz.
Perhaps I’m close to being ready to quit altogether.
Oh my, I beg to difer! I smoke, and let me tell ya, I can go up to 18 hours* without one, because, hey, sometimes, one just can’t light up. However, if I go more than three hours without some source of caffeine (unless sleeping of course - and even then I have a Diet Coke before bed), I get the mother of all headaches, and damn you if you keep me away from the jitter juice.
*On preview, I mean 18 hours awake, no smoke. Like a long plane ride.
I meant quitting cigarettes altogether vs. quitting caffeine altogether. I’ve done both, and while the caffeine headache sucks, it only lasts for two days or so. Severe nicotine cravings with emotional hysteria, tremors, palpitations, headaches and literal narrowing of my field of vision lasted for two weeks. (And, ironically, the first two days are a breeze, so it must take a while for true withdrawal to begin.)
And if you seriously can’t make it more than 3 hours without caffeine, you should see a doctor. That’s getting dangerous. Caffeine is a poison, and it sounds like you’re ingesting way too much of it for good adrenal health.
Of course, as the forum states, IMHO, YMMV, void in Canada.
I’ve been having them since Monday, when I went on the patch.
It seems to me the physical cravings aren’t there (yet.) But I’m constantly getting up to walk outside at work (and to the balcony when at the Factfortress) for a cigarette. These are the hardest parts for me, the behavioral cravings.
For me it’s like a non-fatal form of holding my breath. It’s that same sort of chest-wrenching panic. Of course it goes away after a while, otherwise I could never fly places, but always comes back a while later, in waves. It’s way stronger than hunger - if I had only enough money for cigarettes or lunch, I’d get the cigarettes every time.
Work out the behavorial stuff before you take off the patch. Find a substitute for each “trigger smoke.” I would take a walk around the block at work, because behaviorally, I just need 10 minutes of not-in-the-office time. I started putting lotion on my legs every night, in lieu of the bedtime smoke. For me, the hardest was the car smoke - every time I’d get in the car, I’d light up. I never found a great sub for that one.
I never used a patch, but I would suspect that you can step down your dose more gradually than I did - which was cold turkey. That may help minimize the withdrawal symptoms.
Am I the only one who thought “What’s the big deal about getting a network interface card into a slot designed for that purpose”?
Aw man, I just spat sour cream ‘n’ onion potato chips all over my desk!
Yes, yes, I think you were.
For me, the bad part of withdrawal doesn’t start until 24 hours or more without a cigarette. Anytime less than that and it just feels like a really intense chocolate craving. Usually I’ll search around for forgotten cigarette packs or cigars I haven’t smoked yet. It’s distracting and annoying, but not completely unbearable.