Tuesday, February 12, 2013

QUIT SMOKING FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Every day I receive emails and comments from readers asking questions about quitting smoking.  Typically most readers have many of the same questions so I created this page to respond to each inquiry in hopes that it will help everyone.  The reality is that we all experience very similar effects when we quit smoking.

I will update this page daily as new questions are asked.  I prefer this method of providing information over a forum because often in forums readers give answers that are not correct and lead people down the wrong path.  Quitting smoking is difficult enough with all the misinformation out on the web and in the media.


I JUST QUIT SMOKING TODAY - HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE FOR ME TO FEEL NORMAL AGAIN?  I SMOKED FOR 22 YEARS.

You probably don't even know what normal is anymore if you have been smoking for over 20 years.   It will take you 72 hours to remove all the nicotine from your system, but you won't feel normal for 20-30 days.   Once you reach that point,  cigarettes will only come into your mind when you see someone smoking or do an activity for the first time since quitting that you used to regularly smoke while doing.  You will be amazed at what "normal" feels like and what you have been missing all these years.

I WANT TO QUIT SMOKING BUT I CAN'T SEEM TO GET PAST THAT FIRST CIGARETTE OF THE DAY.  CAN YOU HELP?

The first cigarette of the day was always the most difficult for me when I quit.  The reason is that your coming off of 8 or more hours of abstinence from nicotine while you  sleep.  You wake and your body is screaming for a dose.  Try this on your next quit attempt, don't try to quit at the beginning of the day, wake up have your coffee and cigarette and try and quit mid morning or at noon.  Once you put out that last cigarette, drink a lot of cranberry juice and water to help flush out the nicotine.  Once you wake the next morning you will have made it almost 24 hours.  It won't be a lot easier the next morning but you know that if you can make it a few hours you will have passed your first 24 hours and are only another day and night away from being nicotine free. 

I ALWAYS HEAR FROM FORMER SMOKERS HOW MUCH THEY MISS SMOKING AND WISH THEY COULD HAVE A CIGARETTE.  DO THE CRAVINGS EVER END?

This was one of the myths that kept me smoking for many years.  I heard the same thing and thought to myself what is the point of quitting if I will just spend the rest of my life craving a cigarette?  That is completely false and I've actually realized that those people probably have not actually quit smoking.  If you speak to people that have quit smoking for more than a year you will get the same response over and over again, "it's the best thing I've ever done and I would never ever go back!"  Don't believe the lies, once you beat the addiction you will be glad you did and you will enjoy your life in such a wonderful way.

SHOULD I GIVE UP COFFEE WHEN I QUIT SMOKING?

No, don't give up anything when you quit smoking, except cigarettes.  The key to quitting is to continue to live your life like you have, enjoy the activities, the food and drink that you always have.  The last thing you want to do when you quit smoking is put other stress on your body.  Quitting caffeine can cause withdrawal symptoms and you don't need to add any more stress to your first days of quitting.  One word of caution, smoking has a strange effect on the way your body absorbs caffeine, it doesn't allow your body to absorb it as well as a non smoker.  When you quit, your body will absorb much more caffeine so limit your intake to a cup of coffee on the first day.  I went from a pot of coffee a day when I was a smoker down to a cup or 2 as a non smoker.

IS THERE REALLY ANY HARM IN HAVING ONE CIGARETTE ON OCCASION NOW THAT I HAVE QUIT FOR A COUPLE MONTHS?

I'm glad you asked this question because it is the downfall of every person who has relapsed back to smoking.  You can not have one cigarette, in fact you can not have one puff or you will quickly fall right back into the smoking trap.  Believe me, I know.   When we quit we all think how wonderful it would be to just have a cigarette now and again.  Listen to me, you can not ever have a cigarette, nor should you convince yourself that you even want a cigarette.  That is your addiction still speaking to you, don't listen to it.   Any former smoker who has even a puff of a cigarette will soon fall back to smoking their old level.  Maybe not the first day but within time you will be right back to a pack or more a day.  It takes almost no time, especially as a former smoker, to become addicted again.  First you have a cigarette once a week, then you start smoking every couple days, and soon you are smoking as soon as you wake up and all  day long.  This is the only guarantee I will make to you, do not try and fool the smoking gods, they will grab you and drag you back into the awful world of addiction to nicotine.

I QUIT 3 MONTHS AGO AND I'M BREAKING OUT IN PIMPLES LIKE WHEN I WAS A TEENAGER.  IS THIS NORMAL?

It's funny how much gunk is in your body after smoking 10, 15, 20 years.  All those toxins you put in your body have to come out, and when they do it creates a lot of different reactions.  Yes, it is normal to experience some acne, it is all part of the wonderful healing process.  In a short time when all the bad stuff gets out of your body you will have the most beautiful glowing skin you could ever imagine.  I had pimples break out in my arm pits which was incredibly painful but only lasted a short while.

I QUIT SMOKING AND I KEEP HAVING DREAMS THAT I AM SMOKING.    WHY DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING?

This is completely normal and will happen to most of us when we quit smoking.  This is primarily caused by the removal of tar and nicotine from your lungs.  During this excretion process it creates dreams of smoking.  It is part of the healing process and is a good sign.   Almost everyone will experience this.  Just be glad when you wake that it was only a dream!!!

I HAVE BEEN USING THE NICOTINE PATCH FOR 2 DAYS NOW AND HAVEN'T SMOKED A CIGARETTE BUT THE CRAVINGS HAVE NOT DECREASED AT ALL.  WHEN WILL THE CRAVINGS END?

If you are on the patch, gum, lozenge or any other type of nicotine replacement therapy, the cravings will never end.  The reason is that you are still feeding your addiction to nicotine which creates the cravings for more nicotine.  The nicotine replacement therapy was created by pharmaceutical companies to make money off of your addiction.  The only way to beat your addiction to nicotine is to remove the nicotine from your body.  Take off those patches and you will see the cravings slowly disappear within a few days.  Leave it on and you will experience more cravings and eventually fall back into smoking again.  This has been the biggest scam of the last 20 years and has inhibited more people from quitting than anything else.

I QUIT A WEEK AGO AND HAVE BEEN COMPLETELY CONSTIPATED.  WILL I EVER GO TO THE BATHROOM AGAIN?

This is a very normal reaction as your body is going through some major changes, fortunately they are all good changes!!  Try to eat a lot of fruit and foods rich in fiber to help with your bowel movements.  Within a few weeks you will be back on a normal schedule.  Smoking effects much more than your heart, lungs, and blood flow.  It affects almost every organ in your body including your kidneys, liver and pancreas.



I AM PLANNING TO QUIT SMOKING NEXT THURSDAY.  DO YOU HAVE ANY ADVICE TO HELP  ME SUCCEED?   SHOULD I START TRYING TO CUT DOWN ON THE NUMBER OF CIGARETTES I SMOKE EACH DAY?

Congratulations on your decision, it's the best one you have made in a long time!!  To prepare for  your quit keep reminding yourself how much you don't enjoy smoking each time you light up your next cigarette.  Ingrain in your mind that smoking is not fun, it is an addiction and it will be a wonderful day when you don't have to stop  every 30 minutes to feed your addiction.  Go grocery shopping and get some cranberry juice, some fruits and some healthy snacks to eat during the first week.  Read, read, read, every day a couple hours spend some time reading about the dangers of smoking and why you want to stop.  Have one really good reason that you want to stop, write it down and remember it every time your brain tells you it wants a cigarette.  Do not cut down on the amount of cigarettes you are smoking from now until your quit date.  Cutting down only makes each cigarette you smoke seem that much more pleasurable due to the time between cigarettes.  Smoke as you normally would and when you put down that last cigarette know that you will never  turn back.  Make the commitment and never look back.  Congratulation and keep me updated on your progress.

ARE THE DANGERS OF SMOKING EXAGGERATED? 

I wish they were but the cold harsh reality is that they are not.  If you  look at historical data you will see a strong pattern of increased cases of lung cancer about 30 years after smoking became prevalent in the United States.  Women didn't start smoking until much later than men, and if you look at the data you will see a stark increase in the number of lung cancer cases in females about 30 years after women began to light up.  You are not guaranteed to get lung cancer from smoking, but there are so many other diseases that have nothing to do with the lungs that affect smokers and kill smokers.  COPD is one of the diseases that you are almost guaranteed to get if you smoke cigarettes long enough.  In fact if you don't die from a cancer related to smoking, or a heart attack, you will most certainly experience COPD and wish you had died from another disease.  It is a terrible disease.  The short answer to your question is no, the dangers are not exaggerated, in fact they haven't been publicized enough or nobody in their right mind would ever light a cigarette again.


I will continue to update this page with questions as I receive them.  If you would like to ask a question either submit it in the comments section below or you can email me directly at quitsmokingwithoutpain@yahoo.com

Good luck to all  you quitters.  And remember, there is nothing wrong with quitting!!!
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6 comments:

  1. Thanks for this nice and informative blog post..It really nice way of writing and presenting..

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  2. Its is not as simple as it may seem to quit smoke , but once you will quit it you will feel good within few days of quiting.

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  3. Yes, it is not easy to quit smoking, because most of people are very much addicted to cigarette so they can't live without cigarettes. But yes if you really want to stop smoking then it can cause short-term side-effects such as weight gain.

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  4. I've smoked along time. And today is my ninth day of not smoking cold turkey.my armpits hurt and my lungs fell like why am I doing this for .it hurts its nasty but its worth it. Its something I done to myself as I'll undo for myself .but why would the armpits hurt.I get my lungs.

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    1. It's funny I had the exact same thing happen, actually had pimples coming out of my armpits. This happened on and off for about 6 months then finally stopped. All part of the healing process. As the gunk is removed from your body and making your way back to normal. Congrats on 9 days, you are way past the hard part. Now just remember how hard those first few days were and remind yourself that you never want to have to go through that again.

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  5. It's funny how you mention that products like lozenges and the patch will keep you wanting to go back to cigs. I definitely have to agree with you. I was doing the lozenge and when I would use them I would get mad because they weren't just like a cigarette. Like I looked at them as if they would keep me from having to deal with quitting. Then I would eventually go back to cigs because I was still addicted to nicotine. Anyhow I'm going cold turkey right now. 7 days today :). I actually feel better about going cold turkey because I feel like I choose what is happening. Of course I'm going through a kind of hell, but I'll deal with it.

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