Each of the First 10 smokefree days

[CurtisG]

Looking for the specifics of what we can expect during each day of the quit;  low frustration tolerance, anxiety, hunger.  What did people feel on & how did they roll around it.  I am at day 4 and I know it was easier than day 1...talk intensity and how it subsides.  I realize it varies person to person but there has to be a template right down to "Today I didn't even think about smoking until way past noon"

[sweetplt]

Hi and Welcome to Ex’s CurtisG 

The following post lists the Benefits of quitting smoking and what to expect physically.

Benefits of Quitting Smoking!!  A must read...As far as a timeline of when you stop craving, etc., I am not sure I have ever seen, other than the body rids nicotine after 3 days and then you deal with the mental withdrawal.  I do know that 4 days quit is super, but early in one’s quit to not have unexpected urges, triggers, etc., ~ I look forward to other’s answering you to educate myself...Hang in there....~ Colleen 378 DOF 

[YoungAtHeart]

You didn't mention if you are using a quit aid, and that will make a big difference in your timeline.  As well, each person AND their quit journey are truly unique.  I might recommend that you check out the blogs of our elders (a lot of us have our quit dates after our usernames), go to "Content" under the avatar (top right) , and then sort oldest first to read about each journey.  I would recommend that you check out JonesCarpeDiem‌'s page and some of the blogs he has written, especially What To Expect In The First Four Months, My Welcome To New Members (12+ Years Of Watching).  Good advice is also found here in the Best of Ex:  :https://excommunity.becomeanex.org/content?filterID=all~tag%5Bbest_of_ex%5D.

I actually remember the first two weeks of my quit (over 7 years ago) as being pretty awful....but I had absolutely made up my mind I NEVER wanted to go through them again, and I never did.

You can make this journey easy or more difficult on yourself.  If you make up your mind, and honor that decision - no arguing with yourself about smoking again ever - you can make it a tad easier.  No two ways about it, most of us found the first weeks lousy - but once you get through them, it starts, gradually, to get easier and easier.  You just need to give it the time it takes!

Stay active here, read, learn, give and receive support...it all adds up!

Nancy

[CurtisG]

Very helpful including your links.  I am using gum as an aide but I still feel the anxiety and withdraw issues.  But at day 4 I feel a strong 'don't turn back' working within me.  I may be kidding myself to some extent with using the gum but sometimes I get busy and don't use that for 4-5 hours.  Those feel like small victories too.  21 days to form a new habit and I hope each one gets a little easier.  I have already endured stress situations that would have made me cave on previous quits.  Each one of those shows me an alternative & a confidence to pull thru.  Each day I wake feeling a little fresher.  I sigh and take deep breaths a lot.  I also have no shame of asking a Higher Power to help guide me thru this

Thank you.

[YoungAtHeart]

[JonesCarpeDiem]

If I was going to tell you the most important day to look for

it would be the day you realize you didn't think of smoking once the day before.

I've had people tell me that happened for them in the 60's. Mine happened on day 83.

The finality of my quit hit me on way to a job site I had been a smoker on 128 days earlier and I reached for a ghost pack on the seat of my truck.

It made me laugh out loud. I knew right then, I was done forever.

[marciem]

I found this here:  How to quit smoking

How Long Do Nicotine Withdrawal Symptoms Last?

Nicotine is out of your body 72 hours after you quit smoking. Nicotine withdrawal symptoms usually reach their peak 2 to 3 days after you quit, and are gone within 1 to 3 months.(1) It takes at least 3 months for your brain chemistry to return to normal after you quit smoking.(2) The last two symptoms to go usually are irritability and low energy.

Any effective smoking cessation program has to take into account this long adjustment period. It is why some doctors recommend weaning off nicotine slowly with nicotine replacement therapy.

In summary, most people start to feel better after 1 week, and the symptoms are usually gone within 3 months.

I don't like seeing "3 days and done with the physical part"... my worse day was day 4.  What I quoted above kind of clears it up for me, and I believe it.  The only people I might say the "3 days and you're over physical part" are those who are on day 2 and need encouragement to hang on tight  .  There really are physical parts of losing the addiction that still go on after the drug-of-choice has left the building.  The cravings I felt after 3 days were not all mental, they were physical, and abetted by the mental triggers but not solely apart from them.

[YoungAtHeart]

Once the nicotine is out of your body, there is a plethora of body and brain chemistry function left to adjust to life without it.  Just think how involved your body and mind were with that drug - and then it STOPS!  WOW!  I can just imagine the nervous, digestive, cognitive, emotional functions going, "wtf?  How are we supposed to process that thought, moderate that mood, digest that food without it?"  Quite the job we expect it to do - and yet it DOES it. 

Just goes to show you what a truly amazing thing this physical body is - when you stop to think about its adjustments after we quit!

[CurtisG]

I attest to the low energy and irritability. Check & check. I remember them being more potent in past quits. And I remember the weird physical feelings behind my eyes & knawing in my throat to be more severe & lasted for more days before. I presume that is all healing action but its annoying while its going on.

There has to be some science to 'well, if it takes nicotine 72 hours to vacate a cold turkey, something positive must also be happening in the brain receptors even with a quit that uses of NRT's'. I have no idea why I want to know the specifics, somehow it matters to me. I just like things 'in a box'. On Tuesday, December 17, 2019, 7:18:02 PM EST, marciem <communityadmin@becomeanex.org> wrote:

#yiv4088507926 * #yiv4088507926 a #yiv4088507926 body {font-family:Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;}#yiv4088507926 #yiv4088507926 h1, #yiv4088507926 h2, #yiv4088507926 h3, #yiv4088507926 h4, #yiv4088507926 h5, #yiv4088507926 h6, #yiv4088507926 p, #yiv4088507926 hr {}#yiv4088507926 .yiv4088507926button td {}

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Re: Each of the First 10 smokefree days

reply from marciem in Conversations - View the full discussion

I found this here:  How to quit smoking

How Long Do Nicotine Withdrawal Symptoms Last?

Nicotine is out of your body 72 hours after you quit smoking. Nicotine withdrawal symptoms usually reach their peak 2 to 3 days after you quit, and are gone within 1 to 3 months.(1) It takes at least 3 months for your brain chemistry to return to normal after you quit smoking.(2) The last two symptoms to go usually are irritability and low energy.

Any effective smoking cessation program has to take into account this long adjustment period. It is why some doctors recommend weaning off nicotine slowly with nicotine replacement therapy.

In summary, most people start to feel better after 1 week, and the symptoms are usually gone within 3 months.

I don't like seeing "3 days and done with the physical part"... my worse day was day 4.  What I quoted above kind of clears it up for me, and I believe it.  The only people I might say the "3 days and you're over physical part" are those who are on day 2 and need encouragement to hang on tight  .  There really are physical parts of losing the addiction that still go on after the drug-of-choice has left the building.  The cravings I felt after 3 days were not all mental, they were physical, and abetted by the mental triggers but not solely apart from them.

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[Giulia]

I'm just gonna give you my experience.  I spent a month getting my head in the place I needed to and was all gung ho when Day One came around.  Sort of.    First three days were a piece of cake.  Day four was a MISERY.  From then on it was just tough on and off.  I quit for Lent because I could do it for that Higher Power, but I gave myself permission to smoke, if I wanted to, after that.  40 days is a long time.  And I'd "been there, done that" before.  And it wasn't so much that I wanted to be free, (I don't think I even grasped that concept of being free from the addiction back then) but I knew that I really didn't want another Day One.  And every day after that that I didn't smoke I become more adamant about never going back to another Day One.  And then I discovered freedom.  And that was when the daily desire for a cigarette disappeared.  It's an amazing thing when you stop wanting a cigarette, a vape, a chaw on a daily basis.  Doesn't mean you won't have those moments now and again when the pang comes across you, but in the beginning that's ALL you think about.

I don't think you can put this quitting experience into a box.  Because WE make our own experience.  And the time frame isn't the same for each individual.  /blogs/Giulia-blog/2015/02/23/expectations-timelines-and-the-reality-you-create?sr=search&searchId=1...‌  And I can't tell you which day it was that I didn't think of a cigarette until noon, or the day in which I didn't think about a cigarette at all.  And I can't tell you which day it was that I thought about a cigarette but didn't want one.  But I can tell you that those days were AMAZING milestones in all of our journeys.  Stay quit long enough and you'll discover them for yourself.