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Discuss different approaches to quitting, including medication

Linn2331
Member

On Day 8- still struggling

Day 8. STILL having issues. Feel like crying. I have read easy way and others. Done and do meditation, prayer, yoga etc. I WANTED to quit and have for a long time. So what is wrong with me to still feel cravings in my head after 8 days? HELP! So tempted to go back. Angry, sad, at a loss!

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51 Replies
YoungAtHeart
Member

Oh, my - I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings, but you are just BEGINNING your journey to freedom.  This is not an event - it is a series of milestones. You QUIT- milestone #1 (you did THAT and deserve tons of praise for it!) then there is H#ll Week and you accomplished THAT!  Now you are in Heck Week with most of it to go.  Then it's a few more weeks of your body  adjusting to life without the drug (cry if you want to - it's your body adjusting to the chemical imbalance you created by giving up the drug your brain sensors tied to emotions were used to getting).  THEN you need to relearn how to deal with your triggers and associations with smoking - and that takes a couple of months (everybody is different, so depending on how well you do at changing up your routines and distracting yourself to retrain your brain not to associate all you used to with smoking, it can be sooner or later than that).

Don't be discouraged - this IS a journey, not an event - and you are DOING it!!!  NINE days without a cigarette is a BIG DEAL!!! 

Linn2331
Member

Thank you soooooo much! just having any encouragement ad understanding means so much! This was for sure H*** week. But I found this lace today right on the edge of buying a pack. So glad i found it and thank you so much!

Strudel
Member

The reading, yoga, meditation, and prayer are all great - along with coming here for support. Nancy is right - this is a journey. It is sometimes beyond “one day at a time” and more like “one moment at a time”. But, it is doable - and it is SO WORTH IT! Please hang on .... you can do this! Stay close - and big congrats on your quit! 

Linn2331
Member

Thank you as well! Like I wrote Nancy, so glad I found this page because honestly, Strudel, I was about to cave! I am hanging on and the support and this page sure helps! Thank you so much!

Yes linn, hang in there. We know what you’re going through and many of us have also cried. I’m on day 66 and I wish I can say I don’t get those cravings anymore but it still comes. Of course it’s nothing like in the beginning. I can tell you that if you hang on it does get easier and easier. Do whatever you have to. I used to even yell. I ate so much hard candy my mouth had sores. But I kept saying to myself “I don’t do that anymore !” Or I’d say “God, help me!” Then I’d come here and type away!

Linn2331
Member

Thank you! O h yes, I have done some yelling, lots of crying and found this page. So thankful. I am so glad to find others who can understand! I appreciate the support so much! thank you HannahKim!

marciem
Member

As Nancy YoungAtHeart‌ said, this not an event but a journey with milestones.  It isn't a sprint, it is a marathon.

You have finished *Hellweek.  Now you're in *Heck Week, a sometimes softer version of the first week.  It starts to get easier, then easier and easier until you arrive at Easy Peasy.  The timing may be different for everyone, but as long as you don't smoke, you'll get there.

Coming up there will be lots of times....stresses, emotional swings, crazy moods, where you will think that the only thing to cure it would be to smoke.  This is a lie that our addiction tells us.  The only people who crave forever are those who continue to smoke.  If you quit, you will eventually not crave at all.  You might have thoughts, fleeting "that would be nice... nah!" thoughts, but not cravings.

You might do well to read "Climbing the Rope".  I'll try to find it for you, it's a great post about going the distance.

Linn2331
Member

Thank you so much! I will take any and all advice i can get. It WAS He** week! I thought it would only be three days but omgosh! I will read the article below and thank you for finding it for me! Thank ou so much! I am so GLAD I found this page before I caved! 

YoungAtHeart
Member

Promise yourself you will ALWAYS  come here and blog "HELP!" before you smoke another cigarette, and give us time to talk you down off that ledge.  We ALL who have been successful have been exactly where you are, feeling the way you do. 

Trust me - if I can be quit for 8+ years, you can, too!  I thought I was going to be the world's last smoker standing and I quit - with help from the Carr book and folks on this site.

You CAN, too!  One day at a time!