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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!
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!
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!
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!
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!
As Nancy Youngatheart.7.4.12 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.
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!
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!
I will! I plan to stay on and just come as much as I need to even if I am still navigating my way through.
Thank you young at heart! I answered yours but forgot to put your name. Thank you so much!
Marciem, thank you for the rope article! I love love love it! This is a wonderful place and group of people!
I couldn't find it here, but it was originally posted at Whyquit.com
CLIMBING THE ROPE
"ORIGINALLY BY OBOB-GOLD FREEDOM MEMBER-WHYQUIT.COM
So, I start reminiscing a bit about the early days of my quit. I remember members popping in to post their celebration threads. Green, Bronze, Silver, Gold and beyond. It felt downright intimidating. Here was I, with my seemingly tiny little insignificant sum of 3 days, 4 days, 5 days and so on... clinging to my quit like a man clinging to a life line thrown over the side of a ship to a man overboard in a turbulent sea. More comfortable ex-smokers would roll past on their skiff, yachts and cruiseliners, each with the same advice. Keep climbing that rope. Don't let go of it. It'll get easier. We promise.
To me, those people seemed like heroes. From my perspective, they were superhuman, with this gift of comfort I couldn't hardly imagine at that point. I dreamed of being like them some day, but it seemed hard to fathom that this splintery rope would really get me there. It was hard, and I was tired. But, I really wanted to be like those amazing people, and everyone of them told me the same thing… keep climbing, don't let go. Simple. A real slog, but simple.
So, I took their advice, kept climbing and didn't let go. Lo and behold, it was true. It did, in fact, get easier, and easier. There was the odd bit of rope burn, and occasionally a seagull would take aim at my dome with an unwelcome gift (nobody takes a metaphor to the extremes I will), but all-in-all, it got more and more doable, less and less of a chore, and at some point, almost without noticing it, I found myself reclining on the Lido Deck with the others. That was years ago now. I've been kicking back up here for a good long time now, and I can tell you it's very nice.
So, what's my point? My point is to you, the newcomer. Down there on the rope. Yeah, you. You're looking up at me (and the others who have so much time under their belts), and thinking, "man, that guy's almost surreal. Maybe he's got something I don't. How in the world did he get up there? Surely, he didn't take this blasted rope?! He must have some secret that I don't. He's gotta have supernatural powers to have such comfort."
My point to you is this: Every one of us up here got here the same way. We took the rope. We climbed it. We didn't let go. And, just like we were told, it got easier. You will also get here that way.
Three years ago, I was where you are. Everyone here has been there at one time. We understand what you're going through. Nobody here is a superhero. We're just addicts like you who found the rope earlier. And, we can each promise you… the rope is climbable, it does get easier, and there IS a place for you up here.
There's one other way in which we're similar. Neither of us have wings. We let go the rope, or step off the side, we all plummet to the abyss the same way. One puff and it's all history. I learned that on my way up too. People who'd seemed almost unreal they were so comfortable, for no reason that I could understand, suddenly got up from their comfortable seats, walked to the side of the deck, and threw themselves off.
Breaking the metaphor, so that it's perfectly clear, they took a puff and lost their freedom. Some of these were members who had been very active in supporting others, and had experienced months and even years of sustained comfort. One day, for their own reasons, they decided to chance it, and lo and behold their comfort was gone. They returned to their old levels of smoking, often more. I know this is true from email, and from the time when Freedom's policies were different and relapsed members were allowed to rejoin. All it took was one puff, and it was over.
So, while it may be tempting to look at some of the longer term quitters with awe, consider that we are, and always will be subject to the same rules you are. One puff = all puffs. If I were to slip down to the pub right now, walk up to a friend, and take a drag off of his cigarette, I know full well that I would be out on my deck tomorrow night with a pack and an ash tray putting memories of Freedom and this post and everything I've given myself over the past 3 years in a deep hidden locker that my junky side would work overtime to prevent me from opening.
Why is it important to point out that, with respect to nicotine addiction, you and I are the same, just separated by a bit of time? I guess because it's tempting for a new quitter to allow himself or herself to believe that all of these people dispensing education and encouragement here, couldn't possibly understand what they're going through. It may be tempting to listen to your own junky mind telling you, "You're different. These people aren't like you. They don't understand what you're experiencing. You know that you'll never be able to be like them. It's impossible for you."
My long-winded, metaphorically-extreme point is to tell you that that's bunk. While you are different from me in many ways, our addiction to nicotine is the same. You will find comfort (emphasis on WILL) just as I and every other long-term member of Freedom did (by never taking another puff), and you WILL maintain that comfort the same way we all must (by never taking another puff).The factor that really shows the addiction is not how hard or how easy it is to quit. What really shows the addiction is how universally easy it is to go back. One puff and the quit can go out the window.
I feel your pain. I am so glad you found this site. I tried to quit so many times over the years of smoking. I was never successful until I found this site. It has been 7 years since I quit. This site is amazing. Keep coming here every day. It is so worth whatever it takes. Quitting smoking is wonderfully life changing in so many ways. Congratulations on quitting smoking.
Thank you so much! It is amazing! I am so so glad I found it! Thank you so much Barbara! All of you! So blessed to have found this!
It really does get easier but there is no way to speed things up. Nancy is so right, if you feel like crying, CRY. Remember that feelings like anger, sadness, whatever are okay & they are normal! I had to take one feeling at a time, l stuck with NOPE, Not One Puff Ever. I quit many times in the past & l thought it was just too hard. This quit will be 7 years old this month. EX was the biggest factor in my success. You CAN do this, stick with it, do something physical if you can, it helps.
Welcome to EX.
Ellen
Thank you! I love the NOPE! That is very much needed. I am so glad to have found this page and such encouraging and wonderful people! Thank you so much Elvan! This helps so much!
Deal with it one crave at a time. Be happy they showed up. That was a big turning point for me. When I decided I didn't fear them; I welcomed them. It may sound cruel, but dealing with them, working your way through them, is the only way you become an ex-smoker.
Lot's of techniques for doing so are posted on this and other sites. Read as much as you can. And, remember there are more ex-smokers in the US today than smokers. If they could do it, why not you?
Thank you Thesegoto11. I appreciate any advice! It does not sound cruel at all because when I kept trying to avoid them I could not stay busy enough which led to the breakdowns, anger, etc. etc. i found the 100 things to do. I love to eat so that may have to be a constant for a bit. Lol. And you are right! Why not me?
What you're experiencing is normal. So stay strong and keep moving forward one day at a time. Glad you posted--we're here to support you on your quit. Reach out anytime.
Barb
Thank you! Day 9. So far, it is early but I feel better than I have in a few days! So grateful for the support! I LOVE this place!
Another day of success!
Barb
Yes! So excited! Thank you! Still having moments but this place sure helps!
Day 9 is amazing...you are on the doorstep of the DDC...Double Digit Club. Congratulations!
Ellen
Do you have a reality object yet? Here is a blog about reality objects written by Giulia a member here at Ex. If I have a bad day I wear my reality object and I can take it anywhere I go it helps me.
https://excommunity.becomeanex.org/blogs/Giulia-blog/2013/09/10/how-precious-is-your-quit
No! I will check this out! Thanks so much!
A Montana sized congratulations on completing Hell Week without having taken that FIRST puff! I agree with my friend Nancy. It’s a great beginning to be sure, but there is much work yet to be done to acquire total freedom. To be sure, you will have some days that are still tough. And some that are easier. The entire first year is a year of FIRSTS. First birthday without smoking. First of all the holidays. And then things ease up a bit. I am kind of an extreme case, but it took years before I knew I would never go back. This is a one day at a time deal. No matter how many days you accumulate, something can happen at any moment and toss you right back to feeling like a newbie. But we acquire tools and experience along the way. And we practice with them by helping others (IMO the most powerful tool we have is the one we use to help ourselves by helping others.) One of the great paradoxes (something that doesn’t seem like it could be true but actually is) of the miraculous program of AA is “to keep it, we have to give it away”. So jump right in and keep right on going. Every successful quit ever started with a days success followed by a weeks success. You are a WINNER again today!
Your friend in Montana
Troutnut1-dennis
Troutnut1, thank you! I love how you wrote that! I can look at it as many first in a long time! I am so grateful to everyone who has already replied and those replying. This is such a great place to get support and help!
Wow, troutnut has given you such a powerful image of the reality of your goal--anyone of us! Stay strong, yes you can do this one day at a time.
Thank you so much Mary! Today has been a whopper already but I posted a HELP! Lol. So glad I came straight here!
Thank you Barbscloud! I am meeting them but today I had to post a HELP but I think I am posting wrong. I mean I came so close if I had not come here I would have gone and bought a pack. BUT it was because of people trying to push me and NOT the cravings. I did not even have like negative thoughts. Then the nosebleed scared but i had read that happens. So thank GOD for this family of ex smokers!
This may sound trite, but you're right at the tipping point. Just hang in there!
I always thoughts Days 7-10 were the toughest. After two days where I had a couple minor thought cues followed the next day without any, on Day 7 I get hit with six. Three in the morning and three PM. And, they were the worst since I had quit smoking.
In retrospect, that was the worst day of my entire quit. It was as if the demon were throwing one last temper tantrum because it knew it was doomed.
So, ,hang in there. It WILL get better.
I will take any advice I can get! Thank you so much! And, I needed to hear it!
I've posted this elsewhere because I am commited to helping smokers through their critical 7-14 day period of quit. This was my journal. Hope it helps.
Thank you.i will go read that now! That is so sweet of you.
You’re off to a great start. Time takes time. You won’t have to deal with this discomfort too long. You are having this craving because of the nicotine receptors in your brain are starving for more and your not supplying them.Hang in there. You’ve made lots of progress. Don’t give in. They will go dormant soon. Hang in there and keep stacking the smoke free days
Hi there, I’m on day 8 and I’ve been having a very tough time emotionally, and also physically too from withdrawals. I literally just posted about my experience up to day 8 a moment before I saw your post, so it’s a relief to know I’m not alone. Emotions are meant to be felt fully, i smoked to avoid certain emotions and enhance other ones. I’m 34 and I was smoking 30-40 cigarettes a day. On day 4 of my quit I had like this phantom flu. 2 days ago deep sadness, yesterday rageful anger all day, this morning I woke up at 2 am and couldn’t fall asleep because of anxiety.
but the thing that keeps me going is I don’t forget my WHY and it’s a strong why, like why am I doing this? It’s because not only do I not want smoking related illnesses, it because I want to live and experience life fully, naturally..you’re doing great honey, 8 days is quite the accomplishment, be proud of yourself. Although I’m going through it I’m so proud. My mom and dad, both smokers have given be so much kudos and told me they can’t believe I’ve gotten so far, that I’m even doing this.
im proud of you, keep it up, and keep remembering your WHY.
Hey there. Somehow I missed this? I am so sorry. Yes. It is tough and the symptoms scare me. Ugh. I am now on day 10. Started out great but I let negative people get to me and now I am like near tears. I am proud of you too and so glad we have this place to come to. A family of support. At least we know what the other is going through. KUDOS to you and I am so proud that you have gotten this far too! vol876! As with you, I want to stay in better health and be able to breathe and be healthy again! You are NOT alone!!!!!!
vol876 your comment on Linn2331 was spot on. I smoked to deal with feelings, l didn’t quit before l developed smoking related illnesses. I have been free for almost 7 years now but l have COPD, emphysema & l am now on oxygen 24/7. That was always one of my biggest fears, needing oxygen all the time. I had accepted using it at night but all the time is just awful. I don’t go anywhere except to the doctor because of the pandemic but l have to deal with the looks & the questions...”You smoked”, “do you STILL smoke?” I am always embarrassed, l beat myself up enough, l don’t need to feel like a bigger fool. It’s an addiction...medical staff know very little about addiction, take it from a retired RN. I am so sorry that l EVER smoked, let alone for 47 years. When your feelings threaten your quit, take it one feeling at a time. No crave ever killed anyone but no one can say that about smoking. You are BOTH doing really well! NOPE, Not One Puff Ever, NMW, No Matter What.
Ellen
Everything everyone above just said
. Congrats on making it to heck week!! I am almost there. Some days are more challenging than others but keep reading posting and I too LOVE this place. One day at a time.. NotOnePuffEver is also my mantra and telling myself I am a nonsmoker everytime I think of smoking, as I do my new non smoking activities(walking, drinking water, breathing, etc.) Has really helped. I laugh everytime I say "drinking my water because I'm a NON SMOKER NOW!!" It has brought a little humor and even joy into my quit journey. Hang in there and congrats on making it 8 days!! Woo hoo!! 
Hey Rachy2283, day 10 for me now and started out great but let negative people get to me. Ugh. I LOVE it here too! I am so GLAD for you! I had to post today because I felt like caving but came here first and saw these. You ARE there. WE are there! we just have to keep fighting off the negatives. Old habits die hard is true! But we can do this! Woohoo to you and congrats x 10!!!
I am not sure if you just hit reply to someone’s post that they get a notification of that. If you LIKE or mark a post as HELPFUL, the person gets a notification. It may include more than one person’s positive response. If you want to be sure that your comment gets to the person, l THINK you have to @ mention them. Click the @ button & start typing their user name, you should get a drop down selection so you can choose the correct name. If you wrote the original blog, l am really not sure if you get a notification of a comment Linn2331 I am @ mentioning you here so you will get a notice, at least l hope you will. You replied to vol876 but did not @ mention him or her so l am doing it here, if that makes ANY sense.
l am pretty sure you want vol876 to get your comment. Let’s see if this works.
Ellen
Elvan, yes! I do not even see vol876 comment?? My pine do not highlight? I hope no one thinks I am ignoring them. If I do not answer, I didn’t see it? Thanks so much for all of your help!
Linn2331 l saw your comment & went back to find the post. You are doing GREAT, no one is going to think otherwise. Keep going!
Ellen
Elvan thank you so very much! Thank you vols876! I hope you saw my reply!
Apparently it said I replied. I will get the hang of this. I am so sorry that you are going through all of that. My med chart said Emphysema and COPD, but when I asked my doctor about it he said it just meant I could get it. But my results said it. My lung scan was allegedly clear but I have smoked for 40 years since I was 14. I quit a few brief times. So I am feeling overwhelmed I smoked that long and didn’t even realize it. I hiked, biked, played tennis, went rappelling, you name it. I started getting too tired about five years ago.
Its kind of tough on us when we realize what addiction has done to our beautiful lungs. I had a similar history culminating in 3.5 packs a day. So I don’t know why it surprised me when a CT scan came back with “severe emphysema” November before last. I felt like it was a death sentence. I followed up with a pulmonary function test which shows I have about 59% of expected capacity for my age. He called my disease “moderate”. BUT, I quit smoking 20 years ago and got pretty active again as a result. 20+ years ago I couldn’t get up the stairs to my loft. But now I downhill ski (40-50 mph) several times a week and workout daily. So we can expand our lung capacity greatly, even once copd has set in. My trainer says she can expand my capacity 30%. Which might explain why I set the track record on the 6 minute walk test as part of my pulmonary function test. I went 300 meters in 6 minutes without a drop in my oxygen levels. My ski buddy will turn 81 this March and he was a heavy smoker too. He quit 25 years ago and has had emphysema for 21 years. And he’s one of the fastest skiers on our mountain. So there is great hope. You may avoid it altogether if you quit now. My pulmonologist says only about 25% of smokers get it. My suggestion is quit smoking, get active, eat healthy, maintain a proper weight, and continue to monitor your lungs for cancer, copd. etc. We live in miraculous times, My doctor said they are now doing lung transplants on people like me up to 75 years of age. Of course they would expect a long history of abstinence and healthy lifestyle before they would give me new lungs. And maybe I won’t even need them.
Thats AMAZING!! Your posts are always very helpful. Thanks for sharing Troutnut. That certainly gives me hope to get back to better health
Troutnut1, thank you so much! I really needed that encouragement and you are so positive! I am now on day 11 or 12. I quit on 1st as in had my last. It is challenging but I keep reading the things on here and it encourages! Thank you so very much!
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!!!