Anyone given up smoking?

[flatlander]

One to hold the tissue?

[blinkey501]

One to hold the tissue?

[lazarus]

3 weeks ago I decided to give up smoking after 30 + years of being a nicotine addict.

I decided to go cold turkey and just stop, and so far I have managed OK, except I feel like shit.

So it turns out, all the withdrawl symptoms you can get, I have got .

Seems like it is anything from 4 - 8 weeks and possibly longer before I start feeling something like near normal again.

Any advice or tips from anyone who has gone through it? I know in the long term I will feel the full benefit, but at the moment I feel like cr@p, and strangely enough I have not really missed the actual smoking which has surprised me.

Yes. Gave up just as you are doing after 20 years of heavy smoking. And got all the withdrawal sysptoms from the shakes to what felt like a permanent head cold and which was, apparently, the hairs in my nostrils growing back again.. I still wanted a fag with a beer after two years but right from the beginning, it gets easier every day.

One things is vital. You are an adict. You are only ever in remission and if you so much as have just one fag / cigar etc at xmas or when pi55ed, you will be back on 30 a day faster that you could ever imagine. Been there done that twice. Been "clean" now for 38 years ( yes I am an olf phrrt).

Good luck. Stick at it and you will be proud of yourself.

[T.C.]

Yes. Gave up just as you are doing after 20 years of heavy smoking. And got all the withdrawal sysptoms from the shakes to what felt like a permanent head cold and which was, apparently, the hairs in my nostrils growing back again.. I still wanted a fag with a beer after two years but right from the beginning, it gets easier every day.

One things is vital. You are an adict. You are only ever in remission and if you so much as have just one fag / cigar etc at xmas or when pi55ed, you will be back on 30 a day faster that you could ever imagine. Been there done that twice. Been "clean" now for 38 years ( yes I am an olf phrrt).

Good luck. Stick at it and you will be proud of yourself.

Well 3 weeks and 2 days in, I still feel cr@p. During the day yesterday, I actually started to feel better, and then went to bed last night, got the hacking cough which left me short of breath and I have been awake most of the night I am sat here absolutely knackered wondering if I will ever feel norml again or ever get a good nights sleep again as I have had a few nights where I have spent much of it awake.

On the plus side, I have had no desire or inclination to touch a fag

[lazarus]

Yes. Gave up just as you are doing after 20 years of heavy smoking. And got all the withdrawal sysptoms from the shakes to what felt like a permanent head cold and which was, apparently, the hairs in my nostrils growing back again.. I still wanted a fag with a beer after two years but right from the beginning, it gets easier every day.

One things is vital. You are an adict. You are only ever in remission and if you so much as have just one fag / cigar etc at xmas or when pi55ed, you will be back on 30 a day faster that you could ever imagine. Been there done that twice. Been "clean" now for 38 years ( yes I am an olf phrrt).

Good luck. Stick at it and you will be proud of yourself.

Well 3 weeks and 2 days in, I still feel cr@p. During the day yesterday, I actually started to feel better, and then went to bed last night, got the hacking cough which left me short of breath and I have been awake most of the night I am sat here absolutely knackered wondering if I will ever feel norml again or ever get a good nights sleep again as I have had a few nights where I have spent much of it awake.

On the plus side, I have had no desire or inclination to touch a fag

Its always possible that you have a bug TC but the bit of the withdrawal symptoms that I remember most was the streaming nose and hacking cough as my system cleared itself of all the crud. Stick at it. Not only will you be financially better off , you will feel a lot better, wont have a smokers cough and will feel incredibly smug / proud of yourself. You will also become a non smoking evangelist - as you can see with me!

You have done the hard yards. It will get easier every day. But whatever you do, never think you have it beaten and can have just the occasional fag. If you were addicted as it sounds you have to kick the habit for life.

Sorry all this sounds evangelist - Im trying to support as best I can.

[T.C.]

For those of you interested, 6 weeks today I packed in and I have still not been tempted to start, in fact if anything, I fnd the thought of smoking quite reulsive now.

I still feel like cr@p as my chest is clearing. I am now bringing up all the muck and mucas, and so I have zero energy, I am fed up with the shortness of breath which I have been assured is normal and will ease, but on the plus side, I have managed to start sleeping properly.

They say anything up to 12 weeks befpre feeling like normal again Another good reason not to start again

[Dalemac]

Well done TC. Stick with it, it will be worth it.

I can count the number of times i have smoked on one hand. Nevertheless, i would crave it for days afterwards and keep getting back that horrid aftertaste. I can't imagine how hard it would be to quit after smoking for years on end. I'd probably end up murdering someone.


One thing i find quite strange is the shortness of breath after you have quit. Is this a result of your lungs cleaning out the crap and starting to repair themselves after years of being damaged?

[T.C.]

One thing i find quite strange is the shortness of breath after you have quit. Is this a result of your lungs cleaning out the crap and starting to repair themselves after years of being damaged?

Apparently so. I initially found this site http://www.quitguide.com/nicotine-withdrawal.html and I was amazed at the number of physyical withdrawl symptoms you can get, which includes shortness of breath, but also actually makes sense

That said, I think the person who wrote that knew I was about to give up as I have experienced all the pyhysical symptoms except the headaches

But joking apart, I have spoken to a number of people who have experiences chronic shortness of breath post quitting even though we had no issues pre quitting

[HisNibbs]

I think it takes a while before you are sensitive enough to realize the damage you have done. Healing takes a while longer.

[lazarus]

Still going strong TC? Its iften a few months down the road that sat in a pub with a pal you think to yourself " Ive got it beaten" and when he offers you a fag you take it. Then you have broken your self imposed no smoking rule, reminded yourself of the pleasures of smoking andbefore you know you are back on fags.

I was lucky enough to have a non smoking colleague take the unlit fag out of my mouth and crush it for me. You might not be so lucky.

You are never cured. You are just in remission.

[T.C.]

Still going strong TC? Its iften a few months down the road that sat in a pub with a pal you think to yourself " Ive got it beaten" and when he offers you a fag you take it. Then you have broken your self imposed no smoking rule, reminded yourself of the pleasures of smoking andbefore you know you are back on fags.

I was lucky enough to have a non smoking colleague take the unlit fag out of my mouth and crush it for me. You might not be so lucky.

You are never cured. You are just in remission.

Still going strong well so far anyway. This Friday coming will be 8 weeks since I quit, and I have to admit, that only now am I starting to feel like I am getting back to normal, although I am not there yet.

I know my lungs are clearing due to all the rubbish I am bringing up, hence the reason I am sat here at 5.45 in the morning after a good hack, but this is starting to diminish, and the thought of lighting up actually makes me want to throw up, so that cannot be a bad thing.

Off on holiday on Saturday, so 2 weeks cruising the Baltic I am sure is going to help, especially all that sea air, and it is actually more difficult to smoke on board ship, so the triggers and temptations will be fewer

[robbier6]

Well Done TC.

i stopped november 2013 due to a chest infection, did try to smoke while i had the infection but couldn't so stopped, infection hung around for 4-5 weeks during which i got over the need to smoke psychologists reckon it takes a minimum of 30 days to break a habit.
Almost relapsed last year but kept going, now even the smell of a fag is repulsive.
best thing i ever did was to stop

[Gio]

So hows it going TC?

When I stopped it took a year before I felt better all the crap I was coughing up, even managed to get a small tear and started coughing blood, after that I'd never go back to the weed.

[T.C.]

So hows it going TC?

When I stopped it took a year before I felt better all the crap I was coughing up, even managed to get a small tear and started coughing blood, after that I'd never go back to the weed.

It is going fine thanks Gio. I have not even been tempted to light up, but I think my heart failure issues has contributed to my not wanting to smoke again, and I probably felt crap because I was ill rather than suffering withdrawl symptoms.

I was surprised as to how many heart failure sympoms are the same or similar to withdrawl symptoms.

If truth be known, I feel better now than I have done for a long time, and that includes the time before I gave up or had my illness.

[Gio]

Fantastic.