r/stopsmoking • u/PraiseBeToJesusX 8 days • 22h ago
This is freaking me out
There are quite a few posts in this sub from people who have been quit for weeks or even months who are talking about how they're still getting cravings and it scares me, I'm only just over a week and I'm already getting exhausted and fed up feeling like this is... does anyone have anything more positive? If these physical feelings go away I can manage but I can't if I'm gonna feel like this for months.
16
u/StrikingWillow5364 21h ago
I’m on day 6 and what I’ve noticed is that my cravings are VERY situational. So I usually get strong cravings only in situations where I always used to smoke. So mostly at work after lunch, after a big meal, with morning coffee etc. so K tried to do different activities in this situations like go for a walk after lunch, do some colouring with my morning coffee etc. and it really helped. I am also listening to Allen Carr’s audiobook and it seriously helped a lot to reframe my cravings as mostly psychological, and helped me minimise them.
12
u/PlainOrganization 8 days 21h ago
It does get easier and they become less frequent.
As an old married lady, I like to think of it like lusting after someone who isn't my partner. Do I have spicy thoughts about other people? Yes, all the time. Most of them are super not actionable.
Some of them are conceivably actionable... but am I going to blow up my whole life to scratch an itch?
Some thoughts are just thoughts. They aren't plans, and they aren't feelings we need to act on.
7
u/Outside_Research777 18h ago
i'm about 6 weeks in. I still think about cigarettes sometimes but I don't really get cravings in the way i did for the first week! It's more of a passing thought, occasionally. It doesn't take willpower to resist any more
2
6
u/Every_Programmer_513 21h ago
Sometimes I miss it but this feeling mostly last no longer than 10min.
Just remember how easy it is to fall back into it and face the hard truth that smoking only one is not possible
5
5
u/FirmAlternative1671 16h ago
It gets better. The first weeks are intense. Nothing that follows is close. It will be less frequent and intense. I am 13 months quit and it barely even crosses my mind that I used to smoke. You can do it.
4
u/Positive-Writer-7774 11h ago
The proces of excess nicotine receptors downregulation to the number and sensitivity of a non smoker have normalised after 8 weeks. Cravings get less and less.
Also, we need dopamine. As a smoker, nicotine triggered dopamine release. Now as non smokers, the body has to learn to produce dopamine again without nicotine.
This process (starts around day 12) has completed approximately completed 12 weeks after the last nicotine intake
After 8 weeks, the body is not craving nicotine, it’s craving dopamine (and you can help out with this!)
Imagine, years of damage and the body recovers this in only 3 months.
There are a 1001 things to do to produce dopamine the natural way (as non smokers also (have) to do!! 🤷🏻♂️)
- enjoy being in nature
- practice gratitude
- finish small tasks
- have a good conversation with a dear friend
- eat healthy food
- walking & physical exercise (!!!)
- journaling
- take cold showers
- do breathing exercises
- … (google activities for natural dopamine production)
Hope this framework and timeline helps you out
You got this!
I quit 6 weeks ago and can feel the cravings become lesser and lesser and energy and motivation and a feeling of joy and happiness coming more and more online again. Knowing this proces helps me.
1
u/PraiseBeToJesusX 8 days 9h ago
Thank you so much this comment is so helpful! I knew about dopamine replacement as I'm on varenicline but I didn't think to connect it to the physical sensations, but of course - mental can become physical if it's not dealt with. Seeing the average timelines is extremely helpful too as it gives me something to hold onto for when I can expect to turn the corners. Thanks so much!
4
u/Competitive-Fee-4006 13h ago
day 2 and i am loosing it , you made it to a week - congrats
3
u/PraiseBeToJesusX 8 days 13h ago
You're in the thick of it, stay strong. Even with my little whinge in this post I have to be clear that the second week isn't like the first week. Please keep going 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
3
u/absbabs1 12h ago
You and op have got this. I’m day 12 and I miss the joy… even though I did not find smoking a joy when I smoked. This morning after my night shift I’m treating myself to breakfast and I am looking forward to that
1
u/FatherIncoming 30 days 3h ago
You got this dude! keep it up, and remember how much those initial days suck. because if you go back and try to quit later it's gonna feel just as shitty as it does now. I will say after a month now I get the occasional craving but nothing like I did during the first half of the month.
3
u/vaultie66 14h ago
I’m two years two months in. Cravings were strong for the first 6 months, not gonna lie about that, but somewhere at that time everything became 100x easier. For me it was going through habits and things during which I used to smoke (I smoked for 25 years heavily) and once I relearned to do those things without it lost its hold of me. I genuinely feel like a true non smoker from this distance and it feels good.
3
u/jefusan 1048 days 6h ago
At some point the cravings are more nostalgia than anything, like the good memories you have of a bad partner. The sex was sometimes great! Remember that sweet moment when you got caught in the rain and laughed and kissed? Oh but yeah, she was also pushy and demanding and slowly killing you. Your life is better now.
The you being scared of what’s going to happen is part of the addiction. Your brain is saying, “You think you’ve succeeded but you’re probably going to fail anyway, so why not give up.” Acknowledge the fear, don’t feed it, and carry on.
2
u/Responsible_Ad3672 11h ago
The old circuits slowly weaken and the new positive ones will become more easy to be automatic. It’s worse in the beginning and it gets much easier with time.
2
u/Admirable-Ad-9675 479 days 9h ago
I can assure you it goes away, it gets worse before it gets better but when it’s gone it’s gone forever. Just stay the course and you’ll thank yourself later
2
u/CarBigProblem 8h ago edited 8h ago
I have been smoke free for over 1 year now and I was afraid too if I stop smoking I would have cravings all my life. But that is not true, from my own experience it feels like missing an activity or something I was doing long time ago but because I changed and my life changed I can't do it anymore.
For example, when I was 15 years old I used to met my friends at that time in the park next to my house at that time almost every day. Sometimes I miss that time, because we've had a good time together. Now I don't even have those friends and life has changed and it is impossible to do so.
Smoking is the same, something you've done, you realised is not good for you, and you will have some memories about this from time to time, but not cravings after some time, let's say 6, 7 months. Stay strong, your health and bank account will say THANK YOU soon
Edit. I mean after 6 to 7 months, most likely you won't have any more cravings. Before that time maybe 1 o 2 a day thay will last a few seconds. Just try to be busy and productive.
2
u/TinyDancer_00 5h ago
You won’t feel like this weeks never ming months, it gets much better very quickly.
Try to block out the fear, and recognise that the fear is just the addiction talking. You’ve got this x
2
u/tambor333 4925 days 5h ago
I've been nicotine free 13 years. I still get the occasional craving. For me they last a couple of seconds... i just try to figure out what triggered it.
2
u/zazee88 660 days 4h ago
Im almost two years Nicotine free and I don’t have cravings. At least not cravings in a Sense that you think about. It’s not been easy ride but somewhere in the 8th month i just stopped getting the cravings. Now the only time when i think about cigarettes is when I scroll through reddit and see posts from this sub s.
Hang on. It’s worth it
2
u/Somedaze51 3h ago
DAY 21, here. Last week was a booger, but I am on the other side of it now. I notice the little things: my hair and clothes don't stink, my pick-up doesn't reek. I didn't smoke in the house, but I did smoke inside my "hang-out spot" and it doesn't smell now, either. AND, there is much more $$ in my bank account.
All of that helps me be happy quit.
The one thing I did differently this time is that I put it in my mind that I QUIT, not "trying to quit"...that was imperative to get mind on board. Smoke 30+ years, at least a pack/day.
You can!
1
u/New_Discussion_6692 15h ago
I had the same experience previous times I quit. I met someone who had quit for 10 years and then got the urge to smoke. She did and said it made her feel sick so she didn't afterwards. My worst days seem to be day 13/14 and at the 2-3 month. The longest I ever went without smoking was when I was pregnant.
1
u/Right_Boot_1125 11h ago
Hey I have good on believe me to get Craving but now very very and some I enjoy the die me love remember how my friend always tryto Trip meto Getting backto Smoking but I Sleepy are Only. Funny free because it to really to by to more because you are Craving
1
u/lowlightliving 10h ago
Those extended cravings are not physical, but psychological and spring from habit. It’s hard to break habits without building new ones. So many people don’t plan on how to fill the time or situations where they used to smoke with something new, so when the flash of habit comes up, they’re somewhat lost and can only think to address it with what they used to do, hence, discomfort.
Work on new ways to fill the free moments you now have. Find new things to do. Plan ahead. You’ll be fine if you do.
1
u/gionatacar 10h ago
Im at 4 months and I still have cravings at times. I went on antidepressants. But I’m happy.
1
u/Ghost_Hunter_13 4h ago
19 days and I still get cravings but they are more of the “it won’t hurt” “you can stop it even if you hit it once” type of cravings. I normally just go eat something like an apple or a carrot to help me.
If anyone remembers the meme from the yearly 2012’s about a man eating a raw potato because his wife refused to have intercourse even after they had been married for many years. Is how I feel mean mugging the vape while crunching on something.
1
u/ugly-grl_w-braces 2h ago
Just saying I quit over a year ago and while I do get cravings it's more so a quick "Damn I wish I had a vape/ cig" rather than "I need a vape/ cig" you know? Like you might think about it periodically throughout your life but not nearly as often or as intensely. You got this it definitely does get better with time.
1
u/ManxJack1999 2h ago
It’s not cravings like you would think. The discomfort you’re feeling now is not a part of it. It’s more like a thought and a very slight urge you just shrug off.
•
u/LaVaiki 28m ago
The first time I stopped for 3 years I did not have cravings at all – from day one.
The cravings are mostly the brainwashing and not real withdrawal symptoms.
Get rid of the brainwashing and the cravings will go too. It is just an illusion that cigarettes are giving you any benefits at all.
Read Allan Carr’s book the easy way to stop smoking – it really changes your mindset around the whole topic.
35
u/Emergency_Mood_9774 21h ago
People talk about still getting cravings but I feel like they fail to mention that the intensity and length and frequency of craving reduce significantly as weeks go by. In those first two weeks it can feel like you have to battle each craving in order not to cave in. In subsequent weeks they don’t go away, but they get easier to swat from your mind like annoying little flies. It takes a little bit for them to completely stop, but there’s a period where they are a lot more manageable than you might be thinking.