Nicotine is a powerful drug....

[lost_blackbird]

I quit smoking on March 13th 2013 cold turkey. It was one of the toughest things I ever put myself through
after some 25+ years of being a full time smoker. The initial withdrawal symptom was a terrible bout of
constipation, 2 weeks without going to be precise. The resultant damage to my back passage when I finally
did manage to go required surgery, but that's another story. Once the constipation had set in, so did the
insomnia and terrible sweating in bed which upon reflection is probably responsible for dehydrating me and
worsening the constipation. At the end of the two weeks before I was able to poop, I looked pregnant.
My morning routine when I was a smoker was wake, coffee, cigarette (hand rolled) and poop. Like clockwork
every day. Once the cigarette was removed I guess my body never got the trigger it needed to do the next thing.
The last symptom about a month after quitting was developing huge pus filled spots on my back for a few weeks,
like a teenagers acne. I guess this was some of the accumulated toxins leaving my body. Eventually it all settled
down and after about 8 months off the smokes, I actually began to finally feel better. Up until then I often questioned
why I had bothered quitting at all as it made me feel terrible, but I stuck to it. No patches, pills or vaping, just willpower.

Fast forward to June 2021, I had just moved into my current house after splitting from my wife and was shipping boxes
of belongings from her place to mine. In one of the boxes I found a pack of cigars which I'd bought on holiday years
previously. Feeling a bit sorry for myself and stressed out I thought 'fvck it' and lit one up. Honestly, I felt a little stoned
after smoking it, I won't lie when I say it was a pleasant sensation. I then proceeded to smoke one every day when I got
home from work until that pack was gone. Which led me to go buy some more. Soon I was having one with my morning
coffee and one after work, then started taking a couple to work for on my break. You can see where I'm going here.
It took just a few weeks for me to be smoking 20+ a day.

August 13th 2021 - 5am
Smoked last cigar in a pack and said I was done with it. The first time I quit it was as a promise to someone else, a long
story which I won't go into here. None the less it was a promise to somebody else and I quit for them. This time I'm
doing it for myself, it's been 13 days and sure enough the first 4 days I was constipated, I've had trouble sleeping and
some shocking headaches but I feel like I'm through the worst of the physical withdrawal symptoms. The cravings are still
strong, especially after eating or drinking beer and I've been over eating a bit to try and give myself something else to think
about. I just thought if I sat and typed this out I'd feel a bit more resolve when I feel the weakness creeping in, I'm half a mile
from a place where I could go and buy cigars more or less any time of day and the temptation has been there I'm not going
to lie. I only started smoking again through boredom and loneliness with a sprinkling of self destructive self pity and I don't
need telling how unhealthy that is on a number of levels. Once the cravings die down I'm going to address my diet which has
of late become pretty poor, mainly because I live alone, work long hours in a gruelling job and just want something quick and
easy when I get home. Anyway, enough from me. Any other ex smokers feel free to chime in and tell your story.

 

[deadmasterx]

Cigarettes in special are a hell to get rid of.

First because in many places it isn't much of a big deal to be a smoker (compared with being a crackhead), so you don't feel this social pressure to hide or to stop it.

Second because every smoker has a routine. He wakes up, grabs his coffee and combo it with a cigarette. He goes to work, on lunch break he goes outside to smoke. On his way back home, he lights one while driving his car. He takes a shower, and before going to sleep he grabs another one to relax.

Routine is an amazing thing, you start doing things on automatic and you don't even notice, but when you take something off it feels unbelivably awkward.

My father used to smoke, long before I was born, but he stopped after the cigarette tip burned my brother's cheek by accident. After that, he didn't smoke for some good 20 years. In his late year, tho, I remember him grabbing a pipe, putting some irish stuff in and smoking it. Just like many other who quitted and could keep for a long time, he got back into smoking again.

For people who have been doing it for years long, it's not only especially hard to quit, but also incredibly easy to get back to it. Your brain misses the sensation. That's the hardest part, knowing the "sweet" sensations and then having to leave it, for whatever reason it is.

I'm really happy to know you managed to quit it, and I pray for you to stay strong. For ex smokers, stop smoking is a daily fight that never ceases, the wish keep on coming and going.

Wish you the best, good job.

 

[Bible_Belt]

Tobacco is radioactive. That's why it causes cancer. You would be better off smoking just about anything else.