The three month mark can be a bad time for folks who are quitting tobacco. The rush, or excitement of smoking cessation has worn off, but we haven't yet completed the healing process from nicotine addiction.
We're still thinking about smoking, and most of us are still feeling the urge to smoke now and then. It can leave a person feeling edgy and sad. We wonder if we'll always be doomed to feel this way.
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The First Three Months - a Personal Account
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I’m approaching four years now very grateful to the lady who unwittingly caused me to stop. I do remember the shockingly strong urges to light up that could come out of nowhere. I also remember feeling that it was possibly the product of fear? I had been a smoker for 47 years since I was 12 and smoking was me. I couldn’t imagine me without cigarettes, I didn’t know the new bloke I was turning into. The new guy had willpower – that was scary stuff! I slowly came round to realising that all the other bad habits, especially the fun ones, were all still in place but now I was likely to enjoy doing them for a lot longer.
I coped with the initial urges by noting them literally in a little book kept in the pocket my cigs would have been in. Date, time and assessed strength of the urge. Doing that turns the process into one of studying not suffering – one almost steps aside to watch the urge go past. Also, being a lazy sod (one of those bad habits) I was always likely to quickly downgrade the urge to one not even worth writing about. That worked too.
Even now 46 months later, I still get the odd twinge (fewer than one a month!) but my mind is permanently set in a ‘study it not suffer it’ mode now
Well its been 1 week 3 days and 20 hrs and some minutes (according to the ap on my i phone ) its been really easy untill today. I have been so close to going and getting a pack. I didnt think it was going to be a problem but because im quiet at work i have hit my usual trigger. Nothing to do go for a smoke !!
I konw it will pass and i feel better while im writing this
Read the easyway to stop smoking! By Allen carrs!!
I have smoked off and on over the course of my entire adult life. Smoking for a few years, quitting for a few, yet I’ve never beaten it completely. Last summer, after a five-year period of no smoking (I am 54) my friends were smoking around a campfire on a weekend retreat and out of the blue, I suddenly had the foolish notion that I could smoke “just one.” Just one was two by the end of the night. Then a couple every weekend. Eventually, a couple every day, then three or four, then five or six, and then New Year’s Eve arrived and gave me a reason to quit again. I am on day four right now, and feeling all the awfulness of withdrawal, but I’ve been there before, so I recognize it for what it is, and perhaps because I never got up to my previous pack-and-a-half habit, or only smoked for a few months, I think t should be a bit easier this time. Still, it feels bad right this minute and my mind is screaming at me to smoke … and that I can quit … next week … next month … etc. It’s a lie.
My father died of emphysema and there is a good deal of cancer in my family. Of course, I know I am a fool to smoke. I am an addict. It is very hard to quit. My wife is moderate in all things and can smoke a couple or leave them. I am not so lucky. All I can say is, I KNOW I have to quit. I KNOW I can quit. So, I will do my best to stay with it. For all of you going through the suffering of withdrawal, I feel your pain. Hang in there. You are not alone. It does get easier. But … do be wary. As they say, addiction is cunning and baffling. It can sneak up on you. Good luck and all the best.
I quit smoking 1 day ago 23 hours also according to my app. I won’t lie my goodness do I want to smoke cleaning the house staying busy seems to help a lot can anyone tell me some other things that may help and I am doing this cold Turkey
Gave up last October so off the damned things 6mths now and feeling all the better for it. I do however get some desperate cravings. Things that keeps me going are my children telling me I don’t smell like an ashtray and more importantly they no longer say “stop killing yourself”, all of which is true, it seems. I have smoked 20 a day for 25yrs approx and am determined never to do so again. Most of my friends have quit also and this is very encouraging. It seems now that the dirty habit is no longer fashionable and people are starting to frown on those standing at the entrance to pubs, shops and on the street. Don,t smell like an ashtray and if that doesn’t work ask your partner what it is like kissing you…I cringed when I realized what an effect I really was having on my family and friends by smoking…not to mention myself…Quit, Quit, Quit
I have not smoked since November. I have cravings all the time. Every time I smell a cigarette I get this urge to smoke. I think to myself, “just one can’t hurt” but I know in the end that “one” will turn into more. I don’t mind smoking, but someone very close to me in my life has told me if I continue to smoke they will leave. I know I don’t want to loose this person but my urges to smoke seem stronger at the moment. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to keep the urge away.
I quit almost 3 months ago after a 9 month quit and 18 years of being a regular smoker. Like one of the other posters, I thought I could have just “one” when I went out with some of my friends. One turned into two turned into the next day having three and so on until I had gone completely back to smoking. I don’t plan to ever go back now that I know I am truly an addict. I do feel lately like I would love one but I’m trying to get my body healthy for pregnancy. Cigarettes just aren’t part of the equation anymore. But it is so hard sometimes!! I really wish I never picked up the habit when I was a dumb 15 year old. I do have that crazy feeling like I lost a friend or that I lost something I really loved in life. Sad it was a plant rolled in a piece of paper that you lit on fire. Ha.
I have now gone 60 hours without having a cigarette, having smoked 30 plus per day for the last 25 years. To anyone out there wanting to stop,dont, do as i did,which is, wait until you have had the heart attack to stop Stop before the heart attack. Craving one now, but i am sure it will go . GOOD LUCK EVERY SMOKING QUITTER
I quit smoking on February 18th at 1:55pm. I still feel the urge everyday to smoke. I think about it everyday. I see people smoking and I feel like I’m missing out on something. I think one won’t kill me and then I think about my son who begged me to stop and I don’t do it.
I quit 34 days and 14 hours ago from looking at my app. The problem is that it never gets easier. I’ve been down this road before and lit up just 9 months after quitting a few years back. I have tried many times prior to that but never making it past a month. I believe that the craving never goes away, but our coping mechanisms improve over time. This time feels different though, the cravings are there but I know i’m going to beat them.
I had been smoking cigs and weed every day for 15 years, 11 days ago I had hypnotherapy after trying many other methods and although you still need to be committed have found it much easier this time to the point where I have been out drinking and stood outside with the smokers and not even battered an eye lid or craved one (fact is all my mates smoke so its stand in alone or go out with them). Most people struggle because the unconscious mind plays tricks on you, nicotine is actually 100% out of the system after only 48 hrs so its the psychological side you must address. Because the hypnotherapy worked for me my girlfriend used a free non smoking self hypnosis track off you tube (3-4 times a week) and she said amazingly it has helped her. Annoying when I paid £500 ( although my main objective was to quit weed)! I believe this could also help people who have quit for years but still have cravings! Again you must be committed but I feel great, like a non smoker and wanted to share my revelation, if it helps just 1 other that’s a win in my eyes!
I quit smoking four months ago. I still have horrible, miserable cravings every day. Will this ever end ? I know that just trying one ciggie will soon turn into a pack so I won’t even try. But is there a trick, a game, a substitue, (besides food) that helps put these cravings to bed. I think about smoking, I dream about smoking, yet I know I cannot go back to it. Someone, please help!
It’s been more than 72 hours now since i smoked my last cigarette. Over the last 24 hours i have become highly irritated and just want to be alone. I know whats eating me is the desire to smoke.
I feel like i would turn the world upside down if i don’t get to smoke, i have lost patience completely over last 24 hours. I wonder what happens to junkies when they try to quit. I can’t tolerate a cigg. withdrawl. LOL!
I think i would go and smoke one because i know it wont turn two, hopefully. But for all the quitters, I wish them all success!
Stay away from this dreadful habit!! It sucks indeed!