Quit smoking more than 3 months ago, still have cravings

-Matt- said:
This strategy is great for people just starting to drop smoking, but if he's already been off cigs for 3 months there is absolutely no reason to go back onto nicotine.
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Well if he is thinking about going back to the cigs it's a better option to just go to ecig full nicotine and move down. Otherwise the better option is not smoking anymore of course.
 


What helped me was a chart similar to the one below, post it somewhere in the house where you'll see it every day:

Smoking cessation timeline – the health benefits over time

* In 20 minutes, your blood pressure and pulse rate decrease, and the body temperature of your hands and feet increase.

* Carbon monoxide in cigarette smoke reduces the blood’s ability to carry oxygen. At 8 hours, the carbon monoxide level in your blood decreases to normal. With the decrease in carbon monoxide, your blood oxygen level increases to normal.

* At 24 hours, your risk of having a heart attack decreases.

* At 48 hours, nerve endings start to regrow and the ability to smell and taste is enhanced.

* Between 2 weeks and 3 months, your circulation improves, walking becomes easier and you don’t cough or wheeze as often. Phlegm production decreases. Within several months, you have significant improvement in lung function.

* In 1 to 9 months, coughs, sinus congestion, fatigue and shortness of breath decrease as you continue to see significant improvement in lung function. Cilia, tiny hair-like structures that move mucus out of the lungs, regain normal function.

* In 1 year, risk of coronary heart disease and heart attack is reduced to half that of a smoker.

* Between 5 and 15 years after quitting, your risk of having a stroke returns to that of a non-smoker.

* In 10 years, your risk of lung cancer drops. Additionally, your risk of cancer of the mouth, throat, esophagus, bladder, kidney and pancreas decrease. Even after a decade of not smoking however, your risk of lung cancer remains higher than in people who have never smoked. Your risk of ulcer also decreases.

* In 15 years, your risk of coronary heart disease and heart attack in similar to that of people who have never smoked. The risk of death returns to nearly the level of a non-smoker.
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Keep in mind it only takes a couple puffs to go back to 0.
 
nickster said:
Well if he is thinking about going back to the cigs it's a better option to just go to ecig full nicotine and move down. Otherwise the better option is not smoking anymore of course.
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He's been off long enough that the dependence is psychological, not physical, and 'moving down' isn't going to fix a psychological dependence.
 
Next month will be 3 years since I quit and I still get cravings. The good thing is that I hated the smell of smoke before I started (picked up the habit when I was drunk lol) and now that I quit I feel the same way. You'll slowly get over it, but there's always going to be those cravings. The good thing is that even when I tried taking a drag, I wanted to vomit. It's disgusting again. You just have to continue to stay strong and it'll go away.
 
jryan21 said:
Keep in mind it only takes a couple puffs to go back to 0.
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Hmmm.......If you really think about it that is not logical.

Unless that couple of puffs make you restart smoking long term again it does not reset that table back to zero.

If for example you haven't smoked for 10 years and then take a couple of puffs and no more you will not be at any higher risk than you were before those puffs (except for a tiny tiny negligible amount), it certainly wouldn't put you back 10 years.
 
Going through a similar scenario, but I look at it now as a life destroyer, and now I just want to get fit,as someone said smoking is nil positives, keeping clean is the way, if your thinking is I want one, think what happens if you do and it`s effects , beating yourself up about it, feeling shit, health etc
trust me it ain`t worth it, when the thought/craving comes hit it with another thought...a challenging good thought, envisage something good , such as looking and feeling healthier it can be done, read the success stories above
 
LOL. I've been smoking since I was 14. Seriously. Have tried quitting a couple of times, but I realized it was impossible. Besides, I really do enjoy smoking - I don't want to quit. So here's me smoking my lungs away.

Good luck!
 
3 months is not long enough by ANY stretch, lol. Smoke again now if you think it is. It may take YEARS for craving to dissipate, but if it's what you really want, all you can do is keep going forward. Nobody said it was going to be easy. But the longer you go, the easier it gets.
 
Go buy a couple packs, some each one after another until you literally get sick. Keep going until you puke, then keep going until you puke more and more.

Make it the sickest you've ever been in your life and you won't crave them as much.

Don't give the that bs "I can smoke all day and not get sick" - do it right.

Worked for me at least.
 
tatrasim said:
3 days ago I got wisdom tooth pulled, and decided to quit again while I had another reason.
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I had a wisdom tooth pulled too. Only, I was a complete and utter moron and smoked as it tried to heal laughing at the warnings from the dentist about "Dry Socket".

Then I started suffering from "Dry Socket".... I never knew anything could hurt that bad. I literally prayed for death I hurt so bad.

I empathize with the cravings. I have them everyday and I quit smoking five months ago. I thought I had this shit whipped at month three. Premature cockiness.

Chewing on drinking straws helps tremendously. I get the hand motion I am used to and it is a good distraction.

The smell of cigarettes makes me ill these days, but I still crave one. What kind of mongoloid am I?

And like "jryan21" I had a similar sign plastered everywhere - in the car, in the bath room, in the kitchen, the headboard... still do, reinforcement helps.
 
nickster said:
Hmmm.......If you really think about it that is not logical.

Unless that couple of puffs make you restart smoking long term again it does not reset that table back to zero.

If for example you haven't smoked for 10 years and then take a couple of puffs and no more you will not be at any higher risk than you were before those puffs (except for a tiny tiny negligible amount), it certainly wouldn't put you back 10 years.
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Yeah, I was paraphrasing something that was written on the bottom of the poster; I thought about it long and hard and came to the same conclusion, so I figured a 1/2 a cig wouldn't hurt. That was several yrs ago, and was also the last time I tried to quit.
 
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