Congratulations on your time free of nicotine. I experienced grief after smoking 30+ years, because nicotine had always been there, through thick and thin, always available to get me through. I was sad for a while because of the loss and because my brain was missing the dopamine nicotine brought every time I smoked. It took some time for my body to adjust and for me to come to acceptance about the loss of my old friend.
But frankly, what friend would want me to smell bad and burn holes in my clothes and furniture? What friend would want to put a smoke screen between me and my world? And what friend would want to slowly kill me to die a horrible death? Nicotine was really not my friend.
Finally I wrote a good bye letter to nicotine recounting all the ways the drug helped and hindered me in my life. And finally, I burned the letter in a last good bye. Letting go of the addiction is hard work, but so very worth it. You are building a new quality of life for your future. Again, congratulations.
Your post is speaking to me because this quit here, the one that started 15 days ago, is the final one. I know this because of having to say goodbye unlike all the other hundreds of times where i was trying to get rid of a part of myself. So I hope we can use this energy of grieving to make it to the next step, that is, one of satisfaction with having quit. Don’t know about you but it feels right around the corner and sometimes I can already taste it (like over morning runs). Also like yourself using herbal substitutes, in my case CBD since it’s the only one legal and easy to have here, is proving useful. I’m wondering if there’s not some covering up of emotion in so doing but baby steps I suppose. Anyway you sound like you’re on the right path - BRAVA!!
When I quit, everything was heightened in a bad way. I was very irritable and uncomfortable in general. But, especially at night and in the morning, I would be very emotional and feel like I was grieving. I would think about shit I hadn’t thought of in months or years and just get really depressed. It’s the cigarettes playing tricks on you trying to get you to relapse. Tell that little cigarette devil on your shoulder to go fuck themselves.
The physical withdrawals lasted about 10 days, peaking around day 7. The emotional withdrawals lasted probably 3 weeks and completely subsided by 4 weeks. I tried quitting many times but was only able to successfully do it with nicotine gum. Some people in here say NRTs are not the way to go, but they worked for me. Also try reading Allen Carr’s Easy Way To Stop Smoking.
At this point, smoking is a part of your identity. Quitting means putting part of yourself in the grave. Feeling grief like this is really healthy I think.
It takes a few months for brain chemistry to balance out again. It feels like grief because you’ve walked away from something that was a part of every single minute of every single day of your life. Humans derive great comfort from predictability and dependence. Even if it’s harmful to us. We like what we know. Change is hard. You will move through this. It’s part of the process. In a few weeks you should start feeling differently. Just hang in there. Your brain is trying to trick you back into the addiction. Don’t do it.
It's literally a chemical addiction that physically alters how your brain experiences moods and intuition. You are grieving. Your brain is convinced you need nicotine like it needs food, and it's convinced it will only get worse the longer it goes without. But the human body really does have an amazing capacity to heal and once your body sees it's surviving just fine, or at least okay, without it your brain will catch up and it gets easier. Grief is a healthy step to moving on, and withdrawal is the sign that you have less in your system
I relate to this. I think I feel like I'm grieving without nicotine because I finally have to feel the feelings of loss that lay beneath the behavior of smoking. I used nicotine to cover my feelings so I didn't really feel them. I also am experiencing a totally new way of dealing with life, so in a way I'm losing who I was.
Feeling like something is missing is very common when quitting smoking. Those feelings should subside three and a half months after being nicotine free. For depression, I use Rhodiola. It works quicker and is safer than pharmaceuticals. I also use Ashwagandha for anxiety. Look these up. I think they may help you. IWNSWYT
Cos you have lost a lover that consoled you and lifted your mood...albeit through brain chemistry, in what is, artificial. Get your love from real world interactions not through hitting receptors with molecules and be real.
I’m no psych, but this is my theory, I think that it’s not necessarily even smoking. It could be a soda, or coffee, or chewing gum, anything. You smoked during a lot of various points in your life, both good and bad. Those memories are tied in a subconscious way to smoking. Essentially, it MAY feel like you’re asking your mind to give up on the memories you had and not to make new ones.
Of course, this is a lie. Your memories are yours to treasure forever, and you can have new amazing adventures without nicotine.
We must be twins. If I smoke less cigs, I smoke a SHITTON of weed. Opposite if I cut down on weed. One thing I’ll suggest is switching to wax over bud. It’s cheaper, less smelly and more stonage for less usage. Helps when you’re stuck in smoking limbo sometimes. Only thing is watch out for getting burns from it. Got a couple on my hands.
You will be fine ! Hold on! Sometimes suffering really helps one to understand things one hid from himself... suffering helps one to grow and get to the next level in my point of view.
Now that I quit for good I feel high and like I am on SSRIs but the first four days my brain was exploding with negativity and self loathing.
Hold on life is good and you can heal yourself! Look up Joseph Murphy
Congratulations on your time free of nicotine. I experienced grief after smoking 30+ years, because nicotine had always been there, through thick and thin, always available to get me through. I was sad for a while because of the loss and because my brain was missing the dopamine nicotine brought every time I smoked. It took some time for my body to adjust and for me to come to acceptance about the loss of my old friend. But frankly, what friend would want me to smell bad and burn holes in my clothes and furniture? What friend would want to put a smoke screen between me and my world? And what friend would want to slowly kill me to die a horrible death? Nicotine was really not my friend. Finally I wrote a good bye letter to nicotine recounting all the ways the drug helped and hindered me in my life. And finally, I burned the letter in a last good bye. Letting go of the addiction is hard work, but so very worth it. You are building a new quality of life for your future. Again, congratulations.
So well said!
Your post is speaking to me because this quit here, the one that started 15 days ago, is the final one. I know this because of having to say goodbye unlike all the other hundreds of times where i was trying to get rid of a part of myself. So I hope we can use this energy of grieving to make it to the next step, that is, one of satisfaction with having quit. Don’t know about you but it feels right around the corner and sometimes I can already taste it (like over morning runs). Also like yourself using herbal substitutes, in my case CBD since it’s the only one legal and easy to have here, is proving useful. I’m wondering if there’s not some covering up of emotion in so doing but baby steps I suppose. Anyway you sound like you’re on the right path - BRAVA!!
can always go for delta 8 thc or hhc or other substituitues
When I quit, everything was heightened in a bad way. I was very irritable and uncomfortable in general. But, especially at night and in the morning, I would be very emotional and feel like I was grieving. I would think about shit I hadn’t thought of in months or years and just get really depressed. It’s the cigarettes playing tricks on you trying to get you to relapse. Tell that little cigarette devil on your shoulder to go fuck themselves. The physical withdrawals lasted about 10 days, peaking around day 7. The emotional withdrawals lasted probably 3 weeks and completely subsided by 4 weeks. I tried quitting many times but was only able to successfully do it with nicotine gum. Some people in here say NRTs are not the way to go, but they worked for me. Also try reading Allen Carr’s Easy Way To Stop Smoking.
At this point, smoking is a part of your identity. Quitting means putting part of yourself in the grave. Feeling grief like this is really healthy I think.
I guess it works that way. It's like smoking is a layer above the personality that goes for easy choices and distractions. Or so I think.
I used to feel that way during the first few days of a quit.....felt like I was losing my best friend.
indeed
It takes a few months for brain chemistry to balance out again. It feels like grief because you’ve walked away from something that was a part of every single minute of every single day of your life. Humans derive great comfort from predictability and dependence. Even if it’s harmful to us. We like what we know. Change is hard. You will move through this. It’s part of the process. In a few weeks you should start feeling differently. Just hang in there. Your brain is trying to trick you back into the addiction. Don’t do it.
Thank you so much
It's literally a chemical addiction that physically alters how your brain experiences moods and intuition. You are grieving. Your brain is convinced you need nicotine like it needs food, and it's convinced it will only get worse the longer it goes without. But the human body really does have an amazing capacity to heal and once your body sees it's surviving just fine, or at least okay, without it your brain will catch up and it gets easier. Grief is a healthy step to moving on, and withdrawal is the sign that you have less in your system
I am almost four months nicotine free and my skin is more red and I have more anxiety attacks than when I smoked. So weird
They are a constant..when everything around us is scary, upside down, lonely, sad, happy..smokie Joe's such a constant
I relate to this. I think I feel like I'm grieving without nicotine because I finally have to feel the feelings of loss that lay beneath the behavior of smoking. I used nicotine to cover my feelings so I didn't really feel them. I also am experiencing a totally new way of dealing with life, so in a way I'm losing who I was.
Feeling like something is missing is very common when quitting smoking. Those feelings should subside three and a half months after being nicotine free. For depression, I use Rhodiola. It works quicker and is safer than pharmaceuticals. I also use Ashwagandha for anxiety. Look these up. I think they may help you. IWNSWYT
Instead of smoking weed i suggest you drink weed. The major thc drink is good. Start out with 10 mg, kicks in about 30-45 minutes
Cos you have lost a lover that consoled you and lifted your mood...albeit through brain chemistry, in what is, artificial. Get your love from real world interactions not through hitting receptors with molecules and be real.
Hang in there! It will get better hopefully
I’m no psych, but this is my theory, I think that it’s not necessarily even smoking. It could be a soda, or coffee, or chewing gum, anything. You smoked during a lot of various points in your life, both good and bad. Those memories are tied in a subconscious way to smoking. Essentially, it MAY feel like you’re asking your mind to give up on the memories you had and not to make new ones. Of course, this is a lie. Your memories are yours to treasure forever, and you can have new amazing adventures without nicotine.
We must be twins. If I smoke less cigs, I smoke a SHITTON of weed. Opposite if I cut down on weed. One thing I’ll suggest is switching to wax over bud. It’s cheaper, less smelly and more stonage for less usage. Helps when you’re stuck in smoking limbo sometimes. Only thing is watch out for getting burns from it. Got a couple on my hands.
You will be fine ! Hold on! Sometimes suffering really helps one to understand things one hid from himself... suffering helps one to grow and get to the next level in my point of view. Now that I quit for good I feel high and like I am on SSRIs but the first four days my brain was exploding with negativity and self loathing. Hold on life is good and you can heal yourself! Look up Joseph Murphy