I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels like garbage after quitting.
Day 8 for me. I am quitting using a vape. I started off on 8 mg nicotine (medium to low amount for vape liquid) because I wanted to go ahead and start detoxing from the nicotine as well as all of the junk in cigarettes. I smoked Djarum cloves for almost 9 years.
I feel simultaneously better and worse. I noticed an instant change in my lungs, and my throat is much calmer. My sense of smell came back quickly. The vape is almost like a humidifier and I think that helps my breathing as well. I need my inhaler way less.
But on the down side, my allergies have come back full force, I have a constant headache, and I feel like my neck/back muscles ache more. I coughed up some tar and junk on day 4 but haven't done so since. I imagine it will happen again when the cilia in my lungs is finished healing. Also constipated. All those websites to help you quit forget to mention all of this junk.
I mainly wanted to reply because I noticed a lot of people haven't mentioned the side effects of using a patch. I used a patch (and dumdums to help with wanting to fidget with my hands) and successfully quit for a year a long time ago.
Patches are awful. I honestly think the only reason they work is because you are mentally choosing to quit and don't want to add any more nicotine into your body because you are using a patch. It only takes 72 hours to get nicotine out of your bloodstream and then you are no longer physically addicted to it - just mentally. If you are going to try using patches, start off with a LOW amount. If the low dose isn't working, move up one level. Don't start off on max.
As you know, a patch periodically releases nicotine through your skin every couple of hours, whether you are craving or not. It is a bizarre sensation. It can give you the same kind of buzz you had when you first started smoking. It can make you feel nauseous, shaky, and nervous. By the end of the day, you could become VERY anxious and have trouble falling asleep. If you sleep in the patch, you are almost guaranteed to have vivid, strange dreams, usually nightmares. And you won't sleep well, because you are getting dosed with nicotine all night which raises your heart rate while it should be going as slow as it ever does. And then when you are done, you have to get off the patch, and go through nicotine withdrawal after all your hard work not smoking. That part is the hardest.
Anyway, be warned, some of your symptoms may be from your method. Keep trying, it's better than smoking, and it's better than going through it again. Once it's out of your system, you'll feel so much better.
Good luck to anyone quitting!
Day 8 for me. I am quitting using a vape. I started off on 8 mg nicotine (medium to low amount for vape liquid) because I wanted to go ahead and start detoxing from the nicotine as well as all of the junk in cigarettes. I smoked Djarum cloves for almost 9 years.
I feel simultaneously better and worse. I noticed an instant change in my lungs, and my throat is much calmer. My sense of smell came back quickly. The vape is almost like a humidifier and I think that helps my breathing as well. I need my inhaler way less.
But on the down side, my allergies have come back full force, I have a constant headache, and I feel like my neck/back muscles ache more. I coughed up some tar and junk on day 4 but haven't done so since. I imagine it will happen again when the cilia in my lungs is finished healing. Also constipated. All those websites to help you quit forget to mention all of this junk.
I mainly wanted to reply because I noticed a lot of people haven't mentioned the side effects of using a patch. I used a patch (and dumdums to help with wanting to fidget with my hands) and successfully quit for a year a long time ago.
Patches are awful. I honestly think the only reason they work is because you are mentally choosing to quit and don't want to add any more nicotine into your body because you are using a patch. It only takes 72 hours to get nicotine out of your bloodstream and then you are no longer physically addicted to it - just mentally. If you are going to try using patches, start off with a LOW amount. If the low dose isn't working, move up one level. Don't start off on max.
As you know, a patch periodically releases nicotine through your skin every couple of hours, whether you are craving or not. It is a bizarre sensation. It can give you the same kind of buzz you had when you first started smoking. It can make you feel nauseous, shaky, and nervous. By the end of the day, you could become VERY anxious and have trouble falling asleep. If you sleep in the patch, you are almost guaranteed to have vivid, strange dreams, usually nightmares. And you won't sleep well, because you are getting dosed with nicotine all night which raises your heart rate while it should be going as slow as it ever does. And then when you are done, you have to get off the patch, and go through nicotine withdrawal after all your hard work not smoking. That part is the hardest.
Anyway, be warned, some of your symptoms may be from your method. Keep trying, it's better than smoking, and it's better than going through it again. Once it's out of your system, you'll feel so much better.
Good luck to anyone quitting!
It's horrible. Quit 10/12/15 and feel absolutely lousy. No energy. I feel like I have vertigo. Anyone who claims they feel wonderful.....good on you. Of course I'm old as well. Maybe that means something.
hang in there!! If you have been sick with full sinuses you may have plugged ears causing the vertigo That is what happened to me.
im in my 8 wk time now after smoking for 35 yrs a pack or so a day...can honestly say i thought i was going to die but am feeling a bit better today..its been a NIGHTMARE... !!!! but no way going back
You will have good and bad days. Stay with it I'm 2 1/2 years now and feel great. Smoked for 30 years...Keith
im on 5 month without smoking.. smoking for 15 years with 1 or 2 pack a day.. the first month i fell so great with my breath , stamina , and all my sense.. and i fell so healty that i never get when i smoking.. but after 2nd month all the nic withdrawl was nighmare.. fell dizzy all the time like mild vertigo.. so stone.. follow by chest paint and anxety.. all of th sympton really disturbing my daily life.. being in er for ecg test but nothing.. im think about to die..im also easyli tired.. just climb a few step of stairs i fell like running for a miles.. now after 5 month the symptom slowly get away.. i mean so slowly get away.. i can feel little improvment but the nighmare still there..anxety still there.. chest paint still there..and dizzyness still there.. just pray for the best.. time will tells..
Thí website really hás put my mind at rést. Thanks everyone.
It will pass over time. I was in the same shoes as you when I first quit. I'm at 2-1/2 years now. Life is back to normal and I feel great. It took about a year to get back to feeling myself but you have to keep it up. Keep posting and reading everyone's progress it helps. Keith
I'm so glad that I ran across this because I was in a state of panic thinking that things were very wrong. I quit just a couple of weeks ago actually I think I'm on like Day 15 and I had no idea that I was going to feel like this. I knew there was going to be anxiety over quitting but this drop in energy level and panic and all of the other things associated with the with drawl symptoms was not something I had planned to deal with and quite frankly Woodsberry and is very scary. But I am a bit more at ease having read that others are experiencing the same thing and I don't feel like I am terminally unique. I certainly don't want to start smoking again as I did stop cold turkey after almost 40 years so I do plan on having to do this again. Thanks for being so open and honest about how you felt because it really helped me best of luck in your endeavors to finally get rid of cigarettes.
omg i quit after 25 years started at 19 quit at 45. i havent smoked in 6 months now and acid reflux/gerd, sinus infection and constipation are all of my symptoms after i quit smoking. good days and bad days. reading your reply to his post has given me a since of im not alone. thank you so much i needed to read this
I hit 8 months on my quit this week. I still have some anxiety issues and plugged sinuses/ears. However, I have no real cravings for smoking at all anymore. What a wonderful feeling not to constantly think about when I will get my next fix. The freedom outweighs getting through these other issues by far.
That is great. I still think about it once in awhile even after 2-1/2 years but it's not like I have to go out and get a pack. That is a great feeling! Now I can hang out with people that smoke in front of me and has no impact. I actually feel for them. Keith
I just give up a week now and today o feel so I'll I just want a fag
I have smoked for 30 years and stopped Jan 4 2016, I want to lay all the time depressed, feel sick, went to doc said breathing every excellent, my body hurts hard to explain, I refuse to start agian. Maybe I should not have gone cold turkey. I think I need a support group, live in small town.
Everyone is different, but I had a really rough time for a few months. I had expectations that I would feel fantastic within a month but not so. I am almost at 10 months and feel pretty great. I think cold turkey is the way to go. It's painful for a bit but stay strong! Congratulations!