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Still craving cigarettes after 6 months


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Hi. I smoked for 35 years and quit six months ago. I am still having strong cravings for nicotine. I don't know why this is so. I've been able to handle the cravings so far but I'm afraid of starting the habit again.

 

Has anyone experienced this? Any advice or comments.

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Yeah, my mom smoked for about as long, starting at age 14 and quitting in her late 40's and I wish I could ask her. I never saw any evidence of slippage nor complaints and she lived in a house with a full-time smoker (my dad) until he died, so about another 15 years after she quit. All I surmise is that she had a will of iron.

 

In any event, congratulations and I salute you for the difficulty of this struggle. IIRC, you're doing AA too. I hope those choices reward you with a long and healthy life.

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pureinheart
Hi. I smoked for 35 years and quit six months ago. I am still having strong cravings for nicotine. I don't know why this is so. I've been able to handle the cravings so far but I'm afraid of starting the habit again.

 

Has anyone experienced this? Any advice or comments.

 

I am right now. Quit April 4th at 10pm this year. I wouldn't think this was odd had I not quit for long lengths of time in the past with NO cravings a month afterwards. I don't understand it.

 

Please don't start again AM.

 

FTR, quit my pain pills too 2 months prior... had been taking them for about 8 yrs and the cigs were way harder. Oh and your post when you first came back to LS encouraged me to quit taking poisons.

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AM- if i am sensing correctly... The Aa program can be applied to other habits/ addictions.

 

As a 27 years in recovery i still get moments of craving a cold beer or a glass if wine. Yup the craving is there... but each time... i reflect on where that takes me.., so yeah... no matter the habit... the craving validates I still got work to do...

 

What im getting at is... its normal to crave it... its phenomenal when you can let it subside... I let my craving have its tantrum... then i pick up my determination to remove it :) As they say... this too will pass.

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bubbaganoosh

Have you tried a vape? They worked for a few people I know and are less harmful then cigarettes. You can buy fluid with less nicotine and cut down that way.

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I quit smoking three years ago after smoking for nearly 20 years and I still crave it from time to time. So, what you're experiencing is very normal. Just push through it.

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amaysngrace

I quit cigarettes about eight years ago and I use to crave them sometimes so around two years after I stopped I bummed one and it was disgusting.

 

It tasted like total chemicals.

 

I don't crave them anymore.

 

But when the cravings come on strong especially in the beginning just bear through it...it will pass.

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Have you tried a vape? They worked for a few people I know and are less harmful then cigarettes. You can buy fluid with less nicotine and cut down that way.

 

 

Vape is what finally worked for me. I tried several times to quit. Went cold turkey once and another time I tried the patch. I kept failing but I smoked less each time I went back to it. So when I got the vape I was only smoking aroung 5 cigs a day. First I tried vape without nicotine and even on that I was able to cut out another couple of cigs a day but I just couldn't stop altogether until I got some vape with nicotine. That did the trick. Once I was on the vape full time and not smoking at all then it was easy to cut down the nicotine levels to zero and now I still vape using zero nicotine when I have cravings and it totally works. Best way ever to quit smoking, for me anyways, as it was so much less trauma. No rages, no anxiety, no unbearable cravings, no overeating to compensate. I only wish I had done it sooner.

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pureinheart

I know what you guys are talking about having quit for long periods of time in the past- there are these like tiny cravings, but pass within a second or so... IMO those don't count. The cravings I'm experiencing now almost make a person want to start again, they are strong.

 

Question- I have to wonder if the cig companies have changed their formulas recently ... like from the last time I quit/started till now. With people quitting more and more 'business' must be way down... so possibly they are making them more addictive.

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travelbug1996

the same principles you apply to not drinking, you apply to smoking.

 

One hour, minute day at a time. I stopped smoking 20 years ago.

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pureinheart
I quit cigarettes about eight years ago and I use to crave them sometimes so around two years after I stopped I bummed one and it was disgusting.

 

It tasted like total chemicals.

 

I don't crave them anymore.

 

But when the cravings come on strong especially in the beginning just bear through it...it will pass.

 

yep.............

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whichwayisup
Hi. I smoked for 35 years and quit six months ago. I am still having strong cravings for nicotine. I don't know why this is so. I've been able to handle the cravings so far but I'm afraid of starting the habit again.

 

Has anyone experienced this? Any advice or comments.

 

Buy the nicorette gum! Or a nicorette inhaler. A friend of mine chews the gum and it works well with the nic fits.

 

You won't start up again, you've gone so long already, 6 months is amazing!

 

If you ever have a weak moment, post on here and someone will talk you out of it, or call a friend to talk you out of it. Ha, or go have a splooge/shower :lmao: any kind of distraction so you won't light one up.

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whichwayisup
Have you tried a vape? They worked for a few people I know and are less harmful then cigarettes. You can buy fluid with less nicotine and cut down that way.

 

Actually there are no real studies on vape. Nobody knows the damage it can do yet.. All I know is, I tried it and always had a 'taste' in the back of my throat and my lungs felt tight and I developed a weird cough, much different than the typical smokers cough. As soon as I stopped the vape, it went away.

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pureinheart
Buy the nicorette gum! Or a nicorette inhaler. A friend of mine chews the gum and it works well with the nic fits.

 

You won't start up again, you've gone so long already, 6 months is amazing!

 

If you ever have a weak moment, post on here and someone will talk you out of it, or call a friend to talk you out of it. Ha, or go have a splooge/shower :lmao: any kind of distraction so you won't light one up.

 

They have an inhaler now! That is awesome...

 

WWIU is right, it is amazing what you've accomplished and encouraging. I wonder how many other people got courage from your post to quit what ever they needed to.

 

Not sure why, but I was always leery of the vape.

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I quit for almost a year back in 2008 and craved cigarettes the entire time. Then I quit for 2 years in 2010 and again...craved the entire time. Made another attempt in 2013.....but this time I used a vape machine and never had a craving until i made the stupid decision to start smoking again a year later for no reason at all and now in 2015 I am 5 days cigarette free and using a vape once again and have only had 2 cravings but thats bc i am going through some MAJOR changes in my life and i am still so fresh off of them. Otherwise i am fully satisfied with my vape machine and do not anticipate very many if any cravings in the future! Now if only i can get used to the fact that i am NOT a smoker anymore....Id be good!

 

Congrats and good luck hon! :cool:

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Arieswoman

I quit in 1995 and it was really difficult for the first 3 months.

 

I worked in a hospital so I wasn't allowed to smoke at work, which was good. I joined a gym and always had a gym bag packed ready. If I got the craving after work I took off to the gym and worked out. By the time I'd done that I was so tired I came home and went to bed.

 

After 3 months it got better.

 

Even now the smell of a freshly-lit ciggie smells good, but I have no desire to go down that route again.

 

Keep up the good work alphamale ! :)

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Even now the smell of a freshly-lit ciggie smells good, but I have no desire to go down that route again.

 

Keep up the good work alphamale ! :)

thats about where i'm at arieswoman

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I quit smoking in 2000 and still miss it, enough that every year for my check up my doctor and I talk about it. She says (for me anyway) it's not the nicotine I miss but the actual act of smoking and I think she's right. I always found it to be a very calming, peaceful act.

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Clarence_Boddicker

Join Quitters Inc.

 

 

 

 

I couldn't find the full version.

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I quit smoking in 2000 and still miss it, enough that every year for my check up my doctor and I talk about it. She says (for me anyway) it's not the nicotine I miss but the actual act of smoking and I think she's right. I always found it to be a very calming, peaceful act.

yea that could be possible

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