Cigarettes? Not today!

So, tomorrow it will be 14 days cigarette free.

I started the process on my first day at my new job. I really had no intention of quitting but knew that it would be impossible to satisfy my nicotine cravings while at work.

My solution was to wear a 21mg nicotine patch while at work, suck on a 4mg lozenge when I got edgy and simply smoke cigarettes on the drive to work, my 15 minute breaks and lunch. Immediately after work, I'd remove the patch and smoke the rest of the night.

This wasn't sitting right with me so I decided to just fucking quit. I've been wanting to for a while and made a few cold turkey attempts that only lasted two or three days.

I started back with the 21mg patch and no lozenges for the first week. The second week I've been on the 14mg patches with no lozenges. Monday, I'll be wearing half of a 14mg patch and keep lozenges nearby.

So far it has been rather easy with assistance from the patch. Yeah, I get irritable on occasion and I get cravings mostly in the morning when I switch patches.

The weird thing is that my complexion seemed to get fucked up for about a week. This confused me because I thought the skin was supposed to regain its health after quitting. I now realize that it must have simply been a sort of detoxification. To be honest, it may very well have been the standard poor self-image that made me think my face was all fucked up looking. I dunno, it seems okay today.

I'm looking forward to the day when I have ZERO nicotine in my system. That should be pretty decent!

 

WOOT!!! Go OverDone!

I wish my fiancee could kick the habit. I gave up heroin but she's still smoking cigs. *shrugs* at least it's legal, but it's horrible for her health.

I have only been addicted to heroin not cigs but I know what addiction in general is like, it's horrible, and I am so happy for you. %)

Nice shades by the way!

 

Nice one OD!

Yeah, I think that it takes a while to get all the junk out of your system. I remember seeing a chart years ago that detailed how long it took the body to overcome chronic cigarette smoking, and some parts of it were shocking. There were quite a few things that took on the order of years to clear out. Granted, it was an anti-smoking graphic, and may have been exaggerating.

Regardless, I'm really impressed at how quickly you're tapering. Best of luck with the rest of it!

 

Thanks guys! These patches are wonderful things which make it so much easier to get over the individual humps. Initially, the mental aspect was what I was concerned about but I'm just applying some stuff I've learned from quitting drugs.

Dave, yeah I was looking at a variety of those charts and the info is interesting. Most of the charts say that they only apply to cold-turkey quitters, which makes sense but nicotine isn't the primary culprit concerning being detrimental to the health. I was reading this breakdown here. Whats weird is that one of the bullet points talks about blood circulation in the teeth. WTF is that about!?!? I didn't realize blood flowed through the teeth (then again, I was never good at biology/anatomy or whatnot)

 

Blood doesn't flow through the hard part of the teeth, but the root your teeth (where the nerves are) have blood flow. That is an odd point though, and rather specific. Hm.

 

Well done, OD! I've been off cigarettes for a few weeks myself, with the help of Zyban (Wellbutrin for all you Americans). I swear, that stuff is like methadone for tobacco. It takes away all the pleasurable effects from smoking and makes ciggies taste like crap. I still want to smoke, but I know I won't enjoy it, so I don't.