Hi, jnine.
Your body will flush the nicotine out of your system in 72 hours, the doctors say. However, that does not mean you will be done with quitting.
When you smoked, a lot of things happened in your brain. The nicotine hijacked the reward/pleasure pathways. The resulting overstimulation resulted in some of them being shut off as the brain tried to return to "normal". Now that the stimulation from the nicotine is gone, you are understimulated and the brain starts yelling for nicotine, for its fix.
Also, there were memory associations made to smoking activity. The most common was the "get in the car, light up" one. And the after-dinner "closer" smoke that signaled the end of the meal. A few people here have switched to a piece of strong cheese to replace the end-of-the-meal cigarette. It will take a while to break those associations, jnine. General rule of thumb is you must experience all the seasons without smoking. Now this doesn't mean you will be craving the whole time. Not at all. You may have a few occasional ones, but they would be quite rare.
Congratulations on 3 smoke-free days, jnine.
Keep up the great quit. :)
Shevie
[B]My Milage:[/B]
[B]My Quit Date: [/B] 5/23/2005
[B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 605
[B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 12,100
[B]Amount Saved:[/B] $2299
[B]Life Gained:[/B]
[B]Days:[/B] 112 [B]Hrs:[/B] 9 [B]Mins:[/B] 38 [B]Seconds:[/B] 0
