Andrew,
All I can say is if you want to end your addiction to nicotine, read up on nicotine addiction, how it is addictive, the effects on your brain, how your body reacts through withdrawal and how it recovers.
Recovery is not just possible if you're lucky, it is a scientific certainty provided you stop putting nicotine into your bloodstream. You will feel normal without nicotine eventually just as you did before you ever smoked. The body does heal and the mind replaces smoking memories with nonsmoking memories.
Addiction is a certainty provided you continue smoking nicotine. Forget about smoking cigarettes, we smoked nicotine in the same way that people smoke heroin or crack cocaine. We wouldn't smoke cigarettes if nicotine wasn't in them, end of story. You will increase your consumption as your brain steadily reduces the number of dopamine receptors, it is inevitable.
Everyone's quit is different but I think all on this site would agree that knowledge of this chemical is critical. It's also been a comfort to me to understand that I'm not a fool or a bad person for having smoked, I had only been doing exactly what cigarettes laced with nicotine are designed to do. Create a false need and make me buy more and more cigarettes!
So don't feel bad, study up on your condition, it's serious, just as serious as finding you have any other life threatening or disrupting disease.
When you're ready get stuck into your quit, we'll be here!
Good luck Big A!
Chicken Licken
[B]My Milage:[/B]
[B]My Quit Date: [/B] 5/2/2006
[B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 51
[B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 666
[B]Amount Saved:[/B] $561
[B]Life Gained:[/B]
[B]Days:[/B] 4 [B]Hrs:[/B] 7 [B]Mins:[/B] 24 [B]Seconds:[/B] 12