Just a quick update on how I made it through hell week. This is my 3rd major attempt to quit cigarettes for good.
Day 1: Smoked last cig at 10am, had one piece of 2mg nicorette gum at 1pm, then quit cold turkey. I was anxious, sweaty, light headed, dizzy, headache and had nausea the first night. Every time I got a craving I drank a pint of water and did deep breathing exercises outside, in through nose 4 seconds out through mouth 8 seconds (repeat 10 times)
Day 2: Called out of work sick. Mulled around the house, researched quitting smoking on the internet and completed my SSC program online. Cleaned the house. I felt dizzy, had headache, was anxious, sweaty, but nausea went away. Every time I had a craving, all of which were extreme, I drank a pint of water and did my deep breathing exercises. I was very short tempered and had uncontrollable outbursts
Day 3: Attempted to go to work. All I did was stare at my computer completely unfocused and useless. Too many triggers sent me outside for deep breathing exercises, so I took the rest of the day off and went back home to chill out and do my quitting research on the internet. Rewarded myself with cup cakes for desert for making it 72 hours, and was stoked that all of the nicotine was more or less out of my body
Day 4: Was able to complete a full day of work but was not completely able to focus 100%. Took soothing walks around a nearby nature trail every time a craving came. Was still feeling hyper, but all headaches and dizziness had gone away. Continued to have mean outbursts towards people I love, but would always apologize immediately after.
Day 5: Had crazy dreams past few night along with waking up randomly in the middle of the night. I woke up feeling a lot better and didn't have the morning craving I have been used to having day after day for years. Noticed that I could smell everything a lot better. I was able to come clean about my quit to my coworkers and they all were very supportive and said that they would ignore me if I started acting crazy. I rewarded myself with a pepperoni pizza for making it through the work week without a smoke. I really wanted to have a beer after work but didn't because I was afraid of triggering a craving.
Day 6: The weekend started with no morning craving for the second day in a row. I decided to clean out my car, with a full car detail. My car smelled so bad of trashy ashy cigarette smoke. While cleaning out my car I found a full unsmoked cigarette under my drivers seat. I held it in my hand for a while thinking about what I would do with it. I found a dirty paper towel that I used to wipe down my dash with and crumpled the cig in it making a fist crushing it with anger and threw it in the trash. That felt really good, and my car finally started smelling better. Cravings were far and few between, I don't even think I did deep breathing exercises. I finished the day with some detox tea and prepared for more crazy dreams.
Day 7: Wow I made it a week without a smoke! Lets go for one more week!
. So anyway welcome back to SSC. I remember you and I see you remember what to do.
