MOTIVATION AND INSPIRATION
Posted by: foxy9 - Apr 9, 1999
Why Not One Puff?
We know now that when we were young it is unlikely that we started right off taking 15 puffs from a cigarette every 45 minutes or so, in order to keep withdrawal at bay.
The Tobacco Company's secret research papers indicate that for average 'starter' smokers, the addiction process occurs over a 1-2 year process. (Not that they or anyone else can say they're not addicted, if smoking less that 1-2 years--there are many scientists who suspect that nicotine addiction starts very, very early, and the user is simply unaware addiction has occurred.)
But they are talking from the first "giggle" cigarette with a playmate, with a coughing fit, gagging from a stolen cigarette behind the garage. Frequently skipping thru perhaps several weeks, or even months before the next opportunity, and tolerance achieved, etc...until the starter smoker is in the well-recognized addicted state, when they notice they "need" to have a cigarette. So we're looking at from the time of "giggles' to 'need' symptoms.
But with the experienced smoker who has quit, something entirely different happens when smoking is resumed. It is baffling to all who have experienced it.
Remember, we're talking about one of most addictive substances known to man. Perhaps it is THE most addictive--it is so short acting, that it requires another 'hit' almost immediately to maintain the user's desired feeling of 'normal'. I know of no other drug that needs such constant replenishment, and repeated body movements--(talk about carpel-tunnel syndrome!)
While it is rated equal to heroin, the heroin addict does not require but perhaps a couple of hits per 24-hour period, certainly no 15-hits (puffs) per hour that the average smoker needs. Every hit is a brain-learning experience. Did you know that there is a higher percentage of successful quitters of heroin than nicotine users?
It is true. I had smoked a pack a day for 20+ years, and after several failures, and smoking cessation classes, managed to quit using tranquilizers & 2 sessions of hypnosis. I gratefully stayed quit for 15 years, until one night 5 years ago in an argument with my gent. friend, and in a fit of pique, and to show him how upset I was(!) I grabbed one of his cigarettes & lit up. He had never seen me smoke before, and said I looked awful. After blowing off steam I went and brushed my teeth, disgusted with the taste, and congratulating myself that I was truly cured--that I could never, ever return to smoking--that the incident was just an aberration--and meant nothing.
I worked the next day, and on the 45 minute drive home, I bought a pack, removed one cigarette, and threw the new pack away out the car window, and lighting the single cigarette. The next day I bought a pack, smoked two and the way to work, then threw the rest away, doing the same thing on the trip home. The next day resulted in 3 packs thrown out the window in disgust. Every time, even that first one, it was "never again".
By the end of the week I was at a pack a day, and not long after that, and when I was no longer working, it was approaching 2 pks a day. There was no nicotine withdrawal to satisfy, there was no need to build up tolerance. There was no re-learning necessary, it was all there as if there had never been an interruption.
It was that quick, that intense, after 15 years. And while the reason for the original argument was long forgotten, I had my full-blown addiction back immediately. There is no describing my regret for that one, hasty action.
I've been thinking about my dog when we go to the Vet. When she was a puppy, I took her to the Vet for her shots. She didn't care for it. The next time, as soon as she saw the Vet in the doorway, she started whimpering. The next time the whimpering started upon seeing the building. Now it begins as soon as she realizes I've made a certain turn in town--the wrong turn, in her thinking, and yet most of these previous visits to the Vet did not involve getting shots.
No, the brain never forgets. Whether it's the pathway to fear, or to addiction, it's expecting what happened the first time. The pathway, which in the beginning, meandered here and there for my dog, became shortened into a short, straight line of "wrong-turn equals Getting-A-Shot". It could be years between vet visits yet she would react the same.
I know that the shortcut to my brain, that hidden pathway to the monster, has been there ever since I first became hooked as a kid. It was just in the dark unused for 15 years, littered with cobwebs. All it needed was a little light to be shown on it for a moment and it was up and awake and ready for more............ .................and more .....................and more.............
posted on as3 by Roadkill Why Not One Puff?"
Posted by: foxy9 - Apr 9, 1999
"Whatever you can do, or believe you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it."
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) German writer, scientist, master of poetry, drama and novel
Posted by: foxy9 - Apr 10, 1999
I've gone 8 years without a cigarette after a 13 year, 1.5 pack/day habit. Now i have zero desire to smoke. My dad, uncle and brother-in-law smoked an average of 35 years and they've stayed quit longer than me. Here's what I've learned:
Long after the nicotine is out of your body, the mental addiction can continue for months, years or even the rest of your life. Where physical cravings are continuous and gradually change in intensity over a period of days, mental cravings appear suddenly, last a few minutes at a time and generally occur when you think about smoking. They can be just as intense and feel exactly like your strongest physical cravings. The two things which determine how long your mental addiction lasts is (1) how many years you've smoked (on average one year for every 10 you've smoked) and (2) your frame of mind, that is how you fight it.
The successful method many, many ex-smokers have used to overcome many sudden attacks of mental cravings is: DECIDING: "I'm not going to smoke right now. I may smoke later, but not right now." Once you MAKE THAT DECISION the mental cravings disappear much faster, even immediately.
To overcome the mental addiction you must fight and win so many mental battles. If you are just hanging on by your mental fingernails, thinking about giving in and wishing you could smoke, then you won't be making any progress. But if you overcome tough moments with mental strength, on your mental feet, WITHOUT giving in to thoughts of giving in, then your mental cravings will be gone forever much sooner. DON'T think about how good it would be to have a cigarette. DON'T let your mind rationalize reasons to go back to smoking. You MUST stop your brain from doing that, and the sooner you do, the sooner your mental cravings will be gone forever.
Sometime you will probably find yourself surrounded by people smoking, even people blowing smoke in your face, poking cigarettes at your mouth and taunting you to smoke. Or someone may try really hard to make you to start smoking again. Don't dread these tough moments, but look forward to them, because:
IF YOU CAN GET THROUGH A REALLY TOUGH MOMENT, NOT BARELY HANGING ON, BUT WITH MENTAL STRENGTH, ON YOUR MENTAL FEET WITH VERY LITTLE THOUGHT OF GIVING IN, then you will almost instantly become much stronger and find that going without cigarettes in general has suddenly become MUCH EASIER!! If you want your mental cravings down to zero, gone forever and gone sooner, then this is the way to do it. Course if you're doing it the hard way, barely hanging on and won't likely make it through such a moment, then you should probably avoid them.
AND DON'T USE CRUTCHES! They don't help very much and you'll just be attaching cravings onto those crutches. Long after your cravings for cigarettes is gone, after the will power you've developed by quitting has faded away, your crutches will come back with a vengeance!! So don't let your mind think that eating food, candy, soda, alcohol, etc. makes going without smoking easier. If anything, replace smoking with good habits which really do help, like exercise and drinking plenty of water.
I quit cold turkey, but the above should help people using patches too. You can shorten the cold turkey withdrawal and thus make it easier with exercise and drinking plenty of water; the second day was the worse for me in this way. Avoid red meat because it acts to hold nicotine in your body longer. I started with almost no will power, couldn't fight off cravings for just one hour, convinced I never could quit. But I kept at it, kept trying and built up enough will power to finally do it.
Finally, prayer helps a lot too.
posted on as3 by Perry Noid
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