| Nicotine Withdrawal: What is it and what can you do | | | | are a lot like nicotine withdrawal and you may want to |
| about it? | | | | rethink the timing of giving them up together. Many |
| Nicotine withdrawal begins when you significantly | | | | people have a cigarette with their coffee and |
| reduce your consumption of nicotine, withdrawal can | | | | therefore believe they have to give up both to |
| include feeling out of sorts, edginess, headaches, lack | | | | succeed. If you plan on giving up both be prepared for |
| of focus and concentration. If you try to drag out or | | | | additional withdrawal or give up one at a time. |
| phase down your consumption you may be also | | | | Understanding the difference between withdrawal |
| dragging out your withdrawal making it last longer than | | | | threshold and withdrawal tolerance can help you figure |
| necessary. As you phase down your consumption of | | | | out how you will approach the subject. |
| cigarettes your body resets itself to accommodate the | | | | Withdrawal threshold is the point at which you begin to |
| amount of nicotine it is getting and wanting. Phasing out | | | | experience withdrawal. It generally starts when you |
| can be like death by a thousand cuts, sometimes you | | | | significantly reduce the consumption of nicotine. Your |
| may be better off by just getting it over with all at | | | | personal threshold level is reached very quickly and |
| once. | | | | subsides just as fast. If you have quit before you will |
| Because you have used nicotine over a long period of | | | | know when it has started and you can prepare for it. |
| time the receptors in your brain have gotten used to its | | | | Withdrawal tolerance is the amount of withdrawal you |
| daily feed of nicotine. An average smoker who | | | | can handle, either mentally or physically. Some people |
| consumes 20 cigarettes a day takes about 10 puffs | | | | have a very high tolerance and some a very low |
| per cigarette, or about 70,000 puffs a year. That's a | | | | tolerance. If you have a high tolerance you will cruise |
| lot of puffs. | | | | through it, if your tolerance is low you may need help. |
| What does puffing 70,000 times a year have to do | | | | Knowing how much withdrawal you can handle will |
| with nicotine withdrawal? A lot! Each time you inhale | | | | help you decide if you are going to stop smoking by |
| smoke from a cigarette, the cigarette contains nicotine | | | | going cold turkey or with the use of a stop smoking |
| that travels to your brain in about 7 seconds, releasing | | | | aid. The saying, no pain no gain applies here, a bit of |
| a pleasure chemical that gives you that short lived aha | | | | short-lived discomfort is worth the reward, you quitting. |
| feeling. If you do anything 70,000 times a year for | | | | A good way to deal with nicotine withdrawal is to |
| many years and then suddenly stop, you are going to | | | | understand whether your challenge is mental, physical |
| miss it. | | | | or imagined. |
| The reason you smoke 20 a day is the receptors in | | | | Mental withdrawal can be a matter of separation |
| the pleasure center in your brain have gotten used to | | | | anxiety, meaning you just gave up something you |
| those puffs. When you first started smoking your | | | | have doing for a long time or simply your response to |
| receptors were very sensitive and a little went a long | | | | major changes in your everyday pattern of behavior. |
| way, your first cigarette probably made you | | | | A clue to whether this is the case is if you don't need |
| nauseous and even sick, then you got used to it and | | | | it, but miss it, feel a sense of loss, refer to yourself as |
| now smoke 20 a day. As your receptors became | | | | a smoker or talk about cigarettes being your best |
| desensitized you needed more to get the same kick | | | | friend. If it's mental withdrawal you are dealing with, it |
| until you reached your personal level of satiety. What | | | | will go away. Accept the fact that you have moved |
| occurs when you go from 20 to zero is something | | | | on just like you move on when you change jobs, |
| called withdrawal. | | | | houses or friends. |
| If you have never tried to stop smoking you should | | | | Physical withdrawal is something different. Physical |
| know about nicotine withdrawal. If you have quit | | | | withdrawal is your body physically reacting to you |
| before you know about withdrawal and how you | | | | eliminating the steady predictable flow of nicotine to |
| handled it during prior attempts. Nicotine withdrawal | | | | the brain. It's something the brain got used to and |
| may be something you can handle easily or something | | | | wants you to have because you have doing it for |
| you may need help with. However if you drink | | | | years or decades. Compared to withdrawal from |
| caffeinated coffee and are thinking about giving it up | | | | certain pharmaceuticals, alcohol, or hard drugs, nicotine |
| at the same time you may be in for double the | | | | withdrawal is rather innocuous. |
| withdrawal. The symptoms for caffeine withdrawal | | | | |