Smoking is Draining Me

I find that smoking is draining me. I feel a bit more at ease if I dont smoke after a good 12 hours, the problem is I cant stop needing a smoke. Its like a time wasting excercise. I really dont think its the nicotine but all the chemicals and carbon monoxide draining oxygene. I rekon if you dont smoke, having extra oxygene and lack of chemicals bobarding your system may speed up repair. Does anyone else feel the same way or have noticed a change if they quit?

I switched to nicotine spray years ago and it was easy. You could try that or even vaping.

 

I gave up nicotine spray last year but have had to start again to help compulsive sugar cravings.

I switched to vaping but no, I can't say that it drains me. I still need my nicotine. The first 2 days of withdrawal though I didn't vape at all. I did a little bit on the 3rd day but didn't really start again until the 4th and it gradually increased to baseline. So i can say in the beginning I craved nicotine a lot less for some reason.

I had the exact same issues so i tried vaping and i have made the switch permanantly. With the right equipment and flavor vaping is relatively easy to switch. Its saved my life. Im sure of that.

Smoking more now than ever! Was smoking about a pack a day prior to taper, now some days it’s a pack and 1/2! I’m sure it’s do to the boredom, sitting around the house and worry of taper and W/D. It’s a viscous cycle but, my doctor said concentrate on tapering and getting clean and then work on the nicotine addiction. My mother passed of Cancer in June which adds to the stress of quitting asap.

I’m sure the nicotine jacks up my anxiety but, just can’t put them down...

Just another addiction to deal with if and when I heal my brain.

Smoking is the one addiction I cannot seem to conquer. I am 68 now and have smoked fairly heavily since I was 18. A few years ago I cut down, and now smoke half a pack daily. But that is TOO MUCH! I bought a vape thingie, but cannot get the thing to work right...yet. It makes a loud popping noise just before I inhale, which is scary to me. Do any of you know how to fix that problem??? I also started using TarTrap filters on my cigarettes two years ago. They work just fine, because you can SEE the disgusting tar in the filter. But I know I need to quit. I am quite sure I already have mild emphysema. I do not want it to progress. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

Long ago I realized that smoking is possibly the hardest addiction to conquer. And I am saying that as someone who went through truly the worst possible benzo withdrawal! There is something about nicotine that makes it harder to....just give up. Wish I understood why.

 

I now HATE cigarettes but still smoke them! WTF is that all about?

east :)

I continue to smoke during my WD, it seems to help feeling a bit more relaxed but im always anxious it prevents me from fully healing.

Smoking is the one addiction I cannot seem to conquer. I am 68 now and have smoked fairly heavily since I was 18. A few years ago I cut down, and now smoke half a pack daily. But that is TOO MUCH! I bought a vape thingie, but cannot get the thing to work right...yet. It makes a loud popping noise just before I inhale, which is scary to me. Do any of you know how to fix that problem??? I also started using TarTrap filters on my cigarettes two years ago. They work just fine, because you can SEE the disgusting tar in the filter. But I know I need to quit. I am quite sure I already have mild emphysema. I do not want it to progress. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

Long ago I realized that smoking is possibly the hardest addiction to conquer. And I am saying that as someone who went through truly the worst possible benzo withdrawal! There is something about nicotine that makes it harder to....just give up. Wish I understood why.

 

I now HATE cigarettes but still smoke them! WTF is that all about?

east :

 

Giving up smoking will be a walk in the park once and if I ever get past this Benzo nightmare! Sometimes I fell I need to stop coming to this page reading all the horror stories as I may, or my not have some of the more serious W/D symptoms users are describing? It kinda adds fuel to the fire when trying not to think about my taper. Honestly how do any of you maintain a job going through all this? I’m currently unemployed due to my deteriorating mental and physical health. I’m going minute by minute, Day by day but can’t see any light at the end of the tunnel to get back to work. Bills keep coming and I’m depleting my savings account to have to pay for Insurance coverage, along with standard monthly bills and a daughter in college. Praying tomorrow gives me strength to function partially to exercise and send out some payments to the ongoing medical bills from being tested for everything under the sun until I realized it is the Benzos causing my issues and hypochondriac condition. Sorry to rant. Thanks for reading and responding when you do. Bless All!

I wouldn't give up smoking just right now amid the benzo withdrawal.  I would let the benzo withdrawal run its course, and then undertake the nicotine issue, if you are so inclined.  Smoking while in benzo withdrawal will not slow down your recovery in my opinion.  But obsessing about it will.

Thanks, Its not the nicotine though. Im addicted to the nicotine but When I smoke I feel even more drained physically. I think its all the other crap in the smoke.  I,m goin on nearly 3 months and just physically exhausted. when I walk up a flight of stairs my heart starts pounding which makes me even more wrecked. i basically ly in my room all day getting pissed off at the boredom. I walk as much as I can when I get some energy. Listen to music when I can. Do stuff when I can but limited. Then think about a smoke.

 

The nicotine gum dosnt wreck me just the smoke. God it just goes on and on and on...I was feeling better two months ago

 

 

I tried gum and everything else.

 

Thecspay instantly allowed me to stop smoking because it is a quick hit like a cigarette and once you have sprayed you can’t have a cigarette so all you have to do is spray instead of smoke. It was easy.

Thanks Ajusta, I will look get some spray when i get out next. I guess all these heart palpatations or normal even after a couple and a half months out? i was thinking about trying to get checked out to see about mt heart racing and sheer lack of strength, but hell thats just stressful has hec when half your brain and body dosnt work.

 

For the record I am taking no medication at all, nothing. I read some articles that some people just cant smoke as it makes them worse to.  im presuming feeling so urrrghhh means something maybe is working to try and get better. i am allergic to the evil BenZO word now. i never want to have to type it in to google again.

Hi pheonixrising,

 

I gave up smoking during my taper and it was the best thing I could do. With nicotine you should stop cold turkey. All the rest (vaping, gum, etc.) are just ways the industry invented to keep us hooked and will only prolong the agony. As with benzos, they explore our desire to keep the cake and eat it too.

 

To quit smoking, I held my benzo dose for a few weeks. The first week after quitting was rough (I'd go to bed to resist the cravings) but after three weeks things got amazingly easier. What I noticed is that I started having more physical resistance. Not sleeping well, for example, didn't bring me down as before.

 

All the best!

I definitely agree to switch to vaping.  When I was prescribed cannabis, the doctor was very very adamant that I should not smoke it the regular way, but to use a vaporizer because it was so much healthier. 

Yeah it really is a conundrum thanks guys. I do think that its best to stop cold turkey but I,m not strong enough mentally to that. I got sum gum and spray. although I,m not sure about the spray as it contains anhydrous ethanol. I took two sprays and it seems to work well just freaked about the anhydrous ethanol? probably 0.0000.0.1% but still...fuuuckkk this blows.

 

i have a vape but the problem with that is I will just puff on it like a dragon and the get a bad chest....I sound like a right moan here, i,m really not : (

 

Ive went a couple of hours now with no cigs. I might try a few days on NRT just to soften the blow. I think getting the carbon monoxide out will send a load of oxygen hurtling towards the brain, something I need.

 

I quit cold when in good health and it wasnt that hard but now its crap both quitting and or worse actually smoking, but as all you guys say the benefits will hopefully show.

 

Smoking is the one addiction I cannot seem to conquer. Last week I bought a vape thing, but havent figured out how to regulate it well. If I set it too high the smoke is just too much. If too low, it makes this loud popping noise which scares me so I dont inhale! When I say I am technophobic, I mean it!

 

I started using TarTrap filters several years ago. They seem to work quite well. I tried the "Nic Out" ones but they didnt remove much tar and I doubt they removed any nicotine.

 

Smoking is stupid and we all know this but here we are, addicted to yet another damn drug. UGH!

east

I quit cigarettes 5 years ago, it was my second attempt and it took.  There was a time in my life when I thought I couldn't live without cigarettes, but that's not the point.  Here's the thing, if you had fresh tobacco plant leaves, dried them in the Sun, then chopped up them finely and rolled into a cigarette, that would be the healthiest cigarette there is.  Chemicals and additives circumvented.  That's how our Fathers did it, and it beats the hell out of all these modern commercially oriented cigarettes and methods, including vaping. 

You are correct ginger. Tobacco companies have to be the scum of the earth. I know they add stuff to the tobacco to make it more addicting. What a horrible thing to do to other human beings. I wish I had never started smoking in the first place...but I did.

 

I bought a vape thingie and havent learned to regulate it yet. If I try to inhale it makes this loud scary popping noise. I plan to go back to the store I bought it at and have them explain what I am doing wrong.

 

Phooey on ALL addictive substances!

east

I get loose tobacco and cig tubes and have a rolling machine and roll my own.  I don't think they are as dangerous or as addictive as the store-bought packs.  Plus, it's a whole lot cheaper.  Your local tobacco store sells that stuff. 

I smoked near 30 cigarettes yesterday during a nutty day. I felt like I was back in acute withdrawal. I had smoked 10 by 11am. I was more shaky etc...Tinnitus was worse, brain F&*K etc.,....It was either the stress i went through was overwhelming or both the smokes and stress. Today I am back to the baseline again....Which is far from normal, but I will take that over yesterday. I managed a stint of 4 hours solid sleep 6-7 in total. i dont know how deep it was as I was constantly dreaming...4 hours solid is the longest in a long time..its usually 1,2 or 3 hours solid.

 

I havnt smoked today but using the vape. The psychological addiction to smoking should not be underestimated. Its the thought of going for a walk and sitting by the sea and having a fag and a think. Although when I would do that I can hardly think or enjoy the moment yet your brain still has that sense of nostalgia associated with it. It is never as good as the thought. After the smoke I can hardly walk home...whats the point yet i will still get thoughts, or urges...Breaking the mind addiction is very important.