After quitting smoking "cold turkey" how long until your cravings stop!

After quitting smoking "cold turkey" how long until your cravings stop?

Thank goodness, I quit in January and haven't looked back. Not cold turkey though, and here is why. Smoking is a two part addiction. One is behavioral, and the other is physical. It really pays off to break them up and conquer them one at a time. At least with nic replacement, your lungs can start to heal. I guess I'm not such a good poster child for nic replacement therapy, I'm still using it, I haven't gotten the courage up to break off my physical addiction yet. I just wanted to quit smoking.

This doesn't answer your question, though, huh?

I have tried several times to quit and this is my longest without smoking (about 6 months). I still consider smoking but it isn't what I would call a craving. When I quit cold turkey, I was back to it within days. So it's kind of a "how many licks to get to the center of a tootsie roll pop?" type of question. At least for me, the world will never know because I could not quit cold turkey.

I have heard 72 hours to get the nic out of your system but I went longer than that and still was completely bonkers. In fact, the cravings didn't subside, they multiplied. I'm sure this is because while the nicotine might be out of your system, this only serves to really hit you hard that your body is rid of its fix...and that is no where NEAR the amount of time most people need to quit the behaviors and the rituals, the schedule patterns, etc that reinforce smoking so strongly.

Which brings in the behavior factors: With our regular smokes, such as morning, after meals, before bed, after sex, when you leave the house, when you start the car, coffee breaks, etc...we expect the cigarette to come afterward. So when you don't get it, you crave like one of Pavlov's dogs that were conditioned to salivate when the bell rang. (They were fed right after the bell rang and learned to associate bells with food.)

It's surely going to depend on what you do while you are going through that withdrawal. If you set about learning new habits so it isn't such a glaring omission of a smoke, and if you give your body the appropriate nutritional support, maybe even a fast or a detox, you may be able to feel normal again sooner.

It sounds weird but what worked for me was jumbling up all my patterns. You'd think this makes you feel less secure, less comfortable. What it does instead is minimize the pattern of smoking and makes quitting smoking not such a big deal, after all, your whole life is different. I would sleep during the day and wake at night. I ate weird times and found something to do afterward. I stayed out of the bars, I'm still not completely trustworthy I don't think, actually I have quit drinking altogether too.

Best to you. I just prayed for you to get it licked.