Hey guys I just came across this website and forum as I am in need of urgent help. I quit smoking cigarettes 7 months ago and I’ve been ok up until now, for some reason now I am getting intense cravings to smoke. Does anyone have any pointers or anything to help me out? I just miss the feeling of relaxation and lately I’ve been feeling like life is short why not enjoy it but I’m not 100% sure I want to start again. Cheers in advance. 

Well, congrats on 7 months quit.  You don't really want to be back wishing you could quit all over again, which is what you would most likely be thinking if you started smoking again.  Take up walking or running?  Go back to drinking some ice water through a straw?  Suck on some hard tack.  If you start again, you will smell yucky again........you don't really want that either.  Sit and list all the reasons you quit, I doubt those reasons have really changed.

Welcome to this website.  It has been a critical part of my quit which started just over a year ago.  

First, congratulations on your 7 months of the smoke free lifestyle.  You have done the hardest part of the work but I think most of us who ARE, not WERE, addicted to cigarettes continue to have some desire to smoke for quite some time if not the remainder of our lives.  At least in my experience, what you are feeling is fairly normal.  I had a couple longer multi-year quits in my past but I would also remember how much I liked it and talk myself back into smoking.  The more we do this the more difficult it is to give it up for good and the last 5 years I smoked I had a fairly strong desire to quit but couldn't.  

Since you already stopped smoking, developing a support system and staying engaged with it is critical to staying smoke free.  That’s what this site is here for so keep using it.  If you have people in your life you can share your thoughts with, that’s a big plus too.  You might want to also go back and write down the reasons why you quit or who you did it for and that includes you.  Also write down how you felt in your last days of smoking, was it really all about relaxation and good memories?  We smoked in all situations and at least for me it created noticeable physical distress and some real mental stress.  Delay, distract and talk it out when these feelings pop up.  The end game for smoking is in many cases not good.

If you haven’t, you might also read, Allen Carr’s Easy Way to Quit Smoking.  It really helped me to see that I am truly an addict and unfortunately addicts don’t get to smoke without significant repercussions.  

I hope that helps.  Keep hanging in there.  Remember that the desires to smoke go away whether we smoke or not but once we give in those desires are there constantly.

That is your mind trying one last time to get you to smoke.  After 7 months, this is the big push you have been waiting for.  Get past this one and you have won.  This happened to me as well.  Somewhere in the7 or 8th month, this incredibly urgent need to smoke took over and I was so surprises.  Of course, I just smiled and changed what I was doing knowing that that would be the last big push to try to get me to smoke.  

This the the bid one - the one big hurdle before peace finally comes into your life 24/7.  Don't smoke - do anything, and I mean anything else, but do not smoke.  It matters.

CHeers

  Please give it a lot of thought. Your 7 months quit! That's Great!

I can't help thinking that if you go back to smoking now, you are just going to end up wishing that you had that seven months back! You can't want to go back to day one. Think about people like me and others that are early in our quits wishing we were where you are. If you have stuck to this for seven months, you know this bad spell will pass.

Take Care

Crisis, please don’t do it! You went through a lot, I’m sure to get to where you are today. 7 months is a huge accomplishment! You cannot give that up! If you need a reason to stay quit, there’s a million but I’m going to tell you this one thing just because I just saw my pulmonologist today. I have COPD, which was diagnosed five years ago but I continued to smoke. I went today to see my pulmonologist because I had the low dose lung cancer screening and of course it shows emphysema. My doctor said as long as I stay quit the emphysema will not get worse and as for lung cancer? The only thing to decrease my chances of not getting it is not ever smoke again. Because we were smokers, the risk is there but why would we knowingly increase the risk? I’m only on day 72 today and I’m 56. I still have cravings but I’m thrilled to have my 72 days and wish I have your 7 months! Hang in there! This too shall pass! Don’t let the addiction pull you back into hell!

Just think of the addict who quit CRACK cocaine.  He suffered and suffered to get clean.  Then, after months of being clean, he thinks - just one hit.  Just one.  He hits up in his car and there, he dies.  

We are all the very same addict.  It will kill you!

Thank you everyone, you have all given me a lot to think about and have put forth great advice, so appreciate it greatly. Unfortunately yesterday I did cave in to the cravings and I had a single cigarette, but not as unfortunate as you think actually, as it reminded me why I quit in the first place - the horrible aftertaste, the putrid smell of my fingers, the scratchiness in the back of my throat, the shortness of breath, it all quickly came back and I was disgusted. Many people resurrect their addiction when they have one smoke but I don’t think I will - I can now say for sure I will never smoke again. I feel like now I can close that chapter of my life for good and move on, and somehow I feel like a little part of me has grown up, and I want to continue to grow, as a man and as a person. In hindsight there is a little regret that I inhaled nicotine again, however I actually don’t regret it at all since now I know and remember how bad cigarettes are. I don’t recommend this for everyone as it may spark something but if you are on the line maybe having one last one will remind you how disgusting this habit is. I want to thank all of you who commented and supported me, I will keep this advice with me for the rest of my life and will put it to use if I ever get any cravings again. Cheers, Cristian.