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Stopping a habit requires patience and discipline for sure. Quitting smoking comes with several effects that may leave you in a discomfort state.
Headaches, nausea, lack of sleep among others are some of the effects you are likely to experience.
Despite all that, you can still beat all with this guide on how to control any side effects when quitting smoking.
The 9 Common side effects/withdrawals
Withdrawals are different but most of them are so common to everyone. The moment you stop smoking, your body has to adjust with the routine and that’s the reason you may experience withdrawals.
The body will require your patience for it to adapt and within no time you will be stable unless you give in and go back to smoking habits.
These withdrawals are not intense not unless you are an addict and if that’s the case, there is a gold method you can use in your journey of quitting. By The way, this applies to everyone, whether a light user or a heavy user.
Gold method: Use a nicotine replacement treatment.
1.Having the urge to smoke
This is the most common of all. When quitting smoking you might have the great urge of puffing and giving in will only kill your mission; which is to stop smoking.
How to control
Before you yield to the urge and decide to go back to smoking, contemplate if that’s the direction you really need and control the urge with below methods.
- Try a nicotine replacement therapy. Best way to effectively stop smoking is replacing the unhealthy habit with a positive habit. You can use gum or inhaler like FUM essential oils inhaler.
- Remember why you decided to quit. Was it for the sake of your family, your health, job or any other reason. Stand strong and believe the urge to smoke will come to pass.
- Avoid company of pals who smoke. There is too much pressure that comes wit friends and keeping a distance can save you big time.
- Keep your self busy. Read a novel, watch a movie, or go to the gym just to mention a few.
2.Feeling uneasy and nervous
When quitting smoking you may feel jumpy and uneasy especially the first days of quitting. Your body is in the process taking out nicotine from the body system. It is a matter of time and that will be gone.
How to control
- Do physical exercises. Walk your dog, clean your house, workout or dance. Just anything that will keep your body in motion.
- Cut down any caffeinated drinks and tea.
3.Feeling upset
This is only contributed by the fact that the body is not getting the daily dose that it was used to. That’s how you sense something is missing and in return you end up grouchy and irritated.
Probably you have in mind that it might take longer for you to completely quit or at times find yourself smoking again.
How to control
- Control your thinking and be positive and know it is possible.
- Avoid engaging in other activities which might trigger you, for instance taking alcohol, attending parties or going to a bar.
- Avoid idleness. Remember an empty mind is a devils workshop. Read journals instead, organize the house or clean up.
4.Difficult in sleeping
Lack of enough sleep is a common sign of nicotine withdrawal. Prolonged hours of lack of sleep may cause other health risks.
It is necessary to track how long you are having trouble sleeping and you can talk to medical care personnel for further help with sleep problem.
How to control
- Avoid taking coffee, tea and any other caffeinated drinks during late evenings or almost bed time.
- Take dinner 3 hour before bed. Avoid heavy meals during night.
- Avoid social media at sleep time. Switch off your internet and if possible your phone.
- Have a serene environment for sleep. Let it be quiet or put on calm music.
- Keep yourself busy during the day an that way you can fall asleep easily from the exhaustion.
- Stress can lead to sleepless nights. Be sober with yourself and with everything.
5.Gaining weight
when stopping nicotine, you may feel more hungry than before and food may start becoming your favorite. That way you may find yourself adding weight from the increased appetite.
Besides, the urge to eat more may come from the idea of having something in your mouth to satisfy the hand to mouth craving.
Some eat more from the stress of quitting smoking. Different reasons but the goal is one.
How to control
- Substitute the hand to mouth craving with something else like using FUM inhaler.
- Avoid stressing up. Remember you are quitting smoking for a variety of reasons and all this stress shall pass.
- If at all is a must you feed in between meals, let it be healthy eating and cut on carbs. Take low calorie foods, avoid wheat and sugar as much as possible.
- Be physically active. Engage yourself in a hobby like swimming or even skating.
6.Minimal concentration
Lack of concentration may be caused by thinking too much of the quitting journey and wondering when the urge to smoke will end. Take it easy and know it is a journey that will be conquered.
Again, you may have trouble concentrating with other things by burdening yourself with too much activities. If you decide to work out, concentrate on that first before trying something else.
How to control
- Engage in one activity at a go. Avoid overdoing it. Start with a few minutes and increase the working time according to how much you can take in.
- Balance your thoughts and focus on doing things one at a time. Sometimes we do things according to how we control our thoughts.
7.Feeling depressed
People say taking nicotine lowers the stress and anxiety. Don’t get twisted nicotine will only `stabilize’ your stress for a short time and later you will get back to the initial feeling.
So, whenever you are trying to stop smoking, the teasing of “a little will not harm” is a trap and taking a joint just because you felt sad will drive you back to smoking so easily.
Are you depressed because you will not be smoking? I bet that’s not the case. If there will be any kind of stress, let it be accompanied by wondering how you will beat the urge, of which all you need is a replacement treatment. Stress solved!
How to control
- Be in company of persons that you can talk to about your journey and who are willing to help you with it. Should be non-smokers in this case.
- Talk to a counselor dealing with withdrawal cases. This will be of great help to curb the depression.
- Be still and patient. The depression may be caused by so many thoughts like when you will fully quit smoking and be the person you were before.
- Reward yourself regularly. It can be daily, after 3 days or a week. Do this whenever the days pass without you smoking; like buying yourself a gift.
- Be physically active. This way, your mind will shift to concentrating on something else. Besides, this will improve your mood by seeing yourself in a position to do things that you couldn’t achieve during your smoking days.
8.Constipation
During the first weeks of not smoking, you may experience constipation. It can be severe and at times cause discomforts.
But with the right direction, you can tackle the problem with a few ideas as directed below.
How to control
- Take in roughages and foods rich in fiber like spinach, lentils, yellow beans, chia seeds and fruits like avocado.
- Drink more fluids like smoothies, are of great help.
- See a doctor if you can’t pass stool, continuous strain of passing stool, having less than 3 bowel movements in a week and any other symptoms that you may feel uncomfortable with.
9.Cough
Cough is common to all smokers and sometimes it is prolonged or dry cough. The same may extend for some weeks even after quitting smoking .
Nicotine is still in your system, and coughing is one of the unpleasant effects or rather a sign of nicotine in your body.
The cough will fade away with time as long as you don’t get lured to smoking again.
How to control
- Be patient with body adjustment.
- Take warm drinks.
- See a medic if the cough becomes unbearable.
Did You Know?
Apart from using a nicotine replacement therapy to help in quitting smoking, you can actually combine that with smoking cessation program to supplement the whole process.
It helps you quit smoking 10x than it could without it! By the way, you can access the whole program from your phone since they are downloadable.
This program helps in ending withdrawal symptoms like stress, anxiety, sleep problem and as listed above.
Tips on how to manage nicotine withdrawal
Quitting smoking is a decision that requires courage from within yourself. Apart from your loved ones encouraging you to quit, it has to come from you first.
Upon deciding that it is time to stop smoking, there are tips and tricks that will help you in achieving the goal.
Discipline and standing firm with your decision is all what matters, do this as you walk through your journey.
- Have a reason
Why are you quitting? is it pressure from parents, your job? whatever the reason is have your destined positive reason as to why you are saying bye to cigarettes .
If at all you are getting pressurized to stop smoking, this may not end well since by the end of the day, it didn’t come from your will to stop.
Write down the reason. For instance you can quit for your own heath. There are benefits that come with quitting like low risks of contacting cancer such as kidney, lung, throat and bladder cancer.
Once you have a point describing your reason, you will always remember that if I go back to smocking, I will only be increasing the chances of getting dreaded diseases
- Have a time plan
Quitting smoking abruptly might be hard especially if you are a daily smoker. Try to stop smoking by first reducing the number of cigarettes you smoke daily.
If you are doing 3 reduce to 2 then to 1 a day and within a period of time you will realize you don’t require even a quarter of it.
The moment you are in position to do without smoking, make your daily plan from morning after waking to bedtime. This should involve the activities for the day and meals to take.
Come up with realistic goals to avoid getting stuck in between. For instance put one difficult activity and add other light activities to avoid feeling exhausted than you can handle to avoid giving up.
- Check your company
The idea here is changing your circle of friends or avoid them. It doesn’t have to be everyone, but only the smokers or negative vibe persons.
If you decide to quit smoking then other things have to be avoided to make the process easy. If you hang around such a company, then you may lag behind in achieving what you started..
You don’t have to be enemies, if you have o hang out with them, know your place and don’t fall for mere words like a small joint isn’t bad.
- Engage in physical activities
The moment you are active, the more you come closer to quitting smoking. Physical activities may include anything that will keep you busy to pass time like hitting the gym, identifying a hobby you like, going for a walk, cutting your yard hedges and so on and so forth.
It is advisable not to pressure your body so much especially with activities that you were not doing before and wants to try them out.
If you have to do them, start with minutes, then to hours that you can manage.
How to Stop smoking naturally
It is not a wonder that one can quit smoking naturally and come out winners. Sometimes the urge from hand to mouth takes time before getting erased from the mind.
Here is a way to still satisfy the hand to mouth phenomenal in a natural way.
Using FUM essential oils inhaler is one way that you will imitate the smoking habit but in return turn to positive habits. It contains cores made from natural plants extracts.
No chemicals, no vapor, no nicotine, just everything natural. It is a smart way of empowering you to create positive habits as a mechanism to help in quitting smoking.
From the distress of leaving the habit, FUM has come in in big way to be tactile and snappy altogether.
FUM inhaler is a non-electronic designed to diffuse instead of vaporizing in order to deliver flavor and scent. Has adjustable airflow to allow one adjust the airflow in which you breath in.
Using it is almost like just smoking nicotine. Breath in the essential oils in cores through the mouth and breath out through the nose. Fum comes in different flavors that you can choose from like like crisp mint, maple pepper, and white cranberry.
See this Full guide that will answer your all question concerning FUM essential oils inhaler!!
FAQs
What happens to your body when you suddenly stop smoking?
Withdrawal symptoms may start showing like the urge to smoke, anxiety, depression & sadness, cough, lack of concentration, difficult in sleep, gaining weight and increased appetite. The effects may disappear faster for light smoker than daily smokers.
Can you get sick from quitting smoking?
Sickness is rare unless you are depressed for not smoking or lacking someone to talk to. This is withdrawal which may feel like sickness. It fades with time and all you have to do is have a nicotine replacement, be patient, and stick to your decision.
How long does side effects of quitting smoking last?
Common effects involves urge to smoke and irritability. they can go up to 1 week to a couple of weeks of not smoking.
What is the fastest way to stop smoking?
Using a method that will replace the unhealthy habit to healthy habit. For instance using FUM inhaler is one of the best applicable ways when it comes to quick results and completely doing away with smoking.
Final verdict
No task is easy to accomplish and its the same case with quitting smoking. But with a little bit of adjustments, the process can be folded to almost nothing of a task.
As you plan to stop smoking, involve in measures that will enable you touch the finishing line.
More so, the benefits of quitting smoking always wins and healthy lives matters. Quit today!