Nicotine Withdrawal: The True Symptoms of Quitting Smoking (TRUTH)

Nicotine Withdrawal - The True Symptoms of Quitting Smoking (TRUTH) - Featured Image

There are 599 additives in a cigarette (according to an FDA source) but the deadliest and most talked-about is… nicotine.

Nicotine Withdrawal - The True Symptoms of Quitting Smoking by Quit With Nerd

First, A Little Background About Nicotine

A colorless and oily compound that can be found in tobacco.

The most addictive drug known to mankind.

It takes just one or two cigarettes to get a fully grown adult hooked. And for ex-smokers, one or two puffs should suffice to get him/her hooked again.

Don’t take my words for it. Just look at how many people are smoking in our world today. It is close to ONE billion people (960 million daily smokers in 2012): 

If the upward trend continues (I pray it will not), more than 1 billion people are going to be smoking every day entering 2020.

People are addicted to nicotine more than anything else in this world. 

Read: Nicotine Addiction: Why Do We Enjoy Smoking So Much? (EXPLAINED)

As a society, we are driven to spend most of our resources to help cocaine, heroin or glue addicts but yet we fail to address the biggest culprit of all.

I can say with almost one hundred percent certainty that MOST (or even ALL) meth, cocaine, marijuana, heroin addicts are also smoking combustible cigarettes.

If there’s a gateway drug, it is nicotine; not marijuana as many perceive it to be.

The love of money may be the root of all evil…

But as a nerd who spent most of his time studying nicotine addiction burning the midnight oil, I can say that the love of nicotine is the root of all drug addictions without a shadow of a doubt.

The love of nicotine is the root of all drug addictions. Click To Tweet

If there is one thing we need to focus on now, let that be focusing on helping people be free from the nicotine bully.

I believe that focusing on this can save many precious lives. It can impact relationships and make our world a little greener.

It has the potential to impact our society and save tremendous expenses on future medical bills.

Most people continue to smoke today because they do NOT know the truth about nicotine. They continue to believe the lies that smoking gives them ‘an enjoyment‘ or ‘a pleasure.

But does it?

Keep reading to find out. 

Why Do We Crave Nicotine so Bloody Much?

Nicotine hooked us quickly (bad news) but it also leaves our body very quickly (good news):

  • Your bloodstream is 50% nicotine-free just after 2 hours of your final cigarette 
  • And takes only 3-4 days to be 100% nicotine-free after your final cigarette

Here is a simplified way to explain why cigarettes are so precious to smokers:

Whenever nicotine level drops to around 65%-80%, smokers will somehow know it is time to smoke again to reach the optimal nicotine level.

It is not a coincidence that most smokers smoke an average of 15 to 20 cigarettes per day. 

Every time a smoker lights up, it makes him ‘feel good’ because he satisfies his craving.

It is safe to say that the longer a smoker deprives himself of a cigarette, the bigger the ‘pleasure.’ Usually, the first cigarette of the day garners the greatest ‘pleasure.’

This explains why whenever smokers take a puff they feel a little ‘better’ than they did a moment ago.

Nicotine Withdrawal Simplified Bar Chart - Quit With Nerd

This is very dangerous because it is so easy to give cigarettes all the credits of our ‘enjoyments’ because our brains cannot differentiate the increased dopamine levels in our body caused by nicotine or by natural gains.

Nicotine is sent to our brain for every drag we take and that causes the release of a chemical called Dopamine. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that can make us feel good. 

The Lies We Tell Ourselves About Smoking
The lies we tell ourselves when we smoke
The Truth About Smoking (Nictoine Withdrawal)
Fact: We smoke to merely satisfy our nicotine withdrawal. It is NOT a real pleasure.

Watch the video below for a further explanation:

Recommended Read:

The Truth About Nicotine Withdrawal

  1. It can work as a double-edged sword
  2. It is very MILD

The Double-edged Sword of Nicotine Withdrawal

Just search Nicotine Withdrawal on google and you will find that most health authority websites talk about the serious symptoms and downsides of nicotine withdrawal.

I have nothing against them for many writes with the intention of providing useful information.

However, most of these writers were never addicted to nicotine before, therefore, in my opinion, these articles are not as helpful as they initially thought… especially to readers who are trying to quit.

They claim that quitting is extremely difficult and that the withdrawal periods are stressful based on their research studies; not based on experience.

Just imagine if you are a smoker and you read stuff online that says it is difficult to quit over and over, you will somehow trust the notion that quitting has to be difficult.

If you believe quitting is difficult then it sure as hell gonna be. You’re doom to fail before you start.

Recommended read: 5 Reasons Why Smokers Find it Difficult to Quit Smoking

The mind is its own place and in itself, can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven.

John Milton

On the other hand, if you believe that getting through nicotine withdrawal is not a big deal then IT IS REALLY NOT A BIG DEAL BECAUSE…

Nicotine Withdrawal is VERY MILD

This is the truth.

Read that again… Nicotine withdrawal is very mild!

Whatever you know about nicotine withdrawal, it is not as bad as you think. More on this later.

When I say that this works as a double-edged sword, I don’t mean to say that those serious withdrawals are not gonna happen to you, it CAN and WILL happen to you… if you allow it.

This is the power of our minds. 

The mind of man is capable of anything. - Joseph Conrad Click To Tweet

Our minds work like a double-edged sword.

Let me give you an example…

If you go cold-turkey thinking that you have given up an ‘enjoyment’, every time you see a friend smokes and you are thinking to yourself:

  • “I wish I didn’t quit,” 
  • “If only I could smoke now.”

Then you are probably going to face some serious withdrawal symptoms as most health establishments claim like:

  • Difficulty concentrating on a task
  • Headaches
  • Sweating profusely
  • Increased in appetites
  • Insomnia
  • Serious cramps 
  • or even Depression
  • and many more

Here are the top 5 results on google (accurate at the time of writing this post) if you wish to find out more the common symptoms of nicotine withdrawals:

  1. Medicalnewstoday.comNicotine withdrawal symptoms and how to cope
  2. Healthline.comEverything You Need to Know About Nicotine Withdrawal
  3. Verywellmind.com7 Symptoms of Nicotine Withdrawal. Knowing the signs can help you prepare
  4. Webmd.comWhat is Nicotine Withdrawal?
  5. Smokefree.gov Managing Withdrawal

On the other hand, if you think that smoking DOES ABSOLUTELY NOTHING for you then you will not envy smokers at all.

In fact, I think you would pity them a lot. There is nothing to envy about being a slave to the nicotine bully. 

And with that, you will be able to quit joyously and be a freaking happy non-smoker yourself!

Getting through nicotine withdrawal is EASY; the battle in your mind is not. Click To Tweet
Will your life will be boring after you quit smoking?
Read this post to find out!

Why Nicotine Withdrawal is Not as Bad as We Think

If every time we can’t smoke we experience things like:

  • Serious mood swings 
  • Diarrhea
  • Extreme frustration

Then nicotine or the use of tobacco products would have been banned a long long time ago along with cocaine and all the other drugs that have true serious psychological and physical withdrawals.

The two main reasons governments around the world allow the use of tobacco legally is because:

  1. There are huge profits to be madein the billions 
  2. Nicotine withdrawal is extremely subtle or mild – the truth

In the eyes of the governments, the use of nicotine is ‘safe’ and there’s money to be made so why not ‘profit’ from it?

I’m not gonna focus on the ‘profit’ aspect in this post, let’s talk about why governments think smoking is ‘safe’ because this is what matters here. 

Like I mentioned in my first post on how to quit smoking, just because nicotine withdrawal is subtle doesn’t mean it isn’t deadly. In fact, the more subtle it is, the more dangerous the trap.

This subtleness has caused more than 8 million deaths in 2017.

What Does This Mean?
This is the equivalent of having 86 November 2015 Paris Attacks in a SINGLE DAY, every day for 24/7 nonstop.

Have I gotten your attention? 

These are preventable deaths!

It hurts me bloody much to know this. 

The first step to freeing ourselves from this bully is to accept the truths. Here are 3 things we need to know moving forward.

Nicotine:

  • Is extremely SUBTLE and DEADLY
  • DOES NOT GIVE YOU ANY REAL PLEASURE
  • Withdrawal IS MILD 

It is possible to free yourself from the slavery of this bully. Quitting smoking is really not difficult if you know the truths.

I hope by now you have stopped believing in the lies that smoking gives you ‘pleasure,’ or that quitting is ‘difficult.’

The True Symptoms of Nicotine Withdrawal

Mild doesn’t mean it has no withdrawal symptoms at all; it just isn’t what you think it is.

The best way to describe mild is an empty feeling. It is merely a feeling. It does not cause any physical pain to your body… unless you allow it.

When you are a smoker, do you know of a time when you are eating with your friends and there’s this empty feeling that kind of makes you want to smoke? It is that feeling.

It can be intense or it can be mild and it all depends on how you perceive it.

But of course, as a smoker, you believe that lighting up will give you the ‘pleasure’ that’s why you went to smoke.

In that instance, if you were forced not to smoke… oh boy… that mere feeling can be quite intense.

And that’s when all the frustrations, agitations, mood swings come into play.

When you changed your belief about smoking, you can K.O nicotine withdrawal with a simple half-arse sucker punch!

When we changed our belief about smoking, we can K.O nicotine withdrawal with a simple half-arse sucker punch!
Click here for more quit-smoking quotes
The seriousness of Nicotine Withdrawal depends on how you perceive it. Click To Tweet

In my previous post on the benefits of quitting smoking, I gave this analogy:

The threat of nicotine withdrawal is like having a cat on your doorstep but in your mind, you interpret it like a tiger.

I am going to ask the same question here:

How are you going to face this cat when you think of it like a tiger?

Stop seeing nicotine as an undefeatable bully but see him for who he truly is… just a coward who had fun lying and bullying you.

Stop Being a Slave to the Nicotine Bully

People find it difficult to stop smoking because they have this belief that they are giving up on a real ‘pleasure’ or an ‘enjoyment’.

It is like going through life with the fear of missing out on something.

But as you now know, there’s no real pleasure in smoking so there’s no need to fear for there’s nothing to give up.

If there’s one thing you are giving up it is this:

You are giving up a lifetime of lies and slavery to the nicotine bully. Click To Tweet

You will have so much more energy and focus to face the loves and challenges of this life.

You will go through life stronger, richer, healthier, better looking without the perpetual distraction of the bully.

In case if you do not know, the process of healing begins almost instantaneously after you put off your final cigarette. Check out this timeline to find out more.

Share This

Share this post to your loved ones who are currently smoking.

You don’t have to share this post on your Facebook or Twitter public timeline, you could simply copy and paste the link above and share it with him/her privately. 

Thanks for taking the time to invest in yourself.

I hope I have been of service.

Sincerely,
Jeremiah Say

Also Read:

Nicotine Addiction: Why Do We Enjoy Smoking So Much? (EXPLAINED)

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Why Quit Smoking: The #1 Reason We Need to Stop Smoking (LOVE)

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How to Quit Smoking: 6 Common Ways to Stop Smoking (METHODS)

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Top 20 Quit-smoking Apps Based on Ratings & Most Users (2019)

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Debunking 4 Commons Myths of Smoking (FACTS VS MYTHS)

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5 Reasons Why Smokers Find it Difficult to Quit Smoking (HARD TO QUIT)

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