It probably wouldn’t be so tough to quit if I wasn’t thinking about it so much, obsessing over the withdrawal symptoms, reading everything I can… Regardless of how much or little you smoke, if you light up, you are a nicotine addict.
It’s so hard to figure out which is psychological and what is really physical. I do have a difficult focusing, I do feel a little irritated. My breathing quickly turns shallow and rapid, and I have to slow it down. My head does hurt.
Blood sugar plummets in many people when first quitting. The most common side effects felt during the first three days can often be traced back to blood sugar issues. Symptoms such as headache, inability to concentrate, dizziness, time perception distortions, and the ubiquitous sweet tooth encountered by many, are often associated with this blood sugar drop. The symptoms of low blood sugar are basically the same symptoms as not having enough oxygen, similar to reactions experienced at high altitudes. The reason being the inadequate supply of sugar and/or oxygen means the brain is getting an incomplete fuel. If you have plenty of one and not enough of the other, your brain can not function at any form of optimal level. When you quit smoking, oxygen levels are often better than they have been in years, but with a limited supply of sugar it can’t properly fuel your brain.
It is not that cigarettes put sugar into your blood stream; it is more of a drug interaction of the stimulant effect of nicotine that affects the blood sugar levels. Cigarettes cause the body to release its own stores of sugar and fat by a drug type of interaction. That is how it basically operated as an appetite suppressant, affecting the satiety centers of your hypothalamus. As far as for the sugar levels, nicotine in fact works much more efficiently than food. If you use food to elevate blood sugar levels, it literally takes up to 20 minutes from the time you chew and swallow the food before it is released to the blood, and thus the brain, for its desired effect of fueling your brain. Cigarettes, by working through a drug interaction causes the body to release it’s own stores of sugar, but not in 20 minutes but usually in a matter of seconds. In a sense, your body has not had to release sugar on its own in years, you have done it by using nicotine’s drug effect !
I have a Quit Counter that I jump over to and look at when I feel an urge. If I feel a little light headed… I’ve been keeping fruit cocktail in the fridge- I rush over, take a few bites, drink a little of juice and breathe until I feel a little better.
I’ve been drinking iced green tea all evening (decaf) and so far I’ve only wanted to rip the head off of one person and shove it up their… (achem) truly, I am not on edge. There’s this skater kid who goes up and down the freaking side walk all night long. And then of course there’s talking to a 9 month pregnant Ash.
I am off to try to go to sleep. The no night cap isn’t a big deal, I just miss feeling sleepy.
*WHY* am I doing this? I’ve been wanting to for years and lately it just feels depressing because it’s an anti-social habit, a crutch when I need to step away from a feeling or situation instead of just braving through it. What made it appealing? The meditation type breathing I’d do… which I need to do sans lighting up. It also gave me comfort. If you need to step outside to clear your head… if you go to light up… no one follows.
It’s not for longevity- I’m undecided on that one. I’m going to now try to pull stuff off the top shelf in my closet in hopes that a bowling ball falls on my head and knocks me out to make up for the lack of sleep last night… although scientifically speaking, it’s impossible to ‘make up’ for lost sleep. I know on average my body fully charges in approximately 5.5 hrs If I got to sleep now, I’d be hitting close to the seven hour mark. I’m allowing myself 2 hrs of tossing/turning time.
OOOH! I just yawned!!!!
