10 Things to Expect When You Quit Smoking

This article is written to bring to your notice the things to expect When You Quit Smoking. This will guide you to avoid panic when you experience them.

Over time smoking becomes a habit that takes a lot of effort to break. Often times, it takes much more than the desire of the smoker to quit smoking. He or she needs external help from family, friends, counselors, and experts.

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Here are ten things to expect when you quit smoking and they are collectively referred to as Nicotine Withdrawal Symptoms.

Things to Expect When You Quit Smoking

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Here are the 10 Things to Expect When You Quit Smoking

1. Strong urge to smoke again

When a person quits smoking, the urge to smoke does not go out with mere determination, studies show that there will be a craving to smoke, and if not well handled, the ex-smoker might relapse into smoking again.

In the event of a relapse, an individual must try to bounce back again, bearing in mind that to quit smoking, there might be a need to try several times without giving up.

2. Restlessness and lack of concentration

As the nicotine levels in an ex-smokers body drops, he begins to experience an inability to concentrate on his work or any activity at all. This is why productivity levels drop in individuals who have just quit smoking.

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3. Insomnia

Insomnia is a sleeping disorder. It is a health condition in which an individual is unable to sleep even when fatigued. And this is one of the usual effects of withdrawing from nicotine.

When a person quits smoking, his or her usual intake of nicotine is withdrawn and that person suffers from mild to severe insomnia in the first few weeks. This is actually normal and the use of natural remedies is recommended.

4. Tightening in the chest

On quitting smoking, during strenuous works and exercise, the ex-smoker experiences a tight feeling in the chest. This tight feeling in the chest may be felt as lingering pain or shortness of breath. This is as a result of the stress and strain on the muscles that help you breathe are getting overworked.

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5. Constipation

Smoking affects the gastrointestinal tract and the entire digestive system because nicotine not only stimulates intestinal transit, it also helps bowel movements.

On quitting smoking, the ex-smoker suffers constipation and difficulty in a bowel movements for a period of one to two months.

6. A Surge in irritability

When a person quits smoking he or she becomes a lot more irritable, sensitive, and touchy. He or she would have to deal with anxiety, depression, gloom, and anger.

All these are normal emotional conditions to expect when breaking away from the smoking habit and there is absolutely no reason to panic.

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7. Weight gain

On quitting smoking, the ex-smoker’s formerly small appetite grows and he or she begins to feel hungrier more frequently.

This could lead to eating a lot, snacking several times in between meals, and resorting to junk foods, which would result in an increase in weight.

In the event of weight gain, the ex-smoker must not get worried or become hard on oneself when they gain about 10 pounds in the next year.

8. Cold symptoms

This is not a very common withdrawal symptom because not many who decide to quit smoking suffer this. These cold symptoms are sore throats, sneezes, and coughs.

Smoking affects the lungs and nasal cavities and as such these cold symptoms are just ways in which the respiratory system self-restores and rejuvenate itself.

9. Mouth ulcers (Aphthous)

According to PubMed mobile, after stopping smoking, 40 percent of patients developed mouth ulcers for the first two weeks. The severity of mouth ulcers varies with individuals.

It could range from mild to severe cases of ulceration and the lesions are just side-effects of quitting smoking and it happens in 2 out of 5 quitters.

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10. Dizziness

People who decide to stop smoking often report a feeling of dizziness and light-headedness. Experts say that sometimes it is not the nicotine withdrawal alone that causes this dizziness but also quit aids may cause light-headedness for users.