The decision to give up cigarettes is stressful for a person. Everything that happens to the body after quitting smoking is expressed in severe symptoms of all internal organs. Such changes can scare anyone. The first few days without nicotine are particularly difficult, when abstinence syndrome develops due to the lack of the usual doping agent.
A smoking diary can help patients deal with the situation in which the addict himself describes in detail everything that happens to him in the dynamic and understands cause and effect.
Pros and cons of quitting smoking
Nature is so wise that it has given man the possibility of compensatory recovery after illnesses, injuries and stress. The potential for regeneration is always very high. Therefore, smoking cessation must be sure that they can get rid of a bad habit on their own or with the help of specialists, regardless of the duration of their addiction to tobacco smoke and the severity of damage to internal organs. The important thing is to want to do it.
positive points
Complete refusal of tobacco significantly reduces the risk of numerous diseases: bronchitis, tracheitis, laryngitis, pneumonia, asthma, pneumonia, destructive pathologies of the bronchi. Varicose veins, thrombophlebitis, obliterating endarteritis, diabetic foot will decrease. The level of cholesterol is normalized, along with it the development of atherosclerosis of the large arteries supplying the brain and heart, kidneys and liver slows down.
This helps prevent heart attacks and strokes.
Tobacco smoke is a powerful intoxicant. Cleansing organs and tissues of their metabolites allows the body to begin the process of self-healing. Clean blood flow fills cells with nutrients and oxygen, which relieves headaches, fatigue, irritability, and balances blood pressure. Since there are about 90 carcinogens in cigarettes, blocking and removing them becomes cancer prevention.
Surprisingly, such changes begin in the first few hours without nicotine. His trace reaction will be there for some time, but in someone in a week, in someone in a month, it will disappear without a trace. Harder when psychologically attached to the pleasure of nightshade venom.
Stress must be dealt with consistently and wisely. You can not neglect anti-tobacco drugs, you need to organize rest and interesting free time. Sometimes it's good to put your feelings on paper.
It's so nice to know that you've "deserved" a trip or a visit to the theater by not buying tobacco products. Saving can be very helpful.
uncomfortable details
It should be clear that it is very difficult to separate from the nightshade alkaloid due to the following points:
- Pyridine poison increases the emotional background, which in turn helps to concentrate in difficult situations.
- The happiness hormone produced in response to nicotine consumption reduces stress and helps overcome grief.
- Nightshade alkaloid creates the illusion of peace, gives self-confidence, causes moral gratification.
Such positive effects are hard to forget, even harder to part with.
Acetylcholine receptors, accustomed to tobacco poison, require its presence. In protest, they trigger withdrawal syndrome. If at the beginning of smoking the pleasure of a cigarette lasted a few hours, then over time such an emotional surge lasts half an hour. So you need to increase the amount of doping.
Otherwise, the discomfort will significantly outweigh the euphoria in strength and pungency.
A sharp farewell with a cigarette will make the discomfort unbearable. This is a real break. It is necessary to somehow compensate for the lack of nicotinic acid, a metabolite of tobacco poison, otherwise it is impossible to cope with irritability, which turns into aggression.
There is also:
- loss of attention.
- Desire for tobacco products.
- A strong feeling of hunger.
- inability to sleep.
- hyperhidrosis.
Only a specialist can help stop withdrawal syndrome.
The body's reaction to the gradual and abrupt cessation of tobacco products
Everyone is different, and so is their decision to quit smoking. Some prefer immediately, others need time. The body reacts differently to the chosen way of smoking cessation.
If we are talking about a chronic user of the nightshade alkaloid, then quitting nicotine will not be quick, it will be a slow and painful process. A novice tobacco lover has the opportunity to simply stop communicating with cigarettes, his self-healing system will cope with it.
Most often, however, the response to the lack of habitual doping is manifested by withdrawal syndrome or withdrawal.
In fact, this is a restructuring of the whole organism, accompanied by:
- Strong desire for tobacco.
- Inappropriate nervousness.
- States prone to fainting.
- Depression.
- power loss.
- small vibes
- Anxiety with the development of phobias.
- Bradycardia.
- skin irritation.
- Aphthous lesions of the oral mucosa.
- Constant complaints of the upper respiratory tract: shortness of breath, coughing, sweating, runny nose, lacrimation.
- Disturbance of the digestive system up to colic.
Each of these symptoms can occur individually or as part of multiple conditions at the same time. The severity of the symptoms varies from person to person.
Sometimes there is no abstinence.
stages of purification
The process of nicotine metabolite release is complex, but it begins in the first few minutes of quitting cigarettes and goes through a number of stages.
| downtime | changes in the body |
|---|---|
| Half an hour | The tachycardia passes, blood pressure begins to normalize, the kidneys work more intensively and prepare to remove toxins. |
| A few hours | The kidneys remove pyridine venom metabolites from the blood. |
| half a day | The blood is saturated with oxygen, carbon monoxide is removed from the lungs. The kidneys continue to remove nicotine and a withdrawal symptom develops. |
| Day | The nightshade alkaloid is completely eliminated, there is no substitute for it, and abstinence occurs. |
| In a few days | The lungs begin to eliminate the tar and toxins from the cigarette. A cough appears - a natural reaction to the accumulated soot. |
| On the third day | The lung cleansing continues. A strong feeling of hunger develops, since the tobacco poison no longer blocks the satiety center of the brain, and it is restored, which causes a person's appetite. In addition, blood pressure returned to normal, which leads to tinnitus due to saturation of neurons with oxygen and blood flow to the brain. |
| fourth day | The cycle returns to normal. The mucous membrane of the digestive tract regenerates, the pancreas begins to work normally. Sticky sputum comes out. |
| fifth day | An intense wet cough with rusty soot sputum continues, taste is restored. |
| sixth day | A nagging cough and irritation from lack of nicotine. There is a desire to return to the cigarette. |
| The week | Metabolism products and toxins are removed. Organs and tissues have partially recovered or are beginning to recover. The liver synthesizes the body's own nicotine again, and the physiological need for this is satisfied. Exhausting cough persists. |
| eighth day | Taste and smell receptors are also restored, food acquires meaning, becomes tasty. A person eats a lot and gets better. Vessels are not yet stable, jumps in blood pressure are disruptive. Nervousness gradually disappears. |
| ninth day | The stomach restored secretion. The intestines are in it, pains appear in the lower abdomen, problems with bowel movements. At this time, aphthous stomatitis, herpes and acute respiratory infections can develop. |
| Ten days | The cough persists. Immunity begins to recover. The emotional state is difficult. Need help and support from loved ones. |
| 11-14 days | Vascular tone is restored, blood flow is normal, dizziness and hand tremor appear due to active oxygen saturation. The lungs are cleaned. There are sleeping problems. |
| Second half of the month | The mucous membranes of the bronchi are regenerated, the cough subsides, the immune system works at full capacity, the skin acquires a normal shade, the pressure is normal, there is no dyspepsia. Many people decide that it's all over and you can try a cigarette. When this happens, it all goes back to the first few days of withdrawal. |
| next three months | From the second month, the work of the body is leveled. The systems work harmoniously together. Toxins are eliminated naturally. Hair, skin, nails are getting much better. The lungs continue to recover. Metabolism and blood pressure normalize, weight stabilizes. But abstinence still makes itself felt. |
| half a year | The hematopoietic system was fully restored. The cough stops. sleep is normal. The liver was regenerated. To speed up the cleansing of the lungs, physical exercises are connected. |
| ten months | This is a milestone when a breakdown is possible because: smokers begin to dream about cigarettes, there is a strong desire to sip a tobacco product in the morning, sleep is disturbed. So without nicotine, there is a restructuring of brain activity. Here the tapes are restored, the voice takes on its usual timbre. Teeth become whiter, bad breath disappears. |
| Year | Almost all organs and tissues are updated. The lungs may still be in the recovery process. Potency is excellent, reproductive function is normal. Almost no desire to smoke. "Tobacco diseases" disappear. |
| 2 years | The lungs have recovered. The brain eats well. The body is so pure that an accidentally smoked cigarette is perceived as having been smoked for the first time. You can plan a pregnancy. |
| 5 years | The risk of stroke is compared to that of non-smokers. |
| decade | The likelihood of developing lung cancer is the same as that of people who have never put a cigarette in their mouth. |
| Fifteen years | The heart attack risk is compared to that of non-smokers. |
Many changes in the body are not subject to recovery and over time become triggers for malignant cells.
These include:
- Destruction of the alveoli of the lungs, unable to get rid of resins and carcinogens.
- A long-term non-regenerating burn of the oral mucosa, which can turn into hyperplasia and lip cancer.
- Toxic damage to the oropharynx leading to laryngeal and pharyngeal cancer.
Warning: what not to do?
It is not recommended in the first three months of parting with a bad habit:
- Take non-essential medication.
- Quit smoking during menstruation - real weight gain is guaranteed.
- Leave the diet unchanged. The body needs vitamins and minerals.
Quit Smoking Calendar
To help anyone who decides to break nicotine bondage, psychologists recommend keeping an adequate journal of their feelings, emotions, and thoughts.
The structure of these records consists of several sections:
- The first is devoted to the changes that occur in the body every day. It describes in detail the vanishing symptoms of tobacco poisoning in relation to each system: nervous, cardiovascular, digestive, pulmonary, endocrine, reproductive, urogenital. In addition, the appearance of new symptoms of both negative and positive dynamics is noted.
- The second is for emotions, thoughts. Here everything that happens to the patient is analyzed on the sensory level, self-hypnosis, self-control are used.
- The third section is physiology. What attracts the patient, what he wants to eat, where it hurts, what kind of sleep, how the skin looks, the degree of shortness of breath and the strength of the cough. Anything that worries at the level of physiological transformation.
- The fourth section is the doctors' recommendations and how they are implemented.
- Fifth - recipes of traditional medicine and their use.
- The sixth is physical exercises, what works, what doesn't, the result.
- The seventh section is the help of loved ones. Her advice, requests to her. Planning strategy and behavioral tactics for the future.
Many who have broken with a harmful addiction emphasize the usefulness and necessity of such a diary.
How to speed up cleaning?
Although the body is a self-regulating system, there are ways to speed up the recovery process from nicotine poisoning:
- Sports. Movement is life, therefore, from the first day of parting with a bad habit, smokers are shown dosed physical activity. Running, for example, increases the contractions of the diaphragm, stimulates the flow of lymph, which means it helps remove toxins from the body. Cardiac stress also affects the blood. Breathing exercises saturate the lungs with oxygen and help them cleanse themselves of resins, carcinogens and toxins. I feel a lot better.
- Cleansing Medicines. Ascorbic acid, B vitamins, folic acid compensate for the lack of trace elements and biologically active substances necessary for normal metabolic processes. Help them with this: chromium, zinc, nickel, selenium, manganese. Amino acids support the synthesis of immunoglobulins. Vitamin A acts as an immune stimulant.
- Food. Cranberries, ginger, spinach are natural stimulants of hematopoiesis and blood supply to the lungs during their recovery.
Here are many helpers who can facilitate the difficult process of saying goodbye to nicotine, restore health and prolong life.