What to Expect When You Quit Smoking

Withdrawal Symptoms? What in the world’s that?

This is the stumbling block which trips up so many a would-be quitter. The problem with many smokers is that they often fail to recognize these symptoms as well, symptoms. A withdrawal symptom is something that a person experiences once he or she stops using a substance that gives them a kick. Oops, is that too hard to digest? Well, let’s try to make it simpler.

There are many things that are identified with substance abuse. Alcohol is one of them, narcotic drugs are another and tobacco is in no way to be left behind. The problem, or let's say that the similarity among all these substances, is that once a person gets used to them, breaking away is not easy.

Contrary to popular belief, it is not the fear of deprivation of the pleasantly high feeling that drives the person to use the substance again and again so that it is used, misused and eventually abused. The person returns for his or her daily shot because of certain altered conditions in the body. These substances are indeed very potent and they affect certain specific spots or centers of the brain.

The brain quickly gets used to these alterations and then before you know it, these centers of the brain crave this daily doze of the substance. The brain didn't ask for this substance in the first place but we gave them to it. When we experience that pleasantly high feeling we do not bother about the changes that are taking place within our bodies.

It is common knowledge that the entire processes carried about in the brain are maintained by a delicate balance of the various chemical salts there. Once we start using substances like the above mentioned tobacco, narcotics and alcohol, the balance of these chemical salts gets altered. The body as I mentioned earlier is a self adjusting machine and so this new chemical balance is established and it takes no time for the brain cells to get adjusted to the new balance.

Then when the brain cells don't what is required to maintain the new balance (read that as the daily puffs) things go hay wire. The old balance was disturbed and altered and a new balance was set up. But this new balance is not the real natural thing. It is something that has to be artificially supported and when that daily, or timely dose of nicotine does not get to the brain, the new balance gets upset.  

That is when a person gets those peculiar feelings, which can be broadly called the withdrawal symptoms. You know what I am talking about don’t you? Haven’t you felt uneasy and jittery when you were unable to get that puff? It’s a strange kind of feeling isn’t it?

It’s a feeling that can only be soothed when you take that long refreshing drag of highly toxic smoke. Some people break into a sweat, some get the tremors, some feel queasy, some may even get constipated…

All these are withdrawal symptoms, so unless you prepare yourself to face the pressure of withdrawal, you’re going to face a losing battle.

Psst…let’s not leave out an important detail... The new balance in the brain that was established with the help of the used substance can indeed be broken. I’m not saying that it is easy but once you start conditioning your brain, that it just not going to get what it wants, that is the external substance, it will be left with no alternative than to go back and restore the old balance.

Of course the brain is not going to give up without a fight and that is what you'll experience as the withdrawal symptom. Initially the brain had been doing all too well without the help of any external substance; and then we made the brain become dependent on something. So when we stop using that something, it is only a matter of time before it goes back to its original state of functioning. All we have to do is to muster up the will power to over come the withdrawal symptoms that might set in.

But again I do admit that it is easier said than done. In the end, however, knowing that withdrawals will come (and recognizing them as such), is a vital part of the quitting process.