Stop smoking: Side effects

So, I had to wait till I celebrated my first 4 weeks of nicotine free life, which was last Saturday to write this post, or else it won't have any credibility on it right? Oh, and by the way, few of my friends are joining the #noMoreCig movement; to quit smoking cold turkey. I'm proud of them because they have the balls to do it. It's hard, I know this first hand. But as friends, we'd have each other's back as we go along

Anyways, let me break it down on a weekly basis:

Week 1

The first week is the most painful week. First you will get cough and phlegm. Lots of phlegm. It was like you had swallowed the devil's jizz and you have to spit it back out. Prepare your cough syrup, honey, and warm water to accompany your nights. Apparently, this symptom is because your body is regulating itself and it's trying to get rid of the excessive mucus from your throat, as well as the tar build up in your lungs. Think of it as a change of management; some things have got to go in order to restore balance.

After the cough and phlegm, comes the mild fever. Now this differs from person to person. I had a very mild fever, whereas I heard some people even got hospitalized. So it really depends on your immune system. It will go away in 2 to 3 days.

Next, the PMS. Yes, men will have the worst PMS ever. Like they have a vagina, and a little bit of sand got stuck in it. These ex-smokers will be easily irritated, easily annoyed, can easily lose their temper. It's all in the mind, yes. But please, you can't expect us to have super power mind, can you? In the first week, it will be bad. But as the cravings slowly disappear, so will the PMS. These ex-smokers are so used to smoke at least once in an hour. Going for a few days without a cigarette will definitely have an effect to their mind.

Your body will get tired easily and your mind will have short attention span. To combat this, don't take caffeine. Caffeine won't help. Drink lots of warm water, and take short naps in between. Sleep more than you usually do. You will need all the extra energy and concentration to go through the days.

And last but not least. THE CRAVINGS. God, my mouth watered at the thought of having a cigarette after each heavy meal; breakfast, lunch and dinner. And not to mention, the pooping sessions. How do you combat this? Well for me, I tweet more, and occasionally munch on chewing gums. Do anything that could take your mind off the cigarette. It will be a constant battle because your mind will keep thinking about it. Take 3 deep breaths when the craving comes. It will go away in 3-5 minutes. Be strong 

Week 2

The PMS is still there. The cough and phlegm are still there. But they aren't as bad as the first week. You'll still need that extra sleep especially if you drive a lot. Spend more time in a non-smoking area. Try to avoid smoking crowds. Eat in smaller portions, but often. The momentum is building. You can't waste your effort last week by quitting now. Be patient, be strong.

You will notice that food will become tastier, and you will be more sensitive to perfumes. Your gum will feel a bit tight. That's because your taste buds and respiratory system are healing, replacing the dead cells. And nicotine had shrunk the blood vessels in your mouth. Now that you've stopped smoking, slowly, it is expanding and repairing itself. It's amazing how your body is repairing itself after the extensive damage you have done to it.

Week 3 & 4

No more phlegm and cough. PMS is going away. Your body is close to working normally now. The only thing that is still bothering you is the craving to light up a stick. Try inhaling a puff now. You will feel that the smell is awful, and you don't like it at all. That's because your system is recuperating and healing. Doing sports now is not a bad idea, as it helps replace the carbon monoxide in your hemoglobin with oxygen at a faster rate.

The momentum is already there. Keep it up. Soon you will no longer feel the need to smoke anymore. In these few weeks, you're gonna need a strong and supportive partner, as well as something to distract your mind off cigarettes.

Moving forward

Congratulations. You have made it into your first month of not smoking. Set a milestone, and don't forget to reward yourself with something, i.e: 1 month, 3 months, half a year, 1 year. Stay positive, and remember that the pain that you're going through is going to be worth the extra years in your life. Good luck, and if you do relapse, just keep calm, and do it again.

Tweet me at @aizadfahmy if you need advice or someone to talk to. I'll be there for you and help you any way I can

Stop smoking: Step 2 - How?

There are a couple of ways on how to stop smoking. If you do your research, you'll find that there are drugs/medicine that will help you to stop smoking. But there are no better ways to stop than good ol' self-motivation.

The week before I stopped smoking, I started that e-cigarette. I used RoyaleSmoke.com set. Bought it for RM 200, then I bought 2 sets of cartridges at RM 20 each to last me for 1 week plus. It lasted me for 9 days. e-Cigarette is a pretty good way to stop smoking, or at least to cut down on your smoking habit. Instead of tar and other dangerous gasses, you'll inhale nicotine and food additive. It feels awkward when you first started smoking e-Cigarette, but it will grow on you. Soon, it will replace your real cigarette, and you will start depending on it instead.

That's the thing. You'll still be dependent. Don't you see how pointless it is? Yeah, it's cheaper than smoking real cigarette. Yeah, it's safer. Yeah, there are no major side effects. But you'll still be dependent on another stuff. For me, it defeats the whole purpose of trying to quit smoking. I realized that a few days after I've started smoking that e-Cigarette. And then I told myself repeatedly: It's just nicotine. How bad can it hurt me?

So, how did I stop smoking? I think the e-Cigarette helped me. It helped by cutting down my addiction to the real thing. In that 9 days, the craving to hold a real cigarette was gone. Not completely, but significantly lower than before. I used the same method as Taubat (repenting) in Islam. Let me educate you a little bit on Taubat.

Taubat in Arabic means "coming back". There are 3 components in Taubat:

• Determined not to repeat and leave the committed sins
• Regret and hate of the committed sins
• Leave all other related sins

Similar to Taubat, you can apply to smoking as well:

• Determined not to repeat and leave the habit of smoking
• Regret and hate the habit of smoking
• Leave all other related actions leading to smoking

Trust me, it helped. And encouragements from your friends and family members are also needed. Some friends won't be supportive, I'm sure of that. But luckily in my case, all of them are very supportive.

So I quit cold turkey after substituting to e-cigarette for about 9 days. Well, not really cold turkey, but I tried softening the blow. And hey, it worked because it gave me the strength. I didn't know if I can live without cigarette before. But after I've tried that e-cigarette, life without cigarettes isn't that bad. Changed my perception of cigarettes. I know it's a lot of drama to just quit smoking, but it's a big deal to me and I needed to plan and foresee the impact to me and to my loved ones. My advice is, if you're really scared of quitting cold turkey, try e-cigarette first. It helps by giving you a preview of how life is without cigarettes. And if you're comfortable with it, jump ship with me!

That's the end of step 2. Next, I will share the side effects from my attempt to quit smoking

Stop smoking: Step 1 - Why?

Hello smokers. Yes, this post is for you. I'm proud to say I was a smoker for 10 years. I have stopped smoking for 5 days now, and I want to share my experience so far with you. I know many of you are thinking of stopping, but you don't know why, and how. Or at least, you don't have a compelling enough reason to stop smoking. Then I'm gonna share what are the side effects that I'm experiencing, and why you are experiencing it. I'm here with you. I feel your pain. Let me guide you.

To start off, why do you need to stop smoking? Couple of reasons:

• Health risks
1. Heart
2. Stamina
3. Reproduction system
4. Cancer
5. Second hand smokers
6. Other major ailments

• Financial
1. I have smoked for 10 years straight now, without skipping. I smoked on average 20 sticks a day. In 10 years, that amounted to RM 27,000 give or take. That's a shitload of money you can save

• Psychological
1. Being a smoker, you need to have that puff in order to think, or to function properly. Without nicotine, you'll be useless. You will be dependent on that drug for the rest of your life
2. You will affect other people around you, especially your loved ones with your mood swings if you don't get your fix

• Physical
1. You smell bad. Your breath smells bad. Your clothes smells bad. You don't realize this, but imagine when you walk in the elevator full of people after you had your fix. It's not the best smell in the world
2. Your fingers will smell afterwards. And it's dirty from the residual tar left behind. Your partner will notice

Now there are a lot more reason that you may have, have read or heard before, but those are the ones which compelled me to stop. On top of all the things I have mentioned above, you need one more. The most important part. You need discipline. And how do you get that discipline? I have found a way, and that way is to find a motivation to encourage me. Now, not only you need a motivation to distract you from thinking about nicotine, but also to get you going, to help absorb the impact from quitting your cigarettes.

Everyone has different motivations. Mine is Nawal. Nawal helps me a lot. She's been a huge part in all this. Right from the beginning. She never asked me to stop smoking. In fact, she loves the smell of cigarette. "But why do you need to stop smoking Aizad?" - because I'm motivated to give us a good life. I'm concerned about my health, concerned about her health, and also our future babies. I put all of that in consideration when I decided to stop smoking. And that's my motivation. You can cheat. There's no doubt you can cheat. But when the thought comes, you'll need that motivation to say NO.

NO, I'VE WORKED TOO HARD FOR THIS. I CAN'T STOP NOW

I hope this will help you find a reason to stop smoking, and a motivation to help you to continue to stop smoking. I will share the rest of the mechanics of quitting cigarette in the next posts