I Quit Smoking, Cold Turkey, Now I'm Mean.

Most know me on ATS as a nice, balanced responder who rarely baits people, never engages in name calling, and usually takes the higher ground in conversations.

Well I went "cold turkey" yesterday and quit smoking after 15-years and now I feel like strangling someone. My posts on ATS these last two days are just plain mean and condescending.

I'm not looking for support (because currently I'm a jerk), but wanted people at a future date to refer to a thread where I can apologize and say sorry for being confrontational... this is that thread, and it's because I just quit smoking. Sorry.

reply to post by Jason88


Welcome to the club.

I quit 6 years ago, and I'm still mean.

same here kiddo! i also quit smoking last night before i went to bed was my last smoke.......and im jonsing bad! but i keep telling myself i dont allow anything to control me. especially the cigarette co's.....seriously...we can do this man.....YES WE CAN!.....LMAO kidding and not at the same time! good luck

hahahha I quit cold turkey a few months ago, was mean for about 2-3 weeks and now I just feel cynical

Ha ha, I love it. When I quit my husband said I was worse than being pregnant. Don't worry, it gets better after day five. You will suddenly start to notice cigs stink and that you can't believe you never noticed it before. Good luck!

reply to post by Jason88


The agitation goes away. I have quit cold turkey three times and my temper went through the roof. While the agitation was tough, the worst withdrawal symptoms for me were the constipation and the insomnia. The agitation goes away after a couple of days and so does the insomnia. The constipation takes a bit longer. Do yourself a favor and get some .25mg Xanax from the doctor to help you sleep and eat lots of fiber and drink a couple cup of coffee to help you with the bathroom.

After 15 years of smokin', it's gotta be tough.

However, I watched a smoking documentary, which said that when somebody quits cold turkey, its the first THREE days, which are the toughest period...So hang in there buddy, & you'll be ok.

I think quittin' cold turkey is the toughest way of putting down the cigarettes...But I've never been a fan of the nicotine gum, or the patches.

How about gradually cutting down?

A way of cutting down is by smoking rolling tobacco, instead of normal cigarettes...This'll mean you have to make the effort to roll it up, & they are more healthy than a normal one. You'll find yourself smoking less & less that way.

Or ever thought of getting one of those electronic cigarettes? Haven't tried it myself, but from what I've heard, they're pretty good.

P.S. - You're avatar is epic.

I quit cold turkey 2 weeks ago! My grandfather passed away and he was the first person to sit me down as a kid and explain to me why I shouldn't smoke. So it just felt right to quit in respect of this memory as well as my life on this planet. The first few days a barely noticed it, I was busy with family and just didn't get much time to think about it. But day 1 back to work was insane, I was biting my bosses heads off after every comment they made. Thankfully we raz eachother all the time and I was able to play my temper off as a joke.

A week later and I am feeling great! I feel that my sense of smell is coming back, as I can smell the wonderful aroma of my coffee from the next room over. This was a scent I couldn't smell until it was right in front of me before.

Good luck! The agitation will pass and the benefits far outweigh the negatives.

i smoked a pack of 16Mg cigarettes a day for over 6 years and quit cold turkey, nearly 10 years ago. I was a total a-hole for a month after that.

but then i remembered i was an a-hole before i started anyway.

don't worry you'll feel better in a month.

Man, I quit drinking over 3 years ago and I got mean and all kinds of other things started clicking into place.

Now it is time to quit smoking I actually quit last night too, but just failed(again) as I had a smoke 5 minutes before seeing this thread. I was beginning to get a little mean as well.

While I will never have sympathy for an addict, I can now certainly say after 6 attempts to quit smoking I do have quite a bit of empathy for addicts.

When I was a kid I was pretty high strung. Nothing really problematic but still, I wouldn't take crap from no one and always ready for a fight. I get to high school I start smokinng cigs and I calmed right down. Became a pretty mellow dude. Now in my thirties I decided to quit about a year ago and became really cranky and I guess a little mean too. I often have to pick my words as to not offend. I catch myself holding back stuff that usualy I wouldn't even think of saying. Almost want to start smoking again....maybe that's wahta they want??? But hang in there. It'll pay off I'm sure. I use tooth pics...it helps.

Originally posted by Jason88
Most know me on ATS as a nice, balanced responder who rarely baits people, never engages in name calling, and usually takes the higher ground in conversations.

Well I went "cold turkey" yesterday and quit smoking after 15-years and now I feel like strangling someone. My posts on ATS these last two days are just plain mean and condescending.

I'm not looking for support (because currently I'm a jerk), but wanted people at a future date to refer to a thread where I can apologize and say sorry for being confrontational... this is that thread, and it's because I just quit smoking. Sorry.

Nicotine withdrawal. Youre going to have to learn to replace nicotine with something else. I used to chew tobacco and when i quit cold turkey it felt like my blood was on fire and i thought i was going to combust. It will pass with time, once your body begins to return to normal. After all those years having those chemicles in your body it has made your brain think your body on those chemicles was your natural state. Your body will adjust once the chemicles wear off but its going to be a rough ride till then. Thats why so many people fail to quit smoking, they start feeling bad and their brain thinks that something is wrong so they go back to it.

Going for long walks and riding a bike helped me overcome it. Anytime i started to feel the crave i would go do something else to get my mind off it. Eventually i got to where i didn't have nicotine craves anymore and didn't even have the urge or desire for it. Another thing that helped me get over the chew, was i saw a picture of a guy that had to have his bottom jaw removed because he got cancer and i was so horrified, looking at his picture traumatized me into quitting.

In my experience, hydration, nutrition, and a good exercise regimen (that you actually like to follow, even 10 mins/day) are the keys to easily breaking habits like smoking.

I realize there is obviously a chemical withdrawal, but there is also an oral fixation and a habitual cycle (if you're used to take 10 smoke breaks a day...what do you do with that time now?) that needs to be broken as well. If you're up to trying meditation, the deep breathing practices may calm your nerves just as well as smoking- once you've gotten it all out of your system.

I, however, haven't smoked for 15 years so I'm sure its a battle. I hope you win!

reply to post by Jason88
hah...congrats first off, Jason. I'm fixing to get back on that wagon myself.

Discard the support as you will, I highly suggest setting whyquit.com as your homepage and reading some articles to stay strong. It really is one of the best choices you can make.

On the (somewhat) bright side, it should only be a big problem for about the next 6 days, then another two weeks to really get clear...so hopefully your attitude will be clearing up by about next monday. Good luck! It's really not too bad unless you let yourself fixate. Just find something to distract yourself with for about 5 minutes whenever you really start craving. Minimize your caffeine intake for awhile as this will decrease your tolerance, also...that could definitely figure into mood issues if you're a coffee drinker or some such.

reply to post by Jason88


best of luck to you and all the others who have written about quitting. that is awesome, good on every one of you.

don't worry about lashing out or freaking out, whatever. you're going through huge stuff right now. do what you got to do.

and there is nothing wrong with going in the basement and smashing old plates or walking into the woods and whacking old sticks against trees, stuff like that, to get it out of your system. objects don't matter and it is a good outlet.

hang in there. you can do it. i'm very proud of all you quitters!

and it dont make it any easier when the people around you continue to smoke. i took a crack at it not so long ago. i lasted 3 weeks. and yes i WAS MEAN. im not so nice in general anyways but in that 3 week time no one could stand me. i eventually caved. and im still mean just not quite as much. i been meaning to give it another shot but dont really got the support i need to get there

Originally posted by grokthis42
and it dont make it any easier when the people around you continue to smoke. i took a crack at it not so long ago. i lasted 3 weeks. and yes i WAS MEAN. im not so nice in general anyways but in that 3 week time no one could stand me. i eventually caved. and im still mean just not quite as much. i been meaning to give it another shot but dont really got the support i need to get there

You don't have to be mean, that is a choice.

Title fail, I initially thought you actually stopped smoking the cold turkey !
I'm not really looking forward to the day I have to stop.....

Originally posted by Jason88
Most know me on ATS as a nice, balanced responder who rarely baits people, never engages in name calling, and usually takes the higher ground in conversations.

Well I went "cold turkey" yesterday and quit smoking after 15-years and now I feel like strangling someone. My posts on ATS these last two days are just plain mean and condescending.

I'm not looking for support (because currently I'm a jerk), but wanted people at a future date to refer to a thread where I can apologize and say sorry for being confrontational... this is that thread, and it's because I just quit smoking. Sorry.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the electronic cigarrette. After many years of smoking, I picked one up last week at my local gas station for $19.99 and haven't touched analog cigarrettes yet.

Most importantly, haven't killed anyone yet!

Here is a forum about e-cigs that might help those looking to quit smoking

www.e-cigarette-forum.com...

I'm trying not to fixate, and I hope it gets better; I'm going to have some faith that is does, because at this point I've isolated myself from my family and taken the day off from work - I feel like a crackhead. And I just took a kids toy and jury rigged it to a door frame in my house, it's my new speed bag to punch --- and it works great. I think I'll throw on some really loud music, beat the heck outta this toy and tell myself "I control smoking, it doesn't control me. I control smoking, it doesn't control me.

ETA: In the pic it looks small, but a kid sits on it and bounces, it's bigger than a basketball and and can take a beating... so far. F#$^ cigarettes.