My co-worked Darren today @ work said,"All it takes is THREE days to be SMOKE-FREE" Is that true?

Yeah, the three day hump. Dunno how legit it is though.

I think it takes three days for the nicotine to completely leave your body. But I can promise that it takes a lot longer than 3 days for the cravings to go away. Trust me

yep getting rid of the nicotine is only half the battle. The real trick is not add any more to your body.

You may find this refreshing site helpful. (Excerpt follows.)

“Tired of the same old quitting tips? How will you navigate the up to 72 hours needed to reach peak withdrawal and again reside inside a nicotine free body? The below cold turkey quitting tips are vastly different from the advice rendered by those advocating the use of weeks or months of nicotine replacement products.

Drink plenty of acidic fruit juice the first three days. Cranberry is excellent and a bottle will cost you about the same as a pack of cigarettes. It will help to both accelerate the up to 72 hours needed to remove the alkaloid nicotine from your body and help stabilize blood sugars. Take care beyond three days as juices can be rather fattening.”

Not smoking for three days only makes you smoke free for three days.

I’ve quit several times, cold turkey. The 72-hour thing seems pretty legit, in my experience. Day 2 is the worst for me, in terms of withdrawal and having massive cravings. The hardest part in quitting for me is not the physical withdrawal but the habit and mental aspect of it. That’s a real bitch to overcome.

It’s time for me to quit for real.. I’m getting mentally ready and I’ll be quitting soon.

It takes 3 days of abstinance to get the chemicals from cigarette smoking out of your system, and supposedly, the physical cravings for nictonie.

It takes a lot longer (several years) to get the psychological urges for them, out of your brain.

I should know. From 1965–78, I was addicted to smoking, and according to the ACS, it is easier to kick a heroin habit, than an addiction to nicotine.

@AlenaD

It is doable. It is really hard but doable. One thing to keep in mind is that having one smoke isn’t a failure. I tried so many times where I would snap and have one and then I would say, “Look, I knew I couldn’t do this.” I have had a few since I quit and now I just say, “Oops, I fucked up.” And move on with trying to quit. Nothing is wrong with the occasional mistake.

I am on my 15th month free from smoking. It may be out of my system but I still have cravings!

@Jack I should know. From 1965–78, I was addicted to smoking, and according to the ACS, it is easier to kick a heroin habit, than an addiction to nicotine.

Don’t ever make the mistake of saying this to someone actually in recovery because of heroin habit. I did one time. He looked me straight in the eyes and said, “You try to stop using heroin when you’re addicted to it and then go ahead and tell me how f*cking easy it is.” I didn’t bring it up around him again.

Thanks for the link Marina. I’m trying to quit now and that site does have some interesting information on it.

I had one acupuncture session for smoking cessation. I have not smoked since Jan 10, 2007. It was a pleasant quitting experience.

As a smoker I understand that this 3 day rule basically refers to the 3 days it takes for physical cravings of the drug addiction to subside but there are also psychological issues involved. I for one have given up smoking twice, once for three months and once for five months but I always ‘felt like a smoker’ and I think to truly give up I would need to get over that psychological identification of myself issue.

The difference between addiction and habit I see as a difference between a want and a need.

You might really want to take a bath (and the bathroom is busy) or you might really need to go to the toilet (and the bathroom is busy)

Yes, to a certain extent. If you can get past three days, you can quit.
But being an ex-smoker is like being an ex-alcoholic: you can always go back and go back easily. (Once a smoker, basically, ALWAYS a smoker.)