A survey found that most long term smokers tried to quit 7.4 times and failed. One of the reasons quitting nicotine – smoking – may be harder than quitting heroin is that smokers would rather do work than go to an addiction treatment center. 35% would rather clean house. 27% would rather pay bills. 22% would rather work overtime. 18% would rather eat with in-laws than get help for their smoking addiction.
Even after knowing that smoking causes cancer and other health issues 53 million people in the US alone still smoke. Scientists are saying quitting nicotine is as hard as quitting heroin or cocaine. Nicotine has the same properties as heroin. But ads and stores will never admit that. Nicotine and alkaloid are both found in plants. They both affect neurotransmitters in the brain. Heroin activates pain killing neurotransmitters and nicotine activates neurotransmitters for memory and nerve signal conduction.
Nicotine Effects
An experiment with 8 drug users found that people often mistake the effects of nicotine for the effects of meth or morphine. This means nicotine can produce almost the same pleasure responses as more mainstream, hardcore drugs.
Smokers get 200 hits of nicotine a day. This gives them a brief high as the brain is waiting for the next hit to keep the high going. Nicotine has the same withdrawal symptoms as quitting heroin.
These symptoms are anxiety, irritability, restlessness, cravings, headaches, gastrointestinal problems, drowsiness and decreased heart rate. Even when you’re abstinent from cigarettes for a while, cravings can be triggered by everyday objects or places.
Designated smoking areas can trigger a relapse. Being around people who smoke and hearing about smoking can trigger someone to start smoking again. Cravings sneak up on you. They can even be triggered subconsciously by places where you used to smoke. It takes 72 hours for nicotine to fully leave the body. It takes at least 3 months for the brain to fully reset after quitting smoking. The first 3 days are the hardest when quitting nicotine because each day the cravings increase until they peak on the 3rd day.
Quitting
Doctors recommend weaning off smoking with nicotine replacement therapy. There’s chewing gum, patches and now vaping that can be used for nicotine replacement therapy. The first step to quitting smoking is to figure out why you want to quit.
Give yourself a good enough reason to quit and that will be your motivation to quit when the withdrawal symptoms get tough. Find out why you smoke, is it stress or a long day and try to find alternatives to smoking to deal with a long day. Change your routine if you smoke while doing a certain activity because that activity can trigger a relapse.
Replace the oral fixation of smoking with sticks of wood, celery or anything that looks like a cigarette. Let people help you quit by telling them you want to quit.
Nicotine Addiction Treatment at Asana Recovery
If you can’t quit, go to a treatment center. These centers offer professional help in quitting all substances so if you’re a last resort kind of person and still smoking, go to a treatment center like Asana Recovery.
Asana Recovery is a supportive environment and offers various therapies to cater to your needs. Call (949)-763-3440 to find out more about their programs.
