Smoking Cessation: What To Expect Afterwards

Withdrawal symptoms from smoking cessation are stumbling blocks over which many a would-be quitter trips. The problem with many smokers is that they fail to recognize these symptoms as symptoms. A withdrawal symptom is something that a person experiences once he or she stops using a substance that gives them a kick.

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 we know it, these centers of the brain cannot do without the daily dose of the substance.

When we experience that pleasantly high feeling we do not bother about the changes that are taking place within. It is common knowledge that the entire processes carried about in the brain are maintained by a delicate balance of the various chemicals there.

Once we start using tobacco the balance of these chemical salts gets altered. The body is a self adjusting machine and so this new chemical balance is established and it takes no time for the brain cells adjust to the new balance.

When the brain cells do not get what is required to maintain the new balance, things go haywire. The old balance was disturbed and a new one set up. But this new balance is not the natural one. It is something that has to be artificially supported, and when that dose of nicotine does not get to the brain, the new balance gets upset.

That is when a person gets those peculiar feelings called 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 pull of highly toxic smoke. Some people break into a sweat, some get the tremors, some feel queasy, some get constipated. All these are withdrawal symptoms, so unless you prepare yourself to face them, you're looking at a losing battle.

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, the brain 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 we're going to experience as withdrawal symptoms. Initially the brain had been just fine without the help of any external substance; and then we made the brain dependent on something.

So when we stop using that something, it is only a matter of time before the brain 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 admit that it is easier said than done. However, knowing that withdrawals will come (and recognizing them as such), is a vital part of the smoking cessation process.

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