How do you deal with the irritability?

[Tonks]

That's the big question...I've been trying to quit forever...we all know how the timeline goes.

I get very irritable and jerky during my periods of not smoking...it seems that the nicotine addiction really trumps any prayers that make to help me recover from this nightmare.

Any thoughts?

 

[OnMyWaytoFreedom]

Are you trying to quit cold turkey? I tried and failed that method, time and time again. Then 3 years ago, I decided to use patch therapy. It's a couple month program, but I was able to quit a 12 year habit this way. Yeah, you might still have some episodes of irritability, but your body will still get the nicotine the receptors crave, which will help. Every couple of weeks, a lower dose of nicotine is used in each patch cycle, until you are through. It's not such a shock to your body as 'cold turkey' is, if you use the patch to quit.

 

[Tonks]

i haven't tried the patch, yet. i'm still on the lozenges which are proving to be pretty ineffective.

 

[I'ddie4him2]

I've tried the patch on several occasions and it seemed to take the edge off most of the time.
I've never been able to make it past a week without going back to smoking.

I've smoked for 25 + years and this is the hardest thing in my life i've tried to quit.

 

[suzybeezy]

I was able to successful stop smoking using Zyban. It seemed to help with the withdrawl symptoms. I would suggest talking to your doctor since they have even newer stuff out there that can help.