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SolveYourProblem
eLearning Series: Smoking
I'd Rather Not Die From Smoking
Learn The Harmful Effects & Quit Smoking
Now
(
27 pages )
Withdrawl
Symptoms from Smoking
Withdrawal
Symptoms, What’s That?
This is the stumbling
block 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. Opps, is that too hard to digest? Well, let’s
try to make it simpler.
There are many
things that are identified with substance abuse. Alcohol
is one of them, narcotic drugs are another and tobacco is
in no way to be left behind. The problem, or let us say that
the similarity among all these substances, is that once one
gets used to them, breaking away is not easy.
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 doze
of the substance. The brain did not ask for the substance
in the first place but we gave them to it. 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
chemical salts there. Once we start using substances like
the above mentioned tobacco, narcotics and alcohol, the balance
of these chemical salts gets altered. The body as I mentioned
earlier is a self adjusting machine and so this new chemical
balance is established and it takes no time for the brain
cells to get adjusted to the new balance.
Then when the
brain cells do not get what is required to maintain the new
balance (read that as the daily puffs) things go hay wire.
The old balance was disturbed and altered and a new balance
was set up. But this new balance is not the real natural
thing. It is something that has to be artificially supported
and when that daily, or timely dose of nicotine does not
get to the brain, the new balance gets upset.
That is when
a person gets those peculiar feelings, which can be broadly
called the 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
the pressure of withdrawal, you’re going to face a losing
battle.
Psst…let’s
not leave out an important detail...
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 are going to experience as the withdrawal symptom.
Initially the brain had been doing all too well without the
help of any external substance; and then we made the brain
become 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 do
admit that it is easier said than done. In the end, however,
knowing that withdrawals will come (and recognizing them
as such), is a vital part of the quitting process.
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