Withdrawal Symptoms When You Stop Smoking Cigarettes

Nicotine is tricky chemical to deal with because of how it causes addiction. Our brains have evolved to produce a number of chemicals that regulate our feelings, endorphins such as dopamine and serotonin have to be supplied in adequate amounts or we can start to feel depressed. When we start smoking, nicotine is able to simulate these chemicals in the brain so the body is fooled into thinking that too many are being produced and it starts to cut back production. Once the brain cuts the production you will start to feel the nicotine withdrawal symptoms and we turn to more cigarettes to fix the problem.

After we have smoked for a number of years the brain will almost completely stop making these chemicals. After we stop smoking our body kind of goes into a panic because the chemicals it needs to make it feel good are not present and we start to feel the nicotine withdrawal symptoms. There are quite a few symptoms, though you may not suffer them all, but the ones you do suffer can be quite bad. Firstly there is depression and anxiety. One of the great ways to stop smoking is to get the stop smoking shot, the medicines in this are used to treat depression and anxiety by doctors. A lot of people will complain about weight loss and constipation when they try to stop smoking but both of these can be treated medically.

Another way to quit is to use a nicotine replacement product in place of the cigarettes. In theory this should allow you to get off the cigarettes without the stress as you can find a new source of the nicotine you crave. There are nicotine gums, patches, and even a new product called e cigarettes which claim to give good results although many people think you will get better results by going cold turkey.

Some of the other nicotine withdrawal symptoms you can expect to see if you don’t use NRT are insomnia, headaches, dizziness and cravings. All of these can be handled medically except for the cravings, these need to be dealt with by counseling and the support of friends and family. When you quit smoking you might experience one of these symptoms or all of them, plus some others that have not been mentions. The way that works best for most people is a combination of stop smoking aids.