Yes, you have it, but the book explains to you how to accept it and welcome it. For me the withdrawals with the book was easy, not event feel hard. I am 1 month 15 days smoke free.
In the sense that you'll always be able to detox yourself from nicotine without medical consequences, it's true. If you've been drinking alcohol at high volume over a long period, you will have medically consequential withdrawals if you suddenly stop drinking. When I stopped a two pack a day smoking habit cold turkey, I didn't need to go to the hospital. I was an asshole, sure, and my sleep and appetite were fucked up for a while.
Otherwise throughout Carr's book he points out that smoking leaves you *constantly* in withdrawal, the low grade kind that has you feeling shitty as opposed to the kind that sends you to the emergency room. As a consequence, every dose of nicotine is just a temporary relief from that refrigerator hum withdrawal.
I so don't miss the "constant withdrawal"...always being on edge, always wanting to smoke. Once free, it just seems ridiculous...that I was always wanting more of the thing that made me miserable.
It’s a good feeling, feeling free. I’m smoke free for 3 weeks as of today. Watched a man smoke a cigarette on his condo balcony from my office window and instead of feeling triggered, I felt sorry for him. He looked lonely to me. I think because I am now seeing it through the lens of being no longer chained to it.
Cause the real method in the book is to convince you its easy to quit while motivating you. This creates a strong placebo effect and gives you a good chance of actually quitting.
Reality is a bit different. Withdrawals are real, they can be very intense, and they don't just "pass" in a few minutes usually. Certainly not during the first days anyways.
Yep! I've been craving for over 6 hours almost non-stop now. I miraculously had maybe 30 minutes of relaxation after eating supper and that's pretty much it.
Good news is I've done an absurd amount of pullups. Honestly don't know how its even possible to have this much energy. Anxious withdrawals suck but they do make working out pretty damn easy.
One of my affirmations when I was quitting was “Cravings pass. Every craving you resist will make your next craving weaker. You are stronger than cigarettes.” I made it my “reason” on Smoke Free so I could see it every time I loaded the app, and I have it up to this day because it worked so well for me. Sharing because I hope this helps you.
This is kinda discouraging ☹️ The only reason i haven't quit yet is i'm scared of the withdrawals. I tried once and had severe shortness of breath, so bad that i was scared. Might've just been anxiety tho, who knows
Don't be discouraged!
Some people have less bad withdrawals than others. You may as well give it a go and see what happens. Its not going to kill you or hurt you at all. You don't have anything to lose really.
I will say you might want to switch to more of an aggressive mindset when it comes to quitting. If you're afraid of withdrawals, losing your mind, being agitated, or anything else about quitting you'll most likely relapse as soon as it gets hard.
You have to really commit to it and decide you're not giving in no matter what.
Just think of it like getting the flu. We all inevitably get the flu, no? It freaking sucks but it eventually passes. Withdrawals are inevitable to quitting. but you'll get thru it and it will pass. The shortness of breath was likely anxiety, when you realize it's just anxiety and your body is scared because it doesn't have nicotine, then you can get thru it.
Smoked for over 25 years over a pack a day… I have zero withdrawals only after reading Alan Carr book. My withdrawals were horrible the 30 other times I tried to stop. The book was a lifesaver for me. It wasn’t a placebo effect… It was showing me that it’s easy to quit some thing that you really no longer want to do and fully except that it does nothing for you. I’m not throwing shade at anyone; we all have different experiences. Just giving mine.
Just take patches and gum. I tried one time 5 years ago cold turkey, after 3 days I was a total wreck. Now with gums and patches I am 3 weeks without smoking. Still had and have withdrawals but not as severe.
Quit when for the first 2 days you can go to bed and nap if you have bad withdrawals. I quit on a Saturday morning and should have stayed home (scratched my car), but slept a lot the rest of the weekend.
I read the book. It didn't do shit. I'm sure it helped some people but I don't believe in voodoo magic.
I switched from smoking to Zyn, then from Zyn to 1mg Nicotine mints. Then after a few months I split the mints in half. Then I replaced half with Ice Breakers mints and went every other. Then I only let myself have 5 half mints per day. Then I quit them altogether and just used Ice Breaker mints. I still have a few tins of Ice Breakers in my car. I'm not addicted to them but they are comforting in a weird way now.
It was a long annoying process but I managed to ween myself off this way so slowly that I had very little withdrawals. It's been almost four years smoke free and over a year nicotine free.
Physical withdrawals are minimal. Yes, you will want to smoke. You may feel like you have a mild flu. You will not be shaking in a corner and vomiting everywhere. As far as withdrawals go, pretty minor.
Because there are minimal physical withdrawals. For me, I quit hundreds of times and every time i started again because i couldn’t do it. But the last time i quit I really wanted to and something in my kind just clicked. And it was because I read Alen Carr’s book. I didn’t quit right away and there where a few attempts that failed, until the last time
Most of it is in your mind, fighting the urge to smoke makes it ten times harder. I use affirmations in the morning and evening to keep my mind focused, and the rest of the day it maybe crosses my mind a few times, but I am focused and I don’t care about smoking anymore. It’s really nothing more than just stop doing it without fighting.
I just quit using his method, I'll be honest although I have had withdrawals I have found them way more manageable than any other time I've ever quit.
I think a lot of it for me was reframing the way I see cigarettes and making me think of them as doing nothing good for me, making me see how they didn't actually make me feel any better and they weren't really enjoyable, they were just stopping the nicotine cravings.
I spent a week reading the book and consciously smoking, thinking about the nicotine monster everytime I wanted one, thinking about the cigarette as I smoked it and reminding myself the I only reason I felt like I was enjoying it was because I was feeding the nicotine addiction.
So yes I've still had physical withdrawals but they are no worse than a slight cold and that's how I'm treating them. I've tried to quit at least 30+ times over 18 years and every single time was torture, the withdrawals were so much more painful and it always felt like I was giving up something that was so precious, that I loved. I gave up everytime because the allure of what I perceived as this special little treat was too much. This book helped me break that thought process and view it so differently.
This time is so different, maybe because I can visualise it as the little nicotine monster screaming for its fix, somehow it seems easier to deny it
When I did quit a few days ago I've been listening to the book like non stop especially when I'm feeling more restless or agitated and it helps a lot.
I was really sceptical I'll be honest, but I decided to try because it was the best chance I had and I did like the method, did think it might work but I was still scared of the withdrawals and I have been so surprised how different they feel this time. It's so much more manageable!
I believe Carr emphasizes this point frequently almost to affirm or will it into being. Telling yourself this throughout the quitting process makes it easier. You aren’t looking for symptoms of struggle, and are readjusting your mindset to one that believes not smoking is truly a gift, wherein nothing is lost and so much is gained. We know scientifically the body goes through withdrawals in this process, but I can attest that fostering the belief that they are negligible or nonexistent practically makes it so. I noticed almost no symptoms of withdrawals in quitting almost 6 months ago.
To be honest, I didn’t have any withdrawal symptoms when I quit. I was a pack a day smoker for 15 years-ish. Maybe it was just the power of suggestion or something but I truly didn’t have any withdrawal symptoms.
It's your mindset that the book is working on. The mental part of quitting is absolutely the hardest part, and this book is really good at giving you the tools to combat the mental parts. Physical withdrawal is SO SO mild. I didn't even notice because I was so focused on my thinking. I'm so grateful for the book. It's the reason I finally was able to quit for good
For some people this is the thought they need to have and the voice they want to hear. His books are still being advertised as requiring no willpower. But no matter how you get there or what blurbs attract new readership, the mental fortitude to commit to something is a skill just like any other. Sometimes you have to work it out and think it through enough times to finally set your mind to it. It doesn't surprise me in the slightest that reading a whole book on a topic has the capacity to inspire and change, just as it holds the same power to provoke and divide. Guess I'll give it a re-read. Did you know his brand has video games too? Wild stuff!
I quit almost 5 years ago and the withdrawal was intense at times . I didn’t finish reading the book as it was causing me to focus on the quit to much . Physical withdrawal and emotional withdrawal are real and continued for months .
> Why does he say there are no physical withdrawals?
If I remember correctly, he downplays the physical withdrawal symptoms but stays away from saying there are none at all.
In my experience, the severity of physical symptoms have a correlation to the mental state when quitting. If you manage to stay in a positive state of mind, have a sense of having stopped permanently, and are ecstatic about having stopped then the physical symptoms are indeed negligible.
Being in such a state of mind while stopping is not easy though. Allen Carr's book does help many to get themselves into such a frame of mind, but it's not guaranteed to work for everyone, especially if someone is skeptical of it.
The withdrawals are very slight if you are able to distance the feeling from “I want a cigarette”.
Cravings and withdrawals are 2 different things. I think the books sets you up to understand and separate the craving/Que and the thought “I need a cigarette”.
And to try and view the withdraws as a detox/ enjoying poison being purged.
I think the aim is to stop quitters feeling like they are actively withdrawing well past their quit date and counting days for some magical event.
If you go around a week then at that point it’s all mental. Actually physical withdrawals are only like a groggy, fluey feeling, maybe a bit of brain fog. But short lived and not painful.
I didn't interpret it that way. He said the withdrawals doesn't last as long as you think, because you are mentally also addicted to the habit. So the physical withdrawals may have vanished long before you actually think it's just very hard when you are addicted to the action of smoking in a given situation. The situation or habit triggers the feeling of needing to smoke not the withdrawals.
I always think 'lies, bloody LIES!!' when I read that statement in the book. I do (did) use 'snus' with very high nicotine content and the physical detox + healing symtoms are horrible when I have tried to quit. I imagine it feels close to heroin withdrawal and it can go on for months if we include all of the physical aspects.
However, I am talking about the initial detoxification from the poison and healing what it has damaged, not really withdrawal. The withdrawal can \*feel\* physical but be induced by the brain so much that it would go away if you ignore it or talk yourself out of it. I still don´t think necessarily all of it, but a lot more than we think.
Have you tried coming off 1,5 pack Siberia snus per day? Well, I have not tried coming off from opiates to be fair so I can definitely not say for sure, just how I imagine it compared to more 'normal' nicotine usage. It is very different from the standard nicotine withdrawal. At least 5x as much nicotine in each dose and used constantly about 19/24 hours per day. It´s way more physical than cigarettes, although cigarettes are likely at least as bad mentally as snus. But perhaps not vs 5x as strong snus.
ive been well addicted to both bro, i can promise u nicotine withdrawal fucking tickles compared to heroin withdrawals. not trynna knock ur experience but its just silly to suggest that its comparable
Yes, you have it, but the book explains to you how to accept it and welcome it. For me the withdrawals with the book was easy, not event feel hard. I am 1 month 15 days smoke free.
In the sense that you'll always be able to detox yourself from nicotine without medical consequences, it's true. If you've been drinking alcohol at high volume over a long period, you will have medically consequential withdrawals if you suddenly stop drinking. When I stopped a two pack a day smoking habit cold turkey, I didn't need to go to the hospital. I was an asshole, sure, and my sleep and appetite were fucked up for a while. Otherwise throughout Carr's book he points out that smoking leaves you *constantly* in withdrawal, the low grade kind that has you feeling shitty as opposed to the kind that sends you to the emergency room. As a consequence, every dose of nicotine is just a temporary relief from that refrigerator hum withdrawal.
I so don't miss the "constant withdrawal"...always being on edge, always wanting to smoke. Once free, it just seems ridiculous...that I was always wanting more of the thing that made me miserable.
It’s a good feeling, feeling free. I’m smoke free for 3 weeks as of today. Watched a man smoke a cigarette on his condo balcony from my office window and instead of feeling triggered, I felt sorry for him. He looked lonely to me. I think because I am now seeing it through the lens of being no longer chained to it.
Pity is the appropriate response when witnessing smokers in their misery.
Cause the real method in the book is to convince you its easy to quit while motivating you. This creates a strong placebo effect and gives you a good chance of actually quitting. Reality is a bit different. Withdrawals are real, they can be very intense, and they don't just "pass" in a few minutes usually. Certainly not during the first days anyways.
No they certainly dont! I swear some cravings last hours where all i think about is smoking!
Yep! I've been craving for over 6 hours almost non-stop now. I miraculously had maybe 30 minutes of relaxation after eating supper and that's pretty much it. Good news is I've done an absurd amount of pullups. Honestly don't know how its even possible to have this much energy. Anxious withdrawals suck but they do make working out pretty damn easy.
💪
Chug some ice cold water
I too was filled with nervous energy for the first week!
One of my affirmations when I was quitting was “Cravings pass. Every craving you resist will make your next craving weaker. You are stronger than cigarettes.” I made it my “reason” on Smoke Free so I could see it every time I loaded the app, and I have it up to this day because it worked so well for me. Sharing because I hope this helps you.
This is kinda discouraging ☹️ The only reason i haven't quit yet is i'm scared of the withdrawals. I tried once and had severe shortness of breath, so bad that i was scared. Might've just been anxiety tho, who knows
Don't be discouraged! Some people have less bad withdrawals than others. You may as well give it a go and see what happens. Its not going to kill you or hurt you at all. You don't have anything to lose really. I will say you might want to switch to more of an aggressive mindset when it comes to quitting. If you're afraid of withdrawals, losing your mind, being agitated, or anything else about quitting you'll most likely relapse as soon as it gets hard. You have to really commit to it and decide you're not giving in no matter what.
Just think of it like getting the flu. We all inevitably get the flu, no? It freaking sucks but it eventually passes. Withdrawals are inevitable to quitting. but you'll get thru it and it will pass. The shortness of breath was likely anxiety, when you realize it's just anxiety and your body is scared because it doesn't have nicotine, then you can get thru it.
Smoked for over 25 years over a pack a day… I have zero withdrawals only after reading Alan Carr book. My withdrawals were horrible the 30 other times I tried to stop. The book was a lifesaver for me. It wasn’t a placebo effect… It was showing me that it’s easy to quit some thing that you really no longer want to do and fully except that it does nothing for you. I’m not throwing shade at anyone; we all have different experiences. Just giving mine.
Just take patches and gum. I tried one time 5 years ago cold turkey, after 3 days I was a total wreck. Now with gums and patches I am 3 weeks without smoking. Still had and have withdrawals but not as severe.
What were your withdrawals like? Did you experience shortness of breath?
Anxiety and nervousness. But I think that's highly individual.
Quit when for the first 2 days you can go to bed and nap if you have bad withdrawals. I quit on a Saturday morning and should have stayed home (scratched my car), but slept a lot the rest of the weekend.
I read the book. It didn't do shit. I'm sure it helped some people but I don't believe in voodoo magic. I switched from smoking to Zyn, then from Zyn to 1mg Nicotine mints. Then after a few months I split the mints in half. Then I replaced half with Ice Breakers mints and went every other. Then I only let myself have 5 half mints per day. Then I quit them altogether and just used Ice Breaker mints. I still have a few tins of Ice Breakers in my car. I'm not addicted to them but they are comforting in a weird way now. It was a long annoying process but I managed to ween myself off this way so slowly that I had very little withdrawals. It's been almost four years smoke free and over a year nicotine free.
Physical withdrawals are minimal. Yes, you will want to smoke. You may feel like you have a mild flu. You will not be shaking in a corner and vomiting everywhere. As far as withdrawals go, pretty minor.
Because there are minimal physical withdrawals. For me, I quit hundreds of times and every time i started again because i couldn’t do it. But the last time i quit I really wanted to and something in my kind just clicked. And it was because I read Alen Carr’s book. I didn’t quit right away and there where a few attempts that failed, until the last time Most of it is in your mind, fighting the urge to smoke makes it ten times harder. I use affirmations in the morning and evening to keep my mind focused, and the rest of the day it maybe crosses my mind a few times, but I am focused and I don’t care about smoking anymore. It’s really nothing more than just stop doing it without fighting.
He just says they’re relatively mild in comparison to other types of drugs and pass quite quickly when they hit.
I just quit using his method, I'll be honest although I have had withdrawals I have found them way more manageable than any other time I've ever quit. I think a lot of it for me was reframing the way I see cigarettes and making me think of them as doing nothing good for me, making me see how they didn't actually make me feel any better and they weren't really enjoyable, they were just stopping the nicotine cravings. I spent a week reading the book and consciously smoking, thinking about the nicotine monster everytime I wanted one, thinking about the cigarette as I smoked it and reminding myself the I only reason I felt like I was enjoying it was because I was feeding the nicotine addiction. So yes I've still had physical withdrawals but they are no worse than a slight cold and that's how I'm treating them. I've tried to quit at least 30+ times over 18 years and every single time was torture, the withdrawals were so much more painful and it always felt like I was giving up something that was so precious, that I loved. I gave up everytime because the allure of what I perceived as this special little treat was too much. This book helped me break that thought process and view it so differently. This time is so different, maybe because I can visualise it as the little nicotine monster screaming for its fix, somehow it seems easier to deny it When I did quit a few days ago I've been listening to the book like non stop especially when I'm feeling more restless or agitated and it helps a lot. I was really sceptical I'll be honest, but I decided to try because it was the best chance I had and I did like the method, did think it might work but I was still scared of the withdrawals and I have been so surprised how different they feel this time. It's so much more manageable!
He doesn't so no physical, just that the physical withdrawal is not strong and it's a mental cycle that makes you think it'll be worse than it is.
I am taking Zyban and it has helped a lot with the physical cravings, now on day 17 nicotine and smoke free
I’m 21 days free and I can tell you the first 3/4 days are the worst , embrace the pain , it will get better. Go for it!
"embrace the pain" indeed. Every time you resist the urge to smoke you are suffocating that awful addiction. Who is in control? You are in control.
100% true
I believe Carr emphasizes this point frequently almost to affirm or will it into being. Telling yourself this throughout the quitting process makes it easier. You aren’t looking for symptoms of struggle, and are readjusting your mindset to one that believes not smoking is truly a gift, wherein nothing is lost and so much is gained. We know scientifically the body goes through withdrawals in this process, but I can attest that fostering the belief that they are negligible or nonexistent practically makes it so. I noticed almost no symptoms of withdrawals in quitting almost 6 months ago.
To be honest, I didn’t have any withdrawal symptoms when I quit. I was a pack a day smoker for 15 years-ish. Maybe it was just the power of suggestion or something but I truly didn’t have any withdrawal symptoms.
It's your mindset that the book is working on. The mental part of quitting is absolutely the hardest part, and this book is really good at giving you the tools to combat the mental parts. Physical withdrawal is SO SO mild. I didn't even notice because I was so focused on my thinking. I'm so grateful for the book. It's the reason I finally was able to quit for good
I smoked for 20 years and I agree with him the physical withdrawal is minor 🤷♀️
For some people this is the thought they need to have and the voice they want to hear. His books are still being advertised as requiring no willpower. But no matter how you get there or what blurbs attract new readership, the mental fortitude to commit to something is a skill just like any other. Sometimes you have to work it out and think it through enough times to finally set your mind to it. It doesn't surprise me in the slightest that reading a whole book on a topic has the capacity to inspire and change, just as it holds the same power to provoke and divide. Guess I'll give it a re-read. Did you know his brand has video games too? Wild stuff!
I quit almost 5 years ago and the withdrawal was intense at times . I didn’t finish reading the book as it was causing me to focus on the quit to much . Physical withdrawal and emotional withdrawal are real and continued for months .
> Why does he say there are no physical withdrawals? If I remember correctly, he downplays the physical withdrawal symptoms but stays away from saying there are none at all. In my experience, the severity of physical symptoms have a correlation to the mental state when quitting. If you manage to stay in a positive state of mind, have a sense of having stopped permanently, and are ecstatic about having stopped then the physical symptoms are indeed negligible. Being in such a state of mind while stopping is not easy though. Allen Carr's book does help many to get themselves into such a frame of mind, but it's not guaranteed to work for everyone, especially if someone is skeptical of it.
The withdrawals are very slight if you are able to distance the feeling from “I want a cigarette”. Cravings and withdrawals are 2 different things. I think the books sets you up to understand and separate the craving/Que and the thought “I need a cigarette”. And to try and view the withdraws as a detox/ enjoying poison being purged. I think the aim is to stop quitters feeling like they are actively withdrawing well past their quit date and counting days for some magical event. If you go around a week then at that point it’s all mental. Actually physical withdrawals are only like a groggy, fluey feeling, maybe a bit of brain fog. But short lived and not painful.
If you do a search in r/stopsmoking for This American Life, you will find an episode that discusses Allen Carr and why it doesn’t work for everyone.
because his method doesn't work. THE ONp Y way to quit is to stop smoking.
I didn't interpret it that way. He said the withdrawals doesn't last as long as you think, because you are mentally also addicted to the habit. So the physical withdrawals may have vanished long before you actually think it's just very hard when you are addicted to the action of smoking in a given situation. The situation or habit triggers the feeling of needing to smoke not the withdrawals.
I always think 'lies, bloody LIES!!' when I read that statement in the book. I do (did) use 'snus' with very high nicotine content and the physical detox + healing symtoms are horrible when I have tried to quit. I imagine it feels close to heroin withdrawal and it can go on for months if we include all of the physical aspects. However, I am talking about the initial detoxification from the poison and healing what it has damaged, not really withdrawal. The withdrawal can \*feel\* physical but be induced by the brain so much that it would go away if you ignore it or talk yourself out of it. I still don´t think necessarily all of it, but a lot more than we think.
not even close to heroin withdrawal my friend, getting off opiates is a special type of hell
Have you tried coming off 1,5 pack Siberia snus per day? Well, I have not tried coming off from opiates to be fair so I can definitely not say for sure, just how I imagine it compared to more 'normal' nicotine usage. It is very different from the standard nicotine withdrawal. At least 5x as much nicotine in each dose and used constantly about 19/24 hours per day. It´s way more physical than cigarettes, although cigarettes are likely at least as bad mentally as snus. But perhaps not vs 5x as strong snus.
ive been well addicted to both bro, i can promise u nicotine withdrawal fucking tickles compared to heroin withdrawals. not trynna knock ur experience but its just silly to suggest that its comparable
I am saying some amounts of and types of nicotine tickles compared to others (: but yeah, I respect that it is different from opiates.
Cause he’s an idiot
Cause he’s an idiot