MISS: And I went on this forum last night and started a topic about my Anger, but hit the"backspace" key by mistake and said, Frick it ! I've had big problems with anger before in other quits and it drove me back to smoking. I can't take meications, so please don't mention Chantix or Wellbutrin or Therapy. I went off the deep end on trying those. I have been on the patch but it just helps a little. I got into a decent sized altercation last night and it was

no doubt because of the nicotine withdrawal. This time, however, I chose not to smoke. I feel

a little better today, but am really still hurting about that incident. I am so frickin disgusted.

Thank you all, you have been great, at least an hour at a time today, I say NOPE! Jeffrey

 

PS-I just posted this on , "HIT AND MISS" topic but figured I put this out there about my Anger. I had smoked for many, many years and always lose my quit to Anger, before I lose my job or all my friends. Having trouble copying and pasting on the Forum. Sorry.

 

 

Yo Jeff, quitting smoking is a good thing. Hell it's a great thing. ... Embrace it, love it, enjoy it. .... Stay positive an don't smoke. You will see soon that the anger was for nothing.

 

Sending tons of positive vibes your way. :)

 

Be Cool, Stay Cool.

Good victory last night.

 

Keep chilled.

 

Your addiction will spark off a bit of anger is it thinks it will help it get a fix..

 

Just ignore it like you did.

 

Your quit. Your choice. 

 

Good work.

What are you angry about ?

I feel you!!  Anger is not fixed by smoking, nor is stress, nor is sadness, nothing is changed, it always was an excuse...

 

AND YOU SAW THAT AND MOVED PAST IT

 

really reat job. Sorry for you that someone got right on your nerves (abridged to not swear on main board) but no one can take your freedom from you unless you let them.

 

You did great. x

This is my first "real" attempt at quit smoking, but I had heard the horror stories of the mood swings....so...

 

when I quit, i warned just about everyone I knew I was quitting and if I go off the deep end for no apparent reason...try to ignore it and remind me of the incident a few months down the road when i can laugh about it..lol...

 

The thing is, the "bad" withdraws only last a short time..you may lose you temper even a few into the quit, but by that time, it will be a "short" loss of control....well worth the end result!...

 

Go ahead and get pissed off..you will smile about it later when you are coming out on top of this battle!  :)

Hi Jeffrey....

I too smoked for many many years....

My body went haywire for a short time....I was on a short fuse too....

I found different ways to try and help....excersize is excellent....Punching a pillow excellent....

Explain to folks you may be a little more edgy for a while....

Why don't you start a new thread on the board ,asking for tips on what folks do when feeling angry.....

Hope this helps...

Jeffrey, sounds like you did okay last night.  As smokers, we dealt with everything by having a cigarette. Last night when you started to get angry, you probably would have walked out and smoked, and then come back better.  Try to allow yourself time before you react, a few deep breaths or a trip to the restroom...anything to give yourself a moment to think.  The cigarettes did not calm you down, aside from relieving the edge of withdrawal, the time  to think did.  Or at least that is what I found true for me.  You can do this, Jeffrey!

Jeffery, please listen to what these wise people have been telling you:

1. cigarettes NEVER quelled your anger no matter what Nicodemon wants you to think. 

2. they did give you an excuse to walk away and calm yourself down for a few minutes.

3. your Nicodemon has figured out that the best way to get you to throw away your quit is to make you think that you that you will lose your job and your friends if you get angry. Your Nicodemon now has you convinced that you can't control your anger-- that's bs. It also has you convinced that if you don't control your anger there will be hell to pay--that's more bs. 

4. whatever emotional swings you experience due to quitting (and yes, there are some) will be temporary; the benefits of quitting are permanent. Which do you choose?

 

So stop telling yourself and/or believing lies about smoking and anger. You're just scaring yourself silly. Get some vigorous exercise every day to reduce your stress and help you sleep better. When you start to feel yourself getting angry, leave the room for a few minutes and practice 4/4 deep breathing while you get yourself under control. Tell your friends, family and coworkers that you are quitting and ask them to alert you if they see you losing your temper--you don't mean to get angry but sometimes it sneaks up on you. And tell yourself over and over again-- I will NOT smoke today no matter what! I will NOT! No! N.O.P.E! until your Nicodemon gets that message that this trick is not going to work on you any more. 

 

You did great last night. That is EXACTLY the right thing to do. Now you know that you can feel very, very angry and still not smoke. Just keep doing that. It will get better. I promise. Just be patient.

First off congratulations on not smoking last night, brilliant job. You need to acknowledge how well you did and be extremely proud of not smoking, that is massive xxx

The anger will ease soon, try walk away like you would do if you smoked and take deep breaths or get a drink on something, try step back and count to ten, if you could get a punch bag or something similar to one and wack the crap out of it, it really helps get your frustratin out, or go for a quick sprint, you need high impact exercise to release your endorphins for that feel good factor that help improve your mood. Do you meditate? if not try a half hour everytime you feel your blood boiling go lie on your bed, get the meditation music and RELAX RELAX RELAX

You got through it yesterday so that is the end of the cravings associated with anger because you've mastered it now.

Oh Jeffrey, you are singing my quit song!  I struggled with anger for a while too. 

My poor husband deserves a medal, lol!

It gets better and now you know how to handle it.

You're doing great :)

Oh Jeffrey... Major win by not smoking!

I am sure that if you want, a host of us can tell you about our anger issues, and how we smoked when we were mad.

I personally was nuts when I quit. When I say "go scream into a pillow" I mean it . That is what I was doing when the anger sharks started swimming. I walked away from the cause, went into a room, put a pillow over my face (so that neighbors wouldn't call the cops) and screamed like a raving mad lunatic. I did it for as long as I needed to and when the rage passed I felt so much better.

Jeff, i have quite a temper and when I quit i was very angry for quite awhile. At first I don't think I was even thinking that straight as for the first two months at work I really had some difficulties with staff and my boss. Now looking back I knowit was the quitting. Then the anger lingered for months. I posted about it here and on the other board. At some point I went back to normal. I do not feel the snap rage I felt in the first few months.

 

May I suggest lots of exercise, deep breathing, mefitation videos on youtube until you feel better.

 

By the way, I also had some really great feelings of intense joy too. I hope you feel this too.

I found myself so fricking irritated by everything. Just annoyed all the time when I first quit.

Like I wanted to knock some sense into people. You just gotta ride it out man. Allen Carr's audible was my go to for a long time. It soothed my frayed nerves.

It does get better Jeffrey - and don't even think that smoking will make you less angry, because we all know that it won't. In the beginning I got angry a lot too, and snapped at a few people - they knew that I had quit smoking and they all understood and forgave me (so they say, lol)... Honestly you are doing great!

 

And if you do want to be angry at something, be angry at cigarettes and big tobacco!!

Jeff - glad you made it through and hope you are proud of how much stronger you now are for the experience ... It does get better and in the interim remember we are here for support if you need it !

Hi Jeffrey,

I have a hard time with anger too.

If it weren't for the fact that I am naturally no-confrontational, I'd probably be divorced, fired, etc.

Sometimes I just want to crawl out of my own skin. 

Hang in there as it does get better. I think our bodies just have to get used it.

 

Bunches of angry people here. Your no different and it normal part of quiting. Many ways to control it from avoiding situation to breathing to exercise.

I was angry during my quit as well.  Everyone told me to try deep breathing and maybe going for a walk to calm down.  I said "I don't need that sissy shit...I am a man...I will just power through this".  Well...I was an asshole to my family, my friends and everyone at my work... they understood as they knew I was quitting however...it made me fell horrible.  So...I looked at utube for a video of "how" to deep breathe.  I kid you not... whenever I was about to blow my top...I did this deep breathing exercise... slowly and I really tried it.  I swear to you...it worked.  Try it...it might work for you.

Hey, Jeffery, how have things been going for you this week? Are your rage attacks any better?