Tapered too fast? Going on holiday.

[BettyBlue]

Hey all - glad I found this board since we can't access most of reddit any more...

 

I switched from vaping to lozenges just over a month ago. I then tapered my lozenges to once every three hours, and eventually switched to the 7mg patch last week. I had a bit of a tough time for the first few days on the patch, and eventually I didn't bother putting one on yesterday. 

 

My 'concern' is that the cravings today have been pretty hard, and I'm due to go on a family holiday in 10 days. I imagine the cravings will settle, but I do not want to be low on energy, anxious, or otherwise distracted for the holiday. 

 

Question is, do I stick with the 7mg patch until we get back, or now that I'm over 24hours on 0 nicotine, do I ride it through? If I decide to ride it through and I'm struggling on holiday, will a lozenge and patch take the tiredness/anxiety away quickly? Am I likely to ruin the holiday basically!

 

Thanks in advance. 

[Doreensfree]

Your quit is the most important thing , so guarding it with your life has to come first 

If you intend on not putting anymore nicotine in your body , then I would put other tools in your toolbox for your holiday 

Gum , boiled sweets etc .

Your Quit is very new , so you need to be on your guard on holiday 

Congratulations in taking your life back

 

[Reciprocity]

One positive thing to keep in mind regarding going on holiday is that you'll be in a completely different location from home and doing stuff you don't do at home. That all equates to a change in routine which is a huge benefit for someone trying to quit smoking/vaping etc. When your mind is occupied, which it will be on holiday, there's less idle time when your mind can slide into those smokey thoughts.

 

It's hard for anyone to give you advice on what you should do regarding staying off everything or going back to the patch or taking lozenges with you on holiday but here's my logic:

You have 10 more days until you go and if you stay off everything then all nicotine will be flushed from your body with 3 days of stopping everything. Now; that's not to say you will be completely safe from cravings and urges by day 4. The longest and most tedious part of quitting is changing your day to day routine from being a smoker to being a non-smoker. That takes months to complete. Most will agree a full year to get past all the situations that created an urge to smoke. But, because you're going on Holiday, your mind will be pretty distracted that whole time because you'll be in a different place doing different things that aren't a part of your daily life where smoking urges are predictable.

My recommendation would be to stay off everything for the 10 days prior to Holiday and during your holiday as well. I feel going on holiday is a real godsend opportunity to kick your addiction in the butt for good.

 

Here's the other thing to be aware of; we are always looking for the perfect time to quit where any whithdrawal issues won't screw up our daily activities or plans. I get it! Been there done that myself many times but the truth of it is that magical time simply doesn't exsist and therefore we tend to talk ourselves into why we shouldn't quit at a particular time such as ...when we're about to go on holiday or at Christmas or Thankgiving or around any other special time of year. There's thousands of excuses we all talk purselves into to in order to delay our quits but the truth of it is, the sooner you begin your quit, the sooner you'll reach your goal of complete freedom from this ugly addiction. Believe me, there's nothing better in this world than to be free of this deadly addiction.

 

Have a Great Holiday what ever you decide @BettyBlue! 

[DenaliBlues]

Hi @BettyBlue.

 

There really is no perfect time to quit… if it isn’t a vacation, your addict’s mind would probably invent some other reason to procrastinate. (I used every excuse in the book… traveling, work stress, family stress, pet stress, in a bad mood, in a good mood, LOL.) 
 

Whenever you choose to stop the patches/ lozenges you will go into full withdrawal. And yes, it will be uncomfortable. But perhaps not as gruesome as you might think. By rationing your nicotine (and using the slow delivery system of a low-dose patch), you’ve already been in a prolonged withdrawal state for a while. So cutting off your nicotine supply will be unpleasant, but it won’t feel totally alien. It will also allow you to turn the corner once you’re fully nicotine free. The cravings will ease and your new freedom will finally begin! 

 

And the sooner begun, the sooner done. Withdrawal doesn’t last forever. Stay busy, stay focused. Whatever else happens, don’t let yourself lose ground by smoking again. Change situations, post an SOS here, use a lozenge if you have to - just don’t smoke or vape. 

 

You can do this!! 

Edited Tuesday at 04:40 AM by DenaliBlues