One Jonez At A Time

The Craving will pass… whether we choose to ride it out, or smoke, The Jonez Will Pass! When it comes to withdrawal symptoms, cigarette addicts actually have it pretty easy. The only substance whose withdrawal symptoms can actually be fatal is alcohol. The serious, heavy-maintenance drinker who suddenly stops can go into seizures and cardiac arrest. Heroin withdrawal is nasty; vomiting, diarrhea, chills, fever, insomnia. Cocaine and amphetamine withdrawal is emotionally devastating often resulting in suicidal depressions. Benzodiazapine (anti-anxiety meds) withdrawal can result in seizures, loss of bowel control, amnesia, photo sensitivity, agoraphobia and audio hallucinations. Cigarettes? It varies, but in general, Days one thru three are annoying; irritability, sleep disruption, inability to concentrate, and more irritability. Days four thru seven or eight are the real sucker-puches. During the first 72 hours our body still had enough nicotine floating around to keep those neural receptors semi-satisfied. Day four…our brains are very, very displeased with us for denying them their “fix” and that’s when we Jonez. Funny thing about the nicotine Jonez, though… It Passes. It will pass whether or not we have a cigarette. Yeah. Really. It doesn’t last very long. Sure, it seems like forever when it’s on us like a rabid ferret, but it passes nonetheless. The neural receptors that smoking pleasured-up weren’t pleasured that deeply. They find other chemicals floating around our complicated brainputers to fill those empty spots with. Our brains aren’t stupid. Once we pass through the first bad Jonez, every subsequent one feels less and less urgent because we’re building a series of successes. We don’t beat this addiction One Day At Time…we beat it One Jonez At a Time.