Tryagain, did the person who'd been quit for 18 years not have ANY cigarettes in that time? I've known MANY people who "say" that they quit smoking several years earlier, but either are still on NRTs, have had multiple "slips" or they still continue to smoke every once in a while but call themselves quit. I would bet that she's probably had some nicotine in the last 18 years... and if not, then she's REALLY atypical. That just doesn't happen very often.
When I first quit and heard of people who'd quit smoking 5, 10 or 20 years prior that still had "cravings," I got REALLY scared! I thought "I'M GOING TO FEEL LIKE THIS FOREVER?!?!" I'm here to say, "No, you won't!" I had a difficult quit. I was having cravings or smoking thoughts (or whatever you want to call them) virtually every day for the first 10 months. Now granted, I had 3 slips in the first 4 months of my quit, so really, I was at like 6 months when I stopped having cravings every day or virtually every day. But, as Penitent and Anna demonstrated, you CAN be free of cravings much sooner than that.
The biggest thing to keep in mind is... and I really, really, really want you to take this to heart... and that is, [b]everybody's quit is different.[/b] Some might stop craving everyday after the first month... others may crave for the rest of their lives. I don't believe that either of these are typical. Most people do have smoking thoughts for several months after quitting, but they don't last forever. They say that it takes 12-18 months to be completely free of the cravings. I honestly believe that.
Do I crave now? No. Do I have smoking thoughts? Yes. What's the difference, you ask? The difference (in my opinion) is that cravings are long-lasting intense desires to smoke. Cravings are what we had in the beginning where the thoughts just wouldn't go away! You'd get the thought out of your head for a minute, and then it'd be back and would last for 10! Smoking thoughts are like "it'd be nice to have a cigarette right now" and as soon as I complete that thought, it's gone and doesn't return. Does that happen often? Well, I don't know what you'd call often, but it does happen a few times a week. Cravings or strong, intense desires to smoke happen every few months, and I assume that they will just continue getting more and more rare the longer I am quit. I think the last one I had was about 3 months ago and lasted for about 3 or 4 days.
Tryagain, I would be interested in knowing more about this person's "cravings" and whether or not they are really cravings at all, or are just smoking thoughts. And if they are cravings that last for hours or even days, I'd be interested to know how often they happen and if she's had any nicotine at all since then. I bet if you were to investigate this further, you'd find that there's probably more to the story. And even if she does have cravings every day and hasn't had nicotine, that doesn't mean that you will! [b]Even if you're having a difficult quit, you probably won't crave forever![/b] I'm living proof of that! Cravings just don't happen for me anymore. Hold on to the truth that it WILL get better with time! It does! I promise!
Crave the Quit!
[B]My Milage:[/B]
[B]My Quit Date: [/B]6/17/2005
[B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 726
[B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 18,150
[B]Amount Saved:[/B] $2,998.38
[B]Life Gained:[/B]
[B]Days:[/B] 51 [B]Hrs:[/B] 5 [B]Mins:[/B] 54 [B]Seconds:[/B] 51
