The Octopus

 I am in my 4th day of being nicotine free after being a nicotine/tobacco user for over half my life. My partner and I quit our habits together. We talked a bit last night (through tears, anger, and laughter) about how the experience has been for us so far. I found myself wondering if there is any part of my life that the invisible tentacles of nicotine have left untouched. It's almost funny how the brain plays wicked trickery on us to get nicotine back on line again. It feels like there is this invisible octopus with its tentacles pushing my mind into nicotine thoughts. Fellow quitters know about those thoughts.

 The Octopus Tentacled Brain: "Hey"

Me:  "Hey. How are you today Brain?"

The Octopus Tentacled Brain: "I was just thinking about that time when you were hanging out with your best friends in the whole world. All your children were playing together. The weather was beautiful. The food was delicious. The wine was great. That was such a beautiful moment in your life."

Me: *reminiscing* "Wow, yes, that was a real great time. Everything was perfect for a moment."

The Octopus Tentacled Brain:  "You do remember that you were a smoker then, and that the only reason any of it was fun, rewarding, enriching, or delightful in any way is because you had nicotine? Right, you do remember that don't you?!?!?!? HEY! I'M TALKING TO YOU!!!"

Me: *scratching head*  "Hmm, maybe you are right nicotine infected Brain. Maybe I can only be happy with nicotine, and the universe wants me to be happy, right?"

The Octopus Tentacled Brain: "FEED ME NICOTINE!!!"

I have 70 pieces of nicotine gum free to a good home!

Then you find this in the freezer and in random stashes throughout the house. The cigarettes, chewing tobacco, and snus went directly to the trash after this photo was taken. I was literally drooling as I threw them away. I did however keep the gum. If any of you out there are quitting and this gum would help you let me know. I will send it to you. FREE to a good home.

I spent some time looking into how long it takes nicotine to get out of the bloodstream of a user. It seems most say 48 hours. That was pretty accurate for me. I woke up in the middle of the night (hour 51 to be exact) sweating out toxins. I went through 3 (gallon) pitchers a green tea and water yesterday. I took a hot ginger bath to aid in further detoxification. I really liked the ginger bath, not just for the detox process but for the appealing scent. The aroma of the ginger provided a bit of a cover scent for the strange detox smell lingering on me all day. I looked up some good foods to aid in the detox process. I found this list to be helpful.
About halfway through the day I had such a euphoric feeling. It was so amazing that I actually started to get a little worried. It was way more than "high on life" due to being excited about quitting smoking. I'm sure it was some awful toxin making its way out of my body. I remember thinking " I'm going to just enjoy this ride, because I have no intention of ever having to do this again. This is once in a lifetime"  My detox high lasted about 4 hours. It sure was a nice little surprise.

So, today I am thinking about all the people out there who want to quit. I will send good juju their way. (and nicotine gum by request). I am going to find out how long the detoxification process takes when evicting nicotine from the body. I have some green tea brewing as I have had several nic fits whilst typing this. The tea really does help. I wonder what new thoughts will replace those of The Octopus Tentacled Brain.