SMOKING – PAYBACK TIME

When I quit smoking I did all the normal things; checking internet and research for information about what happens in the body. I knew I really didn’t want to gain weight so I embarked on a very good dietary plan with detox and I exercised daily. I knew I could use my essential oils for irritation and other mood-swings. So far, so good.

As for mood-swings, I didn’t really have any. I would get cravings but they were not too bad, every time it happened I went walking or did something else and it would go away. But physically! Ajajaj…I got so sick! Immediately when I stopped I got constipated – big time. After 3 weeks I went to the doctor who gave me medication to get transit going. It helped a bit but the constipation only got worse, nothing would help. On top of that I suffered crippling pain in my musculo-sceletal system,  was constantly exhausted and gained weight relentlessly. I did research and nowhere did I find any information that even touched on the subject, all I got was positive stuff like: “you should now feel happier, more energetic, glowing skin, better breath”…etc… bla,bla,bla…NOT! I looked like shit, I felt like shit but I didn’t have a problem with cigarette-cravings. Sometimes I felt so bad that I would seriously think about smoking again, just to stop the suffering.

After about 4 months I found a brilliant Heilpraktikerin in Germany. She told me I was heavily toxic, analysis showed high levels of heavy metals, especially quicksilver and cadmium. On top of that I was still badly constipated. The Heilprakterin taught me how to administer different herb-enemas to counter the constipation which was getting worse with every passing day. I then embarked on a big cleansing-trip; Detox every 3 weeks with different herbs, enemas every second day to not irritate the system, strict diet with no milk-products, bread, pasta, sugar, alcohol, meat or most fish. Changing dietary habits is really difficult, especially as I already had good habits. I just had to go extreme for some time to heal. My daughter, of course, continued to eat normally as she needs her nourishment.

Today 18 months have passed and I am slowly healing, at least I am on the right side. It is very slow going and sometimes I can feel really low on motivation when I don’t see the results I want. My constipation lasted 13(!) months, during which time I had natural transit only 3 times. I didn’t resort to medication since it only worsens everything. My digestive system is now in order but I still pay attention to what, how and when I eat.

I have had a personal trainer the last 5 months who helps me to work my body into health again, I am strong and fit and I don’t experience any pain. I still have too high levels of toxins in my system but it is slowly clearing. My skin is better, and I have more energy. I am not really loosing any weight as of yet and I still detox every 3 weeks.

SUMMARY: After 18 months of research, I still haven’t found anything that even slightly resembles what I have gone through. I have spoken to plenty of people that had the same experience and they say this was the reason they went back to smoking after time-spans of 1 or more years. I have spoken to doctors and researchers and finally a picture emerges:

• Nicotine leaves your body-system quite rapidly but stays as an emotional, mental or psychological dependence which is the hardest to kick.

• The heavy metals in cigarettes are stored in the skeletal-system. Once the body is not receiving more metals it dumps large amounts of the stored metals into the system which then goes toxic. To counter this the body builds up fatty deposits to hold and store the toxins. If these fatty deposits are shed too quickly there is a toxicology problem and this is the reason why it takes such a long time to loose it.

I think different people have different reactions; we all have different genetic weaknesses in our body-systems, apparently mine is the digestive-system. I also think that the physical reaction to quitting smoking is dependent on how long and how much we have smoked. I know plenty of people who has no problem at all. But I am angry that this information is not readily available. I am a therapist and tend to see myself as a study -  this helps me through a lot of difficulty because I am my school; I am studying myself from outside. But I so understand people who go back to smoking. Maybe with more knowledge we can be better prepared to return to health on the other side of smoking. I really believe smoking to be a terrible thing – a killer in disguise – and I am sure it will soon be banned all together. At that point honest and true information is needed to help people, not only this starry-eyed rubbish that is served up today, because we all do know that we will be healthier without smoking.

This said, nobody can better understand the dilemma of smoking than me. I have no opinions on other people’s smoking, I don’t think that is my business. But if I can help someone through the difficulties of quitting, I am more than glad to help.