BestQuitSmokingTip

Relapse Prevention

Congratulations on completing your quit smoking program! Regardless of the nicotine withdrawal system you used, you’ve made a wonderful, healthy decision that will make a tremendous difference in your health and your life. It wasn’t easy, was it? Nicotine addiction is a powerful enemy; more people successfully quit using narcotics and cocaine combined than those who successfully quit smoking. Because of the extremely potent nature of nicotine addiction, relapse prevention is a major issue for you. Not only is it very difficult to quit smoking, it’s also difficult to remain smoke-free.

For example, many smokers choose to quit “cold turkey.” This is clinically referred to as abrupt cessation meaning that you simply go from being a smoker to a non-smoker in a day. The term is actually slang for the cold, bumpy, pale skin of a plucked turkey that most narcotic addicts develop with abrupt cessation; it doesn’t actually occur with smoking cessation. Like other methods, but to a greater degree, relapse prevention for former cold turkey smokers is especially difficult because today you have a high volume of nicotine in your body, and tomorrow, you will have none. Nicotine addiction creates uncomfortable physical and psychological withdrawal symptoms that must be the primary focus of your relapse prevention plan.

Consider these quit smoking tips and relapse prevention plan elements:

• When you made the decision to stop smoking, you were only half-way to your goal of becoming smoke-free. The other half of your plan must be relapse prevention. You not only want to stop – you also want to stay smoke-free.
• Know your enemy! Regardless of your smoking cessation method, be sure you know the symptoms of nicotine addiction withdrawal. Understanding why you feel anxious or irritable, and knowing that these symptoms will soon pass makes your relapse prevention plan more powerful than nicotine’s call!
• Keep a “relapse record.” Every time you feel tempted to smoke, write down where you were at the time, what was happening, and how you were feeling. Since nicotine addiction is both physical and psychological, relapse prevention involves understanding all your “triggers” that make you want to smoke; you have to know what they are before you know how to resist them.
• In addiction terminology, there is a distinct difference between a “slip” and a “relapse.” If you’re in a social situation, for example, and you smoke a cigarette or two, then realize the danger you’re in and stop, this is a slip. A relapse, however, is a return to smoking full-time, just as you did before you quit. If you have a slip, don’t make the mistake of telling yourself that you’ve failed and you might as well keep on smoking. Your relapse prevention plan should include how you will handle slips without a return to smoking.
• What if you do return to smoking? Understand that this may indeed happen because of the powerful nature of nicotine addiction. Some people stop smoking for a year or more, and then, for various reasons, return to smoking. If this happens to you, or has already happened to you, also understand that most people seldom get anything right the very first time they try it. Life just isn’t that easy. Have the courage to try again. And again. And yet again, until you reach your goal of long-term smoking cessation.

Poet Maya Angelou wrote that “You did the best you knew how at the time. When you knew better, you did better.” Applying this concept to smoking cessation and relapse prevention, here’s what you need to know to do better: (1) Nicotine addiction is strong, but you can choose to be stronger, (2) Relapse prevention must be a part of your complete smoking cessation plan, (3) Every time you slip or relapse, you will learn valuable lessons about your smoking triggers, and (4) Never stop trying!