The Truth About Giving Up Smoking After 40 Years

My image was taken by Andres Simiin on Unsplash link below. https://unsplash.com/@johnmcclane

First of all I am not a doctor nor do I have any medical qualification. My education into the human biology extends to a Baccalaureate qualification 45 years ago. When I began writing this I thought about Jeanne Calmart, the oldest recorded women, French, who died aged 122 having smoked all her life, well until age 117 when she couldn’t see her lighter.

Jeanne reportedly attributed her remarkable longevity to a diet rich in olive oil, which she also rubbed into her skin daily.

Although her diet was mostly healthy, she enjoyed indulging in chocolate (sometimes consuming a kilogram per week), and after her meals she would always eat dessert, drink a small glass of port wine, and smoke a cigarette.

Jeanne smoked for almost an entire century; she began aged 21 and stopped when she was 117, as using a lighter became difficult due to her worsening eyesight.

On the 1st anniversary of my quitting smoking a habit I enjoyed daily for over 40 years I thought it would be helpful to share my experience, for I encountered many sleepless nights and more questions asked to ChatGPT than even I would have ever expected, though most of the answers were common sense I really had no idea how difficult, not quitting the habit would be but how ill I would feel during the process of withdrawal I now know takes about 18-24 months for your body to recover.

And my recommendation unless like Jeanne Calmart you plan to smoke for your entire life, embark on the journey to quit sooner rather than later. In short if you are doing it, get on with it because the longer you leave it the harder it gets.

Don’t let my experience put you off embarking on the journey to being smoke free, for anyone who loves life and wants to give their body the best shot at making it through to a pain free quick death, one of my objectives, it’s still a very smart decision. I had one grandparent who smoked until their death in their nineties, another who smoked and died of lung cancer in their sixties so we are all different.

I just think fore warned is fore armed and I am sure sharing what happens to your body and my experience will help anyone else mentally endure the journey and get out the other side.

The first month they say is the toughest, I’d say this is just the start. I had a reason to quit, and you definitely need this because the mental battle is at the start. I had a dental problem and the fear of all my teeth failing out tipped the balance on how much I wanted to smoke. I wanted my teeth more and that was a fact. In the beginning imagining myself with no teeth stopped me caving in and lighting up.

The sleepless nights you do get used to, feeling lethargic and 20 years older, aside from my smoking habit I had always been healthy, enjoyed a vital active lifestyle and NEVER been ill (apart from the odd cold every other year) so for me this was tough, the weight gain also not great but this I accepted as part of the journey, something to be addressed a little later down the road. I discovered cigarettes do suppress your appetite and increase your metabolism by up to 15%, why even if you don’t increase your calories most people gain weight in the first 12 months after quitting.

The upsides, your skin improves, your hair grows thicker and shinier, your sense of smell and taste become sharper and food is definitely much more enjoyable. Eating replaces the pleasure from smoking, something you do have to watch if you want to remain lithe and nimble.

I didn’t realise nicotine is not only a serotonin enhancer, it’s like fake dopamine, why it’s so hard to give up, it is also a pain reliever and anti inflammatory so it masks problems you have and may not be aware of. Mine were skeletal.

40 years of smoking created a problem in my smoking arm the minute I gave up. I sustained a rotator cuff injury that was unbelievably painful and took months to get better. I didn’t go to the doctor, I didn’t want a steroid injection, I worked on it myself, every day with a 15 minute exercise routine. I tried supplements, magnesium, iron, vitamin D, nothing was a miracle cure but it did eventually get better. It took about 4 months of agony, hot water bottles and basically feeling rubbish. The only thing I’ll say is you do get used to it, only having one arm.

However the adjustment from the injury caused it to move to the other side, very common and this was worse and took even longer to repair, about 6 months in total. For this side I tried Magnesium balm on my feet every night, CBD supplements, I was guzzling the oil like there was no tomorrow, did they help, who knows, I am not using anything now, but maybe at the time they helped get me through. I was recommended red light therapy, I didn’t do it because of budget constraints but I have heard great things about it for inflammation, muscle aches and pains.

The logical explanation for all my new ailments, I’d smoked and masked them for a long time, my body’s natural pain reliving mechanism had been suppressed and it takes time to come back. It’s described when you quit smoking as turning up the volume in pain so depending on your age be ready for it, don’t feel bad about using pain relief and your body will readjust in time.

Eventually I began to move better, the joint pain also experienced in the hips subsided and sleep, whilst not the conked out experience I used to enjoy returned.

I am back to feeling 75% myself within a year of giving up, which I am assured will return to 100% in the next 6 to 12 months.

So if you are embarking on the quitting smoking journey this Spring, it’s a good time to go for it when nature burst into new life remember your body needs time to readjust and recover it’s natural medicine feel good systems. They are all there, they just need chance to come back to life.

When I think about all the pain and the problems in my body the smoking was hiding and I was completely unaware of, ignorance is bliss right? I am happy I experienced it sooner rather than later and gave my body the chance to recalibrate and deliver a new pain free existence naturally.

I did think half way through if this is what not smoking feels like it’s better to smoke. If you are enduring the first 12 months right now don’t allow that mindset to take over. This state is not permanent you’ve just been smoking a long time, fortunately our bodies are pretty magnificent and will repair and recalibrate in a lot less time.

For reference in the first 20 years of my smoking I smoked heavily, 20-40 cigarettes per day. In the subsequent 20 years this was significantly reduced to 5 or 6 per day and in the last 5 years 2 per day.