Quitting smoking, one week later

BUFFALO, NY (WIVB) - Last Tuesday night I smoked my last cigarette.

Or so i thought.

It's been a tough first week.

But everyday I don't buy a pack or chain smoke my way through work is actually making my life less stressful.

As I put out that last cigarette about a week ago. I was convinced I would never smoke again. I told my friends, family, and you, Western New York, that I would quit this ugly addiction.

Well, for the most part I've been true to my word. Except for a moment I had at a charity event. While sipping on a glass of wine I suddenly got the urge to have a smoke. I ignored it for several minutes and was doing alright. Until i actually noticed someone with a pack of smokes.

Long story short, I ended up taking a drag off someone's smoke. I felt awful and the feeling I was actually experiencing was withdrawal.

"That jitteriness, that nervousness, that anxiety, that looking around, that wanting that cigarette, and so on that's a symptom of nicotine withdrawal," explained News 4 Medical Expert Dr. Peter Ostrow.

That's what I've been dealing with for the past week. I'm even having trouble sleeping. I keep waking up in the middle of the night in a panic. And it hasn't been the easiest time for my girlfriend lately either.

"He's been more irritable lately he's always on edge a lot more fidgety," Joe's girlfriend Mary Claire explained.

That's describing it nicely. Basically I've been a moody guy the past week. Which is why support is so important. If I didn't have it from those I work with and my better half than this would be even more difficult.

"That first day was very very hard and that first weekend was very difficult for him it was obvious in the way he acted it was obvious. He was actually more annoying than usual," Mary Claire said.

But I have been getting better and a big part of it is knowing why I'm having these cravings. It's kind of ironic if you think about it - most of us smoke because we say it relaxes and calms us down. But in reality it's smoking that causes us to panic and be on edge.

"You should really become aware that what is happening to you is exactly what happened to you before when you were a smoker the nicotine withdrawal made you crave a cigarette that's why you were a smoker, that's what you have to get pass it," said Dr. Ostrow.