Welcome Neosapien79,

 

 I am sorry to hear you have been feeling so angry. That sounds stressful and very difficult to manage. Anger is a common withdrawal symptom of quitting. Not only because of the physical withdrawal but also because you may have used smoking as a coping mechanism before. For example, in the past when you were angry you may have went outside to take a break and take deep breathes of cigerettes. Now you need to find new coping mechanisms. Here are some tips:
 

Take regular, planned timeouts for yourself.  Be realistic and honest: How often did you take a break to light up before?  20, 30 times a day?  More? For 5 or 10 minutes? That inner regular need for a break to change your thoughts or environment and decompress at regular intervals should not be abandoned altogether, now should it?  Pay close attention to this old existing need.  Substitute a breathing exercise or something relaxing and self-loving.  Set an alarm clock if you need reminding and keep resetting it. Listen to some music perhaps too, or just pick a form of *regular distraction and relaxation*, and do it for a couple of minutes each time.  If you take regular 'non-smoking decompression breaks, you may be pleasantly surprised at the results.

Practice relaxation techniques and adopt some into your routine.  Successful people really do.  Here is a simple breathing exercise when you feel tense:  With shoulders back and tummy in, inhale deeply for a slow count of five, exhale for a slow count of five.  Do five of these at a time. (You can do this at your computer too)

Each day, reflect on, and study your stress levels.  Try to reduce the causes of other high stress in your life if you can, by altering the cause. Look at the cause-s.  Much of it may be self-imposed.  
* Consider looking for another job, in another line of work, if necessary.  

* Learn to say no to the impositions of others.  You are presently enrolled in a Quitting Course. (If you had to pay for a quitting program, would you not find a way to prioritize it above the demands of other people?)

* Don’t waste precious energy in criticism of yourself and others. Adopt a Live and Let Live attitude. Focus on your happiness. Anger releases bad hormones into your body.  Work on the opposite.  
* Put things in perspective.  

Value yourself more.  Believe that you are really something!  Quitting is not for sissies.  You may not have arrived yet, but you've left the starting gate.  We do appreciate what you're going through.  Start pampering and loving yourself, now!  Talk positive self-talk to yourself. Some people are too self-critical.  Ease up.  No one is perfect.

The Canadian Institute of Stress believes that by doing something satisfying or pleasurable, we can take the edge off.  This is so important!  (Ahem, ever hear of making a reward plan?)  The reason is that when we are experiencing enjoyment or pleasure, our body is pumping out less adrenalin.  If you haven't made that reward plan, better late than never, do it now!  (And then when you post your stats, share your rewards in order to inspire others to add to their plan too.)

Until you can control this anger, (what you say, the way you say it, how you react) it's better to take a time out than lose a friend or alienate a loved one.  Isolate yourself in the bedroom or washroom until you feel you can control yourself.  

Get adequate sleep and rest.  Indulge in an afternoon or evening nap.  There's nothing like fatigue to make us feel edgy to begin with.  In recovery, we need more rest, as every organ in the body is going through some pretty serious adjusting and withdrawal over a few months.

Anger can be managed.  Study up on anger management:  Get a book from the library, search the Internet, or consider getting professional help.  

Improve communication skills.  Study up on this too. Get a book from the library.  They give classes in this. Lots of fun. Really!

If you are a quitter going through this, please explain to your family and friends that this will pass as you recover.  Here's to you!

A little note:  If you cannot improve on the sadness and anger, I urge you to discuss this with your physician.  The problem may be related to something else and your physician can help you through this.
 

Hi, I just joined today and posted in the Introduce Yourself Forum. Today is my first day actually, not smoking, so I know I will be enraged by the end of the day. I also have anger problems and smoking is usually my fix for it. I'm also in therapy though, and I know that using the nicotine patch takes a little bit of the edge off. Have you tried it?

 

This will sound totally nuts, but I used to save the cardboard rolls, the ones that come from the inside of gift wrapping paper, so that I could bat them on a door jam inside the house as to not ruin the paint job on the trim. Crazy, right? But it seemed a safe way to destroy something and get out my rage a little. I am also a drummer and that helps too. Gardening - digging holes in the ground with a shovel. That's helped me too. Running (if you can), I can't because I have a disability in my legs, but there are a lot of things to do that are physical that can get you to channel the anger so you're not kicking the cat and yelling at others instead.

 

Pacing is not bad actually. Just go for a walk. Try some of this stuff, it could work. And talk to someone about the things that are making you mad instead of what irritates you about them. Try to get to the real heart of the matter.