Cold Turkey

I was hoping to start on dieting from this post, but it seems that another post neeeds to be dedicated to the withdrawl effects of quitting smoking.
I am currently suffering from a horrendous bout of pharyngitis. After not finding any triggers for the same, I turned to the net as usual. There I came to know that upper respiratory tract infections are quite common in the weeks following the quit. Infact, the link below of a forum shows hundreds of quitters who are/have suffered from this problem...
http://www.steadyhealth.com/Lump_in_throat_after_quit_smoking-t72500-0-asc-100.html

My two cents on pharyngitis

1. Pharyngitis can be viral or caused by bacteria. Bacterial infection is only 10 % of the time, 90 % it is viral. As a thumb rule, if you have a runny nose along with fever plus sore throat, it is probably viral.
Antibiotics only work on bacterial infection, and for viral infections, there is no medicine as such. You got to let the viral infection run it's course.

2. The best was to get relief is to gurgle with warm water mixed with one pinch of salt and two pinches of turmeric powder ( haldi / holud). Doing this 3-4 times in a day provides relief

3. If the pain during swallowing becomes extreme, sucking on a piece of ice also provides relief.

4. During or after viral pharyngitis, you may also have an attack of conjunctivitis . Do not be alarmed

After you have quit smoking, YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM WILL BE WEAK FOR QUITE A FEW WEEKS. So basically you will have a lot of infections which you never had.
You have bid adieu to one of your oldest friends, so be prepared to suffer the consequences.

Remember, that we were addicts. So however corny it may sound, we will remain addicts for the rest of our lives. One moment of weakness, and it's back on the old path again. Hence, continuous psychological fortification is necessary .

http://whyquit.com/joel/Joel_02_17_smoke_in_lung.html

The webpage above has helped me..