Quit21Day 2 after quitting vapingAn upside-down U
By Yevhenii, who smoked for 26 years · Updated 30 Oct 2026 · 2 min readWhat's happening in your body
In the six-day abstinence studies, symptoms did not climb in a straight line. They rose over the first days, turned over and came down, drawing the upside-down U that marks a true withdrawal state. The liver has by now converted your last nicotine into cotinine, which lingers for a few days and does nothing for a craving. What you feel today is the rising side of that curve.
What to expect
A hunger that does not match what you ate, and a mood that turns on small things. The studies also logged mood swings and impulsiveness as symptoms in their own right, so snapping at someone today is on the list. The useful part is knowing that the curve turns over. This is the rising side, and it does not rise for ever.
Try this
Tell one person what you are doing and that today and tomorrow are the steep part.
What else you could do
You are asking for two days of patience, and people give that more easily when they know there is an end date. Eat on a schedule rather than when the hunger hits, because three proper meals take care of most of it. When a mood turns, put ten minutes between the jolt and the words. Drink water through the day and keep the evening simple.
Sources. Measured in vapers. Hughes et al., Nicotine Tob Res, 2020. Benowitz et al., 2009.