Quitting Smoking Resources and Links
Chantix Forum | (Use comment form below this article to post your questions)
Chantix Website |Manufacturer's website (Phizer)
How Chantix Works | Manufacturers info on how chantix works
Quit Meter| A nifty program that shows you your quitting statistics (love it!)
Suicide Concerns FDA is looking into recent links of Chantix and suicide concerns
Introduction - Why I want to quit smoking... I started smoking when I was 14 years old, and now, I am 29. At that time, my friends and I stole cigarettes from our folks and sneaked into the woods to light them up. The first time I took a puff, I remember how nasty it tasted. The first time I tried inhaling a cigarette I almost choked and turned green. But I wasn't about to give up. I wanted to be successful at something for once. I wanted to feel like and adult. So I choked, and gagged and puked. And then, I tried again and again. At some point the nauseating smell and taste no longer bothered me and within 6 month I was a habitual smoker. I had a cigarette before school, a cigarette at lunch as well as a couple after school. It didn't take long for me to start smoking full time. Having a bad day? Light one up for instant gratification. Wanted to fit in with older kids? Ask them to bum a smoke. I always knew how bad it was for me, but what starts off as a cool and trendy thing to do slowly grows into a life long addiction. Before I knew it I was hooked. I was hooked so hard, I carried on this nasty habit for the next 15 years. Along the way I tried to stop time and again. But most of the smoking crowd knows that trying is nowhere nearly enough. We all have tried as we all have failed. Every time we wanted to quit, we were back to smoking by 11am the same morning. You woke up thinking that this is going to be the day when you submit to this weakness for the last time. The next day however you were still smoking and you promised yourself – I will quit tomorrow. After a while (years for me) we realize that we are so addicted that even trying to quit is hopeless. So we just accept our failure and keep on smoking. But then you start coughing real bad, losing your breath after a short walk and you know you have to quit before you are dead. So you try to quit again. And you fail. And you accept your failure and go back to smoking full time, feeling ashamed of not being able to tackle such a small thing. It’s a vicious circle which you all are a part of if you are reading my blog.Countless times I crumpled up my pack of cigarettes and threw it away. Just to buy a new one hours later. Countless times I drove across town just to find those buy one get one deals on Marlboro. I watched cigarettes go up from a couple of bucks to over 6. My career as a smoker lasted a very long time. So long, that I can feel all the negative effects of it when I breathe. I was coughing up a lung in the morning. I was coughing up a lung at night. I started having chest pains. Those scared me to the point where I said to myself. You are going to freaking die if you don’t stop this right now. The thought of terminal lung cancer and a slow horrible death that it brings certainly did not make me too happy. The fact that I have a wife and 2 kids, and a 3rd one on the way and they would be left without a father was even a more powerful reason to quit. So I tried to quit on my own one last time. I tried the patches and they made me sick. They gave me horrid nightmares, shakes and unbelievable anxiety. All symptoms of nicotine overdose. Trying to break a nicotine addiction by feeding your body nicotine... What a great idea! Not. And even with the patch, I couldn’t keep myself from smoking. The patch helped for most of 6 hours. That’s how addicted I was.When that royally failed I tried on my own. I slowly reduced the numbers from 30 a day to 20 a day to 10 a day to 5 a day. Unfortunately the lowest I got to was 3 a day. After that I was right back to smoking the moment my body started recovering and cough went away. I tried and I tried and I tried to control it but I failed. Finally I said to myself, there has got to be some kind of an intervention program out there. Heck, lock me in a hospital room for a few weeks if that’s what it takes.I guess I was not the only one who felt that way. Later on that week I read a story on cnn.com about a woman who went to turn herself in at the local sheriff's department to have herself committed in order to quit smoking. She could not resist a cigarette. At that point it hit me even more. I wasn't the only one desperate to quit. I had to do something and I had to do it fast… TIME FOR A NEW APPROACH - CHANTIX After hearing about a new drug made by Pfizer called Chantix, I knew I had to have it. I needed help to tackle my addiction. Support programs are great, but they are all talk. At the end of the day, you still submit to your addiction. I knew I needed something real, something that would hold my hand through the quitting process. After fighting the insurance company over covering this drug for a few weeks, I finally filled my first prescription and took my first Chantix pill yesterday, 9/24/2007. And this is the reason for my blog. I will attempt to document every day on this medication, how it affected me, how Chantix made me feel, how well it worked for me and every other thing relevant to my quitting attempt.Let’s call this my Chantix Diary. I hope my experiences can help others out there on their way to quitting! QUITTING SMOKING DAY 1 ON CHANTIX - MY FIRST DOSE
After fighting the insurance company for weeks over coverage, I finally filled my prescription. I could hardly contain my excitement when I only paid $10.00 co pay for Chantix. It came in a green and white box about the size of a brick. Inside there were 4 smaller boxes for each week making it nice and easy to follow the rather complicated dosage instructions. The first 3 days you take .5 mg once a day. For the next 4 days you take .5 mg twice a day. After that you double that I believe. I heard from some folks that once you get into the 2nd week you kind of have to play with your dosage and how you take the drug to avoid side effects. Before taking my first dose I researched as much as I could and got even more encouraged reading stories of folks who smoked 2+ packs a day who quit with relatively little effort. I am hoping for the best and preparing myself for that final test of my self discipline which will come in exactly 7 days - my quit date! In addition I’ve read a few horror stories of people having bad reactions to this medication. Now, I am not a science guru but some of these stories just seemed like a bunch of BS. Yeah, nausea and all is understandable. But claims were made that Chantix made someone insane or gave them horrible arthritis or Chantix by itself is so horribly addictive that someone committed suicide over withdrawal symptoms. I think a lot of these stories are nonsense, need to be debunked and or in part sponsored/written by the tobacco companies. Put yourself in the big tobacco shoes… If you were standing to lose 40% of your “loyal” customers, I would definitely do everything in my power to keep them. And attacking Chantix (smokers only way out) would be a very effective manner to discourage your customers from leaving.
Scientifically speaking, Chantix works through 2 unique processes. One, it stops nicotine from being absorbed and metabolized (or completely metabolized rather) by blocking its attachments to neurological receptors that nicotine usually attaches itself to. Smoke all you want, but nicotine will have no effect. Your chemical addiction slowly fades away as you increase the dosage of Chantix. The second process through which Chantix affects your mind is by opening up a steady low flow of dopamine to compensate for the lack of dopamine which is caused by lack on metabolized nicotine. This two prong approach completely frees the user of chemical dependency while acting as a mild anti depressant making the whole quitting process even easier (by targeting anxiety etc).So to address the common myths of this drugs side effects I came to a few logical conclusions. A) a slight flow of dopamine cannot harm you as there is no negative side effects associated with such low levels present in the body. B) most side effects encountered can be easily described by lack of nicotine in your system, which has managed to re-wire your brains functions to keep you addicted to it. Few weeks and the neural pathways will re-arrange themselves and those side effects will be gone. I was ready to try it, regardless of the side effects even if it meant landing in a hospital. Chantix was my last and only hope. Total for today -20.
QUITTING SMOKING DAY 2 ON CHANTIX - FIRST SIDE EFFECTS It didn't take long for Chantix to show its first side effect. For some people it is difficulty sleeping, for others, light sleeping. And seems for all, having super vivid dreams. I haven’t had those since I was a kid, so I am really looking forward to it. Contrary to the patch, these dreams are not bad. When I tried the 21mg Nicotrol patch after just a day I woke up a few times per night after having a terrifying dream. I am by no means a softie, but those dreams were so gory and disturbing that I couldn't stay on the patch. I am looking forward to Chantix dreams! Last night I had no dreams at all that I can recall. I did however wake up at a first sign of noise or disturbance. Our 2 year old likes to climb into the bed with us and I woke up every time he turned. I must have woken up close to 20 times. However, I do not feel tired today. Rather the opposite is true - I am somewhat hyperactive. Perhaps it’s also a side effect. We will see soon.I have not noticed much in terms of change in my smoking habit however I did notice some mild things I haven't experienced before. Cigarettes tasted just a tad bit funny and they left somewhat of a nasty aftertaste in my mouth. I don't want to jinx myself but by afternoon it almost seemed like I started forgetting that i have to smoke every couple of hours. Its almost as I was smoking out of a habit rather than physical desire to replenish nicotine. I took my 2nd dose today and will report on any developments tomorrow. Total for today - 18 QUITTING SMOKING DAY 3 - CHANTIX DOUBTS So I am sitting here looking at a half empty pack of Marlboro’s. Yesterday I could of sworn I felt some initial effects of the drug. On my way home I reached for a smoke out of habit. But instead of lighting one up I just pulled my hand away as if I really didn’t want it. For the first time I could say to myself. I want to hold a cigarette but I don’t really want to smoke it. Totally weird. Unfortunately I still do not see any significant decline. What I think is happening is that the initial dosage is way too low to make any significant changes to my habit. When I take the pill, there is an initial inflow of the drug and I think it makes some difference. But after a few hours those effects diminish. Perhaps if the levels are sustained, it will make a huge difference. We will find out soon... Tomorrow the dose is going to double to make for a more sustainable effect.Funny thing is, as opposed to yesterday, I slept like a baby tonight. No sleep disturbances, no vivid dreams, no waking up 20 times in the middle of the night. I am also beginning to notice a slightly anti-depressive effect. I am usually a very reserved person and over the years I become indifferent to a lot of stuff, insensitive and simply learned not to allow much of the emotional stuff. The less emotional you are, more control of your life you have. Well, it almost seems as my reserved personality is still there but I allow a whole heck of a lot of positive emotions through. Totally weird. My mind used to be like a constant line, with very little ups and downs. Now, it is still a constant line with more ups which is kind of cool. Perhaps this effect is due to the fact that dopamine levels are now constantly released into the blood stream rather than only being released when i smoked. If this stuff works, I think it could also function as a heck of an ant depressive as it is so mild and so easy on you.I can't wait to double the dosage and hoping I will steer clear of the Chantix side effects that have been reported elsewhere when people have doubled their dosage. Side effects such as joint pain, nausea, sever constipation etc. Hope everything goes well after I take my day 3 doses and I will report back to you on progress tomorrow.I ended up forgetting to take Chantix up until late afternoon. And even with levels of the drug minimal in my blood stream I realized that I only smoked about half a pack today. Almost half of what I usually smoke. I am not sure I can explain why and whether it was due to Chantix but seeing the difference was just amazing... Total for the day - 12 DAY 4 ON CHANTIX - LET'S DOUBLE UP ON HELP Last night I slept relatively well. Only woke up two or three times and fell right back asleep. I still don't see the vivid dreams that everyone keeps on talking about but now I do know I am having dreams when I wake up in the morning. I just don’t remember anything about them.Today is a big day. The dosage doubles from .5mg to 1mg. You have to take two pills, one in the morning and one at dinner I suppose. The morning cravings were still there and I smoked two cigarettes by 10am. But when I tried smoking around noon, for the first time I got the nasty stale ashtray taste in my mouth. This effect was reported by many people on Chantix. I noticed that I no longer want to chain smoke. I'll have a cigarette out of habit, because its the habit that I miss. I don't think I feel a need to have a nicotine fix anymore as much as I did a few days ago. I am very crabby and easily agitated. This is due to how Chantix works. Chantix blocks nicotine from being absorbed by your body. So even if you are smoking, you are not getting that nicotine you used to and essentially for the first 7 days you are gradually going through nicotine withdrawals. This also explains why the urges to smoke are not as strong as they used to be. I think for my quit date I will write out a list of all habitual triggers and will simply follow the list as to what I am going to do differently when these "habitual" triggers are encountered... Total for the day - 16 QUITTING SMOKING DAY 5 - SO I SCREWED UP. YEAH.
Today was a very hectic day. I was in a rush and forgot to take my pill in the morning. Must have smoked more than half a pack throughout the whole day. My day was very stressful and I was smoking like a train. I really didn't even slow down for a second to even think about whether Chantix was working for me or not. I just smoked as if I was having a full blow relapse. I did take 1mg in the evening before I went to bed. No sleeping Sid effects to report today what’s so ever. Total for the day - about 14
QUITTING SMOKING DAY 6 ON CHANTIX - BACK ON THE WAGON Today I made sure to take the morning dose. I popped 1 mg of Chantix right after I woke up with my morning coffee. Cravings were still there hard core. So I smoked. A couple of hours later I felt less cravings. I am beginning to see how important it is to keep up with taking this drug properly. Levels make all the difference in the world. I tried smoking at 11 and the cigarette was tasting quiet nasty. To the point where it almost made me gag. That’s a first time I encountered this side effect. In addition, there were no sleep disturbances to report last night. Total for the day - 12
DAY 7 - DAY BEFORE THE STORM (QUIT DATE IS TOMORROW)
So I am suppose to quit tomorrow. I am not sure I am ready just yet. I can clearly feel the effects of Chantix since we went to double dose a few days ago. I can tell that about 30 minutes after taking the drug I think about smoking less and less. After about 8 hours these strong cravings start creeping up on you and you just know, you need to pop another pill. Meanwhile, you just say to yourself, I will quit when Chantix kicks in a little more. It takes serious will power at this point to fight the urges. I actually reduced intake to about 10 cigarettes a day at this point. But going beyond that is a barrier I have never crossed... Total for the day - 11.
DAY 8 - NO SUCH A THING AS A GOOD QUIT DATE
Or at least the darn booklet tells me so. "Take Chantix for 3 days once a day. Another four days twice a day. On day 8 twice a day of double the dosage. Quit smoking on day 8." Quit smoking on day 8. I light how they put it. If I could just "quit smoking on day 8" I would have done so on my own a long time ago. I am scared. I know I am not ready. I can't do it just yet. Nicotine still affects me every time I smoke. I know I am having withdrawal symptoms also, but my body is just not ready to give up this terrible addiction. So I decided to keep on trying to reduce my smoking and at the same time see what happens when we double the dosage today. So I took the first pill with a small bowl of cereal. Not even 5 minutes later I was trying very hard not to blow chunks all over the place. Oh sweet nausea. I have not been this sick to my stomach in a very long time. Note to self. Eat some real food before taking Chantix in the morning or at night for that matter. And I am pretty tolerant to drugs too. Later on I took the evening pill as indicated without a major incident. Total for the day? Close to 7.
QUITTING DAY 9 - HERE COME THE NICOTINE WITHDRAWALS
Hey now, this drug is doing something after all. It's making me want to rip somebody’s head off! I have no classic physical nicotine withdrawal symptoms. Having said that however, I know that my mood swings and anger is what it is - my body not getting enough nicotine. You see, Chantix does two things. Number one, it blocks nicotine from attaching to certain receptors in your brain. Number two, it creates a constant flow of dopamine that you would otherwise get from a cigarette. By helping your body get rid of nicotine, and at the same time by emulating the effects of nicotine Chantix makes your body essentially forget about smoking. Not sure about the "forget to smoke" part , as I still have the urges to left and right, but at least I am seeing something definite at this point. Total for today - about 6.
QUITTING ON CHANTIX DAY 10 - WHOA, THIS STUFF IS WORKING!
Withdrawal symptoms significantly subside. And smoking cravings become somewhat more manageable. For the first time you get some periods of time where you can walk past a cigarette without even thinking about it twice. You still will smoke if you are handed the cancer sticks as it is simply hard to resist. At this point I decide to just quit wasting money and not buy any more cigarettes. I throw my almost full pack in the back of my truck and fud-get-about-it.Finally a revelation. I feel like I felt 15 years ago when I first started. I am smoking more out of curiosity and established habit rather than a "need" to have one. It's becoming a lot easier to fight the cravings which become a lot more mild at this point. Thinking back to day 7, my body definitely was nowhere near ready to quit. I can almost tell that generic dosage instructions that come with Chantix or nowhere near what they should be for some people. Personally I believe I should be on 3 mgs a day rather than 2. But I am no doctor; I am not going to experiment with dosages. I'll try my best with what I'm given... I can finally tell myself, I am ready to quit this nasty habit! Let's do it tomorrow. There is enough confidence and anxiety built up to do it and I am ready to take the plunge... Total for today - about 6.
DAY 11 - MY SELF SET QUIT DATE So this is my quit date... Quitting a habit that had me trapped for over a decade - not a big deal at all. Armed with my morning pill I embrace the stress head on and tell myself I can quit. And right off the bet I screw up. I know I want to smoke when I drink coffee. So I drink my coffee in the basement instead of upstairs inform of the computer reading the news. First test - passing grade. But not so fast. The kids are up, my oldest son is too slow getting dressed and getting ready for school so I have to chase him. The youngest one wakes up and starts screaming. Wife screams at me. Get him a sippy and goes right back to sleep. I give him a sippy cup. Meantime the time is ticking and I need to take a shower. Oldest one is not even fully dressed 10 minutes before we have to leave. So I chase him some more. Walk the little one back to our bedroom to lay down with mama. he is quit for 2 seconds and then starts screaming. She starts screaming at him because she works midnights and doesn’t get enough sleep. Meanwhile my clothes are not ironed, i did not take a shower yet, Alex is not at the kitchen table eating his cereal and the dig is barking because he wants to go outside. So much for the quit date...I seclude myself in the bathroom and start shaving. I got to have a smoke. I give in. I forget about the shaving trigger - got to have one every time you shave. Damn it, quit date is officially a failure. I go through the day trying to learn what the triggers really are. If you want advice, on day one of Chantix, make a list of every single trigger and prepare yourself to distract your mind when those trigger occur. This list is an absolute must!I go through the day and stress out some more. Life takes its toll. My first self set quit date is somewhat of a failure. 4 cigarettes is the grand total for today. But then I look back. I just made it through the whole bloody day on only 4 cigarettes without much of an effort. I can say with a degree of certainty here, all my smoking today was triggered by habitual triggers, not the need for a fix. Overall, I couldn’t even imagine I could get through the day on just a few smokes compared to how I was a little over a week ago. So I create a gamelan for the next few days: I am going to smoke less and less and weed out these habitual triggers one by one. Oh how I wish I made the list of triggers before starting this drug! Total for the day - 4! CHANTIX DAY 12 - THE CHANTIX DREAMS So this is a good day to discuss another interesting side effect that was reported by many Chantix users. It's the vivid, LSD like dreams. Now, I don't really know what dreams are like on LSD as that culture died way before my generation, however I can tell you one thing for sure. If LSD trip is anything like Chantix dreams it definately explains why hald the population was so doped up during the 60's. Simply put it Chantix dreams rule! Some are uncomfortable, some are whacky. Some are sad, some are groovy. Some are just plain weird and out of this world. But all, and I repeat, all these dreams are so realitic and vivid it's like going on a trip to a new place every night. After over a week I figured that many of these dreams stem from your daily anxieties. For instance. I have long held a grudge against one person but out of respect for the laws of the civilized society I never acted out on my desires to re-arrange his face. Well guess what? On day 12, I did it in my dream, with a rather heavy baseball bat, and felt all the gratification and satisfaction of what occured in my dream long after I woke up. Would I ever act in such an uncivilized manner? Of course not. But boy was it cool to do it in your dreams. Another cool thing about chantix dreams is that you remeber their context every day when you wake up. Before I got on this medication I never had dreams. At least not in the last 4-5 years. Now, its almost a guarantee every night. Turn off the lights and here comes the trip. You should definetely not be afraid of this side effect, but rather, look forward to it. Another dream I had was a further proof that your anxieties come out in your dreams while you are on chantix. We recently moved to a new house. Having a new roof put on, installing new air conditioning and furnace, fixing other stuff as well as needing a new garage door installed put alot of stress on me and was on my mind a whole lot during the day. At night, I dreamt that my wife and I found this small shack in a beautiful countryside and we set out to rebuild it and expand it into a beautifull summer cottage. Things were so vivid and detailed, i remeber for some reason sniffing the paint, to try to figure out if it would look right on the walls and doing drywall. Go figure. Measuring, thinking how the cut off parts would fit together. Totally insane. Let me get back on track here however. Today was a difficult day. I managed to smoke very little, but the stress just swept me off course. I smoked a total of 3 cigarettes today...
DAY 13 - NO SMOKING ALSO MEANS NO DRINKING. YEAH...
Today was a relatively slow, uneventful day. My cravings are completely gone. I know nicotine is out of my body at this point. And I can say with confidence, I don't miss nicotine what’s so ever! And I did so well today. Not even a real urge to light one up. Yes, I caught myself thinking about it when triggers occurred. Its hard not to when you spend 45+ minutes in the car going to work and 45 more minutes coming back. Those were the times filled with loud music and cigarettes. Bumper to bumper traffic tends to make you mad, make you bored and in short, make you light up. A pack of gum got me through those major triggers. It's all in distraction as after a few minutes the triggers pass.But in the evening however I totally screwed up. We had a bunch of friends over and everyone was a smoker. And they were smoking up a damn storm! After 5 beers I bummed one. Than another one. For a moment I forgot that I was a non smoker... It’s a big slip. But then again, yesterday it was 4, day before it was 5, today its only two. I am still going down and down. We'll try once again tomorrow because most of the time I already feel and see myself as a non smoker. Total for the day - 2!
QUITTING DAY 14 SUNDAY, FUN DAY!
I can’t emphasize enough on the fact that you got to watch your habits and triggers when quitting. I didn't realize how many subtitle cues and triggers to reward myself with some nicotine I had in my life. For instance, when cutting the grass, I always smoked a few. Not anymore though, but I did catch myself reaching in my pockets for a pack which was no longer there of course. I also caught myself searching for the pack when folding laundry in the basement. And a few other times. But I really didn’t feel like lighting one up. Why bother I said to myself... Nevertheless, when my wife got home after midnight just out of habit I kicked back on the couch downstairs and had a brew and a smoke. Bad bad bad. Total for today 1 cigarette!
DAY 15 ON CHANTIX - NOTE TO MY WONDERFUL WIFE
Waking up in the morning, making coffee and not even thinking about a smoke is amazing. Two cups of coffee and a couple of smokes were such a routine for so long that it's astonishing to be able to get through the morning without even a thought of having one. Just to be on the safe side, I stole one cigarette from my wife today and took it with me. I just had to have one for psychological support so to speak. But by 9 am it was thrown out and I am doing just fine without it. I have most of the triggers under complete control. For the exception of one - my wife. She leaves her pack out in plain view. She lets me have one when I ask. Honey, I love you, and I really thank you for not smoking in the house. But perhaps you would consider joining my quit? I am at 2 weeks of taking Chantix now. I can clearly see the pattern of my smoking going down to negligible. I feel like a non smoker, for sure. But I keep on being given opportunities to not quit. And it totally sucks because I am doing so well. I will ask my wife tonight to keep them hidden and maybe try to quit herself. I heard when one spouse quits, another one follows. I hope that’s true. Today's grand total - ZERO!
QUITTING SMOKING DAY 16 - CONFIDENT, ONCE AGAIN I have my confidence back. I feel like a non smoker most of the times. But by 4 PM I start getting those slight urges. I dont wanna smoke, I just wanna taste a couple of puffs and see what it was like. Other people smoking bother me a great deal. I can smell the smoking area outside of the lobby of my office. I can really smell it on people now. And that still bothers me. But with every day this smell is becoming more and more foreign. And every day I prove to myself once again. I need to be on 3 of these per day. Tomorrow I get to go see my doctor and see what she says. Meanwhile, its day 15, and I am doing great!
Having said all that earlier, i did have a small slip up again. Wife came home. pack was sitting in her purse. I just had to steal one. Total for today..... almost 1. QUITTING SMOKING DAY 17 - DON'T EVEN MISS IT With every day that passes I feel my level of resistance and tolerance going up and up. Half the day has already passed and I have not had a single urge or desire to even touch a smoke. Half the cigarette I smoked last night was just plain nasty. It didn't feel right, it didn't taste right and it really did not do anything at all for me. Now what stinks is that I've gained about a pound as i found out this morning at the doctors. It makes sense, as i have been eating all kinds of stuff and just plain old stuffing myself when i got the urges that were hard to resist. I no longer feel like i have to have a smoke when I use the john, i no longer want to smoke after a meal, all these major triggers are now under complete control. I bought some air fresheners for my car and put some dryer sheets by the windshield. My car now smells clean and fresh and that helps distract your senses from cigarettes. I am not sure how well i will be able to handle major stress at this point, but today i feel more confident then ever that I am now officially a non smoker. My doctor agreed with me that chantix needs to be dosed on more individual levels rather than using the one-fits-all strategy. I know I needed more of the drug to hold me over between the morning dose and the evening dose. So ask your doctor about it. It all depends on your physiology i suppose, but if you are anything like me (almost 6' 4'', 210 lbs) and are a heavy smoker(pack to pack and a half) a day, your dosage should probably be 1mg in the morning .5mg in the afternoon and another 1mg in the evening... See what your doctor thinks about that one. I should also note that last night for the first time i had no dreams. I kind of miss them! QUITTING SMOKING DAY 18 - STRESS SUCKS So the dreams are back. Maybe I was just too tired the other night to dream at all. But last night i slept like crap. And the dreams, well they were back. And they were rather interesting. Weird. Just plain crazy. So I am not even getting into it. With every day that passes smoking urgers become less and less prominent and are triggered less and less by the usual situations where you would light one up for sure. But some subtle clues to desire a cigarette still exist. I wonder if they ever go away... One of my biggest vices is going to be overcoming the urge under extreme stress. You know, the kind of stress where you clench your teeth, make a fist and just want to knock someone out. The kind stress thats fueled by adrenaline and makes you shake. The animal like stress that technically speaking people should not experience in this day and age. But sometimes you do. And this kind of stress can take a heavy toll on your body and mind. It can cause road rage, fights and wreck your body. Or it can cause you to reach for a smoke, without you having any control of the urge. So these are the kinds of cravings i need to learn to control. Otherwise I am feeling pretty good about not smoking right now. What helped earlier in the quit is getting some coffee straws from the gas station and chewing on them. And of course a stick of gum here and there. Physically, i have nor felt better in years. I am coughing up a lung (due to re-growing cilica on lung linings) but I can already feel a whole lot more energy (due to increased oxygen flow) and improved breathing. I can also breathe through my nose for the first time in years. Go figure! QUITTING SMOKING DAY 19 - CHEATED :( So yeah, they always say, drinking is responsible for alot of bad stuff. I am beginning to believe it. After kids went to bed, wife and I got the fireplace going to warm up the basement. Few beers for me, glass of wine for her. We are nice and cozy infornt of the fire and she... lights one up. I could not resist. So i screwed up and I cheated and i smoked one. But I have come too far to be defeated now. I'm just gonna have to stay dry for a little while. Geting rid of the cigs is alot more important. No cravings today except for when i first woke up. I did wanna have one with the coffee. Even one cigarette seems can set you back on your track to quitting. I won't touch em again. I promise! QUITTING SMOKING DAY 20 - BACK ON TRACK You no longer feel like a smoker. You just miss having the luxury of being able to light one up. As a result, the "forbidden fruit effect" just teases the living daylights out of you. At this point smoking cravings are just as strong as cravings for something yummy that you see at the supermarket when grocery shopping on an empty stomach. You see this beautiful filet and you want to get a couple, and a pair of lobster tails for nice dinner. It's hard to resist. But then you look at the price tag. $30 for the tails, $40 for a pair of steaks. You are up to $70. The pricetag definately discourages you from acting on the impulse and you walk away. Do you want to walk away? Of course not, but can you willfully walk away and make a rational, rather than impulsive decision? Of course you can. The dreams are getting milder and milder. I also try to take chantix earlier in the evening but i do not dare take it without a full meal. Taking chantix with a bowl of cereal still cuased severe nausia within minutes and i don't ever want to try that experiement again. QUITTING DAY 21 -LIKE IT OR NOT, TEMPTATION WILL GET YOU So my dear wife, after trying not to smoke in the house leaves me a nice big surprise on the kitchen windowsill - a half smoked marlboro. I am having a day from hell, i did not take my chantix in the morning and i have not taken my evening dose just yet. Stress gets the best of me and i sneak out and light it up. One puff, two puffs... Man, it just doesn't feel right, tastes like crap. I almostr forced myself to take a third hit and tossed it aside. As insignificant as couple of puffs might be, we all know damn well that one puff leads to two, two lead to five, five leads to a couple of cigs and before you know it you are a full time smoker again. There is an important lesson to be learned here. I cannot resist the temptation. Therefore, I have to make absolute shure that i have no access to cigarettes in any shape or form. Another cigarette left lying around, another pack left un attended, another ashtray that somehow makes its way in the house will cause an enormous fight. I am determined on keeping the nicotine monster away from me for good! QUITTING WEEK 4 - No Longer Need Smokes or Chantix!
After 21 days on Chantix I stopped writing. Why? Well, to simply put it there was nothing to write about. The only signifacnt development that I had was the fact thatr my 4 weeks of chantix ran out today. Well. Almost. I had one pill left. But i didn't take it this morning. And I won't. It's going in my keep sake box and will stay there forever. It is the miracle drug that saved my life. I woke up this morning and i did not feel like i needed any help with staying off the smokes. Two coffees, rush hour drive to work and the usual daIly stressors had no effect on my desire to smoke. Today I truly felt like a non smoker. Now I know, you are suppose to ween yourself off of chantix. If you do not, dopamine production will seize and you may possibly go into major depression. Nonsense. Its all bloody placebo effect. The dopamine flow is so insignificant, ithat it cannot possibly have such drastic effects on you. It will be close to 24 hours after my last dose and i am sure the levels of the drug have dropped significantly. But I feel no different than i felt before. No chantix withdrawals WHATS SO EVER! THANK YOU CHANTIX, THANK YOU PHEIZER AND THANKS TO MODERN SCIENCE FOR MAKING IT POSSIBLE!
QUITTING 90 DAYS! - Rough ride but I am still hanging in!
I never thought I would make it this far. Have I been perfect? No, of course not. I cheated a few times and had a smoke. But for me, it seems that it has been a very gradual process. Your dependence on nicotine will go away withing a few days. Your dependance on cigarettes however will be there for at least a few month - some say even years. The good news is that wanting a smoke is a slight thought that comes in very quickly and fades away just as fast. My wife has finally decided to give it an honest effort and completely ditch the smokes. I feel for her, especially considering that she is trying to do it cold turkey. So far she is at 48 hours. I am very proud of her, as its 47 hours more then I would have ever lasted quitting cold turkey. If she can manage to stay nic free i think i will not even be tempted to ever light up again. Meanwhile, for me, here are the 3 month totals from the quit meter - WOW! I have been quit for 2 Months, 4 Weeks, 1 Day, 9 hours, 3 minutes and 44 seconds (90 days). I have saved $621.33 by not smoking 2,259 cigarettes. I have saved 1 Week, 20 hours and 15 minutes of my life. My Quit Date: 10/4/2007 7:28 AM I will report on any developments if any should occur. Andrew 10/24/2007
Users' Comments (11) 
|
|
|
Beermaster
muskiebobsr
I got the same sick feeling on Chantix, but I kept going. I will not say I do not get the feeling I could start smoking again I do. But I can get past it with out smoking which is great. You will find it will get better as days go on. I did not think I would make it a year. But I did and so did my mom who in her 60 quit with chantix over a year ago. So good luck and keep going. 
We fed 16 people with that 30 lb bird and all the trimmings.
Have a great day all.
