[michaelbaird]

I highly recommend this drug to anyone trying to quit smoking. It takes away the urge, the cravings and cigarettes just taste like the ***** they are. I really enjoyed smoking, and I don't even want one. My wife still smokes and I'm not even tempted...as long as I keep taking it. I'm in my second month and it is working. Some insurance won't cover it, but BCBS does and it is only costing me $20.00/mos...I'm not much of a drinker; I have no desire for alcohol what-so-ever. I don't even have the cravings for coffee as much as I used to.

I think it elevates your mood as well, because I'm only half the ********* I used to be

 

[NU2SAX]

I have a friend who's been in it four months! I took it for 5 weeks. Made alcohol taste bad but not so much the butts. Lots of very strange and vivid dreams though - kind of cool.

A lot of people do swear by it. I'll have to try it again because I really do want to quit.

 

[Jolle]

Question is, what happens when you quit Chantix? No reason to change one addiction for another.

A smoker thinking about quitting (again).

 

[Swampcabbage]

Unless one addiction is less deadly than the other. Jury is probably out on that one.

 

[michaelbaird]

I wouldn't mind a Chantix addiction...I'm enjoying it. I'm such a type A personality that it has taken the edge off. I don't want to be an old man and have to always sleep with my head elevated just to breathe. The dreams are very vivid and entertaining.

 

[hakukani]

The best way to quit smoking is to stop putting them in you mouth and lighting them.

But, if you need help, use anything you can-the point is not smoking.
After 25 years of smoking, I quit on 12/7/95

JUST QUIT NOW!!!!!

 

[michaelbaird]

It would probably be easier to be addicted to heroin, in the long run, I think it is less addictive than nicotine. I would need a 12 step program, to stop nicotine and then people would have to deal with my personality during the withdrawls. :yikes!:

 

[Reedsplinter]

The best way to quit smoking is to stop putting them in you mouth and lighting them.

But, if you need help, use anything you can-the point is not smoking.
After 25 years of smoking, I quit on 12/7/95

JUST QUIT NOW!!!!!

Apparently, for many it's not that easy. My father died in 1994 of complications of lung cancer. A heavy smoker for decades, he simply could NOT stop, and he was not a man of weak will. The molecule hooks into different metabolisms in different ways. For many, only medical intervention can do the trick.

Here's a twist: my present wife was a moderately heavy smoker for years, and had tried repeatedly to stop. She finally stopped when she was pregnant -- partly out of a sense of responsibility, but even more because suddenly cigarettes (and red wine too, oddly) had become repugnant to her. I thought: well, this is good, but when the baby is born, she'll go back to it. She didn't. Cigarettes are no longer completely repulsive to her, but she now does not like the smell (and still doesn't like red wine, which she had a well-developed taste for before). Strange, but good. Now if we can just isolate the hormone and get it into a bottle, we're all rich!

 

[retread]

I am an expert on quitting smoking. During 45 years of smoking Camel unfiltered cigarettes I quit at least 35 times. What finally worked? Suddenly I was able to remember for more than a few days how bad smoking made me feel. Rather than focusing on how much I wanted a cigarette, I focused on the way my mouth felt every evening, how my clothes stunk, and how I coughed every morning. Long-term memory and, in my case, nicotine gum, made the difference. But nothing worked until I really wanted to quit.

To repeat, You can't quit until you sincerely want to!

 

[Jolle]

I will, Hakunani. But I also found out that timing is quite important. As retread said, you can't quit until you sincerely want to. That's the first thing I have to work on : wanting it sincerely. I'm almost there.

Next thing is to find the period where I can get through the first week without accidents. Been there, done that. Day 3 to day 5, you don't want to be close to me. Not a good thing if you have to work together with 25 other people in a room. Plus, I recently left some more very unhealthy habits, and I need to take one step at a time. So far, all steps taken go rather well.

I'm considering the nicotine gum too. Keep you updated. before the end of this year, it will be a fact.

 

[hakukani]

I did not mean to imply it is easy to quit smoking. It's not. It's a harder habit to break than some others I've had.

I smoked 1-2 packs a day. I smoked mostly unfiltered cigarettes, rolled my own, smoked cigars, or cigarillos (the kind like Clint Eastwood smoked in the westerns). I inhaled. I was definitely hooked.

I was not a pleasant person to be around for about six weeks after I quit. I avoided places where people smoked for a couple of months. I gained 30 pounds. (I probably shouldn't have quit during the holidays).

Still, after almost 12 years after I quit, I still want a smoke, I still dream sometimes that I still smoke---especially when stressed, or just want to think (clears out the cobwebs, dontcha know). However, I now wonder why I kept smoking...

edit: Jolle, yeah, you're right, one habit at a time.
I focussed on what politicians were actually getting money from Big Tobacco--that helped a lot.

 

[michaelbaird]

Apparently, for many it's not that easy. My father died in 1994 of complications of lung cancer. A heavy smoker for decades, he simply could NOT stop, and he was not a man of weak will. The molecule hooks into different metabolisms in different ways. For many, only medical intervention can do the trick.

Here's a twist: my present wife was a moderately heavy smoker for years, and had tried repeatedly to stop. She finally stopped when she was pregnant -- partly out of a sense of responsibility, but even more because suddenly cigarettes (and red wine too, oddly) had become repugnant to her. I thought: well, this is good, but when the baby is born, she'll go back to it. She didn't. Cigarettes are no longer completely repulsive to her, but she now does not like the smell (and still doesn't like red wine, which she had a well-developed taste for before). Strange, but good. Now if we can just isolate the hormone and get it into a bottle, we're all rich!

Chantix is good medical intervention...my addicted personality is lovin' it

 

[hakukani]

I'm glad I didn't have to get pregnant to quit!

 

[retread]

Next thing is to find the period where I can get through the first week without accidents.

There is no perfect time to quit. But if you want to quit, you'll quit. The first day I quit I went on an out-of-town consulting project. I knew many of the client's people from before I retired. Three consective nights we went to bars at the end of the day. Many people were smoking and we were all drinking. But I didn't touch a cigarette. Chewed nicotine gum until my jaws ached, but didn't smoke.

I did gain 25 pounds in about six months. My doctor is happy with that trade-off.

 

[hakukani]

T

I did gain 25 pounds in about six months. My doctor is happy with that trade-off.

My doctor is too.

 

[SilverNeck20]

Started as a teenager, quit in my mid 20's. A real hard habit to give up, especially if you giging a lot hanging out in bars and clubs. I aways smoked the most when I was drinking. I always drank when I was playing. Everything went hand and hand.
I quit when it started to affect my playing. It was difficult, but I did it. Gained weight. Lost the weight over a few years. Took many more years to loose the urge. Can't imagine how much harder it would have been if I smoked longer.

But good luck to anyone who tries it.

 

[RootyTootoot]

Whatever works is good. I have stopped for approx 2 years now. Weight went up about 2 stone over time(!!) when i started on the stop/restart cycle (approx 5 years before that, now 40). I do think that for myself it came down to will-power, decision and change of circumstances. I'm willing to believe that some may need chemical intervention. Cigarettes are carcinogenic. Even if you are replacing one drug with another for a while, i think it's worth it.

Good luck to all those trying to stop!

 

[jbtsax]

I threw away what was left of my carton of cigarettes in the dumpster the morning of my quadruple bypass surgery July 2001. Haven't smoked since. "It takes what it takes."

 

[belliott]

jbtsax, simliar experience for me......had a quadruple bypass in July 2004. Had my last smoke in the parking lot of the hospital, checked in and haven't smoked since. Had been smoking 2- 2 1/2 packs a day for 40 years. Docs told me that if the heart didn't fail soon, emphysema was going to do me in anyway in less than 3 years. As you said, "it takes what it takes" and I admit I was scared silly by both the heart and lung docs. Somehow, cigarettes didn't seem so necessary or impotrant anymore.

GOOD LUCK TO ANYONE/EVERYONE WHO TRYS TO QUIT!!!!!

 

[Reedsplinter]

I'm glad I didn't have to get pregnant to quit!

From your avatar, it looks like maybe you did!