Chantix

[Tiapet]

Ok, I know some of you posted about this a few months back. I'm seeking an update from those of you who did. I'm about to go on it. I've had it a few months now and have been putting it off. I really really want to do this. The desire is strong. I know about it going to make me feel really sick to my stomach too. I've read about the other side affects as well. What a really want to know is the relative success rate those of you have experienced with it? I've seen good reports. Now I want to hear and update from you all please? (even if it's negative, I need to know)

Thank you

 

[DammitJanet]

Tia...I am wanting to go on it too. My only concern is the recent publications of psychiatric side effects but maybe Im on enough medications to counteract that.

I want to hear from others too.

 

[hearts and roses]

Janet, I actually had positive psychiatric side effects from it. I felt calm and serene almost. It also helped with an Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) trait I have.

Tiapet, I can only speak of my own experience of course. It worked to stop the cravings and did it within 7 days. However, I could not overcome the nausea, constipation and wild dreams at night so after not even 4 weeks I stopped taking it. Within 2 weeks my cravings came back. My sister said that if you tough it out and take it for the prescribed 12 weeks, it works. I only smoke maybe 1-2 cigarettes a day, but I am experiencing a real disgust with it so it's been even less. I think my addiction waxes and wanes, but for TRUE full time smokers, this may be the magic drug to help them get past the h.u.m.p.

Good luck~

 

[DammitJanet]

Im a two pack a day-er so I NEED to quit badly. Oddly enough my psychiatrist refused to give the script at this time because he says "He is worried about how quitting smoking will effect my stability at this time due to my extremely high stress levels!"

If someone is waiting for my stress levels to go down I will be cremated with a cigarette in my mouth....lol.

 

[Hound dog]

Janet, Tiapet

I used it for 2 months the first time. Did great. No psychiatric symptoms. Although it did make me calmer, seemed to help me sleep too. Worked amazing. Then didn't have the refill...........

And eventually thru my own stupidity started up again.

I'm thru my first wk of my second shot. No psychiatric symptoms. Doing fine, and have already begun cutting down.

Janet, I understand your fear of the psychiatric issues. But I'd think your medications probably have you covered. Plus you could stop taking it if it becomes severe.

Oh, and don't count on it necessarily making you sick to your stomach. It didn't me until I was quite far into it and would smoke too much. Nightmares....I never had them either. Oh, I had some interesting dreams lol but not nightmares.

Now I have to figure out how we're gonna afford to get the script for husband. Our insurance has decided not to pay for it. ugh

Hugs

 

[hearts and roses]

Nightmares....I never had them either. Oh, I had some interesting dreams lol but not nightmares.

I didn't have nightmares - just incredible realistic wildly VIVID dreams. Some of them were so realistic that when I woke I had to look around to see where I was. There was one dream where I did a lot of running and when I woke up my legs were tired. How strange is that? My waking thoughts were consumed by what I had dreamt. It was odd. Overall, however, I wish I could have stayed on it because it really helped with the smoking as well as making me feel more serene.

 

[scent of cedar]

We bought a prescription of Chantix for husband. He kept putting off taking it and, when the information about suicidal ideation and rages was made public, we wrote in for a refund.

And got it, no questions asked.

On the other hand, we have friends who quit with Chantix without any side effects other than the nervousness/irritability/depression you would expect when you are breaking a nicotine addiction.

My doctor prescribed it for me as well. I have not filled the prescription. I am using a nicotine patch with great results. When I decrease the dosage, I will use the gum in addition to the patch. Already, I am using the same patch for two days without much problem. For me, it was so hard to feel I was giving up something I believed I enjoyed. This way, I believe myself to already have access to all the nicotine I might need to beat withdrawal symptoms ~ but I am no longer damaging my lungs to do it.

There is always the gum, if I need it.

I have a friend who quit that way some years ago.

She still keeps the nicotine gum in her purse.

That way, she will never have an excuse to smoke that first cigarette.

I am hoping to do the same thing.

If I were to use the Chantix, I just know I would smoke again when it was over. I quit cold turkey both times I was pregnant and while I was nursing the babies. So, as I got pregnant the second time when our first baby was six months old, I was smoke free for something like four years.

But I went back to it.

So. I am using the patches this time, and watching out for my "weaker moments".

Then, I will use the gum.

I don't think I could stay away from them any other way.

However you stop smoking, I wish you well.

Barbara

P.S. I also stopped eating bread, pasta, and sugar. The good news is that it wasn't as hard as not smoking ~ and I have lost over ten pounds. I actually feel so much better ~ but I think that is because I stopped using sugar.

Over the past months, I slipped and smoked two or three days and then, put the patch on again many times. Lately, I have been aware of the difficulty of the third, seventh, and twelfth days and have made sure to put the patch on and have a piece of gum ready.

It's been something like three weeks now, I think, since I smoked. I am sure there will be other times I will want to ~ but that is when I will use the gum, or go back to the patch again.

I am going to use the patch for a whole year ~longer, if I have to.

Wish me well, too!



Barbara

 

[Star*]

OH my little "pet"

How marvelous you are going to quit killing yourself one stick at a time! I am thrilled. Easter will be my 7th year as a non smoker. One of the hardest things I have ever done. Eating has been the worst for me. (weight)

I went cold turkey - DF who is now 50 and has smoked since he was 12 decided that he could try it. The smoke and lingering smells give me a headache in a snap. So i was thrilled when he got Chantix. It is expensive!!

The first 3 days he felt like he had the flu. Then he stopped throwing up. We know it was the Chantix. The next 4 days - he was okay. Not cranky, not cheating, but he said the Chantix took away the desires - it didn't take them all away. So he would find himself having to do other things to take his mind off wanting a cigarette.

He stopped for 3 months - life was great and then Dude got arrested and moved in, and moved some furniture and tore apart an 800.00 oak poster bed in our spare room - and well - let's just say after enduring the foul words going out the door he came back with cigarettes.

My thoughts? He needed an excuse to start back up and was just waiting for one. I'm disappointed....but if you also google American Lung association and some cigarette companies and Truth - you get some good visuals of damaged, cancerous lungs - and print them out as reminders.

If you want to quit - that is 50% of it. You just have to keep telling yourself that nothing smokes as good as life feels (A rip off of the Weight Watchers nothing tastes as good as thin feels)

I am behind you - (mostly spraying Febreeze -lol)

Also - when I quit I took the money I would spend daily in cash and saved it in a piggy bank and at the end of the month put that money into a cigar box and after a while I bought a beautiful TV for our home.

Hugs
Star

 

[Tiapet]

Thanks for the updates. I think I can live with the dreams as I really really don't sleep much at all so I don't think I'll have to worry about that much (no kidding).

I understand also that as you progress if you do feel sick to your stomach you "can" back down the dosage amount so that you can maintain taking it and have a better chance at success (something the doctors don't tell you but the maker does).

 

[Hound dog]

Tia

You also don't HAVE to stop at exactly the time they tell you to.

For some people this point comes sooner, for others at a point later. I tried at the date they wanted the first time and was no where near ready. I'd been doing well, but wasn't ready to toss them yet. So I gave myself another week. It didn't take that long, but giving myself that time kept me from panicking. If I panic, I'll stop trying.

At the chantix site they have message boards too. I learned on there that many people needed a longer period of time in order to quit completely.

Hugs

 

[Abbey]

Smoking for me is an escape. I've quit more times than I can count over the last 25 years. Tried all kinds of drugs, patches, gums, etc. To me, it's a state of mind. Doesn't really help living in Vegas where you can smoke everywhere. Oddly enough, I can't stand sitting next to a smoker.

I don't smoke much...maybe 3 cigs a day, but when I get in overload mode...it is what slows me down.

I would love to be done with it.

Abbey