Monday, August 31, 2015

One Week with NO Smoking.....

Well, the Chantix is definitely working as far as the nicotine addiction/craving goes.

If I don't think about lighting up, then it never crosses my mind.

Wait, did that make any sense?

Oh, well.......

When I finished the pack I had last weekend, I decided to not buy anymore. Even though I'd cut down to one or two a day, juts having that pack made me feel more comfortable.

Well.....I don't need to feel comfortable, dammit, I need to stop smoking!

And no, I'm not searching in my car for one I might have dropped, or looking through the old, empty packs still littering the floor of the Jeep for one I might have "missed", or a partially smoked one.

The Chantix works by blocking the nicotine receptors in your nervous system, so you no longer crave the nicotine.

And since it cuts down the craving, you'll cut down on smoking. When you cut down far enough, and you do light one up, you don't get a rush or a buzz or any calming feeling like you used to.

And then you start to realize that since you don't get anything out of it, why bother?

And you'll also cough up a lot of crud that's been in your lungs, as long as you haven't damaged them too badly. I coughed more the first couple weeks I was taking it than I did when I was smoking! I'd cut back from 10 or so a day to 4 or 5, and even that reduction was enough that I was finally coughing up more crap than I was taking in.

As far as side effects go, the only one I've noticed is nausea.

No weird dreams, no bad feeling, just my stomach flipping around a bit.

DO NOT take Chantix on an empty stomach! You WILL get nauseated!

And even taking them with some food is enough to make my stomach feel a bit "off".

But so far, it's working while the patches, gum, and lozenges didn't.

3 comments:

  1. Good job. It's a wicked creature to kill.

    ReplyDelete
  2. A LOT harder than when I quit drinking...........

    ReplyDelete
  3. Congrats Jim! It's corny but true: one day at a time. It does get easier as time goes on. Keep after it my man.

    ReplyDelete

Keep it civil, please....

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