Well, the Chantix I've been taking is really starting to work well.
I've been taking it for about a couple of months now, and at first, I didn't notice anything.
After a couple of weeks, it dawned on me that I wasn't smoking my first cigarette until almost noon, rather than as soon as I was up and around.
I've never smoked more than 3/4 pack a day, and after my cardiac "incident", I actually stopped cold turkey for almost a week, mostly because I was still shaking off all the meds they gave me in the hospital, and getting used to all the new ones.
I never got back up to what I used to smoke, keeping to about 5~6 a day, but the scientific part of me (along with all my family and friends!) kept telling me to knock it off, you idiot!
I've tried several times to quit before, but NOTHING helped with the nicotine addiction/craving.
Patches did NOTHING
Gum did NOTHING
The lozenges helped some, and could help me from jonseing if I had a meeting or something to do that absolutely precluded me from smoking, but as soon as I was free, WHAM! Fire that sucker up!
So, we'll just have to see how I do on Monday. If I keep myself busy, the Chantix blocks the craving, and I do just fine.
It's the "ritualistic" part of smoking that I think I miss now. The lighting up with a cup of coffee; the lighting up when I'm driving somewhere; the act of having something in my hands, etc.
Zora Arkus-Duntov, our beloved "Father of the Corvette" allegedly had some porcelain cigarettes made up when he had to quit. It gave him something to gesture with, and something to keep his hands busy.
I could do far worse than to emulate Zora......
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What I've Been Up To....
Started this post on Monday, then came down with a head cold, which is now progressing South. Feeling better, but still a bit woozy...... To...
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Outstanding, sir. Well done!
ReplyDeleteJust watch out for the mood changes, and nightmares... NOT pretty...
ReplyDeleteYeah, when I first heard about it on the TeeVee, the side effects really put me off.
ReplyDeleteBUT, since I have "vivid" dreams anyway, I figured it was worth a try.
And no mood swings to speak of, either.
Good on ya' for kicking the habit. I switched to an e-cig. Not quite as good as quitting altogether, but it satisfies the nicotine addiction, and the habit too. Depending on whom you want to believe, it's significantly less hazardous. I figure I'm not inhaling combustion byproducts, so it must be an improvement.
ReplyDeleteI smoked pretty heavily until 1977, when we had a squadron safety stand down, and the flight surgeon brought in a smokers lungs in a jar. They looked like beef jerky.
ReplyDeleteCouldn't quit cold turkey, so I smoked cigars. Then I quit those for the pipe, never completely broke the habit and still smoke a pipe.
Even today, all these years later, if I get around someone smoking I can't help but try to breath in the second hand smoke.....
The best damn anti-smoking medication I ever found was a drug called
ReplyDeleteCongestive Heart Failure! The truth is that I quit cold turkey about a
month before the onset, so it may have been quitting a 40 year habit
that nearly killed me. I do not know. For all you "Youts" out there,
it is better not to get started.
Jim, shortly before the event, I visited the U.S.S. Iowa in San Pedro on
the 2nd day it was open to the public and took a lot of photos. I may have
mentioned this on another Blog. It was there that I found out you were a radio
guy. This means you and I have trod the same ground and not just the
Iowa.
As a computer geek back in the early 90's I belonged to a computer club
in Torrance. I also spent about 25 years attending the TRW Computer
and Electronics Swap Meet in Lawndale. We had two old Navy geezers in
the club who were former radio geeks. They were such absolutists
they only communicated via CW.
They are probably long dead now, but I still remember the fun I had at the
South Bay Color Computer Club back in the early 90's. Since I can
barely walk anymore, I miss the good old days when I attended the
TRW Ham radio club sponsored swap meet. Probably passed you
a thousand times or more!