Never mind about valium. Chantix is the one true wonder drug.

[leeroysphitz]

I know, I know that there have been reports of odd behavior and even one well publicized SHOOTING INCIDENT associated with Chantix. I know also that we (as members of the monolithic DU collective) all hate BIG PHARMA.

But FUCK it. I'm nearing the end of my SECOND smoke free week and I haven't been jones-ing, not once.
No cravings no arguing with myself to go get smokes, nothing. I know it doesn't work this well for everyone and I don't want to get cocky and jinx myself this early in but I feel like I might really have the cigarettes beat this time.

I've tried many times with gum, inhalers, lazers, voodoo and various CULTS but they all involved discipline and self control (I posses neither.) This Chantix works so well because you don't need WILL POWER to resist cigarettes if you just plain don't actually want a friggen cigarette in the first place!

There's got to be a catch.

Has anyone else used Chantix? How well has it worked out for you over time?
How long ago did you use it to quit and are you still smoke free? Just wondering.











.

[crispini]

1. Just don't drink.

'Cause I knew Carter Albrecht and he was a damn nice guy. There are a lot of people out there that miss him. :(

[leeroysphitz]

2. I didn't know him, his death was tragic. More so because of

how avoidable it seemed to be.


Edited to add that 10,000 Angels just popped up on my MP3 player. This predates his membership in the band I think but it's VERY strange all the same.

[hisownpetard]

3. Used Chantix. Haven't had a cigarette in 14 months and never will again (not

that I wouldn't enjoy it; just that I don't ever want to go through the struggle again).

It works so well because there's no nicotine in it; what it does is block the receptors in your brain
that tell you that you want nicotine!

Good luck to you. Keep up the good work.

[leeroysphitz]

4. Did you get slammed with cravings when the 12 weeks was up?

Or was it all over by then? How much for how long did you smoke? (If it's OK for me to ask.)

[hisownpetard]

6. Actually, I couldn't take the one you're supposed to take at night because, when I did,

I couldn't sleep at all. I only took the A.M. dosage. So, when my 12-weeks were up, I had only taken half of the Chantix,
so I just continued taking the one-per-day for another 12 weeks.

I smoked my first cigarette at the age of 14 (when my older brother gave me one of his Kents!). I started smoking more during my divorce (I wonder why!)
and finally was up to a pack a day when I stopped.

[leeroysphitz]

10. Glad to hear it worked for you. I can't wait to be a year smoke free.

:hi:

[Oeditpus Rex]

5. Hadn't heard of it, but I just looked up the price

It's cheaper to smoke — and that's another thing that's seriously fucked up about our health-care system. x(

[hisownpetard]

7. Not in the long run, it's not! And think of all the money you save on mouthwash!

[Oeditpus Rex]

11. If it's guaranteed to work, you're right

But when I read stuff like this, and then consider the cost (and I don't have insurance), it seems to me that $169 per month is little more than a gamble with unfavorable odds.

I just have a big problem with a health-care system that drones "Quit... quit... quit..." and then makes attempting to quit (with emphasis on "attempting") more expensive than the addiction. If they really wanted people to quit, don't you think they'd subsidize it? (In some states, part of tobacco taxes do just that. In Colorado, I'm told, you can get nicotine patches free, and that just seems to make economic sense.)

[hisownpetard]

15. I know! When my doctor first prescribed it, I went to the drugstore and they said it wasn't covered

by insurance. I couldn't believe my ears. Got into a huge argument on the spot with the store clerk who, of course,
had nothing to do with it. So I didn't get the prescription filled.

A couple months later, I found out I needed surgery to remove a tumor on my parathyroid gland (which, thankfully, turned out
to be benign), but my surgeon wouldn't operate until I'd been smoke-free for three months. So I went back to the pharmacy,
and by then they decided to cover Chantix.

I've heard that the average person actually does not succeed in quitting until their 8th try. However, this was the first time
I tried (because I never really wanted to quit. I LOVED smoking!).

Oh, well. There's still chocolate, and sex.

[Oeditpus Rex]

17. Insurance doesn't cover those, either

x(

[hisownpetard]

23. I know - but who cares?

[Oeditpus Rex]

24. I do!

I can't afford sex, either. :cry:

[hisownpetard]

25. Ya know - I hope you're sitting down - but, sometimes, you don't have to pay for sex!!

[RetroLounge]

35. So when I show up at your door, I should bring Chocolate?

:evilgrin:

RL

[leeroysphitz]

16. You are right. It doesn't make any sense not to subsidize

effective aids. Like I said I couldn't afford it until I was on a plan with an insurance company who was kind enough (SARC) to cover it.

As for the long term success well let's just say I've got my fingers crossed. I've got about 9 more weeks on the drug and I plan to use that time developing new habits and routines that will hopefully allow me to cope and avoid touching another cigarette once the RX runs out.

[Oeditpus Rex]

21. Please don't take anything I said to mean, 'Ah, you're not gonna make it'

I hope you do and I wish you every success. I'm glad you're in a position where you have this option. If I were more financially sound, I'd probably exercise it as well.

As it is, I usually have a supply of nicotine patches for occasions when I can't smoke or just don't want to (family gatherings, etc.), and I've found they cut the desire in half or more. I'd use them or some other aid all the time if it weren't cost-prohibitive, and I know there must be millions of people in the same situation. When you factor in the billions of dollars said to be lost in workplace productivity, etc., to smoking, it seems counter-productive for quitting aids not to be fully subsidized. But I guess Big Pharma's ginormous profit margin is more important.

[leeroysphitz]

26. I didn't take it that way at all.

In fact I agree with you about insurance coverage and corporatism.

I also read the link about Chantix. I'm not a big fan of "pills" but in this instance I had to take the risk. I need to quit and as much as I hate to admit it I need help to do it.

[leeroysphitz]

8. Agreed. I would have started sooner but the health insurance

I had prior to november would not cover it. The new plan does and I'm grateful since this drug has, so far, worked as advertised (for once)...

[hisownpetard]

9. Yeah, I think many insurance plans do cover it now.

[no name no slogan]

12. The drug is just the tool to help you do what you need to do

NOT the end unto itself.

You're going about it the exact right way. The drug helps you TCB.

[leeroysphitz]

13. I tried the patch once a long time ago and am always

reminded of The Simpsons episode were Krusty is trying to find a patch of skin not already covered by the patch to stick another one.

The patch felt like that. This doesn't.

[xchrom]

14. thanks for the positive update -- i have my chantix but haven't started yet. nt

[leeroysphitz]

18. I spent the first week and a half thinking that it wasn't working.

Then I noticed that if it was cold outside I wouldn't finish the cigarette (I used to smoke through blizzards). Then very suddenly I just didn't care if I had a cigarette anymore. Even at ussual times like breaks and lunch or the commute to and from work.

I hope it works for you, good luck!

[xchrom]

19. thanks -- i've quit before -- but it always takes drugs to do it. nt

[BrotherBuzz]

20. I'm into my second month with Chantix and smoke free...

and that's after forty years smoking. Chantix is doing what it's supposed to do, I guess, and I've had no side effect. I started the program after I finished a chemo series. Doc says I'm cancer free at the moment, and I plan to stay that way. The cost of Chantix is a spit in the bucket compared to the cost of my chemo drugs, and easier on the body, too, so I have a real incentive to remain smoke free.

Has that online counseling thing helped? I haven't figured it out yet, and wonder if it of any value to anyone.

[hisownpetard]

22. Never used it. But glad to hear that Chantix is helping and that you're on the upswing.

[leeroysphitz]

27. Congratulations on 2 months smoke free!

As for the counseling, I'm with you I've never used it. My wife looked at it and said it was more like a set of daily questionnaires about how the pills are working but I'm not sure.

[TZ]

28. No catch for my stepfather

He was a two pack a day smoker for 40 years almost and with Chantix, no problem quitting. He is now also off the Chantix and has no problems. hasn't smoked a cig in 3 months.
BTW- all drugs have possible side effects but usually its about 1-2% of the people who take a med that suffer from something serious.
And all ingested substances (whether medicinal, nutritional, supplements, etc) have about the same risk of making you sick-allergies, contamination ect, ect.
The dangers from side effects from meds (used properly) is blown way out of proportion by the media. Chantix is a very safe drug--as long as used properly. Trying to use a patch or something else at the same time though...thats risky

[leeroysphitz]

31. Great news about your stepfather

Thanks posting this

[lizerdbits]

33. I didn't know he was finally off the drug!

That's great! Last I heard as soon as he stopped it he was smoking.

:toast:

[vademocrat]

29. 46 days smoke-free with Chantix -

It's been truly amazing. I smoked for 35 years - total addict - and tried everything from cold turkey to gum to hypnosis to acupuncture without success. I'm still taking the chantix twice a day and am not having side effects so will probably take it at least another month and a half ( for the three months that my dr. recommended.)

"No cravings no arguing with myself to go get smokes" - wow, do I relate to that! That's been my experience with it too. I don't really consider myself a non-smoker yet but have no desire to smoke.

My insurance wouldn't pay for it until my dr. sent in a "permission slip" - even with that, I pay more of the cost than other prescriptions. It's absurd (all I want for xmas is Socialized Medicine! :))

Congratulations to you - keep it up!:toast:

[leeroysphitz]

30. Congrats to you too good luck. n/t

[lizerdbits]

32. I quit end of July using it

However I couldn't take the 2 mg a day, I got virtually no sleep. I did 1 mg a day instead and it worked for me. I almost stopped it but luckily stuck it out because I knew I'd go back to smoking and never try to quit again.

And it's so ridiculous that insurance didn't cover it! Hello- it's more expensive for you if I keep smoking! Do they think I'll just drop dead instead of going through cancer or a heart attack? Or maybe they don't cover that like so many other things :mad: (Not to imply that cancer risk goes away after quitting, we still did years of damage that can't be undone.)

[applegrove]

34. I know someone who is on it now. Seems to be working well for her.