sorry this has taken so long. It's been insane here.

I used Chantix, which helped me a LOT, but the biggest help for me was, first, that I was extremely motivated to quit, and second, the support from Chantix. The prescription comes with an online program that includes tips and suggestions, kudos every day you get through without a "slip", and lots of follow up. There is a lot of discussion here and there about side effects of Chantix, including depression and suicidal ideation. I never got these, but I've certainly had these side effects in other attempts to quit smoking. I honestly don't think they're Chantix side effects -- I think they are side effects of nicotine withdrawal.

I do not find nicotine replacement to be helpful. I tried it myself several times, and it didn't help at all. Here's why: Smoking cessation is two things. It's the physical addiction and the emotional addiction. The emotional addiction is never gone (see, e.g., that I still crave a smoke now and then). The physical addiction is, I understand, a three-week hump, after which your body isn't screaming at you even though your mind may still be screaming at you. Nicotine replacement puts off the physical withdrawal while you get used to not having a cigarette in your hand or a smoke when you're frustrated or bored. But to me, that's backwards. That's putting off the physical withdrawal (the fast part) until the emotional withdrawal is under control (which is never).

I know that there are people who have successfully quit using nicotine replacement and I congratulate them and smoking cessation really is about what works.

Something to remember is that smoking cessation has all the physiological hallmarks of depression -- disturbed sleep, anger, obsessive thinking, changes in eating patterns, despair about the future, you name it. Wellbutrin (Zyban, when marketed for smoking cessation) can help with all of these and it has also been used successfully as a smoking cessation aid.

About 14 years ago, I quit for ~1.5 years, using Wellbutrin and, most important, affirming what I felt. Rather than using affirmations that denied what I felt ("I am a nonsmoker now"), I would say out loud to myself something like "fuck I really want a cigarette" then I would say, "Not now. Maybe later." And then later (which might be five minutes later) when I would get the urge again, I would say "Not now, maybe later." Later, later, later. But if you say NEVER AGAIN then it turns into a huge boulder you're trying to lift rather than a little pebble.



~ ~ ~
All meetings end in separation
All acquisition ends in dispersion
All life ends in death
- The Buddha

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='_'=

Every hundred years, all new people