Anyone Else Using Chantix to Quit Smoking?

[disney kid at heart]

don't know if i'm doing this right but bump

 

[L107ANGEL]

Not bad at all. Keep busy. Switch up your normal routines. Make some plans, like a movie or the mall, where you can't smoke.

I've tried to quit cold turkey, with the patch and hypnosis and failed terribly. I have no willpower. I am two weeks smoke free today with Chantix. That should tell you something!

If you want to quit, you can do this!

I've also sent you a PM.

Your pm was very appreciated, thank you

don't know if i'm doing this right but bump

You did fine

 

[disney kid at heart]

Yes!!! I weaned off (so did my mother) much the way we started the med because I'd read that some were suffering from anxiety and depression once off the med.

One of the other smoking cessation forums I belong to talks about this at length. Many, many folks are going back on Chantix for a couple weeks just to do a wean off and get rid of that nasty anxiety/depression.

Please check out what others are doing to fix it and talk to the doc who prescribed it to let he or she know. The more physicians who know about this happening, the better the chances are that Pfizer will change its recommendations for stopping the med.

http://www.topix.net/forum/law/healthcare/TVFDIU3OTSER7EGIV/p54

About the middle of the page is a wean schedule that has been successful for many folks who've gone off Chantix but had to go back on and do a wean.

HTH

I just got off phone with Pfizer safety pharmacist regarding the weaning off Chantix. I am on the last week of the 12wks and am trying to wean off to with just taking the 1mg day. I'm noticing more craving but insurance won't cover but the 12wk not 24wk. I do not want to start smoking again so I have to find the cheapest pharmacy. Costco is 105.00 so I will join them. I told the safety pharmacist about this thread on Dis. I'm not real good with computers so I just told her disboards.com and community board for thread. I hope she finds this to be helpful for the weaning off Chantix. Great job for all that have been able to give up this habit.

 

[disney kid at heart]

Thank you so much. I now feel like we need to be on a mission to get the word out. Wean off the CHantix!!!!!! DO NOT QUIT THE CHANTIX COLD TURKEY! There, I feel better.

 

[Disney Doll]

I just bumped into an acquaintance at a local restaurant who told me the exact same thing about Chantix.

She had been a long-term smokwer, quit using Chantix and has had no desire to restart.

She basically said the exact same thing you did.

 

[PlutoLuvr]

Howdy, everyone!

Still not smoking on this end, and neither is the hubby and Mom. I'm right at about three and a half months quit. Been off Chantix now since mid June. I LOVE not having that nico monkey on my back!

Something WDW-related, we're heading down in a couple weeks, and my mom's never cared for Epcot. She says it's too big, takes up too much of the day (we're not commando) and it wipes her out. We figured we waste close to three hours a day at Epcot just smoking. We'll all smoke a pack on our Epcot day. Each cig, I figured, takes about eight minutes to smoke. It's all about drinking our way around the WS for us. What's a smoker do with a beer or glass of wine? Smoke.

So without smoking, I think we'll shave about three hours off our Epcot day, and maybe she'll enjoy it!

Whodathunk it?

Hope everyone's doing great in their quit

 

[PlutoLuvr]

I just got off phone with Pfizer safety pharmacist regarding the weaning off Chantix. I am on the last week of the 12wks and am trying to wean off to with just taking the 1mg day. I'm noticing more craving but insurance won't cover but the 12wk not 24wk. I do not want to start smoking again so I have to find the cheapest pharmacy. Costco is 105.00 so I will join them. I told the safety pharmacist about this thread on Dis. I'm not real good with computers so I just told her disboards.com and community board for thread. I hope she finds this to be helpful for the weaning off Chantix. Great job for all that have been able to give up this habit.

I hope this isn't too late, but your doctor can prescribe it outside of the "box," if you only need a week or so worth of the med to wean. Docs can prescribe a smaller dosage, too, i.e., the half milligrams that you get the first week.

Call me nuts, but I was happy to have a little bit leftover. I keep it (a) in case I ever feel I went off the med too soon and cravings come back (which I think I'm out of the woods on that one) and (b) as a reminder that I never, ever want to have to do this again!

Fantastic job to you

 

[Mickey'sMainMami]

My sister in law used Wellbutrin, and smoked for 18+ years, and quit no problem on it. My dad tried it, it did help, but he went back to smoking anyway, he said he didn't feel the craving for it on Wellbutrin, but it was more the habit of smoking that he couldn't break.

 

[MARY-IN-OH]

This thread has been a great help for me. I am off Chantix and off nicotine! I haven't smoked since the end of July. My DH is still taking Chantix and is smoking a half to one cigarette per day, but I think he is getting ready to stop for good.

My in-laws are going to disney with us - two weeks from tomorrow. My FIL is the only one that would have been smoking on this trip. Yep, I said "would have" - he quit !! And he did it using chantix. He has not smoked in three weeks!
-mary

 

[PlutoLuvr]

Mary, that is amazing!!!!! WTG all of you (your hubby needs to stop, tho).

We'll be at WDW at the same time, 9/22 through the 29th!

And, no, we WON'T be bumping into each other at the DSAs

Have a great weekend & major congrats to you.

 

[nobodies36]

7 weeks and 3 days smoke free for me!!!

I took the last of my pills today (I just kept lowering the dose myself as I felt ready and I have been fine). I even have a months supply that I don't need.

The best part- I leave for Disney in a few hours and I will be doing it smoke free! (those who read the huge thread on Disney's smoking policy will know why that is great in itself- it is a reality, not just a dream anymore).

Thanks to all who mentioned the Chantix/Champix and those who shared success stories. I tell everyone I meet that I have just given up smoking using this method (even if they are not a smoker themselves, they will undoubtedly know one).

Keep up the good work everyone!!

Lisa
xXx

 

[PlutoLuvr]

Lisa, I'm so happy for you!

You have a wonderful trip, you hear? I want to hear all about it when you return -- 'cause we're right behind you, lol.

Not to be overly picky, but ...

You need to change out your photo on your siggie -- the one on the right. You are sitting in a smoking section with a cigarette in your hand!

FWIW, I had to change out my avatar. It was a photo of a huge hurricane from O'Brien's with my hand holding a cigarette right there.

No more of that, right?

Congratulations!!!!!

 

[rabx5]

Way to go all you quitters

My boss just started Chantix last week. She has cut down from 2/3 packs a day to 1 pack every other day already!! I am so happy for her. I need her to quit so bad because even after 6 1/2 months smoke free- I still crave them- but I used Wellbutrin for a month and the patch the 1st week. No Chantix for me. My craving is obviously a mental issue.

Isn't being a quitter awesome?

 

[PlutoLuvr]

Rabx5, six and a half months is just too cool. You rock!!!

Stay strong with those craves! I've been reading about nicotine receptors. We all start out with one receptor that smokers "screw" up. Our receptor replicates itself many times over as we smoke for years and years. Without nicotine, our receptors disappear -- often putting up quite the fight as each one dissipates. We know this as a blindside, killer crave.

The strongest, hardest working receptors dissipate first, which is why the first weeks are so hard into our quit. But then as the older receptors dissipate, we still get craves as each one goes out.

Some say it can take as long as a year for all of our nicotine receptors to dissipate, all but that very first one, that is. We'll have that for life, and it will always be mutated from our smoking. That's why you hear someone who's been quit for like years talk about a crave coming out nowhere.

Chantix fills those receptors up with dopamine while they're dissipating, so Chantix users don't really get hit with those awful serious craves. They feel more like passing thoughts that include a cigarette.

I'd tried Wellbutrin a few years back for both smoking cessation and libido issues, but I didn't care for the way it made me feel at all. I felt like I was having a serious meltdown. I had to stop the med only a few days into it. I'm very surprised I was able to tolerate Chantix. Chantix gave me more manageable physical side effects than the psychological ones Wellbutrin gave me.

Even still, I was read and glad to get off the Chantix. It did its job wonderfully, and I very much looked forward to taking off those training wheels and standing on my own two feet.

I hope your boss succeeds!!!!

Again, many, many congrats to you for a job well done!!!

 

[tiki23]

I've quit smoking...several times! Now I want to quit for good. I'm going to call my doctor about Chantix.

The last big drug for quitting was Welbutrin and I couldn't take it as I have epilepsy. I checked Pfzer's Chantrix site and didn't see any warnings regarding seizures; does anyone know of complications?

Our next WDW trip is coming up in December; I'd love to not have to use the DSA's!

Thanks.

 

[lynxstch]

my husband has smoked at least 2 packs a year for 30 years..he started Chantix last Sat..today he starts week 2 pills and no cigarettes..but he said he had to have one or he would vomit..is it normal to still want a cigarette every now and then when starting the second week?..he has only had 2 since midnite last nite..which I think is a great improvement..just wondering if I , as a non smoker, am expecting too much too soon?...if you have used chantix and been successful and know what I am referring to..please PM me?..thanks in advance
Lynn

ps...I have read that supposedly the chantix makes cigarettes taste horrible..but he said they taste the same?..lol

 

[MoniqueU]

My husband is still quit smoking but he is off his chantix and boy can I tell a difference. He is mean, there is no other way around it. Arghhhhh

 

[lynxstch]

My husband is still quit smoking but he is off his chantix and boy can I tell a difference. He is mean, there is no other way around it. Arghhhhh

that's what I am afraid will happen too!...good luck to both of you!

 

[gris gris]

is it normal to still want a cigarette every now and then when starting the second week?..he has only had 2 since midnite last nite..which I think is a great improvement..just wondering if I , as a non smoker, am expecting too much too soon

I have quit smoking 3 times and I'll be honest, the thought of having one never really left my mind. It's like a friend that I miss......sometimes I'll think I really want one, then remind myself I don't smoke anymore, and that feeling goes away.

Is your husband still quit?

I quit for GOOD (hopefully this is it!) on 9/9 and haven't really had any urges, but that feeling of wanting just one, just to have one, comes around once in a while.

I think the dreams are incredible. I wonder what it is in this drug that causes the dreams??

 

[PlutoLuvr]

Still quit here. Celebrated my four-month quit anniversary seeing Blue Man!!!! What a show!!!

Made it all week hitting both Disney & Universal without anything too major. I'll admit Epcot was a bit difficult. I wouldn't say I craved a cig, but the park is just really different as a nonsmoker -- for me, anyway. I also had small feelings of an urge when I'd see folks getting off trams at the end of the day and immediately lighting one up. That was me, for sure. I'd have my stacker and lighter all ready, and as soon as I had one foot off the tram, I'd light up and have that puppy smoked by the time I got back to my car.

I'm ready to start the weight battle now. It's been over four months, and I've put on close to 20 pounds. The treadmill is coming into the den and getting set up right in front of the tv. That exercise ball is coming out of the guest room and is getting dusted off. The diet shouldn't be a problem. Even crackers and carrot sticks taste amazing, lol.

Has anyone else noticed their ankles swelling and/or retaining water? I noticed this once back a few months and didn't give it any thought. Last week walking the parks, my ankles really gave me troubles. They were fine in the mornings, but by the end of the day, they had this huge ring around them full of water. I pressed on them and the indentation didn't stay pressed down, so I think that's a good sign. My monthly friend is here, too, so maybe that's it.

Anyway, hope everyone's doing well in their quits! Lynxstch, smoking is one of the biggest addictions known to man. Your hubby will have thoughts of smoking for the rest of his life. It's just like an alcoholic or a drug addict. One day at a time