The Stop Smoking Megathread [ including Champix]

[dilly 10]

No, just think of the vile chemicals you will be polluting yor lungs with.. dont do it your doing really well.. If it makes you feel anybetter I started to crave a ciggy about two hours ago.. and it has not gone away. I keep having a sip of diet pepsi to quell the craving and sickness. I keep telling myself it will be a lot better not to be a slave to ciggy's. No more smelly breath, no more bad chemicals in my body.

Dont cave I know the sickness is really bad but the long term benefits really outweigh the short term sickness.. well thats what I keep telling myself

 

i know its just so hard!

[homebird 10]

Hi every one

 

Sorry I havn't posted for ages, but to be honest I have been a bit ashamed. I did four weeks without a cig on the champix, it was great going into a pub and not having to go outside for a cig. Then I had some really bad personal probs and couldn't get my champix for four days. That was the excuse I needed to start smoking again. I have been smoking now for two weeks. On the possitive side it has made me realise how free I felt when I wasn't smoking and how tying smoking really is. I went out the other night for a meal and got the smokers twitch really bad, it ruind my night as the person I was with is a none smoker and I didn't want to keep going outside and leaving him on his own, that and the fact the I am really concious of the fact that I reak when I have had a fag. I notice it more now than I did before especially in my hair. I am starting up on the champix again on Monday, so i'll keep you posted and let you know how I get on second time round. NOT looking forward to the side effects though but there worth it as I feel ten times worse psychologically smoking again. Any of you out there that are thinking of packing the champix in and starting smoking again don't it's not worth it, you've got this far. Don't let yourselfe down like I have done you will definately regret it.

[johnbradley 10]

A case of emperor's new clothes i reckon...or maybe the placebo effect?

 

after a year long clinical trial, under dubious conditions (i.e 1000 hardened smokers were denied participation in the trial) the success rate was a measly 1 in 5.

 

And that was achieved in conjunction with loads of counselling sesssions too.

 

The craving is 99% in your mind, it isn't as physical as you are led to believe.

[H.P 10]

I do not soley feel it's a placebo effect, I could be called a hardened smoker I fall to pieces without a ciggy. But since I started taking the Champix there has been a dramatic reduction on my cravings. I do agree that the cravings are also a mental thing, I still find myself feeling that I should be having a ciggy without craving inside for one.

Usually if I try to stop I will be hell to live with both for myself and the people around me. This time it's been totally different, I am not as ratty and I am findinng it much easier to go for long periods of time without smoking.

[dilly 10]

A case of emperor's new clothes i reckon...or maybe the placebo effect?

 

after a year long clinical trial, under dubious conditions (i.e 1000 hardened smokers were denied participation in the trial) the success rate was a measly 1 in 5.

 

And that was achieved in conjunction with loads of counselling sesssions too.

 

The craving is 99% in your mind, it isn't as physical as you are led to believe.

 

non smoker then?!

[H.P 10]

Well I think I may be quitting the pills, I seem to be really poorly and I am sure it's the champix. I feel sick all the time,I am in a really bad mood, I am waking up with a headache everyday and I feel like I could chuck myself under a bus I don't know if it's because I have had that really bad chest infection and have been stuck in the house for the last two weeks or the pill's just do not suit me.I will go to the G.P on monday and talk to them first. I have been very tearfull and badtemperd and I am still craving for ciggys

[lfromlondon 10]

I've been on Champix now for four weeks. I tried Zyban last year but quit after turning into an hysterical wreck which almost destroyed my relationship. Champix has been a much better experience. There have def been side-effects. I've felt exhaused and woosy a lot of the time, depressed on odd occasions, irritable. I've also had horrible gum infections and have been extremely bloated at times. To be honest, I think I've had almost every side-effect quoted on the list accompanying the leaflet. However, these side-effects are all minor in relative terms vs. the evil that is lung cancer etc... so probably worth putting up with. Champix has generally been amazing in the sense that it really does work in numbing the withdrawal. One gets the odd - and out of the blue - pang but it goes very quickly. BUT I want to warn others - and to also pose a question. After four weeks, I ran out of my prescription and there was a postal strike so was without medication for a couple of days. I didn't feel too bad to begin with but after day 4 I'm now on the edge and realise I need to go back on the pills otherwise I'm in extremely serious risk of relapsing. I have stopped smoking properly three times before in my life and my experience has told me that by week 5 (just one week away) I no longer even think about the evil weed. So why has the urge to smoke been so strong after week 4. I will continue to take the pills but will probably reduce my dosage to three a day going forward, and then hopefully two if that does this trick. I'm slightly dissapointed because I really felt like I'd cracked it - but realise that it is hurting without the pills, for the moment at least. I'd very really interested to learn if anyone has had a similiar experience.

[rach73 10]

Well im on my 6th day without a cig, as i said before im on zyban, found them really good just a sickness feeling in the first few days but thats passed now.

Im still craving for a fag but they are cravings i can cope with, i must admit i do feel really irritable and im snapping at people for really minor things, not all the time but enough for me to notice.

Im really hoping these cravings die down a little, when will i start to forget about the fags, im constantly thinking oh i would have had a fag now an it drives me med because i really dont want to smoke, hope it gets better.

 

Good luck all, keep up the good work

 

Rach

[Frizzy 10]

Hi, I am taking Champix and have now given up for 7 days but am still finding it hard.

 

Like rach73, im still craving a ciggie but they are manageable and often its only the habit that makes me crave them. I am also thinking about either smoking or not smoking nearly all of the time - its like an obsession!!!

 

I am experiencing some side effects with Champix but they are minimal; sickness feeling for about 10 mins after taking tablets, vivid dreams, waking up early and wind!! I am taking the tablets with Actimel which helps!

 

IFromLondon - just wondering whether you have tried to come off the tablets too early? My doctor has recommended that I stay on them for 10 weeks before slowly reducing the dose over a further 2 weeks i.e 12 weeks in total. Although I also wonder what will happen after I stop taking them......

 

Well done everyone for not smoking - dont give in!!

 

Frizz

[H.P 10]

I have quit the course of champix tablets, For the last three weeks I have been misrable as sin or ready to nail someone to the wall. They have also triggerd my migranes. I even started to smoke again because I felt so depressed. Wel it's back to the gum for me

[Jabbers 10]

Just a swift fly-by...

 

After three months I ended the Champix course and now Im a non smoker. All there isleft to do is allow the remains of the pill to quit my system and thatll be it, Ill be relying on my IRON will power to keep off the cigs.

That means Ill be smoking by midnight

 

The doc said that should I have any problems, Im more than welcome to go on another three month course.

 

These pills DO work, will power isnt neccessary because I have bugger all in the way of willpower.

 

If you DO start to get bad feelings or tempers, simply stop taking them for a day or so and then resume, I found that worked for me.

 

 

Im not sure what there is to add here, except for good luck to all you quitters, DONT quit for other people, do it for yourselves and if you DO start smoking again, try to do it near a rabid anti smoker and then make sure you blow as much smoke into his mush as possible!

 

 

I felt that I owed the posters on this thread an ending to my particular experiences with Champix and there it is.

 

Mods, you can delete this account now!

 

Eye theng e yew!

[JoeP 11]

Just a swift fly-by...

 

After three months I ended the Champix course and now Im a non smoker. All there isleft to do is allow the remains of the pill to quit my system and thatll be it, Ill be relying on my IRON will power to keep off the cigs.

That means Ill be smoking by midnight

 

The doc said that should I have any problems, Im more than welcome to go on another three month course.

 

These pills DO work, will power isnt neccessary because I have bugger all in the way of willpower.

 

If you DO start to get bad feelings or tempers, simply stop taking them for a day or so and then resume, I found that worked for me.

 

 

Im not sure what there is to add here, except for good luck to all you quitters, DONT quit for other people, do it for yourselves and if you DO start smoking again, try to do it near a rabid anti smoker and then make sure you blow as much smoke into his mush as possible!

 

 

I felt that I owed the posters on this thread an ending to my particular experiences with Champix and there it is.

 

Mods, you can delete this account now!

 

Eye theng e yew!

 

Hi and bye, Jabbers!