The stop-smoking market is huge, from the do-it-yourself treatments to alternative medicine to pharmaceutical medicines. Over the past few years, medications like Chantix (varenicline) and Zyban and Wellbutrin (buproprion) have been used by many people, some successfully, some not.
One problem with these medications is that they seem to have an adverse effect on some people who take them and these can be quite serious. According to a press release issued by the FDA:
These symptoms include changes in behavior, hostility, agitation, depressed mood, suicidal thoughts and behavior, and attempted suicide.
Now, the FDA has told the manufacturers that they must add new …read more

At RealAge.com you log on and take a test about your exercise, eating habits, vitamins and supplements, social habits, diseases or illnesses and vices like smoking and drinking.
I updated my Real Age this week and I’ve gotten SEVEN YEARS YOUNGER as a result of my lifestyle changes in the last two years. Since last year I’ve reduced my Real Age by nearly THREE years.
Chronologically I am 35.4 years old, yet my Real Age is only 32.5.
When I began my dramatic lifestyle change two years ago, I took the Real Age test. I was 33 at the time, …read more

I am super-proud of myself for quitting smoking this year.
About 10 years ago I was teaching English at a Lithuanian Teachers University. My students were all studying to be English teachers.
One day I showed up to class and they pulled out a newspaper. There I was right on the front page, above the fold, a big ugly picture of me smoking.
It was considered unseemly and improper for women to be smoking on the street. Women smoked, but it was appropriate for them to smoke in a park, in a restaurant or coffee house or at home. 
Of course, I smoked on the street all …read more

I took the smoking cessation pill Chantix and posted about it in May on Blog Fabulous.
 I’m nearing my 700th post on that one blog entry. It’s becoming difficult to scroll down and load up and more and more people are quitting smoking and wanting to share their stories. It’s taking a great deal of time for me to respond to comments.
What do you do when success is nipping at your heals? Well, what I did do is build a new website called . . .
Quit Coping 
Quit coping with smoking. Quit smoking to cope. Cope with your quit.
Chantix is a great …read more

I went to Houston kid-free for the weekend. Impromptu. Fun.
 Totally cheated. Bought Cigarettes. Nasty. Smoked through the nasty. There was drinking involved. I went to a club, drank and smoked and it was really fun.
Plus, I left the Chantix at home on accident. Left the whole stupid suitcase at home, Chantix was in it. Craved, but only after I opened that door with a cigarette I think. Drinking is a trigger for me. Being away from my kids is a trigger for me. Feels a lot like freedom. But, not having to smoke is the real freedom.
Bad non-smoker. Lapse is not …read more

If you answered No to this question then you are either lying, don’t know any people or you don’t know your friends and family well enough to be privy to intimate knowledge about them.
I think every single person, at least in America, personally knows at least one person with an addiction issue. Be it food, prescription drugs, cigarettes, beer, cocaine, heroin or whatever it is that’s stiffling their inner pain.
My dirty little secret is appearing in a blog carnival about substance abuse. Also, our little Chantix support group is getting some play! All aboard on the Chantix train!
 Whether you are the …read more

I am on my fourth week of Chantix, a new smoking cessation prescription drug. If you are a smoker who has ever tried to quit you know the biggest battle can be desire.
To be honest, I didn’t WANT to quit smoking because I loved nearly everything about it. But, someone told my 5-year-old that I was going to die if I continued doing it. Then every flipping time I’d step outside for a smoke break I’d have to smoke through the sobs of my child, “Mommy, I don’t want you to die! Who will be with me when you die?”
Who …read more

A week ago I started taking a new smoking cessation pill called Chantix. I had heard of quite a few people who have actually quit smoking by using this new wonder drug. I had also heard it causes night terrors, but that seems a small price to pay considering that if I do not stop my life might end with the nightmarish reality of dragging an oxygen tank around everywhere I go.
My true motivation is that someone told my daughter that I will die if I smoke. While true, I think this was totally inappropriate and I feel a little bit of …read more