All medications, including nicotine patches, carry warnings to help you avoid overdoses and complications. One of the warnings on the nicotine replacement patch is that it shouldn’t be used if you’re still smoking for fear of nicotine overdose. However, doctors have found that if you start using the nicotine patch before your quit date, you may have a better chance of being successful when you do quit. A quit date is the target date you choose, which is when you’ll stop smoking.
Part of the success of the nicotine as a “pre-quitting” strategy involves using the patch regularly, providing a steady …read more

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

Anger and nicotine addiction have been connected by researchers from the University of California, writing at Behavioral and Brain Functions.
The study focused on the effect of nicotine patches on the subjects’ tendency to respond to anger provocation via video games. Nicotine was associated with a reduced tendency to retaliate, explaining how cigarettes help calm some people.
The study authors noted that the findings support the idea that “people of an angry disposition are more susceptible to nicotine’s effects, and are therefore more likely to become addicted to cigarettes.” The findings point toward anger management training as a possible aid in smoking …read more

You’ve said it before, I’m quitting smoking this year.
But, then you didn’t. You couldn’t. You just . . .
It’s freaking hard!
I read this article in Oprah Magazine by Stephanie Losee, titled The Willpower Myth. It was based on a book Change or Die: The Three Keys to Change at Work and in Life.
Change or Die.
When you’re a smoker those are literally your choices. You can change and become a non-smoker if you want to live. Or you can choose to keep smoking and live with the consequences: emphysema, lung cancer, chronic bronchitis, severely damaging your children. . . oh the list …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

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