Thursday, January 26, 2012

A Moment of Self-Conratulation, If You Will - A Chantix Epilogue

Tuesday, January 24 marked a full year off the cigarettes.  Last year at this time I wrote a series of small pieces about Chantix.  Did I find it to be a miracle drug?  No, not quite, but I did find it to be enormously helpful.  Yes, it has side effects, predominately with me they consisted of "unusual" dreams.  Frankly, they were just plain weird but, as a child of the late 60s/early 70s, I rather enjoyed them.  When I stopped taking the drug, I must say that I missed them.

I've quit before; once for nearly two years.  What I've found is that crutches such as Chantix, or gum, or patches, or whatever you may choose are enormously helpful.  In the end, however, your success or failure is all about how badly you want to quit.  I wish I could go all motivational and inspirational on you, but that's the honest truth and those who tell you otherwise are trying to sell you something.  As for me, I'm a  58 year old stroke survivor whose motivation was "last chance" writ large.

Gawd, I hate "born again" ex-smokers so I'll not regale you with even a hint of that.  If you'd like to continue smoking, have at it.  Just be polite and considerate about it - I always was.  If you know me, don't feel squeamish about smoking around me; you'll hear no sermons from me.

On the other hand, if you'd like to quit, I wish you luck.  It may be hard for you and it may be easier than you thought, but it's eminently doable.

2 comments:

Callahan23 said...

I will soon start to steam the electric cigarettes. I do hope that that'll work at long last.

Dale Weeks said...

I wish you all the best and if I can ever lend any moral support, please let me know. Always remember that there's an end to cravings and you can free yourself and most importantly, if you fail, keep trying until you succeed.

Good luck!