Quit Smoking With Chantix - Update
It’s been several months since I’ve posted an update about my endeavor to quit smoking, so I thought I would do so now. I’m sure many of you are wondering what happened after day 8.
I managed to stick with the non-smoking business until about day 16 or so, until my willpower started to fade. I began putting myself in situations that I knew would challenge my commitment to quit, when I should have known better. Slowly but surely, one cigarette after another, I was back to smoking full-time in a matter of three days.
As you can imagine, I was disappointed because I allowed myself to give-up. I quit quitting. Although, the disappointment wasn’t enough to motivate me to shake it off and start again. I’m hard-headed and I know it, so I’m not going to make any excuses to make myself feel any better.
Let me say this right up front: My failure to quit smoking had nothing to do with Chantix. Chantix is the best smoking cessation program I have ever used. I’ve tried nicotine patches, gum, lozenges, and cold turkey and none of them have worked as well as Chantix.
The best thing about Chantix is that it eliminates your cravings completely. I’m not kidding. After my pre-quit week I didn’t need a cigarette. I might have wanted one out of habit, but the craving monster wasn’t beating my door down like it does with nicotine patches or gum. This effect made it much easier to focus on changing my behavior rather than fighting chemically induced cravings in my brain.
I’m preparing myself to quit once again. This time, I’m going to use some of the things I learned about Chantix to help me finally kick the smoking habit once and for all. Here are a few things I plan to do differently when I quit again:
1. Don’t feel like Superman. As I said before, Chantix does a great job at eliminating your craving for nicotine. It works so well that you feel like you can stop taking it after a week or two and manage your quitting on your own. Don’t fall into this trap; you’ll hate yourself for it.
2. Forgive yourself if you slip-up and have a cigarette. Sometimes your willpower is weak and you decide to smoke. It’s okay to have ONE cigarette in a moment of weakness, but fight it as much as you can. Every time you tell yourself NO it gets easier and easier to manage each subsequent craving. The second cigarette is the killer, be aware of it.
3. Control your surroundings. Be aware in advance of all the places and activities that trigger you to smoke and avoid them until the smell of cigarette smoke makes you gag. Don’t test your willpower when you know there’s a possibility you’ll fail.
4. Don’t let your decision to quit smoking consume your life. I know it’s really hard to quit, but don’t allow smoking to be a part of every second of your life. Forget about it and go on living your life the same way you did before, just without smoking. It’s a bad relationship with no benefit to you, so let it go and be happier for it.
5. Reward yourself for doing well. Find a few small rewards you can give yourself as a pat on the back for all your hard work. Even better, have your friends and family give you these tokens to help boost your self-confidence every day. Get everyone involved to support you rather than trying to do it all alone.
I plan to begin my effort to quit smoking with Chantix once again very soon. I’m ready to put this disgusting habit behind me once and for all and get on with the rest of my life.
I would be happy to hear any other suggestions you have to improve my chances for success this time around. I really want to quit smoking and need all the help and support I can get.
If you need more help to quit smoking, check out these quit smoking books and quit smoking programs.
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Good luck with that, I’m sure that you’ll be able to kick the habit soon
Thanks Roberta! I’m going to do it this time!
i just wonder is this working? if yes then for sure i will recommand to my friends so that she can quit from smoking.
new way of quit smoking? you have to be patience then only will success, keep on, don’t give up, you sure manage to quit smoking de…
Hey!! I am with ya, Babe! I am getting my Chantix refilled and going to start the program all over again as well. Keep in touch and let me know how it is going! As always, I am only a phone call away if you need any kind of support or someone to vent to (so that others may not be harmed in the process) LOL…..Good luck, Sweetie!
Thanks Ladonna! Good luck to you as well.
I’ve had a lot of luck with nicotene gum, but now my problem is quitting the gum. Nothing like some good ol fashon willpower.
Thanks,I am glad to know this.
Hi there,
i quit smoking 3 years ago. been on and off before that. but one day i had a fever and both my hand felt like sticking by a needle when i touched them. so painful. that day was just a few day before my birthday. so i make up my mind i got to stop for good on my birthday.
i’m not turning back this time. i’m not a loser cause i never born a loser. i need a good healthy body because i have to do a lot of thing to better my self. i bought sugarless chewing gum to help me battle during the craving time. i also fasting every other day for 2 weeks. i sleep more and take a lot plain water. after 1 month i don’t have much craving anymore. i can be around people who is smoking. in fact i don’t mind them at all.
i never thought i would never smoke someday but i did it. i’m so proud of my self. but i do feel bad about people around me. they never acknowledge my achievement in battling this. but that moment has passed. there are so many thing to do in life. although stop smoking is only a portion of it but it is the most important step to take.
my advise is you must remember that you must have a good reason to stop and realize that if yourself is not calm or at ease you will be having problem. the reason we smoke because we feel calm doing that. so you need other ways of calming you down. the craving is because of some chemical. you have to drain it out of your body.
well hope that helps a bit. i wish you good luck. you can smoke free. thanks for having me here.
Redspace: Thanks for the insight into your journey. You are truly an inspiration to us all.
well im a smoker myself since my schooling days. Kinda try my luck at every tricks i known. If this works, i wouldn’t mind trying since i already tried many of this stuff.
Quitting smoking is not an easy task. My friend been trying hard to get rid of it. I tried recomment him many methods but none of them works. But i pass thru this article and im planning to let him try out. Hope he will get rid of it soon.
im sure there are a lot of people with smoking problems will benefit from this but i guess the most effective way to quit smoking is to have strong will to quit and stop smoking. Quitting smoking is not easy and those who have strong will to stop will have higher chance to successfully stop not only smoking but as well as their other vices.
you must be trying very hard..
good luck
Every one knows that smoking is extremely injurious for health. Still they smoke. Thats a nice a to stop them to suicide.
I dont understand what on earth do smokers get from smoking and burning their lungs… Aside from endangering their health they are also endangering the health of people around them.
My wife says I’m the world expert on giving up smoking…
…..I’ve done it so many times!
LOL! I know that feeling.
i have heard about things like chantix a lot but i wonder if they really work , i will suggest my freinds.
Great job on your willpower and motivation to quit smoking! You’ll get it someday! I fully agree on your #2 - ‘Forgive yourself if you slip-up and have a cigarette.’ I think with any addiction, you have to be forgiving of yourself for the slip-ups because they are bound to happen in your road to recovery.
Its to hard undestand all of this programs. I do not like PC very much.
I smoke two packages per day, so I really need to slow down with smoking, or even quit. The funny thing is that when I asked my doctor “Does Chantix really work? What are my chances to quit using this medicine?”he simply answered: “Frankly, not good. Putting aside for the moment growing concern over possible links between Chantix and suicide, if Chantix (whose chemical name is varenicline) is used as a stand-alone quitting aid without ongoing counseling or support, your chances of quitting smoking for one year are probably less than 1 in 11”. For me that’s not a great rate!
it really works?One of my friend tried several things for quit smoking but can’t.
i think is good idea it works
great idea i think evryone need to tray
It doesn’t matter what product you use to wean yourself off of tobacco, It won’t work unless you really WANT TO QUIT!
If you really WANT TO QUIT, then you probably really don’t need to replace the habit with anything.
Bottom line is that you will do what you really want to do.
So REALLY WANT TO QUIT then just QUIT!
(Realize that there is ALOT OF MONEY TO BE MADE in selling the idea that tobacco is an addiction and to sell you on the idea that you can’t quit or control yourself when you WANT TO QUIT! James
Best of luck to you! I quit a while ago and started working out very hard in order to get back healthy again. I feel so much better.
I still get a craving here and there, but can resist fairly easily.
I started smoking when I was 14 yrs old. And Snce that Ive been smoking 2 packs a day. I hope I can stop my smoking habit if tried this Chantix thing.
I tried to quit smoking before. And I just quit smoking for 2 days. lol. I really really want to quit smoking.
I really hated my self for learning to smoke. I wish I never started smoking before. After reading your post & comments. Maybe I’ll try this Chantix myself. Wish me luck.
Me too, I need to start giving it up, its slowly killing me.
If you want to quit smoking, you have quit hanging around smokers. For me, that was the solution. I also don’t trust my old smoking habits around around alcohol, recreational herbal products and loose women. It’s not easy staying clean, but it is absolutely one of the most important things you need to do in life!
I agree with jap streetwear - it’s the temptation and thinking about the adiction that kills you
I quit smoking a couple of months ago, but I’ve started having a cigarette every once in a while. I know where this leads, I’m slowly working my way back to smoking again
I really don’t want to start again, thinking of checking in to drug rehab
or alcohol rehab
I had a friend who tried the gum - but then became hooked on that - is nicoteen the stuff that’s bad for you, or only the smoke? I would imagine that chewing the gum is muuuch healthier than smoking… I dunno
Chantix is awesome. My mother and father both quit after 20 years of smoking, using chantix.
Addiction is a very very powerful thing. I don’t smoke or drink, but I know a lot of people that do fight addictions daily. These seem like very valid principles. I’ll be sure to get the word out about the blog!
I face the same problem too and every time I try it goes in vain. The reason behind this is that there no other activity that can be created to compensate for smoking at that particular time other than chewing gum.
Quitting smoking is such a pain from what I hear.
Quitting smoking is TOUGH. Can’t imagine how it is for people who have been 2 packs a day for 20 years. They should have something similar to alcohol rehab or drug rehab for people trying to quit. Nicotine addiction is no jok
Hi Donovan,
What I don’t fully understand is if the cravings all disappeared, why is it that you sucummbed to willpower? Surely you had no will for a cigarette?
Or was it the Chantix wearing off? You see the problem with these different ways to take away the cravings is that they only work for a limited time period, then the desire comes back.
The way most people give up smoking, their cravings are eventually very, very low - but high enough so they still have a desire.
I hope you are more successful on your next quit attempt
Joe
http://www.QuitSmokingAdvisory.com
Hello, I found your blog by googling “Chantix Day 5″, as I am on my Day 5 pre-quit and was hoping to read other people’s experiences on this day in their quit. I notice your blog hasn’t been updated since Oct. 9, 2007, and was wondering if you ever did go back to Chantix, and if you are finally quit! If not, maybe my post can serve as a little nagging reminder not to let quitting be put on the back burner
I’m doing well so far, but dreading the quit day on Wednesday :-O
Quitting smoking is such a good habit from now.