Using drugs to quit smoking...

As I've said before, I'm quitting smoking.

For real this time.

Like I said in my previous post, I KNOW I need to quit. I've tried before, and I'll admit, I wasn't ready. I think I'm ready this time, I genuinely want to be a NON-smoker, soon. That being said, I'm a hare, not a tortoise. I like fast results, fast. I skipped a year of high school, graduated from college in exactly four years, and got my masters in less than 18 months. I rarely write at more than one sitting, and I am queen of the microwave. I don't like to wait for ANYTHING. The problem simply lays within the fact that I need to consider this an endurance thing, not a sprint.

GRRRRRRRRR....

When I had my physical last year, my doctor refrained from scolding me about smoking, saying I knew the dangers, but that when I was ready, to come back and see her to talk about a plan. If anyone out there is a doctor, I highly recommend this approach - I mean really, we all know the dangers, and I think that one of the reasons lung cancer gets diagnosed so late in the game is that patients are sick of hearing their doctor yell at them about smoking.

So today, I went in and talked to her. She asked what I had thought about, and I said I had considered the patch but was concerned about the fact that it wasn't really attacking the desire to smoke so much as giving me a nicotine replacement - like trading heroin for methadone. I had tried the cold turkey method, but honestly, doing an activity every time I want a cigarette would mean that I'm running, crocheting, or whatever I'm replacing it with ALL DAY LONG for a solid two weeks. When you quit, the reality is that it's ALL you're thinking about for a while. She asked me if I wanted to try one of the prescriptions available, and I quickly said I would NOT go on Chantix - while I've heard that it works, I've also had one friend in particular tell me that it can lead to REALLY bad, depressing, suicidal thoughts as a side effect. Seriously, it even says this on the website:

You should know that some patients have reported changes in behavior, agitation, depressed mood, suicidal thoughts or actions when attempting to quit smoking while taking CHANTIX or after stopping CHANTIX. If you, your family or caregiver notice agitation, depressed mood, or changes in behavior that are not typical for you, or if you develop suicidal thoughts or actions, stop taking CHANTIX and call your doctor right away.

Wow. Yeah, we've got enough mental problems in my family anyway, I don't need to add one to the list.

So we came to Zyban. I was a little apprehensive since I don't want anything to interact with any medication I'm already on, but after the doctor AND the pharmacist assured that I'm okay, I'm starting the medicine tomorrow. I have to start it BEFORE my quit date (July 4th!), so by then, I will have wanted to smoke much less already. No, I know that I can't depend entirely on the medicine and that it'll be hard, but it's better than anything and has a higher success rate than what I've tried already.

We'll see, I'll keep you posted.

PS: As for Chantix's warning - wouldn't anyone who is quitting smoking have agitation, anxiety and the like anyway? Yeah, definitely not trying that one.