Hi Hopeless,
My name is Mayberry and I will try to answer your questions.. I too qt using Chantix but without this wonderful group to support me, I feel my journey would have been much harder. I took Chantix for a full month before actually quitting. By the time my quit date came, I had cut my smoking in half. Do exactly what the Dr says as far as the med is concerned. Be aware of your emotions because Chantix can cause increased depression. Tell your Doc if it becomes severe.
Read as much as you can here from old posts.
Visit WhyQuit.com
Knowledge is power so learn as much about quitting as you can.
Try to figure out what your trigers are and avoid them as much as you can.
I will send you an old post that has some excellent advise.
Come to Roll Call every morning. Even if you are still smoking for now, youare always welcome here. After you actually do quit, come to our daily pledge. I found it helps to start your day focused on NOT smoking.
We have a Bonfire here every Wednesday night. It is a virtual party where you can meet the other 'family' members.
Lots of luck and talk to you soon.
Hyugs for success, Mayberry

I bumped up the post for you...it is called 25 Helpful Ideas...hgope it helps.

Thank you MayberryDeb. You made me feel a lot better and the pressure of "if I fail" the first time then I should just keep chugging along. Thank you :)

Congrats on your 5 years sober. Thant is fantastic. my hubby is almost 4 years.The only advice I have is come here as often as you can. Read post and re read them. Chat with friends who are on line if you have time. This site became my new addiction for awhile. when ever I had a craving I would come here. Still is sometimes. Good Luck
Love 'n hugs,
Elsie

Hi, I am also in recovery (heroin) Lots of people have told me that kicking smoking would be harder than heroin....it isn't even close, heroin was by far much harder

I think it's a little different with everyone but the bottom line comes from really wanting to. All smokers want to but you almost have to REALLY want to, or somewhat be scared into doing it (or at-least it seems to be the case with many people I know and myself).

About 5 months ago I really wanted to. I paid a hypnotherapist as I hadn't tried that yet and it didn't work, but I just kept thinking with almost every cig I had when would I quit, knowing that I wanted to quit. Each cig I had I made it a point to think to myself that I needed to stop, that it was gross, made me cough, smell bad, and drained my wallet. I focused on these things and then when I finally felt I was going to give it a shot I bought the patch (which I'd also tried in the past).

What I will say next may not be the best way to go about it, but it helped me a lot and worked to aleviate some of the anxiety that came along with it. I don't like pills and was anxious to try chantix so I wanted to give the patch another shot and I'm half way through step two on it now with only about another 4 weeks to go before I'm off it.

So what I did was the day before I planned to start the patch I really focused on how nasty the cigs were with each one I had. I also was going to be spending the day at my girlfriend's parent's house the next day and knew I wouldn't want to be smoking around them.

So what I did was got up in the morning, had a couple of smokes, took a shower then put on the patch. Stopped at the store and I bought a pack of gum. I went the whole day without any cigs, then got home in the early evening, took the patch off waited a few hours and had a couple before bed.

The next day I had to work and basically did the same thing. I woke up, had my usual on the way into work one, first break one, then put on the patch went the rest of the day without and ate my lunch at my desk without really taking a break. I went home after work kept it on through dinner, then took it off after that, waited a few hours had a couple of cigs, took my shower and went to bed. The next day I did the same bit as it was only my second day at work. On the third day I put it on right when I got to work only having my commute in one. By now you get the idea. Basically I did this for about 4 days before not having any. I wouldn't recommend stretching it out or doing this for any prolonged period of time as I'm sure it can't be a healthy way to go about it but it did help take away some of that anxiety over pulling the trigger and just doing it for me. I did still have a pack with about 10 or so in it that I kept in the house for almost a month after I stopped. I actually brought it to work during the first 2 weeks just in case I really needed one there, but I only had maybe 3 in that pack at work.

After a month of being on the patch I decided to throw out the cigs and get rid of my "emergency packs". All the mean while I pretty much didn't take any breaks as most of the people at my work smoke and I didn't want to be around it. I also avoided alcohol entirely for the first month as that 2nd beer always pulled me back in in the past.

Tomorrow will be 8 weeks for me and I feel pretty good. I don't really think about them much anymore. The patch really helps me a lot. I also ate a lot of hotballs and mints. In the beginning I was going through almost a whole bag of hotballs a day. Then they were kinda giving me cankers so I had to stop those and switched to mints.

Anyway if you want to be successful you should probably avoid alcohol, prep yourself a good bit in advance mentally, make the decision and stick to it. When you really crave one a few deep breaths and involving yourself in another activity will often help lessen or take away the craving.

Best of luck to you.

hi there hope, welcome to the group & congrats on your decision to quit smoking.
I also quit on Chantix.I took the Chantix for 3 or 4 weeks and ran out of smokes one day and just quit.
The thing that worked for me this time is to really plan my quit to overcome the triggers(like the former smoke breaks at work and things like that), I changed to taking my breaks with a different group (none smokers) lol. And also worked very hard on staying positive every day. I changed my social life and did not go to any places where they smoke, still don't. It was very lonely at first and am so thankful for my DS family, I could not have made it without them. You came to a good place. If you have any specific questions about taking Chantix or anything please feel free to ask.
(((hugs:))) for support

Hello and welcome. Everyone has given you good advice. Keep a positive attitude, it is a "work in progress" for the rest of your life. It will be the best thing you can do for yourself.

Hopeless: I tried using Welbutrin like 8 years ago & failed, then quit cold turkey after my stroke, thinking smoking can't have HELPED anything. It turned out 2 b a good time 2 quit. The prices of ciggies were skyrocketing + my breathing was so much better. I've dodged the copd bullet, and I hope u can, too. Good luck, kiddo. Gene

As of 3/18/11 Hopeless has been quit for 30 days, what ever method she used worked. Congrats to you dear!

hopeless9,
I agree with matt, you totally have to want to quit. you pretty much have to be sick of the smell the taste and ect.

I thought it was all about the Will Power but for me it really wasn't, I just made myself believe it so long and kept talking myself out of quitting. saying I couldn't do it.

I did start out using Wellbutrin for 3 -4 weeks but finally said I didn't need it. Its been since Nov. 9 ,2010 since I had a cig. 130 days!!!!

I just left my best friends house and she smokes, she blew out smoke and I just sat there thinking God that stinks, it doesn't even phase me other than How did I smoke those horrible things.

I smoked a pack and half a day. First thing when I got up and the last thing before I went to sleep. I had allowed them to have complete control over my life, I finally said enough was enough.

Good luck with your Quit your in the right place for help!
=)

Hi hopeless9.
congratulations on your quit. I also used Chantix to quit smoking. I stopped smoking for aprrox 15 months now.The people on this site are wonderful. I recently came back here & they are really helping me psychologically. I stopped smoking for many reasons but my main reason was because I was a "closet" smoker. I was lying to everyone I loved about quitting smoking & the guilt of lying really got to me. I also had the beginning of emphasema (my mother & grandfather died from it) & was feeling sick all of the time.
The chantix really helps ALOT. Some common side effects are crazy dreams & possible mood swings but as long as you know this, you won't be scared when or if this happens. There is also a book by Allen Carr that's supposed to really help. Maybe someone on this site remembers the title? Congratulations on your 5 year sobriety. I also went thru something like that--feels sooo great to be able to conquer these 2 things doesn't it? I smoked about 1 month on chantix, then stopped smoking but continued to use chantix another 2 months. That is the limit to taking it. Changed alot of habits such as didn't talk on the phone for too long, after eating lunch went back to work or took a little drive in my car etc. Anyway, going to stop my rambling because everyone's advice is great. I just know that you can do this! Big Hugs.

The thing is being psyched for it. I was very motivated because of cancer in the family. But I learned a lot of the tools in AA, so I just stepped up my meetings at AA and that helped. Also, I used the patch, stop smoking videos, stop smoking books, and books that were great escapism. I had the patch, but I also used the gum when there were stress times.

But the BIG KEY FOR ME WAS HAVING A NON SMOKING BUDDY WHO I COULD CALL when I was tempted. She stopped me cold from smoking by reminding me about all the reasons to quit. She was really the person that helped me. I will never forget her. So having someone to call when you are tempted can really help.

Also, using a straw for deep breathing helped me as well. I lost all desire for a cigarette after a couple of months. I now have over 15 years without a smoke and loving it. So you can do it. I was one of those people who thought I could never quit. But you can as I did. Use the tools from AA.

And it isn't quite 100 times harder than quitting drinking. It is harder but maybe just about twice as hard. I wasn't as addicted to drinking as I was to smoking. But remember you can do it. Try going to meetings and remember to vent. That helps also.

Good luck.