I can't.....stop smoking........

My husband was put on wellbutrin, it slowed down his smoking but he never completely gave up. He took it about 2 years. The wellbutrin did help him with his claustrophia though. He said that he just is not ready to quit.

Sheila

This is my 6th day on Chantix.  I have fudged a little (don't tell the hubby - he is quitting too and I think is being a good boy).  Have to tell you the drug does help a lot.  The worst se for me has been insomnia (waking every hour or 2 all night); lots of dreaming too (and not the good kind like about George Clooney climbing right into bed then and there).

My insurance wouldn't cover Chantix.

My surgeon told me not to quit until all surgeries were over because after quitting I would likely develop bronchitis.

I've smoked for 35 years--I want one right now but I know that feeling will pass.  I can't do the one day at a time, just every 15 minutes or so.

I have many motivations to quit.  For one thing, we simply can't afford them right now, I hate the social stigma thing, my best friend just did it with Chantix (she's not stronger than I am!!!--a healthy competition), I want to smell better, and most of all I am so tired of being a slave to cigarettes.  You know what I mean.

I also quit once for three years after going to hypnosis.  I went this time too to another hypnotist and quit for a week but then got my final dx and hit the pack hard along with a looooooooot of wine.  I still have the tape from the current sesssion and play it.  It helps.

Wish me luck  -- I wish each of you all the best

I posted on this thread awhile back and forgot to check it again...wow, I had no idea that there were so many of us wanting to quit!!!!

I really want to quit too...I have the entire step program of nicodermcq patches and had intended on starting them a few days after I first posted here....well ladies, they are still in the box and Im smoking more than every ...I had myself down to about 10 smokes a day, but at my 6 month followup for bc they found calcifications in my "good" breast that lead to a lumpectomy and a path report of atypica cells...no further treatment needed but my nerves and stress are out of sight.....Im three weeks out of that surgery and feeling better again so here I go AGAIN!!!!!

I am setting a date to start wearing those patches.....I am giving myself one more month of smoking then Im DONE....Im determined this time more than ever and Im trying to figure out somethings to use to break the habit part of it....I know the nicotine has to wear out of my system but I really think the habit part is going to be much harder for me...

Any ideas on this from anyone would be greatly appreciated...I need to come up with a plan between now and Nov. 30th......

Best wishes and luck to us all!

Jule

HELLO!  I had left a message here at the end of SEPT.  I just found out today that IF you ask your PRIMARY CARE PHYSICIAN (or even better, your ONCOLOGIST) to write you a LETTER OF MEDICAL NECESSITY that you MUST quit smoking, then most INSURANCES will pay for CHANTIX!!!  We found this out from a young man who has cancer and is working as a carpenter (in order to KEEP his insurance), and this is how HE was able to get the insurance to pay for his CHANTIX.  If this works, GO FOR IT!!!!!  Don't give up on CHANTIX, as it really was wonderful for us. Even tho we did not stop, it actually did cause us to slow down INCREDIBLY - instead of going thru two cartons a week, we were going thru less than ONE.  Now, we have not been taking the CHANTIX, and are back up to spending $200 or more a month on STUPID CIGS!!!

BEST OF LUCK, give it a shot, and don't give up - oh, you will feel SSSSOOO good once you DO stop, believe me (I remember how great it was to be able to walk and breathe and and smell things...OH YEAH!).

BLESSED BE,

Connie in Boston

Well, I thought I'd never be able to say this, but, I've been smoke free for almost six months now. I was a 30 year smoker and smoked at least 2 packs a day. I used to think about quitting a lot and wishing that I could, but, I never managed to make it through more than a few hours.

My hysterectomy surgery this past May is what helped me to quit smoking. I had discovered through my previous experience with surgeries that anesthesia and pain meds decrease my desire to have a cigarette. So, I made up my mind before my hyster surgery that I would use that fact to my advantage in my quest to stop smoking. Plus, I'd be in the hospital for at least 2 days (turned out to be 3 days)...and they sure don't let you smoke in the hospital! So, I was heavily sedated through that first week or so after surgery - which meant that I really never had to experience the awful physical withdrawl symptoms of nicotine. Once I got of my meds and would crave a cig, I would tell myself - out loud, "No, I'm not a smoker. I don't want a cigarette"....Within a few seconds the craving would go away. I think by saying that to myself I may have actually hypnotized myself by tricking my mind into believing that I was a nonsmoker. It really sounds silly, I know, but, it worked for me. The other thing is that any time I would crave a cig, I would chew two or three pieces of sugarless gum. I'm still carrying my sugarless gum around in my purse like I did my cigarettes - and, funny thing is that I think of my gum like I did my cigs - I start to panic when I'm running low on my gum!

Not that I recommend taking such a drastic step as having a hysterectomy in order to stop smoking - but, I highly recommend that if you are scheduled for any type of surgery that you use that to your advantage and see if you can use that first week after surgery to help you get through those difficult early days of stopping smoking.

But, please don't beat yourself up for not being able to smoke. And, those of you who are recently diagnosed or still going through treatment - especially, don't beat yourself up...You've got enough stress on your right now, you don't need to add more to your plate. When I was first diagnosed all my doctors told me that I should not even think about trying to quit smoking until I was finished with my treatments....it would just be too stressful.

Best wishes to all of you!

hugs,

vicki

I work at a community college in California. The health services education coordinator came up with a stop smoking goody bag. Almost all the people who quit smoking using her little bag, and the classes (free) she offered weekly, thought the cut in half straw was perfect. You can hold it like a cigarette, and take deep pulls into your lungs--and you are getting that clean fresh air that helps to heal your lungs also.



Another trick one of my friend's mother used was to carry a cigarette with her all the time. When she felt like lighting up, she would take it out and just puff away unlit. She was with her hubby in a restaurant having coffee after dinner, and out cam the ciggy. After a few minutes, this gentleman came up to her husband and chided him for not lighting her cigarette. She explained that she doesn't want to smoke it, just feel like she is. Everyone had a good chuckle over that one!



Good luck on quitting. It is hard. and it is true that it doesn't help to beat yourself up. Just keep trying!!



grace

Has anyone seen the commercials by a law firm for a class action suit against the makers of CHANTIX? They talk about severe ill effects if one drinks alcohol while on CHANTIX. My husband had a prescription for it a few months ago, but I didn't look at the patient insert with all the contraindications and side effects.

Unfortunately for my husband, he did not take the CHANTIX on the appropriate schedule and therefore did not quit. I think his attempt may have been more of a token gesture to make his doctor happy rather than a true desire to quit smoking, though. It's weird how cigarettes are actually a stimulant, but many of us smoke them to calm down. I do know that the nicotine gets involved in the way our brains use SEROTONIN. That's why people gain weight and get irritable when they try to quit.

Here comes me with a bit of encouragement of the wrong kind. There appears to be no connection between breast cancer and smoking.



I know you all would love to stop because of the other cancers, the cost, the nuisance, etc., but at least one tiny bit of good news. (If it is true)



Hugs, Shirlann

http://tinyurl.com/yt7yxv

There is an older drug called 'buspar' that they accidentally discovered helped people quit smoking -- lost their fixation for a nicotine fix.

It is/was used as an 'anti anxiety' med but they noticed people lost their nicotine addiction when on it. So 'buspar' as an older drug might be cheaper then the new 'chantix' . Newer drugs cost more$$$. 

(I have a friend who used buspar due to a fear of flying - in early 90's - and discovered she had no nicotine desire when using it.  She took it two weeks before and during her flight then used Xanax during the day of flight. She kicked her cigarette habit with buspar.)  

Cigarette companies use the cigarette as a 'delivery system' for a nicotine fix. It isn't any different then a heroine or cocaine addiction/fix.  Just a different legal delivery system for an addictive substance.  

They also put gunpowder in the tobacco so the cigarette will burn faster - thus you smoke more - thus you buy more.  That's why your cigarette burns up so fast just sitting in the ashtray.  

They also use on the tobacco plants hundreds of pesticides and insecticides that are banned in the United States with an exception for tobacco growers. (big dollar lobbyist at work)  

You have to want to quit. Nothing will work unless you really want to quit smoking.  

Lung cancer from smoking accounts for about 90% of lung cancer deaths. It is the no. 1 cancer killer of both men and women. Survival of breast cancer is higher then the survival of lung cancer.   

It takes ten years for your lungs to return to the status of a nonsmoker.  But the risk of lung cancer will always be there if you were a smoker.  The risk never goes away -- just reduced considerably after you quit and get past that ten year mark.  

 You can't smoke while wearing a nicotine patch -- that can give you a heart attack. 

I had a friend who had to remove the patch just before he went to bed cause it gave him bad dreams and disrupted his sleep.  

 I have another friend who used the nicotine gum (about 10 yrs ago). She chewed it for a year! Then she had to withdraw from the gum but she said it was easier then withdrawal from cigarettes.  

 For mastectomy patients that want reconstruction, most surgeons, if not all, will not do the surgery if you are a smoker. It interferes with healing and blood vessel growth.

Hi,

Can you take Chantix while you are doing your breast reconstruction? If so, I will talk to my doctor about it. Does any one know?

Hi:

I have been a non-smoker for 12 years, this year.  I tried numerous times to quit smoking and tried various techniques,(over 10 times) such as, cold turkey, nicotine gum and finally the nicotine patch.

I smoked up to 2 packs of cigarettes a day; matter of fact, when I quit, cigarettes cost, in Chicago, $2.50 a pack.

Well in 1994, my grandmother pleaded to me and my mom (now deceased, died of lung cancer) to quit smoking; so in 1995 we did, however, a few months later, my grandmother passed at the age of 89 and we started smoking again.   Quitting smoking was always in our minds and on New Years eve of 1995 we quit again; so 1996 was the year I quit.  Prior to New Year's eve, I had gotten a prescription from my doctor for the nicotine patch, (he recommended it) for the 5th time mind you.  You learn how to get around anything if you are not ready to quit, and I would take it off and wait awhile, then smoke.  However, I was ready this time.  My doctor wrote one presciption to cover all phases, 21mg, 17mg and the 7mg, so I only paid 1 co-payment of, at that time $5.00. with 1 refill; since I smoked over a pack a day, I started out with the 21mg for 8 weeks, the norm is 6 wks, but for some reason, in my previous attempts to quit, I found that I would start to crave cigarettes around week 6.  The first week was kinda uncomfortable, but I got through it and after 8 weeks I progressed to the 14mg patch for 2 weeks and finally to the 7mg patch for 2 more additional weeks.  I haven't looked back since, and I didn't gain weight because I didn't have to substitute any cravings because I had a steady but gradual decline of nicotine in my system.  I highly recommend this method; insurance does cover it.  Cigarettes in Chicago are now $7-8 a pack... WOW.... Good luck with whatever you decide to you;  don't dwell on how many times you try to quit, you will eventually succeed!  Peace and Blessings, Dee

I have not posted in a long time..I am two years after my Mast. and was still smoking also till a little over two months ago..I am 58 years old..and have smoked since I was 18..I hate not smoking..I would like to write all kinds of supportive stuff about how great it is but it hurts like hell to quit and you have to make up your own mind in your own time about when to do it...I miss it and it has been a friend to me when I am stressed...but I still need more surgery and you really need to stop to heal..this time I want to do it for good.  I want to offer you my total understanding..sympathy..and wisdom..it sucks its hard but they say its worth it so I am trying..I hope you try too..we have survived the monster called cancer so far..now we need to beat this other monster that takes control of us...I wish you luck. now this weight thing............ughhhh  Sandi

Hello All,

I was reading this post regarding smoking.  I am in Nursing school and I am learning so much thru my clinical experience and books and my point of view is that its best to stop smoking before Chemo.  Chemo kills all the cancer cells and good cells (white blood cells), so if you want a better chance to fight Cancer quit before Chemo because that is going to help you a lot.  This is just my opinion and lot of other Onco Drs opinions.  

Pray on it and give it to God and if you really want it you can do it.  I will keep you all in my prayers as well.

God bless,

Dana