I have been nicotine free now for almost two years. In this time I have helped hundreds of people achieve their own success stories by sharing my thoughts and giving advice on side effects. I have only been forced to not allow one post in this two years, mostly due to the negative tone and the insistence that Chantix had changed them.

Two years later we see a little news that Chantix carries a suicide risk and may cause mental illness. I am not your doctor so you can never take my facts and use them as medical advice. The only thing one can say about Chantix is that it has helped you quit smoking and people who quit smoking go through a lot of problems as they adjust to addiction.

Using Chantix could cause the very same side effects if you used a negative reinforcement method to stop. I have blogged before about the more than 4,000 chemicals that are in smoke. Some refuse to take this one pill due to the media and continue to ingest those chemicals. If you can make it rational that the 4,000 chemicals  in smoke are ok, there is no therapy that I know of which would help you stop.

I would take Chantix again if my blog doesn’t help me to stay smoke free. In these two years there has only been an urge four times to smoke, but it was easily dismissed as not a real need. Will I make it to four years? If this blog is still here it serves as a reminder of all the pain we go through to quit and is a paper weight that helps to stop the years of nicotine abuse from flying into my face.

May you all still read and post your stories, as I had no idea it would serve everyone else the way it has.

This has been a wonderful project for myself to stop smoking, and the responses from all of you confirm my suspicions that Chantix is a wonderful drug to stop with.

With all the concern that people have about alcohol and Chantix, I had no such adverse reactions and trust me I did use it as a crutch a few times when emotional. One thing you do not want to do is trade compensation measures, aka trading tobacco for alcohol.

I’m sure most level headed people will agree with me here on my next statement. If you do drink alcohol while on Chantix, do it lightly and make sure you are in a good mood and plan to stay that way. I insist that you sit down, watch a movie and make sure you have enough material to have a good time.

You’ll find yourself in a weird place in a year of not smoking, all the lost time you didn’t realize you had all along. Myself and free time is good and I even went back to school and am getting an Associate’s Degree to start with. I could almost pay for school with the savings alone.

Now that you’ve quit smoking for a few months, you are probably feeling really good right now. I know that my first 3 months was not difficult emotionally, but physically as I expected myself to become a superman. Take it a bit easy, as your body will undergo some changes for a while (all the better) and you will eventually begin the life you were intended to have: smoke free.

This all brings me to my next point which was a person who remarked today that medical cadavers come from people who have no family. I’ve never personally heard of such a thing, so if you have any evidence otherwise please leave a comment.

I decided to just type in medical cadavers into Google, fully expecting an application form to become one. I then clicked on the first link for medical cadavers I could find (here). For the uninitiated, a medical cadaver is someone who has given their body to science so that people can learn. I soon learned that the students would find out what the people died of, not their names, but what caused their death. Some students I found had no problem figuring it out.

Read the article if you wish, but here is an excerpt that caught my eye:

”
Monroe-Wise had even taken to calling her cadaver, “Bob.” “I can sense that I’m developing a sort of affection for my cadaver, which is strange,” she said. “But maybe our cadaver is a little bit unusual. We already know so much about him.” In just three days of dissecting, “Bob” had yielded evidence of emphysema, triple bypass surgery and a pacemaker. “Obviously it’s too late, (but) I want to say to him, ‘Bob, what are you doing? Quit smoking. You’re gonna kill yourself.’”

”

Now you have it, it’s official. Keep smoking and you might just end up a medical cadaver. It has nothing to do with if you have family. I would assume this guy figured he’d help a few dozen people learn not to smoke… is it any wonder why most doctors I see are not in the smoking area? (I am not under the impression nurses do this course in medical school, only doctors.)

Keep in mind, this guy had a pacemaker and several other diseases that are attributed to smoking. He may have been hit with a bus, but the students who dissected him could tell the damage done.

If i give up smoking will my personality change?

I hate to tell you this, but yes it will. It’s not a bad thing really, as I’ve come to find out.

Your personality will be one that is productive, and not driven by a reward that has nothing to do with what you are trying to accomplish.  You’ll have more concentration than you did before, leading to that very same productiveness.

Your new self will face adversity, instead of running from it, and you’ll be more respected by people around you that do not smoke. You’ll have more self esteem, which leads to more self worth. You’ll stop forcing yourself to always be one step away from being able to smoke.

Smokers will say you are a jerk now, mainly because you are not on the same bus to death that they are. You’ll be hated because you are no longer a smoker, and ‘better’ than they are. You’ll also have a change in behavior and you won’t want to ‘hang out’ with those that won’t return the favor of understanding you don’t want to smoke any longer.

In all, you will change when you stop smoking. Anyone who says you’ve changed for the worst are obviously not looking at the big picture, and just wish you’d start smoking again.

I’d like to talk about something that changed since I became a non-smoker.

I stopped saying I had no options anymore, because in fact, I had began the journey of finding solutions in life, not a drag from a smoke. Cigarettes are a drug, we all know that. In my opinion the pathology of a smoker is this:

1. Trouble starts.
2. I need a smoke to deal with the initial shock.
3. While sitting down I realize something else I forgot to do because of #2 & 1
4. While I got my buzz, I forgot about #2 & #1 trouble
5. Then I realized that I can put off the other problem until later, it’s not too bad.
6. My judgment by now is cloudy, I’ve just pulled the needle out of my arm.
7. I need a victory smoke.
8. Repeat.
9. Eventually between repeats a problem gets solved.

With a non-smoker, the problems start like this:

1. Trouble starts.
2. I deal with the problem right then and there.
3. I don’t need a smoke to deal with the problem before I fix it.
4. Afterwards, no victory smoke needed.

See? I’ve just saved 4 steps, maybe 20 minutes due to removing smoking from my day.
Do I need to make a phone call? No need to smoke up before the call. Was the call a success? No victory smoke needed.

Smokers create more problems by the habit than the habit seems to have solved for them.
Chantix helped me through that vicious cycle. Why puff on something that tasks like crap for a victory smoke or to clear my head?

It’s official, the count is in.

379 days ago, I started taking a medication that had nearly double the success rate at smoking cessation than any other method.  Chantix was new to the United States, and the controversy hasn’t died down since then, even though it’s been slightly over a year since it was put on sale.

365 days ago, I put down my cigarettes and started a trip that I’m glad I am still on. I was up to two packs a day at that time, one more per day than when I started Chantix… I was desperate, I wanted a nicotine buzz, but none was to be found. After two weeks, I didn’t need to give up, I was disgusted by this habit, fully aware that it was killing me, I put down the smokes and never yearned for another one.

I had dreams of smoking, but never entertained the idea in the waking world. I wrote about the wonders of Chantix in my blog and have nearly made 1/4 of the money back I spent on it. I’ve had others email and post comments in my blog saying that while they had some trouble, it was worth it.

In the last year I’ve learned so much more about our bodies and the way that cigarettes affect us. In that time, the lies we tell ourselves about cigarettes is all to clear, and that to some, smoking is doing more help than harm, and no medicine is more dangerous than the ones that doctors prescribe. Knowing these things, I’ve struggled with ignorance from every angle.

I’ve got a friend who double specialized to be a lung doctor, brash and young out of college do nothing but discuss the horrors of what he’s seen in school. I’ve had other friends say they know it’s killing them, but posses some nature that now, I’m unable to understand. In that year, I’ve also met a doctor who knows it’s killing him, but does say he’s quitting again with the help of Chantix.

In the last year, I’ve seen my lung function improve a staggering 20-30% depending on which measurements and medicines you look at, and am near normal for my age and the amount I smoked. I’m no longer worried about the prospect of oxygen tanks, lung cancer, or the breath I would lose doing simple things.

So now, 365 days later I look back. Was it worth it? Do I feel better? Did I save money? Have I saved any of my life?
YES!

Now, 365 days later, after going through many tests, chest xrays and lab work, can I say smoking is worth it at all?
NO!

At the end of the day, I trust 5 doctors, two of whom I’ve known for over 10 years. Chantix works, and nothing has shown Chantix alters mood but a guess and the fact that you’ve quit over 4,000 other chemicals at the same time you started Chantix.

When it does finally boil down, and you don’t trust doctors, I trust the people who make more money than them: Insurance Companies.

My rate for life insurance being a smoker at current cholesterol, weight, age: $55 a month.
My rate at current cholesterol, weight, age and non-smoking status: $17 a month.

I’m content knowing that they believe I won’t die of smoking in the next 10 years, and if you can trust anyone, it’s bean counters.

It’s not enough that the UK has socialized health care, which right now is just a quagmire I’m hoping to sidestep in this post. Now all of the UK has banned smoking in all public places.

Public opinion varies on the subject, with Slash formally of GnR saying he must smoke. The sky is falling even further for pubs and also for the makers of beer due to establishments going to vanish due to the smoking ban. Most store owners are not bucking the law, and doing what’s required to ensure they are not fined.

Let’s not forget the grim statistics cited here, that if you don’t quit smoking, the pub owner isn’t going to be able to serve you a cold one… he’ll be dead from your habit.

Maybe Chantix should take this chance to ramp up advertising in England.

I’ve talked about chemicals in tobacco smoke before, and this chemical, benzene is a toxic by-product of smoking cigarettes and has many bad qualities. Before I hear the nay sayer in the back row, I know everyone is exposed to benzene on a daily basis, even our body produces very, very small amounts of it. I’m talking about large amounts of benzene.

If a chemical company spills 10 pounds of benzene, they must let the EPA know! This is a serious chemical that hurts your health in serious ways, and half of the exposure in the United States to benzene comes from just one activity: smoking tobacco. Yes, I’m fully aware that cars put off benzene, but you’re taking it out of proportion. Being in a room with a smoker, or heaven forbid, being the smoker, you are getting a _LOT_ of benzene.

So, before you light up your next smoke… take stock of what you’re really putting in your body besides a pesticide.
If you want to quit, you must become aware of what you are doing, if you intend to stick with it.

Will Chantix make acid reflux worse?
Honest questions are hard to come by, and this is one of them. I can say that in my case, Chantix caused midsection pain, with increased reflux/heartburn. The fix was simple: different forms of antacids from the doctor who prescribed the Chantix. The same rules apply here, if the doctor gives you a medicine to take, it’s because there is no other option.

In the end, your stomach will feel better, as nicotine has a way of relaxing your lower sphincter of your esophagus. Once you are off nicotine, your reflux might actually go away! So stick to the path you’ve chosen. Your whole body will thank you soon for quitting, however unlikely it might seem now.

Remember, you’re now on 1 chemical, and off 4,000+ others. There is no comparison in the health benefits.