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.

I had the pleasure, and trust me strange as it is, it was a pleasure to see how a large group of people treats a smoker now, in the year 2007. I’m trying to be a non antagonist of smokers. I admit that I was a smoker, but saw the light when my asthma finally caught up with me.

So for all the people that don’t know I’m from West Virginia, you at least (hopefully) know that it’s right next to Ohio. In Ohio, there is a set of smoking laws that are designed to deter even the most hopeful smoker from blowing any in the faces of people who don’t also indulge in the delight.

In Ohio, there is a festival every year that is called the Bob Evans Farm Festival . It’s a fun festival that mostly includes (as you could see) singing, and some various other activities for children like horse riding and hay rides.

One of the many sights to see was a water demonstration with some tree cutting. Some people out there might not know, but the art of lumberjacks in Ohio and West Virginia is not lost on even the youngest of our generations: our slumbering hills are covered with trees.

There is a pond that has a small dock in the middle that some performers cut logs, or do log rolling.
All around the pond is a slope that people can sit on to view the performance, and we chose our spot up at the top so our smallest child (less than a year old) wouldn’t be bothered by all the noise.

Now, for a bit of a reality check. We arrived and saw so many people parked in a field that horses normally graze on that we were shocked. If I had to guess, there was over 5,000 people there, no small fries considering our town in WV only has 25,000 people in it. While we walked pretty much the entire length of the Bob Evans Farm, we didn’t see even one person smoking a cigar, cigarette or even spitting tobacco. This is odd behavior… I noticed there wasn’t even one teenager smoking behind the bathrooms.

Getting back to the water demonstration, we were well into the 30 minute mark when a man and his lady friend sat behind us. I didn’t know they were there until we were covered in smoke from his cigarette. I had wondered why people were leaving all around us, it was the best part of the show!

So here he was, the first person I’ve seen smoking and we just have to move. Why say anything to him about it? I’ve tried to get some people to quit smoking anywhere inside a building where customers are at, and when I’m not there they light up mere feet away from the customers. I get negative feedback, so I’ve quit trying to talk to smokers about how non-smokers feel. An interesting footnote here is that the people at the festival felt the same way, and a large number of them.

Now, we must move, he’s smoking and not noticing he’s blowing it on an infant! My wife threw the baby at me with a blanket on her head since she was the least distance from the smoke. By this time at least 20 people have moved away from him. We got up from our grassy seat and noticed the large gap of people being missing all around him. Hundreds of people were at this slope and he had a disease, nobody wanted to be around him. He had at least a good 30 foot radius around him, and he continued to smoke.

There was a silver lining in all this, he was just ignorant of the fact that people got up and left. He noticed that all these new seats showed up in front of him, he moved forward but nobody returned. His lady friend stayed put, almost in a silent protest of what he’d done, or too ashamed to call him out on it. He had to motion for her to move up at least 2 times, and the last time you saw that look on his face: I am a jackass. Not a single person out of at least 50 said a word, children all around with parents shuffling them upwind from his puffing, said a word.

If you are trying to quit smoking, take heed: the atmosphere is changing. In a tobacco state such as Ohio or West Virginia the attitudes are changing. People know that smoking causes early death and a deterioration of life that is not worth the puff.

If you think that people will complain to you when you smoke, you are wrong. They smell it on you and will just pass you on, just like this group of people did. Some will try to stop a suicide bomber, or someone jumping off a bridge. It seems that now, nobody will stop a smoker: he is on a mission to prove brashness or wants to die and any words you say are lost.

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.

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.

Apparently, if you search google for ignorant smokers, I show up in the #2 link. Believe it or not, many people don’t search that way.

I just want to set the record straight. I’m not calling you stupid, just ignorant. My thoughts are you probably qualify as one of these things:

1. You are killing yourself and enjoying it
2. You deny you are killing yourself
3. You won’t take medicine for your depression ‘you are a natural guy’
This is not directed at one person. It’s a really, really, common smoker excuse.
4. You believe smoking keeps you razor sharp
5. You think smoking makes you work better
6. You think second hand smoke couldn’t affect your children

If you won’t take the time, read my blog, make a better judgement for you life, maybe you are like one of my friends.

You want to die, but Russian Roulette is too messy. In that case, you are not ignorant, you are well informed, and are making the right judgment.

As my friend just reminded me, I’m not saying you are ignorant if you are aware that smoking kills more people than any other drug, legal or not, and don’t believe it. If you believe it, and know it kills, has a good chance of killing you: congrats, you’re not ignorant.

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.

Does chantix make cigarettes taste bad?

From this month’s search log comes this question.

Well Timmy, I can’t tell you that like some other products that purport to make smoking taste bad, I can tell you that from my personal knowledge, no. Chantix makes cigarettes taste like they really do: bad.

Cigarettes taste bad, but then again if you do any illicit drugs, they taste bad until you are addicted, then you like the taste. I compare it to beer really. Beer tastes bad until you like getting drunk off of it, then you move on to others that taste different.

So in my abbreviated opinion, Chantix makes cigarettes taste what they really are: burnt Tobacco.

Will Chantix change my personality?

I had someone make a statement to me today, to the effect of:
“My husband quit smoking, and is using Chantix. His doctor said that it would change his personality for over a year, even if he stopped, or just took it for the standard three months”

I found this very curious for several reasons.

1. The current fixation on nicotine is the biggest mood changer
2. Chantix only binds to the transmitters that are activated with nicotine
3. The list of changes in personality when quitting period are often the only ones attributed

Dr Howell over here stated these various side effects of mood when taking Chantix, but I don’t see the attachment that it lasts for a year after cessation, or if the problems were all related to the other chemicals being gone from the brain.

Anyone got a few cents to add?