by freemason9 » Tue Jul 28, 2009 10:55 pm
Wow. Didn't expect much of a response, but that verifies my presumption that most of you are/were smokers. A nonsmoking friend once told me that he hangs with smokers because they're more interesting.
Anyway--
OP ED - thanks.
Maddy - Yeah, I'm thinking you might be right about the six months. I have to say, though, that I'm feeling an unusual sort of energy as well, and it mitigates the awfulness of nicotine withdrawal.
mentalgongfu2 - I hear you, brother. That was exactly my stance for the last several years; but, alas, I'm a social person, and when they finally reached the point of banning cigarettes in bars (in Nebraska, for god's sake) I threw in the towel. Shit, they even have sequestered areas for smokers in amusement parks now. The fascist Nebraska unicameral is considering legislation that would ban smoking within 50 feet of a business' doorway. Hell's bells, even. I also smoked MCD's, and they run about $7.50 a pack. The cost was an influence. And the health thing. My voice is naturally deep, and it was getting ridiculously so lately. So I quit.
On the other hand--if they ever legalize dope--I'm right there.
Maddy - thanks, but I'm avoiding substitution. It's just another damned habit.
streeb - I'm believing you; I'm finding there is life beyond cigarettes. The one drawback is that beer now tastes even better.
§ê¢rꆧ - Yeah, nicotine was the shits, huh? It came to enslave me, though, and I don't cotton much to that. In the end, I suppose it was freedom from cigarettes I craved. Oh, and I started smoking nearly forty years ago; my preferred brands in my youth were Camel nons and (of course) Bel-Airs. Believe it or not, I've never smoked a Newport.
erosoplier - You've never taken up smoking, have you? I get your point, though, and now I see your nicotine patch comment. So maybe you're a stronger soul than I. The breathing is fine, but the battle is intense.
beeline - the nicotine may be gone in 72, but the addiction remains. That's the monkey, you know.
norton ash - And now, you bring me to my great confession:
I'm using Chantix, and it works as advertised. I'm no fan of big pharmas, but they did it right this time . . . the drug basically blocks the neural nicotine receptors in the brain, and by the time you have finished the first seven days of it, smoking no longer assuages. So the eighth day--the quit day--is not quite so intense, because you have already endured the worst of the nicotine withdrawal. That's the plan, anyway.
But this time it's finito. No more cigarettes; I've grown weary of the addiction, that's all.
It's still early in the game, though. Today marks eight days without smoking, and tomorrow will be the ninth.
If you have any questions about Chantix, feel free to ask. I had plenty. So much so that I expected a psychotic episode upon ingestion. It hasn't been quite that bad; I think that alot of the side effects people attest to are actually just components of nicotine withdrawal.
G'nite, all.
The real issue is that there is extremely low likelihood that the speculations of the untrained, on a topic almost pathologically riddled by dynamic considerations and feedback effects, will offer anything new.
