Sorry to start my new membership of the forum with a whinge, but I soooo need to get it off my chest.
I've been a smoker for 25 years, in recent years getting through 40 a day, give or take a few. I recently made the decision to have yet another go at giving up, and duly made my appointment with the smoking cessation lady at our surgery. That's all she's employed to do, by the way - help people like me quit. In the past I've tried patches (my bum looked like a patchwork quilt within 2 weeks!), gum (tasted foul, hurt my chest and made me fart a lot..... sorry, but it did!!), Inhalator thingy (had absolutely no effect whatsoever!.... ok, it did then - it made me look and feel really stupid sucking on a plastic fag that didn't even look like one!) Zyban (whoa man, spaced out or what?? and when not, felt incredibly sick).
So, this time I thought I'd have a bash at the new kid on the block - Champix. It took me 5 different chemists and nearly a week to get my prescription filled..... I was not impressed. But eventually I had the fancy looking packet in my hand, and was raring to go. I'm not going to go into the initial dosage instructions, but I did feel during the first week that I still had absolutely no desire to stop smoking........ that was until day 8, around about the time you get up to the maximum dosage, and suddenly I didn't want to smoke :eek: . To say I was amazed is an understatement - all of a sudden I can't stand the smell of smoke, if I stand near someone who has been smoking they smell dreadful..... pongy breath or what??! I have had the odd feeling where I think "surely one won't hurt?", but I've resisted, or turned to my distraction method - my colouring-in book (don't laugh till you've tried it!). The only side effect I have noticed with the Champix is that I get about 30 minutes of nausea when I take the morning dose..... it could of course have something to do with taking it on an empty stomach (for 25 years, my breakfast has consisted of a cup of coffee and a fag!!).
On Monday this week, the smoking cessation lady phoned me at work to see how I was doing and to arrange the making up of my next prescription. On Wednesday, I called in the dispensary bit of our surgery to collect it...... they had no record of it being prescribed, so I would need to phone in the morning (SCL had gone home), but don't worry as there's a pack of pills on the shelf. Thursday morning, I phoned the SCL to find out why she hadn't put the prescription through - sorry, she forgot :mad: . She assured me that she would walk down the corridor to the dispensary and sort it out..... any problems and she'd phone me. I called in to the Dispensary on my home to be told that they're out of stock, and there's up to a week's wait :mad:. So where did the pills go that they said they had??? Where was my promised phone call to tell me they didn't have any pills????
I am so angry it's not funny - I really don't need this hassle. I mean, it's not rocket science is it? If you are going to be prescribing a new drug to an increasing number of patients, surely you would set up, and keep an eye on the supply chain? Let's face it, the SCL doesn't have to see any other patients - she's not involved in flu jabs, blood pressure etc, only helping people quit smoking. The surgery receives additional funding to pay for this service, and it is my understanding of 'the system' that the more patients use the smoking cessation service, the more funding the GP gets.
I ended up phoning every chemist within a 50 mile radius that was still open yesterday evening..... most hadn't even heard of Champix. I now realise I'm not going to be able to get the prescription made up for several days as it's Good Friday today. I even phoned the NHS smoking helpline..... oh, ha ha, what a joke that is - go on, phone it for a laugh some time - if you're into smug, condescending and 'holier than thou', you'll love your little chat! Utterly useless 'service'...... well, it was for me anyway.
I suppose it all boils down, in a nutshell, to the fact that I feel I've been badly let down by the one small group of people who are actually paid to help me, and thousands like me, improve our health, by giving up smoking. Perhaps they now have so many Government Directives to follow that they don't know which direction they should be going?
I've decided I will be writing a letter of complain to the practice. It annoys me that the very few dealings I have with our doctor's surgery always have a level of incompetence involved. Usually I avoid the place like the plague (have you ever noticed how many ill people there are just sitting around?!)..... I've had a sharp reminder why! I'm that angry this time, that they are going to be told.
Sorry about that.... I feel much better now......Oh, my god, I'm turning into a grumpy old woman...... even worse, I could eventually turn into my mother! :eek:
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Well that was fantastic rant!! I am sorry you feel so angry when all you've done to me is put a big grin on my face!
I am glad you are here you can put up a good short story each day for us to read it'll help you take your mind off things and keep us thoroughly entertained!!
I bet your letter will be very well written and you'll get results!!
it seems to me that too many people are given made up jobs for the hell of it!
I hope that you continue with your quit, now you have us lot to lean on!
Quick update before I head off to earn my crust for today.....
I managed to get my prescription filled on Easter Saturday at my local Boots branch - I'd phoned them on Good Friday on the off-chance that they may be open, and they were! The Pharmacist has to be one of the most helpful ladies I've had the pleasure in dealing with - she even phoned me on Saturday to let me know that she had received the Champix!
On Tuesday, I phone the surgery to speak to the SCL and to order a follow-on prescription as we're going on holiday on Saturday. She started by saying that she wouldn't be able to issue the prescription until this Friday....... at which I exploded, ever-so-politely, down the phone...... I think she got the message as she was going to arrange to have my prescription sent to the local Boots store, rather than the surgery dispensary to be made up. I must phone Boots today to make sure she did ....... I do hope for her sake she did "remember" this time.
I still haven't smoked though...... 12 days now. Oh, OK, I did have two puffs off someone's fag (don't panic, it wasn't a stranger!!).... I just wanted to see if they tasted good or bad....... I can honestly say that the Champix really are working - it tasted like I'd imagine pooh on your tongue would taste (note the careful use of the word 'imagine'!!).
Maybe after all these years I really have got the chance to finally quit for good..... I really hope so - I'm well on the way to 'saving' £140 already (yes, I worked it out that I was spending somewhere in the region of £70 per week!!). The strange thing about the Champix is that I find that I very rarely even think about cigarettes. I maybe get a couple of fairly strong cravings during the day, but those thoughts pass through my brain in a nano-second (well, there's nothing much to hold any thoughts in there!!). When I've tried to quit in the past, most of my waking day was spent fighting the urge to smoke..... cigarettes were always bobbing around in my thoughts. This time though, I think I must be thinking like a lifelong non-smoker?!!
I won't be around for a couple of weeks now..... we're going on our last family holiday - the 'kids' are 17 & 21 and weren't overly keen on coming. Nor am I actually, as Mother's coming too (so's my brother, and he's a male-mother-clone)..... they both chain smoke, which is going to be fun! Mind you, saying that, for once Mother actually respected my wishes the other day and went out into the garden to smoke :eek: It took me a full minute to pick my chin up off the floor after that one!!
Right, I have to go and get ready for work now - I'll give you an update when I'm back in a couple of weeks. The two weeks with Mother and Uncle Fester really is going to be quite a major tester - stress and all that!!
But I really am determined to keep on not smoking - someone said to me the other day that I need to refer to myself as a non-smoker, not an ex-smoker.
Well, I'm back (sorry, have been for over a week, but it was a case of hit the ground running!).
It's now over 6 weeks since I've had a cigarette (OK, there was one exception on holiday when I had a few puffs, but then realised that's just what Mother was waiting for me to do!). These Champix pills really do work..... I find I don't even think about smoking, probably much the same as a non-smoker thinks I suppose? But then, in theory that's what I am now isn't it? - a non-smoker.
I did insist that the car I drove on holiday was a no-smoking zone...... oh boy, did that pi** Mother off! One more thing for her to moan about! Mind you, watching her leap out at every opportunity just to light up really made me think.... did I look that stupid when I smoked?
The way I feel now, I really don't think I'm going to fail this time - apart from my two pregnancies, I've never gone this long in over 25 years without smoking. I don't think I've been particularly snappy or moody (although I expect those around me may disagree!!). I can't remember the last time I had a craving...... I just don't think about smoking any more. I actually ran somewhere the other day - a reasonable distance, without getting out of breath very much...... I couldn't have done that 2 months ago.
Welcome home really pleased to hear your doing so well. Must be the campix because I still think about them 50% of my time and I am on week 8. So very well done. Please do keep posting and let us know how you are doing will them Linda
Champix user here too.Looks like when we have quit ,it will be free on NHS.Free on NHS in Scotland,fast tracked by FDA in America but still only on private prescription here.Worth going to different chemists here too,because i found massive difference in price.
I had side effects with it at first so split the pills but now ok without splitting.
We are really the guinea pigs because it is a new drug ,but me and you know champix will save many smokers lives who would probably never quit.Our local surgery will not prescribe it yet untill it has been out longer,just depends where you live.
On another forum where champix is popular,and people have done the course,some mention the need to wean off the champix,so please bear this in mind.
Thanks peeps for your wonderful words of encouragement! Glad I don't bore the pants off you too much (but I guess we'd be on a different forum for that?!!).
Yes, it would appear that us early users of Champix are guinnea pigs (perhaps that would account for my sudden liking for museli?!). I hadn't realised that it's not available on the NHS nationwide...... the jolly old postcode lottery again? I too have had a quick troll around on the internet looking for info on it - initially all I could find were reports that it's not as effective as Pfizer are making out (I put that in my memory bank to use if I failed)..... however, from personal experience, I do wonder if those reports were perhaps written by rival drug companies? Speaking to the smoking lady at the surgery, there are now 12 of us at various stages of the 12 week course and we have all stopped smoking - I do think though that the real tester will be how many are still not smoking after 6 months or a year. I've read about people having difficulties at the end of the course who have had better results by weaning off slowly..... I'm going to discuss this at my next appointment. I've also read a forum based in America by the look of it, where people have convinced themselves that they have horrendous side effects not listed in the leaflet. I used the phrase "convinced themselves" deliberately - maybe we Brits think differently, but I don't think I'm even 10% as 'in tune' with everything my body does as our cousins across the pond seem to be! I did worry a bit when I saw there were 13 pages of complaints..... but then realised that a fair chunk were people sympathising with the few that were complaining, and then there were more posts from people sympathising with the sympathisers and so on! There were of course the odd one or two like me, who haven't really experienced anything bad and who have more important things to worry about than a specific muscle in my little finger aching!
Saying that though, I may have a few aching muscles tomorrow - weather permitting I'm hoping to start attacking the garden! Well, I've got to do something with all this extra energy I've got now!
Lol @ little finger muscle ache :rolleyes: some people simply have far too much time on their hands!!
OOhhh and the museli thing it's not because you are a guinea pig, rest assured x x *phew!* i do that too! i eat it every morning since i quit! kinda odd but then i thought that it may well be because i wake up feeling hungry and if i can't douse the hunger with 3 malboro lights then museli it is! (stopped trying to smoke the museli now and finding the mornings run much smoother)
I am strangley hooked by this champix thing! if i ever end up unfortunate enough to need to quit again i think i would deffinatly like to suck it and see!
Anyways Well done to You two champix cute guinea pigs!
Quits seem to be going well, never forget, mind, that its you doing it too! credit due!
Strange,on their own website CHANTIX,they make a big thing about their support plan which you sign up to.It is Not available in this country.They have a code on their boxes which you have to put down when you register.Far more information and videos are out there if search is done for Chantix
I never did get that gardening done! It p*ssed hard all day last Sunday! I spent quite a pleasant day curled up on the sofa reading the papers - can't remember the last time I did that!
I don't know why, but this week the odd extra thought / craving has filtered through the smog in my brain. I've managed to banish these evil thoughts by repeating my mantra's to myself: "You don't want a fag or you'll look like a hag", or "Think of the money you put in the jar, do you want fags or a shiny new car"......
Yup, I've worked it out - the money I would have been spending on cigarettes is enough to finance a new car :eek: ..... I'm talking brand new, never been driven by another owner kind of new car. I've never had one of those before, so that's my goal. "Himself" and I are going to have a look round the showroom tomorrow (hopefully), and once I've signed on the dotted line, there really will be no going back for me - I certainly won't be able to afford both. It's funny - I've never been materialistic, especially about cars, but I have a feeling I may be very protective of it, if we do go ahead and buy one!
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lol
second day and its so hard!
DAY 8 I am so unsure
im so down i feel like laughing
