Long story short - I thought about giving up smoking for 12 months, 4th October made my mind up, found this site, found out about Champix and then went to my docs the day after and demanded Champix. At first doctor wanted to refer me to the no smoking clinic but I explained this was my first and only attempt and I wanted Champix now, so he wrote the prescription (I'm scary when I'm in that mood!!), and I did sign up for the smoking clinic.
Anyway 5 weeks down the line, no-one from the NHS has helped me and I've only received support and advice from here (love you), I got a call from the smoking nurse and I have to attend a clinic tonight (30 min drive from home!!) to see how I'm getting on and she told me off for getting my doctor to prescribe Champix without them seeing me first, I did have a go saying it's taken you 5 weeks to actually contact me and if I did not start when I did I doubt I would have stopped.
Anyway (sorry for boring you), this woman has now got my back up and I have to join a group that has already been going 8 weeks together, does anyone else go to this kind of therapy session and will I look like a complete spanner????:confused:
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Oh dear bloody bossy boots eh and if that group has been going 8 weeks and they haven't contacted 5 weeks in I don't think I'd bother to go at all
You haven't bored me at all but really if you feel OK with just the forum for support why bother I never went to a clinic at all and they can't force you to go we still have free will in this country despite what people like them may beleive
Sorry didn't realise you had to got to get the champix as I always got mine from the Doc's
Maybe do what I used to do with the j=health clinic for the babies I used to go to get them weighed listen to what they had to say then go home and do my own thing anyway :D
NO support or aftercare was EVER suggested or offered to me by anyone at my doctors.
A few weeks into my quit i had to see the doc about something else. He didnt enquire how my quit was going or mention any aftercare.
He DID appear to not have a clue that i was being prescribed Champix.
When I asked HIM about aftercare he sort of dismissed it and said "oh the smoking nurse takes care of all that "
So judging by your experience i might be getting a call from the smoking nurse sometime in the summer..................2014 !!!!!
Happening upon this site is the only psychological support ive had and lets be fair its better than ANY smoking nurse and group therapy " Hi my name is Jack and im a Smoker".....as Delboy would say ...NO WAY PEDRO !!!!
I went to see my doctor in April for something and he asked me about my smoking....I said the nurse recommended champix to me when I saw her to have my blood pressure checked. I said I wasn't ready to stop just yet as I had decorators in for a few weeks and then other work being done blah blah blah, so he said he'd give me a prescription anyway and I could just have them to hand for when I was ready to stop. My doctor is so layed back he's almost horizontal.
The receptionist was a bit shocked when I rang up and asked for my second pack of champix...BUT YOU HAD YOUR FIRST LOT IN APRIL! :eek:
I've had no follow ups or smoking groups badgering me, just left to me own devices.
On the other hand ...if group therapy is part of your quit regime and it works for you then fair play to you lol (sorry i didnt mean to appear to diss anybodies quit plans)
My sister was telling me the other day that she had to go to the doctors and while she was there he asked if it was ok for him to say that he had given her advice about stopping smoking, so he could get his target figures up. She agreed to this.
She actually stopped smoking 20 years ago :rolleyes:
Funny you should say that JJ, my friend is a pharmacist at the local hospital and I've just rang her, she said they want me to keep the figures up!! I've never been good as a statistic as I've never liked being labelled!! Anyway if I find anything interesting out I will post it later.
Does anyone have any questions relating to our hell, oops I mean our quitting they would like me to ask?
Hi, Nope, not had any support groups or meetings (in the real world). But I got my presecription in France. Doctor just wrote me a prescription of three months and sent me on my way. I hadn't gone in about smoking. Down side was I had to pay but it was money worth spent and I'm not well in crediot on what I would have spent on cigarettes during that time.
I think this support meetings/nurses etc varies from doctors to doctors. I've been singing the praises of Champix to all my smoker friends. I told a friend of my mothers, who seems to be constantly ill with chest infections, about it. She's tried everything and always fails then hates herself but does want to give up. She finally went to the docs, who wouldn't prescribe Champix until she'd been to a smoking clinic. Appointment for smoking clinic, three weeks later. There's a chance she's lost the momentum by then. For some it's a must do it now moment.
Hey Christine this does not surprise me at all.....
I was lucky my doc is a sweatheart and prescribed when I told him I would rather pull my toenails out with tweezers than go to a group therapy session.:eek:
Mr Lorna was not so lucky and had to wait 3 weeks for a session then get his Champix hense he is 3 weeks behind me on his quit. When he got the call and said that I had given up as well the nurse asked to speak to me and told me I would probably FAIL as I was not going to the group (very supportive on my first day without a cig) and my doc was WRONG to prescribe. Then she tri8ed to get me to go to the evening group....in a health centre in probably the worst area of Leeds...I would have died...
Found out later that they want you on the "program" for their figures. Every area has a target to stop smoking this year or they won't get funding next year. They wanted me to go to this particular group as that postcode has the worst quit record in the city!!!
Good luck tonight love, do what you need to to get the Champix
Good luck with tonight.... yep, the grab and run might work.
See how it goes, (the group session) it might be for you but joining in with a group this far along and already bonded seems a bit daft to me. But joining a brand new group when your as far as you are along with your quit would also be a bit odd too :confused:
I like MCW's suggestion lol.
I see a smoke nurse on a one to one basis - she's good for making out prescriptions but that's about all tbh. She'd not heard of this site but will recommend it from now on And my question about my need for deep deep breaths (like a yawn but not a yawn) every 10 mins or so just bought a confused shake of the head from her.
Sometimes I think I've led a sheltered life!! The nurse/counsellor was in fact very nice, very helpful and very knowledgeable.
As for the group, well I have never interacted with so many misfits in my life. However out of 8 people on Champix I was the only one who had not even had a drag of a cigarette since the day I quit AND I was the only one to have a test reading of 0!!
My health authority gives out free gym passes if you join the stop smoking group (no wonder the NHS is broke) and I suspected that's why most of them were there, however if your test reading was above 2 you did not get it.
It was OK, like I said she was a nice person and I go back in December for my next fix.
Hi - that sounded intersting, if a bit weird. I'll give you two months before you're running the group!
Well done for going, looking very unspanner-like and getting your next fix. Have you joined the gym? I'm reasonably fit (for a smoker for years) as I do a fair bit of sport but absolutely hate the gym. I keep waiting for this 'kick' that exercisers tell me you get, but I just hate and despise the whole process of conveyor belts and rowing machines and loud music and pop videos and fruitie smoothie drinks. God, I sound like an ancient old hag!
Glad it went well Christine....did you scare her into being so nice to you....:cool:
I HATE THE GYM....just cant do it. I walk when I can and swim when I can but that is about it.....in fact with what I eat and how little exercise I do I should be twice the size I am :rolleyes:
Girls I have two gym memberships (I kid you not), JJB and my local one. Swim in my local pool every morning, gym/spin/class 6 days a week at JJB. The gym they were giving free weeks for was a local council leisure center and it is ok but not for me.
They get 12 weeks free (£ 80.00) if they stick to the plan! Personally I think gimmicks are not going to make you give up, as we all know you can only give up when you actually want to.
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And my question about my need for deep deep breaths (like a yawn but not a yawn) every 10 mins or so just bought a confused shake of the head from her.
Still feel like $#!+ !!!! 
