I have stopped smoking tobacco products on Monday 19 Nov 2012. I am on Champix and it feels easy to let go of smoking rollies. It's a bit like the voice in my head that nags to get a smoke has been turned off. I haven't been smoking fags in many years anyway but the ritual of making a rollie is something that I do miss. Just for safety I have bought organic nettle leaf and have had 2 pretend rollies Monday and yesterday. It's mainly at night when I am sitting in front of my screen...
I already feel sooooo much better. And I am confident that I will stick with it.
Also went to my local fag ends group yesterday. As for the side effects of the champix I only take half the dose of what the doctor prescribed, morning and evening. I take it with lots of food and make sure the evening dose is quite early on. I have experienced a very slight head ache, felt a tiny bit spaced out a for an hour after taking it and had incredibly weird clever entertaining dreams..
Last night I dreamt that I was laying awake all night but I wasn't!!!!
They aren't always that good and can be quite disturbing.
I am prepared to live through a couple of months of suffering in order to free myself from smoking tobacco forever.
Written by
Sterereo
21 Months Winner
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Good morning Sterereo and welcome to our community.
Congratulations on making the final jump on Monday. So you're embarking on the third day today and you sound like a very determined person. Don't forget to come on here or the daily chat if you want to succeed and share all your bad days as well as your good days. We don't hear of too many people using Champix so sharing your experiences may really help people quitting in the future.
Anyway, welcome aboard and look forward to chatting again soon.
well done on making the best decision of your life, and for your life as Andi said come on the daily chat, there a brill group of people, you can share your good days and your bad days, and get help with any bad days you may have
I've updated our 'Wall of Winners' and your quit date has been entered
I've not heard of the organic nettle leaf, is it a tea drink? Champix is a really good non-nicotine based product and has really good outcomes, provided it is used in the correct way. Just make sure you keep your stop smoking advisor up to date on how it's working for you, especially if the dosage has been changed.
Tell us more about your 'pretend rollies' as I'm not sure what you mean... Is it that you are pretending to roll them and then pretending to smoke them? The more times that you sit in front of your TV and don't smoke, the sooner it will become normal to you. If it becomes too difficult, you could even think about sitting in an other seat for a couple of nights and see if that makes a difference
With regards to the slight headache, a simple pain killer is safe to take but make sure you are also drinking plenty of water too, just to rehydrate your brain.
It sounds as though you have the right kind of motivation and are in a good place to be quitting so stay positive and keep up the good efforts
Well done, I'm also using Champix and have been smoke free for 16 days now, the only problem I've had has been feeling sick in the mornings, but thats been it, I'm starting to feel better and I'm sure that I will never smoke again.. eating 2 packets of polos a day at the moment and a lot of junk food ;-(...
Well done for stopping, get over the first few weeks and then you will feel the positive effects of being smoke free. I found drinking loads of tea helped me in the first few weeks, mind you think I'm still drinking loads of tea and coffee after 9 months later.
@EmJay - I do actually smoke the nettles. Had 2 of them yesterday. I researched it for a while, there aren't many studies on the effects apart from that it may increase testosterone levels in middle aged women.. But clearly > it has got no nicotine and that is the beast that I am trying to get rid of. I like the process of rolling cigarettes and to be able to do this when I get to the point of full-on craving, is good for me. They don't smoke well and don't taste anything like bacci. I don't mind my carbon monoxide levels being up as long as I can reset my nicotine receptors in my brain. I do not believe in NRT as it just prolongs the process and still keeps me addicted. I have tried that for quite a while and it does not work for me.
Though it does help to retrain habits.
I also do not own a TV. I am an artist (and a mum) and work with computers for a large part of my practise. I am also addicted to the internet which is going hand in hand with smoking... But these kind of thoughts are all just beliefs and excuses that I (or the nicotine beast) have created over years and I am determined to change them.
As @Wonder says coffee and tea or @happyhammer polos > for me chewing gum or roasted sunflower seeds helps to distract.
Hope this sheds some light.
Whichever way works for you is a good way. Cutting down, replacing it with NRT, cold turkey, hypnotherapy / counselling or champix. Any way you choose needs to be well planned and needs the premise of really really wanting to stop. It's a long internal process to find your way from darkness to light.
thanks for your concerns. I am aware of this. One step at a time. Nicotine first. Then on from there. The amount that I have smoked, uncontrollably, when doing work or going out or else, was unbelievable. The nettles are good.
Champix and a clear plan of how to deal with trigger situations seems to be working fine. Also I have stopped over-drinking a few months ago, meaning since then I would not have more than two drinks then stop. I have never been an every day drinker but I could certainly not stop at 2 and it would often end up in some kind of binge smoke / drink. It all goes together. Drink, Smoke, Guilt, Feeling low - on an seemingly endless cycle of self destruction. Now is the time for me. I had enough of hurting myself. I have reached a new peaceful place and truly don't want the NEED of smoking tobacco all the time to be part of me any longer. I feels like I wasted so much of my time by being caught in that cycle.
I feel much better overall but I believe strongly that it has got to be the right time.
Argh find it quite hard today. I felt rejected by a friend and realised that one reason for me to smoke was to deflect from feeling bad about myself. Also today was the first proper day travelling due to work as a NON smoker. It's all the settled habits like smoking while waiting for the train or when with work colleges in the pub. Even if they don't smoke my habitual patterns are hard to retrain but I'll stick with it. The champix is definitely working. Have still got a bit of headache. Will drink more water. Take deep breaths and listen to my hypnotherapy audio session again. Just need to get through the first few times of dealing with trigger situations to feel more at ease when out and about.
Good luck Steph, it will get easier for you i,m sure. Give yourself some praise and dont let friends make you feel bad about yourself. We are all as good as each other.I would be very careful rolling nettles because you are inhaling the smoke, smoke is the cause of all the problems in smokers as you will know, nicotine is not as bad and you can wean yourself off it slowly. I dont worry about a small amount of nicotine in my body its the burning and inhaling smoke from ciggys that was bothering me.
Hi Steph, how are you feeling today? The more cravings that you get and combat will increase your likelihood of remaining smokefree. You will find that you will become stronger after each one that you overcome.
Stopping smoking is like playing a game. Each craving overcome is like reaching a new level in the game.
Try and remain as positive as possible, you are doing really well so far
sorry I didn't get back earlier. Yes all good. Feeling fine and really chuffed that I don't smoke tobacco any longer.
I still do the nettles but they are literally just to cover for the most intense cravings, and there are days when I have none. It's useful for socialising as I don't feel excluded from my friendship group.
Here is some info about nettles and its healing powers
In the applications section further down you can find some info about smoking it:
"Dried herb has been smoked for asthma."
As said I am not worried about this and can work on dropping this too when I am good and ready. It is nothing like smoking tobacco and feels actually quite nice on the lungs.
I am still taking the champix, still only half the dose of my GP prescribed, still have 'funny/weird' dreams but generally can feel how the nictotine monster is clearing from my body and mind.
I feel like I have woken up big time!
Thanks again for support and responses on this forum.
Lots of strength and will power to everyone on here.
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