So I've been a smoker for a little over 20 years. I've tried to quit on so many occasions, I can't even count that high any more.
I used the nicotine patches for the longest time. And while they sorta worked, there was always still some serious cravings happening toward the end of the day. Not to mention the absolutely bizarre bruising feeling of first putting the patch on and feeling the nicotine pouring into my system. A nice idea, but not terribly effective as it kept nicotine in my system rather than trying to stem those urges.
I recently asked my doctor about Chantix. I'm normally very anti-pharmaceuticals, but I'd thought about quitting again recently and thought "why not give it a try?" For those of you thinking about it, I will certainly be your biggest cheerleader.
The list of adverse effects that MAY occur is pretty ghastly, to be honest. One of the many reasons I shy away from pills for anything.
"May cause crazy dreams. Patient may awaken as a different gender. Turns penises blue. Women's breasts fall off. You may find yourself susceptible to eating large amounts of uncooked crab meat" - you get the idea. (These are not the real side effects listed)
I'm a month in. I've asked my doc for a second month because it's been so effective at not only curbing my actual smoking, but my legitimate cravings are damn near nil. I'm normally a pack a day smoker; I'm down to two or three a day with absolutely zero side effects and none of the mood changes normally associated with quitting. I've had nothing but a good experience.
Apparently the prescription is normally about $400 without insurance (Chantix also provides a card in their info brochure that knocks off a certain amount as well to help out; it can be used three times), but thankfully my insurance ended up covering the whole prescription, which helps out immensely.
Anyway, if you were thinking about quitting and you're on the fence about giving this stuff a try, apparently more people in my life have used it to quit than I realized and they've all seen some pretty drastic successes.
If you've already quit, what ended up working for you?