Does this mean we’ll be getting threads with capitalized words , Exclamation marks , and other symbols? I’m here for you baby …try to be gentle!! 
Itch
[This message was edited by Itch on Aug. 15, 2001 at 10:08 AM.]
<BLOCKQUOTE class=“ip-ubbcode-quote”><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by heidi-ugh:
My essential problem is that I don’t want to quit. I love to smoke; so much, in fact, that the mere act of smoking a beloved ciggie has inspired some of my adamant non-smoking friends to utter, “god, you look like you enjoy it so much, give me one, will ya”.
I’ve decided to start popping the Zybans this Saturday and within the week, i.e. Aug. 25, I should have stopped smoking - the cravings will be non-existent, the habit broken, I’ll be a happy-go-lucky, non-smoking mommy whence I venture off for my darling daughter’s soccer tournament…I hope. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
I did the Zyban about four months ago. You have to be motivated to quit.
That said, I could not use the Zyban for more than ten days due to the side effects. I HATED the way I felt on it…I suspect the dosage was just too high. I too experienced the sleep difficulties. That said, the Zyban DOES block the “feeling” one gets from the nicotine. Expect that you will notice a change in the taste of smoking as you get close to the end of the week.
I immediately noticed I felt better when riding. The physical addiction was gone. But it is the mental addiction that sneaks up on you. I had to stop the Zyban after two weeks. And yes, I did return to smoking but nowhere near the level I used to smoke at…and with different “rules”. No smoking in our house, around family, etc.
Good luck Heidi. I know many people that had success with the Zyban.
You can always go visiting at your local hospital in the cancer ward.
My beloved Mom died at 56 and spent her last 18 months in the hospital fighting a horrible cancer. Doctors basically said “You can’t expect to have smoked three packs a day for 40 years without consequence.” They did everything they could for her but she paid dearly for that habit in the end. A very prolonged, painful death - with all her family sitting with her and suffering just watching it.
It was truly brutal and even years later, frankly I still have nightmares where I see her face, her eyes begging me to do something to stop the pain, and I am helpless… 
Anytime you feel the urge to reach for a cig, think about the darling Sumo toddler sitting by your bedside as you scream in agony - that is what my brother and I went through for DAYS at the end. And yes, she was on a serious morphine drip but eventually it couldn’t even take the edge off her pain.
Sorry, not trying to be overly dramatic here, but there are REAL consequences to smoking, and I would never want someone else to go through what my family experienced if they didn’t have to…
What the doctors don’t tell you is that Zyban is actually WELLBUTRIN, a short-acting antidepressent that works to raise the brain’s dopamine levels, thus reducing the urge to smoke and producing a nice, not-so-natural high that has been referred to by some psychiatrists as “amphetamine-like” (not surprisingly, it works much the same way Ritalin does.)
Alas, the stimulating Wellbutrin has also been associated with seizures, withdrawl (severe irritability), long-term sexual dysfunction, and anxiety.
In my experience (granted, I was only on it one week before I threw the half-empty bottle out), I smoked MORE THAN BEFORE. Why? Well,I was up twenty hours a day, and you can smoke A LOT in twenty hours, especially if you’re inexplicably nervous and your heart is pounding and your hands are shaking. Enough said? Please think twice. ZYBAN IS NOT AN ANTI-SMOKING DRUG; IT IS SOMETHING ELSE! 
Always know potential side effects before you begin using a medication. That way, if you have them, you’ll likely know the culprit.
And did I mention my HMO didn’t cover Zyban? It cost $95 the first month (with that “kit” which I never used) and the next month I got it as Wellbutrin for my co-pay of $10.
I had to have a crown a few years ago for a molar that was cracked. The dentist asked me if I grinded my teeth in my sleep. I don’t. A summer of fun also led to enough tooth damage for a dentist to comment!
Robby
I lucked out big time. Started smoking when I was fourteen. Everyone in my barn did. My twelve year old friend sneaked them from my trainer at the time (she knew it) so we thought it was okay. And we were cool because she did it and she was cool. (okay not really but at the time we worshipped her) Smoked for four months then realized something. A) it was a pain hiding it from my parents B) I had no addiction what so ever. So I decided to stop while I still could. I still smoke every so often at a party but that’s abotu once or twice every three or four months…
marion
Putting out my cig…zyban is a mood elevator, seratonin blocker, like prozac. I was allergic to it. It was found to stop some compulsions in people who were taking it for mood elevation, so now they prescribe it also for stopping smoking.
How in the world will you keep the gnats out of your face without the ciggies?
Just joking, hope it works for ya!
But be careful of your mental processes when you take it.
I quit almost 3 years ago with the help of Nicorettes. They worked for me but then I had to stop chewing them…ahhhhh… was kinda like quitting smoking all over again…well I finally stopped the nicorettes and am now trying to lose the weight I gained during quitting…
Seriously though I am glad that I quit and it does get easier with time. 
so go for it Heidi …and another thing …I realised that I would NEVER WANT to quit smoking but I did anyway!
And so is my quitting day. Heidi, as you may not know, is trying to quit with her old pal Canter!! LOL - Actually we discussed the whole smoking thing with Duffy when she was up here.
The time has come to fess up to our own mortality kiddo. I’m glad you have decided upon a course of action. Feel free to call me/email me when the cravings get too intense (I will be a raving lunatic myself by then, but what the hell)
Zyban could work wonders for you. Everyone reacts differently to it. My hubby ground his teeth at night and was a raving lunatic during the day. Temper, temper honey. I BEGGED him to either start smoking again or go on the patch. The patch worked. For 6 months. I am a fan of the patch for me. My greatest fear about quitting is having to go through the withdrawl stage. That’s the worst. Breaking the habit itself 'ain’t nearly so bad.
The absolute worst, worst, thing is my fear of weight gain. Would somebody please hand me a carrot stick? Just be careful that you don’t put substitue things in your mouth like candy. Stock the fridge with veggies. You might want to avoid coffee at first, if that morning ciggie is always enjoyed with a cuppa joe. I’m quitting the caffeine along with the ciggies - I just find it makes my life easier. Then I get to deal with the 5 day headache from caffeine withdrawal. At least it will take my mind off the ciggie cravings.
Good luck Heidi - I’ll be rootin’ for you. Did I say September 1st was quickly approaching?
I hate it when the marketers actually get it right.
Cigarette packages in Canada are now adorned with graphic pictures and warnings of the lethal effects of smoking - stained teeth, pictures of babies, stats on the likelihood of death. I think the clincher for me is my current pack which reads, “85% of lung cancers are caused by smoking and 80% of lung cancer patients die within 3 years”. I’d like to think myself a reasonably intelligent person but I hadn’t made the blatant association between smoking and death and had never mentally noted, ‘if you continue, you will die’.
RegalBeagle, ljo, CAH, One Away - you girls gonna join me in a communal COTH BB Non-smokers Annoymous?
Canter, do expect those frantic calls, if not some road trips to Mississauga. We can pig out together on grapefruit. YUCK!!! It’s unfortunate you don’t live closer Wingsy as I’m sure you could create some wonderful delicacy to distract us from our need to smoke. Canter, I’m glad you’re quitting too and do know that you should also call me when the urge strikes.
Cactuskate, I hadn’t thought about the possible benefits of not smoking - I may finally be able to sit in a wooden chair without squirming. Egads, I may even be able to sit the canter without falling off in a great big heap. I just need to think strategic weight gain thoughts - fat cells, I implore you, go to the bum!
Robby, less concerned about the diminished libido - 12 years of marriage has already seen to that.
“Mommy, does it really matter?” - Sumo toddler, age 3
InWhyCee -
I was very depressed and having major anxiety attacks (the two usually walk hand-in-hand) and was prescribed Zyban by my physician, who knew of my anxiety problem.
I found it made me no more anxious.
FTR - any drug that is a serotonin-depleter - prescription or designer narcotic (MDMA, street name “Ecstasy”) has been proven to have long term effects on the user. As a late teenager, 12 years ago, I was quite the little X-head and I and my core group of friends, at about 25, all began to experience major anxiety/panic issues. And all of us had given up the drugs 4-5 years earlier.
Robby
I didn’t think I ground my teeth either, until a man told me otherwise… “Honey, why are you sleeping on the couch?”
Does anyone else think it’s highly unfair that the HMOs will pay you to spend a month in rehab, but WON"T give you a dime to join a smoking-cessation program?
On Monday it will be 2 weeks for me. TWO WEEKS!! I can’t believe it. I’m like the rest…I love smoking…I love everything about it…the way it tastes, the way I feel when I smoke, etc. But I got sick…had to quit. So I’m approaching my 2 week anniversary. I did it! Cold turkey!!
Do I want a ciggy? Yes…but I’m just so proud of myself for quitting I don’t smoke it. I’m doing it for my husband too…he wants to grow old with me. It’s tough…I’m not going to lie…but I’m getting through it one day at a time. Every day that goes by is another where I go smoke free. Amazing…my sense of taste is better and I can already tell a difference in my wind. Keep fingers crossed that I can make it!
~Courtney~
almost 11 years ago my husband quit cold turkey … from a 4+ pack a day habit of unfiltered Pall Malls …
let me tell you that he shook for quite some time, and that when, a week later, my sister’s rented house burned down and we went sifting through it looking for salvageable stuff he had a real problem, but … he made it - I believe that you can too
Heidi-ugh, give up smoking. I think people who are in the process of quitting are legally allowed to be a bit#h!!
It could be as good as the PMS defense!!
Get those huge bags of grapefruit! Eat a grapefruit instead of smoking, the urge to smoke turns into a feeling of NO, NOT ANOTHER GRAPEFRUIT!!
I started to add something like that, since almost six years, for me, has seen it (somewhat) too! LOL!
I agree that you have to want to quit for yourself. I had quit for six months before, here and there, but always at the persistence of my parents.
When I quit for myself, it was my decision (“this is a story about control, my control”) and I was successful. Well, sort of.
Robby
I’ve heard some success stories but have been privy to more failures. For one friend, the Zyban eliminated not only the urge to smoke but to drink - which in his case was a bonus.
Part of my hesitation in taking the first Zyban is the origin of the drug - as an anti-depressant which incidentally diminished, if not killed, the urge to smoke, and thus, voila, it’s then marketed as a new drug to curb smoking. 
I was on the pill for an entirety of two months and felt uncontrollably moody - thus, I’ve never taken the drug. I can’t take an antihistamine without feeling that my limbs have fallen off - not to mention the fact that I feel as if I’m having a heart attack (I’m also on thyroid meds). Needless to say, given my reaction to many drugs, I’m somewhat nervous about the side effects of Zyban.
That said, though, I do think I’ll need an aid in my stop-smoking venture and will try the Zyban. If that doesn’t work, I’ll get a patch; if all else fails, I’ll try accupuncture. As a last resort, I’ll only smoke while performing a head stand.
Non-smoking incentive: I must, I must, I must, I must increase my butt!
I think I’m going to give it a try this fall but want to try the nicotine inhaler. I don’t mind being addicted to nicotine, but I’d sure like to give up the cigarettes.
msj
BigDreams Thats AMAZING!!! good for you
I wish you all the luck
