We can quit Yes we can

[BroomJockey]

Chantix turns off your nicotine receptors,

Still a drug. Taking it still creates a chemical dependence, especially if your desire to return to smoking is present once you stop taking Chantix.

[blas87]

I never said it wasn't a drug, I was just trying to add to the conversation since I was kinda prescribed to it once?

Although I only gave it 2 weeks and said fuck that, I'd rather go back to my normal self and smoke again and find a different means of quitting, than to be a psychotic nonsmoker who puked and shat all the time.

[BroomJockey]

I never said it wasn't a drug, I was just trying to add to the conversation since I was kinda prescribed to it once?

I think most people are familiar with it, and since your post was directly after boozy's, which was talking about chantix, you gave the impression of attempting to educate her about it, despite the fact she's clearly indicated her familiarity with it, as well.

[blas87]

I didn't realize that my comments in threads are being mistaken as attempts to educate. I will admit to occasional err, constant preaching and soapbox rants, but I'm a little surprised it's being taken that way.

[Flyndaran]

Then read my post again. I didn't say that quitting smoking cold turkey was the only way of quitting. I said that quitting cold turkey is the only way of getting off of drugs completely (which was a goal of mine). Replacing nicotine with Chantix is not getting off of drugs.

Then I still disagree with you.
There are step down techniques from simply lowering doses until stopping completely to using medications to help quit smoking and then stopping the medications.
Even if medications can't be stopped, the risks from them are almost certainly less than those from smoking.

[Boozy]

There are step down techniques from simply lowering doses until stopping completely to using medications to help quit smoking and then stopping the medications.

Obviously.

But let's be serious, here. Cigarettes ain't heroin. The physical side effects of quitting smoking are mild in most people. Most people report worse physical withdrawal when missing their morning cup of coffee.

Cigarettes are 99% a psychological addiction. No drug helps with that. I'm not about to introduce another drug into my system, especially not one with side effects that are worse than nicotine withdrawal. Google "Chantix" side effects if you don't believe me.

I maintain that the most common quit smoking aids are useless for most people except those who are exceedingly reactive to the placebo effect. When someone says they successfully quit smoking due to the patch, they aren't giving themselves enough credit. They quit despite using the patch.

[BroomJockey]

those who are exceedingly reactive to the placebo effect.

Completely off-topic, but the placebo effect is getting stronger, to the point where some older drugs wouldn't pass the double-blind test anymore.

[Boozy]

I heard about that study, too! Fascinating.

It makes sense when one thinks about our dependance (and blind faith) in prescription drugs in the Western world.

[jackfaire]

DTs from alcohol are the worst, they are potentially fatal.

As far as wester medicine. I don't take medicine for most things. For me unless the symptoms are to the point where I cannot function I will power through whatever is ailing me.

I even have developed other methods of alleviating my symptoms based on stories I have read and other sources.

[Flyndaran]

Obviously.

But let's be serious, here. Cigarettes ain't heroin. The physical side effects of quitting smoking are mild in most people. Most people report worse physical withdrawal when missing their morning cup of coffee.

Cigarettes are 99% a psychological addiction. No drug helps with that. I'm not about to introduce another drug into my system, especially not one with side effects that are worse than nicotine withdrawal. Google "Chantix" side effects if you don't believe me.

I maintain that the most common quit smoking aids are useless for most people except those who are exceedingly reactive to the placebo effect. When someone says they successfully quit smoking due to the patch, they aren't giving themselves enough credit. They quit despite using the patch.

I disagree. Psychological dependence is of the brain and anything that is of the brain can be affected by drugs.
I aver that some people need and use help from such items as patches etc.
What doesn't work for you may still work for others.

[BroomJockey]

I aver that some people need and use help from such items as patches etc.
What doesn't work for you may still work for others.

Except that as was noted, the patch does absolutely nothing for pyschological effects. It's a placebo. All it does pharmacologically is prolong your addiction to nicotine. You could literally get the same effects with a large band-aid labelled "Nicotine patch."

[Boozy]

Furthermore, the only reason the patch offers a placebo effect at all is because the manufacturers have falsely and purposefully misled consumers with bullshit studies. If people really understood their addiction, and really understood what nicotine-replacement therapy does and doesn't offer, the placebo effect would be absent.

[Ree]

I never said it wasn't a drug, I was just trying to add to the conversation since I was kinda prescribed to it once?

That's what I took from your posts.
I don't know why some people took issue with them, since you were pretty much in agreement with Boozy that taking the drug isn't a great idea for quitting smoking.

I just figured you were speaking from personal experience about the drug.

You say you took it. You still smoke.

I think that was actually helping to prove Boozy's point.

[Boozy]

You say you took it. You still smoke.

I think that was actually helping to prove Boozy's point.

I assumed that blas was on the same page as me as well, especially since she made this post describing her struggle with side effects:

Chantix gave me 24/7 nausea, made me into an extremely ill tempered, ready to pounce, losing it at the drop of a hat, psycho woman who didn't want to smoke.

[blas87]

Yes, that was how I intended it to sound.

I don't like to cause a panic and I'm trying my best to not preach as much, but I'd definetly advise everyone who considers Chantix to do some good research and have a good heart to heart with their doctor before getting prescribed (not like what the doc did with me and just prescribed it to me without even asking me if I was on any other medcations or if I could be pregnant or if I had any pre-existing medical issues).