I got an email today from my good friends at Pfizer, congratulating me on going a year without smoking. (Please, please, hold your applause.)
That's because I used their drug Chantix to help me quit. With the Chantix plan, you get supportive emails several times a week, and after you stop taking the drug, they send one email a week til your first anniversary. And today's was the last one.
I didn't much care for the inspirational messages, pop psychology, and helpful hints in those messages. I've heard 'em all before, and even read most of them on the air in smoking-related stories. I did, however, like the update on how much money I'd saved by quitting. (About $3200 at last count.)
Pfizer just started advertising Chantix again, after the drug got some horrible publicity for its side effects. And every email contained a warning about those side effects, so I figured I'd read them one last time for old times sake.
"Some patients have reported changes in behavior, agitation, depressed mood, suicidal thoughts or actions when attempting to quit smoking while taking CHANTIX or after stopping CHANTIX." (And I though that was just "Gerry being Gerry!!!")
"You may have trouble sleeping, vivid, unusual, or strange dreams while taking CHANTIX. You should use caution driving or operating machinery until you know how quitting smoking with CHANTIX may affect you." (Gotta admit, that dream thing was freaky. And I did stop operating machinery.)
If you haven't noticed, just about every drug commercial is 85% warning of side effects, accompanied by video of people my age romping around like sheep in the meadow on hallucinogens.
But I digress. As I posted previously, you would think I cheated death taking Chantix, but the bottom line is that I quit. And this time, I'm saying "I quit" instead of "I stopped" (big difference).
Cold turkey didn't work. Nicotine gum didn't work. The "patch" didn't work. The drug Zyban (a.k.a. Wellbutrin) didn't work. Rubbing my nose in a full ashtray like a dog didn't work. (Did I just say that?)
This stuff did. The best testimonial? I really enjoyed smoking. And I don't miss it, which honestly surprises me.
If you're trying to quit, something else may work for you. But the bottom line is, no matter what you use, YA GOTTA WANNA. It's not easy, but it's that simple.
Original source: http://brooksfile.wordpress.com/?p=2144
