Tuesday, January 15, 2008

A New Year, A new me....(Part 1)

Maybe....I'm hoping...but I'm not the Creative Procrastinator for naught!

September 4th, 2007 I quit smoking! Yup!! I did it.

I've been quitting for over 30 years (since I was preggers with my son...I managed to quit then from the time it started making me sick, about 2 months into the pregnancy, until delivery day...then as I was laying in the hospital bed, trying to tough out a 'natural delivery' (This was 1975), the nurse came in wheeling in an oxygen tank and mask.... I says, whooaaaa, that's oxygen right? That means I can't smoke with that in here right? She looked at me, my Husband looked at me... "you don't smoke"... I do now!! Get that out of here and bring me a cigarette!!" Ahh the good old days, when you could lay in a hospital bed, giving birth, and light up!....

I digress.... since then I've been patched, acupunctured, hypnotized, zybanned and gummed. I've tried just about every quit smoking aid the anti-smokers have been able to come up with... nothing worked for very long.

This time I used Champix. It's a dopamine inhibitor put out by Pfizer. It's a 12 week program. Much like Zyban, you start taking it a week to 10 days before 'The Quit Day'. So I picked the Tuesday After September Long Weekend... this way I could spend the last weekend of the summer at the lake, smoking and drinking like a good Canadian!

Come Monday the 3rd I so did NOT want to quit. I'M NOT READY!!! But I persevered. I had made the decision and I was sticking to it. I also had a cold from sitting outside most of the weekend..... anyway, Yes, I stuck to it. One of the side-effects of Champix is nausea. At Week 9 I decided to go off the Champix because the nausea was not going away. I thought if I get cravings, I'll go right back on it.... Well, it's been 4 and a half months now. I have absolutely NO DESIRE to smoke! Matter of fact, as much as I hate to become 'one of those'... I find it repulsive, stinky, and yes, gross. Champix is not for everyone. The Husband tried at the same time... he's still stinky ;).

2 comments:

Xxx. Xxxx said...

Congratulations, Haze! Your heart is healthier already. :) And you sound a little like NYC mayor Bloomberg... gonna close down bars and restaurants that permit smoking next?

Seriously, I'm very happy for you. Well done!

Haze said...

Hi Patti! Thank you :) and Winnipeg has already put a ban in place. I think it's been 2 years now that there is no smoking in ANY public place, bars, restaurants included. I think that has helped also.